It´s been a little over a week since I´ve been here, and I´ve already had many interesting experiences. I arrived on Saturday evening the 12th to a very kind and welcoming host mother in the Quito airport. Thankfully my luggage arrived as well. After a quick night of sleep, I was up early to begin a full day of Mother´s Day celebrations. Pilar, my host mother, has 2 children who are married and have their own families. Her son Esteban lives in Guayaquil, and her daughter lives here in Quito. We left on Sunday morning with Esteban, and his wife´s family to eat lunch at a nice restaurant in Cumbaya which is several hours away by car. Although it was a lovely drive, I had a raging headache and severe dehydration from the change in altitude. Quito sits at over 9,000 feet. This means that the temperature is generally in the 50s and 60s. People do not have air conditioning or heat here. There are two seasons, rain and no rain. We are just entering the no rain season.
So we arrived at the restaurant, and I ordered locro (a potato soup) and mote sucio. I learned a lesson with the mote sucio (hominy with really fried pieces of pork). Never order something that has the word ´dirty´ in its title. Later in the day, we spent some time with Pilar´s husband´s family. Her husband had 8 brothers and sisters so it´s quite a large rumbuncious group. Needless to say, I slept well after my first full day in Ecuador.
My classes began on Monday. There were five of us new students. We had a placement test, orientation and a tour of some of the old city. Overall, it was a good first day. Pilar showed me how to get to and from the school. We live on a really big hill. So everyday now I walk down this huge hill until I get to the main street which is called 6 de Diciembre. I pay .25 cents to get on the bus. I know what you´re thinking, .25 cents? That´s a steal...and it is, except the experience is less than inviting. If I thought I had been crammed into a bus/metro/trolly before, it was nothing like this experience! After 4 stops, I get off and walk a few blocks to the school. We have class from 8:30-1pm. After that, we are free to do what we like. Right now, I´m taking Spanish grammar with 2 other students. I´ve also been getting to know the other students at the school. Most are from either Europe or the U.S.
One student from Germany invited me to go with her and some of her host family on Friday evening to walk around some of the older parts of the city. We went to the Centro Historico. There, we watched some improv street theater, and we ate fried empanadas with cheese and morocho which is basically rice pudding in a glass. After that, we walked down to a street called La Ronda. It´s long narrow cobblestone street with live music, restaurants and handcrafts. We spent some time dancing, karaokeing and we tried canelazo, a traditional alcoholic drink made from sugarcane alcohol with hot fruit cider.
Saturday we left for Mindo, a cloud forest about 2 1/2 hours away from Quito. Eight of us from the school went. We spent the majority of our time hiking down to some waterfalls and ziplining. Some people also went to a butterfly farm. It was a lovely drive. We returned by 6 in the evening.
That about covers the week! I´m still getting used to some of the safety precations that we need to take here in the city, but I´m hoping that things will get easier as my time here increases.
I´ve enjoyed hearing from some of you already. I continue to think about you all as the summer months are approaching and many of you are going through periods of transition.
Until next time! Chao
So we arrived at the restaurant, and I ordered locro (a potato soup) and mote sucio. I learned a lesson with the mote sucio (hominy with really fried pieces of pork). Never order something that has the word ´dirty´ in its title. Later in the day, we spent some time with Pilar´s husband´s family. Her husband had 8 brothers and sisters so it´s quite a large rumbuncious group. Needless to say, I slept well after my first full day in Ecuador.
My classes began on Monday. There were five of us new students. We had a placement test, orientation and a tour of some of the old city. Overall, it was a good first day. Pilar showed me how to get to and from the school. We live on a really big hill. So everyday now I walk down this huge hill until I get to the main street which is called 6 de Diciembre. I pay .25 cents to get on the bus. I know what you´re thinking, .25 cents? That´s a steal...and it is, except the experience is less than inviting. If I thought I had been crammed into a bus/metro/trolly before, it was nothing like this experience! After 4 stops, I get off and walk a few blocks to the school. We have class from 8:30-1pm. After that, we are free to do what we like. Right now, I´m taking Spanish grammar with 2 other students. I´ve also been getting to know the other students at the school. Most are from either Europe or the U.S.
One student from Germany invited me to go with her and some of her host family on Friday evening to walk around some of the older parts of the city. We went to the Centro Historico. There, we watched some improv street theater, and we ate fried empanadas with cheese and morocho which is basically rice pudding in a glass. After that, we walked down to a street called La Ronda. It´s long narrow cobblestone street with live music, restaurants and handcrafts. We spent some time dancing, karaokeing and we tried canelazo, a traditional alcoholic drink made from sugarcane alcohol with hot fruit cider.
Saturday we left for Mindo, a cloud forest about 2 1/2 hours away from Quito. Eight of us from the school went. We spent the majority of our time hiking down to some waterfalls and ziplining. Some people also went to a butterfly farm. It was a lovely drive. We returned by 6 in the evening.
That about covers the week! I´m still getting used to some of the safety precations that we need to take here in the city, but I´m hoping that things will get easier as my time here increases.
I´ve enjoyed hearing from some of you already. I continue to think about you all as the summer months are approaching and many of you are going through periods of transition.
Until next time! Chao
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