Las Sueñas no Cuesta Nada

I had a fantastic conversation with my madre yesterday. She invited me out for dinner, as usual, and we sat down and ate. First we were talking about the food and the tea (I drink a lot of tea here. It's a nightly thing. And I rather like it.). The tea we had last night was something that's great for diabetics called Stevia. Apparently it is a natural tea that lowers the sugar in your blood. It was really sweet, but a little bitter too.

Anyway, we were talking about the food and watching our Telenovela ¨Cobras y Lagartos¨ (translated: Cobras and Lizards. Un titulo buenisimo, for sure), when Marcia started to ask me about my playwriting. She'd taken interest before and asked me how I went about writing a play, and she asked me again last night. She also asked if I started with a bigger idea. Like, if it was about why the characters were doing the things they were doing. I went into an explaination about how a lot of things happened at once when writing a play. You may start witha theme, or the characters, or only the characters' voices, or a big idea, or whatever. But eventually all of that converges into a piece. And it just flows naturally. I was explaining this in my Spanish and she said that she understood (and I was proud of myself for getting that across in Spanish). Then she said she'd asked because she had dreams once (before she was married, ¨cuando era soltera¨) of putting the happenings of her life into a play. She explained that so many peopole are egotistic and think that things that happen to them only happen to them. And she said she felt like she had a lot to share and that a lot of people would be able to relate. She told me she just didn't know how to write a play, and that's why she was asking.

We continued talking about it and she went on to say that people don't appreicate enough the world around them. She said that at work she wanted to give a motivational speech to her coworkers about loving what they do and doing what they love. She explained to me that every day she goes to work and thanks God she has a job. She keeps cheery because she things that she can maybe brighten someones day by saying ¨te vayas muy bien¨ which is roughly translated to ¨I hope you have a good day.¨ She answers phones for a living and wishes everyone she talks to a good day. She told me that every day she wakes up and thanks God for being here doing what she's doing, and that she thinks that everyone should think that way and be thankful for it all.

When we were still talking about plays she kept saying ¨Sueñas no cuesta nada!¨ which means ¨Dreams don't cost anything.¨ She thinks that people need to dream and need to have the ¨voluntad¨ or will to do things. And she thinks that will make everyone live happier.

I added that everyday I tell myself how lucky I am to be here in Quito, where I can see the beautiful mountains and experience a beautiful culture. I told her I had tons of dreams, and though I don't know which will be reality, we agreed that I had a lot of time to make them real. It was just a really inspiring and really happy discussion. And I feel a real connection with Marcia right now.

I had spent the whole evening before I went to dinner writing out my goals and sayings to remember while I'm here. My ways to ¨be my own guru¨ (which is something I stole from a horoscope my mom sent me my first few weeks here). They include things like, ¨Open the curtains everday,¨ or ¨Live in the NOW. Stop worrying about the future or regretting the past.¨ Just things I need to remind myself of when I get down or homesick. And I'd written it all out all pretty. On the back, I wrote in Spanish that I needed to have the will, that dreams don't cost a thing, and to remember what Marcia said.

And it has made me feel better. And it will make me feel better over and over again for the next six months, I'm sure. I'm proud that Marcia is my madre. She's just so loving and so sweet, and she really wants me to be happy. I've learned a lot about her through our dinners together, and I love her dearly already.

Update on my Cuicocha trip will be up on Monday. Right now, I need to go hang with my Abuelita, Marcia's mom, who's here so she can vote in the elections tomorrow. If I haven't said it yet, Ecuador is rewriting it's constitution. And because of that, there are literally about 1000 people running for the constitutional assembly. It's really interesting. As a side note, voting in Ecuador is mandatory, and therefore they impose the ley seca, whcih forbids anyone from drinking for a the three days before and three days after the election. Even Americans can get thrown in jail for being found drunk. Therefore, this weekend is reasonably quiter for everyone. Although house parties still rage with the alcohol flowing. That's a whole other story.

So, more on Monday! Maybe some pictures too!

ON TOP OF THE WORLD (for a little while, at least): Pichincha and Papallacta!

This past weekend, I took two of trips in one day for my Volcanology class. We went to Pichincha in the morning, and Papallacta in the afternoon. The Pichincha trip left at 3:30AM. I’m not exactly sure why except that we got to watch the sunrise from the top of the mountain/volcano. Pichincha is the mountain range/volcano that I can see out my window, just in case you were curious.

On Friday night I ended up sleeping at the house of my friend Lauren. Almost all of the Kalamazoo students who came down with me are in Volcanology, so we tend to go on these trips together. This time, Lauren, Phuong, Matt and I decided to spend the night at Lauren’s on her floor. She lives really close to where we were leaving from, so it made it easier for all of us (otherwise we’d have to take a cab at 3:00AM!). So we got up at 3:00 and walked with all our stuff down to the parking lot of the Mexican Embassy, from which we were leaving. We got there and were split up into 4X4s to be driven up the mountain. We probably left around 3:45, and started off through Quito to steep climb up Pichincha.

We drove for about an hour before we were at the base of the side of the mountain we were going up. And then the crazy, bumpy, curvy climb began. We were driving on this super narrow, curvy, pot-holey road that was slowly curving us around the mountain. Sometimes it was really steep. Sometimes it took really abrupt turns that were very very frightening. But we were in a long line of cars (there were about 60 of us on the trip) so it was easy to see where we needed to go.

Though this part of the trip was terrifying, because it was dark and you felt like you could drive off a cliff at any moment, it was also one of the most beautiful parts of the trip. I was in the front seat, and I could see out my window so many stars. Living in the city, you can almost never see stars, and I’ve missed them. But here we were driving up this crazy road, and I could see so many stars I could burst. Occasionally we’d turn and be facing the city again. It, of course, was all lit up. It was this strange duplicity of things. Here I was looking at the twinkling stars, and back at the twinkling lights of the city. Manmade stars, almost. With streetlights configuring them into manmade constellations. And I could see Orion in the sky, and so much. It was incredible. And though I was exhausted, I was so happy to be where I was at that moment.

Once we reached the end of the road, which really was where the cars couldn’t drive anymore, we got out and began to hike up the mountain. It was still dark, and it was absolutely freezing. We had been warned, though. I was wearing three layers and my down vest, along with the hat I bought a few weeks ago from the weavers in Agato (boy was that a useful buy!). And I was pretty warm. I made the mistake of not leaving my backpack in the car like a lot of other people did. I didn’t know that we could. So I also had all my stuff with me. It was okay, though. Then we started the hike.

I was walking with Lauren and Matt in the beginning, but because of the altitude, I was having a hard time breathing. I knew it was going to happen, so I told Lauren and Matt I was going to rest and stopped for a bit. I don’t think they heard me. But I kept walking, then stopping to rest until I was one of the last few people still walking. At one point, I started to feel really light headed from the altitude and decided to stop and sit. At this point, my throat was also raw from the dryness of the air. So I sat down in the ash on top of the volcano and rested until I regained some measure of breathe-ability, and then continued climbing. At one point some Ecuadorians were walking with me. When I stopped again after a little while, they told me that it was much much further and that if I wasn’t doing well, I should just stop and wait for them to come back there. Because I was feeling light-headed I agreed, especially since I thought where we were headed was really far away. For a while, I felt defeated. I felt like I gave up. So I’d get up and try again. I did that a few times, but then I couldn’t get up without coughing a lot, and I decided just to sit and wait. I didn’t even know where we were going. Everyone else had already cleared the top of the peak nearest to me, and I didn’t know where they went after that, since it was still dark. So I sat and waited.

I’m actually really glad I did. I ended up sitting on the side of Pichincha and watching the sunrise by myself. If I had gone up to the peak with everyone else, I would’ve had to listen to people talk about rocks, and would have had to wade through people to get a clear view of the sunrise. But it was incredible. First, clouds started to move in (half the reason I didn’t try to walk any more was because there were clouds surrounding me and I couldn’t see that far ahead). Then the sun started to come up. Against the mountain back drop, and through these clouds that kept moving around the mountain, where we were became clear, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I have many many pictures from this time. I think I got the sunrise in every stage. Even when the sun just started to break through the clouds. It was incredible. And I was just happy to be there. Happy to be able to see that sunrise over Pichincha.

Once the sun came up, I heard voices and looked to my right, and everyone else was, comparatively, really close to where I was. I’m sure that if I had known how much further I had to go, I would’ve been fine making it there. It just would’ve taken me awhile. I started to feel ashamed again as everyone was coming down, and the elation I had felt being on top of the mountain started to dissipate. I started to come back down and reached where the cars were, and everyone kept asking me if I was alright. I wanted to say that of course I was. I got to watch this incredible sunrise and I was happy when I was up there. It was just the altitude. And if I had been able to see where we were going, I would’ve made it. But I just felt ashamed at not having made it. Lauren, Matt and Phuong told me that I didn’t miss much. That all they were doing up there was freezing their butts off and climbing up to a very dangerous point, which together was not a good mix. But I still felt bad. Matt and Phuong made me feel better after a while though, so I came down from Pichincha as happy as when I was up there.

On the trip down on that scary scary road, I realized how good a driver the guy driving our 4X4 was. It was scarier in the daylight because we could see every cliff and every drop off. But it was still incredible. We could see the make up of the land. And all the animals climbing all over the place. There were cows that I swear were standing on what looked like a vertical, tree-covered cliff across a valley. It looked like they had been placed there as though in a model. It was incredible. And there were horses walking around on the mountain, too. It was pretty crazy. I’m pretty sure that there are groups of farmers that use the land for their animals. We saw a lot of people on the way back herding animals up the same road we were going down on. It was pretty incredible to think that people use this treacherous path every day.

Just after we’d gotten down the mountain and reached the normal road, tragedy struck. In our caravan there were tons of cars. We had just started driving through this small indigenous town when we saw one of the cars in our caravan smashed into a post. There were villagers running towards the site of the accident and a swarm of them around the accident. Most of the villagers were yelling and gesturing angrily. We were all just trying to figure out what happened. “Que pasó?” I asked the driver. He told me he didn’t know. We continued a little further down the road and then pulled off to the side with the rest of the cars in the caravan. Word was quickly passed up the line that the driver had tried to swerve from hitting a woman, but had hit her and then hit the pole. A lot of the students had gotten out of their cars to try to see what happened (no one in my car), when suddenly the villagers, who were obviously very angry, started hitting the driver and one of the leaders of our group. The cops had showed up only a little before then, but apparently that didn’t deter anyone. The villagers had apparently pulled out machetes and were running towards the fight. Needless to say, all the students started running back into their cars. Matt was nearby when it happened, and he just ran. He was in the car behind mine. An Ecuadorian just jumped into our car even though we were full. He was so scared. Apparently, the villagers beat up the driver of the car that hit the woman.

After that happened, the cops were forcing us to stay there. I was really upset about the whole thing. I didn’t know what to think about it. I prayed a lot. And just sat in my car. Eventually we all started to get restless and got out to walk around. But the cops had blocked off the road and weren’t letting any of us leave. One of the leaders of the trip was on the phone nearby, talking to other police, I think, trying to get them to let us through. He was explaining that there were sixty or so students trying to leave the town and that they weren’t letting us. I was listening to this guy try to negotiate our way out and wondering where the hell the ambulance was. We were probably there for an hour or an hour and a half, maybe even longer, and that whole time, no ambulance came. I was so mad. I don’t think the woman would’ve died if the ambulance had showed up. In fact, we’re not even sure if the woman died.

Eventually, we were allowed to leave. So we all pulled out of the street and started to find out way to the road. My car was leading the way because the other car that had been leading us was just taking us in circles. We got the road, only to find another group of villagers blocking our way, along with a roadblock on the road. The villagers were walking around saying things like, “they’re companions of the driver who killed so-and-so. No one should be allowed to leave after they’ve killed someone.” ect. That’s just my rough translation of what I thought I heard. It’s possible that they were saying something else. But it made me really upset that the woman had died. And it made me feel really bad for being on the trip. On top of that, I was exhausted already, and I had a headache, and frankly had to use the bathroom. I just didn’t know what to do with myself. The other two Americans in my car were acting very immature about it all. They kept saying things like, “killing someone isn’t cool.” and one of the girls sent a text message from her phone to one of her friends and said she was hoping her friend would ask questions. It was really inappropriate.

When we were finally allowed to go, we drove straight to Quito. Most of the people on my trip were going to Papallacta, myself included. We were supposed to get back to Quito around 8:30 so we could eat breakfast and board the bus. Unfortunately, we didn’t get back until 9:30 when the bus was supposed to leave. I went crazy trying to find a bathroom because I knew I wouldn’t get to use one again until I returned to Quito later in the day. I didn’t want the bus to leave without me, though, and I was already so upset about the car accident. It was just a bad mixture of things. I found a bathroom, and made it to the bus before it left. I apparently had missed our professor, Theo, who had showed up for the trip and explained what happened to when people died in car accidents, but had said that woman hadn’t died. He hadn’t been on the trip, so we weren’t sure who to believe. All the students who had been there thought the woman had died. The driver was in jail, and Theo quickly took off to go figure things out, though he was supposed to be on the trip with us.

And then we left for Papallacta. This whole trip was pretty terrible because Theo didn’t come with us. The two other professors who went along, I felt, didn’t know what they were doing. We stopped at various places and talk about a few things, but mostly we just walked a lot through mud to see stuff we could’ve seen by the road. Our final stop of the day was this river/mountainside in which we literally climbed up to the mountainside through a ton of mud. My shoes were absolutely covered. And once we reached the top, we didn’t know why we were even there. It was like “let’s climb this big wall of mud and oh look, there’s some rocks.” There was no point in it. It was kind of fun, except I was so worried about my shoes. I had bought hiking shoes just for Ecuador and I didn’t want to ruin them because of some pointless trip. But it was at least a little fun. We had to cross this crazy wooden-plank bridge to get there, too. Just like the woodenly bridges you see in the movies. I was terrified. The river below was raging with rapids. I was quite freaked out. Once we got out, there was a woman who was selling Empanadas on a stand by the road. Twenty-five cents. It was the only food I’d had all day other than some muffins I had brought with me. I thought I was going to get breakfast at least, but because of the accident, I didn’t. It was about 4:00PM by the time I ate the empanadas. Talk about a long day without food.

At the end of all this, one of the buses was supposed to stay in Papallacta to go to the hot springs there. Me and all my friends on the trip were really excited about it. Especially after such a long and terrible day. If Theo had come with us, we were sure it would’ve been more interesting and informative, but it was pretty much pointless. So we were exhausted and just ready to relax. Unfortunately, only eighteen people wanted to go. There were eighty of us on the trip, and unless we got thirty five people to stay in Papallacta for the hot springs, not everyone would have a seat on the bus. So of course, even that hope was ruined.

I got home, showered, ate, and went to bed, I was so exhausted. The day was emotionally and physically exhausting. And though there were parts of it that were fun, I hate to admit that by the end of it, I resented the fact that I even went. Maybe if I had only done Pichincha, I’d have been happy. But Papallacta was just terribly exhausting and pointless. I didn’t learn a thing. And I didn’t get my hotsprings.

Overall, it was frustrating. On Monday and Tuesday of this week we learned that the guy’s breaks had stopped working because his car was overheated. And We also learned that the woman did die. The driver, who was my professor’s aide, and a student at USFQ, went to jail, and I think he was in the hospital too. It was just a really sad experience. They’ve cancelled all the remaining trips to Pichincha because of it.

This weekend I’m going to Cuicocha with the class. I’ve already been there (part of the Otavalo trip. The bit I didn’t talk about) so expect a report on that later this week.

Hope everyone is well! More boring posts to be made soon!

Otavalo, Part 2! (LATE!)

Saturday, 5:30AM—Alarm goes off

Chicken Count: I had chicken dreams! ; )

Tiredness Level: not yet awake

Llama Count: new day, hopefully new llamas

Other Info: I slept like a rock

I have to say that the worst part about Ecuador is waking up in the morning and getting out of bed. It is always really cold, and you don’t want to move when you wake up. Plus, you’re never guaranteed a warm shower here. Melissa wanted to get up at 5:30 to shower, and I told her to wake me up when she got out. So she showered, and I slept in until six. Luckily, by the time I got up, the water was warm, and staying that way. It was delightful. Even in my casa I might not get warm water!

So we showered, and then left to take pictures. We hadn’t really been able to see the beauty of where we were the night before since it was dark out. I walk out into this courtyard and there was this little bridge over what appeared to be a currently dry river bed. I look to my right, and I couldn’t believe it. It was one of the most incredible views I’d ever seen. There’s something to be said about getting out of bed in the morning if you get to see that view. I was incandescently happy. So happy, that it woke me right up. I got on the bus and wrote the following:

7:00AM—assemble on bus

Chicken Count: one was crowing when we awoke

Tiredness Level: exhilarated/excited awakeness

Llama Count: 0

Anyway, we then all assembled on the bus, and took off for Otavalo. Before we even ate breakfast, we were set to visit the Otavalo animal market. I honestly don’t know why we had to go. It was…smelly to say the least. And chaotic. Apparently people bring their animals to sell and I think they might trade for animals, or something. But it honestly was chaos. There were pigs on leashes running all over the place. Sheep huddling together. There were cows trying to have at other cows. There were horses trying to procreate on one end of the field. And amidst it all, apparently people were conducting business. Nelson told us that a lot of cows are sold in the dry season because there isn’t enough grass to keep them fed. Occasionally, he said, there are llamas to be sold. I, being who I am, wanted to find the llamas, but there weren’t any. After just standing around for a while, we returned to the bus, and on the way back to the bus I saw a sole llama standing by the fence! Oh JOY! It made my day.

8:00AM—go to breakfast

Tiredness Level: tired of smelly animals

Llama Count: 1!!!

Other Info: we all smelled like animals

Once all assembled on the bus, Nelson let these two little indigenous girls get on with us. They announced to the bus that they were going to sing to us in Quechua. We listened and applauded. Then right before we arrived at where the bus was going to park for our morning in Otavalo, they started selling us things. They had bracelets and scarves. Most of us had money burning holes in our pockets and bought some. Then we went off to breakfast. It was a very toursity place, so there was nothing really exciting at breakfast (except jugo de mora, which is either blackberry or mulberry juice. That’s always exciting!).

9:00AM—Shop till you drop!

Chicken Count: I don’t remember seeing anymore all day, so no more chicken count

Tiredness Level: READY TO SHOP! Awake

Llama Count: Again, only the one.

Other Info: these vendors are persistant!

After breakfast, Nelson told us to memorize where the bus was, then let us loose in the Otavalo artisan market. It is as wonderful as you’d expect with all sorts of stuff. Alison, Melissa, Katie and I made a beeline for the silver jewelry. We looked at all of the stands and asked prices so that we could come back later and bargain/buy. Then we moved on through the crowd. Let me just say first of all that there are a lot of things to buy, and a lot of very very persistent vendors. They will chase after you if you walk away from a deal. We all had a great time though. I won’t elaborate on what I bought because most of it was for gifts. But I will say that for myself I bought a wonderful alpaca blanket. I actually ended up buying two because after I bought the first, I found another I thought was prettier. I sold the first one to Melissa for $1 less than I bought it for (she bargained me down!).

11:00PM—back on the bus to go see the carvers!

Tiredness Level: shopped-out

Other Info: I hope my whole family wanted a Christmas present from Otavalo…because they got one.

We all managed to assemble back at the bus at the right time, and clambered on with all our bags of goods. After sharing all we bought with each other and debating who got the best deal on what, we headed to another small city outside of Otavalo to see the woodcarvers. The theme of the day was artisan market visiting. First we went to this taller de madera (or wood workshop) where they talked to us about the process of woodcarving and gold-leafing. There was a lot of religious imagery in the shop. The Virgen de Quito was all over the place. It was actually really interesting. Apparently, that’s how the woodcarvers make there money—by selling to Churches. Some of the work was really beautiful.

After the taller, we took the bus futher into the town to go shopping. Basically, every singe store had wood goods. I had some fun going from store to store and comparing prices/buying things, but I didn’t end up with much.

(THIS IS WHEN I STOPPED WRITING THIS BLOG POST AND NOW IT’S BEEN TO LONG FOR ME TO THINK ABOUT IT! SO WE’RE GOING TO END HERE!)

After the carvers, we went to Cuicocha, a volcanic crater full of water, and then we visited the leather workers before going home. Good day.

I Haven't Forgotten About This!

Okay, I haven't forgotten my blog, but I keep forgetting to write my Otavalo entry again. So I might post what I have, and call it the end of that. Then I'll add pictures and write about new things again. I have tons to tell about my trip to Pichincha and Papallacta yesterday. It was a woefully long day with a lot of downs, but some incredible ups.

More tomorrow, when I have my own computer (I'm using my host family's) and my own keyboard. It took me forever to find the apostrophe. Although I can pose a question with an upside-down question mark!

¿What do you think?

Heh. Loves to all. More tomorrow, for sure.

Otavalo, Part 1

Throughout my six months here, Kalamazoo College will be paying for me to go on a total of four excursions, one to each of the four regions of Ecuador: La Sierra (or highlands, which is where Quito is situated), La Costa (the Coast), El Oriente (named because it’s the eastern region, the jungle) and Las Islas Galápagos. This weekend was the first of these—our trip further north to the city of Otavalo, and the surrounding areas.

First, let me tell you my overall impression of the trip: it was incredible. When you’re living in Quito, which is a large metropolitan city, it’s easy to forget that you’re in Ecuador. I mean, you’ll be reminded if you pay enough attention to your surroundings and see that huge mountain range off in the distance, but otherwise, it’s easy to forget where you are, and just be caught up in your own life. I’ve felt a lot like that these first three weeks. And more importantly, I’ve realized that’s what has made me feel so homesick. Since I don’t feel like I’m abroad a lot of the time, I subconsciously feel like my surroundings should be familiar, and my family and friends from home should be close by. But of course none of that is true. It’s sort of a cognitive dissonance. And it’s made me miss home a lot.

But this weekend, I really felt like I was in Ecuador. We were experiencing really new things. We were seeing things we’d never seen before. We were meeting people who were different from us. We were experiencing a culture very different from the U.S. And it made me remember why I wanted to come here. And it made me remember what the point of this whole trip is. Most of all, it made me love Ecuador again. It made me love everything about this country.

So now, the long story of our trip. I’m going to go place by place and describe what we did, rather than go through every single detail and bore the crap out of you.

2:00PM—Board Bus

Chicken Count: 0 seen thus far
Tiredness level: awake
Llama Count: 0 seen thus far

Now, there’s a lot of stuff you don’t do on public buses, like take up two seats, or put your bag on the seat next to you, or pull out and use your camera. But this bus was just for us. Sixteen of us, plus one of our Ecuadorian friends, Gabrie, and our Resident Director, the useless and unintentionally funny Nelson, all alone on this huge bus. Immediately, we spread out and pulled out our cameras to take pictures of the route to school (I’ve always wanted to! Here was my chance!).

I’m amazed we all made it to the bus on time, considering Nelson didn’t even tell the four ecology students when/where we were meeting. Us liberal arts kids only knew because we sent the other Resident Director, Tania, who also had us for a seminar on Friday, to check. Let me just briefly tell you about Nelson. He’s pretty useless, and pretty confident in his useless actions. And he has problems communicating. Which I’ve been told is a cultural difference, but I think that’s crap. Overall, he annoys me. He is, however, really funny when he speaks. He does this thing where he’ll be talking, and then suddenly his voice will drop an octave and he’ll continue his sentence. On top of that, he has a very sharp voice. And occasionally, he’ll tilt his head up and squeeze his eyes shut. Combine all that, and it’s really funny.

Anyway the bus ride was long, but fun. We all pretty much get along and have a good time when we’re together, so it was really good. Everything was going smoothly. We stopped for a “Pee break,” which is what Nelson yelled to us when we stopped, but other than that, the journey north continued.

Around 4:00PM—Stopped at Mira Lago, Tourist stop

Chicken Count: 8 (estimate seen from bus + 2 at tourist stop)
Tiredness Level: bus-groggy
Llama Count: 4
Other Info: bus ride there is scary

Mira Lago, which translates to “Look Lake” in English, is appropriately titled because it has a beautiful view of Lago San Pablo. The Lago is huge, and beautiful. It’s right by a mountain, which I think is called Imbabura. Nelson talked for awhile about indigenous people and the significance of the volcano (mostly how important the earth is, and how necessary it is to respect it. He also told us how the Incas used to think there were giants in the mountains because the volcanoes looked like some sort of throne, or house, or something), and the significance of llamas (there were a few hanging about. Apparently, they’re really smart…). Then we walked back to the bus. And of course, right outside of the bus were two llamas, who we hung out with for awhile, waiting for everyone to gather. Then we boarded the bus, and left.

To make what could easily be a long story short, Nelson left Phuong behind. When we had our “Pee Break” he almost left three students behind even after we told him they were still in the bathroom. Anyway, Phuong had told Nelson as we were walking back to the bus that she was going to go to the bathroom. Nelson, being Nelson, forgot, or something, and we pulled away. (This, of course, added to my opinion of him being an idiot.) About fifteen minutes later, someone stopped us and told us we’d left a girl behind at Mira Lago. We looked around and realized it was Phuong. She’s a pretty sneaky, quite sort of girl, and she had mostly slept in her seat for the first part of the ride, so none of us really realized she wasn’t there. Plus, we were all moving all over the bus. I felt terrible when we realized we’d left her, but when we got back to Mira Lago and picked her up, she was laughing. She just hung out and waited. She didn’t have her phone on her, but she knew we’d be back.

So that was a little bit of excitement in an otherwise unexciting leg of the trip.

Around 5:15PM—Arrived at Agato, to visit the tejedores

Chicken Count: 15 (at least four at weaver’s house)
Tiredness Level: Bus-Groggy
Llama Count: 4
Other info: presence of a large bin of Cuy

For those of you following along in your Lonely Planet Ecuador Guidebook (ahem…Mom) turn to page 126, where you will find a quick blurb about the town of Agato, and the tejedores, or weavers, that live there. We went to the Tahuantinsuyo Weaving Workshop, where the weavers use traditional backstrap looms rather than mechanical looms brought over after colonization. When we arrived, we were greeted by two young boys who ran us around to the backyard of the workshop where at least four chickens were hanging out. They led us straight up to this bin of Cuy, or Guinea Pigs. Cuy is a delicacy here in Ecuador. They roast the Guinea Pig and serve it almost completely intact. I hope I never have to try any. One of the boys in our group, Thom, tried it the second weekend. He described it as interesting, but unappetizing (since you’re looking it in the eyes).

Anyway, then this woman came out and showed us how they clean and spin wool into yarn. It was kind of neat to watch. And she also showed us the tools they used to use, which were combs made out of pine cones. After we watched the yarn spinning, a little girl demonstrated the backstrap loom for us. It was really interesting. It was a time consuming process. The loom has a backstrap that you lean into to keep the weaving tight. And she would select which part she wanted to weave by hand. It made me appreciate technology a little more, and also made me want to buy something to show my gratitude to these people who stick to their traditions, even if it’s just to demonstrate. We all shopped a little, and some of us bought things. I bought a hat made of Alpaca wool. It’s really warm.

By the time we left, it was getting dark. We got back on the bus, where we proceeded to freeze for the trip to our hostal.

7:30PM—Arrive at Hostal Aya Huma, Peguche

Chicken Count: 17
Tiredness Level: sleeeepy
Llama Count: 4
Other Info: we weren’t even going to go to sleep for four more hours!

We arrived at the Hostal Aya Huma (Lonely Planet Ecuador guide page 125) around 7:30. It was dark already, and we were all freezing. But we went into this little restaurant and waited until Nelson checked us in (he had to ask how many boys we had in our group…oh Nelson. You’re so clueless). Then, we split off into pairs and put our backpacks in our rooms. Melissa and I, having roomed together before, paired up and somehow found our room through the weird numbering system. But we could tell, even at night, that this hostal was beautiful.

We all stood around and talked and looked at the stars for a few minutes until dinner. Then we went back to the restaurant. Once we got there and sat down, these adorable kids came in wearing the most beautiful masks and announced to us “We’re going to sing in Quechua and dance for you!” Then they proceeded to dance for us for about fifteen minutes. They were so adorable. They kept fighting with each other, and I have no idea who was leading the dance, because they fought a lot. It was so cute. And there was this adorable little girl in he middle of all the others, just sort of spinning around in circles. They were very cute.

While they were dancing, we started to get served our dinner. They, of course, started with an alcoholic beverage. I don’t remember what it’s called, but it’s made with a fruit juice and some sort of really strong alcohol. I think the juice was Narajilla (an Ecuadorian fruit I love), but I’m not sure. My friend Matt convinced me to take a few sips of it. I thought I might as well try it. It was pretty disgusting, and burned on the way down, which is what I expected from the smell. I ended up giving mine to Matt.

But we continued to have a fantastic meal of chicken, potatoes, salad and soup. It was great. We had this mulberry (or “mora” in Spanish) desert that I’d actually had at home before. It has chunks of pineapple in a mora sauce. Very good. After dinner, we had a bit of free time before we left again. So we talked for awhile, then got on the bus.

9:30PM—Arrive at Ilumán to visit Curandera

Chicken Count: 17 (not including the ones we ate for dinner)
Tiredness Level: exhausted
Llama Count: 4
Other info: dogs are loud; we woke up the whole city when we arrived

Our last and latest appointment was at 9:30, visiting a Curandera, or healer, in the town of Ilumán. According to Lonely Planet (page 126) Ilumán is known for it’s “shamans.” Our Resident Director Tania pointed out that we actually weren’t visiting a shaman. Shaman work more directly with the soul. Curanderas are curers. They diagnose problems and illnesses, like the evil eye, and rid the body of mal espiritus, or bad spirits. We arrived at the house of this Curandera, and she greeted us before disappearing to prepare for her healing. We had been discussing all day who was going to be cured. Tania had told us that usually one or two of the students volunteer to be healed, and that the healing is usually done in the patient’s underwear. Of course that made a lot of people think twice about volunteering. But still, two girls volunteered, and so the healing began.

Let me first say that none of us had been warned of what was going to happen. So we had no idea what was going to be done. If we’d been prepared, I doubt there would’ve been one volunteer, let alone two. First, the Curandera had the girls strip down to their underwear and rub candles all over their bodies. She then lit the two candles, and had the girls stand over a shovel of burning incense. Using the two candles to light three more candles, she began to pray, in Quechua, for the mal espiritus to leave. In one hand she was spinning some sort of bottle full of alcohol, and in the other she was holding the three candles. Then suddenly, she started blowing fire by taking a swig of alcohol and spitting it through the candle flame. She did that four times on each side of the girl’s body, saying things in Quechua that I can only assume meant things like “out!” or “leave!” Then, she blew out the candles, and just started spitting the alcohol all over the girls. Next, she lit a cigarette and started blowing cigarette smoke all over the girls. Then, she spit the alcohol and blew the cigarette smoke over these four branches she had laid in a cross on the ground, and she rubbed them all over the girls bodies. She did the same things with four eggs. Then, to keep the spirits from returning, she mixed a perfume and rose pedal mix and had the girls rub this all over their bodies. In the places they couldn’t really reach, she’d spit it on them.

Overall, it was really interesting, but really weird. We were all sort of skeptical of it, but it was interesting to watch. We all sort of felt bad for the girls because they didn’t know what they were getting into. Plus, we were all sort of laughing during the entire thing because it was so surprising. At the very end, Nelson told the Curandera to go around and spit this perfume mix over all of us. We all smelled good afterwards, but it was pretty gross.

11:30PM—Return to Hostal, go to sleep

Chicken Count: 17
Tiredness Level: dead tired
Llama Count: 4
Other Info: we all smelled good, but were really cold

To say that we were all dead tired would be an understatement. Normally, we all go to bed around 9:00. So we were pretty pooped. And we had to be back on the bus the next morning at 7:00AM to start the trip to Otavalo. So we went to bed (with a few incidents of spiders) and slept soundly until the next morning.

I’m going to stop here because that’s a pretty long post. Pictures up later!

Part 2 Tomorrow!

To Call Europe

So, I did my laundry last night/this morning. It's not that exciting except for one of my favorite lost in translation moments. I walked into the kitchen and said "Necesito lavar mis ropa." ("I need to wash my clothes.") To which my madre responded, "Well you can't do it here. Do you have an express card?" And I was like, what? We have a washing machine right there! Eventually I realized that she thought I'd asked to "llamar Europa" ("Call Europe.") I corrected her and we laughed. A lot.

This moring, I had to hang up all my clothes on our clothes line. It's sequestered upstairs on the roof. There are a ton of caged off areas in which people hang their various belongings to dry. You have to use two keys to get into your own cage: one to unlock the door to the roof, and one to unlock your cage's padlock. I spent a good twenty minutes hanging up clothes. I hope they dry fast. I ran out of my jeans pretty quickly. I basically have washed all my dark clothes, which is most of what I brought. I can't wait to see how they feel/smell when they come back. Hopefully, it won't rain.
That was the exciting thing for today. I'm have four classes on Tuesdays, Acuarela (watercolor), Conversacion Avanzada (Advanced Spanish Conversation), Seminario de los Galapagos, and Politicas Ecuatoriana y Su Pensamiento (Ecuatorian Political Thought). Thus far, Acuarela seems fun, Spanish is hard, but relaxing (except we have to learn about a thousand vocab words every day), my poli sci class is more like an anthropology class (which isn't want I wanted) and I haven't had my seminar. The seminar is required for all K students, and it sucks majorly. We have two different seminars, and they're scheduled at two separate time blocks, so we have to schedule around them, which is realllllly though. By the time we found out about our semniars, all the classes were full, so we've been getting last pick. It stinks.

I was taking screenwriting, but when the professor didn't show up for class yesterday, either (the second class), I decided to get out of it. If the professor won't give us his time, I don't want to take the class. Instead, I think I'm going to take Geology, mostly because it has trips to interesting places. Or, I might switch my Spanish class and take Volcanology. Either way...

So that's the news. Consider yourself up to date.

Boring Weekend, Send Some Love

I have to admit that this weekend was boring and lonely. Both -Saturday and Sunday I spent in the apartment, watching The West Wing on my computer. Needless to say, this was not in my plan. I had planned to go out dancing with Melissa on Saturday night, but we were going with two Ecuadorian guys she met, and they decided that they wanted to go to a party instead, which I was not at all interested in. Thus, I stayed home. Sunday, I'd hoped to go out with Alison or Melissa, but both ended up being busy for most of the day. Therefore, I stayed at home. On Saturday, my madre and Anita both left without telling me where they were going or when they'd be back, so I was alone until the evening. Sunday, my madre had all of her family over, and didn't introduce me to anyone. I ended up retiring to my room to stay out of the way. To say that I felt a little overlooked would be an understatement.

Last night I ended up calling home, and me and my parents talked for forty or so minutes. The times when I feel lonliest are those when I feel out of touch from everyone else. When I'm not busy. When I can't use the internet. But being able to call home or be called from home makes me feel much better. My parents are my lifesavers in these lonely times. We ended up talking about their visit at the end of my program, and we realized that it would make a lot more sense for them to come after I've spent my two extra weeks traveling. I'll just change my plane ticket and we'll spend some time together in Ecuador. I've actually been thinking a lot about how great that's going to be. And how great it'll be to see them, and share Ecuador with them.

Now, I skipped over Friday night because it was the one night I ended up going out. Me, Melissa, Elana, and Phuong went over to Matt's house and watched an excellent movie in Spanish. It was called "Una Pelicula de Huevos," or "A Movie About Eggs." It was fantastic. It was a cartoon following the life of an egg who didn't want to be eaten, but wanted to be a great Chicken. It was really funny, and quite wonderful. I would recommend it to anyone, whether you know Spanish or not.

After the movie, we took a cab home. And talk about creepy cab drivers...I was the last one to be dropped off, and he had started asking us questions before the second to last girl left. It's pretty creepy to have some guy driving you TO YOUR HOUSE ask you about yourself and ask you your name. Man, he was a creep. And he overcharged us because he didn't have a meter. Boooo.

But it was a fun night. And I know at least that this weekend I'll be busy. This weekend is our trip to Otavalo. It'll be muy chevere.

Oh, and one last thing. Today is my parent's 25th Wedding Anniversary. And I have to say that without their love and support, I wouldn't be able to live a continent away for such a long time. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, and if that's true, mine is going to burst. I have such a loving family, and such fantastic friends. I hope you all are well, and I hope you feel as loved as I do. I grew up with so much love in my life. I'm very fortunate.

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!