My life in the EC

Hola Todos!

So today is my second day of classes, and let me just say that life is just a little rougher after traveling for a week straight.

The first night I flew in to Quito (the capital city) around midnight. Everything went fine until the guy who drove me to the hotel kept pointing out things around the city and telling me stuff. Don´t get me wrong, he was a really nice guy, I just had no clue what he was saying!! I asked him if it was rare to see gringos around, he was like no, why? Well, when the people on our flight (mostly gringos) went down the escalators, everyone turned around and was blatently staring! OHHH, he said, Jefferson Perez was on your flight. (Apparently he has won the olympic speed walking championship for the third time and is ecuadorian. All I could think about was the Malcom in the Middle episode where the dad gets into speed walking and wears a spandex jumpsuit and an aerodynamic helmet.) Anyway...so my group (all 8 of us) dinked around Quito on tues, and spent the night. On wed, we drove to Mitad Del Mundo (equator) and then to Otavalo which boasts the most famous market in Latin America. If you are nice to me, I might let you have some of the stuff I bought there; I am pro at barganing, I bought a bum load. The next morning we went to a weaving and music demonstration in an indigenous village. The thing about the indigenous people here is they are all over the place, which is sweet!! Before I came, I figured they would be living on reservations like native americans or something, nope they are all over and make sweet stuff!!! The next day we went back to Quito and on the way stopped at a sweet lake in the mountains. It was weird to see because the water looked so blue I thought it was food coloring, and God knows i´ve worked with enough of that with the first graders this summer...So I found out later that it was because of sulfer deposits from a nearby volcano; it´s ok to swim in but there´s no fish.

Alas, we got back to Quito and bummed around the casino in the hotel. I kept going to the change guy to get change for my 20´s, because change for 10´s or even 5´s doesn´t exist in Ecuador, and paying with a 20 is like paying with a 50 in the states. ANYHOO AGAIN, the next day we went on a teleferico which was SWEET and I felt HIGH, hahaha because I was, get it?? At the top it was 14000 feet, roughly. Then we went to old town Quito, and our guide got us into the Ecuadorian ¨whitehouse¨in front of a line of 50 ecuadorians, needless to say, I felt like a butthole gringa. Our last stop that day was at a museum dedicated to Guayasamin, who was a paintor/poet/sculptor and a human rights activist. I am in love with his dead self, not literally but his obras are jawsome.

After that crazy day, a few beers (1.50 for a beer and a half maybe a little more) and some bonding with my peeps, I slept for the last time in Quito. The next day we headed off towards Cuenca (the city I´m in now). It takes 11 hours (even though the country is about the size of Nevada) but its through the mountains. Now for all of my family in Park City, you may have a small idea of what I´m talking about but it was OFF ROAD in a tour bus, jello jiggler style. Awesome views though, no not awesome, if there is a word cooler than awesome that´s what it would be. We stayed in Patate that night, at a hotel overlooking an active volcano. After dinner, we were all invited to a birthday party that was going on in one of the halls there. It was hilarious. People were taking pictures of us, not with us, but of us and people would go up to us and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY in english, sooo funny.

The last day, sunday, of our ¨cultural tour¨of ecuador ended with an 9 hour bus ride and finally in Cuenca at CEDEI (my school). They proceeded to, as our director put it, auction us off like cattle. I met my host family, mom dad and brother, and thats when my new adventure started.

Sorry to cut this off but I need to get home for lunch and siesta. I will have access to a computer every day now so feel free to email me or what not.

Adios Amigos.

-ERIN-