Change of heart

It's good I didn't write my last post a mere twelve hours later, as it would have been much more negative. My friend Ben came over to study on Sunday, and I got in a huge fight with my host parents following his departure. I haven't spoken with either face-to-face since, and have only been in the same room with my host mother- once- when we didn't even have eye contact.

I told my host mom he would be coming over to study that afternoon. When he left, my host dad told me that I could not have people in the house he didn't know- "es una regla." Not any rule you have ever told me! I said, "para estudiar?" and he said, "nadie que yo no conozco-" again, no one I don't know.

The irony in this is that my host parents have no interest in my life, don't know any of my friends, so that basically means bitch, you can never have a single soul in the house. Although one, that is not fair and I am sure not within the guidelines of hosting, and two, they never told me this! I got really mad, was going to the roof to call Ben, and turned around and said "can I tell you something? You (plural) should not have host students here, because you are not nice people." I then stormed up to the roof, and he protested but didn't followed me.

I called Ben and then Liz and cried up there for awhile, and under their advice and my own that I had not done anything wrong- I let my host mother know that he was coming before he did; if there was a problem, she should have told me- I went down and started speaking in whirlwind Spanish, saying I hadn't done anything wrong, I told her he was going to come, etc. We fought for about ten minutes and got nowhere. They told me this house was not a place to meet up.

ONE PERSON! TO STUDY! They should not HAVE host students if that is unreasonable! I was furious and started talking about how uncomfortable I felt in the house, and she said why? I give you pills when you are sick (once), I give you little desserts a few times a week, everything you need.

That is not what I need. I need to NOT have to ask permission to drink a glass of milk in my own house. I need to feel comfortable. I need to not feel like I am doing anything and everything wrong in your presence. I told them I had tried to change so much, and they were not trying to work with me at all. They said they were. I asked how. Then they said they didn't have to change, I was the one who had come there for exchange.

This is true. But living here has been one of the hardest things I have ever done. Hours alone in my room (I can't go out every night), door shut, usually no internet, no stimulating conversation, no interest. It blew my mind. I was so upset. I should have worked harder to move in October. This house is a pesadilla.

To make matters worse, Monday I started coming down with a cold, and yesterday I was miserable. I had finals both days, and on Tuesday, walking to my first bus, I felt so nauseous I keeled over on the street and contemplated taking a taxi home, but I went to school and got through with the final. It's been hard to stay awake 12 hours at a time. It is just a cold, but with extreme exhaustion, sore throat, runny nose, etc. So those plans to spend a night in a town a few hours away to escape Quito? Kaput. I feel like shit.

Tomorrow or Friday I will go shopping one last time, and I have to start to pack because I will be gone most of Friday and half of Saturday, at my class party and sleeping over. I am a bit wary, even though I love all these kids and always enjoy hanging out with them; that I will just not be i the mood to party all night. If I am still sick I won't go, but I really want to. I also need to find time to say bye to other gringo friends that are still here, although I have no idea when that will happen.

I am incredibly upset that this is how I am ending my last days in Quito- sick, unhappy with my host parents and wanting to leave, but there is nothing I could have done to change it, save shut my mouth when my host father said that to me. But I don't regret. I feel like I have been walked over all semester by them. I've already written a letter detailing why I have been unhappy here and what inappropriate things they have done.

I miss my real family. I miss being able to tell who is walking through the house just by the sound of their footsteps, my mom watching all her stupid antiques shows, the winter living room with the CHRISTMAS TREE we will have oh so soon, New York City streets, being to walk outside (at night) without fear of being mugged or assaulted, not being stared at by everyone from young girls to old men because of what I look like. So soon. So soon.

To sum it up, I am sick, tired, bored, homesick, unhappy and unwelcome in this house, and more than ready to go home.

My flight is 7:30 AM Sunday.

3 days...

El principio del fin...

This is my last Sunday in Quito, which is big, although it hasn’t really hit me yet- it started to after I said goodbye to one of my best friends here last night (she changed her flight to go home a week early because she has an incredibly busy winter break– 2 family weddings, 3 out of state trips, etc!) and could take her exams early. But a quick update of the last week–

Tuesday: My friend Ricardo, whom I met on the chiva, met me in Cumbaya and we walked around and hung out for a few hours. It was really nice because we went to parts of Cumbaya I’d never seen, it was a gorgeous day and we sat in what I assume is the small town’s “Parque Central.” [Note: I go to school in Cumbaya; it is a fifteen minute bus ride from Quito.]

Wednesday: After class I went with Liz to Jorge’s office, hung out with them and studied for awhile, and had coffee with them and Jorge’s mom, where we talked about Cuba. A recent NYT article greatly helped me out in this. (Read it! It’s interesting)

Thursday: I was exhausted and came home and watched Ratatouille and went to bed early :)

Friday: We had a going-away dinner at Crepes and Waffles, a delicious Colombian chain restaurant. Fifteen gringos sitting in the middle of an Ecuadorian restaurant speaking in English... nice. Four of us came to my house after to hang out and have some cocktails, then I went out with Susie and my friend Ben. We didn’t have ID to get into the club- you RARELY need it here, but I’d brought a copy of my passport and somehow lost it (COPY, mom, Copy. Don’t worry) and the bouncer was asking me my age and I was like “mil... mil... nueve...” because years are the hardest in Spanish (who can remember mil novecientos ochenta y ocho, anyway?), and don’t get easier after a few Cuba Libres... but he let me in! Thank god. We took advantage of the half-hour left of the open bar, Susie left after awhile, and Ben and I went to a different bar where we unexpectedly ran into some of his friends from high school (he’s been here for a few years and finished high school in Ecuador). I fell into bed around 4am. It was a great night, this is a very condensed version.

Saturday: I woke up more than a little chuchaqui, went over to Ali’s and rolled around the floor groaning about how much of the previous adjective I was. I opted out of going to the Basilica with them due to money concerns and my physical state, but met up with them at the market and for dinner later. We went to this DELICIOUS and incredibly cheap Chinese restaurant, where they seem to speak neither English nor Spanish, so we always try to order in Spanish and then end up pointing at the menu... sooo good. Then we went to the supermarket one last time for Ali to buy Ecuadorian goodies to bring home, and then to her house around 9 to hang out and help her- start- packing. Yes, start! I cannot believe she started packing 8 hours before leaving! Well, Stephen and Rachel did most of the work, with me being on the computer and organizing her illegal movies and Cuban cigars with the hope that they will get through customs. We laid in her bed and talked until about 2, when she called us a cab (I always take the cab with them down the street, because it’s about a minute to walk and I am very paranoid at night) and we were all crying. I hate goodbyes. I am not a fan, and I prefer to just not do them, because to me they are pointless and depressing. Last semester my friend Marlie cornered me during the cafeteria exam treats and made me say goodbye to her (and sob in the middle of half of Beloit... THANKS MARLS!!) But I am fine with indulging other people’s needs for goodbyes.

I don’t want to start packing until Friday at the absolute earliest, not out of laziness, but because I think it will be very lonely to have to live in an empty room, and either make me want to go home immediately or being very sad to go... I am currently somewhere in the middle.

Oh, and something else. I am such a Libra, in the sense that I can never make decisions. Right after I wrote that blog about how I was determined to take my trip down south, I changed my mind- I’m taking my finals Monday & Tuesday, and only going to a little forest town for one night, Wed-Thurs. I realized I did not have the money to do the trip, or the time to fully enjoy those places in the way I wanted to. I am really sad that I won’t make it to Cuenca, but I know I will come back and I know exactly where to go when I do! It wouldn’t have been worth it to spend hundreds of dollars for two days in one town and two days in another, and have to take a 12 hour bus ride back.

Friday I will probably see people and start packing, and Friday night my Model UN class has one last hurrah– a Christmas party (and these kids do know how to party) at one of the student’s houses outside of Quito. I am sure it will be fantastic, and then I will come back and pack and cry and pack be overwhelmed and sleep and leave...

Whew. So how do all of you feel about leaving?

The Notable & the Inconceivable

The Notable and the Inconceivable

Recent Notable Events:

1) This past weekend was Fiestas de Quito. I only truly partied one night, but it was enough for the weekend. I went on a chiva (open-air party bus which has a band playing on the roof) and drove around Thursday night. It was incredibly fun. I also met a very nice man, and we went dancing. One of the best nights I’ve had here. Too bad I’m leaving in two weeks...
2) Friday I went to the mercado artesenal with Susie to do some Christmas shopping, which was fun. Ali, Steven and I went to a very cheap Chinese restaurant in la Mariscal for dinner and it was delicious. We walked through the Mariscal (basically the center of all the bars) for a bit. I loved it- tons of drunk people singing and dancing, but Ali and Steven were not having it. I was going to meet up with my friend Ben, but couldn’t find him, and was still exhausted from the night before, so I went home.
3) Yesterday (Saturday) I went up the Teleferiqo with Steven and Ali. The Teleferiqo is basically an enclosed skilift that goes all the way up Pichincha, the volcano right next to Quito that I can see right now from the window in the living room of my house. It was a great view going up but there was so much fog that we could barely see the city from the top, which was sad. We walked a bit and you could feel the altitude- it is something like 3400 meters, Quito itself is at least 500 less than that. I was definitely breathing hard when we hiked uphill.
4) Ali and I hung out at her house while Steven went to a Persian class (?) Then he came back, we wanted to go to dinner at this Mexican restaurant on our block, but it was closed due to the holiday, so we got in a cab and ended up at S’pan’es, a Colombian fast-food restaurant, which was delicious. I had an arepa with guacamole and cheese and mini chicken empanadas. However this was not a happy meal because Ali had just lost her phone in our cab and thinks her iPod was pickpocketed earlier this week... somber dinner. Steven went home and I slept over at Ali’s.

And for the inconceivable...

1) Exactly two weeks from this moment (clearly as of time of writing) I will be sitting, most likely exhausted, in George Walker Bush International (will they rename it Barack Hussein Obama? Could Texas do that?) airport, waiting for my connecting flight to take me home.
2) In ONE week from today, I will be flying to the south of Ecuador and traveling with my friend Carmen for the week.
*This weekend I was seriously considering backing out on this trip, due to money issues and feeling like I should stay in Quito my last week, but I realized how terrible it would be. Ali is gone next Sunday, and any foreigners staying in Quito will be doing so for exams or to spend time with their Ecuadorian boyfriends, neither of which I care to participate in (I have already arranged to take my exams early and do not want to change that now and study more). So I will be traveling.
3) I will not see any of my friends here for a very, very long time, and I won’t process this until I’m gone.
4) My schedule for this week is as follows: TUES: Literature presentation. WED: MUN Final exam. THURS: LIT Final Exam, Anthro presentation, Anthro Final Exam. ... NOT looking forward to it.
5) Of course finals have to be at the end of the semester, which of course is when you are feeling the most confused, vulnerable and emotional (at least in my case). I spent so much time here seemingly just floating through my days, and now that I am truly happy I have to spend this week studying and stressing about finals, money and packing to go... home? I cried Thursday night, Friday morning in my room, Friday afternoon waiting for Susie at the bus stop. I am a bit more put together now. A bit.
6) Not that I am dreading being home. I think it will be lovely... I’m just not ready.
7) I will be back at Beloit in a bit over a month... I got into all of my classes, which I believe is the first time that has happened since my first semester. So I will be taking:

Politics of Latin America and the Caribbean
Women’s Health
Economic Development
Nicaragua in Transition
Claude Levi-Strauss at 100 (.5 credit)

It is an amazing schedule as I don’t have class til noon on Tuesday and Thursday, and 11:15 MWF. I didn’t do that on purpose- I am actually fond of morning classes- but I think it will be very nice to have mornings free. The classes (I anticipate will) also complement each other extremely well, at least Nicaragua and Economic Development, along with POLS.

Let me know if you are in any of them. Also, anyone know anything about the proposed Spanish minor? Jenny?

8) The economic situation in the US (slash, the entire world). We have been raised in a time of plenty and I think, especially for my/our generation, to see the economy fall apart like this will have an incredible impact on us for the rest of our lives, the same way September 11th did.

I still remember when I found out about what happened. I was in 8th grade at a public middle school in uptown Manhattan (nowhere near the towers), and that morning, parents began coming in and taking their kids out of class one by one. We had no idea what was going on and were quite scared. Finally, between periods, I asked my math teacher what had happened, and she said two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers.

“Cool,” I said, having absolutely no understanding of what kind of damage she was referring to, my childish mind unable to imagine the damage which had occurred only miles south of where I lived. I remember walking to my brother’s school to pick him up (about two miles away) and going home with him. I don’t think buses were working after the attacks. When I got home I watched the coverage on TV for hours, and cried.

The next day was one of my best friend’s (still a best friend’s) birthday, and school was cancelled, and we had a quiet lunch. There was a thick layer of dust on the windowsill of our apartment, which had drifted uptown and settled, one of the few things that remained of the Towers.

One night when I was falling asleep- I think my parents were going out- I remember being terrified that an airplane was going to crash into my bedroom, and that nowhere in the city could be safe.

My point being– well, I don’t have a point, but I have many thoughts. How will what happens to us when we are children affect our long-term development? Will we believe we are more prone to disaster? Less likely to trust the people around us?

But then– how can we rebound so quickly? I have no fear riding the subway in New York or walking in crowded areas, and very minimal fear on an airplane. Is it naivety? A necessary mechanism to keep me from going insane? Will these economic events affect our decision-making for decades to come? Will teenagers entering college lean more towards a career path than freedom of intellectual exploration? Will college actually become unaffordable for most American families, as the New York Times predicted?

One thing that scares me is that statistic that graduating from college during a recession decreases one’s income by 10% (that is probably entirely wrong, but it was some significant number). If half a million people lost their jobs in November– people with decades of experience and loyalty are getting fired– how on earth are we going to get jobs? I hate when people deem the current crisis more or less equivalent to the Great Depression. It is not. That Depression has 25% unemployment. We are at 6.7%! Although that number is not considered truthful, as many people have dropped out of the workforce due to the inability to find a job- as well as their lack of hope. It is still not on equal terms, the same way the Attacks on Mumbai are not India's September 11; their death toll not even close to one-tenth of what was experienced in 2001. Not to be callous. It's just one way of determining it. Not to make these issues seem less important than they are or give them less attention than they deserve (uhh, does anyone even read this?), but scaring people with incorrect information does not help anyone.

Depressing, isn’t it?

If you like reading about this stuff, a blog I like is Econowhiner. There are usually two or three posts a day, various things about the economy or tips to save money/ your sanity. It’s interesting. Go look at it.

I should go study or something. I should also start packing (I am determined to have one suitcase packed before I leave to travel next week), but I doubt I will start before Saturday, because it will make me too sad. I am not looking forward to goodbyes. Sorry to conclude this entry about something that happened seven years ago. Processing all my thoughts about the present has been too overwhelming.

Two weeks?!

Estacion Biodiversidad: Tiputini!

So this past weekend was my real trip to the rainforest. As you may recall I went rafting two weeks ago, this was in a town just barely what is considered the Oriente (Ecuadorian jungle). The trip went a little something like this. Feel free to read in installments as this is a long one.

Friday

4:40 AM: Wake up. Exhausted. Have already packed. Shower.
5:15: Call Ali to assure I haven't (and she hasn't overslept).
5:30: Call Ali to find out where cab is (she said she would call at 5:20 as we had to be at the airport at 6 EN PUNTO). She is "about to call."
5:40: Call Ali to find out where cab is. She is "on the phone with them right now." I am exasperated and mad I woke up early.
5:53: Cab rolls up outside my house (we live on the same street but she is about a 90 second walk and I HATE doing that walk in the dark... especially armed with a camera, iPod and American passport).
5:54: We ask how much taxi will cost as cab drivers love to rip you off, especially gringos. $5. BULLSHIT. It under ten minutes and no traffic at that time. I start arguing and he says something about how this is the normal cost and impuestos. There are no fucking impuestos. I was so mad, I told him to let us off, but realizing that we had to be at the airport in 4 minutes (and that there were no cabs going by and sketchy people on corners), I pleaded him down to $3.

We got there at 6:03 and it was fine and we still had to wait for awhile. I'd like to say not once during the entry to the airport, going through security, or boarding of the plane was my passport or Ecuadorian ID checked (or asked for). Not once.

The flight was fine. It was 30 minutes to Coca, a city in the jungle which is the base for a lot of these visits (the bus ride would have been 10 hours and very bumpy). From there we hung out at a hotel for an hour, where there were all these monkeys and birds. Everyone was playing with them and letting them climb all over them. Seeing as I am still trying to leave Ecuador free of rabies, I watched cautiously from a distance.

After that we got on a boat which was 2 hours down a wide river which was really pretty. Then we had to go to a security checkpoint and show our passports. Yep, that's Ecuador, you show your passport in the middle of nowhere but not... in the airport? Whatever. This area is inhabited by the oil company REPSOL, and for that reason we were forbidden to take pictures during the 2 hour bus ride we had following the checkpoint. I wanted to sneak a picture, because there was no one really making sure we were following the law, but there was honestly nothing really that picture-worthy. In some places areas looked destroyed, and I don't know if that was the work of the oil companies or a storm (there are constantly heavy rains).

After that ride, we had one final 2-hour boat ride which dropped us off at the base of steps which led to the Biodiversity Station, which runs off of funding from the university I attend, USFQ; and Boston University. We were talked to about the rules and living conditions (electricity from 10-1 and 6-9:30, leave shoes outside, don't pick things up, be on time for meals, etc). Then we went to our cabins. I shared one with Ali, Kalysta, and Susie, and had a top bunk (I love the top bunk). We hung out for awhile before dinner, which we were excited for because we'd heard the food was amazing. However it was a bit of a disappointment: sweet lasagna. Sweet! Dulce! It was very weird. I added a lot of aji, the traditional sauce, to try to drown out the flavor. We went to bed pretty early as breakfast is at 6:30.

That night I was woken up by heavy rains and was dreaming that the cabin was crashing through waves in an ocean... and that FARC was coming to get us. Very sensical.

Saturday

We woke up, had a breakfast of cereal, fruit and hot chocolate (I made the instant hot chocolate at almost every meal) and headed out for the morning. We took a (motor-powered) boat a bit upriver and got out to go to an outlook tower, which we climbed up but didn't see anything in the way of wildlife, although it was a gorgeous view. Then three of us went on a small canoe with our guide into a lagoon where there were all these birds that resembled turkeys flying around. It was very peaceful. After that, we hiked back to camp, and our guide pointed out lots of bug and different kinds of trees and plants along the way.

We had a great lunch of beets, beef, lettuce, potato and a sunny side-up egg! It was the first time I'd tried that because it made me nervous, but it was good and not at all runny. Then I went SWIMMING in the river with Max and Stacy! Okay, swimming is a bit of a stretch, because the current was so strong we didn't really leave the immediate area of the dock, but it was very refreshing. I skipped the afternoon walk because I was exhausted and he said it was going to be short, so I slept in the cabin with Susie, who was sick. Dinner was amazing, just rice with beef and vegetables but a delicious sauce, so good!

Then everyone went in one of the motorized boats to look for caimen, which are relatives of alligators and live in the rainforest. We found a lot! The way you spot them is by looking for red dots near shore... their eyes! It was kind of creepy. We saw really small ones and adults.

So now, after a day of hiking and sweating in the hot hot rainforest, all we wanted to do was come back and take a shower.

Too bad there was no water!!!

No water. At all. The water is river water which goes through a long filtration process, but it just wasn't on, so we didn't shower... yuck. I'm not a have-to-shower-every-day person, but when you've been walking for 4 hours and sweating virtually ALL DAY, it is just gross not to shower.

Sunday

In the morning we inquired and they said it would come back on with the electricity, which didn't make sense as we only had 6 hours of electricity a day and the water was usually always on, but whatever. Sunday we got up at 4:40 to hike to a tower to see more wildlife, as they are more active before/right before the sun comes up.

That night it poured- somehow I had slept through it, but Susie woke up and said she was afraid lightening was going to hit the house, it was so close and so bright. Good night to decide to be a heavy sleeper! We headed out and it was a hard walk because I didn't have a flashlight and there was no daylight and very little light from the flashlights around me. Thankfully Ali gave me hers and shared with Kalysta, who she was walking with. It was hard because it was so wet (still raining? I can't remember) and muddy. We got to the metal tower and climbed up. Yes, we climbed up a metal tower. In the rain.

Did I mention we could hear thunder? Not my favorite moment.

We got to the top and sadly, it was lame. Birds don't really come out when it is raining or wet, they hide under the leaves, so all we saw were 2 toucans far off in the distance with binoculars. Sorry if that sounds spoiled, but it sucks to get up at 4:30 AM, hike, be out in the rain, be hungry and exhausted and see nothing. We went back and went straight to breakfast, and the morning was redeemed by

FRUIT AND PANCAKES!!! Oh my god!! I was SO HUNGRY! I scarfed down 2 pancakes and then felt gross (I'd also had three glasses of the watery juice/kool aid/whatever they gave us in my attempt to stay hydrated). They were DELICIOUS. Then we got to take a quick nap because we couldn't go back out in the rain.

Then we hiked to the canopy bridges, which were cool! These were very different from the ones I walked on in Costa Rica... aka, not regulated and definitely scary. A board was missing from one bridge. There were 2 ladders going up a tree in one place to an outlook spot (really a couple of boards) and I chickened out 3/4 of the way up because the ladders were wobbling and I was terrified. Dad, you would have been a mess! After I spent a little time on the bridges I was able to enjoy the view without feeling like I was facing imminent death.

Another delicious meal awaited us back at the station: patacones (fried? baked? pieces of platanos), red beans, rice and meat. Yes, I've turned into quite the carnivore here... at first I "didn't eat beef." Um... beef is delicious. I have no idea what I'll do back in the States.

An hour after lunch everyone loaded into the boat to go swimming for real! But sadly we floated for a long time looking for wildlife. All I wanted to do was get in the water! There were about 30 of us in all, and we took turns jumping off the boat into the water and the current curried us downstream. It was so fun. There are anacondas, electric eels, the caimen (alligator-like) and piranhas in this water, but the directors assured us it was fine, and it was.

Then we went back and rested. Sadly I cannot remember what 'the last supper' was, but I'm sure it was delicious. Later that night we saw a slideshow of really cool pictures of insects the director has taken- these are crazy insects! I'd never seen anything like them. We also saw pictures from the hidden cameras they have in the forest with heat and motion sensors, everything from deer to rabbits to taiper, JAGUARS (one black jaguar seen in 20,000 pictures over 4 years... where is (s)he?!?!), everything, it was really cool. Then we read and talked before falling asleep in the cabin.

Monday & Thoughts

Monday was miserable as we left at 7:30 AM and our flight out of Coca wasn't until 5:15... we had about 3 hours to kill after arrival in the city, which was super lame. I'm really glad I got to go (and that Beloit funded it), but it was honestly way too much traveling for only 2 full days- the first day was at least 9 hours, and the last 11. I also, and I'm sad to say this, was disappointed by the guide. We had to walk single file because of the trails and when he saw something he would turn and explain to the person behind him... and no one else had any idea what was going on. It wasn't like he had to be quiet as to not scare off other animals... I'm talking about bugs and plants. And while the other group saw 5 species of monkey, we saw none. None. I know some of it must be luck, and maybe we talked too much, but if that was the case I wish he'd just told us to shut up. He was a nice old man, but not a good guide.

I am also incredibly bitter that in the spring Beloit gives students a trip to the Galapagos (to which the ticket and taxes alone cost almost twice as much as this weekend) and not us... I can't say it is better as I haven't gone, but I'm sure it is, and it is a week, not 2 days! It is ridiculous, and I will be writing a VERY strong op-ed about study abroad at Beloit when I get back, as there is a disgusting amount of bullshit and hypocrisy involved.

That said, I love Ecuador, and I miss Beloit. However, I do not like the university, as I have had negative experiences (not entirely, but somewhat) in all of my classes: from the professor who left for a month to do research and the class was entirely productive, to the one whom I used to admire and now consider an egotistical ass who made me cry in his office, the prof I consider to be condescending and inappropriate, and the disgusting incidence of cheating on our second literature test. Students here blatantly talk during presentations or even when the professor is talking, they leave class early because they want to, it is a joke. I miss the honesty and sincerity of Beloit, the passion people have for learning, wanting to go to the classes you are in instead of dreading them.

I have 19 more days here, only now I am counting down subconsciously out of dread, not excitement. I know December will be amazing, as will next semester, but I am just getting comfortable here and it is being pulled away from me. Ali and I have started walking at a beautiful park near our house where we can escape the city. I feel (a bit) closer with my host parents. There is still so much I haven't done, through no fault but my own.

This weekend is Fiestas de Quito, although I am on a very strict budget so I am not sure what I will be doing. Then I have to take care of all my finals next week, and the following weekend I am going south to go to a small spa town and national park, and then the larger historical city of Cuenca. I am so excited, and I really consider it necessary to travel that last week, because otherwise I will be bored and sad about leaving if I just sit in Quito.

Pavo y Calabeza

(Turkey and Pumpkin)

I am waking up in a little over five hours to go to the airport, and I haven't packed, but I have to update you on Thanksgiving before I go away for the weekend!

It was really, really nice. Five friends and I had dinner at our friend Rachel's (BEAUTIFUL) house. Ali made mac n cheese and mashed potatoes, I brought extensive salad-making ingredients (lettuce, spinach, tomato, onion, cucumber, bleu and gouda cheese, corn, olives, etc), Stephen made cookies and pumpkin pie, Santi and Kalysta did the turkey, and Rachel provided random things and, well, a house and kitchen. We cooked everything there and ate with her host mom and sister after going around and saying what we were thankful for. I also had a $4 bottle of wine.... nice. Then her host brother, THE CUTEST 8-YEAR-OLD, came and I asked him if he wanted to try the pumpkin pie and at first he said no then he ate it up and loved it. He kept trying to eat the whipped cream and we would take it away from him and chase him around the kitchen. It was so much fun.

This week has not been so eventful, class and such as usual. Tomorrow 11 people from the university here are going to the rainforest until Monday evening, which will be amazing. We take a plane, a boat, a bus, and a boat... it is very deep in the jungle, nothing is there except animals and plants and nature. I am so excited. really need to go pack now, I am so afraid I will forget something. I can't believe I'm leaving so soon... I have so much to look forward to, both during December and next semester, but I am just starting to really feel comfortable here- in Ecuador, with Spanish, with my friends, and I am leaving in fewer days than I'd like to acknowledge. (But I miss you mom and dad!) My cell phone just ran out of minutes when I called them :(

But some good news- I was elected Vice-President of Theta next semester, which I am so excited about! I miss the organization and people so much, it will be amazing to go back.

I love you all!

*Another note- I am sorry I haven't been uploading pictures- my internet is sporadic en casa, but when I try to something is wrong with the Java so it just shuts down... it is so lame!! I am trying to work on it! I even brought my camera to the internet lab the other day but it wouldn't copy the pictures for some reason.... any ideas?

A Spoon Should be a Sign - A Note on Family Times

The other night my host mom called me down to dinner. Usually I eat with my host dad, Fernando, and she will nibble on something small- she used to eat dinner with us, then she was on a diet, sometimes she doesn't feel well... so usually just the two of us eat. Fernando wasn't there (sometimes he has work meetings until late), and she had put my dinner all laid out in front of me: bowl of soup, plate, salad bowl. Yummy. I eat the soup first, and look at the salad. It looks like an awfully big bowl, but, well, I like vegetables, and the other place wasn't even set- the bowl was directly in front of me on my place mat, so I dug in. After putting one spoonful (key) of salad in my mouth, ella me dice, "Compartes la ensalada con Fernando-" you're sharing the salad with Fernando! Aaaahh! I was so embarrassed. OBVIOUSLY I would be sharing a massive salad with a spoon in it! I didn't realize because he wasn't there, and it is incredibly rare that there is any type of family platter on the table, everything is always set out in front of me, pre-portioned. I kept apologizing, but she didn't care at all.

Things have been much better with my host family. Part of it is me learning to deal with my host mom's neurotic-ness (last week she told me I had to ask her to have a glass of milk... I was really upset at first, but made myself breathe, said '5 weeks,' it's her house, and if she is a control freak she is a control freak...) I can say please, thank you, be served, and never do dishes. Every night I say, "es mi turno?" o "voy a llevar los guantes," but rarely does she let me wear the gloves and do the dishes- even my own. It's strange. I don't like being waited on like that, it is uncomfortable, I guess because I am not used to it.

But I have grown used to the solitude of the house, the fact that I only really talk to them at dinner, the fact that I have no relationship with my host sisters. It's not what I envisioned (or wanted), but has pushed my comfort level in important ways. I hate to think that these things will make it easier to leave, but it is undeniably true.

I really do have a good and improving relationship with my host mom. Soon I will go back to being responsible for my meals (and I miss that a lot- tonight I ate alone because I came home late after Model UN, and it was strangely comforting to just put food in the microwave and wash my dishes) God, I miss cooking! Last night I was having a bit of a homesick night and was reading news and epicurious.com, noting recipes I wanted to make when I come home. Mom, I want to bake a pie (from scratch). Also string bean casserole.

But I have one more month of Ecuador- one month exactly; thirty days of my now-normal walk to the bus to school, of putting money in my bra, of greeting the security guards in my neighborhood in Spanish; one month of Coqueros fruit ice creams, one month of Spanish literature and wonderful travels, one month of legal drinking, one month of the view of Quito from my rooftop. One month with the people I've met here who I will dearly miss, and I know it will go by all too fast, even if sometimes I already wish I were home.

It is weird to be the same person and live in another country, in another culture. I don't think I have changed that much. I've learned to sit on a bus for 13 hours through the night without losing my mind (still not sure how), I've learned to deal with hunger and potato soup every day... not to mention fear and harassment. I've learned to not have freedom in the house I call my own. I have not learned to be accepting of other views (note two weeks ago, when I stormed out of a conservative friend's house shaking and almost crying after a political argument). I have learned to speak in Spanish comfortably, although I am sin dudo not fluent.

And, maybe most importantly, I have almost learned to walk down the street and put my key in the door without looking around and checking for my safety.

Although I do the same thing in Manhattan, so that might be a lesson for another day- or another decade.

Rafting in the Jungle!

I had a fantastic weekend... I headed off to Tena, a small city (16,000) in the Oriente (aka jungle!) with four friends: Ali, Kalysta, Liz and Rachel, for a weekend of fun. We planned to meet at Ali's (on my block) at 6:45, but people were late, we were slow calling a cab, I forgot a copy of my passport, Ali forgot her iPod, so we didn't actually leave our street until almost 7:30 and were well prepared to miss out bus, driving through normal (terrible) Quito traffic. But we had the most amazing cab driver, who called the bus company, asked them to pick us up on the entrance to the autopista, waited with us there, then called again and drove us somewhere else... with all the time he spent he could have easily made a few more fares, but instead he helped us out. It made me have a little bit of faith in Quito again.

The bus ride was good but VERY bumpy- the roads are not so well-paved in the Jungle! We got to our hostel a little after 1, went to travel company to book our rafting trip, ate, went to the market and hung out the rest of the day.

Rafting Saturday was AMAZING. I had never been rafting before, and was more than a little scared of the Class-IV rapids I was about to encounter, but the entire thing was fantastic (well, maybe not the almost-hour walk to the river, at times through mud up to my knees- I didn't care about getting dirty, but I had to take off my sandals, and my feet hurt from all the rocks). Our guide was really nice and we did lots of fun things on the raft- after going down a jump, we would paddle back into it and get sprayed; we all sat in the back and he used his rope to pull the raft to a 90 degree angle, all five rafts docked at this huge rock we all jumped off of... we floated down the river... we would ride on the FRONT of the raft into the rapids... Basically I never wanted it to end, but of course it had to, and the next day we were all quite sore and bug-bitten (crazy huge bug bites that hurt just to touch), and we had to head back to Quito. That rafting was definitely one of the highlights of my semester. If you are ever here: TENA, RIVER PEOPLE, CLASS IV FULL DAY RAPIDS.

Too bad this week is going to blow. It's midnight- I'm sure I have lit reading for tomorrow, I have my final political science paper due Wednesday at 1PM (just some corrections, but I need to do them), a political science 2-page paper due Wednesday at 8PM which I started (this is not too bad), a huge Anthro test Thursday at 1PM which I need to continue studying for, and a lot of Anthro homeworks to do... Blah. And Friday starts our Model UN simulation, which I will go into supremely stressed out. Lovely. Plus my sorority elections are Sunday, which I know I will be thinking about.

I am going back to the Jungle in 11 days, much deeper, on Beloit's dime... 11 days... think rivers a and rafting and clean air...

Two tablespoons of morality and a dash of disdain

Last Thursday my Spanish literature class took its second test of the semester. I had studied a lot and was feeling pretty good about it. Twice during the test the professor went out for a few minutes. The first time nothing happened; the second, as soon as the door closed, the entire class- and this is the only appropriate way to describe it- erupted in cheating. At least the Ecuadorian students did. There are only about 8 international students in this class, and we were all looking around at each other like, "what the hell is going on?" These weren't secluded whispers but MINUTES of full-out, sentences, talking, conversations, outrageous cheating. I was incredibly pissed off, and an extranjera I was sitting next to asked me if I wanted to go get the professor, and I said no, because I wasn't going to be the tattletale who got up and ratted people out- at least in the middle of class.

Everyone immediately stopped when we were able to hear the door creaking open, and the professor was none the wiser. I was furious, and for the rest of the test it was all I could think about. Not only the ridiculous nature of the cheating, but the fact that these kids can sit down and read these stories in 10 or 20 minutes, and I sit down with a dictionary and struggle for a few hours for each class period- and usually still am not entirely sure. How can they be so disrespectful to their class, their university, their own education? I knew I was going to say something to him after class, because even if he didn't do anything then, he needed to know that he can't leave the room (and close the door) in this university, because that is what happens. (I've heard many other instances of blatant cheating from my friends.)

So when I finished, when about half the class had already left, I asked to speak with him outside and basically told him all of that; and the student who'd asked me if I wanted to talk to him was waiting as well. He said "oh okay, oh, okay, I should have known, thanks, I usually trust that I can leave the room and the gringos will behave..." (He is a gringo as well.)

Come class Tuesday, he walks in and gives a very harsh lecture to the class which hopefully hit them hard- asking why Ecuador was a troubled country. Was it because people didn't want to work? No. Was it a lack of resources? No, the problem is corruption, and "you all are continuing that corruption." It was intense. Then he said he wished he had a list of the people who cheated so he could go to the Dean's Office, report them and kick them out of the class, but he didn't, so he was going to throw our tests in the trash- which he did, in front of us- and gave us a new exam to take.

I think he did the right thing, and I think he did the only thing he could do. I'm sure he couldn't have used those grades knowing that there was so much cheating on the test, but one of my friends was really mad that she had to retake it because she didn't cheat and it wasn't fair. Yeah, I didn't cheat either- obviously- and of course it wasn't fair, but it wasn't fair to him that all his students disrespected him and that classroom. There was no other alternative. It would have been discriminatory for him to believe that the international students didn't cheat, and besides, anyone could have said that. While completely unfair to those of us who studied and took the test honestly- and probably did worse on the second test because it was unannounced- it was the only option he had.

That incident made me so disillusioned with this school. Students are disrespectful. In that same class, students are constantly holding conversations, audible to me 10 feet away, when the professor is clearly talking... students keep their cell phones on their desk during class, texting or obviously looking at the time... students regularly walk in 10 minutes late... and this is said to be the best university in Ecuador. I am not diggin' it. This would not fly at Beloit, but more than that, your classmates would resent you for your bad attitude.

Is this a judgement? Definitely. Unfair? I think not. They have to know cheating is wrong. On the second test, the professor included a 15-point question which was: What is the honor code of USFQ? Why is it important to have? What does the word "ethics" imply? How has Ecuador suffered from corruption? Maybe if they grow up and see corruption and cheating as a way of life, it claws its way into what they believe to be normal... it was astounding, and depressing. I hope these students learn to value their education and opportunities more than that, because there is no point in going to college if that is how you are going to act. I am not ashamed that I told, in fact, if I heard any of them complaining about it, I would say I informed the professor, and you need to grow up.

The Middle of the World, Trolls & Puppy Chow

I had a pleasing and relaxing weekend in Quito. On Friday I went to the equator with an Australian that I met at a bar on election night. There is a touristy site- well, actually two- that you can go to. The first is a huge monument that was the original site, which was measured incorrectly but still impressive and fun, called Mitad del Mundo; the second is a museum (Museo Inti Ñan, if you are ever here), which is quite cool. It has various archaeological exhibits and some of the stereotypical equator experiments, like a sink which demonstrates how water goes straight down instead of funneling (really cool!) and the ability to balance an egg on a nail due to magnetic forces... or something like that.

Then Saturday I went out to a Korean restaurant for lunch with three friends (delicious... who would've thought, in Quito!) and to a museum in the historic district. We wanted to go to another one, but it is closed for three weeks of renovations. On the step to the closed museum were hundreds of nails sticking up, waiting for the sorry foot of anyone who attempted to enter... not me. We also went to a delicious lunch/snack shop, Fruteria Monserrate, and shared banana splits... EVEN MORE DELICIOUS. The museum we visited was Museo de la Ciudad, which was pretty cool, although I have to say the highlight was getting yelled at (in English) by a guide leading a Spanish tour after taking a picture of Ali posing next to a knight, yes, in shining armor. (Tal vez nos debe DECIR si no quiere que tomemos fotos... dios mio.) Ay.

We found our way back north and had the amazing idea of making Puppy Chow. Yes, PUPPY CHOW. For those of you who are deprived enough to not be familiar with this beautiful creation, envision: Many grams of melted chocolate, mixed with peanut butter, thrown in a huge paper bag with a box of Chex, shake it like a polaroid picsha, and then adding powdered sugar. Clearly, a synonym would be HEAVEN. We actually used Special K cereal because there is no Chex, and it is so much better. You don't have the dry spaces in between the Chex. Try it. We also made sandwiches for dinner. (Editor's note- as I am the editor- I don't usually eat that much here!! I've lost a fair amount of weight. This was just a pig-out day, probably the most I've eaten in a day during my time here! Also, I split my lunch entree, so there.) We also watched Chocolat, great movie, and Mulan- CLEARLY great movie- that night before going home. No wild times this weekend, sorry!

Sunday was nice because I spent the day tanning on my roof (LOVE IT) and catching up on homework and cleaning my room, which looks wohhnndaful now. Wondaful I say. I found the part of my camera charger that was missing, and then today, my friend returned my Model UN reader I'd lost in the bubble tea shop! The workers there saw me leave it, remembered I was with him, and saved it for 5 days and gave it to him today! I guess there are some good people here. I'm sure my parents are shaking their heads right now, unsurprised at my disorganization. Maybe I can make some money. Write a book about it or something.

Speaking of that, I had a bad dream a few weeks ago. If you know me at all you know I am messy, especially in my bedroom. Once I lost a waffle for a period longer than I am willing to admit. Don't ask. No, it didn't have syrup, thank god. Anyway, I had a dream that my mom told me my room was so messy she found two dead trolls in it.

Pause for laughter. Two dead trolls? Are you kidding me? Like garden trolls. Ohhh boy.

Anyway, moving along. I also made a delicious soup on Sunday for lunch. I've made it before, it's lentils from the Mennonite farmer's market at Beloit, and you add water, tomatoes, carrots, celery and cabbage. I didn't have the last two, but it was still very tasty.

I spent this morning notarizing a bank form from home (due to my disorganization...) and trying to plan a trip for this weekend which is stressing me out way too much. We are trying to go to Tena, a town in the Oriente (eastern jungle- well, there is only one jungle, it is in the east), as it's their festivals weekend and should be really fun. We made reservations at a hostel two weeks ago, and after calling today they said they had no such reservations- bastards. Luckily another place still had room, but I am going to reconfirm tomorrow (and every day) because I don't want to arrive and have to go sleep in a tree with a monkey or something.

Now I have to finish writing a story for my literature class, it's due tomorrow morning but it is coming along (only 500 words). I chose to write it in Spanish- he said we could in English if we preferred, but why on earth would I do that? Granted, I've looked up about 15 words out of the first 200 or so, but that's what I'm here for. I will post it in an upcoming entry... so Jenny can read it, I guess. Maybe I'll translate it to English. Probably not.

This was a long entry, I hope it was good. I am leaving in 41 days... not that I have a "countdown," I just remember, but sometimes I am anxious to be home, it is difficult here at times. But I know I won't be back for a long time and I need to appreciate everything I can do now, and what is available here which is not in the US... Latin men.

Just kidding, mom.

So this one time, the best campaign in history lead to President-Elect...

OBAMA!!!!

Okay, so I'm a little late. But Tuesday night was amazing.

I can't say I was excited- the excitement had been looming all along, the main sentiment I felt was relief; a huge sense of relief poured over me when he got Pennsylvania and Florida. Sometime soon after that I realized he had won because Washington, Oregon and California would undoubtedly be blue, but when NBC flashed PROJECTION: SENATOR OBAMA WINS ELECTION, the entire bar I was at in Quito erupted in shouts and screams and delight. I had been so worried. I've read an incredible amount about this election, and knew he had been quite favored in the polls, but didn't trust it until I saw it. There could be the race or experience factor, his supporters not actually going out to the polls, some crazy America-style corruption... who knows. But everything is fine and I hopefully will not have to hear or see Sarah Palin for a long time. McCain Reitrement '09.

I went to a bar with 4 friends (1 fellow Obama fan, 3 McCain supporters) and drifted over to another group of foreigners I didn't know after awhile and ended up staying with them the whole night, partially because I wanted to get to know them and partially because I really wanted to be around some liberals. As horrible as it may be to say, I don't think I can respect anyone who voted for McCain in this election. And that is a fault I have, because I am clearly too thick to be able to understand that view, but I just can't. At all. When I asked one of the girls today why she supported him, she said she just agreed with more of his policies. When I asked which ones, she couldn't give me any answers. How can you not be able to say one thing to support the candidate of your choice? [If any of my conservative friends are reading this, please don't be offended. I know I am a judgmental Democrat, and I've admitted it to you. So there!]

I am quite excited to be staying in Quito this weekend, because I've traveled the past 4 weekends and I need a break. It is exciting to be able to sit in my room and write this and not have to worry about packing and getting on a night bus in a few hours. I only have 6 and a half weeks left here, which is crazy. My bar of soap is running out, but I refuse to buy a new one because I travel so much. That's how cheap I've gotten.

I'm still not sure about classes for next semester but I will post when I know. There are some awesome choices, I have eleven I want to take!

Canoa, what tomorrow brings...

I got back from a trip to the beach this morning... God, I'm a broken record, aren't I? Canoa, a beach just barely on the Northern coast, was my third and final beach stop in Ecuador. It is a small beach which is quite a trek: a 7 hour bus ride, boat ride across a river, and another local bus, but it was worth it to go to a small, non-tourist-infested town. A group of sixteen of us went, mostly exchange students and a few Ecuadorians, and stayed in a hostel with views of the beach (and the sound of the waves) right from our rooms! It was amazing. There was also free breakfast and happy hour included in the price... what more can you ask for? I want to be back lying in a hammock and sipping a Caipirinha. I also did a fair amount of homework on the beach... in bed... in my hammock... trying to be responsible!

We had today off from school for Dia de los Muertos, which I actually didn't celebrate... oh well. I am more concerned with the events of tomorrow, namely the US election. It seems impossible for McCain to win (right?) I spend hours every day (well, every day I am in Quito) reading news, everything from the probability of electoral college votes to John McCain's military and scandalous past; Palin's $150,000 wardrobe and why Arizona is surprisingly not a safe 10 votes for McCain. I will be inconsolable if Obama does not win tomorrow. (Hi Uncle Jimmy... no offense, but McCain is a mess.)

There has been more school work here than many students expected, with the common thought that studying abroad is an easy ride. Maybe it is just the classes I picked, or the fact that I am constantly traveling (after the 16th I will have 6 straight weekends of being gone from Quito, often leaving Thursday night and coming back Sunday night or Monday morning, after a draining night bus). I don't regret it though, because there are so many places I want to see here, and sadly I don't like Quito. Me parece dirty and dangerous, and I know that is mostly because I have been blessed with growing up in a beautiful (well, to us locals!) and safe city, but the adjustment has been hard, and I really like getting out to the country and seeing other parts. Although I do have a long list of things I still need to see and do in Quito before I leave (in less than 50 days! Strange...)

Beloit also put out its class schedule last Thursday, so I have been trying to figure that out. As of now I think I am taking Nicaragua in Transition, Economic Development, Women's Health, Politics of Latin America and the Caribbean and Claude Levi-Strauss at 100 (YES GUYS I KNOW IT'S 5 but the last one is only .5 credit, and it's with Rob LaFleur, who is amazing, and will therefore be more of a treat than a chore). Although I'm not sure because there are a TON of appealing classes, and I am trying how to balance them between my IR and Health majors. And the Duffy Partnership is looking for Spanish-speaking students for internships, so I am looking into that as well, but then I KNOW I would have to drop a class...

Also, hi Mom. I saw the typo I made with "it's" in my last entry, but decided not to change it because my wireless is a pain, but thanks for pointing it out! I am an editor after all.

Cross your fingers for tomorrow, guys... don't plan your black wardrobe yet.
LIVE YOUR VALUES. LOVE YOUR COUNTRY. MAKE HISTORY - VOTE OBAMA.

A beach weekend...

Thursday night I headed west to the beach with my friends Liz (de Nebraska), Ali (de Tejas,) and Liz's boyfriend Jorge (de aqui, Quito). What an adventure!

We went to Atacames, which was a beach I originally had no intention of visiting, because it's reputation is: dirty, too much music, touristy, basically nothing special- or attractive. But Liz's family has an (almost-beachfront) apartment with a pool they were letting us stay in, so how could I refuse?

We took a night bus which departed at 11PM, getting us in on-time at- get this- 5:12 AM. I was able to doze, but can't sleep that well on these buses. It was dark when we got off, and we took a taxi to the apartment and promptly passed out (well, after gorging on a little chex mix and talking). I killed a snail on the way inside. There were no lights outside the door, and I heard this huge POP sound after I took a step... only after we turned on the light was the truth revealed: I had mercilessly slaughtered a defenseless animal. The mama snail had pulled herself over to the baby I killed and seemed to be mourning. It was sad.

But first, let me go back to the taxi. There are no "taxis" in this town, but motorcycles with wooden seats attached... hilarious (mototaxi). Half the time we all squeezed on one, with two people balancing on the sides, or we split them and went 2 and 2. These vehicles go on highways! It is hilarious. Hopefully I got a good picture of them.

The rest of the weekend was a blur of awesome warm-ocean swimming, jellyfish stings (tally: Ali- 2, Liz- 1, Jorge y Yo: SUERTES!!) ceviche (I LOVE CEVICHE! de camarones (shrimp). DELICIOUS, and tanning. Quite relaxing. We went out Saturday night, to the infamous Malecon- beach stip with bar after bar, which actually look like tiki huts and are basically identical, right on the beach. After dancing salsa with some locals, Ali and I wandered off and started talking to some locals on the beach.

People on the coast have such a different accent than the sierra, and it can be really hard to understand. I generally have no problem conversing with people. My Spanish is far from perfect, but I can speak and understand pretty well, and sometimes I had no idea what these guys were saying. One of many differences is that they never pronounce the 's' and the end of a word- so Estados Unidos becomes a ess-tah-doh u-nee-doh with a very heavy accent.

We left at 2:30 Sunday afternoon, after one last delicious seafood meal (camarones encocados, or shrimp in coconut sauce, is amazing!). Halfway through the trip we were driving through some town which was having, just our luck, a riot. I of course freaked out (remember my worries about bus hijackings), but it was fine, just an annoyance- there were police there but it took almost half an hour to clear a path for the bus to go through (it was a small riot, taking up about a third of a city block, but not even fully from one side to the other). Jorge's parents picked us up in Quito and we went to McDonald's because we were starving (the buses don't really do meal stops), and drove us home, which was really nice of them.

I need to stop writing these entries on Mondays because it ends up being just about my trips and nothing else, but they are the most interesting parts anyway. Today I had a bad day, with my professor talking to me about how apparently I don't care about his class, when it is the only one that matters to me. People here gossip like they are in high school and it is unprofessional and revolting (which I wrote to him in an email... as well as referencing that I seem to be considered a bitch with a chip on my shoulder. I probably shouldn't have written that, but I don't care, I was furious).

Next semester I am taking Nicaragua in Transition, a health class at Beloit (with Marta! Yay!) which goes to Nicaragua for spring break. I am incredibly excited for it. It studies how microcredit helps low-cost financing in the country. I am also applying to (and hopefully living in) the Spanish house. I only have about seven weeks left here, which is really strange, and I'm not sure I like already being excited about things for next year, but it will be nice transitioning back to Beloit where I have a campus I know, am not scared of being robbed whenever I step outside the house, am not whistled at by every other man on the street because I'm a gringa, and have an amazing support system which is sadly absent here.

Twentieth Birthday & Quilotoa!

I am halfway through my trip right now, which seems crazy. I only have 2 more free weekends left to plan trips for, and there are so many places I want to go! In the interest of length, I won’t mention anything before Thursday of last week because it was just business as usual: class, homework, my massive consumption of political commentary and hatred for McCain, etc. [Election countdown: 16 days... I honestly think I will go mad if Obama doesn’t win, I am so emotionally invested in this election!] I have this huge dilemma between the desire to respect people's beliefs and ultimate refusal to believe that any sane, non-mentally-ill person could vote for McCain. I admit to being a judgemental Democrat. Does that mean it's any less obnoxious? Anyway...

Thursday night I went out to dinner with about 40 students at the university here (mostly Americans, almost all foreigners, but a few Ecuadorians as well) then I went out to a club with my friend Liz, her boyfriend Jorge, my friend Ali and her sister and best friend from home! Her family flew in Thursday night and brought her best friend as a surprise, I am so jealous! It was really fun. At the restaurant we had a huge table tat must have stretched at least 30 feet, plus another table because we still had too many people. It was a birthday celebration for me and three other students who had their birthdays this week. At the end either the restaurant brought us cake or someone paid for it, but I got to blow out a candle.

Friday I was quite tired from the night before so I had a lazy day, tanning on the roof and reading until I went to Jorge’s futbol game with Liz, which was really fun except FREEZING- we need to bring a blanket next time. Then we went out again but I didn’t stay out too late because I had to wake up at SIX on Saturday (yes, my birthday...) to travel to Quilotoa with my Beloit sociology class for the weekend. We met at 7:45 in a bus stop (I had to get up so early to make sure I was awake, pack, take a taxi to the bus stop (not on my line), etc.

We took two buses for a total of about 5 hours to arrive at Quilotoa, which is south of Quito in the Central Sierra of Ecuador. It is COLD. It is at a higher altitude than Quito (not sure how much), and whenever we were outside we had hats, gloves, scarves, the works. It is an indigenous community set on a beautiful volcanic lake... it is breathtaking. I need to get pictures up. While I get wireless in my house, it is slow and I think my computer is infected, so uploading pictures is more frustrating than watching Sarah Palin try to answer a question about foreign policy.

When we arrived Saturday we had lunch (made by one of the families), spoke with one of the men from the area who is an artist and makes beautiful paintings– I bought a small one– and got settled in our hostel. In these small communities in Ecuador a lot of “hostels” will really be people’s houses with extra beds, but this one had an entire separate part of the house, and we met a whole group of European travelers as well. We hung out in the huge bedroom where we were all sleeping, and my professor asked if I had brought anything to celebrate my birthday. Previously in class I’d asked if I could bring a bottle of wine, but didn’t bring anything on the trip. She seemed distressed that I hadn’t, and declared that we would need to go out and buy something to celebrate.

She, I, another American student and a friend of the prof traveling with us head out in slight rain to look for some type of alcohol in this small indigenous town... the first little shop we stop in only has boxed wine (Theta love) except this kind is supposed to be terrible, so we continued on. I was confused at the next store when a man held up what must have been a five gallon water bottle, but it was a homemade cinnamon alcohol from Ecuador... perfect, my professor said. There’s a drink you can make with it that’s really sweet, so we got it and headed back.

When we all had dinner the owner of the hostel proclaimed I had to eat everything because it was my birthday (what?) and three little girls who were there the whole time– not sure if they were related– danced for us in their traditional costumes and then declared I would have to dance because it was my birthday.... ahem. Thankfully they pulled up some other gringos as well so it wasn’t just me making a fool of myself. They were trying to teach everyone to do these native dances, and one of the boys in my group was being really awkward, plus he is over 6 feet tall and was dancing with a 4 year old... I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

At the end, when we were all sitting down, the owner came over to me and gave me one of the warm wool hats they have as a birthday present! And each of the three girls did as well (a pair of MUCH NEEDED gloves and two bracelets which I am not going to take off). It was really nice. When people started going to bed, I stayed up late playing a card game called “Capitalismo, Asshole” for quite awhile with four of the guys in the group, which was so much fun. I will explain the game later because this post is already getting quite long, but you should play it!

When I woke up this morning I was FREEZING, even though I slept in two long-sleeved shirts, an Old Navy fleece, a hat, scarf and gloves... my hands were the coldest. We got ready and ate quickly and headed down to the Laguna. This is such a beautiful place, I really want to go back and spend more time there. It took about 30 minutes to go down completely- it is SO STEEP. I will try to post pictures soon. There is a lot of sand and when you walk the sand completely covers your shoes in some parts. It was actually really hard just to go down, because I was wearing too many layers (apparently in the laguna is the only place in this town where you’re not at risk of frostbite!) and it was so steep downhill, but it was a gorgeous view and I’m really glad I went. I took a mule back up (it’s pretty common there, you pay $5 for the ride which is so worth it...) because I had already been feeling nauseous, possibly due to the altitude change, and knew I would be miserable if I tried to climb back up the crater.

That said, I don’t think I ever want to take a mule again. It wasn’t always uncomfortable, but something about the ride made it impossible for me to sit up straight or I had incredible back pain (which ceased immediately when I got off), and mules follow a path right next to the edge of the road (or, you know, cliff) which makes you feel like you could plunge to your death at any moment the mule chooses. The guide behind me was also hitting it or whipping it to make it go faster (not often or hard, it seemed), but it made me really sad and uncomfortable and I was just sitting there thinking “this poor animal has to suffer because I can’t hike up the volcano” and felt really bad. Except it was really good that I took it, because I have hiked here around Quito, and I know this volcano was waaaayy beyond my ability... I would have been miserable and likely sick trying to go up it.

After that we went back to the house where we first stopped on Saturday afternoon and spent time with some of the kids from the community, playing musical chairs and teaching them English (aka singing “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” dozens of times). It was really fun because these kids are ADORABLE. Oh man. I wanted to take a few of them home with me. Around 1 we got on a bus back to Quito. Five hours of buses sound miserable, and can be, if you get motion sick, but I quite enjoy it. Especially the bus from Latacunga to Quilotoa is GORGEOUS, it passes canyons and everywhere in Ecuador there are mountains and the scenery is amazing. I brought my ipod on this trip– I usually never do, I think it’s actually the first time it’s left the house, but even when I’m just sitting there, looking out the window is enough to pass the time (during the day... night buses are a different story, as you saw in my last entry. I hate them but sadly they are too practical to pass up when traveling far away).

Here I am sitting in my bed, tired and with too much work ahead of me as always, but I know I will get more out of experiencing Ecuador than sitting in the library. There will be enough of that next semester, I’m sure.

*Also- if you are reading this- Beloit has a really late start date for next semester (Jan. 18) so I was thinking about coming a day or two early to Madison or Chicago and hanging out. Let me know if you'd want to hang out... and if I can stay with you! (Because if I don't have somewhere to stay this won't happen.) It would be fuuuun.

Ciao!

Puerto Lopez: Isla de la Plata, snorkeling, stirfry, and smiles

So I just got back from my trip to Puerto Lopez, a small fishing town on the beach (Ecuador's coast is on the Pacific). I'll tell you about my trip, starting with the horrible bus ride. The "10-hour" bus ride went something like this:

Wednesday

6:10 PM: Kimberly leaves house to walk to Stacey's.
6:25: Arrives at Stacey's block, tries to call Stacey to open door on street, finds out phone is surprisingly out of minutes, freaks out at the idea of being stranded on a Quito street at night, presses every buzzer on Stacey's building, some male godsend answers "ahh si, un momento" to my stressed "STACEY ESTA ALLI??" and lets Kim.
6:40: Get cab with Stacey and Susie to the terminal.
7:10: Still in cab. Massive amounts of traffic. Pick up Jennifer on her block.
7:20: Arrive to bus terminal, cabbie tries to charge us $1 extra because Jen got in cab, even though we told him we would be picking up a friend. She feels bad, I tell her to get out of the cab. We wait for 8PM bus departure.
8:00: Load onto bus, put our bags below although have extreme desire not to.
8:25: Bus finally leaves. We are agitated.
8:50: Oh, bus is just going to another terminal, not going to start journey! Ha-ha! How funny! We pick up passengers for half an hour, although this is supposed to be a safe bus with a direct route which doesn't pick up passengers.
9:10: 8PM bus starts departure for "10-hour" bus ride to Puerto Lopez, Ec.
10:oo: Scary-sounding noise comes from bottom of bus. I of course start to panic that something has been planted on the highway to stall our bus so it can be hijacked and we can all be robbed at gunpoint. This is due to my paranoia, but actually happens in Ecuador.
...10:something: Bus drivers stand around talking and doing nothing, finally decide to call for another bus.
11:45: (Yes, over an hour and a half later) Second bus arrives. Tired but non-robbed, we all pile on.
1:00 AM: Second bus breaks down. Yes, not kidding, second bus breaks down. I should go into comedy.
1:30: Bus drivers MIRACULOUSLY FIX BUS!!! All passengers in love with said bus drivers!!! Except they fixed the bus in the rain, and come back on and start stripping and drying themselves off with towels. It feels like an odd Ecuadorian bus driver-Chipmunks moment. Stacey and I are sitting directly behind the bus drivers, separated only by a glass panel, and feel quite awkward.
8:45 AM: ARRIVE IN PUERTO LOPEZ!!!! Almost 13 hours later.... exhausted.

Stacey ran off to the scuba shop and got to scuba dive that day, which was awesome, and Susie, Jen and I checked into the hotel, slept and were lazy bums as we we waited for her to come back. We had planned for a beach-bum day after such a long drive, but there was sadly no sun the entire weekend. At all. So we lazed around, had lunch and then dinner with Stacey when she came back from an awesome scuba dive, and went to bed early because we were still tired from the lack of sleep and as this is kind of the off season, not much was going on.

Friday we had arranged a tour of Isla de la Plata, which is known as the poor man's Galapagos, and it was well worth it. We left at 9, took a 70min-sh boat ride out there where we saw whales in the distance (they are usually only there May-Sept., so we were lucky), and walked around on the island. I opted for a shorter walk, an hour and a half opposed to 3 hours, because I wanted to do more snorkeling and I didn't think we would see much more in 3 hours... it's weird, the island is like a desert, everything is dead but there are lots of blue-footed boobies everywhere and another black bird which I don't remember the name of. I also liked that my shorter walk only had 2 other girls on it, Germans, whom I spoke with in Spanish, and our guide was awesome.

I love snorkeling! It was amazing! I'd never done it before and it was hard at first because it is absolutely against human instinct to breathe with your face in the water, but once I got used to it I loved it. I saw a lot of different kinds of fish, and our guide swam down and pulled up a purple starfish for us to see. It's amazing how clearly you can see underwater! We saw tortoises from the boat, but not in the water, because they are very afraid of people. I got to go back a second time when we picked up the whole group, and Stacey took pictures with her waterproof camera. I love swimming so it was really fun.

The ride back... was indescribable. At first we were frustrated that the guides were spending so much time looking for whales because they are supposed to be gone by now... and then we saw two, flipping through the water, they are such huge and majestic animals. We followed them (this part is kind of bad, as the boats here don't really follow any regulations regarding wildlife and we got too close to them, although we didn't harass them in any way except being right next to them) and found ORCAS as well!!! It was amazing! And they were right next to the boat. Then it was sad because the orcas started to eat the baby whale, because its throat is a delicacy... but it was so cool to be right in the middle of all this action and these huge amazing animals. I was honestly afraid they were going to capsize our boat because it was relatively small, and they were swimming under and around it! Unfortunately I didn't get any great photos, but it was wonderful.

That night we just showered and went out to dinner, and woke up early to take a bus 20 minutes north to go hike to a smaller, more secluded and prettier beach. It was about an hour and a half hike, and the beach was really nice, and we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (still on a budget!) and went in the water although there was still no sun. After a few hours we walked back, found the bus, showered, had an AMAZING dinner at an Italian place (run by real Italians)- I had legit pesto, DELICIOUS- and took the night bus back.

While it was definitely an enjoyable weekend, and I'm glad I went, I was happy to leave- Puerto Lopez is not a nice beach or a nice town. The streets are falling apart- it looked like they were under construction, but everything was just torn up, and even on the weekdays I didn't see any work being done. There were stray dogs around whenever we were walking outside. We were walking back to our hostel around 9PM- a block and a half off what could be considered the boardwalk, I guess, the road on the water- and these two dogs started fighting with each other and looked like they could be rabid. In addition, three guys started walking behind us, not saying anything but obviously following us... it was uncomfortable, but we got back to the hostel without incident. That is the thing I hate about Ecuador. Always feeling uncomfortable, always feeling that I am being watched, that I am not safe, that I need to watch my back, even in the daytime, even in a smaller town where I know it is not likely anything will happen.

This night bus also left at 8PM, but we got back to Quito before 5AM- so our first bus ride was almost 13 hours, and the second not even 9! Oh Ecuador. We all shared a cab back and passed out because it was close to impossible to sleep on this bus ride as it went so fast.

This week will again be busy as I have real work to do, and birthday festivities to participate in (my birthday is Saturday!!) I am trying to not be upset that I have to go on a trip with a class I dislike and probably wake up around 6AM on my birthday... partying too hard Friday will be regrettable, but probably occur. Sorry mom and dad, you only turn 20 once. Just imagine what will happen next year! Ha ha.

I only have a few more weekends that I can plan trips for, and need to figure out if I actually can travel during finals week, and where to go... I want to do Macchu Picchu, but think it will be prohibitively expensive, as is the Galapagos- although after Isla de la Plata, I don't feel the need to go there. I would love to, but it's too much money right now.

I have to say I am already a little excited for Beloit next semester, except the weather... I miss you all!

Love,
(still a teenager) Kim

Model UN weekend... "and China will give you kimonos..."

I think I just had the most academic weekend of my life, except maybe the weekend before the AP Government exam. My Model UN class (entirely English) had its first Security Council simulation, in which I acted as the lone ambadassor from Costa Rica. It was a lot of fun but definitely frustrating. I think the Russian Federation should just leave the United Nations. And Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. They refuse to compromise. Except Russia has veto power so this is probably not happening anytime soon.

Anyway, I was at the university in this conference from 4-midnight Friday, 9-8 Saturday and 10-6 Sunday... it would have been awful if I didn't love the class, professor, tutors and students so much. There is only one other American student, who is a good friend of mine (he was Burkina Faso so we sat next to each other during the simulation) and the Ecuadorian students are very nice and welcoming, moreso than other students I know here. I felt totally comfortable and interacted with a lot of different people. Saturday night we went out to a pizza place for dinner (and cerveza) and everyone took their turn standing up and talking about the class and being sappy, in Spanish (including me!) and we went to the house of one of the students and stayed out entirely too late considering the fact that we still had to be ambassadors the next day. But it was fun. We have a larger one at the end of November which is supposed to be the entire General Assembly.

I have an amazing weekend planned. I am going to Puerto Lopez with at least two friends, hopefully more! Puerto Lopez is a beach- I finally go to the beach!- and you can take tours to Isla de la Plata, known as "the poor man's Galapagos" to see the animals and swim and snorkel and visit an island!! Aaaaiiee! I am so excited. We are also going to go to the national park and spend another day on the beach. I am worried that my suntan lotion won't be enough, I have about five bottles of 30 or 50 but my host mom told me I NEED to buy 80, except I don't really have the money to this week, I am on a pretty strict budget. Even though it is ECUADOR, costs still add up like this-

$20 to $25 round trip bus
$15 to $25 2 nights in a hostel *probably $25, for a decent place*
$20 combined entrance fee to Isla de la Plata and National Park
$35 ish for trip to park (90 min boat ride each way, snorkeling, lunch)

So rounding up those prices is $105, not counting food and water which must be bought, and possibly having to take a cab back from the bus station, or to, and any other transportation near Puerto Lopez... ay. I have about $140 budgeted for it, it better be enough!

This week I have a lot to do with class- preparing for a MUN presentation next week and doing the Beloit app for the Nicaragua class next spring- before getting on a bus Thursday night... it will be busy! But I am so excited to finally go to the beach and do all these outdoorsy things! Pray I don't get fried like a lobster! I might have to find a way to get some better sunscreen...

So, I got robbed. For real this time.

I knew it would happen.I'm not surpised. It was stupid. We were watching the debate and had to call 2 taxies because there were 6of us. she lives on a deseretd street. one taxi came, the girl who lived in the house left because i knew where the palce wa.s we waited on the corner for the 2nd taxi. never xame, started to walk to a more populated street to find one after 15 inntues, could nt get back in the house, 3 men came at us running.

al i n all it was not too dramatic. they came running, we gpot it, threw our purses at themm no trobuel. i was lucky because i am so fucking apranodi- mall of you whomake fun of me for it- i had $30 on me, maybe fuive bucks in my purse, only (EXPENSIVE, but whatever) makeup in my purse. keys in my sweater pocket. i theeqw my purse at them. all i lost was a few bucks and makeup. a nice makeup brush. i was lucky, unlike my 2 frined,s who lost a combination of: house keys, cell phone, $30+, etc. thank god no documents.

FUCK. it was so stupid. to wait on that corner with nowhere to go. we just felt so safe. to walk to find a cab... but therw qwas no other option... but we are just lucky that we were not physically harmed in any way... thank the lord.... i dont even believe in the lord... i am okay just shaken up... fuck... how could we be that stupid....

so, finally, i got robbed.

debate watching, hiking Pasachoa & absentee ballot q

Well then. An update, shall we? Where did I leave off?

Friday night I watched the first Presidential Debate at Susie's (Beloit) house with a few Americans, it was really fun. We made rum and cokes in protests of seca (the illegality of drinking and therefore closing of bars and clubs last weekend, because of the election) and made fun of John McCain (and, yes, occasionally Obama). We tried to play drinking games based on certain words ("notion," "terrorist") but whichever word we chose seemed to go out of fashion quite quickly. McCain impressed me, although I clearly still hate him, think he has no credibility and that he needs to release his medical records. I can't wait for SP to make a fool of herself Thurs. night... more rum and cokes to come. Mom and Dad, I promise I do more than drink here. As nothing was going on that night due to seca, we all went home after, and I got up quite early Saturday to go hiking at Pasochoa.

Pasachoa is a reserve about an hour from Quito, but entails taking a 45-minute public bus ride to the outer-area bus terminal, a ($.45) hour bus ride to a town named Amaguana, and then hiring a truck to bring us 6km through backwoods and dirt roads to the entrance of this park, which was $2 instead of $10 due to our Ecuadorian ID cards (maybe it is good I finally got mine!)

The truck ride was beautiful, bumpy and so much fun- the roads were muddy from the rain and terrain was already harsh, so we were bumping up and down through hills and trees... it was quite pretty. We got to this area and started hiking, which was fine for the first 20 minutes because it was more or less even with small hills.... and then it was an hour and a half straight uphill! Aaah! And I don't mean, "slight uphill slope." I mean this would have made some serious sledding had it been covered in snow. I had told my friend I was not in shape for serious hiking, but he said it was easy and, well, I was NOT ready! I had to stop a few times to catch my breath. My body was fine, but I haven't done enough exercise here to be able to successfully hike at 5,000+ meters for hours... heh. I didn't have any chest pains though, thankfully.

When we'd been hiking for, oh, close to 2 hours, there is some thunder... and we say, oh, it will go away, right? Right. WRONG! Lightning started and then rain... and we are at least 30 minutes away from the bottom (much quicker to descend than ascend). We decided to wait it out, huddling single file under a rain jacket, but when the thunder got closer freaked out and headed back, in the rain, on these muddy slippery trails where it was impossible to keep your balance- it was so much fun!! Not too dangerous, although we had to go pretty slow in order to not fall (or fall less). Then we ate and headed back to Quito the same way we came- bumpy truck (where I sat in the front with the driver because my tshirt and jacket were soaked and I was freezing, and our driver said he thought that American women could be very cold but Latino men were hot, and did I think so, and how many boyfriends did I have? This is when feigning incomprehension of Spanish can be beneficial) and bus rides back to Quito. I like earning my showers at the end of the day. I was covered in mud. And it all cost well under $10!

That night I got in a fight with my host mom which I don't want to write about here because I have already dwelled on it too much but it involved me crying at the dinner table, her doing nothing, more crying, and my friends coming to my house to pick me up because they knew I was upset. We went to my friend Ali's house, who lives on my street, made kraft mac 'n cheese, and hung out for awhile. I eventually went home and passed out and tried to sleep as late as possible on Sunday as to not see my host mom. I didn't do much- watched two movies (Thirteen alone and Analyze That with Ali) and did homework.

This morning I found out that someone had jacked all the money from my debit card (in euros, no less- did one of you bitches hack into my account? ;) - but the actual card has never left my sight and I rarely use it; just at the ATM at school and maybe once in a store here, it had not been out of the house in weeks. I was hysterical because I was exhausted, not ready for my lit test, and still stressing about the homestay situation (I think I am moving early next week, can't this weekend because I have an all-weekend- literally- presentation at the uni) and started crying but my host mom let me call home on her phone and my mom called me back and worked out everything with the bank (THANKS, MOM!!!! <3) and they will be sending me a new card. I don't know what I did, though. I don't know if someone maybe swiped the number a long time ago at the airport, or if the ATM I have used the last month- at my university- isn't safe... ? I don't know what kind of precautions I can take to avoid it happening again; I already rarely use it. Oy.

Well, that is about it. I love my Model UN class and I have to start reading my research on Costa Rica to prepare my position paper for tomorrow and be ready for Friday, Saturday and Sunday... it should be really fun. Or at least, rewarding! I am not sure I have exactly the professional attire he is looking for but he will have to deal; I am not buying clothes here just for a fake conference!!!

I miss you all! My birthday is coming up! Although I don't know if I should have things sent here in case I am changing houses... Oy. ALSO, BIG QUESTION- I was about to send in my absentee ballot request, but now that I am changing residences I don't think I can... but I know the deadline is awful soon... anyone have any insight on this?? I will go to the US embassy soon but I feel like I might not be able to vote... although WI will be blue anyway (right) but I really wanted to vote in my first legal presidential election!!! :(

Busy bee.

I know I need to do a real update soon but this week is going to be really busy- I have a big literature test tomorrow morning for which I need to learn an impossible amount of stuff; I am possibly changing families (aka, don't mail me anything right now...) this week which will be bad because I have a Model UN conference all weekend and don't want to try to move this week because it will be very stressful but I want to get out of here... oy. Other bad things happened this weekend and it is just not worth staying here. I will update you know I know what is going on.

"One of the most important things we teach you in Model UN is how to be mean."

Things are good.

*On Sunday there is a huge election in Ecuador over whether the new constitution will be passed. In Ecuador, you have to be sober during elections, therefore, bars and clubs are closed this entire weekend and no alcohol may be purchased. It will be interesting... or quite uneventful. (For everyone else, Mom and Dad. You know I hate alcohol ;)

*I think host family things will be fine. I came home today and talked to my host mom for awhile (not about what I was upset about, just a conversation and it was really nice).

*In said conversation we were talking about the proposed constitution and she told me that it would have health care for everyone, "like in America," which I balked at, and told her that America has about 50 million people sin seguro de salud which she was incredibly surprised at- she thought Americans had free health insurance! I guess people expect that. Because it is ridiculous how many people are uninsured.

Also ridiculous? McCain wanting to postpone Friday's debate. How do you think you are going to save the world from the Senate after dinner time, ya numbnut? Srsly. And if it is just a respect issue- that the candidates should momentarily cease campaigning out of the seriousness of the financial situation- it just doesn't make sense. There are six weeks left and voters are still deciding. You are supposed to be going into this election with the premise that you are a leader, that you can handle tough situations and crises. A two-hour debate on a Friday night doesn't damage your obligation to your country. McCain trying to show himself as the good guy by prioritizing the state's welfare over his campaign (supposedly) is a load of crap.

*I love my Model UN class. Next weekend I have to stay here because we are doing a UN simulation all weekend. I (alone) am Costa Rica... funny that I receive the only other country I've ever been to! I should have been researching for the past week... yet I don't know who the president is... heh. CR will be a UN Security Council member in 2009, apparently, and I have no idea what their UN importance is as they are a peaceful, tourism-revenue-supported state, but I'm sure I will find out why my prof included it. You know. When I research. I am nervous because I am not a good public speaker but at least I have the advantage that I'm a native speaker (MUN is my one class taught in English). They always have to tell me to speak more slowly, and when we talked about the presentation and the benefits native speakers would have, I said I was just going to talk as fast as I can so no one could understand me. Nervous laughter followed.

*I just read a NYTimes article which informed me that there are over 100,000 Ecuadorians living in New York City- wow! That number is only four out of all of Latin America following, of course, Puerto Rico (700,000+), DR (500,000+), Mexico (200,000+). I had no idea. I wonder where they are all hiding.