I'm Going To Miss These People

I board my plane in about 11 hours, and while I'm very anxious to return to the States, I am having a tough time leaving these people behind.

Me and Sofia, my host sister

Me and Wilma, our Assistant Director

Me and Rocío, my Literature professor

And everyone else. You have all (compañeros en el programa, familia anfitriona, profesores, y todos) changed my life in so many ways I cannot express. Thank you.

As for me, this is my last blog post from Ecuador, but if you're lucky and if my life stays interesting, the blog may continue in the future. Keep your eyes open.

See you soon, America!

La Capilla del Hombre

One of the most famous artists to ever come from Ecuador was named Oswaldo Guayasamín Along with a semi-personal connection with the program (a host family's grandfather was BEST friends with Señor Guayasamín), he has been instrumental in the representation of Ecuadorian and even Latin American culture. His house and personally designed museum are now huge tourist attractions and we ventured to see the amazing art and history as part of our Quito Bucket Lists. Here are a few pictures:

Me and Luis

Katie smiling at the illegal photo-taking I am doing (photos are NOT allowed inside the museum... oops)

Me and this REALLY cool sculpture. 

Guayasamín is buried under this tree, called "el árbol de vida"

But yeah, it was easily one of the best museums I've ever been to, and I learned more in one day there than I did all semester. Oops.

Paella and Movies

As of today, I have one week left in Ecuador. While it's exciting to think about returning to a place where I will be able to speak English and drink some Starbucks, it's really sad thinking of leaving everyone here. But, I promise to make the most of this upcoming week and hopefully document things that happen between final papers, exams and presentations.

Yesterday we were invited to my friend Kaya's house for a "goodbye" lunch of paella and sangria. Yummy!

Kaya and Noah

Silvia (Kaya's mom), Melody and Me

After that, we went to Hannah's house and watched "Crazy Stupid Love" which was adorable. And today, I'm going with the family and the cousins to see Gato en Botas which should be fun as well.

Casa de la Cultura... FINALLY.

I've lived across the street from the Casa de la Cultura for 4 months now, and today a friend and I decided to venture inside for the first time. There are two museums, the Museo Nacional and the Museo de Arte Contemporanea. I must say that both were equally cool, but I liked the Contemporary Art more. Here are a few pictures:

This area is called the "Children's Garden" but it's really just a bunch of cool statues.

Inside the Contemporary Art Museum. 

So, mark the Casa de la Cultura off of my Quito Bucket List! Only 9 more days to get everything else off that list. Wish me luck!

The Galápagos Islands

This weekend our program was lucky enough to spend time on 4 of the Galápagos Islands. It was easily the best trip we've taken all semester, so naturally we had to end with a big bang! After spending time on the islands of San Cristobal, Santa Cruz, Floreana, and Baltra, we definitely got a taste of the Galápagos. Swimming/snorkeling with sea lions, turtles, marine iguanas, sharks, dolphins, penguins, manta rays and fish were only some of the highlights. Here are a few pictures, I won't bore you with text:

Sea lion

Sleeping sea lions.

Sleeping Lion Rock, where we went snorkeling.

Sunset

Swimming at the beach.

Tortoises in their natural habitat.

Climbing in a tortoise shell. Standard.

Charles Darwin station. So much biology (jealous Stacey?)

Lonesome George (well his butt). He's the last tortoise of his species so he's always a little bit lonely.

Obviously there is a LOT more that happened these last 4 days, but these were highlights. Hope your weekend was good too!

Dad Turns 50!

Happy Birthday to the BEST DAD EVER!

 This is my favorite picture of both Peter and Dad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I promise to celebrate with you when I get home in less than 3 weeks.

This weekend we are going to the Galapagos Islands, so I will have TONS of pictures for you all, I promise.

Quito's Pretty Awesome.

http://www.qpqweb.com/patrimonio/

10 Quito Things That Make Me Happy:

1. The building guard saying "cómo está niña?" every time I walk by

2. Not getting lost on the bus system

3. Knowing when cab drivers are trying to rip me off and arguing with them in fluent spanish

4. The random afternoon thunderstorms

5. The first Frozen Yogurt place to open up in Ecuador: Chic-Berry

6. Being able to recognize and wave to people on the street who are not in the program (like the bakery guy who just had a baby with his wife, or the indigenous woman selling strawberries, or kids who go to the escuelita).

7. Having cars stop in the middle of rush hour to let me cross the street (probably only because I'm a gringa but I'm not complaining)

8. The mix of western and indigenous cultures

9. Everyone saying that the weather is changing, when in reality it's dropped from 67 degrees to 63...

10. Christmas trees in the windows starting November 1st. 

Family Weekend

I only have two full weekends left in Ecuador, and next weekend we are going to the Galapagos, so that means only one weekend left in Quito. To seize this weekend, I spend ALL day Saturday with the family. First, Sophia and Amy demanded in dressing up in their Belle and Snow White dresses and giving a talent show.

Sophia as Belle, playing the Recorder.

Then we went to Amy and Sofia's school, La Presentación, to see and participate in the "feria"/class olympics. There were dances, skits, tons of children; it reminded me of camp...

Me, Sophia, and Azucena

Me and Amy

Me, Amy, and Fabri

Then we went to their tennis camp and watched them learn how to properly serve. Of course both girls are WAY better than me.

After a quick lunch we went to their Oratory Class where they present weekly poems on some sort of theme. This week's theme was 'Quito' and they couldn't find poems that they liked, so Azucena wrote very nice poems for both girls. They performed them SO well and I was so proud of them, but the judges were obviously wrong and didn't give neither Amy nor Sophia a medal. Jerks. :)

Amy frantically waving her hands to make a point.

And then, very late in the evening, we ate Domino's Pizza and Coca-Cola (as a treat for the girls) for dinner. I really am going to miss my family. They're all so great.

Thanksgiving, Ecuador Style

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yasunízate and a Circus?

Sorry it's been a while, and this post doesn't have any of my photos, just stuff I took from the internet.

On Sunday there was a BIG event put on by Yasuni-itt, a group in Ecuador trying to protect the environment, specifically the Amazon area, from exploitation. It was right across the street at the Casa de la Cultura, and Azucena took me and the girls to check it out.

Through this initiative, the goal of the event was to make enough money to petition congress for something legal to stop petroleum production in some areas of the amazon.

So, after seeing a "circus act" (no animals included, just costumes and juggling), which was funny from what I understood, and being coerced into eating something akin to funnel cake, I got bombarded by the paparazzi. Why? I was the ONLY gringa at the entire event. So they had to interview me talking about why it's important to save the environment, and of course my spanish crippled under pressure. Whatever. Look out for a video circulating the internet about some crazy girl babbling in spanish and looking awkward.

But then we went in to the big concert hall where they were filming for the live telathon thing, and surprise! President Rafael Correa was there! He even gave an impromptu musical performance...

So yeah, after watching the performances, we came home and watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in spanish. It was cute.

Look out for a post about a Quito Thanksgiving, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Ojitos!

This is Fabricio, my little host brother who just turned 1 1/2. I love him.

And You Thought USA Politics Were Crazy...

The other day in literature class, we managed to go on a complete tangent and talk about the ex-Ecuadorian President Abdalá Bucarám.  President of the Republic for a short six months (1996-1997), this man is quite possibly one of the craziest people in all of Ecuador. After becoming the mayor of one of Ecuador's cities, he was found guilty of corruption (he stole a bunch of money from the government), and was promptly exiled to Panama. After 8 years abroad, he announced that he would return to Ecuador and run for president, and he told everyone that he would be giving his "big news speech" in the stadium at 10 in the morning. At that time, he was helicoptered in and jumped into the stadium via parachute to kick off his campaign. And they all elected him.

During his campaign, he refused to live in the Ecuadorian Presidential Palace:

Presidential Palace in el centro historico

And bought out two floors of Hotel Colon, which is two blocks away from my house. Why did he move? Because he wanted to live close to a soccer field. But get this, he and his family lived on one floor, his mistress on the floor below them... awkward.

The self-titled "loco" or crazy man, he was even found dancing at inappropriate times and no one really liked him once they realized what an idiot he was. So, the ENTIRE country took to the streets and protested, and as he was on his way out, Abdalá took even more governmental money and expensive presidential artifacts. He now lives in Panama, again.

But wait, it gets better. After he left, Ecuador had a total of THREE MORE PRESIDENTS IN 48 HOURS. First, the Vice President, Rosalía Arteaga became President.

Yay for a woman president! But within hours, the head of the Supreme Court judged that to be unconstitutional and took over for himself. Then, the military was not happy, so they kicked that poor guy out and put their own president into the office. August of 1998 was when Jamil Mahuad was officially elected and the political process was seemingly back to normal.

And now everyone is really upset with Rafael Correa and no one knows why he isn't being impeached as well. Well done, Ecuador. Well done.

Playa de Oro

This weekend the program had the opportunity to visit the Playa de Oro (literally translated as "beach of gold") community. After a red-eye bus ride to the coast and an hour long canoe ride up another river, we arrived at a community that was full of music and general joy. The history of this community is that the people were brought in from Africa and enslaved in order to extract the gold from the river basin. It was only within the last 10 years that the gold industry has subsided a little bit and the people can live semi-peacefully.

My tour guides for the community. They were so cute.

On Friday we hiked into the jungle, saw tiger footprints (?!), and ended up swimming in this laguna. It was so pretty.

After a quick hike back, we stopped at one of the rocky beaches and tried our own luck at panning for gold.

I was no good.

We also learned how to make sugar from sugar cane! It's a rough process, and takes a lot of energy and man power, but very interesting!

Friday night we had a huge compartiendo of music and dance, where we learned the traditional dance, Marimba, and a few other types of songs and dances used in different ceremonies.

They could all dance; we, the gringos, could not dance to save our lives.

Saturday we left the community and chatted with Papa Roncón, one of the men in Esmereldas who almost singlehandedly revived the Marimba. Another red-eye bus ride to return to Quito and study for exams and finish projects that are due this week.

Hope your weekend was fantastic!

More Fun Facts...

Continued from here.

Quirk #5: They don't refrigerate their eggs or milk here. The milk comes in boxes, and is stored at room temperature until it is opened and then it goes into the fridge. Hmm.

Quirk #6: Peeing in public is totally acceptable. Eew. Also, since most people live with their parents until they themselves get married, the only way they can ever hook up is in public. Making out on a street corner, in class, at the grocery store, etc. is pretty common. PDA, put it away.

Quirk #7: Both students and professors alike find it ok to answer their phones in the middle of class. I think it's distracting and disrespectful.

Anyways. More to come later. This weekend we are going to an Afro-Ecuatorian community called Playa de Oro. I will let you know how it goes!

It's Ironic...

I find it a little bit ironic that just the other day I was talking about how these two cultures (Latin America and USA) view death so differently. I know that this blog is supposed to be about my time abroad in Ecuador, but this weekend something so profoundly difficult happened in the USA that I can't be completely present in Ecuador at the moment.

Yesterday morning my dad's cousin, Holly, passed away unexpectedly. I'm trying with all my might to view this passing as a positive thing, knowing that she is in a better place and that death shouldn't really be that scary. So, I'm choosing to celebrate her life.

Life is too short, and we should really live it to it's fullest, whether you are in Ecuador or somewhere else in the world.

Holly, we will miss you.

10 Things That Make Me Happy

1. Second breakfast at Mickey's Cabin

2. Getting to know new people

3. Family (both extended and host families)

4. Knowing that even though I'm in another hemisphere, I'm still part of a huge, interconnected support system

5. Celebrating rather than wallowing

6. Warm sunny summer days in the Aspen groves

7. Smiling (that one is psychologically proven)

8.  Fresh mountain air

9. Rainstorms

10. Knowing that Holly is in a better place 

Pancakes for Dinner!

For Saturday night, what we deemed the "night of rest", a bunch of girls came over to my house and made pancakes for dinner with a movie screening afterwords.

The menu included plain, chocolate chunk, and cinnamon pancakes, with REAL Aunt Jemima ("Made in the USA for Export Only") syrup, pineapple, orange and peach juice, and other fruits. Yum!

Look Dad! I'm making pancakes! Thanks for teaching me!

The film screening of the Little Mermaid, because two of these lovely ladies had not yet seen it (BLASPHEMY!). After technical difficulties in which Prince Eric would only babble in Spanish, we fixed it and completed the Disney experience with flying colors.

Hope your weekend was fun and relaxing as well!