Cholas, Chimborazo y Chuchaqui

Bueno. As I write what is likely to be an extremely long blog post due to my carencia de recent computer activity, I feel the need to confess that I am still in Quito. Yes, despite the fact that I was to be in Costa Rica about now. But, first things first, and I have quite a few good things to recount before we get to today's unfortunate circumstances.

So the Thursday before last (wow, yeah, I have been lazy)after taking un examen mortífero (killer exam), nearly all the members of our group made our various ways to downtown Quito to eat at a nice seafood restaurant owned by Cameron and Drew's host family. Before that, though, Rachel and Claire and I decided to go to Mass at an old church in the historical center, near the presidential palace, la Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús. The outside is pretty legit, but pretty much every square inch of the inside is covered with gold. Not kidding, look for yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Society_of_Jesus . It was a bit awkward, since I was the only Protestant in the vicinity, but completely worth it. After that, we went to the restaurant, where Cameron's host brother Matteo had had a whole room set up for the, oh, 27 or so of us. The portions were enormous and the platter I shared with Rachel and Grace Anne had mussels, clams, small shrimp, jumbo shrimp, calimari, and lobster. Yeah, needless to say we were both flabbergasted and stuffed.

Fairly early the next morning we met once more at the University, only this time to go south to the medium-sized city of Riobamba, which is a little bit colder and higher than Quito, and is super-close to the Volcano Chimborazo (in Ecuador you can pretty much assume there's a volcano lurking somewhere around you). When we got to Riobamba we checked in to our hotel the Galpón. This hotel looked very similar to the one in The Shining, if you can imagine, but it was a lot of fun to be there and around everyone for almost a week, after having lived separately for so long beforehand in Quito. That afternoon after checking in we took a tour of an old convent, which was positively lleno with creepy sculptures of Mary with glass eyes and super-gory Jesuses (one complete with a hole in his side where you could see his heart beating when the wind blew).

Saturday was our day to climb Chimborazo (or actually a small part of it). Our bus was somehow able to climb a good ways up a mountain before we got to the refugio (sort of like a base camp). From there, after a little coca tea (the same stuff they use to make cocaine, but also still put in Coca-Cola) we braved the cold, the wind, and the stinging dust to climb even higher up the Volcano until we reached the ice that covers the entire top of the mountain. Did I mention that the summit of this mountain is more than 20,000 feet above sea level, taller than any mountain in North America or Europe, and about 4 times higher than Denver, the "mile-high city?" Oh, or that, owing to the bulge of the earth at the equator, is the point farthest from the center of the earth (more than Everest)? Yeah, pretty dang chévere (friggin awesome). On top of this, on the side of a huge boulder near the bottom of the glacier someone had spraypainted "Union City." Just can't escape your hometown, ha.

The rest of that weekend consisted of visiting the last ice man (who treks to the volcano twice a week, cuts of huge blocks of ice, loads them on his mules and sells it at the market in town), seeing the mummy of a Spanish priest who had been entombed in his own church after an earthquake, and eating some tasty donuty sort of things called cholas (also a semi-derogatory name for Indian women) in a town called Guano (also a semi-derogatory name for bat poop). After these adventures, it was back to the grind, only this time with our classes taking place in the cultural center in Riobamba, and with new professors. Yet, time passed rather quickly in Fríobamba (frío=cold) and by this past Thursday night we were back in Quito before we knew it, and not missing the food at the Galpón one bit.

Friday was our farewell dinner, with the university feeding us at a very nice restaurant on campus, affiliated with their culinary program (bread, sesame seed-covered shrimp with salad, soup, filet mignon with potatoes, and for dessert some sort of cookie topped with blackberry ice cream, whipped cream, and real blackberries and strawberries). Saturday was the day most people left, except for those of us going to Costa Rica and a few leaving late, so we decided to go to the art market in a park in Quito, where stalls and stalls of vendors were selling their wares. I ended up buying a few souvenirs for my friends and fam and also a couple of nice watercolors for my room this year. It started raining, though, and we took refuge in the big cathedral right next the presidential palace, I couldn't take any pictures, but it was amazing (and with significantly fewer gory Jesuses [or Jesii?]). I went home fairly early and took a nap before my family (host mom and grandparents) took me out for a final tour of the city by night.

Which brings me to today, finally. I woke up fairly early to pack, and my host mom and grandma cooked my a huge, delicious lunch, including vegetables, potatoes, roast turkey, and cow's foot soup (which was interesting, I will say.) They drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes, promising to keep in touch, and that they should visit mississippi if they ever had such a mad desire. It was pretty emotional, though, and I will miss all of them; I couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch.

I'll try not to go too much into what happened in the airport after that, but here goes a short summary: 1) airline tells us our yellow fever vaccination records aren't "international" and so can't get on the flight 2)we go to the ministry of health to fix it, but can't because it's closed 3)return to airport, and are told to go to their office in some mall 4)go to the mall, and finally kind of sort of get the situation taken care of with the woman there 5) go to a hotel for the night. Meanwhile, of course, we missed our flight and all of the trouble is over having to get the immunization fixed and find another flight for tomorrow. Meanwhile, Cameron, who had the appropriate vaccination form since he got his in America, is in Costa Rica alone while the other three of us bumble around here trying to get everything fixed. In the morning we've got to go get the vaccinations fixed, Ojalá (God-willing) and then back to the mall to get our tickets and finally to the airport and to Costa Rica. Wish me luck, I know we'll need it. I'll try to post again soon but I'm guessing I'll be too busy if/when we finally get to Costa Rica. Until then though! Ecuador, you've been swell! Hasta la vista (until we see each other again)!

Tiputini, o Misisipi del Sur

The Amazon. When you hear of it, you may think amazing views of untouched wilderness, a monkey on every branch, an anaconda in every pond, and a whole lot of mosquitoes. And you'd be pretty much right.

Such was our trip this past weekend to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, way out in the middle of the Ecuadorian rainforest. The weekend really began on Thursday, after classes ended and most of us went out for the night to the Plaza Foch otra vez, only this time with my host mother's niece and nephew (16 and 19 respectively). Suffice it to say that a good time was had by all and we were back home by midnight, although this didn't stop my host cousin from putting the moves on multiple of my amigas (who shall remain nameless) at the salsa club.

The next morning, very early and everyone perhaps a little worse for wear for lack of sleep, we met at the university and then took a bus to the airport, from whence we took a short (and late) flight to Coca, a small city on the Rio Napo on the edge of the rainforest. From there, it was a two hour boat ride on the Napo until we got to the Oil Company's land (which was once part of the huge Yasuni National Park, but was ceded by the government so Ecuador could have the less than $2.00 a gallon subsidized gas that it now enjoys). There, we took an open-sided bus provided by said evil oil company for about an hour and a half more until we got to the much smaller Tiputini river. By this point we were really in the jungle and on our two hours more of boating we saw pink river dolphins, otters, parrots, not to mention a veritable monsoon by the time we got the the station.

The Tiputini Biodiversity station, which is really a cluster of buildings situated on land granted the University by the Goverment in the national park, is a place devoted to biological research and education, and at least some of its projects are funded by National Geographic. There were probably about 70 people there, total, including our almost 40-person group. The food was quite nice, and so were the cabins, although it was a little difficult to get used to the lack of air-conditioning and the cold showers. But, hey, being in the Amazon is worth a little sacrifice, right?

While we were there, we basically took four different excursions. Saturday morning we tromped through the jungle with our guide, Santiago, to the tower, which was basically a treehouse attached to a huge tree sticking up over the canopy, from which we saw spider monkeys, wooly monkeys, a toucan, a hawk, other birds, and enormous ants with a bite powerful enough to down a grown man with one bite. That afternoon we took another significant walk to an oxbow lake near the river and took a canoe ride where we saw more birds (including one with an uncanny resemblance to a phoenix a la Harry Potter) and a freshwater manta ray. Sunday morning consisted of ride down river, where we saw multiple caiman (like an alligator) in the water and then proceeded to SWIM in the water. Surviving that, that same afternoon we finally got to do what was perhaps the coolest adventure, a series of bridges strung between several trees way up in the canopy from which you could see the forest for miles and miles, and nothing but.

Maybe it was the overpowering heat and humidity, but the jungle actually reminded me of Mississippi, only with less chickens and more jaguars. It kind of made me wonder what home would look like with out all the human influence that's there now.. Just a point to ponder. Anyway, yesterday we made our long, slow way back to Quito by the various means, only to have to write an essay for class as soon as I got back (pobrecito yo, I know). I got it done (later rather than sooner) though, and now am able to look past the dreadful-looking workload for this week's classes to tonight, when I should be able to see the final Harry Potter movie, complete with Spanish subtitles! What an (ahem) magical ending to a great weekend [insert corny laugh]. Hasta Riobamba!

Los gringos en Baños

Since the last post at the beginning of the week, we´ve had more class, of course, but also a lot more fun, both here in Quito and in Baños, a small touristy sort of town farther up in the mountains to the south.

Before I get to Baños, though, I have to tell about our adventures in la Plaza Foch in Quito on Thursday night. La Plaza Foch is basically the place where a lot of young (and a few not so young) Quiteños go out on the weekends. More importantly, though, some locals refer to it as Gringolandia, or the Land of the Gringos (white people, or North Americans). Perhaps because it was a Thursday, though, we didn´t see as many of our fellow Gringos as we thought we might. We did get a letdown when the waitresses at the Mexican restaurant where we ate gave us the English menus. It´s pretty hard to seem anything but American when there´s a huge group (half blonde) of chicos swarming around the most touristy part of the city, usually being ridiculously loud. Anway, being obvious gringos didn´t ruin our night, after we ate we barhopped for a few hours and then we (or I did anyway) got back to my host family before midnight, lest I turn into a calabeza. Or something like that.

Entonces. Friday, after class and after I had time to catch a bus to my house and back to exchange my books for weekend clothes, We (the majority of us here from Ole Miss, minus a few who decided to take a relatively pricey trip to the beach) all loaded up on a charter bus and took a three or four hour bus ride to Baños, which is not terribly far as the condor flies, but takes a good while considering that roads at least in this part of Ecuador have to wind up and around mountains and pretty much stop in every little town. When we finally arrived at about 7, we checked into our hotel (which was estupendo) and most of us went out to eat at pretty good restaurant that had mostly Italian food (despite being called the Café Dusseldorf..go figure). After we ate (mine was pollo milanesa, a sort of fried filet of tenderized chicken, with pasta) we made our way to a kind of weird bar called the Leprechaun, where the girls got hit on by traveling Irish accountants (I can´t make this stuff up.), and when we were all leprechauned out we went back to the hotel where I´m certain we kept everyone up with our antics until pretty late (here´s looking at you, Shruti and Brock).

On Saturday, after much delays waiting around for everyone to check out the hotel, we explored Baños for a little bit and about 10 of us decided on visiting what Baños (literally, the Baths) is supposedly famous for, its "hot springs." Come to find out, at least with the ones we found, "hot springs" was more like "heated pool filled with mineral water and tons of Baneños." If you can imagine about 8 super awkward looking gringos in tight wad in a pool, being stared at by about 200 ecuadorians, you´ve got pretty much the right image in mind. When we left the "hot springs" we rushed back to the hotel for quick showers (the water was a little sketchy) and got ready to take a tour of the area on a chiva, which is sort of a bus with open sides, painted crazy colors and playing super loud dance music all the time (people rent them for birthday parties and holidays usually). This, though, was basically a waterfall tour, one where we saw some pretty amazing cascadas and mountains, too, all enormous and breathtakingly beautiful. The most literally breathtaking part, though, was this sort of open gondola ride that wooshed us over one of these huge gorges where the waterfall ended up. Surprisingly, it wasn´t as scary as it was just an awesome rush. The chiva tour was the best 4 dollars I think I´ve ever spent, and it sort of made me realize how big everything in the world really is, especially outside of what seems to be the orderly, contained environment of the U.S.

We went out again on Saturday (although with much less fervor, in my case, since I was about dead), and returned to Quito on Sunday afternoon after buying a few souvenirs (got you something for your classroom, Anna Laurie). Since then, it´s been back to the grind, and I had to write a paper that Sunday night, and am currently in the middle of a group project for tomorrow. If I can get the internet working well at home, I´ll try to post some pictures of everything on here and/or on facebook tonight. Hasta entonces!

Y estoy aquí...(and now I´m here)

So. Much. To. Say.... Well, I´ll start at the beginning: When I got to Jackson with mama and daddy on Saturday, we said our goodbyes and I found Shruti, Cameron, and Anna at the terminal for our connecting flight to Houston (from whence we would go on to Quito). To our disappointment, our plane getting to Jackson was late and, hence, no amount of running (or me nearly killing myself falling up an escalator) did us any good in making our second flight once we got to Houston. After about 5 straight hours, no joke, at the Continental customer service desk, the four of us desfortunados were booked for a (fairly crazy) series of flights that would get us to Quito: from Houston to Caracas, Venezuela, at midnight that saturday, and from there to Bogotá, Colombia Sunday morning at 5 or so, and from Bogotá finally to Quito, arriving at a little before 11:00 am. This plan went off without a hitch, as long as you don´t consider losing your luggage to be a hitch (my host mom did get them yesterday, luckily, so I´m good in that regard).

Anyway, bagless, the four of us left the baggage claim to find representatives from our host family´s waiting for us (which was miraculous in itself, given the flight circumstances). My host mother´s son, Andrés, was there to pick me up, and we went first to their house, which is in Cumbaya, a very nice outer neighborhood of Quito where the University San Francisco de Quito (where I´m studying now) is. Andrés and the rest of the family are great. My host mom, Alba, is a doctor (either an orthodontist or something similar) as are seemingly everyone else in the family. Alba´s parents (awesome, and adorable) live on the first floor of the house, the second has an office, living room, kitchen, and dining room, my room and andrés´room and another guest room are on the third floor, and Alba is on the top floor. Alba´s neices and their daughters, María Sara and Isabella (4 and 3, respectively) are also over all the time and are tons of fun. Last night (4th of July) was Isabella´s 3rd birthday, and the whole family, including Alba´s other son and her brother and sister and all their spouses were there to celebrate, which luckily I got to be a part of. But over all the house is extremely comfortable and everyone is super-nice, helpful, accomadating. While of course there are language barriers sometimes, I have been surprised by how easily I´ve been able to speak to them, although it probably helps that they try to speak more slowly and clearly for me.

As far as school activities, since we arrived late I missed the bus tour of Quito which was a bummer, but I at least got to catch up on some of the sleep that I had missed for the prior 36 hours or so. On monday morning, Alba took me to the University for orientation, and she explained the bus system that I take to school every day now. The orientation consisted of a lot of statistics and about things to watch out for while in Ecuador (like pickpockets, altitude sickness, and the fact that 90% of students end up with diarrhea within the first week or so). None of this has affected me yet, ojalá (God willing), but I won´t be surprised if and when it does at least. Over all though, the neighborhoods we´ve been in seem really safe, and a bunch of us went out for dinner last night with no problems, despite the fact that it was monday night when almost everything seems to be closed down here (we seemed to be the only ones celebrating the 4th of july for some reason, haha). Real classes started today, and I have to say, they are going to be really challenging. I have class from 9-2 every day, split in to sections on grammar and conversation/culture and judging by the load I´ve got right now, I´ll probably be working on homework most of the time i´m not in classes. Ugh. But I feel confident that if I am able to wade through all of this work, my spanish should be drastically better.

That´s probably as much as I should right for now, I already have a project that I have to complete for tomorrow, plus a lot more stuff! I don´t have internet at my house right now, so I´m limited to checking email and everything while I´m at school. As soon as I have another opportunity to do so and have enough to say, though, I´ll be sure to post again! Hasta entonces! (until then!)

Antes de salir... (Before I Leave..)

While I can't say that my summer up to this point has not been completely uneventful, I think it's a safe bet to say the second half will have a few more thrills and a lot less sitting around. Saturday, I'll drive (be driven) to Jackson, say farewell to Mama, Daddy, and Anna Laurie--who've kept my month of June from being a complete waste--and hop on a connecting flight to Houston before traveling on to Quito, Ecuador, for my summer study abroad with school. I'll be there for a month, mostly there in the Capital at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, but also traveling around with my classes to other parts of the country, including a biological field station in the Amazon. When my sojourn in Ecuador comes to an end on the 30th, my friends Anna, Rachel and Cameron and I will stop in Costa Rica for a week on the way home for a little descanso (break) between classes.

What exactly are my expectations for the trip? Well, per the warnings of study abroad alumni, I expect plenty of awkward encounters of garbled Spanish with my host family (a woman and her son, who I'm sure will do their best not to burst out laughing at my pronunciación). The whole point of the trip is to improve my Spanish skills, though, so I understand that this is all part of the process, one that I'm willing to get over. Besides, I tend to be awkward enough speaking English (sigh), so I'm pretty used to it already.

Perhaps this is the pessimist in me, but also have a sneaking feeling that I will become ill to at least some degree while in Latin America. No, not just necessarily because of the "don't drink the water" mentality (although I don't plan on doing so), but just because of the past experiences of others and the sort of dramatic irony that tends to cling to me. I rarely get sick here, but rest assured, whether through the pernicious attempts of some e-coli ridden guinea pig, a heretofore absent experience with high altitude, or my own recovering (lack of) wisdom teeth, I will likely experience some bodily discomfort. Never fear, however! One of the best balms for an uncooperative body I've found has been knowing that I've got something better to be doing, a situation sure to be constant while in both Ecuador and Costa Rica.

One thing I do fully expect about Ecuador is that people there are pretty much going to be like people everywhere. It seems like we (Mississippians, North Americans, or maybe (gasp!) everyone in all cultures) tend to mark off people in other places, especially those who speak different languages and look different, as being "a different breed," but if there's one thing I've learned so far as an international studies major (albeit one with severely limited actual international experience), it's that people are people wherever you go: smart, ignorant, loving, cruel, scared, proud, amazing, and so many other labels that seem to exist within the heart of every man and woman. Whatever does happen in Ecuador and Costa Rica, I know that whatever I see and do and am a part of there will help me to understand just how much we all really are so similar, and how much we have to recognize this to treat others with the humanity they so deserve.

Enough quasi-deep thoughts for now, though, I've got to finish packing. My next post should come from the once-Incan, long-colonial Spanish, and now fully Ecuadorian city of Quito! Hasta luego!