Getting into the Groove

Well, I have been in Ecuador for 12 days. It seems like longer than that…. not in a bad way, I guess I just feel like I have done a lot in since I got here. Tomorrow I start classes, so I have been trying to appreciate not having any homework this past week. However, I’m ready to start classes and get into a routine. I haven’t had much time to myself since I’ve gotten here, so it will be nice to do my own thing to a certain extent.

Yesterday I went to Otavalo with everyone in my program. It is this little town about 1.5 hours away from Quito. They have an incredible market where you can find all sorts of jewelry, scarves, souvenirs, etc. We stopped on the way up there and had bizcochos and queso de hoja for breakfast. Very yummy! Then we were at the market for about 2 hours. Otavalo has one of the countries most successful indigenous groups. They still wear all of the traditional clothes and speak there own language, as well as, Spanish. At the market, it is all about bartering... it is expected, and you look naïve if you take the price they initially say. For example, the earrings were $2.50, but I got them for $1. That seems like it´s the norm.

After spending time in the market, we got on the bus and went to las Cascadas de Peguche. It is the waterfall in the picture with this post. It was simply gorgeous. It was so much fun walking around that area…. We also took a path to the top of the waterfall and got a gorgeous view of the mountains.

Ecuador is beautiful. I really hope I don’t get used to how awesome the mountains are. I love waking up every morning and seeing the mountains. It’s as if the city is in the valley, all nestled in, surrounded by the mountains, and most importantly the volcano named Pinchincha, which lies on the west side. This volcano is still active. The last time it caused a ruckus was in 1999. According to my travel book it “rumbled into serious action, coughing up an 11 mile high mushroom cloud and blanketing the city in ash.” (11 miles, yikes!)

Last night Hannah and I hung out with my brothers. There were about 9 of us hanging out at one guy’s house. People pretty much live with their parents until they get married--- this still baffles me, but anyway, this was such a beautiful house. It was outside of the city in a small pueblo, Conocoto. This house would be considered big, even by American standards.

Which brings me to the opposite: how much poverty I have seen. At almost every street corner in Quito, is a family “working” the intersection. The kids are usually juggling trying to get money, while the parents are selling fruit, corn, cookies, or something else. Also, yesterday when we were riding on the bus I couldn’t believe that people lived in some of the “houses” I saw. One shack (that is definitely the more appropriate word) had about 10 tires on top of the tin “roof,” I can only assume this was to help keep it from blowing off. It is so crazy, how completely blessed we are.

Observations…. Not to be taken as a stereotype of Ecuador, seeing as I’ve been here less than 2 weeks:

1. The economic/social classes of people seems more apparent here than in the US. It is almost as if there isn’t much of a middle class or something. I’m interested to observe this some more.
2. Making change for a $20 at a store seems like such a huge deal. What I don’t understand… is if most people are paying exact change, then why don’t they have change for a $20? (I’m glad I read ahead about this and brought a lot of $10s, $5s, and $1s)
3. The traffic is nuts and the drivers are super crazy. Glad I won’t be driving here! You have to be super careful crossing the street…. People won’t stop for you… you just better get out of the way fast.
4. The sky is almost always this brilliant, gorgeous blue. I could get used to this!

On an interesting side note, my grandfather, who I am living with is a doctor. I knew that he was a surgeon back in the day; however, he still goes into work everyday. He is 91 years old. I picked up this “album” that was casually sitting on a table in a little sitting area. It was FULL of newspaper articles about my grandfather and all of his accomplishments in the world of medicine over the past 50 years. There were probably over 80 articles, including him on the cover of 2 or so magazines. It was so neat to read about some of the stuff. The day after I was perusing the album, his cousin (about 85 years old) stopped by and my grandfather wasn’t there, so Hannah and I talked to him for a few minutes. He was telling us that our “grandfather” was the most well known surgeon in all of South America. I wasn’t totally shocked, or caught off guard because of reading some of those articles, but wow! Pretty neat stuff!!

Everyday I get more and more used to Ecuador, and I love it! I think days #3, 4 and 5, were the hardest so far, in respect to the altitude. I still get really tired around 4pm everyday, and I think it is from that. I am going to try and run this week, which should be very interesting.

That’s it for now!
Ciao!

***Hey Fam, Click on the below link to see pics I posted on facebook. This should be the public link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2757362&id=6803468&l=595e49a254