I saw a Condor

Pic 1: Volcán Antisana
Pic 2: Waiting for a bus back to Quito from Papallacta... we were in the middle nowhere
Pic 3: At the fútbol game

This past weekend I went to Papallacta. We left Friday morning and came back Saturday afternoon. It is a teeny tiny pueblo about 2 hours away from Quito. The only thing there is to do is go to the hot springs and there is a really nice Spa. I went with Pam and Samantha, two girls from my program. It was the first time I traveled in a small group and it was great! The hot springs were really relaxing. On our short walk back to the hostal, we got a glimpse of Volcán Antisana… absolutely stunning. Then there were a few people that noticed a Condor, which is the national bird of Ecuador. I have heard different numbers, saying there are 17 to 26 condors left (not sure if that is in Ecuador or the World) … and we saw one! I was super pumped! I never would have noticed it, had that group not pointed it out to us.

When I got back Saturday afternoon, I went to the fútbol game. It was Liga versus Quito Deportivo. Both teams are from Quito and it is quite the heated rivalry. My host parents said I had to root for Liga, so Liga it was. They were easily the fan favorite and won, 1-0. This game was crazy! For starters, there was no assigned seating from what I could tell. We got there right at 4pm, when the game started, because we were just getting back from Papallacta. Big mistake… you definitely want to get there early. It was a mad house just trying to get IN to the game. Most of the doors to the stadium were closed. The one that was open had a massive line. Once we finally got in, it took a while to find a seat. During one point, a fight broke out in the stadium… right near us. The fight was so big that the entire stadium could see it. A few people were using fire extinguishers (not sure why), throwing full coke bottles, even the nice guys we were sitting next to started getting into the brawl. Once the police got involved, things settled down, and the rest of the game was really fun, despite my lack of appreciation for the sport.

Later that night I was talking to my host mom about fútbol americano. She was surprised I liked it because it is so ‘barbaric’ as she put it!

I feel settled into my new house here! I am really glad that I moved. I will get a pic with my new parents (Mercedes and Ernesto) and post soon.

On a side note, I have been getting information about the master’s program. My advisor just replied to my email, and he had this suggestion:

SUGGESTION: While you are in Quito, be sure to collect teaching materials (e.g., cultural artifacts such as magazines & newspapers in Spanish, maps, flags, recipes, cereal boxes, supermarket, flyers, etc. ANYTHING that you might want to use to develop authentic language lessons for K-12 students when you are in the MEd program courses.

Ohhhh my goodness! That got me ridiculously excited! This is definitely the path I should be on and it feels darn good :)

Not sure what is in the works for this coming weekend yet. A few people are going to the beach. I might hang around Quito for a change, not sure yet.

¡Un besito!