Running Out of New Places- Let’s Not Spend Money this Time :P

After looking in my nifty Lonely Planet Guide for about 20 minutes and not finding really any place close by I wanted to head to this weekend I, and eventually practically everyone else I ever do anything with decided to stick around Quito and entertain ourselves that way. Actually, it didn’t prove to be too hard. Thursday night we all went out to the Mariscal and played cards for about 2 hours (2 hours only because we found a place where you paid $5 for 2 hours of beer from a keg under the table… and popcorn.) Devan and Cait came out with us which of course always makes things more fun I think and Adolfo (another one of our Keene State-Baños friends) joined us part way through the night as well. Being as none of us had really seen him for about at least a month and a half (if not more) it was quite a nice surprise to have him out. We finished up the night with dancing and meeting a few new people which over all made for a pretty fun night.

Friday morning Lacy and I decided to go back to ABEI (even though it wasn’t our normal day for trabajo social) because a bunch of volunteers were coming to make gua guas de pan (little bread men with jam inside) with the patients. They were all very excited to have us there helping and interested in how to make the bread. I helped one man make three different gua guas (which is a Quetchua word for little kids) and one of them came out pretty well. :p It’s harder than you’d think to make sure the jam doesn’t overflow. We had a ridiculous amount of dough so we made at least 50 gua guas, flowers, and other creatures (easily more), of which the volunteers themselves were very excited to try and have us try once they came out of the oven. They were very good actually. Very rich and carby I could feel myself getting fatter with every bite, but I guess I didn’t mind too much. There was also a cook from Italy who traveled as a volunteer throughout all of South America who came and made pan pizza (basically just pizza crust with tomatoes) for the patients as well. This was also very yummy, and overall together the bread and pizza was probably better than the lunch the patients usually receive. It was in fact probably the most fun I have had at ABEI yet just because the atmosphere was so much lighter and friendlier than usual. (Much better than the day of the watermelon incident.) Because we had so many gua guas left over we spent the last 5 or 10 minutes running around the facility giving out the rest to the people who worked there. The women who came to make them were seriously too cute. Lacy and I convinced the man from Italy to come back next week on Wednesday instead of Tuesday to make pasta, so our next work day of trabajo social should be fun too. And then after that I should actually be close to my totally number of hours and maybe I can get a jump start on my 10-12 page essay… but probably not.

In the afternoon, after lunch of course, I went to the other Univeristy in Quito, Catolica, where all the Keene state kids go, to meet up with Adolfo and shoot around and play some basketball for a while. Sadly enough, probably one of the most fun hours I’ve had in Ecuador… (haha, ok maybe that’s a lie- but it was amazing how great it really felt.) Basketball is just my zone and I felt so alive and happy and me when we were playing. It was great just to get back on a real court again. Unfortunately, Adolfo beat me 21 to 16 but… I like to blame that one the fact that I haven’t really played much in the past 3 months. I also apparently impressed some of his friends and the guy who runs the gym and they thought I should play for their girls’ team there. I laughed. :p Adolfo plays for the school team so after we were done playing we headed to the South of Quito where he had a game at 8:30 at a gym conveniently located right across the street from Marco’s parents’ house. So we stopped in to chat for a little while (Adolfo visits them practically every day so he is a regular) but both Marco’s parents we excited to see me and asked where I’d been and if I was ready for the race (which Adolfo is also going to run with us.) It was very cute. Adolfo and I walked across the street to watch the girls’ game that was going on before his and it was actually quite fun to watch. The girls were good! They were not school teams but rather composite teams of women of all ages- apparently one woman had played in the US on some team before. We sat in front of Adolfo’s coach (who happened to be a woman and the coach of the girls’ school team as well) and he kept telling her that I was gonna come to practice with them. Thanks kid. Alicia, Marco’s mom, walked over to watch Adolfo’s game as well, and later Pete and Tristan joined us, but it was fun just sitting and talking to her. We talked again about the plan for the weekend of the race and that she hoped I’d come back to visit them in Ecuador sometime in the future and when we left she asked me when I was going to come see her again (it was pretty much one of the cutest things ever). She was also fun to watch the basketball game with. I love when people swear in a language that is not their first. I had to smile every time she said “shit!” I wonder if that’s how people feel here when we do it in Spanish. [Completely unimportant because I had such a good time for other reasons that night, Adolfo’s team lost as they were playing a team with at least 4 players over or at about 6’5.] In any case, it was fun just to get to hang out with him and play ball- he’s a pretty unique kid and I’m definitely glad to have met him.

Saturday morning I got up and went running again- 63 minutes and right about 10.2 km, and felt pretty good. After coming home and showering I went out and spent most of the day with my family which actually proceeded very nicely. We, my parents and niece, went out for breakfast and coffee (which of course consisted of bread) and then headed to a small shopping center that is I guess only for military members where things are supposedly cheaper to look for shoes (which turned into quite a lot of other things) for my niece. At the end of the day (a couple hours later) my mom charged her card for $130 and had quite a plethora of stuff. Although everyone seemed to be lighthearted about it. My dad left with a box of about 8 or 10 bottles of liquor. Guess tastes differ a little bit. After the shopping expedition we went to get Chinese food which wasn’t bad, but overall a little bland (although I didn’t expect much since we were told before hand Chinese food in Ecuador wasn’t very good). At this point I was thoroughly exhausted and when we got back to the house finally I crashed for about a 2 hour nap. Well needed. After being refreshed I went with Cassie and Hilary to make a quick stop for ice cream and then headed out back to the Mariscal to meet up with Adolfo again for a chill night of just hanging out. Because it was just the four of us it was really a fun night and we all agreed afterwards that it was a well spent night and we were glad we did it. There is something to be said about just spending quality time with friends…talking. And, even though it wasn’t exactly what they had in mind when they said to make friends in Ecuador, with Cait, Devan, and Adolfo I definitely have made friends that I never would have made otherwise, so I like to think it worked out.

Sunday I decided to skip the run because I was going to meet up with Adolfo again (yup- this was a weekend of Adolfo after not seeing him for about 2 months) to play ball but upon arriving up at his school at about 10 am and having forgotten it was a catholic school (and country) we discovered everything as closed so we spent about an hour wondering around looking for/thinking of a place to go play before Adolfo’s game at 1:00. We eventually met up with Cassie and Hilary again in the Centro Historico and we all walked up a very steep hill to where his game was going to be played and we managed to get on the court for about half an hour or so before the game before his started. We played 2 on 2 with a couple who were not quite at our level of playing, but still fun nonetheless. They were both really nice people too. Although Adolfo did get “yelled” at by his coach for playing before the game, she did tell him I should come by practices… Didn’t feel like telling her I didn’t really like playing with girls (and from watching her girls’ team play before Adolfo’s I wasn’t any more inclined to join…) Oh well, I appreciated the compliment.

One of the other players from Adolfo’s team who was not signed up for the tournament they were playing in came by just to watch the game and sat with us during the game which was really fun as he was a really sweet kid and very easy to talk to. He had studied abroad in Germany for 6 months and also was/had taken English before and although he only ever said a few brief things in English he said he understood almost everything we said when we did speak in English. So it was fun to meet another person from Ecuador AND to practice Spanish on a day when (to be entirely honest) we didn’t really expect to speak much Spanish amongst ourselves. :p After the game, because they won, we went to a restaurant called “Hunters” which was a playoff of Hooters in the US, so Adolfo could get some hot wings. It was a bit pricey ($10 for me in total), but worth it. I got fajitas which actually weren’t too bad, although I was probably just most excited to have a tortilla. Paul, Adolfo’s teammate came with us as well, and actually took us since he had a car (plus 2 points), and after going for ice cream- where Adolfo bought a little girl begging on the street an ice cream and told her he wouldn’t give her money but would buy her food (he stole my heart right then and there) :p –Paul drove us back to our houses, or at least to Quicentro so we could walk about 3 blocks to get home. He was really a pretty legit Ecuadorian- and he took my rant about the men whistling and making cat-calls and such on the streets very well. (Hey, I can rant in Spanish now- that should be a good sign of the learning process right?)

Hilary came back to my house and watched Office Space while we waited for the afternoon rainstorm to pass, which is always good times, and after chatting a little more with the family I sat down to do a little homework, check my email, and then called it a night after a long day of eating, playing basketball, and walking up hills- along with ranting in Spanish. Really not a bad weekend at all for sticking around Quito. Of course I have to give some of that credit to Adolfo for being the main source of my entertainment this weekend but still, I like to think that part of it was my mentality getting aligned into a little better place too. And now, I only have 4 more days until our trip to Cuenca to try guinea pig and see my Ecuadorian ñaño Marco-all of which should be a great time! :]

[Side Note]

I went running again this morning (Monday), and had a woman doing her power walking wag her finger at me when I turned to spit off the track. It was hilarious and probably gave me an extra little boost, not gonna lie. Just thought I couldn’t go without sharing that one too.

Running Out of New Places- Let’s Go Spend Money!!!

Well, not entirely running out of new places to go, but at least, the list is getting quite a bit smaller, and since the big trips are already planned for other dates, we decided to take a well-needed return trip to Otavalo this weekend to… buy more stuff. The surprising part was that even though we had already been, we managed to spend about 4 hours shopping the second time. It was of course much easier knowing more of what we wanted/needed to buy and how much money we could afford to spend at this point in our trip.

Hilary, Lacy, and I woke up and started our journey by bus at about 8 am and with ease got to Otavalo about 11:00. One of my most necessary purchases was a new suitcase/bag to replace the one I got stolen from my first family when we were in the Galapagos. I didn’t end up buying the biggest bag they had, but I convinced myself that I didn’t in fact need it (I had packed up as much of my stuff I could in my one remaining suitcase the night before to see about how much more room I would need.) Now we hope that my optimism on my packing ability wasn’t too much. Maybe I’ll try packing everything again once more before I go just to be sure I don’t need to ship anything. In any case, I got a really pretty bag for $9 so I can’t really complain too much about the purchase. Of course I bought plenty of other things- although only one thing for me, a ring, and we all noted that is was a lot easier and more fun to barter with the merchants now with our expanded and more fluid Spanish. As we were noticing this we were also laughing at the other white people who didn’t know any Spanish try to be a part of this whole experience too. I’m sorry, but seeing sixty-some year old Brits and Americans being offended by the immediate high prices of things because they don’t understand the barter system is funny. My favorite part though was watching the British woman try to ask what a blanket was made out of in the stereotypical speak-louder-if-they-don’t-understand-you manner. It progressed a little like this…

“What is this made out of? What MAT-E-R-I-AL is it? It is LLAMA…? WOOL…?”

Honestly woman!! WTF?!?! It’s alpaca and just by saying “wool” louder won’t translate it into the language you should at least know a few words of if you’re visiting this country. (This was a half laughing at half you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me laugh…)

We met up with Gwen and Pete who came on a later bus and after eating we all headed up to a town called Ibarra about 30 min north just because…none of us had been there. We found a hostel and settled and took a little siesta (shopping is exhausting). Lacy and Gwen went out for cake, and ham and cheese, and tea earlier so the rest of us found a nice pizzeria where Pete and I got quite good calzones and the three of us shared a bottle of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon which even by my less than experienced wine-tasting taste buds was a bit mild for my liking, although not unappreciated for the $11 it cost, which Pete paid for. We spend a quite night in the hostel just hanging out, watching the Matrix dubbed, chatting, and finishing our bottle of wine with the $6 chocolate that Pete had bought earlier in Otavalo.

The next morning we woke up at 7:00 to try to find the tourist train that ran a short ways out of Ibarra. We learned that instead of leaving at 8 it left at 8:30 and instead of being two hours round trip was in fact two hours each way and the train didn’t return until the afternoon. Because we had other plans for the day, and just wanted to get back to Quito earlier than 8 pm, we opted out of the train ride and instead too a bus up to the nearby lake and walked around it- which was in fact a pretty good walk (I’m guessing about an hour to an hour and a half.) It was a pretty place, unfortunately my camera has decided not to like and/or eat the life out of very quickly the batteries I put in it so… I managed about 4 pictures before it died, none of which were of the lake. Although others did get pictures I can steal. After our little excursion we split up again and Lacy and Gwen returned to Otavalo to get a few more things and Pete, Hilary and I heading to Cotacachi (the leather town) so I could look for a leather jacket. In about 20 minutes I found a jacket, left the store to browse around more, decided I didn’t want any other one, and returned to the store to buy it for $70. My logic, I would never be able to find a leather jacket for $70 in the States and it was badass and looked really good on me.

So, having accomplished what we came for and it being now about 1:30 or so, we found a place to eat very close by where Hilary and Pete each got hamburgers (Pete two) and I got a “Sanduche Mexicano” which I learned after ordering it was three pieces of bread, two steak patties, lettuce, and guacamole. It was huge. All of which were agreed to be delicious though… I also got a mora milkshake (which was probably made with milk and not ice cream as it was pretty thin, but still good.) Between the three of us, our meal came out to just under $15, which only made it that much better. Needless to say I didn’t need to eat anything else for the rest of the day. After lunch we hoped on a short bus ride back to Otavalo and changed buses to head back to Quito. We all got back around 6 pm and were quite exhausted we called it a day, and a weekend since we all had homework to do the next day (weird, I know), and headed to our separate homes. It was a good weekend because it was successful (purchases and eating wise) and at the same time relaxing- which we know is always a plus at this point in this country.

Here’s to an F’in Fantastic Weekend!!! (Even if did cost $200…) :P

At this point, not gonna lie, it was worth every penny and I needed it. This weekend I took a trip with Pete, Gwen, Tristan, and Cait and Devan (from our Baños trip- they go to the other university in Quito) to Guayaquil and the Southern coast to Puerto Lopez and Montanita. We took a night bus to Guayaquil at 10:20 Thursday night that lasted about 8 or 8 ½ hours and arrived early in the morning and found ourselves a hostal for $8 a night. The girls took a nice nap since the bus was less than comfortable (and less comfortable than the night in Mindo) so we were a little tired. We woke up about 10 o’clock and left Devan and Tristan to go to a casino while the rest of us went back to the airport to buy our plane tickets back for Monday. $67 later, Pete, Gwen, and I had tickets back to Quito for 4:00 pm on Monday. (The rest were going to take the bus back.) We returned to meet up with the other boys and walked down to the Malecon 2000 which is basically Guayaquil’s waterfront along the river. The holiday in Guayaquil had been the day before so not too much was going on but we had a nice walk, the boys got in trouble for playing on playground equipment, and the girls got harassed by every man we passed (it’s incredible, it was way worse than Quito). After finding a bit of lunch- which was a bit of a struggle because almost every place had stopped serving lunch and started serving only beer by 3:00 when we went to eat (this coming from a country where it’s normal to eat lunch at 2 in the afternoon)- we went back to the hostal and watched the Sandlot 3 (with the same guy who played Squints, but all grown up) and rested a little bit before the girls again went back out for ice cream. (We ate a lot this trip just to warn you…) That night we played some games and spent quality time together in our hostal before going out in search of clubs or someplace to dance and drink. The taxi driver we had from the airport told us the party that night was at a place called Kennedy Mall so we told our taxi driver that night to take us there, he did so willingly but when we got out of the taxi we discovered that all the clubs here were in fact, “alternative” clubs… that means gay. Haha! What a bastard of a taxi driver. But we met a very chill chick who got us another taxi for only $1.50 and actually ended up at a club called the Fizz that Marco had recommended if we ever went to Guayaquil. There we proceeded to have an awesome night which exhausted us all sufficiently and we woke up at about 10:30 the next morning, ate, and caught a bus to Puerto Lopez.

We got into Puerto Lopez about 5 in the afternoon and found another hostal to drop our stuff off in before going to find more food. Thanks to or Lonely Planet Guide we found a place that served seafood (and although mine and Cait’s shrimp was really pretty blan, Devan’s was very delicious and we got to share a little bit of that. After dinner we walked around the town a little and chilled on the beach next to a man-made fire pit thing behind one of the on-beach bars and talked and told jokes and played more games. We found another little club but rather quickly lost interest with the far over-population of guys in the room so we decided it was a much better idea to go skinny dipping in the ocean (although the girls did keep on their bottoms because we felt a little safer…er something) :p but nonetheless we had a good time in the cold, but not quite as cold as northern Pacific ocean water. Completely soaked with nothing else to do we went back up to the terrace of our hostal and played card games. I called it an early night at 2 am and the rest joined crashed a bit later. We had hoped to go to the Isla de Plata the next morning- it is said to be a mini Galapagos with Boobies, Frigate birds, snorkeling and some sea lions, but some people struggled to get up early enough so after our breakfast of pancakes we instead took a $15 boat ride out to go whale watching. The majority of the persons on the boat got a little sea-sick (and I’m sure in some cases the hung-overness didn’t help much), but Devan and I, at the bow of the boat, with two extremely cute and enthusiastic little boys, had a great time without any sickness watching the whales. We saw three, a mama, daddy, and baby (who sadly was caught in a net and one of the guides said would probably die.) They were incredible! At one point one of them was swimming under the water maybe two yards away from our boat. They jumped in the air and flapped their tails and we were able to watch them for a good 30 minutes. Devan got some good footage on his video camera and we all told him he had no choice but to make us copies. After some time we discovered that we were going to be heading back because (to mine and Devan’s blissful oblivion) while we were having a great time three or four people had thrown up over the edge of the boat. Oh. Well at least we had a blast. We also snorkeled for a little bit which by no means compared to the Galapagos, but was still fun to do. Once we got back onto land we immediately went to catch a bus to Montanita where we arrived again probably sometime around 4 or 5 and were led by a little boy to a hostal called Montezuma. None of these hostals of course were very high class, but I guess you get what you pay for for $8 a night. After dropping off out stuff we went out again to explore a little bit of the town where we ran into Jipijapa. Here is where I need to take a slight break to explain what exactly I just said.

On the bus to Puerto Lopez we met a guy in board shorts with long hair heading to Montanita who lived in a city called Jipijapa through which we passed on bus. [[Side note: I have decided that Jipijapa has got to be one of the coolest names for a town I have ever heard.]] Anyway, he told us that Montanita was much better than Puerto Lopez and we needed to go there the next day. Now, he explained to us later that in Montanita no one uses first names and everyone had a nickname and although his name was Xavier, everyone new him as Jipijapa because that was where he was from- therefore, we called him Jipijapa, or Jipi for short, as well.

So we did- head to Montanita the next day, and as we were walking out of our hostal he just happened to be riding by on his bike. Nice coincidence. Very excited to see us all (and very happy that Devan was wearing a Barcelona jersey- the soccer team from Guayaquil), he quickly became our tour guide for the rest of the day. We met his friend who owned a bar just down the road whose real name was Henry although I can’t remember his nickname and he invited us to come to happy hour 2 for $4 drinks. After walking a little around the town and on the beach and through the markets, and smelling a sufficient amount of weed, and having a good meal (mine was pasta with chicken and white sauce) and watching the soccer game between Ecuador and Chile (Ecuador won surprisingly 1-0), we did end up going to the bar and proceeded to have a very good time playing cards (we taught Jipi the game and he played with us), catching with Henry, and laughing at a ridiculously drunk woman and her efforts to steel Devan away to her bead and “romper su coco” (to break his coconut- which you can probably figure out what means). Also, I had conveniently worn my Superman t-shirt that day and made a ridiculous number of friends just because of that, along with being called all sorts of names varied from Superman, such as: Superman, Superwoman, Super girl, Super chica (which stuck for the night), and even Super hermana which I have to admit won the most creative vote in my book. In any case, it worked out fine for me. After chilling at the bar and chatting (very well I might add) in Spanish with those around us we all left (including Henry who closed his bar at about 12:30) to go hang out more and dance with the locals, who were all very friendly I might add. By far the best night for practicing Spanish. Devan also found his true love in the form of a guy who could play the entire song of Stairway to Heaven on the guitar (sans words, but all the music). Just as a note, we (Cait and I) decided that there were a much greater percentage of good looking men on the coast compared to in the cities, although in all fairness it may have just been a few that we met that really stood out to us, but I really don’t think so. Again, being the party pooper that I am I called it an early night again and went back with Pete to our hostal at about 2:30 in the morning after being exhausted from all the excitement. I slept like a rock and apparently didn’t even feel when Cait fell on me when she and Gwen came in later in the morning. I woke up at 6:58 the next morning to a phone call from my host father because there was some confusion to the time when I was getting back home- apparently everyone except for him thought I was getting back Monday morning about 7 am, but in fact he did expect me back that evening. Anyway, that was figured out and 2 min later my alarm went off for me to get up and go on a run on the beach. After a weekend of eating and drinking I was feeling bastante fat and ended up running for about 40 min, which was better than nothing. If my legs had not been so tight from probably dehydration I probably could have gone for longer, but it was still a nice short run (and the fact that I can call 40 min short is saying something in itself.) I took a shower because I was soaked in what was probably a 30-70% ratio of sweat to humidity in the air and then Gwen and I tried (also with Jipijapa’s help) to call the airlines to change our flight to a later time for a good 20 minutes- without luck because no one felt it was important to answer the phone. Oh well. We had our hostal-included breakfast of coffee, strawberry juice, and toast and then said goodbye to Jipi as he had to return to Jipijapa to do some homework for classes that afternoon. (He turns 24 this Sunday and will actually be celebrating it in Quito so we are all supposed to hang out again.) We took another short stroll along the beach before Pete and Gwen and I had to catch a bus at 11 to Santa Elena and then transfer to another to Guayaquil in order to catch our 4 o’clock flight (this was a much better option than taking a direct bus to Guayaquil at 5:00 in the morning). Tristan was going to take the bus back to Quito later that afternoon and Cait and Devan, because they only have Spanish classes they could afford to miss, were going to travel for a little bit longer. The three of us though got to the airport in great time at about 2:40 maybe and had time to eat a nice burger before proceeding through security with no one in front or behind us to get on our 45 minute plane ride back to Quito, where we were met by plenty of rain- of course. Ate a little and chatted a little with my host parents before calling it an early night (for real this time- about 10:00) after watching Pride and Prejudice in Spanish with Spanish subtitles (only because on my version it was the only option.)

Tuesday morning I woke up at 7 again and went for about a 53 or so minute run which was a little more difficult and slower than before, but still reassuring for not having run for about four days. Still on my high from the weekend I managed through classes pretty easily and did well on my art class midterm which was drawing trees…like we did the last two classes Checked my email for the first time in about 5 days to find 76 new messages (although some were junk mail admittedly- I’m not that popular) and finished up the night with a short chat to my good friend Ando with whom I haven’t spoken to really since he graduated in May, and then a chat with the padres whom I haven’t talked to in about 3 weeks- which in comparison is still kind of a long time. And now feeling like I’m really starting the week on Wednesday I have no doubt that the “natural” high from this weekend will give me a boost of enthusiasm for at least the next few days…

Healthy Weekend, In More Ways Than One

After not having art class either day this week and instead being assigned to write a three page paper on what is a “bodegón” (it’s a still-life), I was relatively excited to get out and actually feel like I was doing something this weekend. After watching the debate between Biden and Palin of course. (May God help that woman is all I can say- may God help her all the way into a cave where she never comes out of again.) But, Friday morning at 6:25 I woke up, met Hilary at 7, and we started off to find the bus that left at 8 for Mindo. Upon getting to the corner where both the internet and Hilary’s guide book said the bus station should be and discovering it was not there and that no one around seemed to have any idea that it was supposed to be close, we headed down to our “old faithful” Terminal Terrestre (the main bus station in the south) and managed to catch a bus for Mindo that left about 20 min after we arrived, not bad. The bus ride wasn’t too bad, although slightly windy which made it difficult to sleep (which I needed), but we arrived in Mindo in about 2 ½ hours with no problems. We checked into a hostel that Hilary’s host- mom recommended that was clearly built for Ecuadorians as the door was about my height and the ceiling only about 6 inches taller. Quaint, might be the word :p I felt like Snow White in the cottage of the 7 dwarfs.

            We left our stuff and took a short hike up to the butterfly garden where we spent about an hour or so chasing butterflies, specifically trying to get a picture of the big blue ones (please don’t ask names, because I couldn’t tell you). In any case, we did finally get one. The rest of the butterflies were also equally as impressive and it was just pretty incredible to see so many together in one place. It was a constant flutter of color. Some of them were quite “friendly” and landed on our feet and hands and practically had to be brushed off (we must have been sweet). After our little Zen time with the butterflies we both decided we were sufficiently starved and went back to get some grub. Kayla was meeting us later, so we went back for a nice siesta (a couple hours that I slept the entirety of) while we waited for Kayla to arrive. After, we visited the Orchid garden where we were given a tour by a very knowledgeable little boy of maybe 9. We had been expecting more flowers, or more in bloom, but we did get to see a few. The one of those names I can remember of those were the Dracula ones. In any case, we took way too many pictures of flowers to accompany our way too many pictures of butterflies. After that little bout, we walked around a little bit and went to get some bread and smoothies for dinner and then returned to the hostel for showers at very low water pressure and a night of watching the National Geographic Channel where we saw everything from the first solo trip to the North Pole to the splitting of people’s tongues (absolutely grotesque and horrifying btw).

            The night was probably the worst I have ever spent in a hotel or hostel of any sort. The pillows were unbelievably hard-and lumpy, and I had a stiff neck halfway through the night. Somehow Hilary and I both managed to only have the edge of the sheet the entire night so were constantly fighting with some invisible force for more sheet coverage. The blanket was scratchy, and the bottom sheet kept coming up on my corner. Overall it was not the best night, not worth the $10 each we paid, and not someplace I would recommend to anyone else. Even if it was called the Arcoiris (Rainbow). But, without too much problem we got up at about 7:30, grabbed some more bread and coffee for breakfast, and began our 4km hike to the teleferico to take us to the waterfalls. Although a bit of the hike (most) was on a slight incline, it wasn’t too bad. We all eventually ended up just walking in our shorts and sports bras because the humidity drenched us in sweat within about 5 minutes. For $5 each we took the little tram across the gully and were ready to hike some more to visit the waterfalls. There were 7 in total, although we only visited 4 or 5. It was still a slightly rigorous hike to the waterfalls but they were very worth it. Mindo is a sort of rainforest- about the closest you can get without actually entering the Amazon itself- so the greenery and rivers and waterfalls were pretty incredible. The whole time I just kept thinking how jealous my Mom and Dad would be. We decided to get into the water and go explore one of the waterfalls but didn’t get past our thighs because the water was just a tad too cold. Oh well, we tried. On our way out we passed a group of exchange students from Kalamazoo just entering the trails. We caught a truck back into town after walking maybe about halfway back and decided we’d probably hiked for about 3 ½ hours in total. Not too bad. We certainly felt like we’d gotten a workout and were feeling pretty healthy like we could at about whatever we wanted. So we went to eat pizza (thin crust, but we still each had about 5 pieces) , followed by some very moist and delicious chocolate cake and coffee, and then Hilary and I each got another smoothie. (I combined naranjilla and mora and it was fantastic!) All feeling completely stuffed, but still very satisfied from our weekend workout we walked around the town a little bit more to kill time before our 3:30 bus back to Quito. We didn’t go zip-lining in Mindo, but decided that it was close enough that we could come back if we wanted to for a day, and we didn’t have enough money or enough to do to stay another night and day. We got back into Quito about 5:30 to the North Terminal, which none of us had ever been to and had no idea where we were. So we took a cab back home. After another shower and quick checkage of email, feeling quite exhausted still I called it an early night and after watching the Count of Monty Cristo I crashed about 11 o’clock. :p

            Sunday morning I slept in- till about 9:20- that is considered sleeping in for me since I’ve been waking up at about 7 every morning to run for the past week, but luckily since it was overcast it was still cool even when  I went running finally at about 10 o’clock. About 10km and give or take a few, 65 minutes later I finished up my run and DIDN’T feel like dying. It was incredible. Running has become my biggest kind of test here (aside from learning Spanish of course), but has given me something to work for again- like in sports, that I haven’t had for a while. I set personal goals and little by little extend them out. At the beginning of my trip I would never have imagined I would be running for and hour, 10km, at 9200 ft… 6 days a week. I’ve discovered more personal growth here that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I am in Ecuador. It’s good to have something to work for, and because we’ve given up on the “Latin Lover” thing running is a good second bet. Just kidding… but not really. It’s also counterbalancing my bread and cheese and ice cream eating nicely. In any case, every day I survive another run I feel accomplishment.

            The rest of the day was entirely low key, with a lunch of gnocchi and tortellini and a plate of seafood of all sorts… some sort of shellfish, shrimp, I think oysters or something, and either octopus or squid (or both), and regular fish. I ate it all, but did indeed struggle eating the whatever it was with suction-cup legs. :p But that was followed by a nice 2 hour siesta and two movies with Spanish subtitles. A good relaxing day after an actual eventful weekend. And good to have a rest before getting up for another 65 minute run the next morning to start off the week…

           

Attempt at Understanding (For You)

This is an entire blog aside from any specific adventures in Ecuador just to attempt to put things, as a whole- my experiences in Ecuador, into perspective for you. There are apparently stages of the study abroad experience; the initial excitement, “I love everything about this country” stage referred to as the “honeymoon stage”, then the stage of homesickness, frustration and struggle living with a different culture and so on…

            I definitely experienced a bit of that first stage where the realization that I was living and studying in a foreign country speaking another language was incredible (this is still true, it is still incredible and I am grateful and proud of myself everyday). I slowly started to creep into the struggle stage and, as advised, tried as often as possible to note things as “interesting differences” and work around the difference aspect of the culture from my own. As you can tell now from the change of tone of my blogs I’m sure, I have been fully emerged within the frustration stage, with many aspects that I am no longer willing to accept as passing differences between cultures when they are things I sincerely disagree with.

            For one, the machismo characteristic of this country has come to affect me everyday in a negative way. I am tired of being whistled at, kissed at, called “preciosa”/”muñeca”/”bonita”/”guapa”/”princesa” by men I pass on the street of all ages between about 14 and maybe 64 (this includes guards, men in suits, and policemen). I do not appreciate being viewed as an object and being spoken to in such as way, as well as being given so little respect that these men believe there is nothing wrong with acting in this way. Lately, I have been frighteningly close to physically assaulting someone when they do this. I have at least had the thought many a time, and it is very likely that the next time a man partakes in this behavior close to my being (because often times it is only inches from your face) he will have either a fist in his or a hard elbow in his chest. If the women of this society want to accept and endure this which will ensure it never changes then so be it, but I am not of this culture and this is one aspect I feel, for respect of my own being and self worth, I do not have to submit to. I’ll be one American woman that they will know not to throw their bullshit at. And who knows, maybe it would be radical enough to shake things up for the people who saw it happen.

            Pollution, as I’ve mentioned before is and will continue to be one of my biggest irritants, partly I think because I have personally felt the effects of it on my health. I have been with a cough since about a week after we returned from the Galapagos. And as I mentioned in another blog, my asthma has become more extreme as of late as well. Not being able to walk down the street without smelling exhaust also affects your mental health and demeanor. For one thing thought, having seen such horrible pollution and experienced it first hand does inevitably make you want to do something about it. Because we are lucky enough in the U.S. to not experience this kind of constant cloud of contamination of the air it is easy to underestimate the real severity of it. Being a part of it here in Ecuador has just made me so angry that I couldn’t imagine living every day of my life in an atmosphere like this that I feel I have no choice but to work to ensure this is not a future reality. Of course, we always wish that we could learn from our mistakes before we actually made and experienced them.

            Little things too pile up and make us appreciate our country and culture’s conveniences even more. Relying on public transportation for everything you want to do can me taxing. Buses do not run on time and are not available whenever you want them to be. Taxis are sometimes nowhere to be seen and then of course it is a struggle to negotiate with the driver so he doesn’t rip you off too badly because we are obviously “gringos”. Again, the overcapacity of buses can be utterly and impossibly irritating, as well as the constant necessity to keep a hand on all your belongings while riding so as not to be pick pocketed (also easier on a crowded bus), which I have been fortunate enough to not have had happen to me, although a good handful of friends have. Although I did have my shoes and suitcase stolen. Which segways into another everyday irritant, that is, the thievery rate in this country. Pick-pockets are more than common, schemed thievery of backpacks and purses, gang robbery by threat, or breaking and entering robbery of houses. (All of these examples have happened to at least one person in our WU group). It is sad and frustrating that I have three locks (two gates and a door) on my house, plus an alarm system. It is frustrating that we need this. It is sad that every house near us has a similar setup. There are guards stationed more regularly than I have ever seen in my life, but only guard one area, and not just the general well-being of the people and places passing by. All of this petty (and not so petty) thievery is yes of course, because I am living in a third-world country where the majority of the population is well below American poverty level standards. Old women and young children (often times crippled) beg, sell oranges, or do tricks like juggling in the street for money with such frequency that you will not drive for a minute without seeing one of these, often indigenous, people. It’s heart-breaking and infuriating all at the same time. And they are relentless… I had a woman follow me into three different aisles of a market with her hand practically outstretched against my body asking for money.

            Traffic. Like the pollution, there is no way I can accurately describe this to anyone who has not experienced themselves. Cars drive all over the lanes, along the median lines even when they are not passing. Turning left from the right lane at a round about and crossing on-coming and traffic going the same direction is very common. Amazingly as well, it seems that it is always the people committing the error (turning left from the right lane, drifting into the opposite lane, trying to pass when there is not enough rough because of on-coming traffic, running the red light, etc.) who honk at the other person making this difficult. Traffic lights mean absolutely nothing. I admit, there are some places that it is quite bad in the US with people running red lights but, I do not exaggerate, at least half of drivers here in Ecuador run red lights consistently. Possibly more. A red light means look both ways to make sure no one is coming and then continue through without ever slowing down, or, if passing a blind intersection it means, honk as you approach the intersection to let cars coming the opposite way know that you are going to run the red light or stop sign, also without ever slowing down. Yellow and green lights I’m convinced mean basically nothing since everyone is doing what they want anyway. Also, there is no such thing as a pedestrian right-of-way. (That’s a lie- when you are at a crosswalk and it has a little green man you can walk safely, but as soon as he turns red those cars are going to go.) But, people rarely use the crosswalks and generally just cross in the street where they can (i.e. a break in traffic so they can run across). Granted, if you are still in the street while a car is approaching do not expect them to slow down any- you better just hurry up. Also, if you are at a crosswalk without a walk signal, do not expect any cars to stop for you on their own- it’s just like crossing in any other part of the street. (In my time here I have had 3 cars ever stop and let me cross.) For most of my time here I had always said that it was incredible at how terrible of drivers there were in this city/country and yet I had never once seen an accident. Well, I still haven’t ever seen an accident, but I heard about one. This past week my friend Cassie’s host sister was in one. She was in the passenger seat while the father of her baby was driving. A man ran a red light and hit here side of the car. She was rushed to the hospital and in intensive care for two or three days with a broken nose, severely split lip, broken collarbone, and ruptured spleen in three places. Apparently there are three main arteries in your spleen and hers ruptured between all of them. Fortunate considering if they had ruptured themselves she would have died. She is having plastic surgery on her face because her lip was so mangled and although she is in stable condition now she has to remain in the hospital for 8-10 more days. The father of her son was only slightly beat up and could leave the hospital after one day- but he didn’t and is currently paying $1500 a night to stay in the hospital because the moment he leaves he will be arrested. Apparently the policy is guilty until proven innocent here, and all parties are held in prison until all the witnesses are collected to testify. Apparently the man who ran the red light (who is in jail currently) was trying to say that Cassie’s sister was not wearing her seatbelt, although her broken collarbone kind of indicates that there was some sort of resistance there. The saddest part, Cassie, her brother, and her brother’s girlfriend have been trying to take care of the baby while their mom is at the hospital with her daughter and he (the baby) keeps calling for his mama. The one day they took him to the hospital he didn’t recognize her and pulled away. The whole time I’ve been in Ecuador I’ve been proud of myself for never crying (aside from the mishap with my first family). I have never cried because I was lonely, because I missed my family or my home, or because it was hard, but I almost cried when Cassie told me about the little boy not recognizing his mother. And I’m almost crying now writing this. I know this is not anything unique to Ecuador and the possibility of this happening occurs every time someone runs a red light, but it just infuriates me that it is so accepted here. My host father is a typical Ecuadorian driver and for all I can tell, he is a good man, but people here simply don’t care. There is so little respect for the law it is ridiculous. Nothing is enforced and therefore people continue to lie, cheat, steal, and drive as they please, regardless of how that might affect someone else’s life. It’s so frustrating for me. It’s disgusting and infuriating that it could be so normal. A man was shot and killed about a block away from my house about a week ago. Lacy, who lives next to me, drove by and saw his body on the sidewalk. Nobody did anything to try to help him as he was getting robbed and murdered.

            If you add all of this up, and just sprinkle on the top the few straws of the difficulty of having to fit into a different family with different ideas and different points of view than you are used to and have grown up to appreciate, you can begin to see how I am just frustrated with this country. Never will I tell you that the countryside and natural offerings of the country are not spectacular and a once in a lifetime treasure to see, but never once will I tell you that I am loving being here either. Never once will I entertain the idea of wanting to live here, and I know that at the end of 5 months, I will be ready to leave and I could not imagine staying for an entire year. But, I also understand that it is unrealistic for me to think or have ever thought this might be the case. I am, as a fact, living and studying in a third-world conservative country. I should not be expected to fall in love with every aspect of the culture and experience that it sometimes sounds like those who study in France, or Italy, or Australia, or New Zealand do. I am in a country where woman are looked upon as lesser beings (even if it is subconsciously), where maids and workers are treated as less worthy or less intelligent beings just because of their economic status, where abortion is illegal and birth-control and condoms are very difficult to find, where it is still outrageous to find an openly gay member or society, where people drive whatever vehicle they want because oil reserves are plentiful and gas sells for $1.48 a gallon, and recycling is topic taken less than seriously. That is frustrating. That is hard to live with and be a part of when 20 years+ of your life has been spent with the privilege of viewing these issues in a completely different way and have spent living in a country that as a whole is more educated on all of these issues. No one will argue that the US does not have it’s own problems as well (especially now), but you also never realize that even with these problems how incredibly blessed and fortunate we are to live in the US until you experience first hand what it is to live without all the benefits that we are allowed.

            This is probably best described as my attempt at an explanation or defense for myself and the tone or topics of some of what I have been writing. Although I have never felt this from any of my family or those reading my blogs, other students have shared some of these same or similar frustrations with their friends or family and received responses like “you do have to remember that you are in a different country and culture and things are going to be different,” or “you can’t expect everything to be the same, just be patient.” To which, if not verbally at least mentally, my friends respond, “You have no fucking idea.” And it’s true, they don’t. And although it is not entirely their fault for not being able to understand completely and give this response because they have in fact never experienced life in a third world country as we are now, it is also quite irritating to hear this response from someone who has no idea what they are talking about. Of course, parents, friends, and relatives always want those of us studying abroad to have a wonderful experience and take away from it the most we can and not spend so much time missing the things from home or our comfort zone that we sell short the opportunities we have in our foreign country of study, but just as we should not put on blinders by our longing for home and comfort, our supports too should not be disillusioned by their dream for us to have the most amazing 5 months of our lives every one of those 150-some days. Both are dangerous and naïve perspectives.

            So, as I’ve said, none of you reading this have given me any responses like this so far but I wanted to write this just as a precaution, so as my frustration might grow, you don’t feel inclined too :p and also so that you don’t misunderstand where I am coming from and what it is I’m trying to express and why I am feeling the way I am. And don’t worry. The experience I am having here is teaching me so much more than just Spanish, and the only way to learn how you want to live your life is not to discover all the great things you want to be a part of it, but to also discover the not so great things you want to leave out.

 

1.5 Liters of Ice Cream & 4 Cups of Coffee in One Day Later…

[this one´s a long on, you have been warned...] :p

 

So, after having a slightly rough hump-day in which at my trabajo social I was told I had to buy a watermelon for next week, the rest of the weekend turned out pretty nicely.

            First I have to tell the story from Wednesday and I promise to tell it as unbaisedly as possibly and it will still sound ridiculous. Ok, I work with old people- we know this. There are other permanent nurses that work there as well. Everyday before lunch the patients get fruit of some sort as a snack. Other times we (the student volunteers) have had like an orange or something. The other nurses also eat the fruit sometimes as well, and this Wednesday we had watermelon and they ate some of that. So, Pete and I had some too (me, one piece and him two I think). When he was eating his second piece one of the nurses came by and told him/us that the fruit was for the patients. Later, the woman who we initially met with and who I think is one of if not the one in charge of ABEI- the home, came up and asked to speak with us. Two things: first, there was a flier in her office for us of some workshops we could attend put on by or in conjunction with ABEI, and second, she was told that we had eaten some of the watermelon.

Was this true?

Yes.

Who ate it?

I did (Kerry), I didn’t have any (Tristan), I ate some too (Pete).

Ok. Well it is for the patients, so (and this is a direct quote in command form) “you guys bring me a watermelon next Wednesday. Between the two of you (Pete & I), one watermelon.”

Ok (Me), No problem (Pete).

-For eating three fucking pieces of watermelon!!! Pete and I are supposed to buy a whole new watermelon for next time we come. Even better, more nurses came in later and ate some more, AND there was still some left over at lunch time when they took it away. Excuse me for not bleeping out any of my chosen word, but really??? That’s completely out of line. We are mother f’in volunteers!!! Of course, Pete and I are going to buy the watermelon and then I fully intend to tell Monica (the professor from ACLAS in charge of the trabajo social) the story at our next reunion on Wednesday night. And I will probably continue to be bitter towards all the nurses who as Pete out it, basically “tattled” on us. It doesn’t help that I already got vibes from them that they were judging us. Probably from the times they would sit together and watch us try to talk to the patients and whatnot and then whisper- I dunno, I think that might be it. [Can you tell this isn’t exactly being the most wonderful experience of my life?] Anyway, like I said, the weekend helped.

            Friday after going to our art workshop and after lunch Hilary and I went to watch the swim competition of some of our friends in the swimming class at USFQ. After, we all piled into the car of the Ecuadorian who we ate pizza with last week, and his parents dropped us off at our friend Megan’s house. We being, Andres (the pizza kid), Pete, Megan, Cassie, Gwen, Hilary, and I. Tristan came over later. We took a walking trip to the bank and Supermaxi where we bought ice cream and juice. One of the ice creams tasted like Biscotti! Awesome! Then we went back to Megan’s house and went up to the 9^th floor where we proceeded to take some pictures of the city at dusk and play in a random shopping cart that was on the roof. Took pictures of that too. Hilary and I finished one liter cartoon of ice cream there before the pizza we ordered arrived. We finally decided on a movie to watch, Pan’s Labyrinth, and paused it part way through to eat our pizza. The boys decided not to finish watching the movie, but the girls did… along with which Hilary and I (most I) finished almost another liter of ice cream (different kind). I know, that’s absolutely disgusting, but after deciding that I probably ate about a liter and a half of ice cream that night everyone was very impressed with me If only that was a useful talent. After the movie we called it a night and headed home.

            Saturday morning I got up and met Cassie for my second cup of coffee (the first being at my house) at about 9 o’clock, as we waited for Gwen to meet up with us. The three of us then hopped on the ecovia to the south where we planned to catch another bus to head to Papallacta- know for its natural hotsprings. Because we were just so determined to go somewhere outside Quito, we hadn’t done really much research (meaning any) so we stopped by to ask Marco’s parents for some beginning direction. Big Marco ended up finding us the right bus and just for fun paying the $2 for each of us for the way there. These people are getting a great Christmas/Thank you present before we leave. We had some time to kill and we needed a bathroom so we went to a coffee shop where I had my third cup of coffee, and used the bathroom. We finally left at 11:30 and were then on the bus for about 2 ½ hours. We arrived in one of the locations of the pools in Papallacta (that’s basically all there is there) and paid another $2 in total for a man to drive us up the hill to the pools. There we ate some slightly sketchy food, including some really chewy meat for which we were overcharged for, and then struggled buying ice cream bars afterwards because we could not understand the woman’s difference between saying “venticinco” and “noventa-cinco” (25 and 95) cents. Anyway, finally we went up to the hot springs, paid $7 to get in, and enjoyed a bit of the afternoon in the hot pools. It was a nice relaxing time. Hilary had come up earlier with her host brother and his wife and we had planned to meet up with her, but times did not coincide. In any case, the three of us had a good time. After, we walked down the hill from the pools, discovered we needed to walk all the way into town to catch the bus back to Quito, walked more, waited about 20 minutes for the bus (not at a stop, just on the road), then got on. But of course there were no seats so we stood. I had to laugh at how creative Gwen and I were getting to try and get comfortable. We were all tired at this point, and falling asleep standing up, but somehow still in very good spirits. Towards the end of the trip we started chatting with a guy who had also been standing in Spanglish who actually was from Italy. He wanted to speak in English though. We had a nice chat about why we were all here in Ecuador and such (I think he’s doing something with a job or research for his PhD or something…) We discovered that he was 28 but avoided telling our ages because it’s rude to ask a woman’s age in Italy. Gwen got his phone number in case we wanted to show him around Quito on Sunday because he was working in Guayaquil and didn’t know Quito at all. After being completely lost at the bus terminal in Quito and not knowing how to get to the Ecovia, we caved and paid $4 for a taxi to Quicentro where we went to eat cheesecake and I had my fourth cup of coffee for the day. Note: the cheesecake here is very different and more like milk with gelatin… a disappointment for sure if you’re expecting American/traditional cheesecake. Although, with a fourth cup of coffee and much tiredness it doesn’t bother you too terribly much. Finally got home, drank lots of water, but probably still not enough, and called it a night after a semi-adventurous but satisfying day outside of Quito. 

            Sunday, woke up and had a breakfast of cheese and bread (the cheese probably not such a good idea later) and left to go running- or what I now call training- at about 9:30, I ran one loop around Parque Carolina which I think measured at about 3.6 km, then met up with Hilary and Gwen to run some more, in total about another 3.6 km and a total of about a 50 min run with an extra maybe two minute pause after the first lap. Longest I have ever run, in my life. We also recruited Gwen to run the 12k with us in November. She didn’t want to but Cassie convinced her that they weren’t gonna run the whole way so Gwen agreed. It was a bit tougher of a run though, I think in part because it was later in the day and hotter, I hadn’t run Saturday, and was carting around all that ice cream and coffee in me still. But I felt good after the run (after the slight dizziness wore off). Then we headed back to my house to get our basketball and hopefully find a court to play on. When we got back to the park we did find a court, although crummy, and within 10 minutes of shooting around people showed up and asked to play a game and we had a game of 5 on 5 going. Still hot outside and exhausted from our run we managed to plug out about a 45 or so minute game to 30. Mine and Gwen’s team won. But overall it was funny to see that despite the fact that all of us haven’t played in a while, we were probably the better players out on the court. It was fun though. And even though you had to watch every other step to not step in a pothole, it was good to play again, and actual game of some sort. Thoroughly exhausted I came home and took a shower and took a bit of a nap. Two hours later woke up and ate lunch with my family, and met my host brother’s girlfriend for the first time, as well as tried wine cake for the first time. Interesting, but very good, and I didn’t feel so guilty after my hour and a half plus workout in the morning. After a little bit of a chat on Skype with the padres I watched Chocolat, felt longing for a man like Johnny Depp, :p scribbled out a poem, and called it a night.

            Monday started off with a run as well. A seven minute warm-up followed by another 50 some minute run of two more laps. If right now I am at slightly more than 7 km (probably about 7.5 counting the distance from and to my house from the park) right now and 50 minutes, this will take a bit more training in the next month to reach my goal of 12k’s (which I still think was unrealistic seeing as I was hoping to be able to run 10k’s by the time I returned to the US in December.) But it does make you feel better just in general to run that much. And I never feel as hungry after I workout, so I’m not loading up on as much bread and cheese. (Running is actually quite healthy for you!) Although the pollution is starting to catch up with my asthma- and I don’t have enough inhaler left for the entire time here. My cough is starting to come back a little. Even more, other people from our WU group have mentioned they’ve started to develop a cough after running and at night as well (not accompanied by other cold-like symptoms- sounds exactly like my sport induced asthma.) I still think that the pollution of this city is one of the most frustrating and difficult things to get used to, in fact I am still not accustomed to it and still just as irritated by it as when I first came, if not more. But after running and feeling like dying I managed a relaxing morning and then ate lunch- in a slightly tense air… [Side Note…]

            [It seems to me, and others as we have discussed it, that part of the culture here is to put a large emphasis on family. Sons and daughters alike live at home until marriage the majority of the time and even after come for lunch quite regularly to the homes of their parents. My host sister and her husband come to eat lunch at my host parents’ house for the most part every week day, and remain here at the house with their three kids until about 6:30 or 7:00 at night. In the mornings it is common to eat breakfast together as well (which sometimes causes problems for me when my host dad wants to talk longer than my morning schedule allows) but it is a quite large deal to be together for lunch. Today, I discovered it can be a slightly bigger deal than I had even originally thought.]

            [Back to the Story] From what I understood, because I was taking a pre-lunch nap when all this happened, my host sister called the house to say she and her husband would not be coming to eat lunch today (at least not until later). My host dad’s assistant (and goddaughter who is 19) answered the phone and talked to my host sister. For one, my host dad was upset that his daughter had not asked to speak to him and why Veronica, his assistant had not given him the phone and only relayed the message. So Vero left for a while I guess after having some harsh words exchanged in her direction, but did come back and talked to my host mom after lunch. Overall, I got the impression that my host dad was basically upset that my host sister was not coming for lunch and that he directly hadn’t been told this and why. He likes to be in control and informed (and right) in many issues. Because he was upset he did not like any of the food and did not eat much or much with us/me. My host mom ate a little something with me, but for the most part I was the only eating…and the house was very quiet except for my host mother telling my host dad that of course it was always someone else’s fault and that when he didn’t have anyone to put the blame on he was upset (more or less), and everyone also trying to figure out what was said to Vero, why she left, and if she was coming back. In any case, it was interesting and slightly uncomfortable but I escaped the house safely and went with Hilary to buy stamps and send another batch of postcards. Then we met up with Cassie and Kayla and went to buy more movies (although I did end up with a different movie in one box than was supposed to be there.) We’ll try to exchange that soon. Then we swapped Hilary out for Megan and had a coffee and sweets date… after an excruciating experience on the Ecovia. There is no way that I can explain what these trips are really like because I know that I would never have believed the severity of it if someone had told me about it before seeing it for myself. This is the incredible over-occupancy of the buses. People standing in the aisles cram together so closely that you can not turn or move much more than maybe an inch in either direction (absolutely no exaggeration). As the bus lurches you needn’t hold onto any railing because you will not move around at all, you can’t. Bodies are pressed right up against one another and you literally must push, with force, to make your way off the bus at the stop you want. People are pressed against the doors and at the next stop, still more try to, and do, pile one… which only makes it more crowded. In the maybe 18 square feet of space in front of the door there can be around 20+ people. Yes, I am entirely serious. So today was one of those rides. Very hot, humid, smelly, and overall just dirty, with 7 stops to go till our destination it was incredible how angry we all got just from the situation. So much so for me that I told the others I was getting off a stop early and going to walk. Once I stepped off it took lots within me not to let out a scream and I felt sticky from all my own and the sweat of others. Cassie managed to get out right before her claustrophobia erupted. (Note, Cassie does not suffer from claustrophobia…) But after washing my hands and eating my sweets I felt ten-fold better. Came home and did a little studying before Hilary came over and we watched another movie- this time America’s Sweethearts. As my sarcastic friend she could appreciate all the banter in this movie. Exhausted from all the day’s experiences and with my alarm set for 7 am to going running tomorrow before school, I called it a night, and called it a weekend.