Sunday, October 31, 2010

Dude, we're in South America

view from our  hostel 1
view from our hostel 2
A gasp from Yonseili woke me up this morning.  It was 6:09am so we missed church.  We got ready and asked the hostel owners if they could hold our stuff in the mean time until we got back.  They went ahead and let us put our bags in their small kitchen/dining room.  We looked for a place to have breakfast before 7:30am so that we can ride the go-karts to some of the waterfalls, and didn't have much luck.  There were several places open but they had too many people and we didn't want to wait... well we couldn't really. We went to the indoor market and just had to settle with bread.  We didn't even have anything to drink.  On our way to the go-kart place we saw everyone coming out of church.  That should have been us as well.  It was nice to see how many people went to mass that early.  I saw a little kid with who I think was his grandma.  His hair was a little messy, indicating he just got out of bed before going to mass.  He also had a notebook up against his chest.  Maybe he had catechism?  One of the options we had for breakfast was fried food.  Wow, there was plenty of that and we couldn't understand how people could have that so early in the morning.

The weather was nice.  Not cold, not hot, and cloudy.  It wasn't loud, but you could hear chatter everywhere, businesses opening.  There were four somewhat young people eating at a table right outside one of the restaurants we were interested in.  I am almost 100% sure they were out all night.  The eyes of two of them were red.  They probably slept until 2 after that... or later.

We arrived to Motorsport Adventure (the place that rents out go-karts, quads, and other extreme sport stuff).  We paid the rest of the 'bill' and he gave us instructions on what road to take.  It was a 3-hour deal to and from the waterfalls.  He explained there would be tunnels and roads and he indicated which to take and which ones not to take.  This is because of the awful drivers that could possibly kill us.  We were given our helmets and then told about how to drive the go-kart.  Yonseili had to give her driver's license and I gave my cedula.  The process here is way faster and cheaper than back home.  We would have had to show proof of this, proof of that, blah blah blah.  Of course, it's not good when things go wrong, but to our convenience, if careful, it's great.  Around this location/business there were other similar businesses and therefore there were plenty of go-karts parked on the street.  I got to drive first.

We took a few wrong turns but eventually got to the first waterfall.  On the way there I must say that I was thinking a lot about my trip.  "Dude, we're in South America."  That's something we find saying to each other at times when I think it blows our minds that we are here doing the things we are doing, such as driving a go-kart by and around and active volcano.

Highlight of the day: Going through the tunnels was the coolest.  We got to feel the sharp hits of water drops on our body coming down from within the tunnel.  I remember telling Yonseili the tunnels made it seem like we were on a Disneyland ride.  This is when we needed to use the lights on the go-karts, and the beep, only if we wanted.  The beep we used at curves mainly.  It was pretty loud.

To every waterfall we went to we had to use a tarabita.  They're pretty cool.  The weather overall was more humid than anything, but still a bit fresh.

When we got back to town, we parked our go-kart and said thank you to the man.  We looked for a place to eat.  Yonseili suggested we eat at Cafe Hood, where we visited Lauren and her friend.  The food they were eating looked delicious.  So that's where we went.

Definitely delicious.  I got 2 burritos and Yonseili got enchiladas.  The place is pretty cool.  There are paintings all over the place and overall very artsy-looking.  There are plenty of books on one wall.  There was a sign that said you can only look at them with permission and you could buy them for $20/e.  I'm pretty sure that meant you couldn't buy them.  But I think you could exchange.  I left that place full and very content.

We then went to the hot springs and check it out.  We went by taxi and when we go to the location we saw the line and knew immediately we weren't going in to the pool.  There was on the side, a place where supposedly there was holy water and plenty of people were wetting themselves with it and their kids, even dogs.  I went up this ladder where I could get closer to the waterfall and it was a good view.  I got a bit wet, but no complaints.  When I got down Yonseili and I were passing by two horses used for picture taking.  The photographer talked us into taking a picture on them.  Well, to be honest he didn't really have to insist because we thought it would be great to have.  And yes, the picture definitely is hilarious.

Then we went back to the hostel to get our stuff and then we went to the church.  We had our moment and then went to the bus terminal and took off back to Quito.  I pretty much slept the entire time.  I was too tired. Sleeping 3 hours might have been the cause.

Or taxi ride home was through the city instead of through the freeway.  It took longer but was cheaper.  It was weird to see El Panecillo from the back.  That was an indicator we were pretty far from home.  Then we unloaded, showered and later went out for pizza at Pizzeria el Hornero with my host family and their friend Ruben.  We had very interesting conversations.  Our next stop was Fybeca and then we headed back home.

It was a looooong day.






shotgun

weeee!

Thaaat's meee

Inside the tunnel

cascada...

wowww

Yeah... there was no way we were going to get in there

deniSe Terrazas

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Baños, Ecuador, here we come!

After going back and fourth on what to do and where to go we decided to go to Baños.  We were supposed to leave by 9am but I got breakfast late and then my host dad asked if we could wait for his brother to take us.  He is a taxi driver.  We left pretty late and on our way out our host parents suggested we take our driver's licenses for the go-karts available at our destination.  My host dad then took Juan Jose and a boy they were babysitting to the park.

So his brother and his wife took us to the terminal en el sur.  We took the freeway, or autopista, and it was great.  I had no idea how much I missed it.  It took us a long time to get there but when we did we hurried inside and bought our tickets.  I love how easy and cheap it is.  Our bus was to leave at 11:30 but left at 12pm actually.  We met this lady who was going there as well.  She was going with her little girl so she could get to know the place for the first time.

The bus ride was 3ish hours long.  On our way we saw the Cotopaxi.  Woah, it looked FAKE!  We will be going there soon so I can't wait!

yummy pizza
We arrived and headed toward our hostel.  Yonseili's book helped with that.  We tried two hostels and they were full.  The third one we checked, Hostal Carolina, offered one room with one bed and a private bathroom, and TV cable.  This cost us $15.  Not bad for the high season.  The low season cost at this place is $7.  Ah, I almost forgot to mention that our room, number 13 by the way, was on the last floor on the terrace.  It overlooked the waterfall, the church, the plaza and even the place where we would be renting out the go-karts.  We definitely got a good deal and it makes me wish we had more hostels back home.

When we put our stuff down we searched for a place to eat.  We ended up at a Pizzeria and it was chill.  I ordered one with ham.  We ordered a medium each.  It had 8 thin slices.  I ate 6 and I was very satisfied.  We walked around the town and we really love it.  There were a lot of people out and about, at the plaza, at the church, everywhere.  There were plenty of places to shop, plenty of places to eat.  We stopped at cool internet cafe.  Not too much was special about it, but I liked how clean and organized it was.  The computers each had headphones for the Skype available on them.  It was by far the best internet cafe I've been to.  People were friendly.  There were of course many other tourists, not just from outside the country but from within as well.  We later bumped into Doris, the lady we became acquaintances with at the bus terminal.  She was walking around with her and we walked with her for a while.  We went into the church and as we were leaving, after we saw the paintings and such, we took a picture of the bride.  Yes, you read that correctly, the bride.  She had a very nice dress by the way.  She probably wondered who the heck we were taking pictures of her.

We chilled at our hostel for a while and then we got a text from Lauren that she was going to be at Cafe Hood with her friend at around 8pm and then they would hit the bars.  We went over to the cafe with them for a while and then we headed back to the hostel so that we could head up the mountain to overlook the city.  We bought the tickets for this thing right when we got the hostel who was selling them.  It was $3 so that a chiva could take us up there.  There were plenty, and I mean PLENTY, of chivas when we got there and plenty of people in them.

The view was great.  The lady guide was talking to us about the city but honestly I didn't really listen.  It was neat to briefly listen to her about the hotel that we could see next to the crater.  After she gave us that talk and after we took pictures, or actually in the meantime, we bought some goodies.  Those goodies were basically meat on a stick and corn on the cob.  There was also a cold coke in the mix.  Then we got a show from a clown and other circus people.  We couldn't really see.  Then it was time to go and so we headed back to the chiva, and back into town.  As part of the chiva tour, we were given a note/slip to get a free cocktail at a bar/discotheque.  We just got in and got out without our free drink.  We gave our slip to some people in there.

Then we walked to what was a street where there is bar after bar after bar because that's where Lauren and her friend were.  We found them and hung out with them.  In total we went to three bars, but the last one was definitely the best.  What made it so was that everyone in there was dancing and was very happy.  I'm not just talking about the guests, but even the barmen and the DJ.  They were great.  Plus, no one was "bumping and grinding."  It was great to see people simply dancing and having a good time.  The music was excellent and the place was just right.

We got home kind of late.  I didn't want to know what time it was because I know we'd have to wake up early for church.

Highlight of the day: The city overall and it's peacefulness even in the midst of a lot of tourists/people


The basilica of Nuestra Señora del Agua Santa

Purses and wallets and hats oh my!

Love all the colors

Here comes the bride...

La Basilica de noche

Baños!

<3 awwww

funnnn

Friday, October 29, 2010

Homecoming

When we got to school we passed out the candy bags to different people at school and we asked most of them to say "trick or treat."  Everyone that got one was very thankful.
-Before school, however, we had to go to Correos del Ecuador.  We had plenty of time since we didn't have to go to class until 10am because of homecoming.  We got stamps and Yonseili shipped off her box home.-
We hung out until it was time to get on the bus that was taking us to the hacienda.  We waited a long time.  Ecuadorians, it seems like, don't know about punctuality.  We had to even wait up to an hour for some students. We finally left and we still had to make a few stops.  There were no adults with us, no one from the faculty.  I was surprised because this event was put together by the school with the purpose of having freshmen and sophomores "bond."  Little did we know at this time that it would not be the case. At all.

We finally arrived.  The hacienda belongs to one of the students from the university, a sophomore.  He walked a group of us to the nearby soccer field.  Woah, I got burned.  The sun was tough.  Throughout the day we did that, some just hung out.  They played volleyball at times. I still don't know how they can play with soccer balls.  No thank you.  Some of us helped out with preparing the food.  That included rinsing/cleaning potatoes.  Other didn't do much other than drink.  As a matter of fact, since we were on the bus we saw some students holding beer bottles.  Yes, this was by 11am.  I know.

Lunch was good.  We had choripanes and chicken, salad, potatoes.  To drink there was obviously alcohol, plus juice like koolaid and coke.

Everyone there was from Ecuador except for 4 international students (Yonseili, Christian, Rachel and I).  It was definitely different from hanging out with international students.  Most of them are studying environmental science and a few business administration.  I thought all of them knew each other, but no.  There were a few introductions here and there between first-year and second-year students.

Later a lot of the students played a drinking game.  I played kick ups with the soccer ball with Esteban.

So, by then there was some issue with one of the students.  This student was drinking the entire day and apparently he had gotten into the owner's house and broke beer bottles.  Whether accidentally or not, no one picked it up.  It seems like he was mad that they were falsely accusing him.  Who knows... well I for sure didn't, but that was the least of my worries.  This same student and his bud who was also on something later caused a scene.

BASICALLY - I don't want to waste my time explaining this exhausting experience - the dudes wanted to go home drunk on the motorcycle.  It was absolutely horrible.  So many of us, if not all of us, did so much to stop them.  Eventually they did leave and on our way back to school they stopped in front of the bus so that one of the guys could get on the bus.  There was a lot of arguing, frustration and even some crying on behalf of at least one girl.  What a mess.

Highlight of the day: Passing out the candy bags at school.  People were caught by surprise.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

"OMG, I'm so excited and I don't even know why!!!"

We waited a long time for our advertising professor.  After about 30 minutes of waiting we thought we would go to Patty's office to ask her about the length of our final presentation.  Well, she wasn't there because she was at a student's house.  We did more waiting and while we waited we caught up on reading and other homework.  At about 9:30am (an hour after class time) Carolina went up to me and said she was sorry but that the professor was not going to show up because she wasn't feeling good.  Apparently the professor emailed our ex-professor for Marketing and he told Paty, the director, and then she told Carolina to tell us.  Yeah.  Thanks for letting us know.  I went upstairs to the fourth floor to tell Yonseili.  She was reading the Alchemist on the couch.

For a while I went with Christian to an English class.  Nacho had told us that we could help by simply reading a few things in English so that the (two) students in that class could listen to our dictation.  It was interesting.

After that we went to the top floor where we would be making guaguas and be drinking colada morada.  Many students had signed up for this activity so it was fun for sure.  They had set up a huge table area for us to make balls of 'masa' that we then needed to roll and make into guaguas.  We could leave them as is or fill them with jelly.  Yonseili and I left ours alone.  Definitely a good activity and a great way to 'immerse' ourselves into the traditions of this country.  We missed our grammar class because of it but we still had literature.  Raquel had been doing some guaguas as well so we there wasn't an issue.  When we left out for lunch Yonseili and I gave our guaguas to Samuel the security guard.  He's definitely the friendliest of the security guards.  The others don't look too happy to be there sometimes, well, most of the time.

Yonseili and I went to eat at Zona Bambu and actually got our food quick.  When we were about done Brice, Shigueki and this other guy from England also came into the place, but they sat at their own table.  We went back to school and I waited for Yonseili to get out of class.  I read in the meantime. Also, before class Manuel, from Ecuador and apparently the president of their student council, invited us to the homecoming.  We had seen flyers all over the school but since we weren't interested we didn't pay attention to them.  He told us that it would be at an hacienda and it would be a fun hang out activity for students.  Our $10 would include food, transportation and "alcohol."  We weren't too convinced because we had a lot of stuff to do including packing for our weekend trip.  Then he said all students who were going would be excused from all classes.  I figured, why not?  I also figured it may be a way to actually mingle and meet nice Ecuadorians.  So we decided to go.  Yonseili got out of class early and we went to Patty's office to tell her we were going to the homecoming and therefore she could let our professors know.

Next stop was the C.C.I. to buy the Jonas Brothers concert tickets.  Yonseili then got a sandwich at El Español.  She was definitely ripped off.  She got more bread than anything and was charged $1 for each thing she asked for on it.  We split when we got home and got ready for the Alejandro Sanz concert.

We left at about 6ish I think.  Right when we stepped out of our gate, there was a couple who was also leaving the next door house and the guy asked if we were going to the concert.  He said, "Aya nos vemos."  We took a taxi and it took us forever to get there because of traffic.  The Coliseo General Rumiñahui is far anyway so it definitely took us a while to get there.  We were charged $4.50.  Approaching the coliseum, there were many ticket vendors.  Of course those tickets are sold at ridiculous prices.

When we got there we didn't have to wait in line.  We got in and looked for a seat.  The place was somewhat full by then.  Many people were saving seats for people who were probably not at the coliseum yet.  We eventually found a seat.  This seat was not directly in front of the stage, but it was much closer and on the side.  Nothing was blocking our view either and we had big screens we could easily look at.

Yonseili began to talk to two girls who were seating next to us.  One, Estefania, is from Quito and the other, Jessica, is from Riobamba.  They were great and easy to talk to.  Estefania is a huge fan of Sanz and Jessica was just there to go with her.  Yonseili got us popcorn and hot dogs as well as a Big Cola soda.  It tasted like RC Cola, and it wasn't cold.  When Yonseili was opening up her Guitig mineral water, it sprayed out and she wet the guy in front of us.  Hey, good thing it was water.  All she could say after she swung the water out in front of her so that she wouldn't get wet was, "Disculpe!"  Too funny.

The band, or guy, that began was from Ecuador, Brandao.  He was okay.  Then they shut off the lights and they started playing Looking for Paradise by Sanz and Alicia Keys.  The crowd went wild and it was more wild when he came out.

Highlight of the day: I will never forget looking at Yonseili and seeing her scream, "OMG, I'm so excited and I don't even know why!!!"  We were both pretty damn excited.  The concert was very well done and we had good seats.

Another thing that was absolutely hillarious was that she was almost squished to death by a short and not-light lady who was trying to walk up the benches/stands.  The steps are pretty steep so she really needed help.  It was just funny how she got Yonseili's help involuntarily.  She literally put her hand on Yonseili's shoulder and helped herself up.  As she went up she struggled and kept pushing down on Yonseili's back.  It was so funny I am literally laughing as I describe this event.  Yonseili just kept looking at me with a concerned/confused/shocked/smiling face and saying "ow."  All I could do was laugh.  The lady didn't care, she just needed to get up.

When Sanz said the show was almost over we decided to leave so that we wouldn't have a hard time finding a taxi and getting charged more for the ride.  We were home by 10:30pm and that was that.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Ajiaco for lunch

Long day for sure.

Go to school.  Check.
Wait for Yonseili. Check.
Have ajiaco for lunch.  Check
Buy candy and candy bags for Halloween.  Check.
Go home and put together the bags.  Check.
Have dinner. Check.
Chill at Yonseili's and do homework.  Check.
Have host dad's brother-in-law take us to the Mariscal.  Check.
Go home.  Check.

Of course, it doesn't sound long when I put it that way.  Let me further explain, a bit.


Go to school.  Check.
Had the usual advertising and supposedly wrapped up whatever material we had to wrap up.  She showed us a powerpoint on what the company she works for does.  The name of it is Nolck Red America.  We had our break and then we had literature.  It was a good class as always.

Wait Not Wait for Yonseili. Check.
After my classes I didn't have to wait for her because, remember! she gets out early on Wednesdays since she doesn't have her third class.

Have ajiaco for lunch.  Check.
As my host mom had told us to do, we came to my house to have ajiaco.  Very delicious.  Yonseili really, really liked the mango juice.

Buy candy and candy bags for Halloween.  Check.
Since we aren't celebrating Halloween, we figured it would still be nice to pass out candy bags at school.  We went out to get the stuff we need to be able to do that.  Candy is kinda expensive.  We also bought black and orange balloons which we forgot to put in the candy bags.  That's okay.

Go home and put together the bags.  Check.
I went over to Yonseili's so we could do so.  We knew we wouldn't have time to put them together tomorrow because we have the Alejandro Sanz concert (!!!).  

Have dinner. Check.
You know.

Chill at Yonseili's and do homework.  Check.
After dinner we continued with homework until we had to leave.  We looked forward to meeting Lauren's friend also from England.  She is just visiting for a few days.

Have host dad's brother-in-law take us to the Mariscal.  Check.
We got a ride from Carlos' brother-in-law, Roberto.  (He is a taxi driver.)  We did pay him like we do any other taxi driver, but it was nice to be taken by someone we 'knew'.  He actually dropped us off right in front of the Huaina bar.  The bar was chill and then we went to Bungalow 6.  Had fun.  After we stepped out we we saw Anne and Celina.  Yonseili craved what Anne was eating so she bought some.  What Anne was eating has a name, but I don't remember it.  It is basically one long and thin stick that has sausage, chicken, fried banana, potato.

Go home.  Check.

Highlight of the day: The ajiaco. =P.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

"Gelitos, love you"

Went to school. Yay.

And... this may sound bad but Yonseili and I went to school late purposely.  Our professor is always getting there late so we didn't rush to get there.  We first went to We arrived 15 minutes after class time and when we walked to class we saw our professor waiting outside the room on a couch.  We just walked in and she didn't say anything and I was so very glad that was the case.  Yonseili told me that if she said anything, she would bring it to her attention that she is late all the time and was 30 minutes late (the Friday that I wasn't there).  I had made a little prayer to God that the professor didn't say anything because that would have been completely awkward.

After our literature class, we invited our professor Raquel to go with us to the "house of cheese" (casa del queso).  It was us two, the professor, and Christian who went.  It was a good lunch and it got a bit interesting, to say the least, when we talked about love.  I ordered a 3-cheese pasta and it was very good.  As we were leaving, we noticed it was pouring rain!  Completely unexpected.  Although we were on the second floor of the restaurant and there are huge windows there, we didn't see it until we were stepping out.  Since Yonseili and Christian needed to go to class, they left and Raquel and I stayed chatting for a while until she, too, had to go to class.  Right after they left there was hail and then it stopped.  I let Christian borrow one of my sweaters so that his guitar wouldn't get wet.  He ended up using it for his backpack since his laptop was inside.  He and Yonseili shared an umbrella he had.  I got a taxi to go home.  

I got home and called my dad as well as spoke with Henry.  It did me very well to speak with my dad.  !Muchas gracias papa!

The rest of my day consisted of doing homework and having dinner.  Overall it was a crazy day, taken by many thoughts and feelings.

Highlight of the day:  Having the conversation with my dad.  Every time we hang up we say, "'gelitos, laviu."  "'gelitos" comes from me telling my parents every night before I go to sleep, "Hasta mañana, buenas noches, y que duerman con los angelitos, love you."

Monday, October 25, 2010

"SE DESPIDE UN GENIO" y El Alquemista

We were running a bit late for school so we couldn't walk and had to take a cab.  The traffic wasn't too bad today.

There are 3 new students today and it seems like we got about 4 last week while we were on break.  While we listened to Paty introduce the new students and give announcements regarding the activities for the week, our teacher arrived.  Yeah, she got there about 15 minutes late.  According to Yonseili, the Friday I was gone for Galapagos, she got there 30 minutes late and then just improvised on what to lecture.  She was also wearing a mini skirt.  Eek, I am glad I wasn't there - not because of the mini skirt but I would have been very upset waiting for her.  Today she said she wasn't feeling good because of something she ate, and therefore got there late.  We had class outside.  By class I mean we got read to out of some advertising book.

During the break we had to print out our analysis of the book.  We asked Carolina to print it out for us but since we didn't have it saved on usb's we had to log on to our email accounts and go from there.  Holy smokes the internet is as slow or slower than dial-up.  I didn't know it was still possible to have a computer that slow.  After the longest time, however, we were able to get them and later turn them in to Raquel.

In Raquel's class, part 1: Grammar, we took an exam which tested us on verbs and saying them in present tense.  We had to talk about who we admired and why.  In part 2: Literature, one of the things we did was read "Se despide un genio."  I was moved by it.  For those of you that know me well, know that I love to be inspired, be moved, by others.  I enjoy very much learning from other people by listening to them about themselves, their story.  I can also spend a lot of my time reading quotes.  One of my favorites is: "If you feel as though you have nothing to share, share your story."  Instead of me telling you all about it, I would encourage you to read it and I hope you enjoy it, although it is sad, as much as we did in literature class.

SE DESPIDE UN GENIO
Gabriel Garcia Marquez se ha retirado de la vida publica por razones de salud: cancer linfatico.
Ahora, parece que es cada vez mas grave. Ha enviado una carta de despedida a sus amigos, y gracias al Internet esta siendo difundida. Les recomiendo su lectura porque es verdaderamente conmovedor este corto texto escrito por uno de los Latinoamericanos mas brillantes de los ultimos tiempos.
"Si por un instante Dios se olvidara 
de que soy una marioneta de trapo 
y me regalara un trozo de vida, 
posiblemente no diría todo lo que pienso, 
pero en definitiva pensaría todo lo que digo.
Daría valor a las cosas, no por lo que valen, 
sino por lo que significan. 
Dormiría poco, soñaría más, 
entiendo que por cada minuto que cerramos los ojos, 
perdemos sesenta segundos de luz.
Andaría cuando los demás se detienen, 
Despertaría cuando los demás duermen. 
Escucharía cuando los demás hablan, 
y cómo disfrutaría de un buen helado de chocolate.

Si Dios me obsequiara un trozo de vida, 
Vestiría sencillo, me tiraría de bruces al sol, 
dejando descubierto, no solamente mi cuerpo sino mi alma. 
Dios mío, si yo tuviera un corazón, 
escribiría mi odio sobre hielo, 
y esperaría a que saliera el sol.
Pintaría con un sueño de Van Gogh 
sobre las estrellas un poema de Benedetti, 
y una canción de Serrat sería la serenata 
que les ofrecería a la luna.
Regaría con lágrimas las rosas, 
para sentir el dolor de sus espinas, 
y el encarnado beso de sus pétalo... 
Dios mío, si yo tuviera un trozo de vida...
No dejaría pasar un solo día 
sin decirle a la gente que quiero, que la quiero. 
Convencería a cada mujer u hombre de que son mis favoritos 
y viviría enamorado del amor.
A los hombres les probaría cuán equivocados están, 
al pensar que dejan de enamorarse cuando envejecen, 
sin saber que envejecen cuando dejan de enamorarse. 
A un niño le daría alas, 
pero le dejaría que él solo aprendiese a volar.

A los viejos les enseñaría que la muerte 
no llega con la vejez sino con el olvido. 
Tantas cosas he aprendido de ustedes, los hombres 
He aprendido que todo el mundo quiere vivir 
en la cima de la montaña, 
Sin saber que la verdadera felicidad está 
en la forma de subir la escarpada.

He aprendido que cuando un recién nacido 
aprieta con su pequeño puño, 
por vez primera, el dedo de su padre, 
lo tiene atrapado por siempre.
He aprendido que un hombre 
sólo tiene derecho a mirar a otro hacia abajo, 
cuando ha de ayudarle a levantarse. 
Son tantas cosas las que he podido aprender de ustedes, 
pero realmente de mucho no habrán de servir, 
porque cuando me guarden dentro de esa maleta, 
infelizmente me estaré muriendo."
Now... I must say that when I searched this online, it says it is a hoax.  I don't really know but either way I am moved by the words.
All day today, for some reason, the bell was rung late.  Just so you know.  It was a little bizarre.

We tried to convince our professor, and gave her one day to think about it, that she should go with Christian, Yonseili and me to the coast this upcoming holiday weekend.  We will have next Monday and Tuesday off.  Can you say "yay?"

For lunch Yonseili and I went to the Bambu hamburger place and after that I accompanied Yonseili to class and waited outside so we can go home together.  I started reading The Alchemist in Spanish for literature.  So far, I love the book.  I've already read further ahead than we've had to.

Question: What should we do this weekend? Canoa? Esmeraldas? We will see...

We took a cab to Quicentro because Yonseili needed to get a few things for some stuff she's sending home.  I got a brownie at the Juan Valdez Cafe.  I love brownies, and this one was good.  By the way, finding the restroom at Quicentro wasn't easy and whoever 'designed' that mall was not very smart.  Then we walked home and on our way there I bought two movies: Taken and Plan B.

I chilled in my room, talked to my dad and my brother for a bit.  I went downstairs for dinner and then there was a knocking on the dining room window.  Yonseili said she wanted me to go over in 20 minutes.  She asked that I didn't take so long eating, because I'm naturally a slow eater.  It gets old being the last one to finish and having people wait, but oh well.  So I went over and she wanted me to help her eat the traditional Ecuadorian Colada Morada y Guagua de Pan.  I just helped her with a foot of the guagua.

I worked on my blog.  If y'all haven't notice I can get pretty behind... I got really behind after my Galapagos trip.  Then Yonseili came over and we watched Plan B with my host mom.  We completed the night with doing homework.

Highlight of the day: My literature assignments.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Fireproof

As every Sunday, I had breakfast with the family including my host dad's mom, Doña Martica.  Breakfast was good not just the food, but the fact that I actually ate with all of them.  All break I didn't eat breakfast with them because I had the trip and then I woke up late the rest of the time.

I always need God in my life, but recently I've really needed him so we went to church at 10am.  The confirmation, level 2, students did a presentation.  What was it about?  Good question, I couldn't understand anything but I still applauded of course.

We came back and had lunch here with my host family, the grandparents and Juan Jose's cousin Javier.  It's kind of hard to have a conversation with my host dad's dad because of the way he talks.  I have to listen carefully in order to figure out if he's asking a question or if he's just stating something.  It was hard when he was asking us about our trips.

The rest of the afternoon, Yonseili and I worked on our literature homework.  We brought our laptops to the living room because (1) the bed gets old and (2) it is easier to focus.  We even missed out on watching How To Train A Dragon with my host family =/.  I was up for watching it but writing the analysis of the book, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, took a while to do.  We did take a break in between because we aren't slaved either, okay? We felt like ice cream but ended up buying chocolate cake for us and the family.

After Juan Jose fell asleep and Yonseili went home, took a shower, and came back we watched Fireproof.  This movie was great.  My host parents saw it at Juan Jose's Christian school.  I will look into buying my own Love Dare Book.

Highlight of the Day: Watching Fireproof did a lot of good for me

Saturday, October 23, 2010

3 Quesadillas deliciosas

The morning was routine...
BUT LUNCH DEFINITELY WASN'T

Yonseili had bought quesadilla stuff for the activity we were going to participate in at school but didn't after all because it turns out David had told Yonseili it was going to be on a Wednesday when it was really on a Thursday.  Point is, the quesadilla stuff had been in the kitchen since then but today we made sure to make room in the fridge.

We went with my host family to Fybeca just to get some fresh air and go for a walk.  Yonseili then had to go home faster than us because Clementina told her to be home at a certain time for lunch.  Pretty much by the time we got home, she was finished with lunch so she came over and we got to making them cheesy deliciousness.

Highlight of the day:  (Quesadillas)

Friday, October 22, 2010

"Una pieza unica"

I woke up super late today... 11:30am!

I had brunch pretty much and like two hours later had lunch.  Geeze, I feel like I've wasted so much time.  Please, someone tell me, how do I go to sleep early?!  It's been like impossible to do that and it's not as if we get as much homework as we do back home.  It really should be easy.

Yonseili has been wanting to go to the Starbucks of Ecuador - Juan Valdez Cafe.  So today we went and I had a hot chocolate, a glazed donut and bought a $1 bracelet with the cafe's name on it.  Our main goal for the day was to get the concert tickets for the Alejandro Sanz concert on October 28th.  We tried TropiBurger before the cafe, but since we couldn't get them there at that time we had to go to C.C.I. after the cafe.

We bought our tickets for the concert at the Tu Boleta which seems to be the Ticketmaster of Ecuador.  There was a lady complaining to the girl about her ticket and blah blah blah.  Yonseili's eye was caught by some incense stand by the ticket booth and she went ahead and bought a few of those aromatic sticks.  There was one that smelled like Vaporub and I really don't like that stuff.  I remember I never liked it when my mom put that on me.  No matter where she put it, it felt like I could breathe too much or like I was getting in too much oxygen.  That almost burning sensation was not helpful.  I also don't like Alka-seltzer and that is why I don't like mineral water, because it seems like I'm drinking that.  I don't like coffee either.

A-ny-way

Yonseili saw a picture booth by the ticket booth and we decided to take a picture.  There was a girl that was in charge of it and she helped us out.  We took three pictures and picked one.  The pictures come out with the effect as if they are drawn by hand.  We decided we'd buy a pretty frame for it and dedicate it to my host family for everything.

Highlight of the day: We got a kick out of wrapping the frame.  After dedicating it to them and putting the picture in the frame we looked for something to wrap it in.  Yonseili went to the room next to her host parents' room and found some nice paper and we taped several things to that: a yellow flower from Yonseili's room from the garden, a piece of the receipt of the Crazy Pollo place, a Coca-Cola bottle cap, and a granola bar.  That was just on the front because on the back we taped a Crazy Pollo menu.

We went home and my host mom was there still with her sister-in-law and mother-in-law.  We went up to her and told her we got a very unique piece of art for her.  She opened it up and was happy with the wrapper.  She mentioned she'd like to frame it actually.  She really loved our picture and put it in the living room.  As soon as you open the door you an see Yonseili and me smiling.  It's kinda funny actually.

For dinner we had bread.  That 'we' was my host mom, my host brother and his cousin, aunt and grandma.  We talked about several things including the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber.  Micaela (Juan Jose's cousin) says she really likes Justin Bieber.  Later her dad showed up and ate everyone's leftovers pretty much.  After they left, We watched Wall-E in my host parents room while Yonseili was on the computer and I shared my pics with my host family from the Galapagos.  After that I went over to Yonseili's house to watch the movie Vicky, Christina, Barcelona.  A good movie for sure; just not sure that I got anything out of it other than entertainment.  When that finished we watched the ending of the movie Rumor Has It with Jennifer Aniston.  I plan on watching that movie completely later.

Then I went home and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Movie day! & "Que no quede huella que no, que no... que no quede huella"

Today was another go-with-the-flow-day.

We woke up, did the usual such as eat, sleep, and....
But about midday Yonseili and I went to C.C.I. and Cinemark to watch two movies:
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps AND Eat, Pray, Love

Wall Street was very good.  We were the only ones watching this movie, and then about 20 minutes into it I think another lady showed up, and that was it.  We snacked out on a hot dog with ketchup,mustard and mayo.  We had popcorn, a coke, and the best part were the nachos.  I must clarify, it wasn't the nachos itself that were good, but the jalapeños.  Holy smokes, we had been craving them since forever.  Sure they were a little expensive at $1.25 for a little container, but they were very worth it.  Ecuadorians definitely lack hot/spicy foods so I have been craving so many things lately, like jalapeños.  With our combo we got two 'free' chocolate bars: Crunch and another one I simply can't think of the name but it's white and it has a cow on the label.

When that ended we had about half an hour to get to the Cinemark for Eat, Love, Pray with Julia Roberts.  Julia Roberts is very pretty by the way, for those of you who haven't noticed.  This movie was really great.  I'm at a very confusing time in my life, to be honest, and watching movies like this helps.

It's been hard to see my nephew and niece grow without me being there to witness it all live.  I'm glad that Stefany still asks for me and I love hearing her tell me that she loves me over the phone.  And my güero Arturito is just getting cuter and cuter.  He will be 1 in a few days!

Highlight of the day: Watching two movies in one day, back to back, at the theater.  Very chill day.  Also, it was very random to see a huge poster for the band Bronco - old school!  Since then we keep remembering their song, "Que no quede huella."  Honestly, I didn't think they were still playing music, much less making concerts.  Probably because they're doing them in other continents.  We just couldn't believe it.  That was very random.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Barnes & Noble I miss you dearly

Hoy fuimos a la escuela porque Yonseili tenía que dejar unas cosas y las dos teníamos que hablar con Paty sobre nuestra presentación final.  Vi a Gaby y Carolina en la oficina y entre para decirles gracias por su ayuda con el viaje de Galápagos.  Me platico Gaby que había una promoción muy buena para las islas y la promoción si me dio tentación de regresar porque era muy buena y me tocaría ir a otras islas (diferentes)… pero con el favor de Dios regresare algún día.  Si quisiera viajar otra vez mejor debería de pensar en Macchu Picchu.  En serio, extraño mucho a Galápagos.  Cuando salí de la oficina también vi a Raquel nuestra profesora de español, pero estaba algo apurada y no pudimos platicar mucho, solo me pregunto sobre mi viaje.  Ah! También todos han mencionado que estoy más quemada o bronceada… Yonseili dice que me parezco a la princesa de la película The Princess and the Frog… tengo que admitir que tiene algo de razón.

Salimos a buscar libros que nos puedan ayudar con nuestra presentación final pero la verdad no encontramos NADA.  Nada se compara con el Barnes & Noble de los estados.  No encontré nada suficientemente bueno sobre el tema de inmigración y Yonseili batallo para encontrar libros buenos y baratos sobre hotelería y turismo.  Fuimos a tantas librerías y no tuvimos suerte.  ¡Fue muy frustrante!

Encontramos un mercado sin querer y compramos unas bufandas a buen precio.  Ojala y hubiera sido así de fácil con los libros.

Cuando íbamos de regreso a casa y pedíamos taxi al lado de la calle se acercaba un taxi y otro pronto lo paso para ganarle clientes… se nos hizo chistoso ver eso.  Lo gacho es que este taxista manejaba algo loco y paso una luz roja. 

Highlight of the day: Me dio mucho alivio dejar de buscar esos libros!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Yonseili is back from Cuenca!

Dormí casi todo el día. Descanse. Facebook. Computadora. Llego Yonseili a las 8. La vi en el aeropuerto. Fuimos a rincón italiano. Platico de cuenca

Ufff… ¿Qué dire de este día?  Pues honestamente dormí casi todo el día.  Descanse bastante.  También accedí a Facebook un poco, estuve en la computadora viendo mis fotos del viaje y pues espere que llegara Yonseili.

Yonseili fue a Cuenca desde el viernes.  Ha sido el único tiempo que hemos estado separadas, desde que llegamos a Quito.  Neta, debería de ser puesto en el libro record de Guinness.  Desde que se iba ir estaba ansiosa de oír sobre su viaje porque hemos oído muchas cosas lindas de Cuenca… se que vendrá con bastantes historias porque fue con Christian y ahí se juntaron con Vincent.

Iba a llegar a las 7 pero se demoro el vuelo y al fin llego a las 8pm.  Fui al aeropuerto para recibirla y nos regresamos a casa para que dejara su equipaje.  Me había dicho que quería cenar afuera entonces le dije a Adriana, le preguntamos qué lugar estaría bueno comer y nos recomendó el Rincón Italiano.  A Yonseili se le antojaba un buen platillo Italiano.  Nos fuimos caminando y la comida estaba buena.  Éramos las únicas en el restaurant.  Fue algo chistoso ver al mesero entrar y salir de un cuarto.  Estoy segura, bueno más bien se, que estaban viendo el juego de la Liga y era obvio que le iba bien a la Liga.  Jugaban contra Chile creo, y según Chile les había ganado hace poco.

Me platico todo lo de cuenca con mucha emoción.  Me da gusto de que se haya divertido y que por fin haiga probado su cuy.  La foto que me enseno el cuy era impresionante pero también ha causado que no me apresure tanto por probarlo.  Se ve el animal completo… solo un poco quemado, sin pelo… y algo triste y asustado.


Highlight of the day: Yonseili is back in Quito!

Monday, October 18, 2010

"Ultima llamada para el vuelo 190..." =(

Baltra Island
Disembark directly at Baltra Island and transfer by bus to the airport for the flight back to the continent.

El itinerario no es exacto porque fuimos hoy a la estación científica de Charles Darwin.  Vimos a las tortugas gigantes.

Nos tuvimos que despertar súper temprano para poder ir a la estación.  La verdad es que no fue fácil levantarme porque sabía que era la última vez que veía fuera mi ventana y veía al mar infinito.  Era la última vez que le diría buenos días a los de la tripulación y fue difícil tener una sonrisa.  No fue difícil empacar porque no saque mi ropa de la maleta durante mi estadia.  Si acaso, solo saque mi cepillo de dientes, mi jabón, etc.  Pero en la mañana aliste mi maleta y la puse afuera de mi cuarto con una etiqueta para señalar para donde iba (a Quito).  Me despedí del señor que limpia cuartos y le dije muchas gracias. 

*¡Ah!  Antes de que se me olvide.  Durante mi expedición conocí a una joven que es ingeniera y trabajaba en la parte de abajo del barco con toda la maquinaria.  Que chévere, ¿no?

Nos subimos a la panga y nos fuimos a la Isla Baltra =(.  Nos subimos a un bus y me senté al frente después de que vi que se vería la isla mucho mejor.  Cuando llegamos a la estación vimos tortugas de todos tamaños y de todas edades, y de diferentes tipos.  Todas tenían un número.  Unas tenían cara que me recordaba a E.T.. 

Regresamos en el mismo bus #17.  Regresamos al mismo lugar en el cual nos subimos al bus y nos subimos en un buque pequeño para irnos a otra isla en la cual nos subiríamos a otros buses y seguir al aeropuerto.  En el aeropuerto estaban los naturalistas, y Alex y Maricarmen nos dieron los boletos para el avión.  Gracias a Alex mi asiento en el avión era cerca al frente, el 4ª y en la ventana.  De hecho antes de bajar del barco me había preguntado que asiento preferiría.  Fue excelente el asiento porque pude dormir durante todo el viaje.  Tuvimos como 5 “últimas llamadas” para el vuelo 190 y por fin nos fuimos.  Desafortunadamente no pude comprar souvenirs porque no tuvimos tiempo.  Con esas disque ultimas llamadas nos apuramos para nada, y eso que el vuelo se atraso como 20 minutos o mas.

Cuando llegue al aeropuerto de Quito fue chido bajarme loluego sin tener que esperar a la gente bajar sus cosas de arriba del asiento.  Pero claro, Quito me dio la bienvenida con gas de escape no mas de 2 minutos despues de salir del avion.

Un taxista me dijo que seria $5 para la Isla Floreana y Fernandina y le dije que tenia que agarrar cambio... y si era verdad pero de todos modos queria agarrar otro taxista porque se que me estaria robando.  Fui a tratar de comprar algo, pero el cajero no tenia cambio de $50.  Siempre piden los "sueltitos" aqui.  Despues fui a una oficina y le pedi ayuda al guardia, y si me ayudo.  De todos modos tuve que comprar un agua para agarrar cambio para $10.  Aqui los "sueltitos" son muy necesarios.  Sali y un taxista me ofrecio llevarme por $4 y acepte porque ya me queria ir a descansar.

Llegamos y afuera estaba Adriana con Valentina, "Vale," la amiga de Juan Jose.  Llego Juan Jose minutos despues, entramos y yo fui derechito a mi cuarto.  Le hable a mi papa y a Carlos para decirles que llegue bien y que todo el viaje estuvo chevere.  Y luego... solo dormí, dormí y dormí.  Quede con llamarlos otra vez a las 9pm pero eso no paso porque despues de la cena cai como piedra.  Bueno, para ser honesta si me desperte sola a las 9 mas o menos, pero queria esos "5 minutos mas."  Nada que ver.  Me desperte a la 1:30am entonces me lave la cara, me cepille los dientes, y otra vez me fui a dormir.

Highlight of the day:  Ver las tortugas gigantes!!! ...y poder dormir bien...zzzzzzzzz





Peek-a-boo
E.T.'s cousin

With Rocio my group guide