Exploring Quito

Lots to catch up on with this past week!

On Wednesday we went on a day excursion to the Paramo, one of Ecuador's many ecosystems, classified by its high altitude in the Andes. We went up to about 14,000 ft. and were in a completely different place than what any of us had seen so far in Ecuador. It was pretty cold, sprinkling, and windy for majority of the time (really happy i brought Lindsay's big jacket, even if it was for only this one day). We had one of Ecuador's top botanist as a tour guide so he was able to point out to us some pretty crazy stuff, including a plant that can be traced back to prehistoric times. He also took us on a trek through this labyrinth of fallen trees that formed a protection from the winds and rain. We crawled over and under and around all these trees, getting covered in dirt but having an awesome time. I don't know if the picture really gives justice to how cool everything looked. We did have to do a little field work at the next stop. After all our hard work for the day, we got a little touristy and went swimming in some nearby natural hot springs. The place had a bunch of different swimming pools that were all filled with the naturally hot water, an excellent way to relax after a day of exploration.

Saturday we took advantage of our spare time in Quito and went up the TeleferiQo, a gondola lift up a mountain to give a great view of the city. The lift took us to an altitude roughly the same height as the Paramo and we were able to see the entire city (much larger than I realized it was) and all the neighboring mountains and volcanoes. This is a picture of the group I went with and you can kinda see Quito in the background. From left to right its Eric, Becca, Rachel, Tim, Anna, and I. We spent a bit of time at the top and afterwards got a huge lunch for about $4.50. Since it was Saturday and we were all just chilling, we went to a nearby park and tossed a frisbee around, somewhat becoming a spectacle for all the locals. That night a few of us went over to Centro Historico to see it lit up at night. It was kinda desolate....not too many people around but it was really beautiful in general. This is La Basilica, one of the churches in Centro Historico.

Sunday was the futbol game between La Liga and Barcelona. Barcelona is the Guayaquill team, meaning its located in the coastal region. On average, the coast and the sierra don't get along, one of the many reasons why Ecuador has more regionalism instead of nationalism. This is even represented in politics where if the president is from the sierra, he has to have a coastal vice president to be able to run successfully. So basically this futbol game was those bad sentiments manifested in soccer form. The stadium was seriously packed with people and when buying our tickets, we had to make sure we purchased them for the Liga section or else it would have been ugly to accidentally end up in the Barcelona section with our Liga shirts on. Liga ended up winning 4-0 so we got to see some pretty sweet goals. Also, Becca and I have almost mastered one of the chants so we are able to sing along and do the fist pumps at the appropriate times- pretty exciting. The game was really fun but we made sure to head out about 10 mins early so we would be able to easily take the trolley back home.

Tomorrow we leave for the Amazon region and I am really looking forward to our week long trip. I'm sure I'll be coming back with some more stories :)

So I'm a little late in making this....

Ok, it took me long enough to make a blog but i think its probably the easiest way to let people know how everything in going here in Ecuador. In all honesty, i did try to do this a bit earlier but my whole internet has switched to spanish so i am still trying to figure out what all the options mean. But so far Ecuador has been really awesome and I am enjoying it more and more as it become more accustomed to everything. Still working on my spanish but hopefully its getting better...? So I'll start with catching up on this past weekend and try to keep things updated from there. I don't really know what is interesting so sorry if things get boring!

On Friday after classes we all went with our respective spanish classes to any museum throughout Quito. My class chose to go to El Museo de la Ciudad, a museum on the history of Quito. It was really interesting but kinda reinforced how our comprehension/speaking level of spanish makes (some of) us appear really dumb. What was nice about the trip was it was my first time down to the Centro Historico of Quito, one of the nicest areas with old-style architecture and lots of other museums and churches to visit.

Saturday morning was relaxing. That evening i went with my homestay sister Stephanie and her boyfriend Faruk to a futbol game between two ecuadorian teams, Quito and Liga. Before heading out my homestay mother, Gladys, gave me an awesome Liga jersey to where to the game. We took the bus over and arrived just as the swarm of motor cops arrived. We sat in the general admission area behind one of the goals along with all the other Liga fans. The game was fun to watch but i was much more distracted by all the people and the chants and the fireworks (set off from the stands when the players walked onto the field). A bunch of my classmates attended the game as well so afterward i met up with them and grabbed some food before heading back home. One of the more frustrating things about being in Quito is that once it gets dark you really can't go/walk anywhere alone. Its not too terrible and cabs are really cheap so thats a normally the best solution.

Sunday i did my first amount of real homework...i guess its about time. In the evening i went with Stephanie and Faruk to one of her friends houses to make balones. Balones are made with a dough consisting of verdes- green bananas that are not sweet at all. They are filled with cheese and then fried. They were so good but really really filling. Still working on understanding everyone but after a certain point in the evening it starts to get a lot more difficult to concentrate and to put sentences together.

Ok, hopefully thats enough for now!