Ecuador: The Sequel 2006
So I made it to Ecuador! Here's what I've been up to so far.
Day 1: Flight was fine, except we had to wait like 2 hours in Miami for people on other planes that were late. I don't exactly love planes, so two more hours was not fun. We didn't arrive in Quito until 12:00 midnight, but Isabel and Vinicio (sister and dad) were waiting, and just like everything in Ecuador, it all turned out fine.
Day 2: In the morning, I am talked into accompanying Pablo and a friend to "hacer negocios" (do business) selling radios in a town "really close by" = 3 hours away. Pablo is The Ecuadorian Aden, especially because he sings loud and proud and knows every word to every song, in spanish or english. My personal favorites were his renditions of "I want to break free" by Queen and "Stay" by Lisa Loeb. No Lionel Richie, but I did hear Endless Love on the radio today. He STILL drives like a maniac. Just in case you were wondering, it is indeed possible to pass between two cars, while going 130 km/hour (if you can do the math, please don't tell me how many miles that is), uphill, on a curve, on a mountainous, extremely steep cliff plunging into a deep ravine. Oh, how I've missed this country.
Of course, the negocios took a really long time, because he was trying to get people to pay who owed him money, and no one has money here, and it's this big schmoozing thing. I learned a lot about how people do business here, it's very complicated. He didn't make any money, so I had to pay for the hotel room where we had to stay (without toothbrush/new clothes). And for those of you who think I am hygenically challenged, believe me I was roughing it. And, I got suckered into watching a really bad Martial arts movie from the US- they love martial arts movies here. I wonder if they would understand Chuck Norris jokes? Maybe I"ll give it a shot.
Day 3: The whole next day, the same thing, more business...but at least I found some cute kids playing soccer and snacked on nutella and cookies with them. I love it that I can be young again now that I'm not teaching- what a relief that I don't have to be the adult figure, for a little while at least. The town Santo Domingo was fun, it actually looks a lot like the design of San Francisco, with stores below and apartments above, and houses close together.
Day 4: Today I went walking through La Mariscal aka Gringolandia, where all the tourists hang out. I know this part well because my hotel with my program two years ago was there, and I took classes nearby too. I went because I am familiar with the area but I realized there really isn't much too enjoy unless you want to be on the internet all day and eat at vegetarian restaurants. When I'm here I bend my already questionable vegetarianism (i.e. when I've had a lot to drink and I crave/eat fried chicken, oops!) to include fish and even a little chicken, so I don't need those restaurants anyway. I had an entertaining walk though- so much has changed but so much is still the same. For example, many restaurants are now something else, I am yet to find my favorite ice cream (Magnum!- bad name) and my favorite telenovela is off the air. But the people are still awesome, and the life is still tranquilo. I love it- no one cares what you do, the pace of life is slow and everything seems to work out just fine. You would think there would be so much stress in their lives in a country that is this economically depressed, albeit better off than other developing countries. The highlight of my walk had to be the two musicians playing Unchained Melody with flautas (wooden flute pipes).
The afternoon was kind of boring, everyone left the house and I tried to play with the empleada (maid)'s daughter who is 2, but she's super scared of me. I ended up watching TV all afternoon.
Day 5: Today ruled! This morning I went with Isa (sister) and her possibly married 40-year-old boyfriend who is Ecuadorian but lives in the states, and his family to the Teleferiqon. Random. You ride a Gondola to the top of a mountain and you can see all of Quito, and almost a 360 degree view of the area. It was so beautiful, the altitude was a bit much, but vale la pena. Then we went back to his uber souped-up house with 4 living rooms, and a guest house. At first I didn't like him, he was making fun of my Spanish (I still can't roll my r's well at the start of a word, like "rico" and everyone here says things are rico all the time and so it's hard to avoid saying it) and he's this kind of obnoxious overly buff suave businessman who wears man-tees and warm up pants and may or may not be cheating on his wife. Tonight I had to drink 2 coffees because we are about to go out, and that means I won't be going to bed until 5 or 6 in the morning, probably.
They don't mess around with partying here. Or anything else for that matter- everything is extreme. You eat nothing all day long, then you eat a HUGE meal. When you drink, you get drunk. When you drive, it's like a maniac, survival of the fittest. Music is played LOUD, food is really fried, many people chain smoke. Go big or go home! But at the same time it's weirdly a relaxed life. Everyone helps everyone else, people are so friendly and people are just trying to live the best life possible under the circumstances.
And the familia Godoy-Castelo named their pitbull after me. Sarita. Life is good.
Con amor,
Sarah
Day 1: Flight was fine, except we had to wait like 2 hours in Miami for people on other planes that were late. I don't exactly love planes, so two more hours was not fun. We didn't arrive in Quito until 12:00 midnight, but Isabel and Vinicio (sister and dad) were waiting, and just like everything in Ecuador, it all turned out fine.
Day 2: In the morning, I am talked into accompanying Pablo and a friend to "hacer negocios" (do business) selling radios in a town "really close by" = 3 hours away. Pablo is The Ecuadorian Aden, especially because he sings loud and proud and knows every word to every song, in spanish or english. My personal favorites were his renditions of "I want to break free" by Queen and "Stay" by Lisa Loeb. No Lionel Richie, but I did hear Endless Love on the radio today. He STILL drives like a maniac. Just in case you were wondering, it is indeed possible to pass between two cars, while going 130 km/hour (if you can do the math, please don't tell me how many miles that is), uphill, on a curve, on a mountainous, extremely steep cliff plunging into a deep ravine. Oh, how I've missed this country.
Of course, the negocios took a really long time, because he was trying to get people to pay who owed him money, and no one has money here, and it's this big schmoozing thing. I learned a lot about how people do business here, it's very complicated. He didn't make any money, so I had to pay for the hotel room where we had to stay (without toothbrush/new clothes). And for those of you who think I am hygenically challenged, believe me I was roughing it. And, I got suckered into watching a really bad Martial arts movie from the US- they love martial arts movies here. I wonder if they would understand Chuck Norris jokes? Maybe I"ll give it a shot.
Day 3: The whole next day, the same thing, more business...but at least I found some cute kids playing soccer and snacked on nutella and cookies with them. I love it that I can be young again now that I'm not teaching- what a relief that I don't have to be the adult figure, for a little while at least. The town Santo Domingo was fun, it actually looks a lot like the design of San Francisco, with stores below and apartments above, and houses close together.
Day 4: Today I went walking through La Mariscal aka Gringolandia, where all the tourists hang out. I know this part well because my hotel with my program two years ago was there, and I took classes nearby too. I went because I am familiar with the area but I realized there really isn't much too enjoy unless you want to be on the internet all day and eat at vegetarian restaurants. When I'm here I bend my already questionable vegetarianism (i.e. when I've had a lot to drink and I crave/eat fried chicken, oops!) to include fish and even a little chicken, so I don't need those restaurants anyway. I had an entertaining walk though- so much has changed but so much is still the same. For example, many restaurants are now something else, I am yet to find my favorite ice cream (Magnum!- bad name) and my favorite telenovela is off the air. But the people are still awesome, and the life is still tranquilo. I love it- no one cares what you do, the pace of life is slow and everything seems to work out just fine. You would think there would be so much stress in their lives in a country that is this economically depressed, albeit better off than other developing countries. The highlight of my walk had to be the two musicians playing Unchained Melody with flautas (wooden flute pipes).
The afternoon was kind of boring, everyone left the house and I tried to play with the empleada (maid)'s daughter who is 2, but she's super scared of me. I ended up watching TV all afternoon.
Day 5: Today ruled! This morning I went with Isa (sister) and her possibly married 40-year-old boyfriend who is Ecuadorian but lives in the states, and his family to the Teleferiqon. Random. You ride a Gondola to the top of a mountain and you can see all of Quito, and almost a 360 degree view of the area. It was so beautiful, the altitude was a bit much, but vale la pena. Then we went back to his uber souped-up house with 4 living rooms, and a guest house. At first I didn't like him, he was making fun of my Spanish (I still can't roll my r's well at the start of a word, like "rico" and everyone here says things are rico all the time and so it's hard to avoid saying it) and he's this kind of obnoxious overly buff suave businessman who wears man-tees and warm up pants and may or may not be cheating on his wife. Tonight I had to drink 2 coffees because we are about to go out, and that means I won't be going to bed until 5 or 6 in the morning, probably.
They don't mess around with partying here. Or anything else for that matter- everything is extreme. You eat nothing all day long, then you eat a HUGE meal. When you drink, you get drunk. When you drive, it's like a maniac, survival of the fittest. Music is played LOUD, food is really fried, many people chain smoke. Go big or go home! But at the same time it's weirdly a relaxed life. Everyone helps everyone else, people are so friendly and people are just trying to live the best life possible under the circumstances.
And the familia Godoy-Castelo named their pitbull after me. Sarita. Life is good.
Con amor,
Sarah
posted by MissBliss at 11:40 AM
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