The Galapagos

Coming soon!

Here and There

Blogging hasn't been my priority the last few weeks since the last month of my study abroad trip is coming quickly to an end, especially with USFQ classes finishing up and many final trips starting to come to an end. Here I've decided to give only little bits of the latest trips since Atacames.

Papallacta

A few weeks ago Jess, Anina and I went on a day trip to some hot springs in a little town called Papallacta about 2 hours southeast of Quito. We spent all day relaxing in five different temperature pools, ranging from hot to super duper hot. It was a nice time sitting in the hot springs and getting beautiful views of the paramo mountains.

Canoa

The next weekend, right before I had three big presentations and three final papers, we decided to go back to the Coast to a little town called Canoa. It was Labor Day weekend for Ecuadorians (and our last trip together - Emily, Jess, Anina, and I - although Maureen and Sam also came along) so we took off Wednesday night on a 9 hour bus to reach the beautiful sunny beaches of Canoa. We pretty much spent the entire weekend relaxing on the beach, swimming, and eating our last $4 ceviches (like a shrimp cocktail except with veggies and 50 times better) and large pineapple jugos.

Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi National Park is one of the most visited tourist sites in the Ecuadorian Andes as it is the home of Cotopaxi, the largest active volcano in the world. On our last weekend together Emily, Anina and I decided to go visit it. After some transportation issues, we were able to get to the park with a licensed guide. He took us to the highest point that cars can go then we hiked the remaining 350 meters up Cotopaxi where the beginning of the snow began and where there was a refuge for all those that do the 7-9 hour hike to the tip of the mountain. Because of the high altitude and the incline, what would have been a regular 10-15 min walk took us about an hour to hike up.

Luckily, although still cold, the weather was great and we were able to see the many other volcanoes and paramo that surrounded Cotopaxi. When we reached the top we drank delicious hot chocolate in the refuge then made our way back down through the ash. We then went walked around a nice lake below the Cotopaxi. On our way back to catch a bus back to Quito we saw a condor, the Andean symbol, which was awesome because they don't tend to be around much on the part of Cotopaxi were in...it was a truly amazing sight.

Finals and Endings

I ended up finishing my classes at the university with great grades, two of which were completely unexpected. It was nice that even though I took the hardest classes of anyone I know that is studying abroad I was able to do really well. And I didn't even have to give up la farra (partying) or traveling at all! (I heard my host mom talking to Jose telling him she couldn't believe how much traveling and partying I had done this semester, and somehow still done really well. Although this this is true, I'm not sure if "farreadora" is the rep I want to have when she tells her new students about me.)

I also finished my community service at Fundacion Reina de Quito. The day I left was really sad for me because it made me realize how much I would miss working there. The kids sang to me the "bravo, bravisimo" song and gave me an artsy apple to remember them by. We also finished the Pitzer seminar with everyone presenting on our 25 page DISP papers. It was very interesting to hear about everyone's projects and seeing that although super different topics, they all had one commonality: the importance of education. We celebrated the ending (and Alex's birthday) with a lovely dinner at a bougie Ecuadorian restaurant.

Atacames!

After a long working week, the girls and I decided we need a break, a beach break. On Friday after class Anina, Emily and I took a bus down to Atacames, a beach town in Esmeraldas, which is the Afro-ecuadorian providence of Ecuador. The bus ride, of almost 7 hours, was actually the nicest we have taken here. It had super comfy seats that reclined all the way back, and we got snacks and Evan Almighty, a way better movie than the usual action, blood filled movies they usually play on bus rides. It was also a weird bus ride in that we actually got led off the bus when we reached Esmeraldas, the town, to catch a taxi to Atacames, appearantly because the bus drivers were tired and couldn't do the, oh 25 more minutes to Atacames. Weird, although fine with us considering they paid for the taxi and we got a ride straight to the hoppin' nightlife that Atacames had to offer. After checking out the scene and grabbing some late night pizza and the first of the many, and I mean many, jugos de piña that weekend, we crashed at a pretty crappy hostel.


The next morning we went out for a nice breakfast, then moved into Cabañas Bohios, the cutest little cabins ever! They were surrounded by all kinds of flowers and plants (including a chile plant), and they even had a pool and swingset to hang out in. Very cute, and very fun. The rest of the day we spent laying out on the beach (and even napping), swimming, eating tons of BonIce (like ice tickles) and coconut juice, delish! That night I had an Ecuadorian specialty for dinner, ceviche de camaron (shrimp with veggies in a lemony juice) and petacones (fried plantains), pretty much amazing. We then hung out at the various bars on the beaches watching people of all ages dance to all kinds of music each place had to offer.


The next morning we woke up, went to grab breakfast, then went back to the beach for a few hours. We then ate lunch (ginormous jugos de piña and tostadas -which are really grilled chease sandwiches) and headed back to Quito. Our way back however, was a bit more adventurous that we'd thought. We had to take a chiva to Esmeraldas, then a bus to Santo Domingo (we saw very cool palm and banana plantations on the way there), where we waited in line with like 50 others, to catch a bus back to Quito. It still took the same amount of time, and less money, to get back though, which was nice.

MANA and the Latest Happenings

I haven´t really posted in a while because there really hasn´t been anything too, too exciting, but in keeping my weekend happenings documented, I decided I will talk a little bit about what I´ve been up to.

Otavalo, Cotacachi, Ibarra

The Saturday after spring break I went with Anina to Otavalo again because last time we went (during our Runa Tupari experience) she was sick and did not get to do any looking around at the artisal market, much less buy anything. We did all kinds of souvenir and gift shopping, then met up with David (our tour guide from last time who I became friends with and had been keeping in touch with) and had lunch together. We then caught a bus to Cotacachi, the leather capital of Ecuador (where you can get nice leather jackets for as cheap as $45!), to do some more shopping. Anina bought a beautiful leather purse and I got myself a leather wallet. That night we stayed in Cotacachi and hung out with David some more. We got pizza and ate it at our hostel while we watched parts of El Crimen del Padre Amaro, with Gael Garcia Bernal (who I just found out is from Guadalajara ---man, Jalisco has so much talent to offer!). The next morning we caught a bus to Ibarra, which is famous for their helados de paila (amazing fruit ice cream). We ate breakfast there, walked around the town, and got to help some kids who after following us around for a while had to courage to ask us for an interview for their English class. Anina helped them out by answering some questions in English, and in turn they led us to the best helados the paila. Anina and I both got mora and coconut flavors, it was delicious!

Emily´s Cumpleaños

On the 8th was Emily´s 21st bday and we went out to lunch an ¨Italian¨ restaurant near school. It was a fun little lunch in that we got a lot of eating done since we got a huge free (and delicious) gelato sundae because the waiter was a bit inept and kept getting our orders wrong, as well as quite a bit of studying done, since all of us had tests that afternoon. That night we all got together at Jessica´s house, ate pizza and watched Emily´s favorite movie ¨Hedwig¨ about some transexual man/woman. Interesting, but don´t think I´ll ever watch it again.

DISP-ing it all Weekend

The next weekend we pretty much just did work. Like nonstop. It was rediculous but it had to be done. We all had our 25 pg DISP (directed investigative study project) due on Wednesday and none of us had started, writing it that is. Emily and I went over to Anina´s house on Saturday and worked all day (11 a.m. to 11 p.m.) with only taking a break to go pick up the Mana tickets and grab some pizza for dinner. On Sunday Emily came to my house to work some more, although this time I worked on my huge marketing project, also due that Wed. It was a crazy work weekend but also a crazy sickness weekend. That day we found out that Jessica, who had had a headache and 104 temperature pretty much every single night for the past 3 nights, had Typhoid! Random, but true. (Although, now after getting medication, many tests, and not much improvement the doctors aren´t quite sure what she has). I, on the other hand, had major eye problems. They were super itchy and red, and I had a lot of trouble seeing. Luckily on Monday I was able to go to the doctor and get some eye drops. Now, after wearing my glasses everyday for the entire week and having the eye drops, I´m better.

MANA!!!!!!!!

Last night was the event that I´d been waiting for such a long time, the Mana concert! The concert was supposed to start at 8:30 p.m., but people started getting in line to go in at 11 a.m.! Despite my fanaticness, even I thought this was rediculous since the doors opened at 3 p.m. We decided that we would all get togther at Maureen´s house, who lives about a block away from el Estadio Nacional Atahualpa (where the Ecuadorian national soccer team plays) around 5, grab some shwarma near by, then head out to stand in line. After dinner we went to go stand in the line that went around for blocks. Luckily, we were able to find some of Maureen´s friends (who had been waiting in line for 2 hrs already) and cut them. Standing in line was rediculous because there was no order and people, like us, kept cutting --although I justify our cutting because we still had to wait for like 3 hours before finally getting in, we didn´t cut right before getting in, like tons of people did. It was tiring and kinda of frustrating because there were tons of police officers just standing around and not enforcing the line at all. In the end though, the wait was worth it.

We had tickets in cancha, which means that we got to stand in the field for the concert. This kind of sucked in the sense that we had already been standing for many hours, but the atmosphere during the concert was great. Everyone sang, danced, jumped, screamed, and did pretty much everything you do at rock concerts. I even heard a few people echandose un grito during ¨sigo siendo el rey,¨ although I do have to say, Ecuadorians don´t do it as well as Mexicans.


Although I had seen the Amar es Combatir World Tour concert twice already (in San Diego last April and in LA in October) and I already knew what to expect, there were a few spins to the concert that I really enjoyed, one of them being the great fire and firework spectacle that the concert ended with and the other being when Fher waived around the Mexican flag attached to the Ecuadorian flag, saying that Mana owed a lot to Ecuador, seeing as it was the first country (even before Mexico) who truly supported them. Like Emily said, it just represented me so well (although the American flag was still missing) since after being in Ecuador for almost 5 months, I do feel a very strong and special tie with this country. The Mana concert was, of course, AMAZING, and such a great treat after turning in the DISP and my marketing project the day before.

Side note: Jessica, despite being super sick still and having been in the hospital for some tests earlier that day, also went to the concert and fulfilled one of her top 10 things/dreams to do in life. It was really cool to share this love of Mana with her and see how excited she was.

La Costa!

After our trip to the Amazon, we did pretty much a 180 and caught an early morning 30 minute flight out of Quito to Manta (a major Ecuadorian fishing and commercial port), where we caught a bus ride to Puerto Lopez, our first destination on the Ruta del Sol (a string of beaches and villages that stretches on the southern coast).

Puerto Lopez

The bus ride was gorgeous! I would compare it to the Pacific Coast Hwy drive in California because of the beautiful beach scenery, but it was a bumpy and loud ride down. Also, instead of passing by huge mansions we saw tiny wood and straw houses, amazing sights nontheless. We arrived in Puerto Lopez at around lunch time. We took a taximoto (motorcylce taxi) that charged us way to much for the two blocks it took us to a hostel. After lunch, we decided that we wanted to take a bus ride to Los Frailes, about 7 miles north of Puerto Lopez because Puerto Lopez is mainly a fishing port that is very slowly developing for tourism (we had a pretty hard time finding good food here).

Los Frailes is a crescent of open beach that is secluded and breathtaking. We layed out in the white sand then went swimming in the almost too warm water for awhile. We then headed back to Puerto Lopez to catch the sunset on the beach while drinking ice cold Pilseners.

Isla de la Plata

The next morning we woke up early for our boat tour to Isla de la Plata (or "Silver Island" because of rumors that pirates buried treasures there during colonial times). It is also known as Poor Man's Galapagos, because of large nesting birds that can be found there. After about an hour boat ride to the island we put on tons of sunblock (it was a super hot day) and headed out to hike the island. Isla de la Plata was gorgeous. There were tons of towering cliffs with birds like blue-footed and masked boobies, as well as frigate birds.

After our hike, we went back on the boat where we had watermelon, tuna sandwiches and coke. Then the tour guide took us snorkling off one of the island's shores. We jumped in the warm water but couldn't really see any fish because the water was a bit murky from the rain the previous night. However, the guide was quick to fix the problem. He threw some bread into the water and the fish were quick to gather up and eat it all.

Afterwards we headed back to Puerto Lopez and caught the sunset on the beach again while we watched locals play volleyball and soccer on the beach. One of the things that we noticed, and I really liked, was that all the locals would take out their chairs and go outside in the late afternoon/early night to chat with their family and friends. Nice tight communities are cool.

Montañita

The next morning after breakfast we took a bus to Montañita, the bohemian surfing capital of Ecuador. We arrived at Montañita looking for a hostel and found a cool looking one for a descent price facing the ocean. We pretty much hung out at the beach all day and enjoyed tons fruit juices and batidos (juice with milk, like a milkshake/smoothie). It was a very relaxing day laying out in the sun and once again enjoying the beautiful costal sunset. Despite its reputation for being a super chill town with a pretty happening nightlife, Thursday night was a bit of a disappointment.

Sleeping that night was horrible as the room that Alex, Anina and I shared was right next to a communal bathroom and the terrible smells penetrated to our room. Furthermore, there was a lot of noice until very early in the morning, and the fact that there were mosquitoes buzzing around didn't help. Friday morning, our mission was to find a further hostel from the center of the town that was nicer.

After finding a better hostel, which was absolutely legit, we went in search for surf lessons! We paid for two instructors to teach us how to surf for an hour then let us play around (I say play around bc I was unsuccessful of actually standing up on the board, I only ever made it to my knees) for another hour, all for the price of twelve bucks! It was a great experience that I actually hope to repeat at some point and actually get to stand up. (I also now have a lot more respect for surfers, seeing how tough it was for me - so tough I'm embarrassed to say I was still pretty sore yesterday, 3 days later.)

Friday, nightlife picked up a bit as more tourists (both Ecuadorian and international) came and we stayed out pretty late despite our tiredness from the surf lessons. There were various happening bars but not as many dancing clubs, which tend to be our fav.

Our plan was to leave for Salinas, another beachtown on Saturday morning, but after having such a good time in Montañita we decided to stay there for our final full day of Spring Break. We pretty much hung out all day at the beach and witnessed a super colorful sunsent, as well as took more jumping pictures with the sunset as our background, and drank some more jugos and batidos.

Sunday morning we ate breakfast and headed out to catch a 3 hr bus to Guayaquil, where we caught a flight back to Quito. It was a legit Spring Break and I got tan! I'm so tan that the first thing out of every single one of my host relatives was "ay que morena!" or "estas negra!"

La Amazonia!

On the Wednesday before Easter we got out of school for a week and a half Spring Break. For the first part of the break our program had planned for us to go to Tiputini, a biodiversity research station in the middle of the Ecuadorian Amazon forest.

On Friday morning we took a 30 minute flight to Coca, the closest city to Tiputini. Then we took a 2 hour motor conoa ride through the Napo river until we reached a petroleum station, where we had to identify ourselves with our passports. It was so weird to see the station right smack the middle of the forest where the only people around where the oil workers, and the local indigenous children (who although probably don't realize it yet, are being affected very negatively by these oil companies -destroying their environment and little by little their culture). We then took a 2 hour Chiva (open bus with no windows) ride through the forest passing both the Quichua (largest Ecuadorian indigenous nation) and the Huaorani (who until just a few years ago discovered clothing -effects of the oil companies) territories. Finally, we hopped on another motor conoa for a not so pleasant, rainy 2 hour ride down the Tiputini River (on the Amazon basin).

Shortly after arriving at the station we were fed a great dinner (suprisingly enough they have pretty good food there) then we had a PowerPoint presentation on a night camera project that detects heat and movement, so we saw a lot of cool pictures of various Amazonian animals like giant armadillos, jaguars, and deer.

Saturday morning we walked around one of the trails, led by Ramiro who talked to us about the various plant and animal species. It was a hot, sweaty, and muddy walk (coming from AZ I'm not used to so much humidity, about 95% if I remember correctly), but luckily we had cool rainboots to help us our walking though all the mud. We saw all kinds of cool insects, including lemon ants, which were quite tasty. :) The highlight of our first trail was definitely the spider monkeys. We had to get off the trail and chase around the forest to watch them in their natural habitat (Bernie you would have loved it! They were so cute and ocol! I was so excited that all I kept thinking was "Mira! Mira!" kinda like we say with fireworks?? haha).

That afternoon we got an a motor conoa and rode down the Tiputini River to go swimming, or floating really. It looked kind of gross because the water is so brown, but really it was probably better so we couldn't see the many species that lived there (like the caimans we saw the following night, yikes!). When we got back we were pleasantly greeted by a family of wooly monkeys right outside our cabin, very cool! That night we had a presentation from a guy doing his PhD research there on adolescent monkeys and their social organizations. It was super interesting yet all I could think about was, this guy is actually going to live here for like 4 years, don't know if I could do that.

Sunday morning we climbed a super tall tower to try and see the birds and monkeys from high above. Unfortunately, it was bad timing because the only view we got was that of the rainforest from above. We then took a little canoe ride around a little lake where we saw birds and turtles. On our way back to the cabins we saw more wooly monkeys and pygmy monkeys, the cutesiest baby monkeys ever! Actually they aren't babies, they just look like it because they are the smallest species of monkeys in the world. It was really funny because Ramiro pointed out the tree where they live and after about 10 mins of several monkey calls we were disappointed to not see them, but just when we were about to leave, Jessica was able to spot a pygmy and show us all. Needless to say, Ramiro was proud.

That afternoon we climbed up high again, but this time on a canopy walk. It was scary to climb up but the sights were definitely rewarding. I saw the 3 most colorful mccaws ever while I was high above. They were bright blue, red, and green. After another great dinner, that night we got on the conoa again to see nighttime species. This is when we got to see the caimans, and various birds. It was very shocking to see how easily our guide was able to spot these tiny creatures in the night.

Early Monday morning, we made our boat/bus/boat/flight trip back to Quito, ready for our next Spring Break adventure: la costa!

Totally Random Totally Fun

Quilotoa - the town

Friday after class I took off with Maureen to Quilotoa, a volcanic crater with a lake about 4 hours south of Quito. Because we learned from our trip to Baños that to go from our houses in northern Quito to the terminal terrestre in south Quito, where we catch buses it cost about $10 by taxi, so we decided on taking the Trole, a 25 cent fare. We took a two hours bus to Latacunga where we called Jess, Anina and Emily because we were going the meet them in Chugchilan, (they had skipped class and left early that morning) but without luck/lack of cellphone service, we decided to catch a bus to Quilotoa, another 2 hour ride. On the buss to Quilotoa we had to stand up for about 1.5 hrs and unfortunately I lost my glasses during this time period, either someone stole them from my backpack, or the fell out, the latter being the least likely.

When we arrived to Quilotoa, a tiny town with seriously about a total of 15 houses, we went directly to the first hostel we saw (not that there was much to choose from). There we met a 25 year old med student named Emily, from none other than Glendale, AZ, who had come alone and wanted to know if we wanted to stay with her, and of course we said yes.

It was about 8:30 p.m. and neither Maureen or I had eaten since lunch so we were starving. We asked where we could get food but the hostel worker told us everything was closed and we wouldn't be able to get anything at this time of the night. Luckily, we spotted a little house with a light on where an indigenous man was painting masks. We knocked on his door and asked him if he knew where we could get food. He told us everything was closed but that he would wake up his wife and she would cook for us. He called his kids who gave us tea then his wife who made us delicious rice and potato soup with a main dish of more potatoes and avocado. Soo many potatoes but soo good.

Zumbahua Mercado

The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast and caught a truck going to a little town called Zumbahua (or refered to as Zimbabwe by Emily, who's Spanish wasn't great)where they were having a market that morning. It had been a very cold night (the only thing that made me survive was the 2 pairs of sweats I was wearing, the four blankets I had on top of me, and the fact that I slept with Maureen) and it was a very cold ride to Zumbahua. On our way there we picked up many local people from the little towns we passed who were also going to the market.

En el mercado they had all kinds of traditional clothes and shoes for the local people as well as many kinds of meats, veggies, and fruits, but the most interesting thing we saw was a lamb being skinned. We didn't get to see when they killed it, but we saw it's head being chopped up then a man taking off all of its skin, as well as all of its insides out. Gross, but cool! After quite the spectacle, we decided to walk back through some of the little towns we had driven through to take pictures of the amazing countryside. Then after having walked quite a bit we hitched a ride back to Quilotoa.

Quilotoa - the crater

In Quilotoa we ate a light lunch because neither Emily or I wanted to eat meat after what we had just witnessed. We then went to see the crater, which was beautiful. We decided to hike all the way to the bottom to take a closer look. After about an hours walk down the ashy volcano, we got to see the laguna from down below. The view was magnificent. After sitting down and contemplating such beauty, and seeing how far and steep we had come down, we decided to ride mules back up to the top. It was a nonstop cursing trip since the guide kept telling the mules to go faster "caramba macho, chingado, carajo"...it was hilarious, and even more hilarious was Emily's attempt to try and repeat the words to get her mule going.



Latacunga

When we got back to our hostel we decided we did not want to stay in Quilotoa for the night again because there really was not much else we could do. We caught a truck back to Zumbahua with these two funny Dutch girls who ended paying 4 times as much for the trip than we did. (In Ecuador you really have to make sure to establish prices of taxis/trucks/buses before you get on or else they will charge you so much more in the end.) After being distracted by these three hilarious men getting drunk off of liquor in a Sprite bottle, we ran to catch a bus that was leaving for Latacunga. It was a bit of a tough ride at the beginning because I kept being hit on by a random old drunken men who kept poking me and asking/telling me the same things over an over, and over again. It wasn't until I pretended to fall asleep that he left me alone.

In Latacunga we got a $4 hostel room at the very top of a building, penthouse baby! Haha, only with hard beds and barely any hot water. We went out to eat dinner at a pizzeria but not before crashing a wedding with a really pretty bride and groom, and very attractive men in Ecuadorian army suits. We then went out to La Ciguarra, the best bar ever! Well a cool bar with the best bartender ever. He gave us wine with coke to start off with, aparrantly it's a popular Spanish drink, then candil (popcorn) then brought us the drinks we wanted. Then, when sketchy, and mostly drunken, guys came over to hit on us, he would come and take them away, ever so kindly. Rodrigo was so awesome! He even told us that the whole situation was TORTUGA! I couldn't believe he knew about tortuga situations! (Tortuga is what we call awkward situations because the word for awkward, "torpe," just doesn't do it, and totuga obv simbolizes the awkward tutle). All of us had crushes on him because he was just so cool.

Here I was also hit on by some Ecuadorian guy who after realizing I was singing to Mana bought me some beer "en el nombre de Mana, porque son los mejores." He said he had studied ecology and was a professor at various tecnologicos around Latacunga, thus why he loved Mana. (The entire time all I could think of was how cool Emily would think this was, right? haha). He also was the first to tell me that Mana is coming to Quito next month!! It was a completely random and cool night.

Domingo de Ramos

On Sunday we met up with John, one of Maureen's friends in the Peace Corps for breakfast. After having talked to him about his experience, it only makes me want to be in the Peace Corps after college even more than before. As we walked out of the restaurant to go to Mass we saw a huge crowd of people carrying all kinds of palm ornaments to Mass. We had forgotten, it was Palm Sunday. Mass was really nice. There was a sort of vocal performance put on telling the story of Jesus going to meet his death and there was also great music.

As us' another great weekend in Ecuador.

Jess's 21st Bday Celebrations!

On Friday night, after the Pilsener stalking, we all went to Jessica's house for her first birthday dinner. We had dinner with all of Jess's family, including her hot host brother, Gustavo, and her host sister's fiance from New Zealand. They made tacos, or what to me, and to everyone not Ecuadorian at the table, were bean burritos. Although not my mom's Mexican food, which the best, of course, they were still good. We also had legit Sangria with fruit and bday cake.

After dinner we went to Plaza Foch and bar/club hopped all night. We went to a place called No Bar, which is the most tourist filled bar I've seen here, and danced to some great music, offset by horrible techno. We also went to Macondo's, which was more of a bougie lounge with even better music, and met Jess's US Embassy friends and then Huainas, our usual dancing place.

On Saturday, we went to get our nails done and read trashy magazines, for about 3 hours. It was cool, only ocho dolares for both a mani and a pedi, and I'm pretty sure they did a better job than anyone else I've ever been to. At the salon we met a lady that told us she used to be a host mom to international students. She asked us if we liked to go out, and we said yes, that we usually went to el Mariscal and la Plaza Foch. She told us to be careful there, because there were a lot of homosexuals in that part of town and they were super dangerous. She also proceeded to tell us that Americans fall in love with ugly Ecuadorians, and that we shouldn't do that. She told us that she once had a host daughter who fell in love with an ugly Otavaleño, and that she just didn't know how anyone could do that, afterall, he was Indigenous, and all indegenous people are soooo "horribles"...Hmm, she was definitely the most blunt racist/homophobic person I've heard here, I wonder why she's not a host mom anymore.

Afterwards, we went to El Bosque and bought lots of food at SuperMaxi to cook for Jess's second bday dinner. Emily and Jess cooked chicken parmesan, spaghetti, vegetables, garlic bread, and salad. I made the birthday cake. Out of a box, I might add, haha. We also had wine, and later on, for Jess, Pilseners and Piña Coladas. It was all so yummy! That night we went out again, this time to Pipas, where I tried hookah for the very first time, then back to Huainas, to dance all night. Good times!!!

Sunday, the girls went to Quicentro, what we think is the best mall here, and I stayed home, all day long, studying for my Econ and Marketing tests --I hadn't read for marketing since my last test, oops. It sucked, but luckily, they are both over and I think I did really well!

Pilsener Stalkers...

Jessica's 21st birthday was yesterday and on Friday after class Anina and I went to south Quito to look for a present for her. Specifically, we were looking for a Pilsener t-shirt, which Jess has been wanting for a while. After walking around the artisinal market for a while, and not finding anything, we asked around to see if anyone knew where we could find it. We were eventually told to try El Espiral. At El Espiral we found a t-shirt store that we knew was $ when the guy told us he did actually have a Pilsener t-shirt. Anina and I waited anxiously only to find out that it was a knock off PilsHener shirt. Disappointed we walked up the spiral, the mall literally goes around in spirals, and found a place where they made t-shirts. We were able to find a Pilsener logo online and had them make a sweet shirt for Jess. Somehow though, we weren't satisfied and decided that we wanted a Pilsener poster to go along with her shirt. (Note: Jess is kinda obsessed with Pilsener, la cerveza orgullosamente Ecuatoriana. Actually she's obsessed with all beer, but she's not an alcoholic, haha.)

The guy at the t-shirt shop told us that there was a Pilsener distribution place near by where they might be able to give us posters. Anina and I walked out of in search of the general direction that the guy had been pointing at only to be confused seeing as we had just walked down about 4 flights of spirals. We asked some waiters at Coffee Tree and after thinking we were weird for wanting to go to the distribution center, we were led down Amazonas, a major street in Quito, toward la Plaza Foch, en donde farreamos (where we party) all the time. After not finding anything, we went into a little boutique where a lady told us that the Pilsener truck was near by so we should ask those guys. Anina quickly found the truck, but when we got there, the Pilsner guys were not there. We asked a random guy just standing around and he told us that they were eating lunch at a place near by.

Anina and I decided that we were going to wait for them, at the restaurant across the street from where they were eating (creepy, I know). After getting some food, we realized that the guys were done eating. I pretty much ran after them, getting weird glances back at me from the guys as I approached them, ever so awkwardly. I told them that I was looking for Pilsener posters and asked them if they knew where I could get some. One of the guys was like "yeah, here," and handed me a bent poster. I must have looked disappointed because he asked me if it was fine then asked me if I wanted more. I said yes, of course, and he handed me about 6 others (that weren't bent), and told me that if anyone asked where I got them, it wasn't him. I laughed, thanked him, and walked back towards Anina who was waiting for me at the G-Spot Restaurant, needless to say, cracking up at me.

It was probably the best present hunting (and only stalking) I've ever done and I'm glad that Jess loved her present!

Relaxing in Baños

Friday night Alex, Anina, Maureen and I took off to Baños to meet Emily and Jessica who had gone earlier to get us a nice place to stay. When we arrived to Terminal Terrestre, where we would take the bus to Baños, we were told that there were only 2 seats left, the rest were for people going further on the trip and therefore had to pay more. After negotiating a little, we got ourselves some seats, unfortunately NOT what we wanted. Alex, Maureen and I had to sit in the very back next to the gross, smelly bathroom that had just been sprayed with some flowery smell, therefore making the smell 10 times worse. Poor Anina had to sit in the very front, in a seat we didn't even know was for passangers, next to the bus driver. Turns out, the seats weren't that bad considering there were about 15 people that ended up getting on the bus and traveling the entire way standing up.

After sleeping in a very comfy room with 3 bunked beds, for all six of us, we woke up Saturday morning ready for some fun. We decided to rent some bikes for the day so that we could ride down a waterfall route. Despite my initial hesitation about how much fun it would be to ride the 23 km to el Pallon del Diablo (the Devil's Cauldron), or the biggest waterfall on the route, it ended up being a great experience. We saw various little waterfalls on the way and got to ride through a completely dark tunnel (super freaky considering I literally couldn't see where I was going) and a bridge (where people were bungie jumping).

When we arrived in the little town of el Pallon del Diablo we heard the Lion King's "the circle of life" and all sang it, very excitingly, only to get strange looks from the locals. It was great! After locking our bikes there and hiking down to see the huge waterfall, we rode the in the back of a truck back to Baños, singing various other well known songs and once again getting starred at by the others on riding with us :)

In Baños we found a Mexican food place and ate gorditas, burritos, enchiladas and limonada. Yummy! We then went to El Refugio Spa and got the cajon de baño (Box Steam Bath) treatment. For this treatment we had to sit in a wodden box that only allowed our heads to stick out. Inside the box was a lever where we could allow steam to come out, as well as a bunch of eucalyptus leaves for aromatherapy. We also had tea next to our heads, which these two girls would come and hold for us to drink when we wanted some. After sitting in the steaming cajas for a while we would come out and the girls would poor buckets of freezing water on us. Chilly, but it felt great after being completely covered in sweat. After three little sessions of the steam bath/cold water treatment, we ate some watermelon while we had a mud-mask on our faces. It was a very interesting and different experience, especialy the "spiritual walk," which I forgot to mention, came before our cajon treatment. We went on a walk that involved us walking barefoot on river and volcano rocks, yelling out in towards the mountains, and crawling in grass. Needless to say, my feet hurt afterwards.

For dinner we went to Cafe Good where Anina and I shared a very diverse meal: pita and hummus, nachos, and pad thai, all a delish. We then hopped on the top of this bus, called a Chiva (goat) bus, that took us up a mountain to see the volcano Tungurahua (which errupted a few weeks ago). It was a great ride because we drank some Pilsners and looked at the beautiful stars above (something which is obv unheard of in LA). Although we didn't get to see the volcano because it was cloudy, we did get to see a great view of Baños as well as a fire juggling show put on by two attractive brothers. We then went to a bar and played Janga, completely random I know, then to a discoteca where they played completely random, yet great, music (like Mana's "Me Vale") and danced with non other than one of the fire bros.

Sunday morning we went back to El Refugio to get awesome rock massages then headed back to Quito (to finish my Marketing project, which today, is still not done).

Baños was so much fun and hopefully we'll be going back. Especially because we didn't get to it's main tourist attraction, the reason it's called Baños, the thermal baths.

Viernes Loco!

Friday was one of the busiest days I've had since I've been in Ecuador, mostly on the school work side. On Fridays I only have two classes, Moneda y Banca at nine in the a.m. and then Antropologia Cultural, with a two hour gap in between.

As usual I woke up dreading Moneda y Banca because I had a project due which I hadn't finished. Me not finishing my hw for this class is nothing out of the ordinary considering I understand pretty much nothing. Moneda y Banca is supposed to be an Econ class but somehow the professor thinks it perfectly fine to ramble on and on about finance, accounting, and the Ecuadorian financial laws. All of this would be okay, since after all they are all related, but I do not have any background, whatsoever, in any of those things, so I understand nothing. Also, if he didn't read everything word for word and bore the entire class to death, I wouldn't mind it so much.

I came in to class worried because I hadn't finished the project, but turns out, it's okay, we can turn it in on Monday. ---Changing the dates of things due is very typical of Jaime Maya, SO ANNOYING!! Today we had a quiz on some accounting crap which he refused to teach us, but when we got to class, he decided Friday would be better. Good in the sense that I have more time to figure out something I've never done in my life (literally figure out how numbers are related, in finding equations for them, then doing it in class without any references), bad because it means I probably won't do it.---- Good thing for me, when I went to the ONLY computer lab that has ProBanker (the program we had to use) installed in it after class, I found a girl working on the same project and allowed me to be in her group, which I didn't even realize we didn't have to do it on our own. Basically, I hate this class, and I am bound to fail, oh well...

After anthro I had to get together with two Ecuadorina kids from my marketing class for a group project we had. We have to launch a new product (ours is a social magazine with social pics and nightlife info) and do all kinds of investigation for it. This has been the biggest pain ever because the guys in my group don't want to do anything. I've been trying to get Alex(an Ecuadorian, not the one from Pitzer), Andres, and Francisco to help me out with the project but they hadn't been worried about it at all until this week. Because Francisco had to go out of town, he said he would do the telephone interviews, a professional interview, and a "hidden consumer" interview all on his own. Alex, Andres and I had to do surveys in the mall and a focus group (ugh!).

So we took off to Cumbaya to the local bougie mall where we figured we could find the most USFQ students (since our product is aimed at them). After parking we found out that the camara didn't work, and since we had to videotape everything, we were forced to drive all around Cumbaya to Alex's friends' houses to find one that we could use. It was a pain, yet cool because I got a tour of the town, which I'd never been to (I hadn't been past the university). They guys showed me the local restaurants, hospital and schools, and SWEET homes, or mansions really, where their friends lived. We also got stopped by the police and Alex got a ticket for having "a distracting object" in his hand while driving. I found it hilarious that after making an illegal u turn and not having his seatbelt on, he only got a ticket for being on the phone, although this was a 3rd degree ticket, meaning the worst kind. Even more hilarious, was the fine, a total of SIX bucks, haha.

When we finally made it back to the mall and started interviewing random young people we were approached by the mall's security guy who told us we couldn't survey people here. Even though we only got to survey a total of 4 people (since the security guy followed us around after he approached us), we left back to school to do our focus group (but only after picking up 4 guys on the way to help us out). I ended up trusting the guys to finish the focus group on their own and headed to none other than McDonald's for Bruno's birthday party.

At McDonald's there were about 22 of Bruno's friends playing a game that two girls, dressed in Ronald McDonald costumes, were leading for them. It was the most intense Mickey D's bday party ever. They played all kinds of games, sang songs, danced, ate Happy Meals (of course) and even had a piñata with candy and prizes (each kid got coloring books, free meal coupons, and toys), all in the middle of the restaurant, where all around them regular customers enjoyed their food. The kids loved it. And I did too, especially because I got eat!! Chicken nuggets and fries, and Bruno cake (the same one from my bday)! SO good! But probably tasted better to me because it turns out that I had been so busy all day that I had gone about 11 hours without food.

As soon as it ended I pretty much booked it home to pack to go to Baños!

Dancing and the Zoo!

This weekend I stayed in Quito because the weather has been pretty bad (rain, rain, and some more rain), but that definitly doesn't mean I didn't have fun.

On Friday the girls and I decided we wanted to go to a live music place. As usual, I called the taxi and picked up Jessica, Emily, and then Anina. (I'm the one that always ends up calling the taxi first bc I live the furthest away from pretty much everything. I pick up all the the girls and it ends up being way cheaper that way since all four of us take just the one cab). We ended up riding all around el centro historico de Quito, which is pretty sketch, but bright with all kinds of lights and beautiful nontheless, and did not find our destination place. We ended up going to Ñucanchi Peña, suggested by the taxi driver, which was an Ecuadorian live music place. The place was pretty cool in the way it was set up. It had a stage, two dance floors, seating that was sectioned off in little groups so that you could kinda have your little privacy with your friends, but still be part of the greater audience, and a bar. There was an older crowd there, mostly couples, and the live music was all Ecuadorian folk music. We got to listen to two bands. The first were old men that wore great red panchos and the second played pretty slow/romantic music. The place was not necessarily what we expected but we had a pretty good time anyways.




On Saturday we took a bus to Guayllabamba (about 30 mins north of Quito) and went to the zoo. The zoo is pretty small but there were a lot of cute animals to see including monkeys, Galapagos tortoises, and the Andean condor!

Later that night we went salsa dancing, which was pretty much the best time I've had here. The place is called Seseribo and it was a great atmosphere with pretty much only amazing dancers. This made us a little hesitant to start dancing but the live music was so great that we had to. All of us, including Emily who has taken salsa and Anina who is a dancer, decided we need to take salsa classes. Maria Paulina told me that my host mom has actually taught pretty much all of her host students (which have been about 30 now) because she is so great at dancing so I'm thinking I should ask her to help us out.

On Sunday I went to el Parque Metropolitano with Bruno, Maria Paulina and Tistikiri. It was definitely not the kind of park I expected seeing as it was pretty much a forest filled with so many beautiful, tall trees. Although it was pretty muddy, it was really fun to walk around (for like 2 hours) and great to actually breathe fresh air. After jumping in all kinds of puddles, Bruno and Tistikiri came home pretty much covered in mud, ha, if only I was a kid again.

I didn't take my camara but here is a picture of Tistikiri from a while back. She is adorable and always jumps on me and cries when she sees me. It's weird because I've never in my life had a dog before, but when Bruno is not around, Tisti is mine :)

Runa Tupari

On Friday we went to Otavalo and Cotacachi (north of Quito) for a "rural experience" or Runa Tupari, which means encuentro con indigenas (encounter with the indigenous) in Quichua (the native language). The drive was quite short and pleasant as it only took just over 2 hours to get there. On the way we stopped en la Laguna de San Pablo to see a nice big lake.

We arrived in Otavalo and met with the Runa Tupari tour guides who took us all to different indigenous homes in different little pueblitos around Cotachachi. The pueblito where I stayed (and Alex too) was called La Calera. I was warmly met by Jorge, my 30 year old host dad for the weekend. Jorge took me on a house tour and showed me their chanchos (pigs), cuys (guinea pigs) and chickens. We then walked around the flower, fruit, and vegetable gardens, as well as their corn crops. They had quite a bit of land that stretched all the way back to where you could see a beautiful view of the valley, a river, and the local electric plant. I then met Alexandra, his wife, and Chichi, their 2 year old son, and ate great maiz soup, meat, rice and beans for lunch.

Alexandra then invited me to go to Otavalo to do some grocery shopping. We left after she changed into her traditional clothes which consist of un analo blanco (a white skirt) under un analo negro (a black skirt), una camisa bordada (a colorfully embroidered white shirt), un collar y aretes de mullos (a golden necklace and earrings), una cinta (am embroidered belt), la fachalina (like a shawl), y alpargates negros (black sandal-like shoes). As we walked down to Cotacachi I asked her why she changed her clothes (she had originally been wearing blue sweats). She told me that the women always wear their traditional clothes, but since she had been in the house doing shores, she changed into something more comfortable (and reasonably so as their clothes are really heavy, delicate, and super expensive -can cost up to $1000 for just one outfit, something which Jorge laughingly said keeps indigenous men from getting married). I also asked her why the men didn't wear the traditional clothing. She told me that it was probably because of the nature of their work and because they tend to travel so much. Men's traditional clothing consists of a white shirt and pants, a black sombrero and white alpargetes. I should also note that the men let their hair grow out and for me it was hard to distinguish, in the kids especially, who were boys and who were girls. Usually though, men wear their hair braided and the women wear their hair in a pony tail wrapped with long ribbon.

We went to Cotacachi with Nina, Jorge's 16 yr old niece, and her mom and they showed me around the plaza. Cotachai is mainly known for its leather products (appearantly you can buy a nice leather jacket for about 60 bucks); it's pretty small but a lot bigger than La Calera. There, we took a bus to Otavalo where we bought tons of vegetables for like 2 bucks. On the ride back to La Calera we took a bus with one of the most hilarious kids I've ever heard. He told us great jokes that had the entire bus cracking up, all the while trying to sell us some candy.

When I came home there were a lot of neighborhood kids hanging around the house. Turns out they were all Chichi's cousins that lived in the houses next to ours. Moncho, the 12 year old cousin, invited me to go take a walk around Calera. We walked around and he showed me the local school (for only 1st-4th grade) and the two volleyball and soccer fields where they like to play. When we got back his sister Panshis, who is 6, his brother Daqui, who is 3, and their other cousin, who is 10, invited me to play futbol with them. Even though I knew I am horrible at futbol I couldn't say no to their adorable faces. We ended up just kicking the ball around the gol and played with a girl who was introduced to me by Panchis as the best young female soccer player in La Calera. After they got tired, their other brother, Rumi (who is 9) wanted to know if we wanted to go on a walk with him (he was sent to go get some manteca - lard). We said yes, of course, and walked around La Calera once again, although through different streets. While the kids fought to hold my hand as we walked (que ternura) I was shown where their other aunts and uncles lived, as well as where the big soccer field was. Needless to say, it was a great night.

On Saturday morning I woke up early to go to the aminal market in Otavalo. We saw all kinds animals being sold including llamas going for about 80 bucks and sheep for 45. There were also chanchos, goats, cows and horses. It was quite an interesting experience. We then walked to el mercado artesanal (Artisan Market, which Otavalo is famously known for). They sell all kinds of great Ecuadorian textile products like shirts, blankets, shalls, sweaters and so much more. We did some shopping for like 4 hours then went to lunch with David, our 21 yr old Ruma Tupari guide for the day.

After lunch he took us to a house where a couple worked on weaving. They showed us the entire process, from spinning the cotton into yarn and then the actual weaving process. Sumak Mikui ("excellent taste") was our next stop. They make food products out of native crops, such as andean squash seeds, uvillas (dried gooseberries), mermelada de moras (blackberry marmalade), and ahi (pepper paste). David then took us to see a farm that had all kinds of plants. Because there wasn't so much to see as they were working on fixing up the place and Jessica was craving a beer, David took us back to Cotacachi and we each had a Pilsner.

That night I played with the kids again. This time they showed me how to play a version of hangman where you have to guess the word but instead of drawing the different parts of a man you cross off steps of a staircase and fall in a lake and die if you don't guess the right letters/word in time. Because the smaller kids didn't really know how to spell words, we proceeded to play about 654 games of matching Winnie the Pooh cards. Although this was fun, I was kind of relieved to hear that David had come so that I could ask him some questions about being indigenous (for my ethnicity project) and then hang out.

Saturday night was awful because I didn't get enough sleep. Even though I was extremely tired after having hung out with David til pretty late I couldn't go to sleep because there was a graduation party close by with really loud music that went on until about 5 in the morning. To top it off, it wasn't great that I had to be ready at 8:30 on Sunday for our visit to la Laguna de Quicocha. The lake is on a crater and has three little islands in the middle of it. It was cool to take a little boat ride around the islands and see the volcanic bubbles that came up to the surface. It was also fun to hike around the top of the mountains and see the great view from above.

The trip was a great experience and I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back to visit.

Communication...I <3 it!

I like to keep in touch with people and I really like people to keep in touch with me. So here is my info, please write to me! I will write back, and it'll be really cool getting international mail :)

Denise Loera
Yumbos No. 402 entre
H. Salas y F. Davalos
Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador
Sur America

I also have a
Cell #: 593-473-5087
Casa #: 593-243-1767
Skype: denise.a.loera
Aim: DAquariusLady05

Keep in touch! And let me know how things are in your lives!

<3 Denise

Staying Behind y El Nuevo Wawa

Today I had a huge Marketing midterm and a presentation in my Anthropology class, so unfortunately, I did not get to go with Anina and Jessica to the beach in Manta this weekend. I would have had to leave last Thursday night to take the 10 hr bus ride, and miss my Friday classes, which are the classes where the profs actually take attendance and care, and the ones that I've already missed the most...so I couldn't do it, lame, I know!

Emily also stayed behind.

Last Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we both decided that we wanted to go to Mass. After our Pitzer Seminar (which was, unfortunately, so boring that I kept falling asleep in class) I went over to Emily's house to drop off our stuff and walk to her family's church. After Emily made sure, with her map (which she LOVES) that we knew where we were going, we left to the 6:30 p.m. Mass. The earlier Mass was just leaving and we were easily able to find a bench to sit on. As communion started, I noticed that Emily had to sit down. I asked her what was going on and she told me that she wasn't feeling well and things were blurry. We decided that it was a good idea to go outside and get some fresh air, so we stood up. As we were trying to walk through the packed church, Emily starts to faint. Terrified, I grab her and call for a man to help me with her because I had no idea what to do. Thankfully, Emily's host family (who had been standing in the back because they had come in late)saw what had happened and came to the rescue, as well as doctor who has been told to come help. After a little less than a minute Emily came back to reality and didn't know what had happened. We took her out and the doctor suggested some sugar, so her mom went to buy her some Coke and candy. This was one of the scarriest things that has ever happened to me, mostly because I felt so helpless and I didn't know what to do. Emily ended up going to the doctor and getting some blood work done on Friday, so she couldn't go the beach either. She is okay now :)

Because we decided to stay, we decided to explore Quito and do all the touristy things that we hadn't done yet. On Friday we went to el Mercado Artesanal, where they sell all kinds of souvenir type things. Everything was really cool, but we decided on not buying anything because we have yet to go to Otavalo, where all kinds of textile work is sold. Actually, I lied, Emily bought a pair of cool earrings made out of painted melon seeds and some alpaca socks and I bought two nose rings to replace my white and blues ones that I lost down the drain. We pretty much walked all afternoon around las Amazonas and ended up at Plaza Fosh in el Mariscal (also known as Gringolandia, for obvious reasons), where all the bars and night clubs are. We continued on to Crepes & Waffles, the group's usual hangout after our Wednesday Pitzer Seminar. This place is sooo good! We usually endulge ourselves with yummy chocolate/nutella/fruit/ice cream waffles, but today we had actual, salty foods. We shared an amazing Crepe Poblano with avocado and lime sauce, as well as a Pita Siciliana, which was pretty much a pizza. That night we ended up meeting up with Alex (who also didn't go to the beach -not sure why) and made some new American friends who have already been here for a semester. We went to few bars and danced, met random Italian and Brazilian men, and needless to say, it was a long, and very fun night.

On Saturday afternoon we went to el Parque Carolina to visit el Jardin Botanico. La Carolina is a super sketchy (and huge -with courts for all the sports, a lake with boats, a river, horses, pretty much everything you can think of) park near the Pitzer office where I have to walk by every Wed. to get from USFQ to our seminar. (I once got followed by two guys who at first were trying to sell me some candy but tried to put their arms on my shoulders and asked me for my phone number.) We saw all kinds of plants from different ecological zones (much to Emily's delight, who is super interested in ecology). I really enjoyed the walk under the sun through all kinds of exotic flowers, especially the orchids, which were just amazingly beautiful. We then took the bus home, but not before stopping at the local Forever 21 store, aka Fashion XXI, which we had been thinking about visiting for the longest time since we always pass by it on the bus.

On Sunday I woke up and did some studying for my test. I then went downtown to meet my Ecuadorian parents for lunch, but not before meeting the new wawa! Lorena, my brother Diego's wife finally had her wawa (or huahua, not sure, quichua for baby/child)! His name is Diego Andres and he is soooo adorable and sooo tiny. I have a new nephew who is also a Liga fan, as he is already sporting his new Liga uniform, with hat and all, that Diego's best friend brought him.

I then went to el centro to meet up with Emily at the Centro Cultural Metropolitano where she was eating lunch. After she finished, we walked around a photography exhibit that displayed international photos of problems such as poverty, violence, political issues, etc. Cool, but depressing.

We then walked around la Plaza Grande and visited various churches including, la Plaza de San Francisco and La Merced, where there were all kinds of portraits of the same vigin making appearances/miracles in different situations throughout history. We also went to Mass (and avoided the entrance fee) at La Compañía de Jesús, where everything is covered in gold, supposedly about 7 tons!

We didn't get to go to the beach or see Aventura ):, but it was still a great weekend!

Carnaval in Cuenca

This weekend we flew down to Cuenca to celebrate Carnaval. Although it isn't necessarily the best place for all the festivities it was fun. On Saturday we spent the entire day walking around the city. We went to a mercado where there were all kinds of fruits and meat being sold, a cathedral, a sombrero factory and had pretty much the best food since I've been here. For lunch we went to a typical Ecuadorian restaurant that used to be a mill and ate carne asada, mote (hominy), habas (kind of like lima beans) and papas fritas (french fries that we just had to order), all pretty much amazing.


On Sunday we went to Ingapirca where we saw the largest Incan ruins in Ecuador as well as some lovely llamas, which Jessica made great friends with (they are like her fav animal and so she took like 59409854908 million pictures of them). Later on we went to eat pizza then we all watched the second half of the SuperBowl game in our (Anina and me) room at the hotel.


On Monday we went to Cajas National Park where there are like 235 lakes en el paramo. This was probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The first lake we stopped at was surrounded by green vegetation with amazing flowers and birds. It was so peaceful, I just wanted to stay there forever. We drove up and saw other lakes as well. The higher we drove, the foggier and colder it got. I actually wore the most clothing I think I have ever worn in my life for el paramo.

Carnaval is celebrated by having water fights in the streets. People throw water balloons (or bombas), squirt you with water guns or throw huge buckets of water at each other. It's kind of dangerous to walk in the streets but really fun at the same time because you have to dodge the balloons thrown by people in cars/trucks as well as buckets from balconies above your head. I didn't get too wet but on Sunday I definitely got hit right on my face with a balloon. Alex got into the spirit of Carnaval after being attacked with silly string. He bought a bottle of it and ran after the car that attacked him. Although the biggest "festival" we saw was a parade of about 30 people walking playing instruments and singing the Carnaval song, as well as throwing flour filled eggshells (also a fav), it was fun!

Pastel Bruno

Yesterday the Pitzer crew came over because my Ecuadorian mom made me a dinner for my birthday. It was really nice. She made chicken lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and an amazing Pastel de Bruno, which is one of the like 40 recipes she has in the SuperMaxi cookbook (just goes to show what a great cook she is!). She named it after her grandson Bruno because he loves it so much, and indeed it is great! It’s an orange cake that has chocolate frosting and walnuts all over it, delicious! Even poor Emily who had food poisoning from eating an empanada at the Liga game the night before had to try some.

My bro, Diego, and Bruno were also over to celebrate. Everyone sang happy birthday, it was so funny to hear both the Spanish and the English version being sang while my mom, clapped the entire time (she’s so cute).

The girls made me some cookies and gave me a trotugita shirt, to represent the awkwardness joke that we have among each other (LOVE it). Anina also made me a foil representation of a tortugita with a leash and all J My mom gave me flowers and some Ebel (the Latino version of MaryKay) brightening(?) lotion. Bruno and Maria Paulina gave a really pretty green necklace.

It was a lovely time, too bad I couldn’t go to GringoLandia to continue to celebrate with Anina, Jessica and Alex because my knee is hurt.

Oh yeah, my knee…

So on Thursday, my actual birthday, I went to go volunteer, for the first time, at La Fundación de Reina de Quito, which is a learning center for kids with Down syndrome. I spent 3 hours with the 5-6 yr old group and I helped out with all the activities, from cognitive skills work (like learning colors and shapes) to physical activities (learning to dance and crawling through hula-hoops), crafts and eating lunch. It was really fun but also hard and draining (especially when I was trying to work with little Gabby who refused to allow me to help her use the scissors correctly so she tried to stab me instead!). I had class right after so I had to take 3 buses back to USFQ. On my first bus I hurt my knee. It kinda felt like it popped out of its socket. It hurt a lot when it happened but it wasn’t a big deal until later that night (at the Liga game).

Yesterday, my mom took me to a family friend who’s a doctor and I got some pain meds. Fortunately, I’m feeling much better and can actually walk without limping now. Maybe tonight I’ll go out to GringoLandia.