What A Wonderful World

I had a great vacation this weekend. We left Friday morning for Cotacachi, which is about 2 hours north of Quito. We took a bus for $1, which is really cheap considering how far we traveled. We got dropped off right outside Cotacachi, and took a cab to the center, where all the hotels are. We found a hotel that was really nice for only $10 including breakfast. Cotacatchi is known for its leather goods, and boy is it. Every shop that we passed was selling some kid of leather good. We ended up shopping at the artisan market, because things are cheaper and you can bargain. I ended up buying a leather wallet for $3 and a chompa (sweatshirt) for $8. I also bought souvenirs for people. Since it was Viernes Santo, they had a festival going on as well, which included a concert and a whole block of artisan shops. We went back to our hotel around 10. Around 10:30, we heard commotion outside and decided to see what was going on. It turns out there was a parade going on for Semana Santa, right there in the street. It was crazy, people just ran out of our hotel to go join it.
Anyway, we eventually went to bed and woke up the next morning ready to go to Ibarra. We were traveling with Eduardo, our friend here. He was on Ecuadorian time; he kept telling us were leaving in “10 minutes”. Those ten minutes became an hour and half. It turns out his friends were waiting for us in Ibarra, so we really needed to hurry. We took a taxi to Ibarra for only $1 a person, and met up with his friends. They would continue to drive us to El Angel, which is a small town on the outskirts of Ibarra. There, we would stay at Eduardo’s friend Jose’s ranch.
We got there about 50 minutes later. We had lunch, and I had an amazing mix of Norteño and Sprite. After lunch, we watched the men fight the bulls like matadors. Of course, since they weren’t real ones, it made it better. They were wusses, they would start to move towards the bull and then chicken out and run back behind the safe zone. It actually got better as the time went on, a few men got knocked down by the bull but there were no serious injuries. The men think it was the best thing in the world; they were laughing and arguing over who had the best injury. It was fun to watch even though it was very dangerous.
We headed back to the hacienda and ate dinner, drank, danced, and played darts.
The next morning, we watched the boys target practice. They were really good; they hit all the targets. We also walked around for a bit before leaving.
On our way back to Quito between El Angel and Ibarra, we saw a lot of cars pulled over the side of the road, and people looking down the cliff. Being curious, Jose pulled over so we could look. We looked down the cliff and didn’t know what the hell we were supposed to be seeing. Jose finally pointed out to us that the mileage (kiloage?) marker was bent over, as if a car rammed into it. Sure enough, way, way, down the cliff (at least 1,000 ft) was a car all mangled in the river. It was sad but cool at the same time, since us US people had never seen anything like this before. This kind of thing only happens in the movies. We got our cameras out and took videos and pictures of the poor car in the river. We were wishing we had seen it live, but then again thinking of how scary it would be to watch. Apparently, this kind of thing happens in Ecuador, and it’s not really a big deal. I’m just glad it wasn’t me, although I have to admit that if I were to die, that would be a pretty cool way to do it.
Anyway, tomorrow I have class. The good thing is that Friday is my last day of the first cycle of classes; we have until Wednesday of next week off. Marie’s mother is flying in, and we are going to be doing some traveling with her, as Marie invited me along.

I just got back from the Easter celebration. The fanesca was excellent, and now I understand why they call it a meal. It literally had everything in it. I could barely finish a bowlful, while my dad had two bowls. I also met my mom´s brother Rodrigo, who actually knew where New Hampshire was! He even knew the capitol was Concord. It turns out he lived in Seattle for 33 years, so he speaks excellent English. He was so funny, I got asked if I wanted wine, and he repeated the question in English to me, as if I didn´t understand. I had white wine, which is my favorite, and when he found this out, he kept trying to give me the box (it was boxed wine). After eating the soup, I could barely finish off my big glass of wine. Afterwards, I talked to my mom´s family about Ecuador, my classes, the Easter traditions in the state, what I dislike about the US, and all that. I was talking so much that I didn´t realize how late it was. I walked home from my mom´s parents house, which is only about a mile and a half, but I wanted to do so before it got dark. That was my day! Tonight, my friends and I are going out to the bar to celebrate a late Saint Patricks Day. We don´t want to stay out too late because we have to get up early!

Happy early Easter to everyone! In Ecuador, Easter (Pascua) is very different compared to how we do it in the US. For starters, Easter to them isn´t on Sunday, but rather on Thursday and Friday, and depending on the region, even Saturday. That is the reason why here they say Felices Pasuas and not Feliz Pascua.
Anyway, the typical meal here is fanesca, which is a soup. It is very thick, so they count it as a meal. In the fanesca is bacalao (codfish), along with twelve different grains to represent each of the 12 apostles. They put fish as opposed to meat so they can eat it for Easter (because I forgot that during Lent, for whatever reason, you aren´t supposed to eat meat on Fridays). It varies from family to family, so I don´t really know what to expect in my soup. You can see a picture of it and read more about Fanesca here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanesca
For dessert, we have arroz con leche (rice pudding). I´ve never actually had rice pudding, but hopefully I´ll like it.
Since I don´t have school until Tuesday, my friends and I are going to Cotocachi and Ibarra, both are close to each other and about 2 and a half hours north of Quito. Cotocachi is known for its inexpensive high quality leather goods, so I am very excited. We are coming back on Sunday sometime, and then we are going to relax on Monday. The good news is that this upcoming week is our last day of classes in the first cycle. That means we get about a week off until the second one begins. However, the bad news is that once the second cycle ends, I have to leave.
I will tell you all about my trip to Cotocachi and Ibarra when I return on Monday. ¡Felices Pascuas a todos!

Last Friday (Feb 29th) our school held a Welcoming Cocktail for all the exchange students. It was fun, having the waiters come around with bocabitos (h´ordeovers) and wine. We danced the night away until about 11, at whichpoint my friends left for Dragonfly (a bar). I had to wait for my brother in law and sister to come back because they were my ride to Dragonfly. So after a little while, they came back and we drove to the Mariscal. There was tons of traffic, and it turned out that we took forever to get to Dragonfly. My friends ordered food, so while waiting for them to finish the three of us walked around and looked for a club. The cheapest one was $10 plus consumibles, and we decided that we really didn´t want to drink, just dance, so we decided it would be a waste of money. Plus, we were starting to feel the effects of the wine. So, we went back to Dragonfly, and proceeded to bring Marie home because she was tired from the wine as well.
Nothing eventful happened the whole week.
This past weekend, we went to Otavalo, which is about 2 hours north of Quito. We left early on Saturday, and arrived at the artisan market at around 11:00. We walked around for a bit, putting up with the beggers who wanted money (they actually grab your arm so you can´t ignore them, but we pretended we didn´t know Spanish). I bought earrings, a nice suede coat, and a necklace. Oh and I also bought a shirt with an inappropriate Spanish saying on it that I am going to wear in the States since nobody will understand it.
After the market, we went to our cabins (cabañas), where we would be staying overnight. They were really nice, we each had our own bed (even though KK and I shared bunk beds, and my bed was like an army cot). We had lunch, which was amazing, and consisted of chicken, a baked potato, and some veggies. We then had a break for a few hours, in which we hung around in our room.
At six, we had a break from our break. We had dessert, which was different types of flan. I of course had to sample them all, which was quite alright with the owner, who kept asking if we wanted more.
After dinner, we had a cruise on the lake where our cabins were. A mariachi band also peformed, and they gave us ALCHOHOL. Yea, that´s right, PUCE let us drink on the boat. The drink was canelaso, which I have already tried and don´t like (it tastes like cinammon tea). After the cruise was dinner, which was chicken again. We went to bed after dinner because we were exhausted.
The next day, we woke up and had breakfast, which was also great. We boarded the bus to Pechuge for a waterfall and a presentation by the Indegenas (I forgot how to spell that word in English) people. The Indigenas taught us about their life, and showed us a native dance that was spiritual. We then hiked (yea, hiked) to the waterfall, where they performed a ¨Limpieza de la Corazón¨ (Cleansing of the Heart). It was so nice to hear that they are spiritual, and they worship nature and its beauty.
After the hike down, we then went back to our cabañas for lunch, which was fish. Needless to say, I had the other option of pasta because I hate fish. It was funny, Marie tried the fish, but she kept asking fish eaters if you are supposed to eat certain parts of the fish.
After lunch, we headed back to Quito. I lucked out, the bus we took ended up going near my house, so I asked the driver if he could let me off, and he did so. I was home before everyone else!
I also joined a gym here. I can´t believe I went about a month and a half without any real exercise. Anyway, the gym is right next to my house and I have a personal trainer. The gym is small and the owner always greets me everyday, which I like.
I can´t believe I´ve been here for almost 2 months! I really don´t want to leave. Most of my friends are indiffernet, they like Quito but don´t want to live here. I am the opposite, I love Quito and do want to live here. I want to keep in contact with my family here so that if I do move back, I have some people that I know in the city.
In any rate, that´s all I have for now. Next week is Easter, and because of that, we get Thurs, Fri, and Mon off of school. I love that this is such a religious country (and yet, neither me nor my family have been to church since I´ve been here). Talk about amazing! First, they party like crazy before Lent. I once again don´t have school in celebration of Carnaval, and don´t need to do anything religous. Lent comes, people don´t sacrifice anything for it, they just act like normal. Then Easter comes and people party again! I seriously could live like this, giving up school for religious purposes but not actually doing anything religious. I would suggest the US do the same, except I am agnostic and the US would probably force everyone to go to church or something. In any rate, I like that these people know how to party!
ETA: Wow, just read an article on MSN about the gas prices in the states. The average for diesel is over $3, whereas here diesel is $1.04 per gallon. Unleaded is also well over $3, but in Ecuador, they only have super or extra, and extra costs about $1.40 per gallon, and super is about $1.80 per gallon. But then again, Ecuador has oil, and Correa is in love with Chavez, whose country also has lots of oil, so no wonder gas is so cheap.