Thursday, September 30, 2010
Attempted Coup
Attempted coup in Quito this morning led by various sectors of the police and military. I'm fine. Classes ended early today and have been suspended tomorrow. We're all supposed to stay with our host families. Our academic directors are hopeful that we'll still be able to go to the rainforest on Monday, although right now all interprovince travel has been shut down.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
A few pictures from Los Chillos and the Cloud Forest
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| Soccer stadium right before the awards presentation. |
One day, all the Spanish classes took field trips around Sangolqui, the central town of the Valle de los Chillos:
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| 7 of 10 girls on the program in front of the monumento al sed (monument to thirst) |
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| Monumento al colibri (monument to humming birds) |
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| My Spanish class at the monumento al choclo (monument to corn) |
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| Avocados! |
And on to the Intag Cloud Forest:
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| The women's residence in the Cloud Forest |
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| Cuicocha, a huge crater lake we passed about an hour before reaching Intag |
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| Leonore and Fabian, our amazing directors |
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| The whole group in Intag |
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| Waterfall number 1 |
Monday, September 27, 2010
Cloud Forest Excursion (and soccer)
1) Futbol! The Monday before last (two weeks ago) I went to a soccer game (my first professional sports game ever!) in Quito with Lia and her host brother. Although it was a relatively unimportant game, it was crazy. Liga, one of Quito's teams, had just won the Recopa South America, and although I'm not sure exactly what that is, it's a very big deal, and the trophy was presented before the game. They erected a small awards podium on the field, along with a giant blowup Pilsner bottle, which is one of the local beers, and a couple of other blowup things. Then they hauled a small section of wooden scaffolding onto the field. After presenting the trophy, fireworks went off from somewhere, and the crowd, which had already been pretty loud, went wild. Then the wooden scaffolding exploded into flames, forming Liga's logo. Once the game started, the stadium calmed down a little, but not much. Whole sections of the crowd were on their feet stamping and cheering for the entire 90 minutes of play. And this wasn't even an important game. Throughout the night, woman and children wandered through the crowd calling "cervesas, caramelos, chicles, etc," and occasionally blocking my view.
2) Cloud Forest Excursion
AMAZING. Cloud forest is the name for the elevation at which clouds tend to condense, creating a very very humid environment. The Ecuadorian cloud forests are some of the most diverse places on earth, although the diversity isn't always visible because much of it is in the form of insects, amphibians, and plants. We left Los Chillos for Intag last saturday at 8am, and five hours later (three hours on the panamerican highway and another two on an unpaved, windy road) we arrived at Santa Rosa, a very small town. All of our gear got loaded onto four horses, and then we walked for an hour to reach La Florida, the place where we stayed. After a lunch of guacamole, beans, rice, enchiladas, coffee, juice, and a lot more that I can't remember (this place is a working farm, so all of the produce is fresh, and they also produce all of their own coffee; I ate way too much at every meal), we waddled off to look around. Thirty minutes later, we decided to hike to the two waterfalls that had been mentioned, so we all put on our plastic boots (essentially very cheap rainboots) and clomped along the path through the mud. The first waterfall was about ten minutes away, and although not that impressive as a waterfall, was amazing for the diversity of plant life that surrounded it. A couple of us wadded in the small pool at the bottom and stood underneath it. The second waterfall was another twenty minutes away, and even smaller than the first one. At this waterfall, we weren't supposed to talk above a whisper, becuase a species of bird, the Andean cock of the rock (I'm sure there is a more scientific name, but no one ever told us it) resides very near here, and noise scares them off. The male cocks of the rock are bright red, and make a very loud call to attract their mates. These birds are in danger of extinction, and some bird watchers will apparently hike for miles to catch a glimpse of one. Although I didn't see one the first afternoon, we definitely heard one, and I saw several while hiking the last morning. The second waterfall was better for swimming, and a bunch of us jumped in before returning for our 5:30pm lecture.
The lecture was given by Carlos, one of the farm's owners, and he mostly talked about his constant struggle against mining. In the early 90s, a Japanese mining company discovered copper in a nearby area of the cloud forest, and drew up plans to build an open pit copper mine. The project would have partially destroyed the territory of over 40 endangered species, and required four different towns to relocate, not to mention the pollution that it would have introduced into the rivers, which is where all the people and animals get their water. After rallying nearby communities, Carlos successfully prevented the mine from being constructed and the Japanese company left. A few years later, a Canadian company drew up new plans to mine the region. Again, the communities were able to stop the project, although the prinicipal organizers of the protests all got several death threats. Now, the Ecuadorian government itself wants to open and operate the mine, and Carlos is less optimistic about their chances of resisiting.
On Sunday, our group was split in two. Seven of us went on a three hour hike while the other seven stayed behind to learn to draw. I went on the hike. Roberto, a man who has lived in the Intag cloud forest for his whole life, and one of the major organizers behind the anti-mining movement was our guide. We stopped frequently for him to identify various plants and tell us about their medicinal qualities. The area we were in contains more species of humming birds then the entire United States combined, and also more species of orchids then exist in the U.S., although only a couple of them were in bloom. In addition, there were long, thin vines hanging from the leaves above, and many plants with leaves as big as me. Roberto walked ahead of us the whole way, constantly clearing the path of vines and fallen trees with his machete. Because the cloud forest is a mountaineous, rocky region, trees only have a couple of inches of dirt in which to send down their roots, which means that any tree that grows to be too big falls over, and fallen trees were everywhere. Many species of plants have adapted to grow around another species and use them as an anchor and source of nutrients, instead of sending down their own roots. Moss also blanketed a lot of the trees. We came to a small waterfall, scaled the rock face next to it, and came to another approximately 50ft waterfall. Chris and I went swimming, but nobody else wanted to get wet. Then we began a 20 minute upward climb, to reach old growth trees, before descending back to La Florida.
That afternoon, a young woman who has worked for environmental issues in the area since she was fifteen spoke to us some more about mining issues, and then three women talked to us about the womens group they've formed. These women use cabuya, a native plant that looks kind of like a cactus, to make incredible bags, placemats, and other similar items by hand, and then sell them. A lot of the work is very good, and all the dyes are made from local plants. This isn't a full time job, they really only work in the evenings after all the housework and the cooking has been done, but it's brought about incredible changes in their lives. They talked a lot about how before they started this project, they had no way to earn money and depended on their husbands to support them and their kids. Now, they often earn more money than their husbands, which means they can make sure their kids have everything they need, and even pay for transportation to a nearby high school.
That night, Carlos and Sandy (his wife) set up a moth trap. Essentially, you hang up a white sheet and then shine a bright light on it; when you turn off the light, the mothes fly away. There were about 200 moths on the sheet (at least 100 different species), but Carlos and Sandy said that it was a really small number; if it hadn't been close to a full moon, there would have been a lot more. No one really knows why the moths are attracted to bright light, but some scientists think they might use moonlight to navigate. The moths were all different colors and shapes and sizes. Some were gold, one was pure white, a lot were mottled, some were green, one looked like a leopard print, etc.
The next day, the groups swapped activities, so I did drawing and painting with Sandy. It wasn't nearly as fun as the hike but I still enjoyed it. In the afternoon, we had a three hour Ecuadorian history lecture beginning with the 1400s when the Incas conquered the original inhabitants, and then went right on through Spanish colonization, independence, and modern history. It was fascinating, but a little overwhelming as well. Tuesday morning, five of us got up at 6:30am for a last hike. Early morning is also the best time to see the birds. After breakfast, we hiked back out to the bus. On the way back, we stopped in Otavalo, which has the biggest artisan's market in Ecuador, for two hours. Tuesday is not a big market day, so not all of the booths were set up, and it was pretty empty, but I actually think that made it nicer. We could wander around without any fear of bumping into people (apparently on the weekends it is absolutely packed) and it was nice to be able to take my time when bargaining with the shopkeepers.
We arrived back in Los Chillos at 6pm, and classes resumed Wednesday morning at 8. We now have one more week here before we switch families and move to Quito, althoguh in between families, we're spending four or five days in the Amazonian rainforest!
2) Cloud Forest Excursion
AMAZING. Cloud forest is the name for the elevation at which clouds tend to condense, creating a very very humid environment. The Ecuadorian cloud forests are some of the most diverse places on earth, although the diversity isn't always visible because much of it is in the form of insects, amphibians, and plants. We left Los Chillos for Intag last saturday at 8am, and five hours later (three hours on the panamerican highway and another two on an unpaved, windy road) we arrived at Santa Rosa, a very small town. All of our gear got loaded onto four horses, and then we walked for an hour to reach La Florida, the place where we stayed. After a lunch of guacamole, beans, rice, enchiladas, coffee, juice, and a lot more that I can't remember (this place is a working farm, so all of the produce is fresh, and they also produce all of their own coffee; I ate way too much at every meal), we waddled off to look around. Thirty minutes later, we decided to hike to the two waterfalls that had been mentioned, so we all put on our plastic boots (essentially very cheap rainboots) and clomped along the path through the mud. The first waterfall was about ten minutes away, and although not that impressive as a waterfall, was amazing for the diversity of plant life that surrounded it. A couple of us wadded in the small pool at the bottom and stood underneath it. The second waterfall was another twenty minutes away, and even smaller than the first one. At this waterfall, we weren't supposed to talk above a whisper, becuase a species of bird, the Andean cock of the rock (I'm sure there is a more scientific name, but no one ever told us it) resides very near here, and noise scares them off. The male cocks of the rock are bright red, and make a very loud call to attract their mates. These birds are in danger of extinction, and some bird watchers will apparently hike for miles to catch a glimpse of one. Although I didn't see one the first afternoon, we definitely heard one, and I saw several while hiking the last morning. The second waterfall was better for swimming, and a bunch of us jumped in before returning for our 5:30pm lecture.
The lecture was given by Carlos, one of the farm's owners, and he mostly talked about his constant struggle against mining. In the early 90s, a Japanese mining company discovered copper in a nearby area of the cloud forest, and drew up plans to build an open pit copper mine. The project would have partially destroyed the territory of over 40 endangered species, and required four different towns to relocate, not to mention the pollution that it would have introduced into the rivers, which is where all the people and animals get their water. After rallying nearby communities, Carlos successfully prevented the mine from being constructed and the Japanese company left. A few years later, a Canadian company drew up new plans to mine the region. Again, the communities were able to stop the project, although the prinicipal organizers of the protests all got several death threats. Now, the Ecuadorian government itself wants to open and operate the mine, and Carlos is less optimistic about their chances of resisiting.
On Sunday, our group was split in two. Seven of us went on a three hour hike while the other seven stayed behind to learn to draw. I went on the hike. Roberto, a man who has lived in the Intag cloud forest for his whole life, and one of the major organizers behind the anti-mining movement was our guide. We stopped frequently for him to identify various plants and tell us about their medicinal qualities. The area we were in contains more species of humming birds then the entire United States combined, and also more species of orchids then exist in the U.S., although only a couple of them were in bloom. In addition, there were long, thin vines hanging from the leaves above, and many plants with leaves as big as me. Roberto walked ahead of us the whole way, constantly clearing the path of vines and fallen trees with his machete. Because the cloud forest is a mountaineous, rocky region, trees only have a couple of inches of dirt in which to send down their roots, which means that any tree that grows to be too big falls over, and fallen trees were everywhere. Many species of plants have adapted to grow around another species and use them as an anchor and source of nutrients, instead of sending down their own roots. Moss also blanketed a lot of the trees. We came to a small waterfall, scaled the rock face next to it, and came to another approximately 50ft waterfall. Chris and I went swimming, but nobody else wanted to get wet. Then we began a 20 minute upward climb, to reach old growth trees, before descending back to La Florida.
That afternoon, a young woman who has worked for environmental issues in the area since she was fifteen spoke to us some more about mining issues, and then three women talked to us about the womens group they've formed. These women use cabuya, a native plant that looks kind of like a cactus, to make incredible bags, placemats, and other similar items by hand, and then sell them. A lot of the work is very good, and all the dyes are made from local plants. This isn't a full time job, they really only work in the evenings after all the housework and the cooking has been done, but it's brought about incredible changes in their lives. They talked a lot about how before they started this project, they had no way to earn money and depended on their husbands to support them and their kids. Now, they often earn more money than their husbands, which means they can make sure their kids have everything they need, and even pay for transportation to a nearby high school.
That night, Carlos and Sandy (his wife) set up a moth trap. Essentially, you hang up a white sheet and then shine a bright light on it; when you turn off the light, the mothes fly away. There were about 200 moths on the sheet (at least 100 different species), but Carlos and Sandy said that it was a really small number; if it hadn't been close to a full moon, there would have been a lot more. No one really knows why the moths are attracted to bright light, but some scientists think they might use moonlight to navigate. The moths were all different colors and shapes and sizes. Some were gold, one was pure white, a lot were mottled, some were green, one looked like a leopard print, etc.
The next day, the groups swapped activities, so I did drawing and painting with Sandy. It wasn't nearly as fun as the hike but I still enjoyed it. In the afternoon, we had a three hour Ecuadorian history lecture beginning with the 1400s when the Incas conquered the original inhabitants, and then went right on through Spanish colonization, independence, and modern history. It was fascinating, but a little overwhelming as well. Tuesday morning, five of us got up at 6:30am for a last hike. Early morning is also the best time to see the birds. After breakfast, we hiked back out to the bus. On the way back, we stopped in Otavalo, which has the biggest artisan's market in Ecuador, for two hours. Tuesday is not a big market day, so not all of the booths were set up, and it was pretty empty, but I actually think that made it nicer. We could wander around without any fear of bumping into people (apparently on the weekends it is absolutely packed) and it was nice to be able to take my time when bargaining with the shopkeepers.
We arrived back in Los Chillos at 6pm, and classes resumed Wednesday morning at 8. We now have one more week here before we switch families and move to Quito, althoguh in between families, we're spending four or five days in the Amazonian rainforest!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Rancho Alegre, San Antonio Ecuador
Yes, those really are clouds.
Monument on the Equator--almost
Jeanette and I straddling the equator--according to bad European math
View from the top of Ilalo
Cross at the top of Ilalo
Valle de los Chillos from the top of Ilalo
Ilalo from my house. If you look really hard, you can see the cross.
My house
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Notes on Ecuador
1) Traffic.
Getting in a car here is about the scariest thing I do. To start with, only the front seats have seatbelts. The backseat might have the shoulder strap and be missing the buckle, have the buckle and be missing the strap, or have neither part. Cars drive very fast here. Stop signs (a red octagon with the word "para") don't actually mean stop to any true Ecuadorian. Instead, you honk your horn twice. If no one honks back, then you assume it is safe to drive right through the stop sign without slowing down. If someone does honk back, then you slow down a little, but not very much. And if you can see around the stop sign without slowing down, then you don't need to honk at all.
2) Food.
Food is amazing, and there is a LOT of it. There are more kinds of fruit and vegetables than I have ever seen in my life, including at least 5 different types of bananas, not counting plantains, and at least ten different types of corn. For breakfast I usually have a bowl of cut up fruit with yogurt and granola, or a smoothie-like drink and a grilled cheese sandwich. Recently they've also been serving me french toast. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and usually consists of two courses, a soup, and then something else with meat. My family is a little less traditional than some, which only means that we don't eat rice with every meal, only with about half of them. My family constantly asks me whether I like the food, and if I want more. One day, they asked if I liked avocados, and when I said I loved them, lunch the next day included 1 and a half avocados PER PERSON, as well as a potato soup, salad, and shrimp. How little I eat has become a joke to them, and they didn't believe me when I said I eat more then my mom and sister at home. Luckily dinner is not a huge meal because I am generally still full from lunch. We all have tea or coffee or hot chocolate (they looked at me like I was an alien one night when I said I just wanted water, so I have learned to always ask for tea when I'm full) and then a bread roll, and maybe a piece of cheese.
Today for breakfast, my host parents took me for a special treat--chancho, or ordenado. In English: pig. We drove for about ten minutes and then stopped outside a restaurant with a table/kitchen area right on the sidewalk, and then a bunch of tables for guests inside. On the table of the kitchen area were three fried pigs. I mean whole pigs, with heads and feet still attached. In making up our plates, the chef merely sliced some pig off and put it on the plate, along with potatoes, corn, and half an avocado. The fried pig skin is especially a deliacy, although one I saved for last, and then said I was full after a few bites.
3) Computer Keyboards
Are different here. I have finally figured out how to do apostrophes, parentheses, quotation marks, and question marks, but I still can't figure out the at sign. Every time I want to log on to my email, I have to find an at sign somewhere else, and then copy and paste it in. I also can't figure out how to put accents on letters, although it must be fairly easy since Spanish words need accents all the time.
4) Buses
Buses here are insane, but incredibly useful. Most of them cost between 15 and 25 cents. If it's going to be a long ride (over half an hour), it might cost up to $1.25. Though there are a few defined bus stops, they don't really mean anything. If you want to get on a bus that's passing by, you stick out your hand and wave at the driver. When you want to get off, you ask the driver to stop. The second the last person steps on or off the bus, it lurches away, which means I'm frequently lunging for the nearest handrail so I don't fall over.
Getting in a car here is about the scariest thing I do. To start with, only the front seats have seatbelts. The backseat might have the shoulder strap and be missing the buckle, have the buckle and be missing the strap, or have neither part. Cars drive very fast here. Stop signs (a red octagon with the word "para") don't actually mean stop to any true Ecuadorian. Instead, you honk your horn twice. If no one honks back, then you assume it is safe to drive right through the stop sign without slowing down. If someone does honk back, then you slow down a little, but not very much. And if you can see around the stop sign without slowing down, then you don't need to honk at all.
2) Food.
Food is amazing, and there is a LOT of it. There are more kinds of fruit and vegetables than I have ever seen in my life, including at least 5 different types of bananas, not counting plantains, and at least ten different types of corn. For breakfast I usually have a bowl of cut up fruit with yogurt and granola, or a smoothie-like drink and a grilled cheese sandwich. Recently they've also been serving me french toast. Lunch is the big meal of the day, and usually consists of two courses, a soup, and then something else with meat. My family is a little less traditional than some, which only means that we don't eat rice with every meal, only with about half of them. My family constantly asks me whether I like the food, and if I want more. One day, they asked if I liked avocados, and when I said I loved them, lunch the next day included 1 and a half avocados PER PERSON, as well as a potato soup, salad, and shrimp. How little I eat has become a joke to them, and they didn't believe me when I said I eat more then my mom and sister at home. Luckily dinner is not a huge meal because I am generally still full from lunch. We all have tea or coffee or hot chocolate (they looked at me like I was an alien one night when I said I just wanted water, so I have learned to always ask for tea when I'm full) and then a bread roll, and maybe a piece of cheese.
Today for breakfast, my host parents took me for a special treat--chancho, or ordenado. In English: pig. We drove for about ten minutes and then stopped outside a restaurant with a table/kitchen area right on the sidewalk, and then a bunch of tables for guests inside. On the table of the kitchen area were three fried pigs. I mean whole pigs, with heads and feet still attached. In making up our plates, the chef merely sliced some pig off and put it on the plate, along with potatoes, corn, and half an avocado. The fried pig skin is especially a deliacy, although one I saved for last, and then said I was full after a few bites.
3) Computer Keyboards
Are different here. I have finally figured out how to do apostrophes, parentheses, quotation marks, and question marks, but I still can't figure out the at sign. Every time I want to log on to my email, I have to find an at sign somewhere else, and then copy and paste it in. I also can't figure out how to put accents on letters, although it must be fairly easy since Spanish words need accents all the time.
4) Buses
Buses here are insane, but incredibly useful. Most of them cost between 15 and 25 cents. If it's going to be a long ride (over half an hour), it might cost up to $1.25. Though there are a few defined bus stops, they don't really mean anything. If you want to get on a bus that's passing by, you stick out your hand and wave at the driver. When you want to get off, you ask the driver to stop. The second the last person steps on or off the bus, it lurches away, which means I'm frequently lunging for the nearest handrail so I don't fall over.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The First Week
I've been here for a week now and it's incredible. The first full day, we ate breakfast at a cafe nearby the hotel in Quito, then took a bus to San Antonio, a town about 30 minutes away, famous because the equator runs through the town. We stayed at a place called Rancho Alegre, and had classroom sessions during the day followed by some activity at night. The first night was a salsa dancing lession. I am horrible, but it was still fun. The second night we watched a movie about two women traveling around Ecuador. The third night we listened to a performance of music native to the Andes that was absolutely incredible. Each member of the band played three or four different instuments, and between each song they all switched which instrument they were on. One of the musician's girlfriend was there, and she had us get up and try to follow the dance moves she was doing, but I didn't even come close to getting it. Each afternoon, we had some time to explore the town. About a 30 minute walk from our hotel was a park and a huge monument marking the line that people used to think was the equator. The equator is actually about 200 meteres away and runs through an ancient site used by the local indigenous people (who did know it was the equator and oriented the site accordingly), but when the Europeans came and tried to measure the equator, they got it slightly wrong.
Eating is a big deal here. Every day, they served us food five times. Breakfast, followed by a snack, then lunch followed by a snack, then dinner. Everything was delicious. There's rice at every meal, along with a lot of soup and tons of different kinds of juices. My favorite juice so far is one made from blackberries. The fruit is incredible.
The fourth day (Thursday), we did what our academic directors Leonore and Fabian call a drop off. In groups of three, we were given the name of a town, and we had to figure out how to get there by bus, and then get back to the hotel we stayed in the first night in Quito. In the town, we were suppose to eat lunch, buy an ice cream, and talk to the locals about the towns history. My group went to Nanegalito, a tiny town on the edge of the cloud forest. The bus ride was the best part. The road winds constantly downward through the mountains, with a sharp drop on one or both sides of the road at all times. It was a little scary, but an incredible experience. Thursday night we went out to a club in Quito. We got a lot of looks. Apparently a group of fourteen gringos all dancing together in one club is a phenomenon.
Friday afternoon, we began our homestays. My family has four people, the two parents (Vladi and Elsita), a nineteen year old son named Felipe, and a 22 year old daughter named Ana Belen. The first night, Ana Belen took me to a friend's house with her, where another girl on my program is staying. There were tons of people there, and they built a campfire in a backyard, and we all sat around it for hours. After breakfast on Saturday, my host parents took me grocery shopping with them. The grocery store is a huge supermarket called Megamaxi, and it's located inside a shopping mall (apparently most supermarkets are). There were tons of fruits and vegetables I had never seen, and everything was so cheap compared to in the US. Then we got ice cream (they eat a TON of ice cream here, you see signs for it on every street corner, and it's incredible), and returned to the house for lunch.
Today, my host father took me on a hike up Ilalo, the volcano that towers over the town. Los Chillos, where we're staying, is a suburb of Quito about 45 minutes outside the city, but it feels completely different. Los Chillos is at about 8000 feet and the top of Ilalo is at about 9500. The path is incredibly steep, and I had to stop and rest every ten minutes or so, because it was so difficult to breathe. The views, however, were amazing. From the top, you can see all of Los Chillos, and a fair amount of Quito. I have pictures which I'll post when I have a chance to upload them from my camera. Along the entire route, random cows grazed, and there were also a number of cultivated fields, mostly growing corn. The people who own them climb the mountain once or twice a day to tend to their crops. We even saw one woman who was climbing it barefoot.
On the way down, it was so steep that the entire thing was a kind of run/walk, with a chance to slow down only every ten meters or so. The fact I fell over once, and my host father fell over twice. Every time one of us fell, he would say "es normal." After the hike, he took me to drink coconut milk (they just wack off the top and put a straw in it), and I also tried a juice made purely from cane sugar that is the sweetest thing I have ever eaten.
Classes start tomorrow morning at 8am, which is when we find out what Spanish level we're in. So far my Spanish has been better than I thought. My host family keeps saying I speak really well, since their previous student apparently was pretty awful, but I still have a long ways to go.
Eating is a big deal here. Every day, they served us food five times. Breakfast, followed by a snack, then lunch followed by a snack, then dinner. Everything was delicious. There's rice at every meal, along with a lot of soup and tons of different kinds of juices. My favorite juice so far is one made from blackberries. The fruit is incredible.
The fourth day (Thursday), we did what our academic directors Leonore and Fabian call a drop off. In groups of three, we were given the name of a town, and we had to figure out how to get there by bus, and then get back to the hotel we stayed in the first night in Quito. In the town, we were suppose to eat lunch, buy an ice cream, and talk to the locals about the towns history. My group went to Nanegalito, a tiny town on the edge of the cloud forest. The bus ride was the best part. The road winds constantly downward through the mountains, with a sharp drop on one or both sides of the road at all times. It was a little scary, but an incredible experience. Thursday night we went out to a club in Quito. We got a lot of looks. Apparently a group of fourteen gringos all dancing together in one club is a phenomenon.
Friday afternoon, we began our homestays. My family has four people, the two parents (Vladi and Elsita), a nineteen year old son named Felipe, and a 22 year old daughter named Ana Belen. The first night, Ana Belen took me to a friend's house with her, where another girl on my program is staying. There were tons of people there, and they built a campfire in a backyard, and we all sat around it for hours. After breakfast on Saturday, my host parents took me grocery shopping with them. The grocery store is a huge supermarket called Megamaxi, and it's located inside a shopping mall (apparently most supermarkets are). There were tons of fruits and vegetables I had never seen, and everything was so cheap compared to in the US. Then we got ice cream (they eat a TON of ice cream here, you see signs for it on every street corner, and it's incredible), and returned to the house for lunch.
Today, my host father took me on a hike up Ilalo, the volcano that towers over the town. Los Chillos, where we're staying, is a suburb of Quito about 45 minutes outside the city, but it feels completely different. Los Chillos is at about 8000 feet and the top of Ilalo is at about 9500. The path is incredibly steep, and I had to stop and rest every ten minutes or so, because it was so difficult to breathe. The views, however, were amazing. From the top, you can see all of Los Chillos, and a fair amount of Quito. I have pictures which I'll post when I have a chance to upload them from my camera. Along the entire route, random cows grazed, and there were also a number of cultivated fields, mostly growing corn. The people who own them climb the mountain once or twice a day to tend to their crops. We even saw one woman who was climbing it barefoot.
On the way down, it was so steep that the entire thing was a kind of run/walk, with a chance to slow down only every ten meters or so. The fact I fell over once, and my host father fell over twice. Every time one of us fell, he would say "es normal." After the hike, he took me to drink coconut milk (they just wack off the top and put a straw in it), and I also tried a juice made purely from cane sugar that is the sweetest thing I have ever eaten.
Classes start tomorrow morning at 8am, which is when we find out what Spanish level we're in. So far my Spanish has been better than I thought. My host family keeps saying I speak really well, since their previous student apparently was pretty awful, but I still have a long ways to go.
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