Killing Time

Saturday, I made the 2+ hour journey by taxi to Otavalo. I normally would´ve taken the bus, but the school paid for the taxi, which incidentally wasn´t much more comfortable with 5 people crammed into a Kia. What model, you ask? It´s a Kia! Do you have to ask?

Almost immediately, the elderly gentleman in the backseat with me asked me where I was from and after my standard reply, ¨Los Estados Unidos,¨ he asked the standard next question, ¨¿Que estado?¨ I told him Connecticut and he said he used to live there. Of course, this was a joke. I usually have to tell people it´s near New York before I get any sign of recognition. And it seems that because I don´t always speak the language well, OK, never speak the language well, the people here like to joke with me. So I thought it was a joke until he said he lived in Trumbull. How could someone in Ecuador know the city of Trumbull unless he had lived there? As it turns out he went to school at Yale. Just another one of the coincidences and strange happenings here.

My mother greeted me at the door with a smile and chipper, ¨¿Como estás?¨ which to most of you will mean nothing other than how are you. To me, it not only was the question how I was doing, but it also signaled to me that the use of ¨tú¨ is common here; the people of Costa Rica rarely use the informal ¨tú¨ instead opting for the formal ¨usted¨ even among families. I already have to think before I speak, now it seems I have to think even harder or simply resort to usted.

I settled into a very comfortable room, which includes a bedroom and a sitting room with a table and chairs where I was told I could do my homework. (Thanks, Mom!) Of course, my mother is again younger than me. While she prepared lunch, Romina and her cousin Camila, who is five, introduced themselves to me by plopping on my bed and promptly taking dozens of photos with my camera. I taught Romina a game that my mom plays with my niece. One of them will write a number and the other has to draw something using the number. I am a terrible artist and don´t know why I even suggested the game; Romina was frustrated quickly, saying she couldn´t draw. Despite my encouragement, we abandoned this game quickly. It´s been a long time since I´ve had to entertain a six-year-old, and I was honestly hoping that the novelty that was me would wear off soon. (It both has and hasn´t.) Since this time, I´ve discovered that if I leave my backpack open, her fingers will wander. See exhibit A in the facebook photos where she is wearing my snorkel and mask! But she does keep us entertained, even if I can´t always understand her.

Shortly after lunch I decided to at least browse the huge market here. Though I knew I would have two more Saturdays, I always like to walk around on day one to get a feel for my new environment. Within a few moments I had stopped at a booth selling movies. I discovered in Costa Rica exactly how cheap you can buy movies and I was really wanting to buy some. I settled on Angels and Demons, Taken, and a collection of movies on one CD all starring somebody or other who I can´t remember right now--grand total $3. The movies always have subtitles so it´s either English audio with Spanish subtitles or Spanish audio with English subtitles. Angels and Demons was English audio with Spanish subtitles, which is great for helping me to learn the structure of sentences. I also wished it had Spanish audio with English subtitles, but no luck.

Monday I began my Spanish classes and discovered I would be studying not in a group, but alone. If not for the additional cost, I wouldn´t mind. In three days, it´s been mostly conversation, which while I know I need it, is also a little frustrating because I know there are other grammatical issues I haven´t learned that I want to. My teacher finally explained to me today that she wants to review with me to have things set in my mind before we move on to the next verb tense, which I mentioned the first day I wanted to work on. As with my last teacher, I understand most of what she says, and I am able to stumble through my version of stories and events in my life. At times I try to talk around words I don´t know (taking the long way around, so to speak), but I realize that I´m probably better off looking up the word when I´m with her since she doesn´t care. It´s a little more difficult when you´re lying in bed with your boyfriend talking in the dark without access to a dictionary, in which case I have to take the long way around. So I´m going to commit myself to looking up the verbs for the next 7 school days rather than talking around words I don´t know.

Yesterday my mother invited me to go with her and her daughter to Cotocachi, not for any specific reason I think other than just to give me something to do and show me another place. I spent about 20 minutes in a cultural museum (it´s not that I was uninterested, it´s just that small) and then joined them in the park. We spent a little time walking around the streets and went into a couple of shops. Leather is a popular item made there, so there were many stores selling very reasonably priced leather goods. I think I saw at least a dozen leather jackets I would´ve been happy to walk away with. After browsing one store, my mother asked if I wanted to go in another. I had to tell her these stores are dangerous for me because I want to buy but can´t. I managed to escape Cotocachi without buying anything other than my $1 museum admission and the 50 cent roundtrip bus fare.

Today I spent some time after lunch walking around looking for a bookstore in which to exchange a book, but I don´t think this town has any. Reading doesn´t seem to be a popular activity down here. And I spent some time enjoying the sun in the park. I have to enjoy the heat of the day because the evenings are quite cold. (In fact, when I return to the house in a few moments, I´ll have to take a cool shower, which I am definitely not looking forward to.) And then I´ve been sitting in the Internet cafe watching my newly purchased The Time Traveler´s Wife, which I found to be better than I expected.

The food here is quite different from my food in Costa Rica. In fact, I´ve only had rice three times and no beans to speak of. Viviana, my mother, was surprised that I actually ate rice and beans for breakfast every morning. Here I receive lots of fruits (mangos, plantains, papayas, strawberries) and most every meal is accompanied by a batido (milkshake), which while not quite as rich in the states, still makes me say, ¡Que rico! (how rich!). The food is usually a mix of meat (often chicken) and vegetables, including white corn, which is very big and quite tasty. Today was pasta with ground beef and vegetables that I absolutely devoured. And both yesterday and today the main course was preceded by a soup. In fact, yesterday it was three courses: soup, main dish, and dessert. I didn´t like the dessert, however, which was a traditional fruit (higo) marinated in honey. It remains the only thing I haven´t eaten that she has put in front of me. Of course, I did mention on day one that I don´t like salad.

Another difference here is the difference in the people. There are both indigenous people and mestizos (non-indigenous). The indigenous look very much like the Native Americans in the States and still wear the traditional clothing. When I asked my teacher about discrimination, she said that there really isn´t any today, though that wasn´t true 15 or 20 years ago. The people seem to mix fairly well here.

So I´ve settled into my home. I´ll be here until Sunday the 13th. My life here is about as tranquil as it was in Costa Rica with few obligations and not a lot to do.While in CR, I bought a book in Spanish with various stories and articles, and I´m slowly working my way through it with a dictionary by its side. And I´m also reading quite a bit in English to pass the time. Saturday I plan to attend the market with Viviana because I want to see how she shops. She usually makes two trips to buy food, and you can buy everything from fresh meat to grains to fruits and vegetables.

In many ways life here is similar and in many ways it is different, and though I´ve settled in and feel comfortable here, I can´t help missing the people I left behind in Costa Rica. I´d really like to watch a few games of pool in Silencio and then kick back in the albergue with a Smirnoff. However, I´ve been told here as I was told in CR, ¨Disfruta el presente.¨ Enjoy the present. I´m trying to do just that because I realize that regardless of whether I´m in Ecuador or Costa Rica, I´m pretty lucky.