Well, it´s not exactly ¨home,¨ but it feels somewhat like that just being in Costa Rica. My morning yesterday began at 4:30 when I awoke to cram the last few things in my backpack. Yes, I made it all fit, and it weighed in at about 39 pounds at the airport. Once again I was questioned about my lack of flight leaving Costa Rica, but I assured them I would be taking a bus in March to visit a friend in Panama--only a half-lie as I will indeed go to Panama, just not to visit a friend. My first flight landed me in Panama City and was immediately greeted with a Dunkin Donuts, which I happily purchased and slurped down. My second flight landed me in San Jose where I was happy to have my yellow fever vaccine and promptly caught a taxi. Oh, and immigration once again didn´t care that I didn´t have an exit flight. I had originally inquired about the buses to Montezuma and Santa Cruz, but the taxi driver shared with me it would be faster to go to Puntarenas and catch the ferry. Alrighty then.
The bus to Puntarenas was boarding when I arrived and I snagged one of the last few seats for the 2.5 hour ride. Once in Puntarenas I inquired about the ferry and I thought I heard it was 200 meters, so I set out walking. 200 meters later I asked again and heard 2 kilometers. Yep, that warranted a taxi. I grabbed a lunch to go and hopped in line for the ferry, and that´s when I had my moment of what was I thinking because it felt like the sun was searing my skin and I hadn´t worn sunscreen. But the feeling subsided when I thought about how cold the nights were in Ecuador. The ferry was an easy 1.5 hour ride and immediately upon embarking I hopped in a bus for Montezuma.
By bus I mean school bus with a creaky back door that seemed like it might fall open at any time and brakes that had to have been worn out two years ago. It was a 1.5 hour ride and we arrived at nightfall. I had tried to ignore discussions on the bus of sold out hostels and hotels, knowing full well that there are plenty of places to stay NOT in the Lonely Planet guidebook. Nonetheless, I was one of the first out of the bus and set about finding a room. I was successful on my second try and didn´t even bother saying I wanted to look at other places first. Which leaves me with a room without a fan or A-C. A-C I didn´t expect, a fan I did, considering it doesn´t cool down much at night. I do, however, have windows, which while providing a bit of ventilation, also provide lots of noise from the steps that are adjacent to them and lead to the upstairs rooms. Oh, well. It may only be for a few days.
I spent most of the day on the beach soaking up sun, reading, and eating in a beachside restaurant for lunch, oh, and missing my beach buddies from the summer--Jen, Jessica, Julie, and Em. Just the kind of lazy day I needed after a 13-hour commute yesterday. I also booked a diving tour for tomorrow. I had slightly more money in the bank account than I thought, so I decided I should treat myself. It was also interesting because I booked with a company that actually runs a volunteer program as well. I want to find out more about volunteering to teach English because that could give me something to do if I choose to stay here for a couple of weeks. And it was interesting because the co-owner, a Tico, actually asked the other co-owner, a US girl, if I was a Tica. Apparently my Spanish had convinced him I was a local girl. I think my dark tanned skin helped lend credence to that thought.
I haven´t decided yet when I will leave here. I´ve thought maybe Tuesday. I´ve thought maybe Wednesday. Unless I volunteer in which case I could stay here til the 8th. If I choose to leave, though, I´ll probably head to Dominical for its famous beach and then maybe back to Manuel Antonio for its beach. What better way to start the new year.
But the strangest part of my day happened just a few minutes ago. As I was opening up a new Internet window to start this blog, I heard a voice speaking with a German accent that I thought I recognized. I turned to my left, and two chairs down was Leoni, a volunteer I know from Silencio. She was as shocked as I was, and we turned a few heads when we exclaimed OMG and stood up to hug. She and her friend are only here for one more day, but nonetheless, I don´t have to eat alone tonight.
Yep, there´s no place like home . . .
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Craziness
Much craziness since the last post, which I just realized was 10 days ago. First, after getting an iffy response from the project here in Ecuador about whether or not they would have space for me, I decided to find out if I could change my flight. Turns out there´s no penalty and the flight didn´t cost anymore to fly tomorrow, so I decided I would rather return to Costa Rica where I can count on warm weather 24 hours a day rather than just 6 or 7. I leave in the morning on a 7 a.m. flight. Still waiting on a response from the turtle project in Costa Rica to see if I can go there. If not, I´m going to hang out on the beach in Montezuma for about 12 days. Not a bad way to pass the new year.
Wendy arrived in Quito Thursday night, the 17th, with many gifts in hand. My family surprised me with a Christmas card that they had all signed. Considering they live in four different towns and three different states, this was a remarkable feat for them that took some definite planning. And my grandmother was insistent that Wendy bring me some chocolate and peanut butter fudge because she knows it´s my favorite. Emily sent me more CDs than I had even asked her for, and I can´t wait to listen to them, and she sent me two packages of the blessed Tim Tams (one of which we consumed with Viviana and her family, doing the Tim Tam Slam!). I´m sending up a thank you right now to Pepperidge Farms for deciding to manufacture them again, and to Em for knowing that I´d want them. And then Wendy brought me my favorite toothpaste I had asked for as well as the lotion I wanted.
We hit the ground running on the morning of the 18th with a 2-hour taxi ride to Otavalo. We checked in with Viviana and my school and then headed for lunch followed by a trip to El Parque de Cóndors where they have different types of birds. There is a trail leading from the park to the Peguche waterfall where I had been the week before, so we had decided to do that. I asked Viviana and her sister if it was easy to find and they said yes; what they didn´t tell me is that the trail itself wasn´t easy--quite steep actually, nor that at times we might be completely and utterly confused about which trail to follow. Since there are lots of locals that live in and around there, there are lots of little worn paths that may or may not be the trail to the waterfall, and this isn´t a national park with abundant signage. In fact, there was no signage. We crept down the dusty, slippery trail and finally arrived a little after 5, at the same time the rain chose to arrive. A few quick pics and then we headed back the good trail and promptly became drenched. We had no luck trying to call a taxi when we reached the trail head, but only had to wait a few more minutes for a bus. Otavalo, of course, was completely dry, and when we walked into the kitchen, Viviana asked if we had swam in the waterfall. It sort of looked that way, but it had been much too cold for that.
Saturday dawned cold and rainy; in fact, our clothes were wetter that morning than when we had taken them off the day before. We passed time eating, using the Internet cafe, and occasionally walking around town in the market, though it was a sad, sad market day with the rain. Lots of vendors were absent.
Sunday´s weather was much improved and we headed up to Lake Cuicoche, where I had been the week before. We did the boat trip, and I´m glad it only cost $2.50 because it was worth even less than that. It´s one of those tourist traps that I usually try to avoid, and I can´t say that the chilly ride was worth it, especially given that the commentary was in Spanish. I understood only some of it.
That afternoon we quickly hailed a bus back to Quito in the street. It barely even stopped long enough for us to board. I threw my small backpack in the overhead compartment, thinking at the time it was a bad idea because my memory is crap, but without much choice since I already had another small backpack in my lap. Of course, when we arrived in Quito, I promptly disembarked and hopped in a cab. Only when we arrived at the hostel 45 minutes later and I looked for my bag did I realize where it was--in the overhead compartment on the bus. A few minutes later we were headed back to the terminal. The guys there were really nice and tried to be helpful, but given that we had hailed the bus in the street, we didn´t have tickets, so I knew neither the bus number nor the bus company, making it impossible to determine which bus had my bag. I was informed that since I was the last one off the bus, likely the ticket taker on the bus had taken it as there is ¨mucho corrupcion.¨ I don´t think you need a Spanish dictionary to translate that phrase!
Monday morning I hopped up bright and early because I wanted to elicit Franklin´s help with calling the two bus companies I thought might possibly have my bag. He didn´t answer his phone, and trying to find phone numbers for the companies proved equally impossible. I made the decision then to accept what I had lost and begin to replace what I could. Of course, every few hours I would realize something else I had forgotten was in the bag. In fact, just this morning, I realized I had lost a pair of shorts I didn´t know I had lost. I feel like two months from now I´ll still be thinking of things I had crammed in that bag. Here´s the tally on what I lost and what I´ve replaced (as far as my brain can remember at this very moment):
Of course, I´ll never get back the hours upon hours that I spent shopping for these things in Quito. Fortunately Monday night, Franklin was a big help (since all I had managed to replace at that point was soap, saline solution and a razor--the shampoo I bought was actually conditioner!). He´s not one of those guys who doesn´t like asking for help. You need tampons? Oh, let me ask the saleslady what aisle those are in!
Monday, I took a break from shopping for Wendy and I to visit the equator. I knew that there was both a real one and a fake one, the fake one being much more publicized. What I didn´t realize was that that fake one is literally a waste of $2. You can´t even go up in the monument as that´s another $3. After a brief, very brief stay there, we walked to the real one. We received a tour in English that included information about the indigenous tribes, the Amazon jungle, and then experiments on the equator. We learned that on the two equinoxes for three minutes at noon, a person has absolutely no shadow. And we watched as she drained water from a sink on the equator (no whirlpool--it drains absolutely straight down), and in both hemispheres where it circles in opposite directions. I tried to balance an egg on the head of nail, which is supposedly much easier to do on the equator, but I was unsuccessful and didn´t earn a certificate. Then again, nobody else in my group did either! Bunch of slackers!
Tuesday morning Wendy and I headed to Baños for two nights, taking a 40-minute cab ride and then a 3-hour bus. I´ve almost become immune to the scenery as I had no problem closing my eyes and trying to sleep the whole way. Once in Baños I realized my tennis shoes were among the items I had purposefully left in Quito to save weight in my backpack, but that that left me with only flip flops, not exactly ideal footwear for any of the activities we might want to undertake. So I had to do more shopping. No, ladies, this was not fun shopping. I finally found a pair of flats for $14 with rubber bottoms that I would be able to wear again and that would suffice.
With that task accomplished, we set out to book activities. We decided that night would be a trip to the hot springs, Wed morning would be horseback riding, Wed afternoon would be massages, Wed night would be a trip to the volcano, and Thurs morning would be the waterfall route in a go kart.
The hot springs left a little to be desired as it felt somewhat like a Turkish bath (as if I´ve ever been to one of those). There was just something a little creepy about murky water at night with lots of people I don´t know. We stayed about an hour until we were sweating and headed back to the really nice hostel for $9.50 a night. (They don´t know what hostels are in this country as many of them have private rooms and even private baths.)
The horseback riding Wed morning was fun, although we were both glad it ended early since our legs had had enough. We walked, we trotted, and we even galloped at times, and I talked as much as I could with our guide in Spanish who was wonderful. The scenery was gorgeous, and at one point we got to see the ruins of a house that had been destroyed by the volcano just three years ago. I hadn´t realized the volcano was still active. He did tell us, however, not to bother with the tour that night as the clouds would obscure the view, making it a waste of time. Fine by me, I already had blisters on my heels from the wonderful new pair of flats I had purchased.
Our afternoon massage was warranted after that horseback ride and only set us back $20 each. A small price to pay for an hour´s worth of luxury. That night we had planned to sit up on the rooftop terrace, but I found I was just as content relaxed in my bed with a book, and we opted to stay in instead.
Thursday morning we hopped into a go kart for a tour of the waterfalls, map in hand. We should´ve seen six waterfalls. We managed to see two on the way there, and one on the way back. We´re not sure where they´re hiding the other three. It was quite interesting that we shared the road with regular traffic, despite the fact that we couldn´t have been going more than 30 mph, including heading through mountain tunnels. At one point we stopped to take a cable car across the canyon and back, a quick little trip but well worth the time and the $1 for the views and photos. Not to mention the little flutter in the heart it will give my mom when she sees the photos! (Love you, Mom!)
We arrived back in Quito at the bus station, which is about a 45-minute cab ride from town, and tried to contact our cab driver, who told me he was stuck in traffic. A second phone call to him elicited an I´m sorry, please hire someone else because I can´t get there. Our ride back was eventful to say the least. Traffic on Christmas Eve here was crazy and in intersections where there are no stoplights, it´s literally a free for all. You simply creep into the intersection and worm your way through. At one point, traffic was stuck because of the angles of the cars (we´re talking four lanes of traffic in both directions), and the guy we were blocking wasn´t happy, making our cab driver exit the vehicle and approach his to yell in Spanish something like, What the hell am I supposed to do? I really wanted a birds eye photo of that intersection because I haven´t seen anything like it in my life. At another point we were riding in the part of the street designated for the trolley in order to pass a line of cars; you know you might need to be a little worried when your cab driver buckles his seatbelt. But we were thankful to have an aggressive driver or we would´ve been even later in arriving back to the hostel.
This morning we headed to old Quito to see the historic buildings. We were not prepared for the Christmas traffic. Apparently people here don´t stay home on Christmas morning as they´re all out shopping. After my jackpot at the used clothing store, which was probably the third store we entered, it was a lot of walking around, looking at things and not buying, and trying to avoid being knocked off the sidewalk. We finally extricated ourselves after a little over two hours.
Tonight we´ll have dinner one last time with my friend Franklin and then I´ll see how much stuff I can cram into the remaining space in the backpack. I think most of it will go, and what won´t will go into a plastic sack for me to have as a carry on. What can I say, I travel in style!
Costa Rica, here I come!
Wendy arrived in Quito Thursday night, the 17th, with many gifts in hand. My family surprised me with a Christmas card that they had all signed. Considering they live in four different towns and three different states, this was a remarkable feat for them that took some definite planning. And my grandmother was insistent that Wendy bring me some chocolate and peanut butter fudge because she knows it´s my favorite. Emily sent me more CDs than I had even asked her for, and I can´t wait to listen to them, and she sent me two packages of the blessed Tim Tams (one of which we consumed with Viviana and her family, doing the Tim Tam Slam!). I´m sending up a thank you right now to Pepperidge Farms for deciding to manufacture them again, and to Em for knowing that I´d want them. And then Wendy brought me my favorite toothpaste I had asked for as well as the lotion I wanted.
We hit the ground running on the morning of the 18th with a 2-hour taxi ride to Otavalo. We checked in with Viviana and my school and then headed for lunch followed by a trip to El Parque de Cóndors where they have different types of birds. There is a trail leading from the park to the Peguche waterfall where I had been the week before, so we had decided to do that. I asked Viviana and her sister if it was easy to find and they said yes; what they didn´t tell me is that the trail itself wasn´t easy--quite steep actually, nor that at times we might be completely and utterly confused about which trail to follow. Since there are lots of locals that live in and around there, there are lots of little worn paths that may or may not be the trail to the waterfall, and this isn´t a national park with abundant signage. In fact, there was no signage. We crept down the dusty, slippery trail and finally arrived a little after 5, at the same time the rain chose to arrive. A few quick pics and then we headed back the good trail and promptly became drenched. We had no luck trying to call a taxi when we reached the trail head, but only had to wait a few more minutes for a bus. Otavalo, of course, was completely dry, and when we walked into the kitchen, Viviana asked if we had swam in the waterfall. It sort of looked that way, but it had been much too cold for that.
Saturday dawned cold and rainy; in fact, our clothes were wetter that morning than when we had taken them off the day before. We passed time eating, using the Internet cafe, and occasionally walking around town in the market, though it was a sad, sad market day with the rain. Lots of vendors were absent.
Sunday´s weather was much improved and we headed up to Lake Cuicoche, where I had been the week before. We did the boat trip, and I´m glad it only cost $2.50 because it was worth even less than that. It´s one of those tourist traps that I usually try to avoid, and I can´t say that the chilly ride was worth it, especially given that the commentary was in Spanish. I understood only some of it.
That afternoon we quickly hailed a bus back to Quito in the street. It barely even stopped long enough for us to board. I threw my small backpack in the overhead compartment, thinking at the time it was a bad idea because my memory is crap, but without much choice since I already had another small backpack in my lap. Of course, when we arrived in Quito, I promptly disembarked and hopped in a cab. Only when we arrived at the hostel 45 minutes later and I looked for my bag did I realize where it was--in the overhead compartment on the bus. A few minutes later we were headed back to the terminal. The guys there were really nice and tried to be helpful, but given that we had hailed the bus in the street, we didn´t have tickets, so I knew neither the bus number nor the bus company, making it impossible to determine which bus had my bag. I was informed that since I was the last one off the bus, likely the ticket taker on the bus had taken it as there is ¨mucho corrupcion.¨ I don´t think you need a Spanish dictionary to translate that phrase!
Monday morning I hopped up bright and early because I wanted to elicit Franklin´s help with calling the two bus companies I thought might possibly have my bag. He didn´t answer his phone, and trying to find phone numbers for the companies proved equally impossible. I made the decision then to accept what I had lost and begin to replace what I could. Of course, every few hours I would realize something else I had forgotten was in the bag. In fact, just this morning, I realized I had lost a pair of shorts I didn´t know I had lost. I feel like two months from now I´ll still be thinking of things I had crammed in that bag. Here´s the tally on what I lost and what I´ve replaced (as far as my brain can remember at this very moment):
- charger for Zune and electronic book (ordered replacements, will have soon)
- camera battery charger and USB cable (ordered replacements, will have soon)
- dental retainers (my dentist had replacements already, and I´ll have these soon)
- glasses (won´t replace, too expensive)
- 3 pairs of disposable contact lenses (fortunately I have three more pair and if I don´t lose any, I can make these last until June)
- toiletries (replaced)
- two tank tops (replaced)
- two pairs of shorts (replaced at used clothing store today)
- camping towel and washcloth (replaced)
- flashlight (replaced)
- underwear (replaced)
- pair of camping pants (replaced with a skirt at a used clothing store today)
- $100--I think (Terri graciously donated $100, so I guess this has been replaced)
- backpack itself (not replacing; stuff just has to fit in less space)
- jump drive (not replacing; fortunately most everything important I had emailed to myself anyway)
- Keen sandals (not replacing as the cost to replace here is $117; I have a pair of Tevas at my family´s house in Costa Rica)
Of course, I´ll never get back the hours upon hours that I spent shopping for these things in Quito. Fortunately Monday night, Franklin was a big help (since all I had managed to replace at that point was soap, saline solution and a razor--the shampoo I bought was actually conditioner!). He´s not one of those guys who doesn´t like asking for help. You need tampons? Oh, let me ask the saleslady what aisle those are in!
Monday, I took a break from shopping for Wendy and I to visit the equator. I knew that there was both a real one and a fake one, the fake one being much more publicized. What I didn´t realize was that that fake one is literally a waste of $2. You can´t even go up in the monument as that´s another $3. After a brief, very brief stay there, we walked to the real one. We received a tour in English that included information about the indigenous tribes, the Amazon jungle, and then experiments on the equator. We learned that on the two equinoxes for three minutes at noon, a person has absolutely no shadow. And we watched as she drained water from a sink on the equator (no whirlpool--it drains absolutely straight down), and in both hemispheres where it circles in opposite directions. I tried to balance an egg on the head of nail, which is supposedly much easier to do on the equator, but I was unsuccessful and didn´t earn a certificate. Then again, nobody else in my group did either! Bunch of slackers!
Tuesday morning Wendy and I headed to Baños for two nights, taking a 40-minute cab ride and then a 3-hour bus. I´ve almost become immune to the scenery as I had no problem closing my eyes and trying to sleep the whole way. Once in Baños I realized my tennis shoes were among the items I had purposefully left in Quito to save weight in my backpack, but that that left me with only flip flops, not exactly ideal footwear for any of the activities we might want to undertake. So I had to do more shopping. No, ladies, this was not fun shopping. I finally found a pair of flats for $14 with rubber bottoms that I would be able to wear again and that would suffice.
With that task accomplished, we set out to book activities. We decided that night would be a trip to the hot springs, Wed morning would be horseback riding, Wed afternoon would be massages, Wed night would be a trip to the volcano, and Thurs morning would be the waterfall route in a go kart.
The hot springs left a little to be desired as it felt somewhat like a Turkish bath (as if I´ve ever been to one of those). There was just something a little creepy about murky water at night with lots of people I don´t know. We stayed about an hour until we were sweating and headed back to the really nice hostel for $9.50 a night. (They don´t know what hostels are in this country as many of them have private rooms and even private baths.)
The horseback riding Wed morning was fun, although we were both glad it ended early since our legs had had enough. We walked, we trotted, and we even galloped at times, and I talked as much as I could with our guide in Spanish who was wonderful. The scenery was gorgeous, and at one point we got to see the ruins of a house that had been destroyed by the volcano just three years ago. I hadn´t realized the volcano was still active. He did tell us, however, not to bother with the tour that night as the clouds would obscure the view, making it a waste of time. Fine by me, I already had blisters on my heels from the wonderful new pair of flats I had purchased.
Our afternoon massage was warranted after that horseback ride and only set us back $20 each. A small price to pay for an hour´s worth of luxury. That night we had planned to sit up on the rooftop terrace, but I found I was just as content relaxed in my bed with a book, and we opted to stay in instead.
Thursday morning we hopped into a go kart for a tour of the waterfalls, map in hand. We should´ve seen six waterfalls. We managed to see two on the way there, and one on the way back. We´re not sure where they´re hiding the other three. It was quite interesting that we shared the road with regular traffic, despite the fact that we couldn´t have been going more than 30 mph, including heading through mountain tunnels. At one point we stopped to take a cable car across the canyon and back, a quick little trip but well worth the time and the $1 for the views and photos. Not to mention the little flutter in the heart it will give my mom when she sees the photos! (Love you, Mom!)
We arrived back in Quito at the bus station, which is about a 45-minute cab ride from town, and tried to contact our cab driver, who told me he was stuck in traffic. A second phone call to him elicited an I´m sorry, please hire someone else because I can´t get there. Our ride back was eventful to say the least. Traffic on Christmas Eve here was crazy and in intersections where there are no stoplights, it´s literally a free for all. You simply creep into the intersection and worm your way through. At one point, traffic was stuck because of the angles of the cars (we´re talking four lanes of traffic in both directions), and the guy we were blocking wasn´t happy, making our cab driver exit the vehicle and approach his to yell in Spanish something like, What the hell am I supposed to do? I really wanted a birds eye photo of that intersection because I haven´t seen anything like it in my life. At another point we were riding in the part of the street designated for the trolley in order to pass a line of cars; you know you might need to be a little worried when your cab driver buckles his seatbelt. But we were thankful to have an aggressive driver or we would´ve been even later in arriving back to the hostel.
This morning we headed to old Quito to see the historic buildings. We were not prepared for the Christmas traffic. Apparently people here don´t stay home on Christmas morning as they´re all out shopping. After my jackpot at the used clothing store, which was probably the third store we entered, it was a lot of walking around, looking at things and not buying, and trying to avoid being knocked off the sidewalk. We finally extricated ourselves after a little over two hours.
Tonight we´ll have dinner one last time with my friend Franklin and then I´ll see how much stuff I can cram into the remaining space in the backpack. I think most of it will go, and what won´t will go into a plastic sack for me to have as a carry on. What can I say, I travel in style!
Costa Rica, here I come!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Passing the Days in Relaxation Mode
My days in Otavalo are past (well, sort of). One day, Viviana and Romina accompanied Suse and me (or maybe it was the other way around) to Lake Cuicocha. It´s a beautiful place, and if I´d had the time, I would´ve love to have walked the circumference of the lake despite the fact that it´s a very difficult 4-5 hour trek. Instead, we spent about an hour there and then went to Cotocachi where we had a wonderful Ecuadorian lunch. You can purchase an ¨almuerzo¨ for $4.50, which includes four courses. The first course was some cheese, salad, and beans that looked similar to lima beans but tasted better. As we were eating the second course, a soup, Suse scooped up something on her spoon and asked what it was. Viviana replied that it was pig skin (not a euphemism for a football!). I promptly removed it from my bowl onto the saucer and tried not to think about it as I ate the rest. A few minutes later, the topic arose again and Suse informed us that she had thought Viviana was joking and had actually taken a bite of it. When I asked her what it tasted like, she simply replied she´d rather not talk about it. The third course was meat with rice, vegetables, and salad. Our fourth course was strawberries and cream. Needless to say, we left stuffed to the gills.
Saturday we passed a pleasant evening watching a movie. I had purchased Slumdog Millionaire because Viviana hadn´t seen it, but we lacked the DVD remote control to change the language to Spanish. She said, I´m going to try to understand, but I knew that it would be futile. We ended up watching The Time Traveler´s Wife instead. I´m hoping to set the language on Slumdog to Spanish using a computer so that we can watch it this weekend. I have purchased quite a few movies since I´ve been here as they´re quite cheap and the quality not much lower than you would find with a new disc. For example, I purchased 3 DVDs (one of which contained all 6 Harry Potter movies) for less than $4. And I like being able to watch them in English with the Spanish subtitles (at times just so I can laugh at the sometimes poor translation).
Sunday, Suse and I took a taxi back to Quito. As has been the custom for her in the two weeks that she has been in Ecuador (the absolute first two weeks of her trip), she has had bad luck (one of them being she ended up with gray hair after she miscommunicated with the hairstylist about the color she wanted). The bad luck continued. We were stopped at a roadblock by the police and of course whose bag did they want to open? Hers! I told her I definitely don´t want to stand next to her in a storm because she´ll likely be struck by lightning, but she informed me that next to her would probably be the safest place to stand!
I don´t have a lot to do this week. I needed to print a photo of Romina and purchase a frame so that I can give them a gift Friday. That has been accomplished. I wanted to purchase a book in Spanish. That has been accomplished, and I am now almost 50 pages into Twilight in Spanish, at a rapid clip of 7 minutes per page. The good news is that my new dictionary (the other was falling apart already) is much better even if it still doesn´t have all the words. I could actually read a little faster than I am. At times I understand the meaning of a sentence but will sometimes look up a word for an exact definition. How long I´ll keep up that anal retentiveness remains to be seen.
I haven´t talked to too many people here in Quito, particularly in Spanish, but this morning and afternoon I had occasion to. I stopped in a panaderia (bread shop) to buy a coffee (which by the way sucks here) and a doughnut. As is custom for me, I needed sugar, but when I turned the sugar over to pour into the cup, I discovered quickly that the top was off. The hole of my doughnut was now filled with sugar as was my right flip flop. A local guy quickly informed me that I would have a good day because of this. Spent a couple hours on a blanket in the park and then ate an Ecuadorian lunch. On my return to the hostel, I felt a tap on the shoulder and then the guy from the morning, who I learned is Franklin, popped in front of me asking how my day was. We began to talk and then his friend arrived as well. Franklin works only a few blocks from the hostel and we agreed to have lunch tomorrow. It was a welcome invitation since I have nothing else to do while I wait for Wendy to arrive. When I arrived at the hostel, I had several wonderful emails, some of which I had been waiting for. So maybe Franklin was right--the sugar gave me a good day. Or maybe it´s just that I´m so sweet anyway!
I do actually have a to do list for this week. Today I managed to book my flight back to Costa Rica for the hefty sum of $591, which I booked on a Spanish website as opposed to Expedia who wanted $17 more. As you may know, I had hoped to catch a ride with a friend on a boat out of Columbia, but he already has two more passengers for that voyage than he can comfortably accomodate. He knows others who are making the journey with boats but at a cost of $350, it isn´t worth it since I´d have to spend an additional $100-150 and two days´ travel. I bit the bullet and booked the flight.
But it feels good to have a firm plan again. Those of you who know me know that I function better in life when there is some semblance of a plan for the future. I now know that at 7 p.m. on January 8, 2010 I´ll be back on Costa Rican soil and as soon as I clear customs and immigration, I´ll be back in the arms of someone familiar as he has promised to pick me up at the airport. Only 24 days. I´m hoping to pass a weekend vacation with him before we head back to Silencio, perhaps take him to the hot springs in La Fortuna. There is something comforting in returning to places I know, then again maybe we´ll go somewhere new.
Friday, Wendy and I will make the 2-hour taxi ride to Otavalo where we´ll stay with Viviana and Romina. I´m excited to return there (that whole comforting feeling again). It was a whole lot easier to leave last Sunday knowing that I would be returning shortly. It will be sad to leave their home this Sunday with the knowledge that I might never see them again. That´s the big downside to traveling.
As for this week, I´m spending a lot of time reading or watching movies, and I´m trying to cross some things off my to do list. Don´t worry, there´s nothing stress-inducing on my list, unless of course you consider watching a video of my former student give a speech in front of thousands stress-inducing.
I´m grateful to have no holiday stress-inducers on my list--no holiday cards to write, no shopping to do, no decorations to hang or tree to trim, no mandatory parties to attend, no worrying about whether to buy someone something or not, no cookies to make (truth be told, I gave some of these things up years ago!).
And with that said, I hereby publicly announce my aversion to the Christmas season with all its excesses and promise to have a drink on Christmas to toast my non-celebration of this completely overdone and wasteful holiday.
Saturday we passed a pleasant evening watching a movie. I had purchased Slumdog Millionaire because Viviana hadn´t seen it, but we lacked the DVD remote control to change the language to Spanish. She said, I´m going to try to understand, but I knew that it would be futile. We ended up watching The Time Traveler´s Wife instead. I´m hoping to set the language on Slumdog to Spanish using a computer so that we can watch it this weekend. I have purchased quite a few movies since I´ve been here as they´re quite cheap and the quality not much lower than you would find with a new disc. For example, I purchased 3 DVDs (one of which contained all 6 Harry Potter movies) for less than $4. And I like being able to watch them in English with the Spanish subtitles (at times just so I can laugh at the sometimes poor translation).
Sunday, Suse and I took a taxi back to Quito. As has been the custom for her in the two weeks that she has been in Ecuador (the absolute first two weeks of her trip), she has had bad luck (one of them being she ended up with gray hair after she miscommunicated with the hairstylist about the color she wanted). The bad luck continued. We were stopped at a roadblock by the police and of course whose bag did they want to open? Hers! I told her I definitely don´t want to stand next to her in a storm because she´ll likely be struck by lightning, but she informed me that next to her would probably be the safest place to stand!
I don´t have a lot to do this week. I needed to print a photo of Romina and purchase a frame so that I can give them a gift Friday. That has been accomplished. I wanted to purchase a book in Spanish. That has been accomplished, and I am now almost 50 pages into Twilight in Spanish, at a rapid clip of 7 minutes per page. The good news is that my new dictionary (the other was falling apart already) is much better even if it still doesn´t have all the words. I could actually read a little faster than I am. At times I understand the meaning of a sentence but will sometimes look up a word for an exact definition. How long I´ll keep up that anal retentiveness remains to be seen.
I haven´t talked to too many people here in Quito, particularly in Spanish, but this morning and afternoon I had occasion to. I stopped in a panaderia (bread shop) to buy a coffee (which by the way sucks here) and a doughnut. As is custom for me, I needed sugar, but when I turned the sugar over to pour into the cup, I discovered quickly that the top was off. The hole of my doughnut was now filled with sugar as was my right flip flop. A local guy quickly informed me that I would have a good day because of this. Spent a couple hours on a blanket in the park and then ate an Ecuadorian lunch. On my return to the hostel, I felt a tap on the shoulder and then the guy from the morning, who I learned is Franklin, popped in front of me asking how my day was. We began to talk and then his friend arrived as well. Franklin works only a few blocks from the hostel and we agreed to have lunch tomorrow. It was a welcome invitation since I have nothing else to do while I wait for Wendy to arrive. When I arrived at the hostel, I had several wonderful emails, some of which I had been waiting for. So maybe Franklin was right--the sugar gave me a good day. Or maybe it´s just that I´m so sweet anyway!
I do actually have a to do list for this week. Today I managed to book my flight back to Costa Rica for the hefty sum of $591, which I booked on a Spanish website as opposed to Expedia who wanted $17 more. As you may know, I had hoped to catch a ride with a friend on a boat out of Columbia, but he already has two more passengers for that voyage than he can comfortably accomodate. He knows others who are making the journey with boats but at a cost of $350, it isn´t worth it since I´d have to spend an additional $100-150 and two days´ travel. I bit the bullet and booked the flight.
But it feels good to have a firm plan again. Those of you who know me know that I function better in life when there is some semblance of a plan for the future. I now know that at 7 p.m. on January 8, 2010 I´ll be back on Costa Rican soil and as soon as I clear customs and immigration, I´ll be back in the arms of someone familiar as he has promised to pick me up at the airport. Only 24 days. I´m hoping to pass a weekend vacation with him before we head back to Silencio, perhaps take him to the hot springs in La Fortuna. There is something comforting in returning to places I know, then again maybe we´ll go somewhere new.
Friday, Wendy and I will make the 2-hour taxi ride to Otavalo where we´ll stay with Viviana and Romina. I´m excited to return there (that whole comforting feeling again). It was a whole lot easier to leave last Sunday knowing that I would be returning shortly. It will be sad to leave their home this Sunday with the knowledge that I might never see them again. That´s the big downside to traveling.
As for this week, I´m spending a lot of time reading or watching movies, and I´m trying to cross some things off my to do list. Don´t worry, there´s nothing stress-inducing on my list, unless of course you consider watching a video of my former student give a speech in front of thousands stress-inducing.
I´m grateful to have no holiday stress-inducers on my list--no holiday cards to write, no shopping to do, no decorations to hang or tree to trim, no mandatory parties to attend, no worrying about whether to buy someone something or not, no cookies to make (truth be told, I gave some of these things up years ago!).
And with that said, I hereby publicly announce my aversion to the Christmas season with all its excesses and promise to have a drink on Christmas to toast my non-celebration of this completely overdone and wasteful holiday.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
My Brain Has No Good Title for This Entry
The biggest news, which most have already read in Facebook, is that I made the decision on Saturday that I´m going to live in Costa Rica for a while. I´ve been thinking for two months that I want to, but I couldn´t figure out how I could swing the cost. For whatever reason, it suddenly hit me on Saturday that money isn´t really an issue. I had already decided last week to dump the timeshare as it is costing me too much money, but I knew I couldn´t rely on that money any time soon. It could take a while to sell. But then I realized if I want to live in Costa Rica, keeping a car in the States doesn´t make any sense, so I sent an email to my parents asking them to sell it. My father is still trying to ascertain a selling price for me. But if you´re interested in a 1998 Toyota RAV4 with reasonable miles on it and in really good shape, let me know.
With that decision made, I´m feeling more relieved and more anxious at the same time. It´s good to have plans, but I´m also anxious to return to Costa Rica. I´m trying to enjoy my time here in Ecuador, but thoughts of my friends in Costa Rica and plans for the future are filling my head on a daily, and nightly, basis.
I studied all of last week, mostly conversation without much grammar. I also spend the last hour of every lesson reading in Spanish and then discussing what I´ve read with my teacher. I´m consistently surprised at how much I´m able to comprehend. I plan to find a large bookstore in Quito next week where I can buy a Spanish version of The Time Traveler´s Wife. Since it´s my favorite book and since I´ve read it several times, I feel like I´ll be able to wade through it slowly, probably only a few pages a day, but it will be more interesting than the small Spanish reader that I currently have. A recent article I read was about Groundhog Day in the States--not exactly the kind of articles that excite me!
Saturday morning I rose early and went to the market with Viviana, her mother, and Romina at 6:30. We first went to the animal market, which doesn´t occur every week, because they thought it would be interesting for me to see. To say the least! Pigs and cows on the side of the road. I saw a woman carrying a lamb clutched to her chest with a child riding on her back. There were chickens, cows, turkeys, kittens, puppies, goats, sheep, pigs, etc.--all for sale and all for the bargaining.
After, we headed back into town to buy vegetables and fruits for the week, oh, and fresh fish of course. There are plenty of vegetables and fruits that I can´t identify because they are native here, and there are even some that have one name in Costa Rica and another name here. She also showed me ¨catzos,¨ a type of bug that can be fried and eaten. I was happy to hear she doesn´t like them and wouldn´t be buying them for our lunch. Her sister, however, does eat them. I almost (that´s almost) want to try one. Maybe when Wendy comes for a visit. Two hours later with probably 20 sacks of food that Viviana and her mother bought, we loaded into a taxi for the short ride home. Since then, I´ve enjoyed fresh fish, freshly squeezed orange juice, homemade blackberry jam, fresh strawberries for breakfast, homemade milkshakes with the fruits, and innumerable dishes made with the vegetables. This might be the healthiest I´ve ever eaten.
On Sunday another student arrived, Suse from Germany. Her Spanish is what mine was when I first arrived in Costa Rica on day one (or perhaps less), and I´ve done quite a bit of translating in the house, which still feels very strange for me. But it´s nice to have another face at the dinner table, and it has made for more and interesting conversations. And then of course I have someone with whom to hang out after class.
I´ve enjoyed studying this week. My teacher and I usually converse for the first two hours about any number of topics. At times, we start on one subject and drift into many others, just as I would do with friends in English. Then we spend some time on grammar as I learn the final few verb tenses (tomorrow I will have ¨learned,¨ or at least reviewed, all of the verb tenses). Yesterday about did my head in as I tried to learn more of the subjunctive tense. And then we end the lessons with reading. I´ve learned quite a bit about customs and holidays in Ecuador, including about Carnaval, a time when throwing water balloons is common. And one day I read about shrunken heads. I never really know what to expect with the readings.
On Wednesday, Suse and I went to the Peguche waterfall, about a 50-minute walk. I guess one never gets tired of seeing waterfalls, hey? I´ve seen my fair share. Afterwards, we began to follow a somewhat overgrown trail and considered turning back. We were persuaded otherwise by a local guy named Pedro, who was 35 and looked 50, who we let lead the way. It was a good choice as the scenery was a bit different returning.
We returned to Otavalo to use the Internet AGAIN (it´s a good way to pass the time here), and I began to write this blog. At 7:00 we lost electricity in the entire town, though we still don´t know why, so it´s now Thursday as I finish this. We remained without electricity until about 10 p.m. last night and ate our dinner by candlelight. Oh, that was after I took a cold shower in 50-degree weather (15 Celsius). After that dousing of cold water, I´m now positive that I could have a future as an opera singer.
Today I´m feeling, not under the weather necessarily, but less than stellar and without a real reason. Studying was difficult today. It was more difficult to understand the conversation, the writings were slightly more difficult (though I´m proud to say I did better with the verb tenses than I thought I would when I started writing), and the reading was virtually impossible. When studying another language, there are times when you feel like you´re on a roll and things are starting to come so much easier, and you think to yourself, Wow, I can really do this. And then you have days like today. It´s just part of it, but I definitely intend to crawl back into bed after lunch.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Un Blog en Español
Yo pienso que es el tiempo para escribir en español a pesar de los errores. He estado en Otavalo, Ecuador por casi una semana. Vivo con una família que tiene una madre se llama Viviana y una niña se llama Romina quien tiene seis años. Romina es una niña típica. Ella dice que ella piensa. El primer dia en la casa, ella señalo el cicatriz en mi rodilla y me preguntó, ¿qué pasó? Expliqué, entonces ella me dijo, su pierna es muy grande. (Yo sé, Romina, muchas gracias.)
Esta semaña yo estudié en una escuela por cuatro horas por dia. Hablé en español, escribí, y leí. A veces es fácil, a veces es frustrante. Ayer comencí hacer tarjetas para memorizar vocabulario. Tengo una semaña mas en la escuela y no más. Despúes la proxima semaña he estudiado por cuatro semañas totalmente. No necesito estudiar en una escuela mas; en cambio necesito hablar y leer para aprender vocabulario. La mayoria del tiempo me gusta hablar en español. Me di cuenta de yo he hablado por sólo trés meses aunque he viajado por cuatro meses. A veces me quedé en lugares donde hablar español no era necesario.
Mañana iré al mercado con Viviana. Los sábados ella compra comida por la siguiente semana. Ella es una buena cocinera. Sólo una vez no me gustó la comida. Era una sopa fría como ceviche. No pude comer y me sentí mal, pero a ella no le molestó. Ella me dijo que un costumbre para estudiantes es comer para la família, pero no puedo cocinar. En cambio, tal vez vamos al restaurante para comer mí último dia.
Me gusta mí família y Otavalo pero extraño mucho Costa Rica. Quiero volver pronto. Ayer llamé a Diego y hablamos por 50 minutos. Le dije que quiero volver en enero en cambio de febrero y me dijo, esta bien. Me gusta hablar con él porque siempre él me hace reír mucho. Voy a llamarle mañana también. La vida es difícil cuando él está allá y estoy acá. Cuando llegué en Costa Rica, no sabia que voy a sentirme como esto pero me alegro.
Estoy esperando por muchos correos electrónicos. Quiero ir a Panama en un barco con un amigo. Él es en los estados unidos ahora pero va a volver a Columbia en una semana mas o menos. Cuando hablamos en agosto, él fue a ir a Panama en enero. Sí voy con él es muy barato y mas interesante.
También estoy esperando por un correo de una chica en Uvita, Costa Rica quien enseña inglés allá. Ella trabaja por una organización y quiero mas información porque quiero trabajar y vivir en Costa Rica el próximo año. Pero yo necesito mas plata para eso. Tendré la plata sí vendo mí multipropiedad; espero que sí.
Yo sé que viviré en Costa Rica en 2010. Sí yo pienso que viviré acá, entonces, viviré acá. No estaré preocupada como pasaré.
Esta semaña yo estudié en una escuela por cuatro horas por dia. Hablé en español, escribí, y leí. A veces es fácil, a veces es frustrante. Ayer comencí hacer tarjetas para memorizar vocabulario. Tengo una semaña mas en la escuela y no más. Despúes la proxima semaña he estudiado por cuatro semañas totalmente. No necesito estudiar en una escuela mas; en cambio necesito hablar y leer para aprender vocabulario. La mayoria del tiempo me gusta hablar en español. Me di cuenta de yo he hablado por sólo trés meses aunque he viajado por cuatro meses. A veces me quedé en lugares donde hablar español no era necesario.
Mañana iré al mercado con Viviana. Los sábados ella compra comida por la siguiente semana. Ella es una buena cocinera. Sólo una vez no me gustó la comida. Era una sopa fría como ceviche. No pude comer y me sentí mal, pero a ella no le molestó. Ella me dijo que un costumbre para estudiantes es comer para la família, pero no puedo cocinar. En cambio, tal vez vamos al restaurante para comer mí último dia.
Me gusta mí família y Otavalo pero extraño mucho Costa Rica. Quiero volver pronto. Ayer llamé a Diego y hablamos por 50 minutos. Le dije que quiero volver en enero en cambio de febrero y me dijo, esta bien. Me gusta hablar con él porque siempre él me hace reír mucho. Voy a llamarle mañana también. La vida es difícil cuando él está allá y estoy acá. Cuando llegué en Costa Rica, no sabia que voy a sentirme como esto pero me alegro.
Estoy esperando por muchos correos electrónicos. Quiero ir a Panama en un barco con un amigo. Él es en los estados unidos ahora pero va a volver a Columbia en una semana mas o menos. Cuando hablamos en agosto, él fue a ir a Panama en enero. Sí voy con él es muy barato y mas interesante.
También estoy esperando por un correo de una chica en Uvita, Costa Rica quien enseña inglés allá. Ella trabaja por una organización y quiero mas información porque quiero trabajar y vivir en Costa Rica el próximo año. Pero yo necesito mas plata para eso. Tendré la plata sí vendo mí multipropiedad; espero que sí.
Yo sé que viviré en Costa Rica en 2010. Sí yo pienso que viviré acá, entonces, viviré acá. No estaré preocupada como pasaré.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Non Bucket List Bucket List
Like many, I have a bucket list, things I want to do before I kick the proverbial bucket, some of which I´m crossing off on this trip. But then I realized this trip is also satisfying the non bucket list bucket list. You know, those things which weren´t on your bucket list but that you now feel compelled to put on your bucket list since you´ve done them and they were pretty cool and should´ve been on your bucket list to begin with and you want to put them on there just so that you can cross them off. Here´s my evergrowing non bucket list bucket list courtesy of this trip, all of which I´ve already done (and if you didn´t know this then you need to do your homework by reading my blogs more thoroughly!):
- milk a cow
- help butcher a cow
- help butcher a pig
- drink liquor made only in another country (Cacique)
- find a boyfriend in another country who doesn´t speak English
- eat pig liver (sort of wish I could take this one back)
- ride double on a bicycle made for one (three times, once at night, always scared)
- touch a jellyfish
- make jokes in Spanish that make people laugh
- make a phone call in Spanish (which I´ve done numerous times now and which still makes me nervous); this item has prompted me to add to my real bucket list the following: ¨make a phone call in Spanish without having to say ´que´ even once because I understand everything¨
If you can think of other things that I´ve probably left off my non bucket list bucket list, please let me know. I´d hate to have an inaccurate non bucket list bucket list.
And then there are those things you see which you never thought you´d see. The three most recent ones I feel compelled to document here.
First, I saw a guy driving an ATV and brushing his teeth--at the same time. It was morning, and I´m guessing he was running late.
Second, I saw two people dragging car batteries down the street in Quito this morning. Strings tied to the batteries, just pulling them along as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.
Third, I saw a guy with an IV in his arm and a drip bag (whatever those things are called) in the middle of the street panhandling. Panhandling is extremely common here in Ecuador as is walking down the middle of the street selling things. This guy was clearly playing his sympathy card, as were the little girls doing cartwheels in the street. I thought it was cute until I realized why they were doing it, and then I just felt incredibly sad for them.
As for my current location, I´d love to tell you, but then those insurance people might find me and force me to pay the bill that I really, really, really don´t want to pay. Then again, if you´re on facebook, you already know where I am. Hopefully, you can keep a secret cause did I mention that I really, really, really don´t want to pay that bill.
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