Bahia de Caraquez: Roosters and Ice Cream

            ¡Hola! So after visiting the Equator in Quito and driving for 7 hours through windy, hillside roads, then through dirt roads through villages (every one stared at us), we arrived in Bahia de Caraquéz, on the coast. It is more humid and definitely warmer. I just didn't know it would be constantly cloudy. How ironic! I thought the sun would be deadly but it's only about 80 degrees. I'm not sad that it's cloudy. I think that hearing, reading and speaking spanish make up for the lack of sun. Oh, and the food is different on the coast. We have done a lot of fun stuff but I'm ready to work. I already did the fun thing in France so I'm ready to work.  This town is so small that it doesn't have a movie theatre so I'll have to watch the hangover 2 when I get back. There's a nice beach so this morning I went running by myself to take a breather and absorb where I was. I'm glad I am in a house surrounded by people. They are from the university of texas. I like them. They are chill.I can relate to them somehow because they remind me of home. I don't know how, but I act and speak differently around them. It's nice to be able to spend my summer w/ people because I've usually spent them alone.

Today I had spanish class w/ 2 other girls and I am surprised at how much I suck at writing it. I failed at accents. Apparently there was a spanish word for accent and I didn't even know it. I'm good at conversation, but I'm looking forward to improving my writing so I can own a Wellesey spanish class. Just now, Jorge corrected me on the title of my blog. I had spelled "gringuita" "gringita". See? I need to improve. Today we met the kids who are taking the work shop but haven't started filming. They are more enthusiastic than I thought they would be, and I had to interview a young guy in order to analyze their way of speaking. They speak really quickly and drop some letters from their words. He seemed pretty nervous and only responded with a few words. Maybe I just looked gross in my shorts and sports headband from running in the morning. I didn't shower because our water shuts down and we dont get it til 5 pm. The food is great though, and we have Doña Mariana cook it every day for us. Home made goodness!! I love the food here, but it could be spicier. I'm just happy they dont eat as much bread as in France. I really don't miss france as much as I thought I would...I'm just happy to be in a place that reminds me of Mexico and my mom (hearing people speak spanish). I don't know if I want to go to machu pichu any more. I kind of want to go home but I know I'll be wanting to travel more.

I live with 6 other girls in an 'apartment' above an ice cream shop. People LOVE ice cream here! We have to have the little old lady open the front door, then we only have one key to get in and you have to reach inside the house to lock it up. It feels like we are camping in the apartment because there is no running water until 5 pm, and we sleep on super hard beds. Maddie said she felt like she was sleeping on a pool table. I woke up at 2 am because so many bugs were biting me, so I put on spray. Then I woke up at 5 am to the sound of a ROOSTER crowing right next door. The girls and I want to make rooster soup now. Also, there are so many dogs here! When I went running, there was one just chilling on the side walk next to the beach. Dogs just walk up to you. There's this dog next to our apartment that sticks its head out of a barred window so it looks like its perpetually stuck there.  People get around by either taking taxis or tricicles that look like rickshaws. I haven't found the fruit market, but they have little stands every where selling things.

        In Quito they eat lots of corn, but here on the coast they eat plantains. For breakfast, we had grilled plantain with a peanuty powder and yummy fresh cheese. For lunch, we had eggy soup with a plantain dumpling then lentils, rice, beef, and a very salty cucumber salad. After lunch we went to the radio station to interview the staff of the project I'm working with. Apparently the radio is a large form of communication here. Once, someone lost a backpack and advertised it on the radio. It's like a lost and found. Once there, they asked if it would be ok to interview me. The host spoke super fast and I was about to ask him to speak slower, but somehow I understood him by listening to key words and putting them together. I spoke for about 5 minutes, saying where I was from and he asked me what I wanted the youth in the area to know. I gave this cheesy but true response about how important it is for them to stay in school. I used myself as an example, saying that my university has gotten me tons of places that I never thought I would have been, such as France last semester. He asked me what I wanted to take away from Bahia, and of course I said: the food. I joked about how much they love corn in Quito ;] I'm looking forward to getting to know the students more tomorrow. 

Listening

            When I sat in my apartment in France, I liked being able to hear French people speaking. Now it's cool hearing them speak spanish outside my window, and hearing latin music blasting from cars. Yesterday some girls from my program and I were walking through a department store, and I was just about the most excited person in there because they were playing salsa music.

Quito: Altitude Adjustments

           Hello! This is my blog continuing from my previous one about my study abroad experience in Europe. This blog is about my experiences in Ecuador, where I will be working with a non-profit that teaches film making to high schoolers. I'm starting in Quito then will work on the coast. I have no film experience so I'm pretty pumped. Here it goes so far: 

            Last night I left JFK airport for a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. I felt so at home in that little piece of NYC, even though I’m not from there. It’s just nice to see so many Latinos and other people of color living together and speaking different languages. Now I appreciate certain parts of the US for what they are. Europe was a huge conglomerate of languages and slight variations of cultures, while the US has its homogenous communities yet with strikingly different racial categories. My flight left at midnight, and the airplane was insanely comfortable. Also I couldn’t believe it was only a 6 hour flight to Ecuador. The seats reclined like crazy and go got nice pillows and blankets. At one point I lifted my sleeping mask to see them serving dinner in the middle of the night. No thanks! I needed to get rid of my jet lag. Thank goodness time zones are vertical and that I am only a 2 hours difference from home.

My first morning in Ecuador

            Right before boarding my plane, I had a $5 breakfast consisting of some form of mashed starch with cheese, real scrambled eggs, real orange juice, and coffee. It’s good to not be spending euros. I’m excited for the real fruit juice. Americans only lie when they say they serve it. It’s pretty early and my flight is delayed, but I’ll be in Quito in an hour. Also this airport is awesome because it has free wireless internet and JFK doesn’t. What up. Who is developed now? As soon as I boarded the plane, the steward said “Buenos días señorita.” It will be a hard transition from being called mademoiselle, but I think I can make it: P

The view of the Virgin overlooking the city

            Today I met up with the team I’m working with. We basically walked around all day, spoke Spanish and ate great food, which I was more than fine with. We went to this modern art museum with works by Guayasamín, a famous Ecuadorian painter who was influenced by Spanish painters like Picasso. His paintings depicted the struggles of the indigenous people and of the slaves who were brought to South America, and at first it was really shocking and heavy to me. I was proud that I knew who Victor Jara was, because he painted a work that was dedicated to the martyred Chilean poet. We visited his house, where he was buried next to one of his best friends who was a writer. It’s funny how many thigns you can feel from visiting the house of someone you don’t know but have heard about. I feel like when I do that, I understand them more…even if just a little. I felt very relaxed there. I appreciated being exposed to his art, which made me think about how far yet how little society has come.

            Then we took an hour long bus (traffic is insane here!) to the Basilica, a huge Cathedral in downtown. We were too late to climb to the top, but managed to go inside. It reminded me of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but less controversial. Then we had a snack on a restaurant with a gorgeous terrace view. I had a café cortado (with half the milk) and an empanada de morocho (vegetables, chicken, rice). I had never had an empanada with rice in it. The menus here have more variety and I love that. It’s good to be in Latin America where I also have the option of having spicy food. When we first got there the lady told us that it was wet and that they were waiting for it to dry, but it was definitely dry when we got there. The thing about the weather here is that it can be cloudy for 10 minutes, rainy the next 10, and sunny (my nose burned a bit from a relatively short exposure time). The sun set and the Cathedrals lit up one by one like Christmas lights. There was also a rock concert going on in the central plaza, and the band kept talking about how the left was not left enough. It was going on right next to the President’s house.

One of Guayasamin's works...now an image of Quito for me.

            We walked towards the Ronda street, and tried to find a place for dinner. Meanwhile we had some hot spiced wine that warmed us right up. The weather here is colder than I’d thought because we are so high up. The cobblestone streets remind me of Europe’s, but they are definitely wider. For dinner we stopped in this little restaurant being served by one waitress. The big screen was playing American basketball (I didn’t think they would watch that here), and I had a delicious seafood soup with a green banana broth that was still boiling when I got it. AND green limes, which I did not have to bug the waitress about, surrounded it. Heaven! I want to learn how to make this concoction. We took a cab back to the hostel,  where I passed out and had a long sleep. I haven’t really budged since. It’s 3 pm. :]