A lil bit of my world

Every day when I'm strolling from the bus stop to my house, I walk over a configuration of cracks in the asphalt that forms the shape of Spain. For some reason there's something very comforting about meandering through Barcelona every afternoon.

Along the road from my house to Raquel's, amid all the pollution and honking and traffic and cat calls, there is one stretch of sidewalk that hugs a grassy, muddy hill. I'm always surprised by the earthy smell that hits me as I walk by, reminding me of somewhere pretty I've been but can't quite place (the river we lived by in Nevada maybe?), and seeming so wonderfully out of place that I have to slow down as I pass. ... Then sometimes that same spot smells like dead fish. I don't understand this, but it makes each trip down that path, each time I near that spot, that much more climactic.

Lost/stolen items so far this semester
Item: Location/circumstances lost
pair of jeans: somehow misplaced/stolen at school after changing for tae kwon do
2 belts: ribbon-ish kind that tie on/fall off. One in a discoteca, the other unknown
$2000 in traveler's checks: probably stolen on the bus, replaced by the bank
rain poncho (not mine, but cheaply replaced): left in the jungle
umbrella (also not mine, but cheaply replaced): left in the mall somewhere
tupperware container: (yoli's, but cheaply replaced) left at school
chapstick: ???
laptop powercord: left for a bit in the campus library (don't ask why i took the laptop with me
and left the cord; clearly these things aren't logical), not there upon return
right flip flop: under the seat while napping on a long bus trip, only the left one was there upon
awakening. who takes just one shoe?!?

i actually don't think this is that bad of a list for me...i still haven't unpacked from the galapagos, so we'll see if anything else comes up missing.

speaking of the galapagos--it was a very eventful trip! my camera decided to cease functioning so i'll have to get pictures from other ppl in our group, but i'll try to update soon.

Happy Easter all!! I missed eggs and family today (not necessarily in that order)....

Good morning all! I’m up early today to try finish some homework for Thursday, cuz we’re leaving for the Galápagos tomorrow! Friday is the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week, e.g. the week before Easter) so we’re heading off with BCA on our next adventure. We’re flying out of Quito on Thursday morning at 8am, arriving at one of the Galapagos Islands sometime in the late afternoon. Oh, for anyone not familiar, the Galapagos Islands are off the coast of Ecuador, and are the site where Darwin came up with his theory of evolution. Ecuador is the most biodiverse nation in the world I believe, and the islands (plus the jungle) are part of the reason; each island has species of plants, birds,and other animals that are only found on that specific island. Pretty cool..I hope to take lots and lots of pictures! With its status as such an important nature reserve, having lots of tourists staying on the islands is discouraged, so we’ll be staying on a boat. Our group has 2 boats, so we’ll all see each other during the day’s activities, but we’ll eat and sleep on our respective vessels. We’re basically going to be spending 5 days swimming, snorkeling, hiking on volcanic rock, sunning, wildlife-watching, etc…what could be better?! We fly back Tuesday and have a lay-over in Guayaquil, the biggest coastal city in Ecuador. I’ve been told that Madrid is to Quito as Barcelona is to Guayaquil (as far as personality goes), so I’m excited about visiting. I think about half our group is planning to just skip the last leg of our flight and go off on our own. We’ll stay a nite or two in Guayaquil, perhaps go to Salinas, one of the nicest beaches in Ecuador that’s 1.5hrs from Guayaquil, and then head out Wed.or Thurs. for Cuenca on a bus. Cuenca is about 2 or 3 hours farther south and is supposed to be a beautiful little colonial town. After a few days there, it’s back to Quito on Sat. or Sun-- back to the reality of classes after our mini-tour of Ecuador. Hope you all have a wonderful spring break and hasta luego!

Ps. I included a map of our trip so you all have an idea of where I’m talking about within the country, but I would like to point out that the Galapagos are not in Peru, as it appears on the map due to the cut out, but are in fact in the ocean, to the West of Ecuador’s coast;)

I'm not sure which islands we're going to visit, but here's the layout and extra info (Orange triangles are peaks under 1000m, Dark triangles are peaks over 1000m, blue circles are cities) 

Spring Break map 

Amanda and Alex, Valle de los Chillos

Rebeca and Amanda 

Rebeca and Alex in Valle de los Chillos 

Hey all... Just thought I'd write a quik tutorial, since a couple people have asked me how to leave comments (and since I'd love to read more comments!)
It's actually pretty simple I believe. Here's a step-by-step for all you commentator-hopefuls; I'd love to hear your thoughts as it's always nice to know who's stopping by now and then.

1. At the end of any post, there is small print that says 0 Comments. Click on that.
2. The page re-opens, displaying the post and any other comments, and at the bottom is a link that says Post a Comment. Click on that
3. In the ¨Leave your comment¨box, type your thoughts.
4. If you have a Blogspot page too, click ¨Blogger¨ and leave your username and blog address, or if you want, sign up for a Blogspot account.
5. If not, click on ¨Other¨instead of ¨Blogger,¨ and leave your name.
6. Click ¨Publish your comment.¨

Voilá!

Today was the end of a great great week! Even when they got here Monday I still couldn't quite believe they were here and it was so exciting to have people visiting from home!
Monday Raq picked Alex and Amanda up at the airport in the afternoon after a long trip, so they were napping at my house when I got home from school. So surreal to see them here! After they woke up and got settled (Alex got my room and Esh and I shared the sofa bed), we chatted about the latest Quito/Goshen happenings, and we all had a big welcome dinner with them and my host family. In the evening we took a walk around the city and they enjoyed the slightly-warmer-than-Goshen weather.
Tuesday I headed to school early, they slept in and then met Rachel for lunch in Cumbayá (the valley USFQ is in). Raq gave them a tour of the university, then they joined her for her salsa class and did pretty well from what I heard! It was a review day, so they got to practice all the steps and hip movements the class had learned up till then. After a torturously long day of classes (who wants to have literary discussions when much more interesting people are nearby??) I was more than ready to be done with school for the day and meet up with the 3 of them for ice cream. Tragedy of tragedies... the ice cream place was out of mango!! I was momentarily forlorn, but they got to try exotic fruit flavors anyway. And Amanda was hooked on helados for the whole week, so she must have enjoyed it anyway. After hanging out for a bit at my house Tues. afternoon, Vane and Pablo came by to pick us up. They took us to the artisan market, then drove us through the Centro Histórico which is all lit up at night, then we went to Café Mosaíco for dessert and the view. Everyone here tends to eat big lunches and then very little for dinner, so we kind of forgot to feed Alex and Amanda, oops! They were starving so we went to a Pizzeria and ate a late supper. Then it was back home to get ready for an early start the next morning.
Wednesday I hauled Amanda and Alex out of bed at around 7.30am, and Vane's mom and sister Rebeca and Jimena came to pick us up. We took a day trip to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World, e.g. the Equator) checked out the museum there and enjoyed the sun. We also visited the artisan shops where they bought a few gifts. Amanda also could not resist the temptation presented by a basket of tiny wrapped packages, marked ¨Surprises, $.10¨. How could you not be dying to know what's inside? Having come with mostly large bills, which are basically like not having money in most places in Ecuador because no one will give you that much change, I pitched in a dime to satisfy her curiosity. Her prize was a necklace, a little blue glass heart on a black string, which she was delighted with. She even splurged on $1 pair of a blue dangly earrings to match! Next Rebeca and Jimena took us to eat lunch, and I got the impression that they kinda liked the food. Amanda had a humita(tamale), a quimbolito(sweet tamale), 2 empanadas, and 2 milkshakes. Then we drove back to Quito, picked up Jimena's son Juan Diego from kindergarten, and went out for ice cream. We were all stuffed by the time we got back to my house! Good stuff... We then took a quick nap until Rachel got done with her classes (I only had one, so I skipped:) ). We spent the afternoon walking around the city and visited el Palacio de Cristal, where there is a gorgeous view. Well, at just about every corner there is a pretty view in Quito, so we kept stopping for photo-ops. Then we took another trip to the artisan market now that Amanda had brought more money with her, before heading to the Andean Ballet. The ballet was a collection of about 12 dances from different areas or populations of Ecuador, and other than one random moment where a guy in a gorilla suit started running through one of the dances (it was part of the act, tho a fairly incomprehensible one), it was pretty cool. After the show it was off to an Indian restaurant, where we stuffed ourselves again full of delicious food! Our waiter was a New Yorker with Indian relatives (his cousin owned the place), who doesn't really like Indian food. We did though! By the time we got home we had just enough energy to chat for awhile before heading to bed.
Thursday I let the visitors sleep in a little, till 8.30am, and Rebeca came to pick them up at 9.30. Rachel and I had class all morning, so Rebeca took them on a tour of a lot of the museums and historical churches in the Centro Histórico, then showed them around her house in Valle de los Chillos. She made them some typical Ecuadorian foods, home-cooked this time, and they were once again very well-fed. (Amanda swore she gained 5lbs just during the time she was here.) Rachel and Kathleen and I went to see Finding Neverland (starring Rachel's love, Johnny Depp) while they were still out and about, and Rachel actually cried during a movie! I thought it was good too, sentimental but not overly sweet. After they had a nap, Alex and Amanda met us at Raquel's host parents' house for dinner. More food! It was delicious, and they got to keep practicing their Spanish (Rebeca doesn't speak much English so they took my electronic translator and were on their own for the day!). I was planning to take them out to a club after dinner, but Raq had to get up super early for class, and everyone else we were planning to go out with ended up calling to say they couldn't for one reason or another. It was already 11pm when we got back from Rachel's, which definitely isn't too late to go out here, but they were tired so I let them off the hook.

Friday we left for Baños as soon as Rachel, Kathleen, Liz and I got done with class. We ate a quick lunch, headed to the bus station, and after a 4hr ride made it to Baños at around 7pm. We found a great hostel (Café Hood, with a Robin Hood theme for all the rooms) for $3.50/nite per person and a good restaurant downstairs. After dinner, where we met a guy from Utah who'd quit his job as a software salesman in CA to travel S.America for three months (sounds good to me!), and we strolled around the little tourist haven before heading to bed early.
Saturday we rented bikes for $5 for the day and headed out for what was possibly my favorite thing that I've done in Ecuador. It was a 14-17 kilometer ride, mostly downhill, including one precarious unlit tunnel, which passed through some gorgeous scenery. The day before and after it rained, so we got lucky with perfect weather too. We passed by about 6 waterfalls, stopped to play in some of them, and then arrived at Pailón del Diablo. We had to hike about 15mins to get to the top of this waterfall, the biggest one in Baños (maybe in Ecuador?), and a beautiful end to our trek. We had milkshakes and snacks at the café at the top of the falls, then popsicles at the café at the base, then rode in the back of a truck back to the main part of town. Pictures are never quite good enough, or even close, but you'll be able to get an idea of where we were at least. During the bike ride we also passed a bridge where they had bungee jumping for $10, and a 7yo boy, after much trepidation, threw himself off the edge as we passed. I wanted to jump, but it was more of a jump-and-swing-over-the-water than real diving-head-first bungee jumping, so I passed this time (breathe a sigh of relief, Mom). We decided rafting was too expensive too, so we just relaxed for a bit in Baños in the afternoon before catching an early dinner and then heading to the thermal baths at 6. Amanda was weirded out by the whole ¨public baths¨ idea, and it was a little sketchy, but once I got over that it was really relaxing. There was a very hot pool, a hot pool, and an ice cold pool. Going from the very hot to the ice cold was enough of a shock to the system to about make me faint, but it felt great once we got out. It's supposed to be good for circulation I guess, and I was ready to go straight to sleep by the time we left. After changing into dry clothes though, we caught a chiva to go the Tungurahua Volcano. If anyone knows what a monkey bus in English, that's a chiva, but otherwise, it's an open bus where people stand on the roof as well, and here it's always pretty lively with music or a band playing as you ride. We drove around Baños for an hour to fill up the bus (we weren't originally aware that that was part of the plan), then drove up to the lookout point. Unfortunately, it was completely cloudy and starting to sprinkle at that point, so we couldn't see a thing. There was a bonfire and hot drinks, but I was ready to go pretty quickly. The saving grace of the excursion was a pair of 16-17 yo fire jugglers that were actually really good entertainers. By the time we made it down the mountain again, it was after 12, everyone was exhausted, and our plans to go out to a club for the evening were shot:(. It was still an incredible day though, so I wasn't too disappointed.
Sunday we were at the bus station by 7.15, tired and unshowered for the most part, but we made it back to Quito a little after 11. Alex and Amanda finished packing up their stuff, cleaned themselves up a little before their long trip home, and we were off to the airport. Diana's family met us there to give them going away presents and a package for Diana, we said our goodbyes and they were off already. This week flew by... It was so unbelievable and wonderful to have them here visiting. It was great to catch up in person with what's been going on in their lives, and to show them our world for this semester. It was cool too to see that they're doing well, that they're having fun and seem great for each other, and Esh said she was glad to be able to see that we're happy here too:). The only drawback is that now I'm going to miss them and other Goshenites all over again! Anyway, to avoid being sad after we left them in the airport, and to rest up after our weekend travels, I decided to take a short nap when I got home. I figured Yoli would wake me up for dinner if I overslept, but it turns out she hadn't noticed when I came back. So at around 8pm she came in to turn a light on for me ¨for when I got home,¨ and discovered I was already there; I'd been napping for 6 hrs! Which is why I am awake and blogging right now, instead of in bed (or um, doing homework...). Esh and Alex should be on the road back to Goshen about now. --Hope you guys had a safe trip!
Love to all our Goshen friends...Diana, Diana, Hannah, Liz, Dj, Sam, Erin, Nick-- sorry we didn't have time to write you all notes to send with Esh. It was great to hear from you, hope you all had fun on your break and that you're having a splendid semester! Miss you!
...that's the summary of our first spring break. Next weekend we're probably going to go the beach with Vane and Pablo, and then USFQ has its spring break and we're off to the Galapagos!
Pictures of most of the good times above are posted below, and I'll add a few more sometime soon when I get them from Kathleen and Liz. Hasta luego

Wednesday morning day trip to the Middle of the World, the Ecuator

View from the top

In two different worlds

3 friends, 2 hemispheres

Tuesday morning tour of USFQ, Amanda and Raquel.  

Wed. afternoon we climbed these 172 stairs to visit the exhibition center, The Crystal Palace

A cool street on the way up

The exhibition was just cooking/food products this week, but the view was still worth the trip

View of the city

Amanda Alex Raq

Almost at the top

On top of the mountain(/world)

Shades of green

 

Wed night we went to the Andean Ballet, a collection of traditional regional dances 

¨Carnaval¨ 

After museum-ing all morning Thursday, Rebeca took Amanda and Alex to her house an hour from Quito to stuff them full of good food

Rebeca and Alex

The Diaz' home in Valle de los Chillos

They got to play ping pong too.

Esh and Alex

Raquel and Amanda, cooling off a little

Saturday morning in Baños, heading out for a 14K bike ride 

Me, with my broken sunglasses and windswept hair, Esh post-waterfall play...ready to ride again 

Baños. View from the bike trail of Río Verde. How gorgeous is this country...









Pailón del diablo 

Baños. Esh Raq and donkey on the side of the road 

Baños, Pailón del diablo. ¨The 8th Wonder of the World¨