Baños: The Good, The Bad and The Itchy! (& The things that drive me CRAZY!)

Julie, Erin (another Oregon friend) and I departed for Baños at around 5:00 PM last Friday from the main bus-terminal in central Quito. A small town about 3.5 hours south of the capital, Baños is known for its hot springs, waterfalls, and the volcano, Tungurahua, which recently became active in 2006, and frequently showers the area with fresh ash. I’ve wanted to travel there FOREVER, so it was a relief to finally get on the bus and be on our way. After rolling in at around 8:30, we found a hotel called Casa Blanca, got some delicious Italian food and called it a night. In the morning (Saturday), we walked across the street to a tourist center to figure out our plan for the day. Before leaving Quito, Julie’s friend had recommended rappelling down waterfalls as a fun thing to do, so we took her up on it and scheduled five waterfalls for 20 bucks! I should note that I’ve started to lose perspective on what’s a good deal money-wise after only a month in this country, but it seemed to be worth the expense just to see Julie in her wetsuit with extra long zipper! It was also a marvel to watch as our rappelling instructor transformed from a normal guy in the store, to the most attractive man in the world at the falls, and back to a regular dude again upon our return. The falls were obviously amazing, so there’s no need to elaborate.

Unfortunately, Erin had to head back to Quito Saturday afternoon because she had plans on Sunday to go to La Mitad del Mundo (center of the world), so Julie and I wandered around Baños for the rest of the day, and at night we completed our second chiva adventure to the top of a mountain near Tungurahua to chill and watch some fire juggling.

And then there was Sunday (AKA the worst day EVER). We had been planning all weekend to rent bikes and ride around the mountains (because that’s what everyone does when they go to Baños apparently), so we managed to roll out of bed at 7:30 AM and pick up some bikes, a lock, and a map for $5 at a shop down the road. From then on, things just got worse and worse. First off, about two minutes in, Julie dropped the map, but we were too lazy to bike back the 100 meters to get it. Instead we kept going, ended up taking a wrong turn and heading up an extremely steep hill for roughly a mile (in which I fell and our bikes were so bad that we had to push them the entire way up) with the sun beating down and buses passing rapidly around sharp corners. After heading back and finding the correct road, we biked for another six miles or so, and by that time were so exhausted that we decided to wait for a bus (or any truck that was willing really) to take us back to Baños so we could pack our stuff and go home. So we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, until I’d gotten enough bug bites to discourage me from waiting any longer. This pattern of biking and waiting continued for about another half-hour until we finally arrived at the main waterfall we had wanted to get to in the first place called El Diablo, only to discover that it cost a dollar to get in and we had only brought a dollar each for the bus ride back! So the waiting continued, and after several more bug bites and some rain, a bus decided to pull over and take pity on the poor extranjeros stranded on the side of the road.

After all of this, I was completely thrilled to be back in my apartment on America y Acuña later that day (even if I did have mounds of homework yet to be completed). Now that I’ve finished with Baños, it’s time to start the real ranting! Though I don’t consider myself to be a very impatient person, the pace of life here has been difficult to adjust to at times. The fact that most stores don’t open until 9:00 AM, the traffic jams on the way to school, and (more than anything else) the internet at USFQ, have all, in their turn, pushed me very close to insanity. Although I’ve began to try avoiding these frustrations by attempting to anticipate the problems I might have throughout the day, there always seems to be something that catches me off guard. A few other complaints include the sirens and alarms constantly ringing outside my bedroom window, the bug bites from Baños and the cigarette smoke that always manages to latch onto my favorite clothes. Despite all of these minor annoyances, I can’t help but love Quito. I love my classes, walking around La Parque Carolina, the 50-cent smoothies I get everyday after school, the view out my window of Cotopaxi, and weekends spent at La Mariscal. All for now! The pictures include a few from the falls, the walk through Baños, the bike ride, and the beautiful scenery that we couldn’t enjoy. ¡Chévere!

Chivas & Mud

A chiva (for those of you who don’t know) is a party bus that is used to promote clubs and can be rented out for birthdays, holidays or whatever else (especially popular during the festival of Quito in December)! Last Thursday, I got to experience my first chiva for the birthday of one of my friends at USFQ named Dawn. The bus was rickety and pretty old looking; but what it lacked in appearance, it made up for in awesomeness! We (about 50 students from USFQ) were all given little Ecuadorian flags, whistles and lots of music to dance to as we drove through the streets of Quito. The club that the chiva was promoting is called Gia so after our ride around the city, we headed back there to dance some more until finally calling it a night at around 2:00 AM.Friday was extremely boring because I didn’t have class and haven’t started doing any kind of volunteer work yet. I did, however, get some homework done, and Julie, Alex (our Ecuadorian friend) and I went out to Mariscal that evening to get some food and hang out. On Saturday, I went back to the historical district because Julie hadn’t been there yet and I also needed to find a bank in order to get change. It was a really fun day because we met some girls from England on the bus who were taking a gap year to teach music in Cuenca (another city in the highlands of Ecuador), and who had just arrived in Quito. After showing them around all day, I discovered that they only lived one block from my apartment so we’ll probably hang out again soon! On Saturday night, I went to bed earlier than usual because my trip for Volcanology to Pichincha was supposed to leave at 3:30 in the morning. Now I can finally turn to the absolute highlight of my week! Sunday was incredible on many levels. It’s first necessary to note that my professor for the class, Theo, is one of the most hilarious/brilliant people I’ve ever met. He’s originally from Greece but grew up in Germany and married an Ecuadorian. In addition, he speaks six languages, could pass for a textbook in the fields of geology and volcanology and (as I mentioned before) is hilarious. Moving on, I picked up my friends (Sam and Julie) in a taxi at around 3:00 AM Sunday morning to meet the rest of our group in front of the Mexican Embassy in Quito. As scheduled, we departed at exactly 3:30 in a convoy of five or six jeeps, beginning our ascent to Pichincha. Sam and I concluded that the drive to Pichincha was comparable to riding a bull without being able to dismount. The roads were almost completely destroyed, but we eventually made it in one piece and completed the short, but insanely cold, trek to the top (altitude at a little over 14,000 feet). Pichincha, in reality, was pretty miserable. We had horrible luck by going on a day in which the mountain was completely engulfed in fog, when on a clear day it’s possible to see all the way to Colombia. Even so, I ended up enjoying myself. It was pretty funny how pathetic I was wearing my thin jeans, ankle socks and having to resort to using Sam’s socks as gloves, because I had forgotten my own.

At around 8:30 AM we got back to Quito and had an hour to eat before our second trip of the day to another volcano called Papallacta, which is about an hour east of Quito in the lower highlands. The drive alone was breathtaking with lush forests, waterfalls and several rivers that ran along the highway. It was also interesting to see the massive oil pipelines that I had learned about in ¨Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man¨and ¨Savages¨. I watched as they snaked over hills and then descended back down into various small villages for miles and miles. The hike, however, was, without a doubt, the best one I’ve ever done, and I have never been dirtier in my entire life. Theo led us (unnecessarily I might add) into a thick and very wet forest (with no path) in which we hiked for about two hours in search of rocks. I wish I could capture the journey in words but it’s impossible really. Let’s just say that I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time as we slid down muddy hills, fell into rivers and watched the hole in my jeans grow bigger and bigger all the while. With roughly 80 other students, it’s a miracle that no one got seriously injured. Even though the hike was a blast, it was a relief to finally be done; especially knowing that our next destination was the Papallacta hot springs. The water there was absolutely wonderful, but I hadn’t brought a change of clothes so that put another interesting twist on the trip when I returned to my apartment in Quito wearing mud soaked running shoes (with no socks), borrowed black cotton pants that were WAY too tight, and carrying my destroyed jeans that I didn’t want to put in my backpack with my other stuff. It was a great adventure and Julie and I are thinking of assembling a group to travel to Baños next weekend for yet another escapade! The pictures I’ve added are some pre-chiva shots (the second one is with Sam), Pichincha, and the sad reality of my once favorite jeans. ¡Ciao Amigos!

A word on my shower, Otavalo and developing my taste buds…

While studying abroad here in Ecuador, there are many things I could choose to fear. Some examples include, the car-repairmen I pass everyday on my way to the bus who consistently yell things like “¡Mamacita!” and whistle, the three buses I take to school (usually filled about three times over capacity), the biggest earthquake in recorded history (according to my Vulcanología professor) that could strike at any second, an eruption from one of the dozens of volcanoes throughout the country, or possibly developing any number of diseases such as dengue fever, malaria or just getting sick with dysentery. Of all these things, however, there is nothing that I fear more than my shower. It’s important to note that the water for the showers in Ecuador is generally heated by gas and my gas tank happens to be right where I can see it in the shower; the only thing separating it from me being a thin glass door. This wouldn’t be too scary if I didn’t have to light it with a match every morning, smell the gas and watch the flame rise and fall while I bathe, but unfortunately this is what I must sacrifice to maintain an acceptable level of hygiene. The good news is that I’ve gotten used to it over the past few weeks and if I happen to die in a massive explosion, well at least it’s a unique way to go!

Moving on, I took an amazing trip to Otavalo on Saturday with Julie and Angela. We decided, kind of at the last minute, to go for the day in order to do a little shopping because there was supposed to be a festival and other students from Oregon had gone the day before to spend the night. Otavalo is in the Sierra about two hours north of Quito and is extremely well known for having one of the best markets in all of Ecuador. On the bus, Angela met an old man from Otavalo who introduced us to his entire family once we arrived. His daughter, Tatiana, showed us around the city all day and helped us with bargaining etc… The market was so massive and so full of wonderful clothing, jewelry and other crafts that I was pretty overwhelmed at first from wanting to buy everything! In the end I left with an alpaca sweater, alpaca socks an alpaca scarf and about five necklaces made from seeds of the Oriente. The highlight of Otavalo, however, turned out to be a surprise encounter with a particular person who also decided to go shopping on Saturday. Shortly after arriving in the city, we noticed that everyone was flocking to a certain area, so we walked over just in time to see Rafael Correa (President of Ecuador) strolling through the crowd with some friends and a very large security team. After struggling to get a good picture, he turned to Julie, Angela and me, and said, “Hola Chicas”. It was, needless to say, a pretty cool experience for us three newcomers to Ecuador.

On Sunday I woke up expecting to just do homework all day, but when I wandered into the kitchen I found Maritza fully dressed and telling me that we were going out for breakfast in ten minutes! After scrambling to get ready, we met up with her sister, Lucia, and family and then went to an indoor market somewhere in the Quito. There, I anticipated we’d be having something along the lines of coffee and bread, so you can imagine my surprise when a big bowl of soup consisting of potatoes, cilantro and the lining of a cow’s stomach/intestines (not exactly sure which) was placed in front of me. I tried one bite of the meat, but it was a little much for me at nine in the morning. My family was nice about it though, and Maritza promptly moved me over to another booth where I downed a tall glass of green juice that had a raw egg blended in. So far, Sunday has been my only somewhat strange food experience, but it was funny more than anything else. Later in the day, Maritza’s mom (AKA the sweetest woman alive) came in from Guayaquil to stay with us and we chatted for a while, only to be interrupted once by a minor earthquake. All in all, it’s been a pretty eventful couple of days I’d say! The photos I posted include the picture of me in the paper from last Monday, Rafael Correa, Angela, Julie and me in Otavalo and the view out my window including Cotopaxi. ¡Hasta Pronto! ¡Una linda día mis amigos! 

Places to Go-Sights to See

It’s 9:00 AM on a Monday and I’m so tired and bored right now! My class schedule got completely switched around so I only have one class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00-2:30. I am now taking Advanced Spanish, North and South: Process of Colonization, Advanced Conversation, Volcano Studies and Social Problems in Ecuador. Even though the times of my classes are a little weird, I’m pretty happy with them. Especially the volcano class because we get to go on a lot of field trips to the highlands, coast and rainforest. 

To backtrack a bit, the last few days have been really fun. Last Thursday I went out with my host sister, Maritza, and her boyfriend to some of her favorite spots in the Mariscal. The Mariscal is the center of nightlife in Quito. There are always tons of people there and a lot of gringos. I went out Friday night as well with a bunch of other students from USFQ (including three students from Ecuador). That was a good time too because Ecuadorian boys don’t let the girls pay for anything! On Saturday, Julie, Angela and I participated in El Correr de Las Iglesias. 

The race started at 7:00 PM and it was a struggle to get there because we had to walk from Julie’s house, to Angela’s house, to my house so I could change before we sprinted to the race and were still about fifteen minutes late. It worked out fine though because we decided to take a little short cut of about two kilometers and ended up running with the leaders in no time! The race was definitely the most exciting thing I’ve done here so far. There were over 4,000 runners, bands on every other block and fireworks going off from the finish line. Although we ended up speed walking the majority of the way because of the altitude, whenever we saw a big crowd of spectators approaching we would step up the pace so people would think we’d been doing that the entire way. There’s going to be a marathon and half marathon at the end of November so I’m thinking that if I start training now I might have a shot at it. After the race I went to a see Rush Hour III with Julie’s family at the mall and then crashed at around midnight. 

All the pictures I’ve posted are from the tour of the historical district that the Oregon group took yesterday. It was so amazing to see what a beautiful city I’m now living in. The basilica was probably the coolest thing we toured all day. To get to the top we first had to climb an insane number of staircases and then three VERY steep ladders which creaked a little and at times had just enough space available for someone to slip through if they weren’t careful. Also at the basilica, some of us got the chance to see the tombs of three former presidents of Ecuador! Overall I’d say it was a good weekend, but I’m looking forward to getting out of Quito for a while. I guess that’s all for now cause I have to get ready to head out to la Universidad. ¡Hasta Lluego¡

P.S. I wrote this post yesterday and found out later in the day that there is a picture of me in the paper (El Comercio) from when I was at the Mariscal with my sister! I´ll take a picture of it and post it once I have it!