Friday night, the 5 of us English Ed folks (the Lit Clique, if you will) met up at Mary and Dani’s place with all our stuff. From there, we crammed into a taxi and I’m sure the taxi driver thought we were drunk or something (we weren’t) because we were being so silly. Our excitement was practically tangible in that taxi – we had been waiting for this day for so long. I kept saying how I wanted to find a monkey-slave to carry all my luggage and we were talking about how ridiculous we were all going to look in our rainforest gear.

We get to the Esmeralda bus station where we met the rest of the group – 17 total of student teachers, teachers from CM and some of their friends. We stow our big backpacks in the bottom of the bus and pile on for the long haul. And boy, was it long. 8 hours long. The bus was pretty nice and we all got to sit fairly close to each other but it didn’t really matter because we “slept” most of the time. The bus left Quito at around 11 p.m. and we arrived in Lago Agrio at 6:30 a.m. I say “slept” because it was a challenge to do – what with the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie going on, or afterwards the loud, incessant beat of the reggaton/salsa music playing through the speakers. The music completely confuses me. Who wants to listen to that while they’re trying to sleep? Obviously, they know we are trying to sleep because they’ve turned off all the light in the bus… chalked it up to one of Ecuador’s mysteries (thank goodness I had my iPod).

Aaron was my bus buddy on the way down there which was good – he’s skinny and is scare to touch girls (haha, jk). I think pretty much all of us tossed and turned on the bus, trying to get as comfortable as possible on the seats as well as trying to get comfortable with drastic variety in temperature – first cool, then hot, then A.C. cold.

Finally we arrive in Lago Agrio, an oil town about 4 hours away from our destination. Kelly, the CM woman who organized the trip, scared the begeeshes out of me about this town. She said that this was no tourist town by any means and to make sure and watch our stuff carefully. The bus dropped us off directly at the nicest hotel there where we had breakfast. Oh man, and it was so good. Best tasting scrambled eggs, bread and coffee I’ve ever had (and I don’t drink coffee). We sat around, taking turns going to the bathroom to freshen up and waiting for our next bus. Mostly we watched our surroundings.  The town was a sad little place – very industrial looking with run-down buildings. Most of the people were your average Ecuadorians or – ironically – tourists, obviously on their way to the rainforest as well. I think some were gringos but I believe others were perhaps from another Spanish-speaking country, and from Germany.

Our bus sent by the lodge finally shows up around 8ish and off we go into the jungle. I’m sad to say but by this time, I was in terrible pain. I had a pounding headache and my stomach was not at all happy with me – so much for the wonderful scrambled eggs and coffee. For the next 2 hours I just tried to bear the pain and tuned in and out of our tour guide’s explanations. He said that we were currently on the “toxic trip” to the forest – from the rainforest all the way to the coast were oil pipes. You could actually see these rusted large pipes running through large cow fields or through the forest with palm trees scattered about.

He went on to explain the history of the area. (I’m doing this from my memory so I’ll try and be as accurate as possible) The Ecuadorian government was realizing how crowded other cities and other areas were getting so they decided to relocate people to the rainforest – with such rich foliage they thought that they would have some success at agriculture. They actually dropped people down in the rainforest in helicopters. Well, turns out it wasn’t such a great idea. The soil isn’t very good at all, surprisingly, for crops. This is why along the way we kept seeing open fields sporadically – these are places were their failed attempts.

Another problem with the people living in the rainforest was that the communities didn’t have any skilled laborers of any kind –they had a very hard time getting simple things. He had specific reasons for why the education was so poor, which unfortunately I forgot. Suffice it to say, not only are the inhabitants poor but they are also poorly formally educated.

Most of the scenery was jungle, fields, cows, and family shacks with their laundry hanging out to dry. We passed through an even sadder, smaller town than Lago Agrio that had decorations out for Carnival – I felt like I was in last scene of the movie “To Wung Foo, Thanks for Everything,” where the town is basically just one main dusty street of stores and yet they have festive decorations up that look strange next to the dull brown colors of the town.

Finally we got to the edge of the reserve where we signed in. Then we piled our luggage in these long, narrow, motorized canoes; we piled ourselves in as well – 2 people to a bench.

Our little boat for the next few days

We took 2 hours meandering down this Amazonian river searching for wildlife. The first thing we saw was the butterflies. Big, electric blue butterflies which stand-out so drastically against all the brown and green kept floating by. They move so fast it was hard to get a picture which is such a pity; they’re so beautiful.

A view of the jungle from our boat

Soon enough, we saw our first sighting of monkeys. Throughout the trip, we saw many monkeys several other times but nothing compares to that first time – just the excitement and realization that holy crap, I’m in the freakin’ AMAZON RAINFOREST and I’m watching monkeys play and jump from tree to tree in their natural habitat. It’s an unreal feeling. I wish I could remember all the information our guide told us – it’s just impossible to remember because I was so inundated with so much info. I do remember one of the types of monkeys we saw was called a “titi” monkey.

We traveled down the river a little bit more just taking in the sunshine and the breeze from the speed. We kept scanning the lush trees looking for sloths, birds, monkeys and jaguars. We scanned the river looking for anacondas, pink nosed river dolphins or fish. We were hopeful and desperate to see as much as we could.

Finally we stopped the boat and our guide pointed to the very tops of some trees – there were saw the most beautiful birds, McCaws.

The birds are at the top of the palm trees in the middle; there are 2 pairs of them

These birds are big bright blue and green creatures that mate for life. If one of their mates dies, they never find another. As we were studying these birds, we heard some noises. Our guide said they were howler monkeys – the biggest monkeys in the Amazon. That was a cool moment.

After traveling down the river we came to the Big Lagoon (Laguna Grande). Kelly had told us that 3 weeks ago the entire lagoon was dried but now, it was completely filled. I literally cannot imagine how this lagoon could ever ever be completely dried – it was so huge! All around the edges of the lagoon (keep in mind we couldn’t see it in its entirety) were these beautiful trees – much different from the trees that were on the edge of the river.

La Laguna Grande

We were only in the Big Lagoon for about 10 or so minutes when we finally arrived at the lodge. We drove right up to the muddy shore and climbed the wooden steps to the main lodge. There we were greeted by Alberto; he was handing out lemonades to everyone. I knew then that I would really, really like this place. We took our lemonade and went under the shade of the large thatched hut to lay in one of the 5 hammocks. I kept joking that I thought they spiked the lemonade or something. I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed and peaceful. It was utter bliss … as cheesy as it sounds. It’s the true.

En mi hamaca

Surprisingly, I felt that peaceful even in the sweltering heat. They said that it was the hottest it’s been in a long time – for us, it felt just like August in Georgia. Well above the 90’s and thick with humidity. So we decided to go swimming in the lagoon to cool off. Our guide and boat driver took us out to the middle of the lagoon and we jumped right in. The water is a strange combination of cold and warm. The cold is the currents that come from the Andeans and the warm is the rest of the lagoon water that gets the sun all day. If you floated at the top, you would only get the warm water. If you kept moving you would get the best of both worlds. The water was pretty deep (though not impossible to find the bottom – one of the guides got a rock to prove it can be done. However no one in HELL wanted to try it). It was deep enough that we had to keep treading water and soon enough we were exhausted (as if we weren’t already) so we decided to head back. But of course, not before the boat driver made jokes about seeing an anaconda.

I should mention, the 17 of us was not the whole group. The other teachers and friends of teachers were coming by plane (they had heard about the long, restless bus ride) but they were expected to be at the lodge until 3. By the time they showed up, we were lounging on the deck chairs in the sun, drying off our bathing suits and drinking cervasas. I’m telling you – living the dream.

Later Kelly put us in groups with names like the Jaguars or the Anacondas  (there were 4 groups with about 8 per group – large group of teachers, eh?). All the girl student teachers were put in one group and we were called the Mona Mujers – the Monkey Women! We also met our guide and boat drive for the entire trip – Daniel and Nasario. She also assigned rooms – me, Mary and Dani had a hut in the back of the compound with, thank heavens, our own little nice bathroom and shower.

The huts were absolutely charming.

Our rainforest hut

Also thatched with an open-air design. There were bamboo shutters covering the openings (windows) in the main room which also held 3 twin beds. Hovering over the beds were our mosquito nets – Kevin said that he when he set his up for the night he felt like he was in a Victorian marriage bed. In our bathroom was another “window” looking into the jungle; you could barely make out the water of the lagoon past the trees. Let me telling you, there is something a bit strange but thrilling about peeing in a bathroom with tiles on the floor, 4 walls (well 3 and a shower curtain) and a ceiling, yet feeling like you’re still outside too.

After we got settled in, we went out for a sunset ride in our boat. We tried to see pink-nosed river dolphins but we could only see places where they once were out of the water. Apparently, these dolphins are freaky looking and it’s hard to get a chance to see them. I learned that they can’t see underwater and they use sonar to find their prey.

Our first sunset in the Amazon (you can make out one of the other groups' boat)

Swimming in the lagoon

After we watched the beautiful sunset, everyone started to jump in the water. Our boat didn’t know we were going to swimming so we decided to all jump in with our clothes. Only in the Amazon once, right?

Afterwards, we went back to the lodge for dinner. For every meal, there were multiple courses and you never knew what you were going to get – we always were sitting there literally on the edge of our seats wondering. 90% of it was absolutely amazing. I think the only times I didn’t like something was when they served something that I don’t eat, like beans. One day we had some beef with this mushroom cream sauce over it. Another time we had almost crystallized fried potatoes – very difficult to explain; I’ve never had anything like it. But it was so good. And I tried ceviche for the first time.

Ceviche and popcorn = good stuff

YUUUM. I believe that is Ecuador’s most well-known dish (I don’t know if that’s official but I do know that it’s a very popular typical dish here). I’ve heard ceviche described as a soup-salad. The kind I had was tuna and it is similar to a soup but it’s not thin enough but neither is it thick enough to be called a stew. The kind I had was seasoned with lemon juice and cilantro. Ceviche is typically served with popcorn and you’re supposed to put it in your bowl and eat it together.

After a delicious and cozy dinner (the lighting was dimmed and each table had a candle lit in the middle) us Monkeys went out for a night boat ride. It was so much fun and a bit creepy at the same time. Here we are in the middle of a huge lagoon surrounded by random trees and our boat guide is perfectly comfortable maneuvering around in the pitch-black dark. Think about it – there is nothing really around for miles that has a significant amount of light. I kept getting this urge to dip my fingers in the water because it was so peaceful but at the same time I got this image of caimans trying to bite off the tips of my fingers. Caimans were one of the things we were on the search for. We eventually found a baby caiman hiding in some trees. You can spot them by the reflection of their red eyes off our flashlights. We also saw some night birds this way.

My favorite thing about this boat ride (and quite possibly on this whole trip) was seeing the stars. Everyone should see stars like this at some point of your life. I felt like Simba in the Lion King when his father shows him the stars. I have never seen so many in my life. I felt like I was in a planetarium; it felt so unreal. The stars looked so close I felt like I could have stretched out my hands and touch them. Once again, I remember looking at the stars (I couldn’t stop looking) and thinking about how amazed I was at how ridiculously relaxed I was.

Once we got back to shore, we were completely read for our beds. I tucked in my mosquito net and immediately conked out. I can’t remember the last time I had slept so hard.

Today has been a long, bad day. I think I’ve spent about half of it hiding and crying in the bathroom. Guess it’s good the kids are just watching a movie today.

Stay tuned for my entry about the rainforest. I’ve been so busy I haven’t even started writing it but I need to soon. There’s so much I want to say and I don’t want to forget.

The feeling of festivities is in the air! All the kids are jacked up on sugar thanks to Saint Valentine and then added to that is the excitement of being out of school for a long 5 day weekend for Carnival.

A big group of high school boys were just walking around campus serenading girls. Oh, to be a high school girl in Ecuador! One high school girl apparently got 40 roses today! Even my 6th graders are a-buzz with “romance” sending girls roses.

It’s funny. Valentine’s day is not as commercialized (roses are only $1 for 25 on the streets) as it is back home but the guys seem to be more open about doing sweet things compared to guys of the same age in the States. Oh, Amor.

I’m even caught up in the festive air. Going to the Amazon jungle this weekend for 4 days! We keep calling it fat camp because it sounds like some hardcore camp where we do weird things to get in shape. We have an itinerary and we’ll be put in different groups. Wonder who’ll be the Biggest Loser…?

P.S. It finally occurred to me to link other people’s blogs (on the right hand side) on my blog. So link me too! 😀

P.S. S. GRADUATION DAY: According to my school’s website I graduate May 13, 2010 @ 3 p.m.

This week has actually been much better than last (thanks for all the encouragement by the way – it really has been nice to hear all those things). I only taught one lesson this week but instead of teaching my one lesson for one day, I taught it throughout the week to different classes. I even taught another teacher’s 6^th grade class. And we had grammar this week and ironically enough, I love those days because the kids need help doing their worksheets. The grammar is not entirely hard, it gives me practice trying to explain and steer the kids in the right direction (not always an easy task) but mostly because I don’t feel useless and I get to interact with my kids. This week has also been a bit easier because I just accepted it all – it is what it is. I can’t fight it; I’m just going to do the best I can.

Friday morning we went and got our censos! I’m a proud censo owner. A censo is… yeah, we don’t really know exactly. We just know we need one if we don’t want to pay the Ecuadorian government $200 when we try to leave the country (as opposed to $14). Really, it’s an I.D. that says we have a student travel visa without having to carry around our passports. Although technically it’s not a really big thing – we have to have it – it’s still exciting to have our own Ecuadorian I.D. Too bad I HATE my picture. As far as the office where we had to get it – nothing extraordinarily interesting. It felt kind of like a DMV.

Then Friday night we decide to try some authentic Ecuadorian cuisine at a restaurant in Plaza Foch called “Mama Spoon” or big spoon (I can’t remember the Spanish name). It’s an adorable, small, and cozy little place and the food was great. I ordered grilled chicken with the traditional potatoes – they’re sorta like mashed potatoes but not. They’re yellow and usually mashed into a circular pattern and fried in a pan. In the inside is some kind of cheese. It also came with salad which is the typical salad – avocado slice, thinly sliced carrots and onions on plain lettuce. Mmm. It makes me hungry just writing about it all.

While we were there, they had some musicians performing. There were 2 guys and each was playing a flute and a mandolin-looking thing at the same time. The flutes were hooked on them like you would a harmonica and the mandolin-type instrument is a traditional Ecuadorian instrument. The music was beautiful. They played one traditional Andean song that Aaron said Paul Simon used exactly for one of his songs. Go figure.

Afterwards we decided to go out. Why not? We were in Plaza Foch. We wanted to do karaoke but the place was so packed there was nowhere to sit and there were no songs in English. While Athena was trying to find some songs for us to sing, she started talking to some Ecuadorian guys (we are pretty sure they’re gay but of course you never know for sure and it didn’t really come up in conversation). They invited us out to go dancing. We end up at this place simply called “Discotec.” We go in and it’s this medium-size space CROWDED with people. The reggaton is blasting through the speakers.

Let me just say, I love reggaton. It’s a combination of reggae, hip-hop, and salsa. It’s just good-fun dance music and the people here love it. They even play Coldplay on the radio with a salsa flare to it.

So we’re dancing, having a good time and our new Ecuadorian friends are teaching us how to salsa and dance to the reggaton. Then one of my KSU girl friends grabs my arm and starts dragging me. I figure out it’s to a tiny little stage in the corner. We go up there and join the other masses dancing on the stage – we can breathe a little easier; it’s not so crowded. WELLLLLL. Little did we know but we just accidentally joined in a salsa competition. So me and 3 other KSU girls are up with there with 6 other beautiful Ecuadorian women. Well, one by one the crowd BOOS off the Ecuadorian women except one. I was floored! These women have been dancing salsa their whole life! There’s something about being a gringa here. I don’t know. Maybe it’s like when we hear a British guy talk back home. I made it all the way till the final 2 rounds but 2 of my friends stayed up and one even won! It was such an odd random experience but we had a good time.

Saturday morning we woke up to get ready for Mitad del Mundo – center of the world. One of the teachers who lives in Mary & Danielle’s apartment complex came along with me and Aaron so the 5 of us crammed into a taxi. The taxi driver said he would drive us there for $5 each – completely cut down on our travel time. 30 minutes versus an hour and a half.

We get to Mitad and it’s completely touristy. Ironically, I think we were the only white tourists though. However, we did go on a gray day with the promise of rain (finally) on the horizon. There’s not actually much there to be perfectly honest. There’s a monument to mark the “equator” and a red line.

Look, Ma! I'm on the equator.

There are statues around and flowers and building with pretty murals. Then towards the back are tourist shops that sell the typical Ecuadorian things – handmade handbags, scarves, alpaca blankets and sweaters, Ecuadorian blouses, panama hats (I bought one and I totally look bad-ass in it. Best $10 I’ve spent while I’ve been here). For a tourist place though, everything was surprisingly cheap. I got 2 pairs of earrings and a bracelet for $3.50.

One of the shops.

I really wanted to keep shopping and looking around but of course, the guys wanted to forge ahead.

We were heading out of the park, for lack of a better phrase, when we saw all these people dressed up in traditional garb. Turns out it was a parade. It seemed that each age group had a different costume.

The youngest group of girls.

After all the girls (and a couple guys) in their various traditional outfits walked past, then the bands started coming. They were incredible to watch. Imagine 30 drums pounding at the same perfect tempo. My favorite was the group of xylophones. The girls were all wearing matching band uniforms and marching in perfect unison as they banged on their instruments in sync. The parade really made Mitad del Mundo come alive.

The bands were from various schools in Ecuador.

We had heard there was a solar museum having something to do with Incas and we all really wanted to go. Problem was we didn’t know specifically where it was. As I keep saying while here: Esta una aventura todo el tiempo (it’s an adventure all the time). We walk a ways in the misty rain till we finally find the museum.

The entrance to the Solar Museum

We have to walk down a dirt road and in the distance we see the museum – it looks like a quaint version of a putt-putt place from far away.

There are these pathways in the center (which is outside) and scattered around are thatch huts and statues.

A pathway leading to different huts.

We stop at a thatch hut and get ourselves an English speaking guide (yaaaaaay!) He takes us from hut to hut explaining the importance of all the places. The first place we go to is a long hut with 2 doors on either side. (It kind of reminded me of a Native American hut that I’ve visited before – what are those things called? Long houses…? Are those Indians from Illinois…?) The doors are for the energy to pass through. Also, 1 door is closest to community, the other to the rain forest. The guide said that 4 families live in the hut – one in each corner.

The main thatch hut.

The next place he took us to was the kitchen. There they made their food and their grain-based alcohol. They always put their pots on 3 stones to signify the mother, father and children. They also had special pets there. These pets were able to pick up energy – most times they would be quiet but if there was bad energy in the kitchen they would start to squeal. Wanna know what these animals are? Guinea pigs.

Cuy, pronounced quee, meaning guinea pig!

And oh yeah, they also eat them (I was disappointed I did not get an opportunity while there to try it but darn it, before I leave I’m eating me some guinea pig!) In the corner the guinea pigs had a fenced in area we got to peer down in – they started squealing immediately. We must bring bad energy.

The next house we saw was the living room. There are also 2 doors to this house and in the middle of the 2 doors is a bench. If I understood our guide correctly, the guests were supposed to sit on the bench and allow their bad energy to leave them before coming into the house. On one side of the house was their bed. It looked similar to an 1800’s Little House on the Prairie-type of bed – wooden with ropes to hold up the mattress. Hanging around the bed was dried plants to keep away diseases and mosquitoes. The guide said that the mom, dad and children would sleep together in the bed (which was not that big) until the kids turned into teenagers. Then the teenagers would sleep upstairs in the attic. He also said that they don’t have sex in house but outside to be closer to Mother Earth where it’s more fertile.

The family bed

On the other side of the house was a smaller kitchen. He showed us some of their cooking utensils and one of them was the Mama Spoon – just like the restaurant we went to Friday night! I love when things connect like that.

He also showed us some traditional dress that was on display. He said they dressed in very colorful clothes. There was also a mask and he went on to explain something about Corpus Cristi – the combination of Christianity and their native religion. There were also mirrors on the clothes to signify when the natives saw the mirrors on the conquistadors. They thought that the mirrors would steal their energy so they gave away their diamonds, gold and silver because they thought they were getting their energy back.

The next place we saw was my favorite. There he talked about a tribe in the rainforest that made shrunken heads.

On the left is an animal head, on the right a human head.

How cool is that? He explained that the reason they did that was for 1) to get the bad energy out of their enemies and 2) to keep the knowledge from the wise men who died. The guide went through the steps on how to make a shrunken head so I’m an expert now. Who wants to be my first victim? They cut off the head and take out all the insides – skull, brains. Then they boil the heads and it shrinks. Then they sew up the mouth, the eyes and the nose so no energy gets out. Lastly, they braid the hair. Since the 1950’s it’s been illegal to do so now the tribes (who still live in the rain forest) now make the shrunken heads out of animals.

Be nice to me. I have instructions on how to make you into a necklace.

In this same hut, he showed us a dead anaconda. CREEEEPY. That thing was huge. They get to be up to 20-30 meters long. We also saw a spider that looked like a tarantula but is actually called something else. And then we saw the penis fish. This is a fish that actually looks like a long white 3-D plant leaf or something. It starts off skinny, gets about an inch or so wide and then tapers off again and it’s about 5 inches long. The reason it’s called a penis fish is if you pee in the Amazon river, it will find your urine and as our guide said “go up the source.” Now they have medicine for it but a while back you would just die from it. Moral of the story: always pee behind a tree.

Spider, huge-ass earth worm, penis fish and the big daddy anaconda

Afterwards, our guide took us to a tomb replica. There they had lower part decorated with shells – different colors represent the male and the female. On a type of shelf they had bowls laid out where they would put food for the spirits to eat. Off to one side was a huge urn where they would fill it with their special alcohol. The mound on the outside would be round to represent the belly of pregnant woman – all goes back to fertility and Mother Earth.

The next part of the tour was about the actual Equator. Mitad del Mundo, where the monument is, is where they thought the equator was until about 30 years ago. Compasses and maps just can’t compete with GPS. So the museum is at the real place so we were able to do the experience on the actual equator. Too bad that we were at a solar museum and it was now raining completely (as opposed to stopping and starting as it was earlier) so there were a couple things that we were unable to see. But we were able to see how the water doesn’t spin in a drain directly on the equator but on the north side it spins one way, and on the south side it spins another. Also on the equator, your resistance is down. We watched the guys line up on the equator and look like little sissies when the guide pushed down their arms.

The boys about to get served by a little thing called the Equator.

Also on the equator your balance is messed up. He had us walk foot to heel on the line with our arms out and eyes closed. It was much harder to do and it was pretty funny to watch the other people try to do it. That’s why they can’t do the type of sobriety test that they do in the States. We also tried to balance an egg on a nail – none of us could do it.

You're supposed to put your thumbs up to the sun to absorb the energy.

The last place he took us was the gift shop but there they actually make all their things – we watched a man work on a beautiful tapestry on a loom. Our guide said that they started teaching this artwork to boys at a very young age so that they would be able to remember the complicated patterns.

A tapestry depicting Mother Earth

Afterwards we grabbed a taxi backwards and we must have been very funny to our driver. 5 drenched Americans squished in a taxi and falling asleep on each other.

Our plans for Saturday night was to go to Mary’s CT’s party he was throwing but we had heard that it was cancelled because they were cutting off the water in certain places in Quito (you never know what’s going to happen in this place. That’s a 3^rd world country for ya). So we went our separate ways. We were tired, cold and dirty anyways. I was disappointed about it though.

I decided to watch some movies on my sofa when later I saw a really tall guy in this Asian wide-brim hat playing a wooden flute walk through the door to the garage-studio. Apparently Pablo had a new hat for the current weather (he said his friend got it for him from Brazil).

He invited me to come hang with them in the studio so later I went and listened to them play their experimental electronic music. In my head, I created stories to match the music. I teased them later that sometimes they ruin my stories though. After they finished playing they invited me to go eat hamburgers with them – I was just surprised to find out that there’s something open at 9 on a Saturday!

They take me to a place called Rusty’s Hamburgers. Their icon is Rusty – a sort of version of the KFC Sander’s guy, complete with a crazy long mustache. Only difference is, Rusty is still alive. And he took my order. Pablo told me that Rusty used to work for Wendy’s and came down to Ecuador and opened his own place. Pablo used to go there as a boy. As I placed my order (with the guys snickering at my Spanish behind my back), Rusty asked if I wasn’t sure if I didn’t want a homemade milkshake or apple pie as well. I told him to let me finish my food first and see if I had room. He said I didn’t have to wait in line because at Rusty’s, they take care of their redheads (he used to be one apparently).

As we ate our hamburgers (which had bright florescent orange cheese on it) we talked about movies, their jobs, books, 2012, music, their band. 3 of the 4 guys work with film and apparently one guy got commissioned by the government to make a fiction film. He said it was a little nerve-racking. Told him if he need a redhead to let me know. All and all it was a good conversation – even though it wasn’t 100% clear all of the time. They would go back and forth between Spanish and English but I was able to pick up on the gist of the Spanish conversations thanks to my ever growing vocabulary, the beauty of how many Spanish words sound similar to English or French words, and of course, useful hand gestures.

Then Pablo dropped me back off at my place. End of a darn good day.

Couple more random pictures:

Being 2 places at once

Oh, to be the cheesy tourist.

Mom was asking about what I did every day— just my regular routine – so I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog about that (I don’t know how fascinating it will be but here ya go).

I wake up every morning around 6:30 to Spanish pop music on my Cinderella alarm clock. I wash my face, straighten my hair, get dressed (which goes SO MUCH quicker than at home – I have such a small wardrobe here!) etc. I’m usually done around 7. I go out my door and am greeted my mi madre y mis hermanas. Jime is in her room doing her daughters’ hair – oh and I’m sure you can imagine all the bows, headbands and barrettes, Mom.

I go downstairs to the kitchen and usually mi madre and the rest follow a few minutes later. In the kitchen, Al (mi padre) is fixing breakfast. Every morning he makes FRESH JUICE which I will really miss it when I go back home. He pulls my breakfast out of the toaster – bread with cheese. We eat, leave the dishes for the maid, and put all our backpacks in the trunk of the car.

We live in a neighborhood that is almost on the outskirts of Quito. It takes us 15 minutes in Jime’s car to get to school. We wave to the security guard on our way out of their gated community and we wave to the security guard as we drive into the school grounds. We park in a grass field and climb the stairs that are on side of a hill to get to the school. We get to the school at 7:30. I sit outside my classroom and wait for my collaborating teacher who usually gets off the faulty bus around 7:45. While I’m waiting, I get on the internet and talk to the kids who are pulling their books out of their lockers.

The school day starts at 8 and it’s pretty normal. I think the only difference is there are more breaks. Each class is 45 minutes. Sometimes we see a class for only 45 minutes but sometimes there are double blocks so I will see them for 90 minutes. There is a 5 minute break between these double blocks though which I like. Between 10:30-11 is another break. During that break the students grab snacks of potato chips, banana chips, donuts and cokes in one of the 2 snack areas. In the snack center in the cafeteria, they sell nachos, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, ice cream sandwiches etc. Teachers and students are milling around the campus, snacking and socializing.

Then from 12:30-1 is lunch. My CT and I shove the kids out of class and race to the cafeteria before the 5^th graders get there. The school lunch here is hit or miss. Some days it’s great, other days it’s scary. I point and use my fragmented Spanish to select what I want from the cafeteria people. Then I dig in my wallet to pay for it (it’s usually between $2-$3) – the lady at the register is incredibly nice, especially considering I usually have big bills and it’s a pain to find change.

After lunch we have planning, meetings or more classes depending on the day until 2:45 when school lets out. Teachers are required to stay until 3:45. The faculty buses leave around 4. Depending on how much planning we all have to do, eventually all us KSU folks find each other and lay on the school steps in the shade until it’s time to leave. I go home with my host family most days unless we student teachers decide to go to dinner or run some errands.

When I get home I usually will veg out in my room for a bit with the door open. I’ll write in my blog, do some more planning, practice Spanish or read. The girls are usually doing homework at this time but sometimes they’ll wander in to talk to me or show me something. I don’t think there’s a set dinner time in the house, I think it’s just usually when Al gets home from work around 6:30ish. Dinner varies – sometimes it’s a sandwich and some fruit and other times its soup, salad, rice and meat. Either way, it’s always good. Sometimes dinner is in the kitchen, other times it’s in the family dining room. It’s nothing really formal and it’s usually a quick affair because the girls have to get to bed soon.

After dinner, everyone gets ready for bed, including me. I’ll watch a DVD on my tiny personal TV close to my bed or read. Usually I’m in bed somewhere between 7:30 and 9.

So today we went to Papallacta today. Woke up at 6 to get ready. My family obviously wasn’t up yet so I was worried about getting a taxi. In Ecuador, Sunday is family day so not people are out on the streets. I didn’t know how safe it would be to be walking around at 6:30 in the morning and I didn’t know how frequent the flow of taxis driving past my house would be either. So I decided I’d ask the security guards at the front of my gated community. At first, after I asked, one of them said I could walk down the street and grab one. I asked, “Yes, but on a Sunday?” So he said he would call for me. I was so relieved. I can hail a taxi like a pro but on the phone they ask you a bazillion questions in fast Spanish. Yay for my nice security guards.

All 7 of us grab a bus that heads to a town called Pifa. We’re on this bus for 40 minutes till we stop in the tiny … town, for lack of a better phrase. We get off and all say to each other, “Where the hell are we?” More importantly, where is the bus that goes to Papallacta? We talk to a local and find out we have to walk back to where the other bus comes. Es une aventura. As we walk up the hill, we see a bus that says “Banos” on it. Aaron jokes, “Hey, y’all wanna go to Banos instead?” Well, then the busdriver yells out the bus, “Papallacta!?” Sweet. We found the right bus.

We ride on the bus another 40 or so minutes into the mountains and close to the rain forest. The weather turns cloudy and rainy. We get off the bus to find another tiny town. As soon as the idea of how in the world are we going to get to the actual hot springs, a man by a covered truck starts waving at us. Well, this is what the Lonely Planet book says to do so we hop on.

On the bus ride to the hot springs we couldn’t stop laughing. It was the bumpiest ride ever that it was just ridiculous. We were also relieved we found it so easily. And excited! We’ve heard so many great things about this place. After about a 5-10 minute ride we’re where the public springs are. There are also a couple hotels, hostels and restaurants. We decided because it’s raining we’ll wait it out and eat instead – we were starving. So at 10:30 I have breakfast of roasted chicken with an orange-ish sauce, rice and avocado salad. The others have fresh trout from the nearby river. They said it was delicious – it certainly looked it, all covered in butter and seasonings (I don’t eat fish). After stuffing ourselves we get a move-on, even though the rain hasn’t really let up.

Now it’s hard to describe the place we were at but I’ll try. Think about White Water – to be honest, it was a tiny bit like that, but a bit quainter. Bungalows with lockers and changing rooms under thatch roofs. Walk ways to all the various pools. They were man-made pools but they get the water from the natural hot springs. But even with the pools being obviously man-man we couldn’t help but notice the beautiful background – lush mountains covered in green, green trees and clouds hovering close.

Let me tell you besides it raining it is also FREEZING. Getting changed from my jeans, hoodie, socks and sneakers into flip-flops and bathing suit was no picnic. We are shivering absurdly as we walk from our changing rooms to one of the pools. We obviously pick the hottest one – steam is rising up from the water and beckoning us. We inch our way in and can’t help but exclaim at how hot it is; the drastic change in temperature makes our skin sting for a minute.

But only for a minute. After that, it is GLORIOUS. Glorious, I say. I don’t know what the deal is with these hot springs. When I talked to my family or the teachers at school about the trip they kept saying “Oh, you’ll love it. It’s so wonderful.” They couldn’t stop saying enough good things about it. I thought to myself, “Well, I’ve been in a hot tub before. I love hot baths. What’s the big deal about this?” Well, I still don’t know what makes it a big deal but it is. They say it’s good for your health and has healing powers; people drink the hot springs water (just not from the pool). So anyways, yes. It IS wonderful. It’s so relaxing – you can feel your pores open up and start to sing.

For a few hours we hop back and forth between the springs – each one has a different temperature. Then around 12:30 we start talking about heading back. It will take us about 2-3 hours to get back and we don’t want to get stuck anywhere when it’s dark and it’s a school night. Let me tell you, we talked about getting out of the springs for a long while but who would want to get out to get into the cold? It took every ounce of my willpower to get out.

The ride back home was pretty simple. We just grabbed the bus that was a straight shot back home. However, on the bus ride I was like jelly, like I had no bones. I was so relaxed and just so content. I must say, if I have to end the weekend and go back to school, this is the way to do it.

I should be writing my journal to my supervisors instead of writing a blog entry but I just can’t… it just seem daunting at the moment. And not as fun.

This weekend has actually been quite fun (and it’s not even over). Last night the ECE girls (the elementary student teachers) invited the rest of us girls over for dinner. Their place is very impressive. It’s in a nice apartment complex and in their apartment, one whole side of their living room wall is a window looking over Quito and the mountains (it’s actually pretty much the same view as Mary and Danielle’s).

We have a couple beers, play a few card games, talk, hang out. And sing. What girls’ night is not complete without the Dixie Chicks, Backstreet Boys, old school Destiny’s Child, LFO, Hanson, and the Spice Girls. Ohh yeah. It was that bad (or that good, depending on how you look at it). Fun stuff. And Claire is a great cook –marinated grilled chicken, salad and rice.

We also vented a tad about our frustrations and concerns at school. It was nice to know I was not the only one who felt a bit confused and flustered. And I enjoyed hearing the ECE’s funny stories about their little ones.

By 11, we were exhausted. Plain DONE. I crashed in Elena’s room which also has a fantastic view from the window. Well, at 7 a.m. that window woke me up – the sun streaming in bright and warm. I tried, I trrrrried so hard to sleep in but this country just won’t let me.

By 9:30, Elizabeth and I were hitting the pavement. Went to Elizabeth’s apartment first to change and grab some fruit.

Now, let me tell you about this fruit. I’ve never heard/seen it before and the name sounds something like “Texas.” The “shell” is a light orange cylinder with a thick but flexible skin; the inside is white. We split the skin in half with our finger nails and inside are these seeds covered in dark orange goo. It looks like you’re spooning out alien larva or something. To make it look even weirder, there are these 3 different areas inside that create a triangle. These areas are these white prongs that stick out all the way down the shell. Eating the fruit is a bit odd. But tasty. A bit sour.

We eat our strange fruit on the way to the bank, then wasted some time at a pastry place until a place with internet is open. At the pastry shop, I got an empanada pollo (chicken) and it was sooooo good. I can’t get enough of those things. I swear, by the time I come back to the States I won’t look like a redhead freckled girl. I’ll look like a golden delicious pastry shell with chicken and cheese inside me. I also got a pastry – light flakes of pastry coated with a little butter and sugar; the ends were dipped in chocolate. YUM. Oh, and to top it off we drank peach juice out of the carton like the classy ladies we are.

After breakfast we were stuffed and by that time, Pizzeria de Hornero was open. This restaurant is a local pizza chain all over Quito and they’re food is delicious. We couldn’t just bum off internet without getting something so I got the veggie pizza. Delicious – green peppers, corn and palm hearts. Elizabeth, Anna and I hang around stuffing ourselves some more, using the free internet and enjoying the glorious weather.

Eventually Kevin shows up and we decide to explore the city. Why not? Got nothing else to do (Elizabeth had to do some planning. Boo). So we start walking. Of course Kevin wants to stop in every DVD store they have here. And boy, do they have A LOT. Let’s just say the DVD’s here are cheap… suuuper cheap. Like 3 for $5 cheap. And let’s hypothetically say that I got Sherlock Holmes, Jennifer’s Body, Zombieland, My Sister’s Keeper, The Blindside, I Love You Man, Coco Chanel , The Proposal and the first season of the Office for $15. Hypothetically. And Mr. Obsessed with Films, Kevin himself, is beside himself in this country.

We find a cute used bookstore that sells books in English. They were closed when we walked past but surely they are cheaper than the books sold in the mall. Remember: wherever you move to, it’s always important to know where the closest used book store is.

One part of Quito we walked through was a street just lined with tons and tons of beautiful murals. On the other side, was a long wall of intricate graffiti. All very interesting visual but the problem was it smelled TERRIBLE. Literally like crap and pee. Sad that something so pretty was also so gross.

During our exploration, we also find a cute Cuban restaurant and a wings place. We eventually walk till we get to El Jardin, one of the malls. We’re so thirsty at this point we go in for a cold coke. There, we discover a fondue place, too.

Across from the mall is a beautiful HUGE park called Parque de Carolina. We find a shady green place under the trees to take off our shoes, lay down and rest. We sit and chat awhile, watching the people and dogs. Eventually we decide to explore the rest of the park. Sporadically are random statues, artwork, or monuments scattered throughout the park. My favorite was this stone mosaic piece of work where you walked up the 6 or so stairs to find 4 little seats on the top. Then you can walk down the other side.

We keep walking and in the distance we see something through the trees. Kevin and I argue about what it is. He thought it was a playground, I thought it was a bridge. Turns out we were both right in a way. It was a large man-made circular pool with a bridge across it. In the pool people were out on paddleboats. We had NO idea this was here in the park – and we’ve all passed the park many times before! It was very exciting to discover something else. Past the pool was a small fair –type area for kids. A ways down was a bike and skate park. We kept walking and walking and still the park kept going on. It’s pretty impressive.

Tonight I’m going to take it easy. All that walking and exploration wore me out. But it was exactly what I needed. A little exercise, I was out and about with interesting things to look at and see and Kevin was, as always, entertaining company.

Tomorrow we are going to Papallacta – the thermal springs. We were advised to get there early. Like leave Quito at 5 in the morning early. I’m excited. More traveling, finally!

***

Well, I had planned to literally do nothing but watch some of my movies last night. As I was finishing up writing the entry above mi madre, Jime, comes in and asks me to come down to dinner. I sit down in the dining room in my PJs to realize that we have guests for dinner (mi madre, and the girls were in their PJs too and dinner was really casual). So our guests were two guys – one is Pablo, who is Jime’s younger (cute) brother and the other one was one of the members of Pablo’s band (also cute). WELL CRAP. Here I am in my t-shirt that says “I have control issues,” no make-up and my hair all a-frizz. Whatever. The reason the guys were at the house was because they practice in Jime’s garage.

We have a nice dinner though, talking about foreign languages and Harry Potter. Some of my fave topics. It was nice to be a part of a grown-up conversation at home for a change (not that I don’t love my conversations with mis hermanas).

After dinner Pablo invites me to check out their music. Dani wants to go, too and I was glad because I don’t think I would have gone if Dani hadn’t wanted to go. Their band makes electronic pop and experimental music. Pablo has this really cool synthesizer –  it’s just this see-through box that has a bunch of dots on it. Somehow (I have NO idea how, it was way over my head) he programs the machine to make a bunch of cool sounds and beats. The other guy, I think his name is Juan, was the drummer and singer.

So they told me all about their music, how they make it, the song they were covering, their big, big venue they’re doing for Carnival etc. It was just nice to not only talk with grown-up, but grown-ups that didn’t have anything to do with school (as much as I love my KSU kids). It’s just nice to talk about something other than teaching, school or even site-seeing in Ecuador (I feel like sometimes us student teachers live in this bubble and we can only talk about things that occur in that bubble).  We even talked about all going out dancing sometime.

I wish that I played baseball. Going to a batting range sounds fantastic right about now. Let off some steam. Granted, even if I did play baseball… where would I find a batting range?

Leave comments on here. Email me. I constantly check my email. Find me on Skype. I’m always on. It’s my planning period right now and I’m already done with all my planning and grading.

Man, I miss Facebook.

I didn’t start this journal/blog to lie. So I’m going to be honest here. This week has been rough. There’s been some crying. I won’t tell you how much.

But it has to do with school. I’m just having a hard time finding my place.I’m trying to take the crumb and not look at the cookie.

It’s just difficult because every day I want to go and find a party of people and just have a distraction and some stimulation. I’m so bored sitting around for 8 hours. My friends are exhausted when I see them and I’m stirring and restless, ready for some entertainment. They’re ready for a nap.

I remember how I felt after I left my class last semester. On cloud 9. Even on a long, hard day, I felt like I had accomplished something. I felt like a teacher. I felt connected to my students, to the world. I love that feeling. Most days now, I don’t feel connected to anything. I’m just a little ghost wandering the hallways. It’s a little lonely.

So. Back to patience and praying.

Patience was something I needed today. I had a particularly bleeeeeeh kind of day and to cheer myself up I ask my host sisters if they want to watch “The Princess and the Frog.” Oh, they’re all over that. Well, Grandma says that we should watch it in Spanish to help me. I felt like screaming, “NO. I’ve been at work all day. I’m mentally exhausted. The last thing I want to do is try to figure out what’s going on for the next 2 hours and use my brain. I just want to watch this movie. I’ve wanted to watch it for a while.” But I didn’t say anything. I shut my mouth and tried my best to understand the movie.

I understand the gesture and I appreciate it. But sometimes I feel like people think that I’m trying NOT to learn. That I act like I don’t understand on purpose or something. Or that I’m stupid. I do speak another foreign language, thank you. And I am trying. Do they not realize how much it kills me that I don’t know the language and how I wish, I wish I could learn faster? But there’s only so much time and so many brain cells in a day.

So anyways, to compensate for the long weeks, I guess I’ll be a weekend warrior. Not that we did terribly much last weekend. Or that we’ll do any this weekend. We had planned to go to Mindo (cloud forest) this weekend but had to cancel because the school said we were going to get our censos (so we don’t have to carry around our passports). Well, today we get an email saying that the censo outing is cancelled, too. So. No plans. Of course we’re in a foreign country and we’re going to do SOMETHING but I can’t stand “take it easy” kind of weekends. I couldn’t stand them at home and I CERTAINLY can’t stand them here. Fun weekends are the only things that get me through the week it seems. Hopefully we can go to the censo office during the week so as to not loose the following weekend.

Okay, rant over.

On a happier note, it’s only a little more than 2 weeks until Carnival – which means the jungle trip!

So I must fill you in on the rest of my Academic Trip.

We finally tuck into bed around 10:30 at night in our cabins. Our cabin has about 10 double beds that have at least 4 THICK blankets on each one. Many of them were made of the material the indigenous make other things – like my handbag – very beautiful. I could see why you’d need that many blankets though. I was in my long sleeve shirt and hoodie buried deep in my sleeping bag with all those blankets over me. I even had my face down in the sleeping bag because it was so cold outside. But otherwise, I was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold.

But then there were the girls. Ya know, all 9 of them. They all wanted to sleep in one room. And they all do not know how to whisper (I can literally hear some of my friends say, “how ironic.” Shut up).  I even said it at some point of the night, “Why are you yelling?! You’re 5 inches in front of your best friend. Try this thing called whispering.” (I was yelling this – also ironic).

Finally the iPod came out. I went downstairs to go to the bathroom later and a girl said, “Uh! Why do you get to bring your iPod?” Whoops. I didn’t know that was a rule. But I’m not sorry. Why do you ask? WHY do I get to bring my iPod and you don’t? Because I’m an adult. And a chaperon. And I’m exhausted and I don’t want to listen to you while I desperately try to fall asleep. I win.  🙂

Finally the girls fall asleep. A loud part of a song woke me up to this realization. But later at 4 in the morning the girls are at it again – shouting. I mean really. I yelled at them. They eventually stopped and then the guides were knocking on our doors way too soon.

To be honest, sharing a cabin with them wasn’t as annoying as trying to find 9 6^th graders things. The guides are yelling at everyone to hurry up and the girls are taking their sweet time packing and getting ready. “Lindsey, can you help me find my mittens?” “Lindsey, I don’t know how to put my sleeping bag back in it’s case.” Eventually I walked out and said to the girls still looking for stuff, “I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know where your mitten is.”

I walk into the main lodge to find practically EVERYONE eating breakfast. Ugh. By now I was just plain irritated. So I indulged. Hot coco. Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and ham. Yogurt. Bowl of fresh fruit. Two rolls with homemade raspberry jam. That jam was heaven. If it wasn’t in an earthen bowl I might have seriously considered stealing it.

After we load all the crap into the bus (and I do mean all the crap), we take a hike through a meander. A meander, for you folks back home who don’t know, is a pathway that used to be a big, big river. It’s kinda like walking in a snake-shaped canyon, just not that big. Most of the kids were great; they were like little mountain goats. They about gave me and Jo a heart attack though walking so close to the Quilotoa caldera. They were just looking down into the big basin like it was no big. No drastic fall down to the bottom.

There were a couple kids though that I literally at this point could not walk beside. I wasn’t feeling so great myself. I was exhausted, the wind was blowing so hard that no matter what I put on my ears, they were killing me, and the altitude was giving me a massive pounding headache. So I just didn’t have as much patience as I might had in another instance. They were scared, whiney, asking if we could stop – the hike wasn’t even hard (and you know me, I’m not hiker). I was tired of their incessant whining (someone please make me a sign that says “NO WHINING ALLOWED” so I can put it in my classroom. A BIG sign).

In some parts the hike was really fun. Going down these little slopes the silt/sediment/sandy dirt was so fine that the only way you could do it was to almost ski down. Put your heel in and sliiiiide.

Me in front of the beautiful scenery we saw on the hike.

Finally we make it to the bus and we drive a while. Fine with me. I discourage a kid from sitting with me so I could stretch out and watch the scenery go by. The scenery going down the mountain wasn’t so beautiful as it was going up – lots and lots of dust and construction.

We drive for a couple of hours or so until we basically drive into a cloud. We get out and everything is misty. Foggy so you can’t see 20-30 feet in front of you. It was kind of cozy in a way – hard to describe.

See how misty it is?

Instead of seeing lots of scenery, we just saw the side of the mountain we were on. Which was rich with dark black mud and green, green plants – much of the field/side of the mountain was covered in this plant that almost looked like strawberry plants, but smaller and closer to the ground. I guess it reminded me of strawberries because of the white flowers (and I know this because I grew up with pots and pans decorated with those flowers).

The reason we were on the side of this mountain was so the kids could do some stupid math part of the academic project. Yeah, I said it. The math portion just seemed to be busy work – not real world related like the other subjects. So anyways, me and Jo are just hanging around while kids count plants or something.

Then we each hop a fence to go into an indigenous man’s sideyard. There, a man is sitting on a tree stump in front of make-shift benches. We sit on these benches as the man, Francisco, begins to hack into a block of wood. He uses all sorts of tools – machete-looking thing, a mallet, hammer… 15 minutes later that block of wood is a cat. In front of him are the rest of the masks he’s been working on throughout the day: monkeys, jefes (chiefs), devils, wolves, dogs, lions, coyotes, rams… The kids interviewed the artist, but only a tiny few seemed to actually inquisitive about the man and his work. I was fascinated. He worked so fast and created this beautiful mask so quickly. He said he had been doing the work for 15 years. CM supports his art by buying his masks and planting trees on his land.

Franciso, the mask maker

Which brings me to our next activity of the day. We drive a while longer till we stopped. We eat lunch and then go on a mountain slope to plant trees on the land. Francisco says he walks 2 hours to get to find the type of wood needed to create his masks. Once again, the kids just don’t seem to be really into it. They’re ready to go home. I’m ready to go home.

So finally we go home. I am dirty. Dee-irrrrty. And tired. And just absolutely ready to crash. I spend the rest of the night watching Dexter and falling asleep hard.