Road trip to....?

Yesterday Liz, Lisa and I took a little trip. I thought the plan was to go to the “real” equator in Mitad del Mundo (its supposedly past the two equators I’ve already been to in Mitad del Mundo) because I had e-mailed someone from the Quitsato project* and he gave me directions. But before I tell you where we ended up going, let me tell you how we got there. The plan was for me and Lisa (my new roommate) to pick up Liz in a taxi and then go to the bus station. Lisa and I successfully got a taxi and found Liz.
Then we told the driver we wanted to go to “estación Ofelia” (Ofelia station). He apparently did not here the “estación” part because he took us to the Ofelia neighborhood and tried to drop us off. We were like “hey dude, we want to go to the bus station.” At that point he thought he realized something and exclaimed “OOHHH” which was weird because that’s not and Ecuadorian thing to do, but ok maybe he has seen lots of English movies. I don’t know. Anyways he said “damos una vuelta” which is Ecua-Spanish for anything from taking a walk to taking a commercial break. But he meant it in the context of he’s going to drive around for 15 minutes and run up the meter until we say “hey, where the heck are you taking us.” After the little “vuelta” was finished he said “estamos aquí” (we’re here) and well we weren’t “aquí” We were actually anywhere but “aquí”. We were on some corner in the middle of a neighborhood where all of the inhabitants were just chatting on the street. We told him again that wanted to go to the bus station. His explained that this was the bus station (which is not true because I’ve been to Ofelia many times, it’s one of the biggest things in Quito). Once again I explained that I wanted to go to “Terrestre Ofelia” (bus station). And I get the “OOHHH” response again and then he tells me the bus station is closed on Saturday (also not true). Lisa and I were like “sure thing buddy” and we got out of the taxi. Since we didn’t exactly know where we were we asked all the locals who told us that we were at the bus station. Apparently we were at the only bus stop in Ofelia so according to them that is the bus station. Silly us, how did we not know that! They also kept telling us that the bus station is closed on Saturday, I’m not sure how a corner on a street can be closed but I’ll just take their word. Clearly we were not talking about the same place. But luckily we found a taxi driver who knew what we were talking about and finally took us there.
That was just getting to the bus station in Quito. We still hadn’t gotten to the real equator yet. Our directions to this place were kind of vague. The guy I e-mailed said to take a specific bus company that was going in the direction of Cayambe and get of a km 47. We talked to the bus driver and at first he didn’t know what we were talking about, but he said he would tell us when to get off. (another lie). As we were driving I noticed that we passed km 47 so we ran off the bus only to be left in the middle of no where. Seven months ago this would have freaked me out. But now that I’m skilled in Ecuadorian transportation (or at least experienced) I knew that if we really wanted to go back to Quito all we had to do was flag down a bus (and there were tons of them) and pay the $1 fair to Quito. I think Ecuador has this whole traveling by bus thing down pretty good. Back to the story, we were in the middle of nowhere walking down the road (like any good road trip movie) and we were trying to flag down taxis, but they were all full. Finally we found one. We tried to tell him where we wanted to go but apparently my pronunciation isn’t good enough and so he was really confused. After I showed him the directions I had written down, he promptly turns his car around and we’re off in the other direction.
Eventually we got to where our directions said. It was not at all where I thought it was, but it was pretty cool. We ended up at the Solar Clock in Cayambe. This is supposedly on the real equatorial line. Our guide said we could google earth it but I have yet to do that. He also explained the Quitsato project to us and told us that they want to educate the world on how the earth spins and stuff. They basically want to change the traditional orientation of N to E because that’s actually how the
W E N S earth spins and all that jazz. Plus
S W they hate the stuff that’s in Mitad del
Munda and they think it’s wrong to misinform tourists that it’s impossible to balance on the equator and that they are actually at the equator when the monument is like 200m away from the actual equator.

All said and done, it was quite an adventure and hopefully now I’ve fulfilled my dream of being in two hemispheres at once.



*Quitsato is a project that promotes education about the “real” equator and wants to get rid of the hokey museum that makes you think you can only balance an egg on the equator

Isla de la Plata

Colleen and I went to Puerto Lopez this week. We left on Sunday and took an overnight bus. After a really bumpy bus ride we arrived in Puerto Lopez at five in the morning. After napping for a while Colleen and I ventured out to fine food. Because it was a Monday and not high tourist season, everything was closed. Eventually we found a taximoto to take us to a restaurant and he had to convince the owners to put out a table for us.
Later on that afternoon we went to Las Friales beach which was absolutely beautiful and empty. Since Las Frailes is part of a national park so there are no stands or bars or anything where people can see things, it’s just beach goers and not many at that since its 10km away from Puerto Lopez. The beach is only open until four o’clock so we weren’t able to stay there long.
For dinner we ate at this amazing Italian restaurant called Bellitaliana, it was the best Italian food I have ever had. The restaurant is owned by an Italian woman and each night that we were there she was there. I’m not sure if she cooked or anything but she told us about the special dishes for each night. I only tried one dish- spaghetti Italiana (spaghetti with olive oil, basil, tomato and mushrooms) simple, but it was amazing.
Tuesday morning we took a boat ride to Isla de la Plata also known as the poor man’s Galapagos. It usually has all the same animals as the Galapagos but it wasn’t the right season to see sea lions or whales. But we got to take a short hike around the island and see blue footed boobies and magnificent frigates. Then afterwards we went snorkeling around the island. It was my first time snorkeling, I’m not really a fan of the actual snorkel and mask, because they make me feel claustrophobic but I like being able to see the coral and the fish. I saw some really cool bright blue fish and swam through
a whole bunch of schools of fish.
The tour of Isla de la Plata took the entire day and afterwards we had dinner and went to a little shack on beach to have drinks. Apparently this is how all the guides get their business because as we were about to leave they hounded us and tried to get us to go paragliding or snorkeling or whatever but we made tons of “friends” that night.
Wednesday morning we slept in and then went to Agua Blanca for the afternoon. Agua Blanca is a different park run by a community; it has a sulfur pool and ruins. We took a hike around the area but didn’t get a chance to see the ruins because they were closed or something. I was slightly disappointed about that but its not like they are world famous or anything so I don’t think I missed much. Since Agua Blanca didn’t take that long we went back to the beach and I hung out in a hammock all afternoon while Colleen went swimming. That evening we met up with Matt and Lizzy who had just arrived from hiking the Kilatoa trail. We went for Italian again for dinner then Colleen and I played cuarenta with some of the guides that live in Puerto Lopez in one of the shacks on the beach. It was nothing special but still a good time.
Thursday was our last day in Puerto Lopez and we went back to the beach and then took the evening bus back to Quito.

Que Viva Quito!

Hey Everyone!

  I know this is my first post in over a month, but my computer broke so its been difficult even checking my e-mail.

Enough chit chat, time to catch up.

November 21-22

Juanes!

On Friday all of us went to the Juanes concert. He's probably one of the most famous singers to come out of Latin America. I've basically been a fan of his since high school.  So it was great to see him.  When I got there I forgot that I had memorized all the words to his music as a Spanish project in college. So when he came on and started playing I just started singing, I loved it.  

Saturday

Erica, Anke, Meadhbh, Erica, Liz, Claire, Laura and I went to Cotopaxi, the tallest active volcano in the world!  Its a good two hour bus ride from Quito, but it was pretty cool. Its in national park which is probably the quietest place in all of Ecuador (its a very noisy country).  I wasn't feeling so well because of the altitude so Claire and I sat in the car while the other hiked up part of the mountain.  All in all it was a great trip.

  Phillip, Mike, Theresa and Fellim tried to scale the volcano the same weekend, but the didn't have much luck mostly due to bad guides.

November 28-29

Ecuadorian Thanksgiving

We couldn't celebrate Thanksgiving on the actual holiday because we all had to work Thursday and Friday, so we decided to celebrate it on Friday.  It was AMAZING!  Lisa wanted a very authentic Thanksgiving because she invited her Ecuadorian friends so she bought a Turkey (even though she's vegetarian!) The food was great and it was just like what Thanksgiving at home would be if I didn't hang out with my family.

On Saturday Meadhbh, Phillip, Fellim and I decided that we should see what's happening with fiestas del Quito (see Dec 4 for an explanation)  So we went to Parque Carolina. There really wasn't much going on except there were all these people dressed up in Barney costumes.  We took a picture with not one but two Barneys.  I will post those as soon as Phil gives me copies.

Saturday night we had planned to go to a concert in Parque Carolina, but then got lazy, so Erica, Anke, Meadhbh and I just stayed in my apartment and hung out until Meadhbh had to leave. She actually had to catch a bus at 11 because she was continuing her journey around South America.  So she is no longer in Ecuador, so sad.  

December 4

Que Viva Quito

Its fiestas del Quito this weekend!  Quito was founded on December 6 and every year there is a huge party.  It lasts two weeks, even during the week nights when I'm sleeping :)  Throughout all of Quito you can here people yelling "Que Viva Quito" and the response "Viva Quito"

 I didn't really participate last week but Thursday night I did.  Laura, Phillip, Colleen, Lisa, Kate and I met up with Lisa's Ecuadorian friends so that we can ride a "Chiva"  which is basically I giant party bus with a band on top.  It kind of looks like a combination of the zoo tram and a double decker bus with a pick up truck bed in the back.  But on these chivas you basically blow whistles and wave viva quito flags while they play traditional music.  It was so much fun. I think everyone should communicate via whistles now.  Colleen and I played a game to see who can get the most people to wave at us by blowing our whistles at them.  She won because tragically I dropped my whistle. That might have been the saddest part of my entire trip here.

Getting on the Chiva was quite an adventure.  We started looking for one in the Mariscal (the happening, very expensive, tourist hang out part of the city which is very close to my house) at around 8.  From there we walked a good 20 minutes to El Jardin ( a mall on Amazonas which is not too far via trolle from my house).  After waiting by El Jardin for a long time we continued on the chiva hunt and took taxis to Shyris (a street that is a good 30 minutes from my house via trolle)  Finally after a few hours of searching, we found a Chiva.  It started on Shyris and took us through Centro Historico.  We stopped at this big plaza which is apparently the place to stop because all the other Chivas stopped there to have a dance break!  After about a 30 minute dance break we got back on the chiva and it passed our house so we decided to get off.  

So it's been a while and I have a little catching up to do.

Before I started working at CEC, Theresa, Meadhbh and I went to Atacames. Its a beach by Esmeraldas. The bus rides up there wasn't too bad. Our hostel was close to the beach but far enough away that we didn't hear all the noise from the clubs from our room.
We were hungry so after we dropped our stuff of at our room, we went to eat. I ordered shrimp because we were right on the coast and fish was the main thing on the menu. Unfortunately the shrimp didn't really agree with my stomach and I spent the rest of the weekend dealing with "digestive issues".
Meadhbh and Theresa had fun though. They went out on Friday, then went to the beach on Saturday. I joined them for about an hour, but I wasn't feeling so hot. But it was ok, because in that hour I realized that I really don't like laying out in the sun, or on the sand, or going in the ocean. So being sick wasn't really all that much of a disappointment.
Atacames is really cool. Its completely touristy, but for Ecuadorians. I saw maybe 4 other Gringos there. And all of the restaurants were traditional Ecuadorian food and were AMAZING! all except the one I ate at on Friday night. The beach is also super loud because all the clubs that are right on the beach blast their music. So no matter where you go you can hear about three different club songs, even at 10 in the morning.


As for my job at CEC, I teach 3 classes of Intermediate II. I really like my students, they are all really smart. Most of them are students from la Escuala Politechnic Nacional, which is pretty much the best Univeristy in Ecuador. CEC is the English department of the University but its also opened to the public.
My schedule isn't that great because I teach from 7-9 then 2-4 and 5-7. But I'm ok with that because I'm pretty sure the next cycle will be better.
At first I didn't really like teaching just because it was so exhausting, but then I got used to it, and my students are turning out to be really cool. So now I really like it. They are at just the right level too. They can speak well enough that we can have conversations, but not so well that they are asking really difficult grammar questions. But they do know more English grammar than me. I guess that's ok because I can talk circles around them about Spanish grammar.
Their first exam was on October 27. That was nice because I didn't actually have to plan anything - CEC writes the tests because they are the same for each level. Grading actually wasn't that bad either.
Things are going pretty well but I'm cool with this continuous improvement deal too. We'll see how it goes.

Wednesday, October 8.

Claire, Theresa and I went to a basilica in Quito. This basilica- which I also can’t remember the name of, has one of the best views of Quito. I honestly felt like I was at the top of the world. I mean Quito already is pretty high up and then this was the tallest spot in the city, so it kind of is. To get to the top of the towers you have to climb all these really creepy stairs and ladders and while you are climbing you can see the view of the whole city so it looks like you are literally climbing the outside of the church. I discovered my fear of heights today. In truth I actually didn’t make it all the way to the top of the towers. The ladder rungs were really far apart at the top and seeing as how I have really short legs, I actually couldn’t make it up. I’m sure I could have made it up if I really tried, but when I was about to I realized that I would have had to come back down eventually, so I decided that it was probably better not to climb. Theresa, the daredevil climbed all the way to the top and said it wasn’t really much better of a view, so that made me feel better.

After the basilica we went to the best ice cream place in Quito. For $1.40 we got two scoops of ice cream. I ordered chocolate and taxo. I didn’t know what taxo was so I was being super adventurous. After google search I found out taxo is a fruit that I’m not really a fan of.

Taxo cut longitudinally. The chocolate was delicious though, so it was a total loss.

But all in all it was a pretty touristy day. Probably the last one in Quito until December because I’ll be starting work next week and I think I’m going to the beach on Friday but we’ll see.

October 7

The weather was horrible on Tuesday so Phillip, Laura, Theresa, Claire and I decided that to be touristy we had to go to a museum. I don’t remember exactly the name of the museum but it had something to do with Ecuadorian culture. Either way, the first half of the museum was dedicated to pre-Spanish Ecuadorian culture and all the artifacts that go with it. Think 1,000 b.c. until about 1532 when the Spanish showed up. The other half was clearly the Spanish influence on Ecuadorian art and then the super modern stuff that was not my style at all.

October 3 - Banos and Ultimate Creek Hikes

As a celebration for completing the TESOL course the Language Corp group went to Baños. We left Friday evening, took a 4 hour bus, and arrived at like 10:00. Since we arrived so late and we were all exhausted we just went to bed. But on Saturday we went on a little adventure.

To preface this story I have to say I love creek hikes. That is one of the reasons why I wanted to be nature director at camp. I also love swimming. Baños has lots of creeks, and we decided to go sort of an ultimate creek hike. The “ultimate” part was because the creek was located on the mountain side and had many waterfalls. Some of these falls we could just jump down. They weren’t as high as the ones in Mindo, and so when I landed on my butt, I was fine. Like I said, we were able to jump down some of the waterfalls. As for the rest, we had to rappel down them. It was soooooo sweet. Unfortunately because of the water nobody brought their cameras……except for the guide, who put all the pictures on C.D. Jenny has those pictures now, but I should have them in a week or so.

After the creek hike I went for a walk around the town to see what it was all about. Apparently Baños is famous for taffy. There were stores everywhere, and each one had some one pulling the taffy outside and offering free samples. I of course took advantage of this and gorged myself on taffy, then bought about a pound of taffy that I’m pretty sure I’ll never eat. But its ok it was only 75 cents.

The rest of the group went out to experience the night life of Baños after dinner, but I stayed in and read a book ( I know, boring, but it was a good book).

The next morning we all went on a hike to see this really awesome waterfall, but on the way we took a detour so that Phillip could bungee jump off a bridge. I wanted to, but chickened out. Maybe on my next trip. The hike that we went on was pretty short but it was down a really steep hill. The waterfall was amazing. We got to get really close to it by crawling through this semi cave type thing. It was a really small crawlway and I’m pretty sure it was only so small because Ecuadorians are so small. It was a little spooking, but pretty exciting.