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.
No comments:
Post a Comment