Independence day throwback

Cotopaxi…Independence Day on a volcano

Hola amigos! It´s time for another update! This story starts off on the early morning of Independence Day 2009. The entire group of students here in Quito met outside the school at 7am to get ready for some extreme off road biking. We piled into three rickety trucks/vans to begin our two hour trip to the world´s largest active volcano. The volcano is inside of ¨Parque Nacional Cotopaxi.¨ When the crew arrived at the park entrance they received a quick history of the park and the volcano. Not only did they learn that the volcano has had a few violent eruptions in the past few centuries, it was due in the next 10-15 years for another one (one eruption approx. every 120 years).

After this promising news we piled back into the van to ascend 2.5 kilometers where we would get on mountain bikes and head down. One extremely curvy road later we arrived at our destination only to find ourselves in the middle of the blizzard. Our guides decided that it was too dangerous to start from that point so we descended 1 kilometer to where the snow was less blinding.

We hopped on our bikes and literally began shooting down the mountain. It didn't seem incredibly steep but if you didnt hold both brakes down you would begin to reach Tour de France speeds on a rocky and snowy path. I was in quite a dilemma because I was very cold and wanted to get to warmer weather, but on the flip side I wasnt in the mood to die so I balanced desires and still made it to our first checkpoint in pretty good time.

At our first checkpoint we had descended far enough that there was no snow and it seemed that we were in the middle of the desert! The sun was out, the weather was hot, and little vegetation was to be found. Right before the first checkpoint the guy in front of me went down hard and flipped his bike over him. Luckily he was fine but his leather jacket was a little scratched up. Overall we only had 4 or 5 people fall down out of 16 and only was somewhat serious (he fell and hit his head and it cracked the helmet!). Everyone made it home safely and had a good time though.

All in all it was a great day and the scenery was breathtaking. Our first trip as a group was successful!

Jelly doughnut time….for real

Day 2 began with a breakfast with our host family and then heading to the market. The market in Otavalo is the largest indigenous market in South America and we were all ready to do some haggling. Upon reaching the market I broke off from the group a little bit so I could do some investigating. I spent my first half of an hour just asking prices and then battering to find out the true price. Side note: when dealing with money/if you suggest an extremely low price, Ecuadorians begin talking much loader and faster at you. Not discouraged I haggled my way down to roughly half the price that was originally offered and got to practice some Spanish along the way. I got some absolutely beautiful stuff, including an addition to my hat and cane collection. There was one funny point were I got so into the “haggling game” that my friend Bill had to pull me away from the vendor! (she tried to sell me a shirt for 3 times the starting price of other vendors!) All in all the thing that I will remember the most from the market is not the price of any item, but the talent that many of these vendors had to create such colorful and intricate products.
After the market the group had lunch at the most expensive hotel in the city ($200 per night per person…and here that is an unreal amount of money). While our meal was being prepared I took the liberty to take a short nap on one of the hammocks they had set up out back. The back of the hotel was a beautiful garden including a gorgeous view of the farmlands close to Otavalo. After being coerced out of the hammock I received an amazing pork meal followed by some ice cream made in the shop down the street. Now it was time to head back to our families for our last night there.
On the bus ride to our house I found out that two other guys lived a few dirt roads away. After explaining to them where our house was we decided that it would be a good idea to create a “code word” in case they got lost or didn’t know exactly which house was ours. I suggested “jelly doughnut” and the group of intelligent young minds agreed. Clearly this was the best option and a completely fool-proof plan.
Meeting time: 9pm, my house, in case of emergency- jelly doughnut
Although we returned around 6:30 to our house our dinner wasn´t prepared until 8:30! Right about the time we are finishing our soup and are getting our main dish the dog outside of our house began barking insistently. Brent, Nathan and I knew it was our buddies but tried to ignore it hoping they would see through the window that we were still eating. After about thirty seconds one of the daughters was going to go outside to see what the dark was barking at but the dog stopped barking just in time. Thinking we had dodged the bullet, we were pretty happy. Not two seconds later did the infamous wailing words of “JELLY DOUGHNUT” begin ringing in our ears. In a mixture of complete embarrassment and utter horror Nathan subdued the situation in Spanish while I did everything I could not to laugh uncontrollably. I just wish I could tell you this entire story in person because it’s even better that way!
After dinner we met up with the other guys and made a fire in our room. Four of us decided to go on a late night hike to see if we could climb up this cliff side (at least 100 ft vertical climb..probs 150+ when I saw it the next day). With only a small mag-light and the moon guiding our way the four of us completed a hike down and up a rock face (mostly hiking grabbing things to pull ourselves up) that we probably wouldn’t have attempted if we had seen it in daylight. Fortunately no one got hurt and when we scaled the other side we had a beautiful view looking down on the city of Otavalo. It was the perfect end to a great day.
The next morning on our way back to Quito our bus made an unexpected stop for us. The school had set up a boat ride for us on a lake next to a volcano. The area that the lake is in was formed by one of the eruptions of the volcano and when the glaciers melted the lake was formed. The boat ride was so much fun and I don’t think I will ever get used to being in the middle of mountains and volcanoes. For lack of more descriptive adjectives…it was beautiful. Another successful weekend. Ciao amigos.
Also I apologize for choppy writing…English is hard now…as if I couldn’t tell the difference between nouns and adjectives before! (haha srry aunt carol)

Jelly Doughnut = a shining example of the stupidity/hilarity of Americans

Day 1- Tienda= store

Stick with me on this one, the jelly doughnut part takes a while to get to but its well worth it. Picking up where I left off…I am on a bus ride to a city named Otavalo. During my stay in Otavalo not only am I going to visit the largest indigenous market in South America but also I am going to stay with an indigenous family for two nights. The history of the indigenous people of Ecuador is quite similar to that of many parts of the world….depressing. After the Spanish conquered the region the indigenous people were made into slaves. In recent history their lives have been “improving”, or what I see as “not as actively oppressed.” Social classes are still very present in Ecuador and while outright acts of hierarchy are not seen everyday, it is very easy to see it inside and outside of the household.

Due to the history of oppression, most indigenous people are extremely shy around outsiders. Not only are they shy but they actually speak an entirely different language, Quechua. Luckily the family that I stayed with spoke both Spanish and Quechua, but anytime they spoke to each other, they strictly spoke Quechua.

When I first arrived at my temporary new home with my two mates, Brent and Nathan, we decided to go for a hike. Quick description: Nathan is very tall and loves nature. Brent is “chubby”, enjoys “larding” (an act in which he consumes an inordinate amount of food), and only likes nature if it involves beer. Brent agreed to go on a hike as long as its main going was to find a “beer tienda” (Before I bash him to much he is very good at Spanish…lets continue). We hiked for about 45 minutes through the gorgeous countryside and woods overlooking Otavalo, and surprise, we were surrounded by mountains and volcanoes in all directions. Despite the brevity of the hike Brent constantly either chanted “lard, lard, I cant wait to lard at dinner” and “there better be a tienda around this next turn.” When we returned from our trip empty handed Brent was winded and upset.

We met up with two other Ohio State guys who were staying a few houses down to talk before dinner. Adding insult to injury we were informed that there was a “tienda” only a few minutes up the road in the opposite direction we had walked. Once Brent got over his initial frustration, we made a plan to meet up for a brew after dinner.

Dinner with our family began around 8pm and we had a very traditional Ecuadorian meal, soup followed by rice and chicken. Everything was made fresh on their farm and was delicious. On their farm they grew a variety of vegetables and had cows, chickens, donkeys, guinea pigs, and bees. I had the chance to literally taste honey right off of the honey comb….the taste was out of this world!

Despite the good food, conversation was a little awkward no matter any effort put forth to engage in small talk. The father of the family was the only person to speak to us and is an extremely nice man. Overall it went very well for our first time engaging with them and they appreciated our politeness….oh and Brent did “lard” and I thought the daughters eyes were going to pop out of her head as he finished not only his but Nathan’ plate also.

After dinner the five manly men met up for a brew under a clear starry night. The stars are absolutely beautiful and no place, even in Alaska, could I see as many stars as I did in Otavalo.

Day 2- Jelly Doughnut

Will be posted before Friday! Sorry for the tease but I have to get home for dinner!

LIGA LIGA LIGA!!

After only 18 days in Quito the entire Ohio State group took their first finals, completing the first of three Spanish courses on the docket.  Not only that, immediately following the exams they were introduced to their new professors and literally began new material minutes later!  My first class was a heavy grammar review, which was a real buzz kill.  The class I am in now is all speaking in class and reading stories at night.  I already enjoy this style much more because, well first of all, grammar stinks a big one (as if you didn’t already notice that this sentence is my attempt at mocking proper grammar…I digress)…because when one speaks and translates text it is much easier to catch the idioms and common phrases of the culture rather than focus on which order words go in or how to conjugate verbs.  When written that way I guess both have some relevance…I digress once again.

 The point of this story is that after a long morning my friend Suzanne, my brother Jorge, and I went to the final soccer match in the tournament of the Americas!  Not only that but a team from Quito was in the final so the entire city was practically shutting down for the game.  The game started at 8pm so naturally we needed to leave at 3pm to get there on time.  After traveling to the stadium, legally drinking a beer on the street, and Suzanne purchasing a knock off jersey for 5 bucks (which is actually really nice), we entered the stadium a 4pm. 

You maybe wondering, as I was, what could we being doing at the stadium four hours prior to kickoff.  Well…

            1. Seating is general admission and even arriving four hours early meant we sat pretty high up.

            2.  One needs ample time to rip up newspapers into confetti to throw when the team comes out (remember this…its important later).

            3. The fan section needs to practice unraveling the giant flag that covers up one side of the stadium…four times.  Being under the flag was extremely cool. 

            4.  Often old men will wait for you to stand up for a minute or two, try to steal your seat, and then make you feel like a horrible person when you politely remove them through a heated argument in Spanish sending them 20 rows higher.  Hehe...ya snooze you lose! There is no mercy in a South American soccer stadium!

These four things made the time pass much more quickly than I had expected and before I knew it was game time!  The team ran out onto the field and the stadium erupted.  It is amazing that 50,000 people can sing long chants in unison and it had to be unbelievably intimidating to the Brazilians who were playing La Liga De Quito (the Ecuadorian team).  When the team rushed onto the field everyone threw their newspaper confetti and then lit objects similar to sparklers.  The order of these events is very important because the sparks from the sparkler-like objects set off a series of small fires all around us.  No biggie…just stomp ‘em out.

La Liga won the game 3-0 and it was so much fun to be their for a win.  After watching the trophy presentation, nearly all of the people in the stadium traveled to a fountain in downtown Quito.  It is tradition that any time La Liga wins a championship, the fans jump around in freezing cold water while singing and splashing each other. 

Jumping around the fountain chanting words that I didn’t fully understand yet while freezing my butt off was one of the coolest things I have ever done.  After about 20 minutes I was introduced to their “conquering juice.”  To this day I don’t know if it was just hot juice or some crazy alcoholic beverage…all I know is that it was so hot it burned going down and warmed me up very quickly from the inside out. 

We reentered the water for another 15 minutes or so. Went to the car. Changed. Drove home. Then I completed two hours of homework due just hours later and slept for two hours.  When I awoke I packed a bag quickly for the weekend trip I was about to leave on and went to school.  Immediately following school I got in a bus to spend the weekend in Otavalo and visit the largest indigenous market in South America! Read the next post to find out more…I promise it will not disappoint! 

Brad attempts to hike up a mountain, weather ensues...

So this is a little story of four young American students (Brad, Suzanne, Tyler, and Nathan) who went out for an adventure on July 3rd, 2009. The Friday morning started off just like any other as the students attended school in the morning absorbing all of the knowledge their teachers bestowed upon them. When school ended for the day, four brave young soldiers made a pact that they would reach the top of Rucu Pichincha (4680 meters). Knowing the journey was not for the weary, the group decided a little carbo-loading at the pizza place down the street would give them the necessary fuel to propel them to the summit. Brad ordered a 12-inch pepperoni pizza that only cost him $4.05...awesome.

Now that the crew was ready to go they strapped their boots tight and paid the $8 each to ride the TeleferiQo, a lift that took them up the first 2.5 km. After an exhausting 10-minute ride the group took a few minutes to rest, as they knew the second half of the mountain would be slightly more difficult than the first.

Round trip for ¨fit walkers is estimated at roughly 3 hours. After the first hill, Brad began to wonder what qualified as a fit walker as he lay in the grass out of breath. The altitude was devastating but it was no match against the determined youth. They pursued on and walked for almost 45 minutes when a group of ominous looking clouds began to move toward them. Before they knew it, the group was inside of the clouds. Unforgivingly the clouds rained and hailed on the now soggy four. Knowing the weather was extremely volatile the group tried to hike through it, but after 15 minutes of freezing weather and poor visibility they headed back. After a very cold 20-minute walk back and a 10-minute ride down the group enjoyed the sunny city as they watched the storms continue on the mountaintop. When Brad arrived home he took an equally cold shower and then ate hot soup. The end.

Mi primera quincena en Ecuador!

Hola everyone!

I just finished my first two weeks here in Ecuador and it has been an amazing experience so far! I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the places I have traveled, but nothing has quite compared to this. I live in a modest two-bedroom apartment with my Mom- Rachel, Dad- Efrian, and 22 yr. old brother Jorge. Quito is broken down into regions similar to American towns or villages and I live in ¨El Inca. ¨ The city is located in a valley and creates a ¨S¨ shape, which is very different from the traditional circular American cities I was, accustom to seeing. Nearly all of the structures are built right on top of one another but none of the buildings are very tall (the tallest is maybe 25 stories). I am attempting to upload some pictures but the Internet in this cafe is running a little slow. Expect them to be up in the next day or two. Many of the pictures I have of the city are from my adventure in attempting to reach the summit of Pichincha. I didn’t make it yet but I’m going back for more, read details below!