The YS Theory

Dear Chris Kwon,

Since Otavalo, my life has been extremely dull. I had a cumulative language final today. Tomorrow, I have an essay on an indigenous tribe (The quechua) due and a presentation. Plus, I have a literature final. These things have consumed my life. Enough of that boring drabble.

I found one interesting thing while researching my tribe (actually, my dad found it, but it's legitimate). Quichua, the language spoken by my tribe, inspired the language of Jabba the Hut.

YS has reappeared. She and I had breakfast together this morning. She was wearing a business suit and was hurriedly eating. She rushed out of the door. I cleaned her dishes. I think she is a business woman (probably dealings llama sweaters) who stays with us every time she is in Quito. She has a husband, who is probably locked in some basement making said sweaters. Please, come up with your own theories and share them. One day, we will get to the bottom of this. As an extra clue, YS was not wearing her yellow sweater tonight, but rather a full gray U.S Navy (San Diego location) sweatsuit. Let the theory-making begin!

Today, I had a final at 1:30. I was supposed to leave at 1:00. I was called to lunch at 12:45. I usually eat quickly so I can get to school on time. Today, my host mom talked to me while I was eating. I told her I was going into the amazon this weekend. She told me it was really important to explore the rural areas. She said that all cities are the same (a sort of "you've seen one, you've seen them all" mentality) and you can't truly find a country's culture until you enter the rural areas. I really liked this idea. I think it fits Ecuador perfectly. Here, much of the indigenous culture has been preserved, so it is somewhat accessible. Susy and I discussed traveling and she told me a brief story about her experience with racism when she was studying in New York City. Wait... What?! She studied in NYC? I'm pretty sure that's what she said, because I paid extra special attention to what verb forms she was using. Unfortunately, I had to go to my final. The amount of culture I'm absorbing here is way more important than any letter grade I receive.

That being said, I am entering into the depths of the amazon tomorrow (actually, I am only going about 5 hours away to the border of the amazons). I will be in "el oriente" nonetheless and plan on doing some serious picture taking and some even more serious mosquito killing. Stick around comrades, because by the time I get back the spring quarter time schedule will be posted.

Peguche, Otavalo, Cotacachi= Hike, Bargain, Boat ride

Dear Chris Kwon,

What a weekend it has been... Yesterday (which seems like a week ago), we all met at school at 8:30. We hopped on a bus with Fernando (our "principal" figure) and his wife, Eugenia. We headed northeast from Quito and stopped in Calderón, a small town. Calderón has a famous store full of clay figures. They were nice to admire, but

I'm not a huge fan of trinkets, so I was glad when we moved on. At around 10:30, we arrived at Cascada Peguche. We hiked a short ways to the waterfall. It was nice, but nothing new. I decided to explore a little, so I found a way to a sheltered area on the side of the water falls. Everyone else stayed near the waterfall,taking pictures. I met some little girls who followed me up a path (which was actually a small stream we had to walk through) to the shelter. We had a good old time exploring.

I noticed some people ON the waterfall. I decided I would try this out. My classmates eventually made it to the shed to eat some lunch. I was in no mood to eat, so I led the little girls down the path. They told me they had to go, so we parted ways and I tried to think ab

out how I could get on the waterfall. I saw a couple on the rock that everyone has their picture taken on. I offered to take a picture for them. They were from the States. They work at Denali Park in Alaska in the summers and have the freedom to travel the other time of the year. They are doing a tour of Colombia and Ecuador. They were really cool and we all set out to find the top of the waterfall together.

I saw some of my classmates on the waterfall and followed them up. We reached the top and decided that wasn't enough, so we followed some trails over the waterfall. We ended up doing a huge circle. It was scary and amazing.

I headed down to the bus to find that we still had two hours scheduled at the waterfalls. I hiked a little more, then we moved on to Otavalo.

Otavalo is a REALLY old market town. All the indigenous peoples would meet in Otavalo for a trade market. The market tradition still holds strong. Saturdays are packed full of people selling whatever you can think of. A bunch of us walked through the main Plaza and were offered good deals for all the goods being sold. I was shocked that there was anyone there on a Friday evening. The group explored the town, bought some yarn, and ate some ice cream with cheese on it.

We met Fernando and Co. at the hotel restaurant and had a delicious dinner. Everyone joined up in one of the guys' rooms and we planned our evening. We went to a karaoke bar across from the hotel. I've never really been a huge fan of karaoke, but it was fun. We took a cab 10 blocks to a discoteca, which we were assured was one of the most happening places in town. There were about 7 people there and all of them were sitting. I spent a brief amount of time there, then called it quits for the night.

This morning, I woke up at 6. A few of us headed to the animal market, where livestock is traded. It was truly upsetting. I know that it's the way most of the world lives, but I didn't need to watch pigs being dragged against their will across the street or baby chicks being sold 5 for a dollar. My buddy Edan pointed out that even though all these animals are free-range, they still looked miserable. As I was leaving, a woman with a pig coughed on me a lot. Swine flu, anyone?

We headed to the main market and went CRAZY! At first, I moseyed around the market, scoping out the sites, taking careful notes of what I was thinking about buying. I bought an alpaca sweater that I am sort of regretting. I needed a break. At around 7:30, I headed back to the hotel for some breakfast.

Feeling refreshed, I dove back into the market. This time, I had a plan. I was bargaining left and right, up and down. I bought so much stuff! Nothing was too expensive and almost everything had been discounted. We meet up at the hotel at 12 and shared our booties.

We checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus. We drove to Cotacachi, a nearby town known for it's leather goods. We went up to Cuicocha, a lake made by an old volcano (the "crater lake" of Ecuador). We were served a huge lunch, which included the area's infamous trout. We boarded a boat and took a tour of the crater lake.

We headed down to the town of Cotacachi and spent an hour exploring the stores full of leather goods. I bought amazing leather sandals for $20. It was by far the most I had paid for anything all weekend.

The picture on your right is of everything I bought. Clockwise from left:

Hammock (why? hammocks are AMAZING), 2 shirts, 2 pairs of

sandals, a flag, a sweater, mitten/gloves, yarn (for susan), mirror, and purse all for under $100.

On the way home, we stopped at some cafe for Biscochos- a common food in the area. Biscochos is a biscuit, served with cheese. We put dulce de leche (caramel) on ours. It was pretty tasty.

We bussed back to ACLAS and met up with our host parents. Antonio was there to pick me up. I'm sick and have been stuffed up all weekend. I coughed in the car and Antonio grew concerned. He asked me if I was sick and I told him yes. He asked if I had the flu. I told him I don't think so and I hope not. Later, he coughed. I looked at him and yelled "Grippe!"- Spanish for flu. He said, "No. Tobacco." We had a good old laugh about the fact that he coughs because he smokes cigarettes, then we stopped at a liquor store. I think he was buying more cigarettes. Haha. Oh Antonio. I warmly greeted at home by the whole clan plus some man and his daughter who both kissed me. They were on their way out when I was on my way in. It was strange, but that's how things are here.

I'm really enjoying my weekend trips because they are so cheap. This weekend trip was included in our tuition here, so all meals, bus rides, and the hotel were paid for. I have three finals this week, including a HUGE essay, so the next four days are going to be full-time study mode. We get Thursday and Friday off. As of now, it looks like we may head into the amazon. I hope I have enough malaria pills...

Keep on truckin' faithful followers. Wish you were here!

From,

Ali J.

Language Barriers: It's been 4 weeks already, come on!

Dear Chris Kwon,

Yesterday, I was on my way to class. A block away from my house, a lady slowed her car down and asked me something. I asked her to repeat what she said, because I didn't understand. She said something about a "part". I then explained to her that my English isn't all that good. She asked , in English, if I speak English. I told her yes. She asked me if I wanted a ride. I was in shock. How did she have any idea where I was going? In Spanish, I told her no thank you, but I enjoy walking. Very strange.

Yesterday was abuelita's birthday. She turned 87. I wasn't invited to the family party. Last night, I hit the hay sort of early because I had to wake up early this morning for my biweekly date with Ines. The two students who usually go to FUDIS with me called/texted me around midnight, saying they weren't coming to Service Learning. At 6:30, I seriously considered not getting out of bed, but Susy had probably already made my breakfast, so I dragged myself out of bed. I ended up taking a cab to FUDIS, but remembered I didn't know the address. I told the cabby it was by the hospital, right next to a dominos. About 30 minutes into the ride, I looked at the meter. It was at $2.75. I only had $3.00 in change. I also had a $20, but cabbies don't give change. I asked him if we were close and he said sort of. I told him I only had $3. He told me not to worry. (I love this country). A block away from FUDIS, we were still stuck in traffic. I told him I could walk the rest of the way. He insisted on driving me, because he "enjoyed my company." (I had tried to start a conversation about how the mayor is limiting traffic in the city, because I wondered how it would affect cab drivers, but I couldn't explain all of it, so the conversation during the whole ride was very dull). We finally reached FUDIS and I gave him my $3. As I was getting out of the cab, he either said, "I need your phone number" or "you need my phone number." I told him it was fine, because I had no other way to respond to this, and ran away. Oh Ecuador.

On the way back to school, I stopped by a convenience store to make change with my $20. I bought a 40 cent pastry. It was delicious! I took the bus back with no issues. Why are busses less sketchy than taxi's?

I did the school thing, then we had a meeting about Otavalo (where we’re going tomorrow). Otavalo is all paid for- meals, hotel, and transportation. I’m especially excited, because I found some adventures in my guidebook, which, apparently, we’re doing as a group.

After school, some of us decided to buy tickets for Avatar. We were unable to see the English version in 3-d. We got to choose between Spanish in 3-d or English in regular. We opted for the Spanish version in 3-d. We ran to grab some food at Shwamar (a middle eastern restaurant). I had the most delicious sandwich. You could also have a hookah at your table for only $3.

We rushed back to the movie, put our 3-dimension stunna glasses on and enjoyed the show. That movie was amazing- even in Spanish. We taxied it home and here I am.

Tea with Tía

Dear Chris Kwon,

I finally went to the post office to buy some stamps. I have desperately needed them. Three of us went to the post office. There was an armed security guard there who had his finger on the trigger of his rifle the whole time. He was wandering around the office and looked sort of naive about gun use. I was concerned. I bought $4 worth of stamps (2 stamps!). SOOOO expensive.

A classmate and I went to Mr. Bagel for lunch. I was so glad to finally get a bagel! I'm not a fan of the creamcheese here, but Bagels are always amazing. I'm in love with carbs here- sorry mom.

Yesterday, we had a discussion about employees in our culture class. Someone told us that the current president made it so all the employees get paid the same salary. This had negative consequences, because a ton of people decided they couldn't afford employees, thus a lot of home employees lost their jobs. I was still super confused about Carmencita's role and why she always watched me eat.

I ran home for a skype date with Anne and was intercepted by tía at the front door. She asked if I wanted to have some herbal tea. I said of course and ran into the kitchen. There was fresh cinnamon raisin bread on the table. Carmencita was boiling the tea (which was just a branch from the yard thoroughly rinsed and thrown in boiling water). We all sat down (including Carmencita) and enjoyed our tea and bread. Carmencita and tía made small talk, then Carmencita had to leave.

After tía spoke to me in broken english for a few minutes, I asked her exactly what role Carmencita has in the family. Tía explained to me that Carmencita has been with the family for 35 years! She worked in Susy's hair salon, but business has been slow. Susy and Antonio know how it is now impossible for people to find work, so they kept Carmencita on. Tía told me that Carmencita and my abuelita's nurse are really proactive about their work. If they aren't preoccupied, they will find other work to do. There is the other employee (lupita) who works only in the kitchen. She doesn't really do much else. SO what I learned from this was that Carmencita watches me eat because she values her job. Tía said she is like family. Afterwards, a huge conversation was started about the current political system. It was amazing! I truly hope that there are more teas before tía leaves.

This morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn to go to my service learning. I got there at 8 to see Ines- the crazy psycho lady who is in charge of the shelter. She is sooooo mean. As soon as we showed up, Ines went into all the rooms and dragged the people out of bed to hang out with us. We don't want to force these people out! They're sick. We showed the movie Up (SOOOO good) and then taught them how to play monopoly. It was challenging as we don't speak much spanish and they know no english. Ines was there watching us like a hawk the whole time. At 11:00 (1 hour before we were done) she called us into her office and had another discussion about the same exact stuff we always talk about. She tells us we don't have enough ideas. She treats us like we're children, but gives us no direction. It's so frustrating. She told us we weren't allowed to show movies over 20 minutes long (what movie is under 20 minutes?!) BUT we are allowed to schedule monopoly for 3 hours... Now I'm venting, but this lady is crazy.

I went to the mall and ordered a HUGE salad for lunch. You're really not supposed to eat uncooked vegetables here, but I don't care anymore. It was delicious. School happened, then three of us taxied to gringolandia to buy tickets for the galapagos! I'm so stoked! AND broke. Great. We bussed it back to school and made it just in time for a lecture from one of my UW teachers' friends. She is a british woman who lives in Ecuador and contributes to guide books. Her lecture was all about holidays here. It was interesting.

A bunch of us decided to go to trivia night at Finn McCool's (yes, there is also a Finn McCool's in Seattle AND they have trivia night once a week). I left my backpack at school (guess I'll do homework tomorrow). We bussed it to gringolandia (not supposed to at 8:00 but whatever). Trivia was fun. My team was not so great, but the other members of our huge group dominated. My team peaced out a bit early. I made it home at around 10:40. LONG day.

Another day, another ten cents (things are so cheap here)

Dear Chris Kwon,

A majority of the group went to teleferiqo this morning. I called up my friend Edan and asked if she wanted to do something different, since we both had already gone to the teleferiqo. (Nothing could beat the teleferiqo trip I took with Antonio- fast and free). Edan said of course and we decided to take a bus to the Centro Histórico. I have been really interested in going to the Parque El Ejido, which supposedly has a events on the weekend. We stopped at the park and wandered through the mini-market. Everything was pretty schlocky, but there weren't many tourists around. We headed over to the park across the street, called Arbolita. I don't know why it's called that, as there are no trees in the park. We sat underneath the huge ball (pictured at the left). We both wanted to go to a museum. I suggested we go to the museum with 4 different types of museums in 1. Neither one of us could remember the name of that museum though. Finally, I found the name written in my moleskin. It's called the Casa de la Cultura. We looked at Edan's map and found the museum. It was literally right in front of us. We walked through the park and entered the museum. There was a student price: $1. I whipped out my international student card that's good through this month only. The guy at the ticket booth told me that they were having some sort of promotion and student's admission is free.

Unfortunately, only two exhibits were open. It was a really nice museum, but sort of boring. There was a bunch of pottery and religious pictures. I enjoyed the 3 pieces of modern art. I'm glad I went but more glad I didn't have to pay.

Edan and I jumped back on the bus and headed to Centro Histórico. We were starving, so we found a hole in the wall place (literally, it was a hole in the wall down some empty alley). It was packed. We ordered Almuerzos (rice, meat, beans, and juice) for $2. When we were checking out, the owners commented on how pale we both were (and I'm totally sunburned).

We sat on the steps in the Plaza Grande for a bit. I really wanted ice cream, so we headed out to find some ice cream. We stumbled upon this place that had a ton of ice cream for very cheap. As it turned out, our teleferiqo friends were eating there too. We sat with them. I enjoyed my coconut and chocolate ice cream with softserve on top. (This isn't what I intended to order, but it was good).

As a group, we moved on. We went to Plaza Santo Domingo, where there was some sort of concert. I walked around, somewhat enjoying the music, and realized that this was some sort of lesbian fair thing. There were signs all over the place. I must say, it was very interesting to see a bunch of lesbian pride in a plaza bordered by a church. We moved on through some less busy streets. We ran across some kids playing soccer with a tiny soccer ball (size 1 for those of you who know soccer ball sizes) in an alley. I love Old Quito. We found our way back to the main area. A girl and I took the trolley home. I was sort of nervous, but I knew where I was and walked quickly.

My "neighbor" is home. She and I had shrimp and guacamole for dinner. We even had some mousse-type thing for dessert. I think they only serve dessert on Sundays. I know you all are interested in what I eat. That is why I have commented on the food. Everyone at school knows me for saying how I want to die after every meal. So much food.

Examenes, Gringolandia, y Centro Histórico

Dear Chris Kwon,

On Thursday, I woke up at 6:30, because I had to be at my service learning place at 8. I forgot to tell Susy, so I thought I could just sneak out. I left at around 7. At my house, there is a front door, immediately followed by a gate, then the garden and another gate. I could NOT get out of the first gate. I have the key, but the lock is really messed up. After five minutes of failure, I went back inside, thinking I could escape from a different door. Fortunately, Antonio was inside.He helped me. Now, I'm terrified that I will be out late one night and not be able to get in because of the stupid gate.

On Friday, I took my midterms. After two written tests and one oral presentation about Semana Santa, I was free. Pretty much everyone at school decided to go to Cuban food in Gringolandia. I'm pretty sure every big Latin American city has a Gringolandia. It's a place all the white people congregate. We piled into three different cabs and made our way to Gringolandia. One cab let off everyone at the restaurant. The rest of us were let off in the middle of Gringolandia. We searched for the restaurant for an hour. The Cuban place was on the outskirts of Gringolandia, thus very hard to find. We finally made it there and enjoyed Cuban sandwiches and live music. (Please don't tell my host mother I went there, because she hates Cubans).

After Cuban food, we walked around and were invited into some dance bars. The nightlife in Gringolandia is probably the best in town for us gringos. We went to two different dance clubs and danced the night away. We ran into some PLU kids there too. It was really fun, even though I have no dance talent whatsoever. I called it quits at around 1:45 and made it home by 2:00. My host parents remembered my struggle with the gate and left it unlocked.

This morning (okay, it was 11:30) I met up with some school friends and we played some

frisbee in the park. I was exhausted and sweaty afterwards. It was around 80 degrees here today. SO HOT! We headed over to the school (very close to the park) and met up with some other folks. We caught some cabs and headed to Centro Historico AKA Old Quito. Old Quito is so precious. It's where all the plazas, museums, and churches are. I assume there is a huge European influence, because the streets are very narrow. It's fun watching buses navigate the narrow streets.

We began at the Plaza Grande, where we had gone on our first city tour. We walked around. People got some ice cream, I got a sandwich. We stumbled upon the Basílica de Voto Nacional. We wandered around the chapel for a bit and saw some people on a balcony. I wanted to get on the balcony. I figured out that we had to go outside. We walked around outside and admired the gardens and the outside of the church.

I saw some people on top of the church and decided I wanted to go there instead. We found a place to buy tickets and we made our way up into the church. We took the SLOWEST elevator in the world up three floors. When we got off, we were in a gift shop. We wandered around the level and found a really sketchy bridge thing that led to a ladder. We safely crossed the bridge and made our way up a very steep, unstable ladder. (Later, we all decided that Ecuador is not a "suing" culture, but more of a "do at your own risk" type culture). At the top of the ladder, we found ourselves outside with an amazing view of the city. Some people took two more ladders of the same sketch-level and stood at the top of the tower. It was a beautiful day and the views were spectacular.

One of our groupmates, Matt, was on the other side of the church at the same level as us. He somehow managed to get in the clock tower. I scampered down the ladder and over the bridge (to Grandmother's house, I went). I climbed up a lovely spiral staircase and ended up in the belfry. On an unrelated note, there are two giant clocks on the church and neither one of them are accurate. I found Matt and we rang the bell. I can't imagine anywhere in the States where any of this would be possible, but it was fun.

The rest of the group joined us and we went to eat lunch in the church cafe (which was two floors below the belfry and no where near the chapel). The food was amazing and super cheap. No one paid more than $3 for their meal. Again, I don't know of anywhere in the States where this would be possible. Joey and I decided not to take the slow elevator downstairs, so we took the stairs. On floor two, we ran into a gate, so we were forced to exit a different way. Our exit turned out to be the balcony overlooking the chapel. There was a wedding going on in the chapel. Joey and I found an organ on the balcony and considered playing it for the wedding. We decided it was a bad idea, found a different staircase, and left the church. After almost 3 hours of playing at Basílica, we left to explore more of Centro Histórico.

We wandered around and nothing too exciting happened. We ran across a weekly talent show. I guess everyone is invited to participate, because someone asked one of us if she wanted to sing a song. She declined. Some people bought some Canela (the unofficial beverage of Ecuador). Canela is essentially hot apple cider with some kind of alcohol in it. Some people wanted to take the bus home, but I had no idea how to take the bus and it was dark, so I opted for a cab. A cab ride here is usually less than $5 for anywhere in the city.

I came home, worried my family might have been expecting me. Only Tía and Abuelita were home. Abuelita's nurse-or whoever she-is made me some dinner. It was exactly what I wanted: Salad (with avocado), egg (exactly like I make it- omelet style without any fillings), and these amazing potato-cheese-latke type things called tortilla de papas.

All in all, it has been a good weekend so far. Somehow I got sunburned today, even though I used sunscreen! Tomorrow, I would like to explore more of the city. I was telling my group today that I don't feel like I live here yet. I know nothing about Quito. There is not much information about Quito anywhere- internet or guidebooks. It's a mysterious city that you can only know by experiencing. Quito, te amo.

Ines, Noticias and Korea

Dear Chris Kwon,

Nothing much has happened to me in the past two days. The blackouts have changed from 9-11 am to 4-6pm. It's not really all that bad. I went to FUDIS again for my service learning project. The woman who is in charge of us, Ines, is bitter about something. She made us come up with a million things to do while we volunteer there. I stole most of my ideas from the activities they do in my grandma's nursing home. Ines told us we have to bring our own materials for whatever we want to do. I reluctantly volunteered to help clean the rooms and she told me I have to bring a gallon of sanitizing liquid to clean the rooms. My OWN cleaning supplies? Ines gave us another tour (we fortunately made it out by noon this time) and we met some of the patients. They were so sweet. It was very refreshing to know that some people were nice at FUDIS. The patients seemed really stoked to partake in the activities we suggested. I think they are starved for company. I suggested we talk about what's going on in the world. A patient said he wanted to know where in the wold Obama is. Haha. I'm excited to hang out with them tomorrow, even if it is at 8 in the morning. Plus, Ines won't be there.

I went to school and Shaunte, a girl in my group, had some good news. Her host mom has a travel agent who found a great deal for the galapagos over Carnaval. Carnaval is a huge two day holiday here. I don't know much about it, but people throw water balloons at everyone. If I were to go to the galapagos, I would miss Carnaval, BUT I would get to play with huge turtles and I would actually be able to post some pictures on this blog.

Dinner has been somewhat uneventful for the past two nights. We have been watching the news at 7:45. Today, one of my teachers told us about how the news here is becoming super regulated, because the president has communistic ways of ruling. Antonio always has his opinions. I try to understand the news, but it's hard. There was a long profile on Haiti today. I understood that. I only hope that Paul Farmer wasn't in Port Au Prince.

For the past few nights, I kept hearing about Corea (how you say "Korea" here) on the news. I was wondering why Korea had such a big role in the news and the government. Chris Kwon, do you know? Turns out, the president of Ecuador's name is Correa. So similar! I feel totally uncultured here.

Strange thing of the day:

A truck comes around each morning and honks it's horn. I was so confused by this constant obnoxious honking. As it turns out, this truck has a bunch of gas tanks in the back. Everyone here uses gas to heat their water. The truck honks, and the women of the house run outside and stop the truck. An employee of the truck then switches out the gas tank. You don't call the gas company when you're out, the gas company just drives around in an unmarked truck and hopes it can sell and replace some gas. ¡Que extaño!

I have midterms on Friday and then, I promise, I will have more interesting things to write about. Hasta Luego.

Mariagenia, te extrañé AKA The Return of YS!!!

Hola Cristo Kwon,

Today, I went to my place for service learning, which is a shelter for people going through cancer treatment. The institution, called FUDIS, offers sanitary rooms, healthy food, and company for $2 a day for those who are receiving treatment at the local hospital. I'm not sure what my job will be, but I look forward to spending time in a place other than my room.

School was blah. All of us were tired from our weekend excursions. In our literature class (my LEAST favorite), we talked about culture, so it was actually interesting. It rained a ton today, which is a huge bummer. For some reason, the rain made me want coffee. I refrained and settled with iced tea.

As I was walking home, I noticed there were traffic police at all of the major intersections. At first, I thought it was nice, because there were a lot of pedestrians and the police were keeping us safe. After a few blocks, however, I realized that the police were there because the traffic lights were all out. It didn't take me much longer to realize that ALL of the power was out. It was overcast and the sky was darkening. I finally got home and abuelita was watching tv. She told me the power would be out for another two hours. I don't know how she was watching tv. Antonio probably had something to do with it.

I sat in darkness and worked on homework. Antonio called me and "Mariagenia" to dinner. Mariagenia was not responding. I knew who to expect though. After evidently waking up from a nap, YS came into the kitchen, in her yellow sweater and red pants, of course. She hugged and kissed everyone BUT me. Uh oh. She had turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables and melon for dinner. I had spaghetti noodles with hunks of beef covered in gravy. YS is going to Guayaquil until Thursday, then she's going to Otavalo. Why does she travel so much and where has she been for the past four days? The questions will never be resolved.

MIndo Mindo, ¡que Lindo!

Dear Chris Kwon,

What a long weekend it has been! On Friday, I found out that 9 of us were going to Mindo. How unexpected! After class on Friday, we all went to dinner for Natalee's birthday at TGIFridays. It was pretty fun. Unlike the rest of my group, I decided not to go out after dinner and celebrate her birthday. I lamely worked on homework.

I woke up on Saturday at 6:30, took a shower, ate some breakfast, and headed out. I met up with some people fro

m my group and we taxi cabbed it to the bus station. The bus station was kind of confusing, but we somehow bought tickets for a bus that was headed to Mindo($2). After paying a 20 cent tax at a different gate(what?) we boarded the bus. Three other people in my group, who came separately to the bus station, ended up on a different bus that was $0.50 more expensive.

After two hours on a way over-crowded bus we were dropped off on the side of the road near a sign that said "Mindo." Fortunately, I knew this was going to happen. We crossed the highway and found a "taxi" which was a covered truck. The truck driver said that it was a 7k walk, but he would drive us down for $.50. I guess It all evens out in the end, because the other bus that costs $2.50 takes you right in to Mindo. We had met some students from Oregon on the bus. We all crammed into the truck. On the way down, we heard something like gunshots. It was probably just the truck engine, but you never know when you are dropped off on the side of the road and you blindly pay a man with a truck to take you to a foreign town.

As soon as we got off the bus, a woman approached us. She asked "You guys looking for some friends?" in a very deep voice. I though she was some sort of pimp and tried to ignore her. Dan, the only boy in our group this weekend, told her that our friends were right behind her- gesturing to the three members who arrived on a different (and more direct) bus. The woman introduced herself as Claudia (Character of the week!). The other three members seemed to have already met Claudia. She told us she had a "lovely" place for us to stay. She would give us a good deal! We reluctantly piled into her car. A few of the members had to hang on to the outside of her car. We arrived at a cabin. She led us inside and we examined the rooms. It was a hostel set up and it seemed clean. Claudia was only going to charge us $8 for the night, including breakfast. I was super skeptical, but apparently this hostel is in all the guidebooks. We were to pay her when we left.

We were all deciding what to do with our day when Claudia said, "no, my loves, you are going into the canopies. I set it all up. Taxi come in 10 minutes." Canopies?! I was terrified. I didn't want to zipline! So high up. I decided that my life was no in Claudia's hands and there was no arguing. All but 2 members of the group went to the canopies. Claudia gave us a ticket to use at the canopies and we were to pay her later. We boarded the "taxi" (yet another truck) and made our way up into the Cloud Forest. We arrived at the canopies, were given a harness and a helmet, and briefly lectured on what to do. We never signed anything. No one knew we were up there. To make matters scarier, most ziplines in forest canopies cost upward from $45. We paid $13 for a 13 line course. Needless to say, my adrenaline was pumping.

I was reminded of a scene from the movie A Christmas Story. The main character in the movie goes to the mall to tell Santa what he wants. The mall Santa is completely uninterested and throws each kid down the slide into the snowpit, where their parents are waiting

to pick them up. The guide didn't speak a lot of English, so there was no use in asking any questions. He simply attached my harness to the rope and pushed me off. Unlike the movie, however, didn't turn around and stop myself. I'm sure the guide didn't need to know that all I wanted for Christmas was a Red Ryder BB gun.

The canopy ziplining was really fun. We all had a chance to do something crazy. I chose to go upside down. That was pretty terrifying, because I was staring at the clouds.

I safely made my way out of the canopies and back to the hostel. Claudia was waiting. She told us where to eat lunch- at el Cheff which was on the main drag. I ordered a cheeseburger. I have no idea what I ate, but food is food. We walked around the small town for a while. Edan and I separated from the group early on and ended up joining some of the Oregon people from earlier. They were going to a chocolate place just down the road.

Chocolarte is an organic coffee/chocolate shop. The owner of the shop told us how chocolate was made. His wife was sitting there doing art for most of the time. Her parents live in Oregon and she is from the U.S. Small world. The Oregon people seemed to be way better at Spanish than me and Edan, because they got into this huge discussion about life and civilization with the coffee shop owner. I felt it was time for me to go before I thought or said anything I might have regretted. Edan and I returned to the hostel and chilled on the hammocks for a few hours.

Some other members of our group went ATVing and came back super muddy. It started to rain like crazy in Mindo, so everyone regrouped at the hostel and prepared for the evening. Claudia told us about a pizza place we might enjoy. We headed out for Pizza and then went to a club called Bambu. Bambu was full of locals and tourists alike. It was probably the only discotech in town. Everyone was pretty tired so we headed back to the hostel. As we were walking down the street, we all heard Claudia. We looked up and saw her on a balcony. She told us she would drive us back to the hostel (although it was only about a 4 minute walk). She tried to tell us about more bars and options for the evening. We told her it was a lovely night and we just wanted to walk home. She followed us there in here car and told her she was going to set up a waterfall trip for the next morning. We were somewhat apprehensive because we had to catch a bus by 2 in order to get back to Quito before dark. She said not to worry, this would be a quick hike. She would arrange everything. Edan, who is on crutches, was told she could go to the waterfalls too.

We woke up this morning at around 7:30. Claudia made a delicious breakfast. I had fried eggs, bread, tea, and an amazing fruit cocktail. By far the best meal I've had since I've been here. She told us she had called a chiva (an open vehicle used on safari) to pick us up for our waterfall excursion. I assumed the chiva would drive us to the waterfalls. At around 9:00, the chiva dropped us off at the top of a huge hill. Again, we had a ticket and didn't need to pay. I was beginning to think this woman was going to charge me more money than

I had. There are no ATMs in Mindo and I only brought $50 in cash.

We found out that we were to ride across this SUPER sketchy cart through the canopies to the other side, where we could hike to 5 waterfalls. We all looked at Edan, on her crutches. Claudia had said she could do this, so we shrugged and made our way across. This was probably the most terrified I've ever been in my whole life. We were 100s of feet above the ground. Our only hope was that the cable wouldn't break.

We looked at our hiking options. It would take an hour to get to the set of 5 waterfalls, or we could just hike to a closer one and be back by an earlier time. We decided (especially with Edan on crutches) that we would hike to the closer one. On the trail, I met a woman from Greensboro NC. We talked about good old Burlington, where my dad's family lives. I am so surprised that Edan made it. Who hikes with crutches? We agreed we would help her on the way back by carrying her up hill.

We made it to the waterfall. Almost everyone went swimming in the water. I decided to pass, because it was necessary to keep your shoes on and I only had one pair and I'm a bad swimmer and the water was cold. Nonetheless, the waterfall was gorgey. We began our hike back. Edan made it 3/4 of the way up on her own, only stopping for two breaks. In the end, people traded off carrying her.

We got back to the sketchy cart and rode across. A huge thing of grease fell on my leg in the middle of the ride. That's reassuring... When we got to the other side, we waited for the "taxi" to come get us. A truck pulled up with a bunch of people. We decided to drive this down. One of the people who got off this truck was a guy who goes to WSU. Small world, again.

Before we got home, we rushed to the bus station. It turned out that all the buses today had been sold out. Since we were such a big group, the bus company decided that they would send another bus to Quito today. We had tentative tickets for 4:30. I prayed it would work out, because I was done with Mindo... and Claudia.

We made our way back to the hostel, gathered our things and paid Claudia. The cost only came to $26! So good! We walked to a restaurant and had some lunch. We then went to a chocolate place named Quetzal. It is owned by an American guy. We bought brownies. Ñum ñum. I hung out in the town plaza for a few hours. It was raining, but refreshing- and warm. We all met at the bus stop at 4:30. A bus did come! In fact, it was overcrowded.

The ride home was somewhat scary. There was a point where it was super foggy on the freeway. We were on a cliff and we passed some cars. Oh man. I have learned to not fear what I cannot control. There's no point. I should still use common sense. People do this every day though, so I'm sure it's fine.

Mindo was a wonderful place. It is a very small town that relies heavily on tourists. I'm not sure if I'd go back, because it is so touristy. I'm in Ecuador. I'm here to experience another culture. As I told my host parents, I spoke nothing but English all weekend. Everyone I met was from the States or Canada. I guess it's a good place to go for the homesick. As for now, give me something more exotic, Ecuador.

Boring! Don't Read

Dear Chris Kwon,

Nothing exciting has happened to me in the past two days. I completely forgot that I was here to study and now I am loaded with homework each night. Some people in my group wanted to go to Baños this weekend. Baños is this beautiful nature area that has bungee jumping, hiking, canoeing, river rafting, and nature watching. It's about 4 hours away. I decided I didn't want to spend only two days there, so I am postponing that trip for another time- a time when I can do it all. With the advice of Sam Phillips, I became set on the idea of going to Mindo this weekend. Mindo is another nature area, but it's only 2 hours away and it's smaller than Baños. It's definitely worth checking out though. I somehow managed to convince all of the girls (4 others) in my 7 person class to go with me to Mindo instead of Baños. Yes!

My host mom heard from another host mom that people in my group were going to Baños. She asked if I was going. I told her about my concerns for the lack of time there and she seemed to agree. I told her I was going to Mindo and she seemed very excited- probably hyped I will be gone this weekend.

Yesterday, Carmencita sat and watched me eat both breakfast AND lunch. So irritating. I like her though. She's very nice and patient. Yesterday, after class, we were called into a room for another safety meeting. Some people went out two nights ago and a girl left her purse at a bar. Of course, things were stolen from it. Quito isn't ghetto, it's just poor. If I had a family to feed and absolutely no means to feed them, and I stumbled across a purse in a bar, I would definitely take some money.

After this safety meeting, a girl in our group asked how many people were going to Baños. 10 people (all but the 5 of us going to Mindo) raised their hands. 10 people! That's a lot of people for a weekend getaway. I'm pretty stoked about my little group- perhaps I'll describe the members at a later date. Spoiler Alert (I hate you Amath): One of the ladies in my group is like 50, married, and came to class the first day completely sunburned and telling us how she drinks the water here, despite warnings. She's nice though and it will seem like there is an adult chaperone with us, although I have a feeling she is pretty much the same age at heart as we are.

I have horrible news. YS was not present at dinner last night. There was no mention of her at all. I wonder who will move in next. The juice of the evening was ginger juice. Yuck. Ginger burns my stomach.

Supposedly, all 15 people in my group are going out to dinner to celebrate some girl's birthday. Guess where we're going? TGIFridays. Sorry dad, I might break our rule. I'm pretty sure the TGIF by the Tacoma mall is closed though, so I couldn't go to that one anyway.

This was probably the most boring post ever, but get excited for this weekend, because I will post some pictures of Mindo Mindo Mindo!

Great! Got the vegetables, now for water

Dear Chris J. Kwon,

Last night, I "bonded" with "my neighbor" Adriana. She watched TV for like 3 hours. I joined her on one show, 90210. Why? I don't know. I couldn't even follow what was going on and it was in english. She started watching National Geographic. "Galloping Gertie", the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge was on it. I said, "Hey! I'm from there. That's my bridge!" She got all kinds of excited and told me she loved this stuff, because she's majoring in civil engineering.

Today I met up with a friend from Tacoma (Sam Phillips). She has been living here for 5 months through a different program. We met at the mall, then walked to her school, then walked to another mall, then walked through the park. Sounds fun? It was! She gave me some insight into the city and the surrounding areas. It was nice to have plans other than school. While walking through the park, we stumbled upon this playground with a full sized airplane in it, with a connecting slide. I wish I had taken a picture, but I'm sure with such a description, you can imagine it yourselves.

On to school (yay!) Our program was divided into two groups for class. There are 7 people in my class. So tiny! We have 12 class days to finish a whole quarter of Spanish. We go to class 3 hours a day. There's going to be so much crammed in!

I came home and did some homework (finally!) I was called up to dinner. Antonio, tía, and Susy were in the kitchen. They asked where my neighbor was. I told them I didn't know. Apparently, she went with her professors to Santo Domingo until Friday (I'm not sure if this is a cultural thing, but that just seems weird). The group then grew concerned about another missing member. I didn't know who they were talking about, but I'll give you guys one guess.

Antonio whipped out his Iphone (very expensive here) and made a call. "Where are you?" he said. He hung up and said, "she's in the house... she's been here for a while." A few seconds later, in walks YS! Yessssss! I jumped up for my nightly hug and kiss. No one thought she was home, because her light was out. "Her light"?! I guess she's staying here. Why? She pulled out her Blackberry (also very expensive here) and showed everyone a picture of her husband. She's married? Who are you YS and why are you here?!

Susy brought Antonio a plate with rice (like every meal) and some nasty skin-type thing on top. She asked if I wanted to try it. I asked what it was and she said something I didn't understand. It looked so gross, but I figured I had to at least try it. Before I could respond, she said, "Wait, you don't eat pork! It's pork! Nevermind."

THANK GOD I don't eat pork! Haha. Instead, I got salad and some kind of fish. Salad?! With vegetables! I missed them so! Plus the fish was good. YS (Yes, still clad in her red pants and a yellow sweater) gets a special meal. She always gets vegetables and she gets water instead of juice. If I wear yellow can I get water and vegetables?

Why has dinner become the high point of my day? There should be a show revolved around the happenings of my dinner table. Yeah, there's the gold!

P.S I saw a Victoria Skimboard in the mall today. It was selling for $190! How did the Vic board get here? DB better catch up!

P.P.S Today is free museum day in Seattle. Go! http://www.yelp.com/topic/seattle-free-first-thursday-museums

Dear Chris Kwon,

I woke up at around 7:45 yesterday morning, turned on my lamp, noted it was working, then went back to sleep. They have electricity problems here, so they turn the electricity off at different times in various parts of the city. I wasn't sure if it was true, so this is why I tested it. I woke up again at 9:30 and noticed the lights weren't working. I took a shower anyway (hot water runs on gas), ate breakfast, and took a nap, since there is nothing I can do without electricity.

Yesterday was my first day at the school. My host mom was supposed to take me, as I am new to the city and I could get lost. I was to be at school at 1:30. At around 1, I was called to lunch. Lupita (not really sure if that's her name, as I'm never introduced to anyone), the maid fed me a big old plate of food. Another woman, Carmencita (I believe works for Susana, but I'm not sure what she does), sat next to me and watched me eat. She was ready to take the plate when I was finished. It was like an eating contest, but I was the only contestant. When I was done, I felt like I was going to die. Susana was much too busy to take me to school, so Carmencita, who I met yesterday (and by "met" I mean she was there watching me eat lunch all of a sudden), took me via taxi to school. I pretty much knew the way anyway, but driving is soooo fun here... not really.

I got to school and all we had was orientation. Fernando Miño is the program director. He is such a precious man. He speaks very good English and made a safety speech somewhat amusing. It was nice being able to speak English for the first time in 4 days. We're not allowed to speak it anymore, however. At 5, our respective families came to pick us up. Susana picked me up and said, "you pretty much know you're way now, right? You won't get lost if you go on your own tomorrow." Somewhat nervous, but mostly relieved that I wouldn't have to ride in a car ever again, I said "Si."

I came home and went to my room in the dungeon. I realized someone was in the room next to me. I walked over and said "Hola, me llamo Ali." A girl stood up and came and we couldn't decide whether to shake hands or hug so it turned into an awkward combination of both. I had

to ask her her name. Her name is Adriana. I think she's from Ecuador. She's an exchange student and she's stayed her for 6 months. So confusing. So, Susana comes downstairs to invite us to dinner, and half-heartedly tries to introduce the two of us. We race up to dinner, where we are met by Antonio and a strange new woman, I will call Yellow Sweater, or YS for short. YS immediately hugged and kissed me. As we were eating dinner, the conversation commenced. At first, I think they were talking about prices of houses. Then it progressed into a heated debate over square meterage of houses. Everyone calmed down and then they talked passionately of the interior design of beach houses. Black is NOT a beach house color. Don't do it!

Somehow, I managed to escape this conversation. Even if they were speaking in English, I would have nothing to contribute. I then finished season 6 of Seinfeld.

This morning, I woke up at 8. I ran upstairs to take a shower and Carmencita stopped me because someone else was in the shower. I was sooooo amped to go to school, I was frantic. I waited in my room and was finally called to shower. I took a quick shower, then ate a quick breakfast. Susy asked what time I was leaving and I told her early. At around 9:30, I left. I stopped by the mall and bought a SIM card for my phone! So exciting, I know. I was proud I was able to make this transaction.

I ran to class and we all got on a tour bus. We began our drive around the city. We drove to this really high point in the city. We then made our descent to Plaza Grande, a huge plaza across from the president's residence (right).

We then went to La Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús- some church. It was all gold inside. I felt like a pirate. The tour was given in Spanish.

We then drove to La Virgen de El Virgen del Pa

necillo, which is a huge statue of a virgin on a hill. Fernando told us he would pay if we would like to go inside the virgin. Of course, we all went. The virgin has a wonderful view of the city, weird structures with christmas lights on them, some schlocky tourist stuff, lots of diseased dogs, and many young children there hitting the dogs. But the view! It was gorgeous.

We made our way out of the virgin's land and drove to the Mitad del Mundo (The middle of the world AKA the equator). We took a tour. Great, a tour about the equator. Fuuuun. No. It was much more than that. We learned about the culture of the Quito area and how the indigenous

people used the sun for all measurements ever. We balanced an egg on the equator. funtimes.

After we returned to school, some of us went to buy stuff for our phones (I was going to buy minutes). My debit card wouldn't work at the bank, so someone loaned me a dollar to buy some minutos. I left the mall at around 5:30. Susy told me not to leave school after 5. It's dangerous to walk alone. Too bad, I was walking anyway. My adrenaline was high. I was totally alert. My heart was pumping. My walk home is about 25 minutes- uphill. It was super hard. By the time I got home, I was so sweaty, thirsty, and out of breath, I felt like I was going to pass out. It was all good though. I survived to make it to another awkward dinner. YS was there again. She kissed me and asked me my name. Oh man. This house is like "full house" according to Ibeth. I'm not sure if I get the same reference she intended, but it definitely applies to the Full House I was thinking. There are so many random people living here.

Thank you for reading this. My life probably only seems exciting to me. I'm sure it's super dull. ¡Hasta Luego!

JOOOOOOOOOOOOSE

Dear Chris Kwon,

If Chelsea Cook could have a ton of entries in her Roman blog, then so can I doggonit!

Yesterday, I met my host brother, Daniel. He and his girlfriend had lunch with all of us. I assumed the gf was from Ecuador, because she spoke to me in Spanish. In the middle of a conversation, she spoke perfect English with an accent very similar to mine. As it turns out, she is from Maryland. She went home today.

Antonio decided that since it was such a lovely afternoon we were all going to go to telefériQo, which is this gondola that goes up the side of a huge hill until it reaches 13,400 feet. For those of you who aren't aware of how high that is, think of Mount Rainier. It is recommended you wait a week before you attempt this ride, but, of course, I went on my first day.

Antonio made a phone call. Antonio, Susana, Daniel, Daniel's gf, Chris, my host aunt (tía), and I piled into the car and drove to telefériQo. Antonio bypassed the entrance, with a short stop to talk to some woman, then parked in a spot I'm sure is not meant for people to park. A security officer came over, but Antonio managed to keep his car parked there. We walked into the entrance to the gondolas. Antonio told us to wait. He came back, bearing "express lane tickets". The corner of the ticket said it cost $0. We bypassed this huge line and boarded the gondola. Antonio and Susana didn't want to ride, so they went home.

All of us were feeling the altitude, but we decided to trek on. At the top, there are trails you can walk on. You can get pretty high up. We managed to make a little progress, but stopped where the actual park ends, just before the horse rentals. You're familiar, I know.

Today, I woke up, ate a HUGE breakfast of yogurt, bread, and juice, then fell back asleep for an hour. Susana told me she would walk me to my school, but that never happened.

Tía and Ibeth, my host sister, walked with me to my school after a big lunch of steak, egg, rice, and juice. The school right behind a mall and near a gorgeous park. We walked through the mall on the way home. When we stepped outside, Antonio was waiting with his car. This guy is amazing! It was really hot today (Maybe 75). My walking partners were both clad in exercise pants, long sleeves and hats. I wore jeans and no hat.

For dinner, nothing special happened. I had some kind of noodle/tuna casserole and, you guessed it, juice. The juice here is delicious and fresh and fruity, but I don't know how long I'm going to last with this much juice in me. Plus, I've been eating a ton. I feel like it's rude not to eat everything, because everyone else does, but I'm dying.

Tomorrow, I start school. I'm pretty hyped to get to walk everyday to class. I'm also stoked to actually start school, because I feel like I'm under house arrest. C.K, I watched 3 episodes of Seinfeld today. I'll probably watch more before bed.

I hope everyone is getting drunk tonight in honor of my birthday. Good luck with your first days of school tomorrow. Keep on truckin'

Linda linda linda linda linda

Dear Chris Kwon (and Anja today),

After a 2 hour delay in Houston, my nerves were already unsettled. I arrived last night at around 11. My host parents, Susana and Antonio, were at the airport to pick me up. They quickly drove me to their home, ignoring traffic signals and other such unimportants. Their house is lovely. It's something that Mike Brady would have designed. Fortunately, everyone get's their own room. I'm glad I don't have to share a room with Marsha Marsha Marsha, Jealous Jan, or even worse, Little Lispy Cindy. But seriously, that lisp is annoying.

Susana's sister, who lives in New Jersey, is staying here until February 10th. She speaks to me in English, which is nice, because when 400 people are talking, it's hard to follow. Last night, everyone kept saying "linda" and I was very confused. I know some Lindas, but by the way they were using it, it didn't sound like a person. Linda means "beautiful". E-Pet: I guess the Ecuadorians have more to describe things than just simply "Bonita y fea".

I'm excited to explore and enjoy the sunshine. This boring blog may get more interesting if I ever choose to leave the house. Adios all, enjoy your last day of me being 20 years old!