Baños for Carnival weekend

Carnival is a little loco in Ecuador, at least in Baños and along the coast.

Here are some roses, thorns, and somethings in between.

Saturday:

• I left my house around 6 or so to get to the southern bus station Quitumbe, taking a taxi followed by two buses
• Had a quaint and cheap breakfast at the station and boarded by bus for Baños
• Found my hostel (Los Pinos Backpackers Hostel) with little problems and met my four bunkmates for my two nights:
• four friends who study at the University of San Francisco in Quito. Three from Quito and one from Guayaquil. Very interesting people, all around 19
• Went with them to Casa Del Arbol but a few things
• 1...forgot my Spanish teacher advised going in the morning to have clear skies...
• 2...my Ecuador phone was stolen. The first and last time I did not use my phanny pack. While it may have fallen out of my pocket, I noticed shortly after (I know because I had been using it...also not a good idea in public during carnival weekend), it was definitely stolen. My new Ecuadorian friends called my phone and some creepy dudes picked up asking about my age. After some yelling back and forth it was clear I was not getting my phone back. SHOOT. 

• Went out with my new friends to a bar in town. We danced, talked, danced some more and I had a fun time.
• The streets were filled with people spraying Carioca, which is like sprayable foam, all over everyone that walked by. This was pretty fun. Strangers of all ages in the streets playing together!
• Tried Bolón, which is a ball of fried green banana

Sunday:

If you can spot the tiny building on the upper right of the mountain, that is Café del Cielo

• Went on a solo hike up to Café del Cielo. The hike was hard and rewarding with beautiful views of the town. At the top, this cafe full of windows was in a fog. It felt very dreamy being up there. I enjoyed some cold water and fresh naranjilla juice before going back into Baños.
• The cafe also had naturally heated pools from the volcano on top in addition to a hotel rooms. 
• Embarrassing...but I took a taxi down. I had a headache that started during my ascent that had only gotten worse at the top.
• Had a great "merienda" or dinner full of rice, chicken, soup and other goodies.
• Tried to meet up with Carlee but struggled because of my lack of phone...

Monday:

• Met up with Carlee after I checked out and went to Ambato for a few hours before taking a bus back to Quito
• We met some nice people on the bus from Guayaquil who accompanied us around Ambato, taking us to a market for some platos tipicos, specifically Lkapingachos...  a plate full of potatoes (in the delicious form they call "tortilla" here), avocado, chorizo and coconut juice. 
• The streets of Ambato were preparing for a parade and already had some live music already happening near the main square. 
• Took a bus around 5:30 back to Quito, arriving at the station around 9, took three buses back home and was there before 11. Quite the travel, but inexpensive!

Tuesday I had work off since it was still Carnival. I took the day to rest and recuperate...

Highlights: semana desde 2 hasta 5 de febrero

So I have fallen quite behind here and decided to just do highlights for the weekdays since most days are relatively the same.

Left to right: Miguel, Martina, Albita, William, Kathi, me and idk, some man who shares the SINAMUNE property and lives there with his family and has those adorable puppies.

Highlights:

Tuesday:

• Franklin and Ximena drove me to the south bus terminal to purchase my ticket for Baños this weekend. Taking the bus would have been hard for my first time since I didn't really know where I was going, and a taxi back and forth would have been quite pricey. For only $15 Franklin drove me there, stopping at a wonderful view of the city for us to take pictures, walked in with me to buy my tickets, explained what to do when I get there Saturday morning, and drove me home. It was great driving with them and chatting with them in a less scholastic manner. We listened to a lot of fun music in Spanish along the way as well. They are really wonderful people. '

• Wednesday:
• Sadlight-- I learned hitting your children (with a San Martin or whip) is legal and not entirely uncommon here. One of the students came to school with marks on her leg. I think my boss said they do talk to the parents when this happens, but I had trouble understanding. This day was hard. It was emotionally difficult to learn about this, especially being that the child has Downs Syndrome. But, different country, different customs, different lifestyle. I am not here to judge, just learn and help these students. Also this is not indicative of every family in Ecuador..I would like to make that clear. It is also not like this never happens in the states.
• In Spanish class, Ximena and I spent the time talking (in Spanish of course) about things to do in and around Baños, about schooling here, and learning about the different indigenous cultures of Ecuador. Although Quichua is the largest Indigenous population, with many words commonly used here by many Ecuadorians, there are several other indigenous groups throughout the Amazon region here. I enjoyed learning about them, specifically their languages, customs and common attire.
• Thursday:
• At night I went with Martha and Adriana (host mom and sis) to eat empanadas and morocho. So delicious! Morocho is a sweet drink/pudding with milk, corn, cinnamon, sugar and rice. I will be eating this at least a few more times before I leave.
•  Friday:

• For Carnival, the kiddos and Christofer had Carioca, (which is like silly string but better because it's less messy and more like foam spray). We spent about an hour in the park playing with the students. 
• I also led an activity with several students where we held hands in a circle and passed a hula hoop through and around the circle. I thought this would be great for the students to work on gross motor skills and navigating/coordinating their body in space. The kiddos loved it, they were giggling and enjoying trying to move through the hoop.
• After work I went for a few beers with Martina, Kathi, Albita, and Christofer. 
• We also had "tacos" which since they were less than $2 and a taco, I assumed they would be somewhat small but it was more like a burrito, a delicious burrito.
• We went to Mariscal which is crazy on Friday nights. After a lot of wandering and searching we found a bar with open seats. I met some of Christofer's friends who he plays music with as well. They were very nice and more great practice for my Spanish. 
• Note on cultural differences here: It is not weird to ask if you are single in the first few questions of meeting someone. One of his friends followed that question with asking if I was faithful...that was a new one and I have now learned the word for faithful: Fiel. [To which I replied with an exuberant YES] It wasn't too long after this I decided to call it a night and taxi back home. I have talked with several people here about Latin American culture regarding cheating and dating. Cheating tends to more common and somewhat accepted here among many... It seems infidelity in marriage is also more acceptable here than in the states. *My family here does not follow these stereotypes or thoughts. This has me believe that what I hear about cheating culture here may be a generalization and may not be the true majority. *While trying to be accepting and nonjudgemental, cheating and infidelity are not a lifestyle I am personally comfortable with. Monogamy is my cup of tea, but to each his own...
• Once home, I had a late dinner with Vivi and talked with my family before getting packed for Baños and hopping into bed for some much desired sleep.

Abrazos y Besos,

Zoe

¡Parque Metropolitano!

lunes 1 de febrero.

Tried more new fruits today! The first was claudia, which is more or less a small pale plum. The other was a taxo, in which Martha made me a milkshake with for breakfast.

Today after work I found my way over to Parque Metropolitano using Martha's drawn map and written directions. This all worked out quite well, with the help of the cobra (the person who takes your money on the bus, from the verb cobrar-to charge). The park is incredibly large. I started at the small outdoor cafetería for lunch where I enjoyed a banana, gatorade and bowl of cevichocho consisting of tostado corn, pico de gallo, plantain chips and chocho beans (my new favorite superfood), all for under $3. I spent about two hours wandering through the park. I don't think I even saw half of it. What I did see was beautiful. It was great to escape the city so easily and close by, into a green park filled with smells of flowers, sounds of birds and people playing sports. I even ran into some llamas!

On my walk down to the bus...and by down I do mean down some very steep hills...I found some ice cream to help cool off as I searched for the right street to catch my bus. Eventually, I found the bus and my way back home. I was quite impressed with myself in not getting lost :)

I would love to go back soon and explore more of the park. Martha said maybe we can go with the family and bring food for a picnic!

My feet were so tired and verging on creating new calluses that I needed to lie down for a bit before showering off my sunscreen and sweat covered body.

I had more mote for dinner, but this time with cheese and a little egg. YUMMY. I also had some chicken, salad and fresh limeade courtesy of Martha.

I played with Colúm (I realized I misunderstood the puppy's name) for a while before retiring to my room for homework, blogging and zzzzz.

Saludos,
Zoe