HELLO from Ecuador. A quick recap on the last days in Costa Rica until today is in order. We spent our second to last day in Costa Rica in the surfing town of Santa Teresa. We freaked ourselves out of surfing and then had all of fears confirmed as an instructor and many others told us that this was NOT the place to take your first surfing lesson...at 10 to 12 foot waves. AH, silly us. We met some Venezuelans and Ticos in a Pizza place around 230, bonded over some cerveza and then hitched a ride back to Montezuma with them. We ended up staying in a gross hostel without a bathroom. That night, we meant to reunite with our new friends but instead played a game of street soccer with some Tico kids and a Tico guy about 20 something who, upon leaving the match, pointed to Michelle Gorzek and said, USTED ES GUAPA. Ah, those TICOS are definitely very straightforward. Next day was spent at a beautiful pool. We took the bus back to San Jose and talked to some Israeli travelers who had been around South America the last 6 months. As we got out of the bus, a scorpion miraculously appeared underneath my shirt. I was soooooooo shocked after the second bite that i furiously tore off my shirt as everyone in the bus and all of those people getting off the bus watched and laughed. AHHHHH. Anyway, the scorpion bit me twice and I went to the pharmacy the next day. the dude told me i need to see a doctor but the wait was two hours. Needless to say, a doctor was never seen and I feel fine.
At the airport, our flight was overbooked and in exchange for TACA airlines mistake they gave us a 150 dollar plane voucher. Unfortunatly, that is not very helpful because TACAs flights are country to country and very expensive. RATS.Well see what happens...We might meet Marissa in PERU in a few weeks if things work out well.
AS FOR ECUADOR. We came to the directors house at 1230 am. She lives in a giant apartment in Quito with pictures of herself everywhere. I guess she used to own some discotecas and was a big shot back in the day. She was very nice.
We came to Otavalo by bus on the second day. Our host dad, Marcos, picked us up at the TERMINAL. The immediate family includes YOLIE, who is a dentist and works two jobs in addition to doing EVERYTHING around the house, Carlos Enrique, a 14 year old boy who is super super cool and listens to all the latest music, like AKON. hehe. The baby, 11 year old Marcos Andres is hilarious and kisses everyone everytime he walks into a room. he has really squishy cheeks. The grandma, Hilda, is so nice and tells us stories all the time. She started to cry while telling us about her husband who is in a mental institution due to depression.
Our family invited us to thier relatives wedding next weekend, so we are very excitedª its going to be a big affair in the mountains about 10 minutes from us in Cotapachi.
We started our first day of work yesterday. We are separted at two different indigenous child centers. My work is still not clear at all, while Michelle will be working with children all the time. The two other teachers are surprisingly, two young indigenous men. One is in highschool and the other just started stuyding music at the local university. He is working so that he can continue his studies in a few years. The center, La compania, is on Ibarra mountian, by San Pablo Laguna. Its GORGEOUS and smells amazing all the time, like burning corn and incense. MMMMMM. We take the bus everyday for about 30 minutes to get to the childcare center which consists of one single room, a tiny kitchen and an extremely run down playground. the little KIDDDIES ARE ADORABLE. Most of them are just learning Spanish, since Quichua is thier first language. The director tried to teach me how to say Whats your name in Quichua and I COULD NOT DO IT. I repeated it so many times, but it is so foriegn to my ear that i couldnt grasp it.
We are in Cayambe for the weekend for an indigenous festival. We left the bull fight after 10 minutes because it was not our thing AT ALL. People were running after the bulls and trying to provoke them, throwing things and spitting. Didnt like it at all. We met some other volunteers who seem nice so we will hang with them tonight. We also met some Peace Corps volunteers in a yummy vegetarian restaurant.
Thats all for now. To call the cell phone, send me an email and I will send you the number. LOVe you all.
