Journal

Saturday, 7-18-03 - Machu Picchu
I don't know how to describe this place other than amazing. I have thought about visting this place since I was a little kid, and had wondered if when I saw it in person, if I would be dissapointed. Well, I wasn't. It was everything I thought it would be, truly a magical place.We got up at the crack of dawn, freezing our asses off to catch the train here. It was a nice ride through some beautiful countryside. We arrived at Aguas Calientes around 11:00 am, and caught a bus for the last leg of the trip, about 20 minutes up some winding roads to the entrance. We had planned on doing the 2 day hike, but since we only have a week in Peru in total, and since Paul is sick, we decided to bag it and take the train. It would really have been pushing it for time if we hiked it and we would have had no time to see Cusco. Oh well, guess I will have to make another trip here someday.

You enter from above, from a place called the watchmans hut which, has an incredible view of the ruins below. This is where most of the panoramic shots of the ruins most people have seen are taken. You can then walk down into the ruins and just explore all the little nooks and crannies. It's divided up into different sectors, places where the people lived, the temples, main plaza, etc. It's so amazing to think about how the Inca built this place, perched up on this mountain top as it is, and easy to see how it remained hidden for half a millenium.

Thursday, 7-17-03 - Cusco
Cusco has been a blast so far, I really like this place. It's a pretty clean city, full of historic old colonial buildings, many built on the ruins of Inca temples and palaces. The climate is pretty dry and very cold. I am not sure how high up the city is, but I can really feel the affects of the altitude, or soroche as its called here. The locals drink coca tea, which is tea made of cocaine leafs, yes cocaine. Before you get too excited, it's not like snorting the drug. It basically just soothes the affects of high altitude, and it really seems to work. It's served everywhere here, even our hotel room came with a little pot of it brewing when we checked in.

Once you get accustomed to the altitude, this is a great place to walk. Everything is pretty close to the center, but I get winded walking up the hill to our hotel which is only a few blocks away. There are all sorts of excellent restaurants everywhere. You can't walk down the street without getting accosted by someone handing out flyers for a free pisco sour with your meal. Every place we have eaten so far has been excellent. Pisco sours are the national drink here, they are sort of like a margarita only made from a local cane liquor called "Pisco", lime juice, sugar, and egg whites. They are very tasty and we got pretty slopped up off them our first night here. We had an excellent dinner at a little place right off the main plaza which had the best avocado salad I have ever had. It was so amazing that Heather and I went back today for lunch and Heather coerced the chef into giving her the recipe.

Yesterday we got up bright and early and took a tour of some of the ruins that surround Cusco. There is an old Inca fortress called Sacsayhuaman (prononced 'sexy-woh-mon'), which has an excellent view of the city of Cusco. The lighting there was amazing, sort of an orange glow to everything, like a fall afternoon. Tomorrow will be another early morning as we head to Machu Picchu.

Tuesday, 7-15-03 - Lima
Paul and I have been in Lima 2 days now, seeing all the usual tourist sites like the cathedral and presidential palace and several craft markets. Lima is a HUGE city, kind of dirty and crowded. I am glad we are only staying here a few days. Were staying in a nice place in the Miraflores neighborhood, one of the newer and nicer areas of the city. It's near the ocean and has lots of restaurants, shopping and tourist crap. Paul has come down with a hellish cold, so he spent most of today laying low in the hotel while I checked out yet another craft market. I am sucha sucker for all the indigenous pottery and textiles. Its similar but slightly different than the stuff in Ecuador and of course I have bought several more bags of it. I got a very cool sweater today, made from baby alpaca which is very soft, lightweight and warm, and only $12! Heather arrives tonight and we leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow for Cusco.

Saturday, 7-12-03 - My Last Week of School
First of all, I have to address all of you who have commented on all my spelling mistakes in this jouranl. Let me just tell you that time is money here. I am a pretty fast typist, but my brain usually works faster than my fingers. When I go into an internet cafe my goal is to type this up quick as I can since I am being charged by the minute, I don't really have time to catch every little mistake. Why not use spellcheck as many of you have suggested? Well, because it's in Spanish and doesn't catch English mistakes. I try to do a quick read through to catch the errors, but as I said, time is money and I am in a hurry, so I don't catch them all. I know it drives some of you to distraction, but this is a journal not a formal essay, so you are just going to have to get over it. Ok, now that I have that off my chest... This has been a very crazy week, my last week of classes at La Academia. I am happy to be returning home soon but sad to leave my host family and friends here in Ecuador. I spent the week frantically trying to finish up loose ends at school, the school website and finalizing my plans for Peru. I also had a near disaster, my laptop crashed with all my pictures, schoolwork from my timein Ecuador and the schools website. I of all people know the importance of backing up my work, but like a fool I didn´t. The ironic part is that the night I returned from the beach I thought about doing a backup as I uploaded my latest photos, but I was tired and decided to put it off. I will NEVER do that again. I have been sick to my stomache over the whole thing... to lose all that stuff, but luckily my teacher Guido has a friend who works in computers here in Quito and he was able to ´fix´ it so to speak, so at least I can access and save all my work. When I get home I will have to completely rebuild my hard drive, but at least all my photos are safe, whew!

The teachers threw a little going away party for me yesterday and took me out to lunch with all the other students to say goodbye. It was very nice, but I felt bad as I was late frantically trying to fix my computer and I had to run off immediately afterwards to help Guido with his website. Paul arrived late last night, it was very nice to see a familiar face but I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open. We spent all day today walking around the city, visting the old colonial part of the town, churches, the Panecillo and museuems. In the evening Elizabeth, one of my teachers, gave us a night tour of the historical center with all the old churches lit up. It was very beautiful and the first time I had seen it. Tomorrow we leave for Peru and what should be a pretty busy week.

Sunday, 7-6-03 - Crucita
Its Sunday morning in Crucita, the girls just caught the bus back to Quito and I have the house to myself for the rest of the day. My bus doesn't leave until 4:30 so I will pass the day working on my tan and relaxing on the beach. This place is incredible, a great house right on the beach, sleeping to the sound of the ocean every night. Crucita is a sleepy little fishing village about half an hour north of Manta. There aren't many tourists here or much of nightlife, very layed back and relaxing. Its very dry here, warm but not too hot because of the breeze from the ocean. I spent the week here with 3 other students; Carmen, Heather, Grace and our teacher Fredy. The week went by so fast and we had a great time. We studied in the mornings (kind of) and spent the afternoons with various activiites.

There was a teacher from Puerto Viejo, Karen, who came each day and took us around in her car. One day we went to Montecriste, home of the famous Panama Hat. They actually come from Ecuador and were shipped to Panama during the construction of the canal, but everyone thinks they come from Panama. There are dozens of shops in this town that make and sell the hats at a much lower cost than you can buy them in Quito. We also visited a pottery shop where we watched a man make the traditional form of pottery by hand, most of which are reproductions of pre-Colombian indigenous art. He made a little indian figurine while we watched gave it to us as a souvenir. We decided to leave it here in the beach house as a guradian. Another day we hiked about 2 hours up the beach to a national park called The Boca, at the mouth of a river, but the highlight had to be our first day when we all went parasailing, which was a total blast. Floating up over the beach and ocean, nothing but the sound of the wind, incredible.

The rest of our time we spent walking along the beach, swimming in the ocean and relaxing. Friday was the 4th of July and we had a little bbq to celebrate. We made hamburgers, hotdogs, potato and green salad and lots of fruit, also a lot of cubre libres. We invited our teachers and the owners of the nearby hostal where we ate all our meals. Typical for the 4th of July in Seattle, it rained in the morning but it cleared up by the afternoon and we had a beautiful sunset.

Thursday, 6-28-03 - Mindo
Its hard to believe that its already the end of June and that I only have 2 more weeks of school here in Quito. 1 actually, because next week I am going to the coast. The school has a house in Crucita right on the beach, and I will spend the week with a few other students there. Although we will have class in the mornings, we will still have a lot of time to just relax and soak up some rays. I can't wait!

I´ve been very busy this week making my reservations for Peru and frantically trying to finish the school's website. I should finish by next week if I bring my laptop with me to the beach. It seems like there is so much to do before I leave but I guess you never have time to do everything.

Last week I spent the week in the rain forest, a place called Mindo which was very relaxing and well, uhmm, wet. It was very beautiful with lots of wildflowers, hummingbirds, and more butterflys than I've ever seen in one place in my life. There were also a lot of mosquitos and I was eaten alive. Here at the equator you can really feel the temperature change with just a slight change in altitude. It was warm and very muggy, but not as much as the Amazon was. I studied in the afternoons and had activities in the mornings such as river rafting, visiting orchid and butterfly farms, and hiking to waterfalls. It was just my teacher Sila and myself, and I did a lot of relaxing. There really isn't much else to do in Mindo, its a pretty small town and very quiet. It was nice to get out of Quito and breathe fresh air and sleep to the sounds of the forest; crickets, frogs and the sound of the river, Very nice. You can see the pictures in the thumbnails to the right.

I got back to Quito Friday afternoon and went to Gringolandia with some of my fellow students. I met Heather early at Papayanet and we hung out with some Ecuadorian guys she had met. We had some beers and talked before meeting up with our classmates. It was interesting listening to these guys talk as they are sort of Ecuarian homey's, using a lot of slang. A lot different than the Spanish we study in class. We also found some tater tots, which was a nice surprise since both Heather and I like them a lot. We had a good time. Last weekend was the first day of summer, the summer solstice and there was a big celebration at the equator with indigenous dancing and music. I went with the other Rotary scholars, Heather, Grace and Becky, and we had a great time. During the solstice, the sun is directly overhead at the Equator and you don't have a shadow. The rest of the weekend was pretty relaxing, just hanging out in Quito.

Saturday, 6-15-03
So what's going on in Seattle anyway? Temps in the 90's, riots and car bombs. Maybe I should stay here in quiet and safe little Quito for a while longer. Well, between the car alarms, barking dogs and traffic Quito is hardly quiet, but its never in the 90's and there haven't been any car bombings. Ok, there have been some protests, but they are relatively peaceful. The protesters treat the protests like a job, starting each morning around 9 and ending at 5 or 6. They gather near the University Central and block traffic on Avenida America, one of the main streets running through the city, while yelling and throwing rocks at the cops. The have been protesting the fact that the teachers haven't been paid in months and the threat of rising gas prices. The teachers only make about $170 a month here and are asking for a $20 monthly raise. They finally may have reached an agreement and the students should return to school on monday. The congress has taken months to decide on a measly $20 increase in pay for the teachers but decided in 15 minutes for a huge pay increase for themselves, amazing. The other day I was eating lunch with some fellow students at a restaurant near the university when all of a sudden our eyes and noses started burning and everyone started running inside. The police were shooting tear gas into the protestors and it was blowing right into the restauant. Uhmm-mmm, nothing like the smell of tear gas while your eating a fruit salad. They quickly shut all the doors and windows and we were locked in for about 20 minutes waiting for the gas to pass. We had a good excuse for being late to class anyway.

Its been an interesting week. Between being tear gassed and my reaction to the anti-malaria medicine. I hope I never have to take that crap again. It made me really tired, have wierd dreams, and gave me a bad case of diarrhea and upset stomache. I was supposed to continue taking it until Friday but quit on Wed. as it was getting worse everyday. Thursday was the worst but by Friday I was back to normal, just in time for a drunken afternoon bbq with the professors on the terrace at school. The teachers had a traditional Ecuadorian parrillada to celebrate the end of the week and asked me and Eric, a new student from Tacoma, to help cook. There was a lot of meat and even more cubre libres - rum and coke with lime. By the time we left, we were all feeling very happy as they say here. Eric and I met the other students at a Mexican restaurant where we drank a few margaritas and then went to a party near the university. There is a good group of students here now and we have a lot of fun together. Vicki from Colorado, Becky from Pennsylvania, Grace from Florida and Heather from Alabama, all Rotary scholars, Charles from Texas, Erin from D.C. and Eric from Tacoma. We were the only gringos in this big party of Ecuadorians were we danced and drank more rum and coke. At the end of the night we all piled into a tiny cab and went home around 1:00 am, pretty early by Ecuadorian standards. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, 6-8-03 - My Trip to the Amazon
Yesterday I returned to Quito after spending the week in the jungle. It was part of my schools curriculum called the Anaconda Program. I went with another Rotary scholar, Jerry from LA and a big group of Lutheran college students from Wisconson. It was nice going with the group because we had our own private bus which was much more comfortable and faster than a regular bus, 5 hours instead of the usual 6 and a half. We had 4 hours of class in the mornings and spent the afternoons going on different excursions into the jungle. A nice change of pace from studying in Quito and a lot of fun. My only regret (other than all the mosquito bites), is that I didn't take more pictuers. It was pretty wet in the jungle, and since we were climbing up waterfalls and through mud and brush, I was scared of ruining my camera. So I don't have pictures of most of the excursions.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and spent our first two nights in some cabanas owned by an indigenous family way out in the jungle. It was pretty primitive, no electricity or hot water, but very cool. The family cooked all our meals and acted as guides into the jungle. After settling into our cabanas we went on a short hike into the jungle where Eduardo, the father showed us various plants and explained what the local people use them for. We ate some Cacau, the fruit that chocolate comes from. Its an orange oblong fruit when ripe that resembles some type of squash. inside are some slimy, white seeds which the local children eat as candy. Its very sweet, but tastes nothing like chocoate. You suck off the slime and spit out the seeds. Chocolate is made from the dried, cooked and ground seeds. After class on Sunday we hiked to a small waterfall and pool in the jungle where we swam and dived from the surrounding rocks. It was so beautful and the water very cool and clean. It felt so good after the hot, sweaty hike. We returned to our cabanas in intertubes tied together to form a raft and floated downstream through some rapids, very fun. The following day we hiked to a large waterfall and climbed up the rocks through a series of waterfalls. It was a little scary in some spots but very fun. We hiked up a steep ridge through some pretty thick jungle and from the top there were some incredible views of the forest below, and we were able to swing on vines like Tarzan. It was a pretty good workout and we all returned to camp very tired, sweaty and dirty. We had just enough time to shower and pack before we left for our next camp. We piled into some trucks and drove for about 2 hours arriving very tired and hungry at Shangrila, the name of the 2nd set of cabanas.

Since it was dark when we arrived, I was surprised to walk out of my cabana the next morning and see an amazing view below. Shangrila is perched on top of a high hill overlooking the river and valley below. There is nothing but jungle and river below with hills and mountains in the distance. Not a house or building in site for miles and miles (you can see the pictures in the filmstrip to the right). Its not as remote or rustic as the first camp, it has electricity and hot water, but I liked this place a lot. There were several parrots and a pet Cochachi, a racoon-like animal named Pepe. He had a strong smell and sharp claws and was quite a little brat. There were also some small monkeys, not much bigger than a squirrel. They made a lot of noise at night rummaging through the kitchen for food and climbing around on the roofs of the cabins. After class the first day we drove up river and rafted downstream for a few hours to an indigenous village where we sampled some Chicha a typical drink made from yucca, and brought candy and presents for the children. I really wish I had brought my camera because the kids were so cute. We had a tour of the village and learned about the life of the local indians, very interesting. We then continued rafting downstream, jumping off the raft from time to time to swim in the river, until we reaching Shangrila. The 2nd day we hiked to some canyons in the jungle where we walked, crawled and squeezed our way through a series of canyons, many of which were filled with bats. This was the only activity I really didn't care for as I am slightly clausterphobic, and the feeling of crawling through a small, dark, crack with bats flying past my head and the smell of bat urine in the air gave me the creeps. At one point I was behind a large girl who was stuck and couldn't move, with other people pressing up behind me and bats flying past us. The guide has to pull her up as I pushed from behind to get her through. yikes! Our final day we didn't have class and went on a day long trip up river in canoes to a museum and zoo. We also toured another village where we watched a woman make traditional pottery, and then returned in canoes to a bus that was waiting to bring us back to shangrila. We had a party our last night with dancing and drinking of a local sugar cane liqour. It was a lot of fun. Our last morning we got up early, leaving at 5 am to avoid road blocks due to student protests. All in all, it was an excellent trip other than a few dozen mosquito bites, but I was happy to return to civilization for a real shower, shave and clean clothes.

Sunday, 5-25-03 - Volcan Cotopaxi
Its 2:30 am and I can't sleep so I may as well update my journal. I've been pretty tired lately, sleeping an average of 10+ hours a night but waking up a lot in the middle of the night. I think the burnout factor of more than 4 mos. of long, intense days of Spanish has a lot to do with it. I am glad that I won't have any more weeks of 'Intensiva', which should help. Sometimes the days just seem to blur together. School is pretty engrossing and I don't have a whole lot of time or energy to do much else sometimes. I found out that the other students are pretty wiped out as well, so at least I know its just not me. Not much has been going on lately with the exception of the arrival this week of a big group of university students from Wisconson. There are now 45 students in school which feels a lot differant especially after the month of April when I was the only student in school.

Yesterday I went hiking with some of the other students at Mt. Cotapaxi. Its Ecuadors 2nd highest mountain at 5897 meters or 19,347 ft. and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. It wasn't a really clear day, so we couldn't see the mountain until we drove up to the parking area which was above the clouds. Even then it was only partly visible as groups of high clouds drifted by the summit from time to time. We climbed up to the base camp, only about a mile or so, but it took quite a while and was pretty difficult as I could really feel the effects of the altitude. The camp is at 4800 meters, about 15,740 ft. which is higher than the summit Mt. Rainer (14,410). I don't have much interest in climbing to the summit, the base camp was enough for me. We met a group of Ecuadorian school kids who wanted to practice their English with us. At first I persecuted them by telling them I was Japanese and didn't speak any English, but for some reason they didn't beleive me. We all climbed down together while they asked a thousand questions about the U.S., music and words in English. They were very freindly and a lot of fun.

Today I am having a relaxing Sunday. Spent the morning doing my homework like a good little student and updating the website. I went to a cafe in Gringolandia this afternoon with my host parents. It was a nice day so we walked there to have cappaccinos and dessert. Its owned by a canadian guy and is just like a regular coffee shop in Seattle which is so nice after drinking the instant stuff most Ecuadorians drink. My host mom Juana makes pretty good coffee. She buys the beans in a roasteria in the old town and its pretty good, but I really miss the coffee back home. Its strange that its so hard to get a decent cup of coffee in a country that grows the stuff.

Sunday, 5-11-03 - Mothers Day
Today is mothers day, "Happy mothers day mom!" I took my host family out to dinner at TGI Fridays which my host mom has been wanting to try for quite a while. The food was pretty good, nothing spectacular, but they all enjoyed it. For them eating there was an exotic culinary experience in American culture. They were surprised to hear that I had never been there before as they thought it was a very popular American restaurant that all Americans love. I am not sure if they wanted to go there because they thought I would like it or if they really wanted to try but I was just glad they enjoyed it.

This week 2 more students arrived, Vicki from Colorado and Jerry from L.A., both Rotary scholars. Its nice having other students around. Thursday we all went to the "Secret Garden" for dinner. It was nice to relax and forget about school for the evening. After 3 weeks of "Intesiva" - 7 hours a day in the classroom, I had a much needed week of "Activa" - mornings in the classroom and afternoons out in the city. This week I visited several museums and sites around town, all which fit nicely into what I am studying for the next few weeks, history and culture of Ecuador. Both museums had lots of exhibits and artwork from pre-Inca artifacts up to present day artists. I also finally visited the "Panecillo" a hill just south of the old town which has a large statue of the virgen of Quito, a gift to the city of Quito from France, much like the statue of Liberty was a gift to NY. When they built the park on top of the Panecillo they discovered an old pre-Inca stone structure thought to be either an alter for human sacrifice or an observatory. It was buried under ground and in amazingly good shape. Saturday I went back to the market in Otavalo and Cotacachi, known for its leather goods. I was amazed to find a leather jacket in Cotacachi that fits me like a glove, and it only cost $75! I also bought a leather computer bag for my laptop and a lot of gifts in Otavalo. The people in the market kept trying to sell me sweaters, but of course they were all way too small. It was funny seeng the looks on their faces when they would insist they had one in my size and when I tried it on the sleeves came down to my forearms.

Sunday, 5-4-03
The last few weeks have gone by pretty fast and have been pretty uneventful. I've been busy with school, studying Latin American Literature and Spanish Linguistics. 4 months of studying 7 hours a day is taking its toll. This past week was especially hard, as I have been feeling pretty burned out. I decided to spend this weekend just relaxing. Saturday I spent updating my site, finally adding a Guestbook which I was able to finish thanks to the help of Sara and Bill, Thanks guys! Now all of you can add comments and say hello. Sunday I went to the "Cima de la Libertad" the site of a famous battle for the Independence of Ecuador. It is up on a hill overlooking the city with great views of the whole valley below. There is a military museum and a large tile mural depicting Ecuadors struggle for independence. Afterwards I went down into the old town and spent the rest of the day walking around taking pictures. The last few weekends I've spent doing homework, studying and re-designing the schools website. I finished with the designs this week and now Virginia, the director just needs to make a decision as to which one. The hardest part is over and the actual building of the site will be easy. I am not getting paid, but will get a few weeks of studying at both the beach and in "Mindo". ( a place out in the country a few hours north of Quito). Both places are pretty remote and will be very quiet and relaxing and will be a nice change of scenery.

The big item in the news here has been a priest who was the head of a government import company and was discovered to be stealing millions of dollars. He is in hiding somewhere in the U.S., probobly in one of his houses in Miami. He drove a rolls royce and lived in a huge mansion which contained everything from gold plated china to video tapes of pornography. The Catholic Church has been under a lot of criticism for this as well as the government of the ex president. The new president Guitierrez has formed an anti-corruption commitee to try and uncover such actions, but no one takes it seriously and most people doubt that it wil make any difference. Corruption seems to be a way of life here. Everyday there are stories in the news about some form of it at all levels of society. Is very sad because the people just look at it as a fact of life, something that is inevitable and which they are unabe to do anything about. Out in the country in many indigenous communities, there is such disatisfaction with the police and justice system, that people often take the law into their own hands. A few weeks ago there was an incident where a man had been arrested for raping several young girls. When the community found out that the police were going to release him (probobly because he paid them a bribe) the people were furious and the whole town stormed the police station, dragging the man into the street, beating him and finally pouring gasoline over him and burning him to death.

Its been strange being the only student in school this past month, but this week there are 3 new students. Brad and Laura, a married couple from Colorado and Danielle from Switzerland. Its nice to have other students to talk to and eat lunch with. This week there should be 2 more arriving and in the next few weeks a large group of college students arriving.

Saturday, 4-19-03 - Semana Santa
Being as it is Easter or "Semana Santa" as its called here, its a 3-day holiday and most people left town for the weekend. Many stores and businesses are closed and its very quiet and peaceful. We had a lot of rain here this week with thunder and lightening storms in the afternoons. Because of all the rain and lack of traffic, the air is really fresh and clean. When I woke up Friday morning the sun was out with clear blue skies and all the volcanoes were visible, so I went out to take some pictures from a nearby park called "Parque de la mujer" (Park of the woman). It has a great view of the surrounding mountains when its clear, a rare site because of the smog and clouds. I could see "Cotapaxi" to the south, "Pichincha and Guaqua Pichincha" to the west (directly behind my house), "Sangay" to the east and even view "Cayambe" to the north, which is usually coverd with clouds. It was so beautiful, the air a little crisp, but warm in the sun.

My host mother Juana prepared a traditional holiday dish called "Fanesca", a type of stew made with over 14 different ingredients such as beans, lentils, corn and peanuts. Usually they put fish in it, but thankfully Juana left it out for me (whew!). Its very labor intensive and can take several days to prepare as all the beans need to be peeled and soaked and the corn removed from the cob (no, they don't use canned or frozen corn). She even removed the outer part of the kernal from all the corn to make it smoother. It was very good, but personally I don't think it was worth all the hassle of preparing it. I wonder if they have and instant version, or if the McDonalds in Ecuador have McFanesca??? (joking). After lunch I went to the old part of town to watch the annual Semana Santa procession which starts from one of the oldest churches in Quito called San Francisco. They take the statue of the virgen Mary from the church and carry her through the streets of Quito in a long procession. There are also people dressed as christ, complete with crowns of thorns, sometimes draped in barbed wire and dripping with real blood, carrying huge wooden crosses. Some of the crosses were so big it took several people to carry them. There were also large groups of people dressed in purple smocks and hoods, who resemble Klu-Klux Clan members, walking in the procession as a form of pennance for their sins. Others walk barefoot and bare chested, flailing themselves with palm fronds. I think that all the people who didn't leave Quito for the weekend were here, crowding the streets lining the procession. It was difficult to get close to take pictures, but I was able to get a few. It was very interesting to see.

Friday, 4-11-03
Today I saw a Swedish movie called "Under Solen" (Under the Sun). It was good practice for my language skills as the movie was in Swedish with Spanish subtitles. There were only a few parts that I didn't really understand, but for the most part I was able to figure out what was going on. It is strange in school this week since I am the only student. The whole place seems so quiet. I had Sila as my professor this week who is the head teacher at the school. I've heard from other students that she is pretty tough, a stickler for grammar and pronunciation and is constantly correcting your errors which can be pretty frustrating sometimes. But we got along fine and she didn't correct me as much as I expected. Maybe my Spanish has reached a new level, I don't know. I still make a lot of mistakes but I think its improving.

Thursday I went to the Secret Garden to meet with the owner Tarquin and help him out with his webpage. He was very greatful and gave me a free dinner and drinks out of the deal. Its always nice to go and hang out there as there is always a new group of travellers from all over staying there. This week there was a cop from London who was so hillarious. The whole group was laughing their asses off during dinner. It rained cats and dogs that night. The terrace of the hotel where the restaurant is is only covered by a tent awning. It was raining so hard that we had to keep emptying the pools that would form on top of the awning so it wouldn't collapse. It was cool sitting under the tarp listening to the rain, drinking wine and watching the thunder and lightening. This place has become my weekly escape and I always look forward to it.

This week I contacted the director of a school I visited last month to talk about doing some volunteer work there. Its an experimental school caled I.N.E.P.E. (Instituto Nacional de Educacion del Ecuador). Its in the south of Quito in a really poor neighborhood but the school is totally amazing. Usually, the poor areas have really bad education systems because they receive very little money from the government. No books, equipment, poor facilities, overloaded classes, etc. This school recieves money from several organizations in Europe and Canada and is an amazing success story. It has about 600 students, from age 3 to 18 yrs. Usually 2 classes per grade of approx. 20 students. This year 5 graduates of this school recieved scholarships to enter "La Catolica" - the most exclusive university in Ecuador which is a really hard school to get into, and usually only the wealthiest students in the country can attend. Before now, its been unheard of for a student from a poor school to get in. Pretty amazing.

I visited the school last month with another Rotary student to look into the possability of volunteering here. We met with the director of the school and he gave us a tour and introduced us to several classes of students. He is very excited to have us work with him and we talked about trying to set up some sort of volunteer program through our language school since so many rotary scholars go there. I will prob. teach English and/or /basic computer skills as well as possibly create a webpage for them. I think it would be a great experience, but I still need to work out the logistics, as its pretty far, about an hour and a half away.

Monday, 4-7-03 - Manta
This weekend I finally made it to the beach. I went to a place called "Manta" about 9 hours by bus from Quito, but luckily for my back I flew which was more expensive but much faster, only 30 min. It was nice to get out of the city for the weekend and just relax. The beach itself was a bit of a dissapointment, I was hoping it to be more like the beaches in Costa Rica, but not quite. It was much more expensive than I had anticipated; $30 a night at the hotel "Manta Imperial" which was nothing special. The location was nice, right off a beach called Playa Murciélago, but the place was kind of a dump. I looked into some other hotels nearby, but all were pretty much the same unless I went to the other end of town, near a beach called Tarqui which isn't nearly as nice. Its cheaper there, but the beach is littered with garbage and oil from the fishing boats, and much smaller and crowded, so I deciced to just stay where I was. It felt so hot after being in Quito which has been pretty cool and rainy all week. I spent a lot of time in the water, way too hot to just lay on the beach and fry. It felt so nice to just float and swim in the warm ocean water. I managed to make it through the weekend without getting fried. I was pretty careful, slathering myself with spf 15 sunscreen and even managed to get a little color on my pasty white skin. It was nice but I don't think I'll come back here. There were a lot of vendors on the beach selling all kinds of crap which made it hard to relax. I hear the beaches to the south are much nicer. I'd like to take a week and rent a car and drive down the coast on a road called "La ruta del sol" or 'route of the sun' where there are much more secluded and pristine beaches.

Friday, 3-20-03
This week was pretty busy and went by really fast. Wednesday was Alex's 17th birthday and the school threw him a little party which was a nice escape from studying. That night Ryan and I took him out to celebrate at the Secret Garden with dinner and lots of beer. It was a great night. That place is always filled with interesting people and I always enjoy going there. The next day I went to a retirement home with my teacher Laura, Alex and his teacher Maria Elena. We took them some groceries and had a tour of the facilities. It is run by some nuns completly by donations, mostly from a foundation in Spain. It was good to see a place like this exists to take care of older people who are abandoned by their families or all alone living in the street. But it was also a ltitle depressing. They are always looking for volunteers to help out, but I am not sure I can volunteer in a place like that. Both Alex and I felt so bummed out when we left. I am just not sure I can go there several times a week. I will have to think about it.

The thing on everyones mind this week has been the war with Iraq. The papers are full of it, and Ecuadorians are curious to know our opinions on it. They are concerned but not hostile toward Americans. There have been big demonstrations at the U.S. embassy all week. A mix of students, clergy and other people; Ecuadorians, Americans and Europeans. Its been pretty peaceful so far, but there were armoured troop carriers out front of the embassy yesterday, marines at the gates and Ecuadorian police out front. Its very sad for everyone. The war doesn't just effect the innocent people who will die in Iraq, it has effects all over the world. Ecuadorians are concerned about their economy as there has already been a decrease in tourism from the U.S. since 9-11 and with the war, there will certainly be less and less Americans travelling becuase of the fear of terrorism. I heard from my teacher that there will only be 2 students in school the month of April, myself and Tonio. I think this has more to do with the fact that it's typically a slow time of year for the school, but I think the war only adds to it. The teachers are concerned because if they don't have students, they don't get paid. I talked with Virginia, the director of the school last week about redesigning the school's website. It definetly needs it. I think that if I redesign and update it, adding some more relevant info. and registering it with search engines it may bring some mroe business. Its amazing how many people use the Internet to find out information on everything, including language schools. Right now the school site is kind of hard to find, so it may help to attract new students. I won't get paid, but can get a free week to the beach which would be nice.

Today was the Spring Equinox and there was a celebration at the Equator. I went with Ryan and our teachers as our "actividad" for the day. There were dancers from all over South America and a prayer for peace. Since it was the equinox, the sun was directly above us, so our shadows were completely vertical. We also did some experiments such as balancing an egg on a nail, which is much easier on the equator because the center of gravity is directly vertical, and placing a leaf in a bucket of water and watching it drain from a hole. On the equator the water drains straight down, when you move the bucket a few yards to the north the water drains in a clockwise motion and drains counter-clockwise when you move it a few yards to the south (or vice-versa, I can't remember which). Pretty interesting.

Sunday, 3-16-03 - Cuenca
This weekend Alex and I went to an old colonial city called Cuenca. Its about a 10-hour bus ride from Quito or a half-hour flight. We opted to fly as it would save us both time and sore backs. Cuenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador and known as its prettiest. It was cut off from the rest of the country for hundreds of years because of its remote location and thesurrounding rugged landscape. Because of this, it has retained its colonial feel with cobblestone streets, whitewashed buildings and old churches dating back to the 17th century. The city had a great feel to it. Quiet, clean air, relatively litter free streets and very freindly people. they have a very different accent here, it almost sounds as if they are singing when they speak. It has a nice sound and is easy to understand. Everywhere we went people would say "Hi" and "Hello" to us in English. We felt like movie stars. Lots of girls staring and flirting with us. We were in an Italinan restaurant Saturday night when a group of girls asked to take their picture with us. It was very flattering and Alex was in heaven. All weekend people were staring and smiling at us.

We stayed in a great hotel called "Hostal Macando" in the middle of the old town. It had comfortable beds, a decent breakfast and great showers. It was an old building with creaky wood floors and several indoor courtyards, very nice. We did a lot of walking around and getting lost as most of the streets all looked alike. People were quick to help us when we pulled out the map, but we still had a hard time figuring out where things were. The main square in the center of town is very cool. It is full of trees and flowers and very clean. Surrounding it are beautiful old colonial buildings and 2 churches, the old church and the new cathedral. The cathedral is one of the prettiest I've seen in Ecuador. It has several blue domes with stained glass windows and lots of marble. Sunday they close the streets surrounding the square and its full of people. Behind the cathedral is a large market where people come into town from the countryside to sell produce, clothing and art. A few blocks south of the main plaza is the Rio Tomebamba which is lined with old colonial buildings and you can see locals washing their clothes in the river and laying them to dry on the banks. There is a greenbelt bordering the river with nice sidewalks and lots of trees and grass. Following the river east leads to some old Inca ruins, about a block up the hill and surrounded by a fence. They were closed, but since the wall was pretty low, we climbed over to take some pictures. Not long after we noticed a policeman walking down the hill so we decided it was probobly best to split before he got there. I ended up crushing the LCD screen on my camera while hopping the fence, damn! I guess it was the price to pay for angering the Inca gods. At least the camera itself isn't damaged and I can still take pictures fine, I just can't see them afterwards or change any of the settings. Hopefully it won't be too expensive to fix once I get home.

Cuenca is a great quiet little city. Things seemed cheaper here than Quito, and it had great restaurants and lots of ice cream and coffee shops. Its definetly not a party town. We went to a German bar Friday night called Wunderbar, which had strong drinks and some local music, but it wasn't very hopping. We ended up seeing 3 different movies, one a day; Frida, Kandahar, and a Sandra Bullock film. It was a pretty relaxing weekend and a nice escape from Quito.

Friday, 2-21-03 - Punte del Este, Uruguay
Since Mike left a little early, I decided to go check out the beaches in Uruguay. I got a pretty good deal on a package to a resort town on the coast north of Montevideo called "Punte del Este". Its where all the wealthy Argentines go for they're summer vacation. Very touristy with lots of posh high rise hotels and restaurants. Since it was the end of the tourist season it wasn't crowded at all. The trip getting here was a little longer than I expected. It took nearly all day, about 6 hours. 3 hours in hydrofoyle crossing the Rio de la Plata to Montevideo and another 3 hours by bus north. I wish I had another few days to spend here. If I had known it was this far from Buenos Aires I would have given myself at least one more day. My hotel was pretty nice and inclduded a great breakfast. I was pretty tired after getting here and immediately went down to the beach and just sat with my feet in the water looking out at the ocean. It feels very safe here. There are a lot of cops, and its the type of place that no one really lives. Just people working in the tourist industry. Although its a bit touristy, its still really nice to just be somewhere quiet with lots of fresh ocean air and sunshine. I had a great dinner at an Italian place where I was the only person in the place. I ended up hanging out and talking to the owner and his wife, both Argentines who own the restaurant. They were really nice and even offered to take me sightseeing the next day. As I really only had one day to hang at the beach I declined, but it was still nice of them. I spent the whole day at the beach and got a little burned, but not too bad. It was great just laying in the sun relaxing and reading. That evening it cooled off and there was a huge thunder storm, and it rained buckets. This morning it was bright and sunny again, but as I was a little toasted from yesterday I decided to stay off the beach and sightsee around town instead. Movies are cheap here too, even cheaper than Argentina. I saw "The Hours" and an Argentine movie called "Kamchatka" which was kind of hard to understand, but I got the jist of it. The Argentines accents are so strong, it sounds like a completely differant language.

I got back to Buenos Aires late after a long day of travelling. The boat from Montevideo was packed, and the river a little rough. I couldn't wait to get off of it. I got back to Sonia's place around 8, and after packing my bags went to dinner with her and Martin at a little Italian place close by. I have to get up at 2 am to catch my flight back to Quito, so I probobly won't sleep much tonight. I am feeling pretty tired after my 2 week vacation through Chile, Argentina and Uruguay and ready to return back to my routine in Quito.

Tuesday, 2-18-03 - Buenos Aires
Mike and I arrived Buenos Aires last Saturday and have been staying with Sonia, an Argentine friend who used to live in Seattle. It had been over 10 years since we have seen her, and it was great seeing her after so long. She hadn't changed much at all, except that now she has a 4-year old son, Martin, who is quite a character. Sonia has been a great host, driving us all over Bueanos Aires, showing us all the sights. She lives in a huge penthouse apartment right in the middle of town, with great views of the city and above all the traffic noise. There are a lot of great restaurants in BA and we have been eating some great meals; lots of Italian and of course, Argentine steak. The Argentines don't eat dinner until around 10 pm, which is hard to get used to. They usually eat a light breakfast, lunch, tea around 5 which consists of coffee or tea, sandwhiches and snacks, and then a late dinner. We have also been eating a lot of "alfahores" - a type of cookie, or 2 cookies covered in chocolate with a carmel filling. They are really good and I've been eating a lot of them. Another great thing about Argentina is the coffee. Its the best coffee I've had since leaving Seattle. There are little cafes everywhere, all serving Italian style espresso.

Bueanos Aires is a lot different from the other Latin American cities I've been to. Its much more European, with wide boulevards, ornate architecture and lots of plazas filled with big statues including one of Evita Perone. Of course I had to take a picture of Homey standing in front of it to send to Florentino. This city is also so huge! We have spent the last few days seeing most of the tourist spots such as the Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, Argentinas version of the White House, or in their case, the Pink House. We also took a day trip across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay to visit an old Portuguese colonial town called "Colonia". The river is supposedly the widest river in the world, and I don't doubt it. When we first arrived in Buenos Aires I thought it was the ocean becuase its so wide. You can't see across it and it takes 2 hours in hydrophoyle to cross it. Colonia was interesting, but it was a long day, and there really wasn't that much to do there. The next day we spent walking all over Buanos Aires, which was good becuase of all the alfahores we've been eating. We went shopping for cheap leather goods, but didn't find anything. It doesn't seem as cheap as everyone kept telling me before coming here. Still, because of the decline of the Argentine peso, many things are pretty cheap. Movies are only about $2, and we saw several while here. Food aslo seems pretty cheap. We have been eating out at some pretty nice restaurants and paying about half of what we would pay back home.

Thursday, 2-13-03 - Bariloche, Argentina
Today we we left Chile for Argentina, arriving by a combination of boats and buses through several lakes in the Andies. It was an amazing trip, and we really lucked out with the weather. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine. It was a long day, we left the Cocomo valley in Chile at 10 am arrived in Bariloche, Argentina at 10 pm. The trip began at the National Park in Petrohue Chile, in the shadow of Volcan Osorno, a beautiful snow capped mountain, where we took a boat across "Lago Todos los Santos" a deep, turquoise lake surrounded by tree covered hills and snow capped volcanos. We then took a bus to another lake where we caught another boat for a short trip before catching another bus to cross the Chilean-Argentine border to catch another boat on Lago Nahuel-Huapi for the final leg of the trip. We arrived in Bariloche tired, hungry and a little cranky after spending over an hour searching for a hotel. Everything was full since it is the height of tourist season. We finally managed to find a room for one night in a pricey hotel, but the next day found a much better place just around the corner.

Bariloche is a great little town, very pretty and really clean. Its on the shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi and in the middle of a huge national park by the same name. Its a big vacation spot for many Argenintes who come here to ski in the winter and for hiking, boating, or relaxing in the summer. It has a big German influence with a lot of the buildings in town made from stone and wood, lookng very Bavarian. It also has a lot of chocolate shops. There are almost as many chocolate shops here as coffee shops in Seattle. Mike and I were both in heavan going around sampling the different types of chocolate. We decided to just hang out here and relax for a few days before heading to Buenos Aires on Saturday.

Wednesday, 22-12-03 - Campo Aventura, Chile
The last few days we have been staying at an eco-lodge in the Cochamo Valley (coach-a-moe) called Campo Aventura where there is hiking, kayaking and horseback riding. They specialize in 3 or 4 day horseback trips up into the Andies, but we don't have that much time, so were just going for a day trip instead and also do a little hiking. We were only here for 2 nights and 3 days before heading to Argentina. With the current economic situation, Argentina should be much cheaper, so were holding off spending a lot of money until we get there.

This place is so cool! Rustic little wooden cabins without electricity, phone or TV. It is so quiet, only the sound of the river, birds and the neighing of the horses. At night the stars are amazing. The food is also pretty good. Very healthy and so far great with the exception of dinner the first night (at least for me, everyone else loved it). Wouldn't you know, they served salmon lasagna. Just my luck (blech!). The chef was very apologetic for not asking us beforehand if we had any food preferences and she whipped me up some pasta. It was so cool, eating by candlight, looking out at the stars and drinking lots of Chilean wine. It was heaven (except for the salmon) and very relaxing.

The horseback trip up into the mountains was a blast, but my butt is happy that we only decided to do the day trip. I can't imagine what it would be like after 3 days, yikes! Some of the terrain was pretty rough, and crossing the river on horseback made me a little nervous, but it was also pretty exciting. We started out with the others who were doing the 3 day trip up to the high camp in the mountains which is supposed to be even nicer than the camp were staying at. Mike plans to come back next year and do the that trip. We said goodbye to the others after lunch and headed back down into the valley.

Monday, 2-10-03
Tonight for dinner Mike and I went to a German place called "Cafe Weiss" where we met the most interesting woman. One of the best things about travelling is the people you meet. This woman, Suzie from Melbourne was quite a trip. It was hard to tell how old she was. She looked like the kind of woman who had a lot of money and who has probobly had a few face lifts in her day. She was quite a character, like somone out of a fiction novel. Blonde, thin, in a tight fitting body suit that resembled a ski outfit, big rhinestone sunglasses and lots of makeup. she was the type of woman who is accustomed to a certain level of service and has travelled all over the world staying in the best hotels and eating in the best restaurants. she didn't speak a word of spanish, and she thought that by speaking really loud she could make herself understood. It was pretty amusing watching her explain to the waiter exactly what she wanted and how she wanted it prepared. She wanted him to show her the meat and asked detailed questions about how it was going to be prepared.

She sat at the table next to us and immediately struck up a conversation. She was evidently traveling as part of an organized tour but had escaped for the night to dine out on her own away from her fellow tourists. She was very talkative and interested in knowing everything about us, why we were here and our hear our opinions on everthing from Chile to Iraq. After dinner she wanted to know if this town was "hopping", and if there were any really fun bars. I was kind of curious to hear her definition of what a "fun bar" was, but she kept looking at me the way a hungry little fat kid looks at a cookie jar, which kind of scared me. Mike wanted to make a run for it while she was in the restroom, but no such luck. We told her that we were getting up early and were not going out to party. She tried to talk us into going out with her, but she was just a little too strange for us. I kind of felt sorry for her, but not enough to spend an evening partying with her. She really was something.

Sunday, 2-9-03 - Puerto Varas, Chile
I arrived in Chile the day before yesterday after a long night flight; 4.5 hours from Quito to Santiago, a 2 hour layover and another 2 hours to Puerto Montt. Homey met me at the airport and we left for a town about half and hour north called Puerto Varas. I am glad he decided to get a place there rather than Puerto Montt. Its a small town on the shores of a beautiful lake called "Llanquihue" (yonkee-way) with 2 snow capped mountains in the background. It reminds me so much of the northwest. Mountains, lakes, thick evergreen forests and lots of clean air. The people in Chile are very friendly, but their Spanish is very differant form the Spanish in Ecuador. They speak really fast with an unusual accent and use a lot of slang. The first time I heard it at the airport in Santiago I thought the woman was speaking Portuguese or Italian. Im getting a little more used to it now, but its still pretty hard when they talk fast. Were staying at a small hostal called "Compas del Sur", owned by a young Chilean guy and his Swedish wife. I didn't expect to be speaking Swedish in Chile, very cool. The place is only $10 a night, very clean and includes an awesome breakfast for $2 more. Very Swedish; Muesli, yogurt and fruit with toast, cheese and ham and of course lots of coffee.

The thing I really like about staying in hostals are the people you meet. We met Jen, a girl from Texas who has been living in London the past 6 yrs. and who has just decided to take a year off to travel through South America. She was part of a group of outdoor enthusiasts who started out in Quito and travalled by bus through Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, all the way down to Tierra del Fuego, doing a lot of hiking, climbing, rafting and kayaking. They alternated staying in hotels and camping during their 3-month trip. After the trip ended in Tierra del Fuego, Jen decided to travel through the lakes district solo and ended up at our hostal. It was great hearing about her adventures. Made me wish I had met Mike in Punta Arenas, in the far south of Chile instead of Puerto Montt. Oh well, I only have so much time. Jen went to dinner with us at a swanky restaurant, supposedly one of the best in Chile. Its known for its seafood, esp. salmon which I hate, so my judgement was a little clouded. Still, it was a pretty good dinner (I had pasta not fish) and we drank a lot of good Chilean wine. The wine here is so cheap! There is a festival going on here right now. Every night there is a stage set up in the town square with music and dancing. People dressed as Gauchos and Senoritas doing a hankercheif dance. The best part was the little kids who did the same dances. There is a big German influence here, so there were also Bavarian style dances and music, with lots of beer.

Yesterday Mike and I decided to take advantage of the rental car and drive out to the island of Chiloe (chill-oh-way), SW of Puerto Montt. We took a small ferry and spent the day exploring the island. Its a pretty big island with several good sized towns and a huge national park. It was so beatiful out there, with very friendly people.

Today we dropped off the rental car and walked around Puerto Montt. Not much to see really, and since it was Sunday most everything was closed. It was kind of a cloudy, windy day, and we just wanted to get back to Puerto Varas. We did mangage to find a great internet cafe with the fastest connection I've experienced since leaving Seattle. Gotta love that! When we got back to Puerto Varas the sun came out and it turned out to be another beautiful day. We spent the day walking around town and taking relaxing, before heading out to another great dinner tonight with lots more red wine.

Monday, 2-3-03
This weekend started out with a dinner Friday night at the home of one of the teachers at school, Maria Elena. She invited all the students to her house for dinner but only Trish, Ian and I went along with a few of the other teachers. Maria Elena made a great meal and it was a nice way to unwind after a busy week. Saturday morning I met Ryan, Trish, Ian and Alex bright and early to catch a bus for a town called "Baños". Its about a 3 and a half hour bus ride south of Quito. The trip started out with Alex getting his wallet stolen at the bus station. Someone must have picked his pocket while we were going through the turnstyle to the bus. He didnt feel a thing. Just goes to show you how good those asses are at robbing you. Luckily he only lost $10 and his cash card which he cancelled once we got to Baños. The town is at the base of a volcano called "Tunjurahua" and is known for its hotsprings where people go to soak in the pools, hence the name "Baños". It was a cloudy day so we weren't able to see the volcanos on the bus, but we were all excited to get out of the city for the weekend. The town had more gringos than I've seen in the last 3 weeks in Quito, a bit touristy, but a nice little town. It is surrounded by large mountains covered in green with several waterfalls. We stayed at "Hotel Plantas Y Blanco" which was only $7 a night and had awesome showers and a pretty good breakfast. The only drawback was the propane refilling sation next door which opened at 6:00 am with big trucks unloading gas canisters with lots of banging that made it impossible to sleep in. Oh well, the showers made up for it. Saturday we hiked up a river to a waterfall surronded by steep, mountains, very beatiful and a lot of fun. We then went out for a great dinner and then to some bars in search of girls for Alex. Suday morning Alex, Ian and I rented mountain bikes for a ride to "Puyo". It was the highlight of the trip, at least for me. The road was pretty narley in some spots. Basically a dirt road with rocks, potholes, and mud in some places. There were 2 tunnels which were a little scary when entering at nearly 30 mph down a hill into pitch darkness. The first tunnel you could at least see the light at the other end, but the 2nd tunnel had a curve, and it was nearly pitch black. I could feel water dripping on me from above and splashing up from the road and I kept thinking that if there was a rock or pothole in front of me, I was going to bite it. Luckily that didn't happen. Parts of the road were covered with puddles and thick mud and we were covered in it by the end of the ride, which was half the fun. The ride was beautiful, along steep mountain sides that followed the river below. There were numerous waterfalls and the views were incredible. At one point the road was washed out and we had to wait for a tractor to clear a path. Pretty fun. We made it to a small town called San Francisco in about 3 and half hours and decided to catch a bus back to Baños before it got too late. When we got on the bus everyone turned to stare at us. We must have been qute a site, 3 tall, blonde, gringos covered with mud. I should have taken a picture. The bus ride back was more harrowing than the bike ride. At one point another bus was travelling the opposite direction and our driver had to back up just inches from the edge of a steep cliff. Luckily I didn't see it, but the look on Alex's face said it all. Its amazing those bus drivers can maneuver those buses like that on those winding little dirt roads. We left around 5:00 pm for long bus ride back to Quito, where the people were crammed in like sardines. I don't look forward to a ride any longer than that one, but it was worth it for the fun we had.

This week is another "intensiva" week where I have 7 hours of class a day. I much prefer the "activa" week where I go around to differant places around town and get out of the classroom. But this is also a short week as I leave for Chile to meet Homey Thursday night. Also my teacher Carlos told me that we can go see a photography exibit at a museum one day, which I am all for if it means not sitting in a class all day. Since I am leaving for Chile this week, this will probobly be the last time I update the site for a few weeks unless I am able to do it from the road somewhere. Check back in a week or so. If not, I will do a big update when I get back to Quito sometime after Feb. 22.

Thursday, 1-30-03
Today I had a lesson in the beurocracy of Ecuador. Because I am staying here more than 3 mos. I had to apply for a visa before I left Seattle. With my visa I recieved a letter stating that I had to register with the office of immigration within my first 30 days in Ecuador. Today my professor and I went to the immigration office for what seemed like a relatively easy process. When we arrived there were only a few other people there and I thought that it would be a relatively quick process. Was I in for a surprise. I found out that the Ecuadorian Embassy in San Francisco had sent back all the paperwork I sent them except the proof of registration at my school. (wouldn't ya know it). So we had to go back across town to school to get a copy and then return again. When we got back they gave me another form to fill out stating that I had to pay a $7 registration fee to the "Banco Internacional" which was also across town. After standing in line for half an hour at this bank the teller tells us that they only accept that form before noon. (it was 12:30). God only knows why.....all she had to do was take my $7 and stamp the form.....so back to school we went, but on the way passed another banco international which I decided to try just for the heck of it. There was no one in this branch, but when we walked in the 3 separate tellers refused to even acknowledge us. When I walked up to one of the tellers she tells me to wait in line until they call me. She said this w/out even looking up from painting her fingernails. Finally another teller motions us over and stamps my form. But I only had a $10 bill and he didn't have any $1 bills! He was very annoyed that I didn't have exact change. (excuse me, isn't this a bank?) he had to get up and go over to another teller to get change and he was very cranky abot it. Again, this whole process took place w/out him even looking me in the face. I could hardly believe it. By the time we got back to the immigration office, they were closed for the day. I suggest to anyone in a similiar situation to just forget about getting a visa at all. If you leave the country and return again within the first 3 mos. you don't have to have a visa. Oh well, live and learn.

Yesterday the whole school went on a field trip out into the country to visit an experimental farm called INIAP (National Institute for investigation of agriculture products). It was nice to get out of the city and into the clean, fresh, air. The countryside was beautiful. Green mountains and farms, and it reminded me a lot of home. We had a tour of the facilities and learned about how they are studying and preserving various strains of plants, and experimenting with various production techniques. It was interesting, but the highlight was when we all piled into the back of a small pickup truck for a ride down into the valley. It was a lot of fun and just nice to be out in the countryside.

That night the school was invited to a hotel in old town called "The Secret Garden". Trish and Ryan had discovered this place the week before, and last night the owner reserved the place for our school. Most of the students and teachers showed up for a great traditional Ecuadorian dinner and Andean folkmusic. The owner is an Austrailian guy who is married to an Ecuadorian. They have remodeled his mother-in-laws house into a cool little hotel with a restaurant on the rooftop terrace which has great views of old town. The whole place has a great atmosphere and I can't wait to go back next week.

Sunday, 1-26-03
Its been a pretty busy week. Everything from celebrating my birthday to an armed robbery and protests at the university. Ryan, a fellow student was robbed last weekend at an Internet cafe near his house. Pretty scary, and he was understandably shaken up. He had a pretty frustrating week dealing with the police and American Embassy to get his passport replaced. Especially difficult because he doesn't feel comfortable with the language yet. By the time friday rolled around he was ready for a few beers. He, Trish, Alex and I went out after class on Friday to have dinner and a few drinks in Gringlolandia. We had a great time which was much needed after a long week. This week there were also protests at the university due to the raising of oil prices by the government. Gasoline is subsidized by the government but the new president Gutierrez, wants to raise gas prices. This affects the price of everything, as bus and taxi drivers will have to raise fares, which in turn causes the price of everything else to go up. At the same time the president has put a salary freeze for one year on the salaries of government employees. Considering the average Ecuadorian family only makes about $300-$400 per month this has devastating effects. Many people make much less than that. Very sad. Because of this, students have been protesting at the university. Thursday morning I saw groups of students throwing rocks at police in riot gear who began throwing rocks back. It was pretty scary, but most of the people here seem pretty unaffected. My teacher told me that protests happen quite regularly here and are not usually a danger. Still, its probobly wise to stay clear if there are rocks flying around. Before you get all freaked out, remember that this same stuff happens back home everyday. Shit happens, and in the U.S. there are a lot more armed robberies and murders than there are here. Most of the crimes here are less serious in nature, stuff like pick pocketing. My teacher told me that only 2 other students in the history of the school have been held up. That's pretty good for over 20 years.

Not being accustomed to drinking more than 1 beer, and that's infrequently, after having 4 beers and a shot of tequila I was feeling a little hungover saturday morning I met Trish at the Internet cafe as we were going to go on a hike near the equator. We decided to skip the hike and just go check out the monument at the equator "mitad del mundo" (middle of the world). It was pretty interesting, and there were a group of indigenous musicians and dancers in the plaza. Its about a 45 minute busride from Quito, which was long enough for me being cramped into a bus with no leg room. I came home and took a little nap before dinner and heading out to explore gringolandia. I went to a cool little cafe called "Cafe Colibri" (Cafe Humingbird). It has pretty good coffee and it has tables out in a garden with hummingbirds flying around. It wa agreat place to study, and I sat there for a few hours writing postcards and studying. I then walked over to the mall and saw "Lord of the Rings" it was in English with Spanish subtitles which was nice. I made it an early night as Cesar and Juana wanted to take me to church with them. It was interesting to witness a typical Catholic Sunday mass, but I don't think I'll make a habit of it. After breakfast we all walked down to a large park called "Carolina". Its a huge park packed with people every Sunday playing soccer, tennis, running, horseback riding and lounging around. They also have free aerobics which Paola insisted we all do. At first I thought she was joking, but then Juana and Cesar joined in I had to give it a try. It totally kicked my butt! I quit halfway through the hour long session which was lead by a huge instructor called "Chocolate Caliente" (hot chocolate). He leads a pretty intense hour of aerobics every Sunday and it was surprising how many people take part. There were men, women, and children. Young and old. I could really feel the altitude on my lungs. We then walked all over the park while Paola continuted with another hour of aerobics. Que loca! We all walked back home and had naps. I spent the rest of the day doing homework and updating this site for all of you. Aren't you glad?

Wednesday, 1-22-03
Today is my 40th Birthday. The school threw me a little party with pizza, cake and lots of wine. It was a beautiful day and we sat around for most of the afternoon on the terrace on the roof of the school, talking and drinking wine. When I got home my host mother Juana made me one of my favorite things for dinner, lasagna. She also made me a home made cake. I felt very honored because we even ate in the dining room, which is pretty rare. The Ecuadorians rarely use either the living room or dining room, reserving them for special occasions. All our meals are eaten at the kitchen table and the only time I've been in the living room was the night I arrived. Mom and dad called right before dinner which was a nice surprise. I'd like to thank all of you who sent me birthday email. It was nice to find a folder full of mail this afternon and know that you were thinking of me. Yesterday I woke up feeling a little strange, and by the time I had arrived at school was feeling pretty crummy. I think it was the ice in the drink I had for lunch the day before. They warn us about not drinking water, juice, fruit or ice in restaurants unless we know that they use purified water. I just didn't think about it at the time but you can bet I won't forget that again. Nothing serious, just a little achie and tired with an upset stomach and a little diarrhea. I went home at lunch and Juana made me some tea with chamomille, onion, oregano and lemon. It didn't taste that great, but it seemed to do the trick. I took a long nap, had a little dinner and went back to bed. Today I felt good as new. This week I have 7 hours of class a day with the same teacher, just her and myself. Its called the 'intensiva' program. My teacher these past 2 weeks has been Maria Elena who is awesome. Still, its hard sitting in the same room all day long. I much prefer the 'activa' program I had last week where I spend the afternoons going around town with my instructor visiting various sites. I will be alternating a week of intensiva and a week of activa my whole time here, Youch! its going to be a long 6 mos. Oh well, thats what I am here for right? Near the end of my studies I will also spend a week on the coast and another in the Amazon. From what I've heard from other students the Amazon week is very cool.

Saturday, 1-18-03
I have been in Ecuador one week today. It’s hard to believe the week is over already. I've been pretty busy getting settled into life here in Quito, my school and Ecuadorian Family, Cesar, Juana and Paola. They have been very hospitable and are making me feel right at home. Juana is a great cook, and so far everything she has prepared has been excellent. They live in the "San Gabriel" neighborhood of Quito, which is in the newer part of town. I only have to walk a block to "Avenida America", one of the main arterials where I can catch a bus to most anywhere in the city. There are numerous buses, which will drop me off a few blocks from school, but I prefer the 25-minute walk. After all of Juana’s good cooking I can use it. Besides, the buses are very crowded and not built for people of my height. So far I have been doing pretty well with my Spanish, and haven't had too many problems speaking or understanding others. My host family doesn't speak any English, and neither do most of the people here, which is good for improving my Spanish. The only time I speak English is with the other American students. It has been an exhausting week and I have been doing a lot of sleeping. Between adjusting to the altitude, thinking in another language all day, and all the walking, I fall into bed totally whooped each night.

Quito is the 2nd highest capital in Latin America, at nearly 10,000 ft. I can definitely feel the altitude. Luckily it hasn't caused me any problems other than a slight headache the first day, and sleeping more than normal. The city is nestled in a long valley, surrounded by the Andes, which gives it some beautiful scenery. The city itself is like many Latin American cities, rather dirty, crowded and loud, but it definitely has its charms. The old part of town is full of Spanish colonial architecture and beautiful old churches. One thing that is hard to get use to is the level of poverty, which we just don't see in the U.S. but the Ecuadorian people are very friendly and hospitable.

I am studying Spanish at "La Academia de Español", about halfway between my house and the old part of town, in the "Santa Clara" neighborhood. It is an excellent school with great instructors. I have 7 hours of class each day, one-o-one instruction with the same teacher, with a different teacher every 2 weeks. The mornings are spent going over grammar and speaking lots of Spanish. The afternoons we spend going out on different excursions around the city. This week I went to the old part of town, a few museums, the Basilica, and even saw the new Pedro Almodovar movie, "Hable con Ella" (all in Spanish of course, and with no subtitles-yikes!). Right now there are only 5 students total in school. Beside myself there is Ryan - a policeman from North Carolina and also a Rotary scholar, Alex - a high school student from Maryland, Dorothy - an attorney from Berlin, and another Seattlite, Trish - a med student at the UW. We 4 Americans have been hanging out, eating lunch together and going to internet cafes after class. The nice thing about attending a language school like this is that we are all strangers, thrown into the same situation together, and are a sort of ready-made group of friends.

Friday after class, even though I was pretty tired, Trish, Alex and I explored "Gringolandia", a neighborhood where most of the foreigners live, and full of cool restaurants, bars and internet cafes. We had a beer at an English Pub and dinner at a cool restaurant called "Kama Sutra". It was a great way to end my first week. Today we went to "Otavalo" a famous indigenous market that predates Spanish conquest. It was a 2-hour drive in a small cramped car, but we had a good time. There were rows after rows of everything from jewelry and food to pottery, clothing and other textiles. I bought a few things, but mainly just looked around, as I know I will be coming back at some point. After a few hours at the market, Arturo drove us to "Cotocachi" a small town known for its fine leather goods. There were shops full of every imaginable type of leather product. I saw a great leather laptop bag for $48, cheaper than a nylon one back home. I didn't buy it, as I didn't bring enough cash, but I am sure I will go back there at some point in the next 6 mos. After strolling the leather shops in Cotacachi, we went to visit a local indian shaman. Trish volunteered to be purified, which entailed the shaman saying chants in Quichua while spitting alchol all over her body. He then blew cigarette smoke over her while rubbing her with various types of crystals. It was a little strange at first, esp. when he began spitting on her, but all in all it was an interesting experience and Trish had no regrets. After the purification we visited the "Laguna de Cuicocha" Ecuadors version of Crater Lake. After a boat tour of the lake we headed to the first monument at the Equator for some picture taking. It was pretty cool to say I sat on the equator. Well its time to go out for a bit of exercise before the day is over. I am going to the big park "Carolina" to take some pictures and explore before dinner.