What is new? Well, on March 8th, we celebrated our friend Julie's birthday. After a delicious meal at Chipote Chillon, a great Mexican restaurant, we headed downtown and found the birthday chiva, which we had reserved. A chiva is basically a party bus, with open sides, music, and lots of canelazo! (Canelazo is hot alcoholic cider... delicioso y caliente!) They just pumped up the music and we all danced as the bus wove through the streets of Quito. It was quite a night... we were dancing, waving to all the pedestrians on the streets, and eventually we stopped in the historical district. Everyone got out and all the boys had to dance with Julie and we had to vote on who would be her "king" for the night. Afterwards, we piled back in and they dropped us off in the Mariscal, the district where all the bars are. We danced for a while and eventually split up and went our separate ways for the night. What a night, though! :)
Our group in front of the chiva - Julie, the birthday girl, being picked up!
The next night, Julie, Joe, Lauren and I met up at Lauren's apartment and we spent a relaxing evening, hanging out on her roof. The view of the city is spectacular from up there... there is nothing I love more than city lights at night. Unfortunately by that time, I had started feeling really sick. Between the weather in Quito (cold...wet...windy) and being out on the chiva all night without a sweater, not sleeping much... anyway, I got a really bad cold that resulted in me losing my voice again and having to stay in bed all day Saturday. My digestive system was also messed up because of the one margarita I had at Chipote (blended ice!!! lesson learned.) My host mom forbid me to go out, which was terrible because my friends were going to the Liga match and then having a party that night :( But I stayed in like a good girl, read Bridget Jones and moped, basically.
On Sunday, Julie came with me to the medical clinic in Cumbayá, because I was pretty convinced I had pneunmonia or bronchitis or at least pink eye. Anyway, the doctor prescribed me stuff but convinced me that I had no terrible illnesses, so that was good. Out of the 4 things she prescribed me, I could only find 2 of them, and I went to three different pharmacies. Ecuador... go figure. One of them was Claritin D, though, which I guess you need a prescription for here! Anyway, with only 2 of the things listed, I recovered. My cough is almost completely gone now (but not quite... going on three weeks...)
The next week went by uneventfully. On Friday, I got up early and met Julie, Ally, Alli, Brein, and Stephen at the bus station and we headed to Otavalo. In case you've forgotten the name, this was actually the first place we visited in Ecuador, but most of this group had not been, and Julie and I needed to buy a bunch of gifts. First though, we found a bus (and a truck) that would take us to Cuicocha, this beautiful crater lake, at the foot of a volcano. A long time ago the volcan errupted and basically imploded, creating this lake, which is the most beautiful shade of blue and has no wildlife living in it. We took a boat tour around the lake, bundling up because it was very chilly, and reveled in the beauty of it all. Afterwards, we redeemed our "free canelazo" that came with the boat ticket and headed back to Otavalo.
Cuicocha - que hermosa la vista!
We got dinner at Mi Otavalito again (the same restaurant as the first time) and then searched the local corner stores for snacks for the night - basically, the ingredients to make smores. Back at the hostel (also the same as the first time) we lit the fire in the fireplace downstairs, put in a movie, and curled up because it was freeeezing.
Typical night :) Also ps... see my alpaca socks!?!
The next day, we got up early and headed to the market. At this point, everything was a huge flashback. We saw the animals, we bargained, we even got ice cream at the same shop. We went to an almuerzo place and paid $1.75 for lunch (soup, rice, chicken, and juice!) and then found a bus and headed home. The trip was a little over 24 hours but it was relaxing and fun.
Back in Quito, it was raining (big surprise!) but when I got on facebook and saw all my friends here freaking out, I realized something was a little different. There had been SO much rain on Saturday, plus crazy thunderstorms and hail. Also found out a main water line broke and so many areas around here were flooded. These pictures tell it all :
This was taken about a block away from where I take the bus to Cumbayá everyday! (Ave 6 de Diciembre y Granados)
This is a bus on the Trole line... basically there were people in there and the water surged so quickly no one had time to get out!
I talked to my host family though and apparently these kinds of flash floods are more or less normal during the month of April when it rains EVERY SINGLE DAY. It sounds innocuous but I'm sick of waking up in the morning with the beautiful, warm sunshine and walking home in the afternoon in the freezing rain. It's starting to be a real downer! Supposedly "summer" begins in May, meaning no more rain.
To finish this off, Sunday was spent at home here. Everyone came over to eat fanesca, which is this crazy soup. It takes dayyys to make because it's supposed to have 12 types of grains in it (corn and grains that are really only consumed here... choclos and cho-chos and things like that that require hand-shelling) and because it's so much work they have to make a lot of it. We had 20 people over and only ate half of it, and almost everyone had 2 bowls. It was made with 8 liters of milk if you can imagine that!!! Anyway, it was delicious but very heavy on the stomach so it's literally all I ate yesterday. Not exactly what my digestive system needed, though, might I say.
I actually had a great time because I talked with a lot of the relatives, then hung out with my host siblings and their little cousin, who is adorable and funny. Later, another host cousin came by, who was actually really cute, but I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw he was wearing an NC State hat!!! Apparently one of his friends studied there and gave it to him. What a weird coincidence though right!? Anyway, we also celebrated my host sister's birthday, also it's officially Wednesday so tomorrow I'm going to go out and find her a good gift.
It was a great day, but as family reunions here always do, it made me miss my own awesome family. I can make pleasant conversation with strangers but it's nothing like cracking jokes with the people you know better than anyone else ;) Just made me a little more anxious for my return in less than a month, but also made it a little more bittersweet because I'm feeling very much a part of this family too.
Oh well - two more days of classes then it's Semana Santa - the religious holiday preceding Easter, then my spring break, when I'll be heading to the beach again with my friends! I have exams after that but so far it's looking like they'll be extremely easy so I'm not really concerned at all.
I hope everyone is doing well! I'm trying to stay updated on all the scary news from North Carolina... the tornadoes were on the news here in Ecuador :( So that's never good. Anyway, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Cynthia
Looks scary! Glad to hear that you're okay and not letting a little flooding slow you down :)
ReplyDeleteI have a question, did no one get sick on the party bus?
ReplyDeletehaha it looks fun but I can't imagine being driven around whilst drinking and not feeling sick :P
Also I love you and miss you a whole lot.