Estoy tan triste en este momento. No puedo creer que en doce horas, me voy de este país maravilloso. El tiempo se fue volando y mañana tendré solamente mis recuerdos de mi viaje, de mi familia anfitriona, y de muchos de mis amigos increíbles. Lo bueno es que voy a regresar a mi familia real y mi vida real - con la comida que me hace falta mucho y con todas las experiencias americanas que no he experimentado por cinco meses. Pero bueno - esa es la vida. Todo está siempre cambiando y las cosas siempre serán así. No me puedo quejar... (translation at the bottom)
The past few days have been so nice but so sad. On Thursday night, we went to Lauren's roof one last time to eat pizza and say goodbye. Some of our friends were going to Galápagos, most of the others (including me) were just going to be busy with our host families for the next two days. We went to Huaina one last time, listened to all of our favorite Ecuadorian pop songs (and American ones too) and enjoyed our last night "out on the town" - just sitting, but still. Going home, another cab driver tried to rip me off but this time I batted my eyelashes and told him it was my last night in Quito (almost true) and he let me go.
On Friday, I stayed at home all day. At my last request of things to do in Ecuador, my host dad agreed excitedly to have cuy for lunch - guinea pig - an Andean specialty! If I hadn't tried this before leaving, I really would have been disappointed because it's so traditional and the thing to "do" in South America. Anyway, I got to see Anita, our maid, prepare it (pictures coming soon!) and then did a whole photoshoot with my host dad, making a big show of taking a big bite out of it. In actuality, we split it into three - I got a thigh and leg. My thoughts?? Cuy is... weird. The taste was fine, mostly because of the seasonings, but the meat is so tough, especially the skin, and I couldn't not tell myself that I was gnawing on a small rodent. Also, my host dad insisted I eat the paw (nails and everything) because you do that apparently. So I ate the nails and foot of a guinea pig and all I can say is that is was really crunchy and I'm now considering vegetarianism....
Just kidding. But not really...
Anyway, it was fine. I packed mostly on Friday, apart from the essentials I'd need until departure. I actually didn't do much else except watch Dead Poets Society and a couple episodes of Bones.
Today, I got up early and met Ally (from Chicago) at the Ecovia station. From there, we headed to the market one last time to get a few more little souvenirs and have one last morning together. I love all of my friends here but I was so happy to have a morning with Ally - she really is one of my favorites and so it was a great morning. We ran into a few other people at the market we know - everyone is leaving soon so also grabbing things they need. Anyway, I got all my stuff, said a tearful goodbye to Ally, and took the 6 de Julio Ecovia bus home, one last time.
At home, I came just in time for almuerzo, which of course was extra special today. Andy's girlfriend came over and we ate chicken, steak, and sausage with potatoes, guacamole, and mote (different types of corn) and of course, with ají, my favorite sauce. After dinner, we took lots of pictures all over the house (again, coming soon - have to come home first to get pictures off my camera) and the mood was really nostalgic.
After lunch, everyone went back to their rooms and I was tired so I just watched TV all afternoon (shocker) but tonight, at dinner, I gave my gifts - a large wind chime, with suns and stars and bells on it, and some chocolate. Everyone was so grateful and saying how much they loved having me and it made me so sad. Then they gave me a gift - a beautiful set of handmade Christmas ornaments - absolutely gorgeous and irreplaceable. I gave them the letter mom and dad wrote - they absolutely loved it and I think it meant so much to them to read it.
That pretty much leads to now (I'm sorry I'm being so detailed - I'm sure most of you don't really care about this stuff but I really don't want to forget anything sooo...). I'm sitting on my bed once again, packed and ready to go. I already said goodbye to Andy because he's going tonight and I'll be saying goodbye to Maggie and Estefy when they go to bed, because Joddy is bringing me to the airport. We're leaving here at 6:15, so I can be at the airport 3 hours early (recommendation of the airline.)
I'm so sad. I absolutely love this family who opened their doors to me four and a half months ago, and it's really strange to think in a few hours, all of this will be gone. I've seriously had the most incredible time of my life in Ecuador - might have been the best decision I've ever made. Maybe it seemed a little silly a few months ago - moving to a third-world country for a few months, with a language I barely speak, and a family I've never met. But thanks to this amazing trip, I have seen and done things I never would have dreamed of before and probably become a much better person as a result. Where do I begin? I got to visit the Amazon rain forest, swim in the tributary of the Amazon river, see the Pacific Ocean for the first time in my life, went ziplining in a cloud forest, went white-water tubing and was so thankful for my life thereafter, I jumped off a giant bridge, went repelling down waterfalls, rode horses in a beautiful mountain, took baths in natural hot springs, got sick with every illness possible (digestive and others), saw countless beautiful historic monuments, got to stand 4000m above sea level, got to visit a market town and see all the indigenous people, got to witness what the "third world" part of this country really looks like, while living in an environment that is so ridiculously first-world, I got to experience the crazy buses of Ecuador, learned to bargain and argue for everything in Spanish, I went to crazy Liga fútbol games, I got teargassed out of one of them, I made the most amazing friends, American and Ecuadorian, became part of an Ecuadorian family, represented them and totally dominated at kareoke at a party, became an expert at splitting bills of $68.45 into 10 or 11, learned to apologize for giving $20 and learned love getting small change back, I managed to pay for a $0.25 bus ride on Thursday with 15 pennies, which was one of my proudest moments, and learned to navigate a giant city and learned how to get myself just about anywhere for less than $0.50.
Oh, and did I mention I went to class too, sometimes? :) No, no... en serio, I managed to do all of those things and only missed as many classes as I was allowed, made great grades, did all my homework, and still managed to read 17 books this semester for fun. I also had so many awesome nights in Quito, hanging out with friends at their houses or in bars, dancing, having fun. And, managed to sneak in a few flings while I was at it. Not to mention the whole point, which was to become fluent in Spanish. I'd say I'm 85% there and can't wait to prove myself back in the States. Not bad for a semester, right?
Okay - my point being: this has been wonderful. Surreal. Absolutely unforgettable. And come tomorrow, it's all over.
Much love,
Cynthia
PS. I reread what I wrote and I'd also like to say that I can't emphasize enough how much I have missed my family in the past few months. American life, food - I could do without that, but I don't know how much more time I could go without my amazing parents and brothers. So I'd just like to say that despite everything I've written up until now, you can't possibly imagine how overjoyed I am at the thought of them waiting for me at the airport tomorrow. Guys, seriously, I can't wait. I love you so much and it's only down to hours now... <3
Translation from above:
I'm so sad right now. I can't believe that in 12 hours, I'm leaving this wonderful country. Time has flown and tomorrow I'll have only memories of my trip, my host family, and many of my incredible friends. The good part is that I'm going to return to my real family and my real life - with the food that I miss so much and with all the American experienced that I've not had for five months. But hey - that's life. Everything is always changing and things will always be that way. I can't complain...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Final Days in Quito.
I wish I could say this last week is flying by but the truth is that days are trickling by. What's happened since I last posted?
First of all, I got really sick (surprise!) after coming back from the beach. I think my body reacted to the malaria pills because my throat started hurting unbearably (specifically my lymph nodes were very swelled and inflamed) and the my digestion system went crazy again and as soon as that got better, I came down with something that was probably a sinus infection. Luckily, I took a Cipro after a few days of suffering and it all got knocked right out!
So for the first time in weeks, I'm healthy right now. Who knows if it will last the meager 5 days until I'm home (probably not.) Probably helping in this is that the arrival of May (literally, day of) brought a halt to the rainy season. Now the sun shines all day long and though clouds roll in, the weather has been half-decent. I went through my last classes, took exams in all but one course, and said goodbye to my professors.
On Thursday night, we decided to go to one final Liga game, in the stadium in the North of Quito. We got there an hour or so early and bought tickets from a scalper, then got in line. Things got crazy really quickly. The area surrounding the stadium was packed, both with waiting fans and policemen, including many on horses. We got in line, which became crowded with people pushing and shoving nearly immediately. At least that much was to be expected. We were all in a pretty good mood, but all of sudden Lauren starts swearing because she realized she had been robbed. For reasons unknown to the rest of us, Lauren had pretty brought every last valuable thing with her - her new camera from the black market, her Blackberry from the US because her other phone had been lost, $40, her American license, and her Censo (the card we get from the government here and need to leave the country). Thank goodness she gave her iPod to Julie to hold because she didn't have enough room in her purse. Anyway, though there was a latch on her little leather purse, someone just opened it and grabbed everything. To everyone but Lauren this was not surprising or unexpected but of course, that didn't make her feel better at all.
Anyway, everyone felt a little bummed after that and suddenly, the line got crazy and people were pushing so hard to get in. I was so crushed I could barely breathe and started panicking and hyperventilating. Every psych class I've ever taken popped into my head - this is how people die - they get trampled, they asphyxiate - uncontrolled crowd situations are just so dangerous! Anyway, we all were hanging on to each other and after about 15 minutes of panic, we managed to get in. A guy I was squished against was laughing because apparently what I consider to be life-threatening and terrifying is normal there. Anyway, we finally got in and found our section. We noticed right away how it was full of die-hard fans - all singing, and yelling, full of spirit, so it was relatively exciting.
At some point in the game, we noticed that separating us between the next section in the bleachers (which were just concrete steps - another gross architectural fault - I saw that documentary about killer stadiums and how that's the worst way to control people...anyway more on that later) was a line of police men, each on a step, with the masks, and poised for duty. Kind of freaky until I realized the other side had people supporting the other team.
Didn't think too much of it until later - the other team had already scored the only point, and everyone was kind of yelling things over to the other side. Finally, the other team scored point 2 and all hell broke loose. Half the people were pushing through to leave, the other half was yelling and throwing things to the other side, flares, bottles, etc. Everything happened in a blur - my friends were yelling at us to LEAVE GO NOW and all of a sudden I was coughing and I thought that was weird until I realized the police had started spraying tear gas and forcing us all out. At this point, it became even crazier, with people pushing and swarming down the steps - I had my jacket over my mouth and nose and was being pushed everywhere and was the last of my friends to get out. Luckily I grabbed my friend Kevin who is like 6'2 and blond and he was literally able to pull me out. By then I was tearing up and panicking, but as soon as we left the bleachers, everything was fine. We left the stadium, unable to believe what had just happened. Found out one of my friends got hit the forehead with something, so she was kind of freaking out too.
Found out the next day what we did wrong - I was expecting the whole thing to be in the news, in the paper, or at the very least to tell my host mom and have her be shocked and worried. Instead, she just laughed. Apparently, that section is known for that kind of riot-like ending. People who go there go to fight and freak out, which would have been nice to know beforehand. I don't regret the experience - because it was exactly that - an experience like everything else here. But I maintain that nothing like that could have ever happened in the United States, what with better-designed stadiums and a little less rowdy fans. But true - that's what fútbol in Sudamérica and Europa is all about, right?
Anyway, the next night, we had a surprise party on Lauren's roof for our friend Brein, which was fun for me but the others were admittedly being a little whiny. On May 7th (Saturday) the country had what they call the Consulta Popular, which is a giant referendum which is mandatory for all Ecuadorians to vote in. The government enforces what they call the ley seca starting noon on Thursday until midnight on Sunday, meaning it's illegal to buy or consume any alcohol. We heard that even as foreigners, if caught drinking, we could be sent to jail. Deciding we reaaaally didn't want to risk going to Ecuadorian jail, we told all of our friends they couldn't drink at the party. We heard later from some Ecuadorians that this rule is really not enforced so a few of our friends were being jerks and complaining the whole time how they could be drinking. Lo siento - I spent like 18 years of my life having fun without drinking - I was able to spend one night sober just fine. I guess the others aren't so lucky. I actually ended up bringing my guitar and serenading everyone so that was pretty fun. No one here has heard me play yet, so that was cool.
Anyway, it's little stuff like that that's been wearing on me. I've been spending a lot of time with the same people and they're all driving me a little bit crazy in their own ways, regardless of how much I love them.
I spent the weekend with my host family. Saturday we went to my host mom's brother's house overlooking the valley of Cumbayá (absolutely stunning) and stayed there until almost midnight. I really didn't talk much with anyone (as usual) but we did kareoke for like, 4 hours at night and then they finally noticed me. I got more perfect scores than anyone! On Sunday, we went to my host dad's sister's place and had lunch there. I actually did have a conversation there, which was nice. Mostly though I was just bored. I get resentful of my host siblings because they both are addicted to their Blackberries (like every other well-to-do Ecuadorian teenager) and are literally on it the whole time. But it would be rude for me to pull out a book.
Anyway, yesterday I went with Julie to the Botanical Gardens in Quito - very pretty and just nice excuse to get out.
First of all, I got really sick (surprise!) after coming back from the beach. I think my body reacted to the malaria pills because my throat started hurting unbearably (specifically my lymph nodes were very swelled and inflamed) and the my digestion system went crazy again and as soon as that got better, I came down with something that was probably a sinus infection. Luckily, I took a Cipro after a few days of suffering and it all got knocked right out!
So for the first time in weeks, I'm healthy right now. Who knows if it will last the meager 5 days until I'm home (probably not.) Probably helping in this is that the arrival of May (literally, day of) brought a halt to the rainy season. Now the sun shines all day long and though clouds roll in, the weather has been half-decent. I went through my last classes, took exams in all but one course, and said goodbye to my professors.
On Thursday night, we decided to go to one final Liga game, in the stadium in the North of Quito. We got there an hour or so early and bought tickets from a scalper, then got in line. Things got crazy really quickly. The area surrounding the stadium was packed, both with waiting fans and policemen, including many on horses. We got in line, which became crowded with people pushing and shoving nearly immediately. At least that much was to be expected. We were all in a pretty good mood, but all of sudden Lauren starts swearing because she realized she had been robbed. For reasons unknown to the rest of us, Lauren had pretty brought every last valuable thing with her - her new camera from the black market, her Blackberry from the US because her other phone had been lost, $40, her American license, and her Censo (the card we get from the government here and need to leave the country). Thank goodness she gave her iPod to Julie to hold because she didn't have enough room in her purse. Anyway, though there was a latch on her little leather purse, someone just opened it and grabbed everything. To everyone but Lauren this was not surprising or unexpected but of course, that didn't make her feel better at all.
Anyway, everyone felt a little bummed after that and suddenly, the line got crazy and people were pushing so hard to get in. I was so crushed I could barely breathe and started panicking and hyperventilating. Every psych class I've ever taken popped into my head - this is how people die - they get trampled, they asphyxiate - uncontrolled crowd situations are just so dangerous! Anyway, we all were hanging on to each other and after about 15 minutes of panic, we managed to get in. A guy I was squished against was laughing because apparently what I consider to be life-threatening and terrifying is normal there. Anyway, we finally got in and found our section. We noticed right away how it was full of die-hard fans - all singing, and yelling, full of spirit, so it was relatively exciting.
At some point in the game, we noticed that separating us between the next section in the bleachers (which were just concrete steps - another gross architectural fault - I saw that documentary about killer stadiums and how that's the worst way to control people...anyway more on that later) was a line of police men, each on a step, with the masks, and poised for duty. Kind of freaky until I realized the other side had people supporting the other team.
Didn't think too much of it until later - the other team had already scored the only point, and everyone was kind of yelling things over to the other side. Finally, the other team scored point 2 and all hell broke loose. Half the people were pushing through to leave, the other half was yelling and throwing things to the other side, flares, bottles, etc. Everything happened in a blur - my friends were yelling at us to LEAVE GO NOW and all of a sudden I was coughing and I thought that was weird until I realized the police had started spraying tear gas and forcing us all out. At this point, it became even crazier, with people pushing and swarming down the steps - I had my jacket over my mouth and nose and was being pushed everywhere and was the last of my friends to get out. Luckily I grabbed my friend Kevin who is like 6'2 and blond and he was literally able to pull me out. By then I was tearing up and panicking, but as soon as we left the bleachers, everything was fine. We left the stadium, unable to believe what had just happened. Found out one of my friends got hit the forehead with something, so she was kind of freaking out too.
Found out the next day what we did wrong - I was expecting the whole thing to be in the news, in the paper, or at the very least to tell my host mom and have her be shocked and worried. Instead, she just laughed. Apparently, that section is known for that kind of riot-like ending. People who go there go to fight and freak out, which would have been nice to know beforehand. I don't regret the experience - because it was exactly that - an experience like everything else here. But I maintain that nothing like that could have ever happened in the United States, what with better-designed stadiums and a little less rowdy fans. But true - that's what fútbol in Sudamérica and Europa is all about, right?
Anyway, the next night, we had a surprise party on Lauren's roof for our friend Brein, which was fun for me but the others were admittedly being a little whiny. On May 7th (Saturday) the country had what they call the Consulta Popular, which is a giant referendum which is mandatory for all Ecuadorians to vote in. The government enforces what they call the ley seca starting noon on Thursday until midnight on Sunday, meaning it's illegal to buy or consume any alcohol. We heard that even as foreigners, if caught drinking, we could be sent to jail. Deciding we reaaaally didn't want to risk going to Ecuadorian jail, we told all of our friends they couldn't drink at the party. We heard later from some Ecuadorians that this rule is really not enforced so a few of our friends were being jerks and complaining the whole time how they could be drinking. Lo siento - I spent like 18 years of my life having fun without drinking - I was able to spend one night sober just fine. I guess the others aren't so lucky. I actually ended up bringing my guitar and serenading everyone so that was pretty fun. No one here has heard me play yet, so that was cool.
Anyway, it's little stuff like that that's been wearing on me. I've been spending a lot of time with the same people and they're all driving me a little bit crazy in their own ways, regardless of how much I love them.
I spent the weekend with my host family. Saturday we went to my host mom's brother's house overlooking the valley of Cumbayá (absolutely stunning) and stayed there until almost midnight. I really didn't talk much with anyone (as usual) but we did kareoke for like, 4 hours at night and then they finally noticed me. I got more perfect scores than anyone! On Sunday, we went to my host dad's sister's place and had lunch there. I actually did have a conversation there, which was nice. Mostly though I was just bored. I get resentful of my host siblings because they both are addicted to their Blackberries (like every other well-to-do Ecuadorian teenager) and are literally on it the whole time. But it would be rude for me to pull out a book.
Anyway, yesterday I went with Julie to the Botanical Gardens in Quito - very pretty and just nice excuse to get out.
Botanical gardens
Today, Julie, Alli and I went to the Teleferiqo, which is the cable car thing that brings you to the top of Pichincha, the mountain/volcano thing overlooking my window. It was absolutely beautiful up there - the view was like none other and the oxygen was certainly lacking. We had to stop literally every 10 steps for Julie to get her breath.
Quito!
Anyway, we spent a nice couple of hours up there, then came back, came home, and now I have a test to study for and a party to attend tonight. What a life, right?
That being said..... five days. Five days. Five days. I'm going to miss this place undoubtedly but time, fly, please.
That's all for now. Chau mis amigos.
Cyn xxx
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