After school today I wandered around a bit in search of a store where I might buy a replacement Sony camera. It took me a while to even find the mall that I seemed to keep running into on my first day walking around, and still no luck finding a real electronics store that sells cameras. No, I haven’t Googled… Read more »
On to the fourth teacher. This Friday is a holiday, Guayaquil Independence Day. The Quiteños aren’t too concerned about it, but appreciate the vacation day with the long weekend, so the teachers suggested we take Friday off and make up the classes during the week. Because of this and a misunderstanding the previous week, I have 6 hours of class… Read more »
This was a weekend of rest and getting these posts up. The bus ride back was my first real long trip here at 11 hours on the bus plus 3 at the terminal. The bus made several stops, including a police ID checkpoint. I got back to la casa just in time for dawn. The rest of the day was… Read more »
I feel like my rate of absorption of Spanish is slowing down a bit. The classes feel harder as I have not digested and sufficiently practiced everything I’ve learned. Last day in the jungle. Today I went for the morning hike with the group instead of class. At one point while walking through the jungle the guide yelled run! Not… Read more »
Why am I intentionally going out at night to look at spiders? Today’s excursion went to the house of an indigenous Quichua family. There are 11 children in the house. It’s in a mostly razed area of jungle by the river, surrounded by plantains a and yucca plants which they use for food as well as some coffee and cacao… Read more »
By noon on the second day I haven’t yet done a walk in the jungle because I’ve had 7 hours of classes. The lodge is a surprisingly nice place to study, especially in the morning. However, I am starting to think that combining studies with the jungle trip was not the best use of my time and money here.
I almost didn’t make it to the jungle today. The logistics guy bought a bus ticket for the wrong day. The teacher and I did eventually get on a bus last night and, after little sleep and much waiting, got on a boat to the jungle lodge. It is a pretty place, well hidden away on a branch of the… Read more »
Finally got some good hiking in. The plan for today was to go up the gondola called the TeleferiQo up the mountain overlooking the west side of Quito and to hike further up from there to the top of the 4700m volcano named Rucu Pichincha. This would put me almost 2km above where I have been within a few hours,… Read more »
As I was waiting at the bus station, a woman put down some baskets and bags next to me. A minute later I heard noises. When I looked down I found I was standing next to a big bag full of live chickens. I took the bus to Otavalo, which is a town famous for its artisinal craft market. They… Read more »
This evening we went to a brewery located near the hostel where some of the other students are staying. The brews were a bit strange – there was something like a ginger honey saison that was not quite to my liking, but the amber was alright. The bar is inside what appears to be a church – there are crosses… Read more »