Friday, August 12, 2011

New Experiences!

I'm a bit behind but here's an update from last week until now!

Last Thursday we visited the Museo de Guayasamin (aka La Capilla del Hombre)! Oswaldo Guayasamin was a famous artist from Quito, Ecuador. He captured the suffrage humans faced during the Spanish war. All of his paintings/sculptures express the pain felt by those affected by war. We also got to visit one of his houses that was located right next to the museum. I also got a picture by the arbol de la vida (tree of life). Guayasmins ashes were spread there:





On Thursday night, my friends and I tried out a popular bar called CLUB MIA. It was ladies night so all the girls didn't have to pay! It had some good music towards the end of the night, but overall I was not too impressed. However I was talking with a guy from Ecuador who was a med student. It only takes 6 years to get your medical degree in Ecuador! How crazyyy is that!? Schooling here also does not cost nearly as much as it would at home. Now that's a way to save some money.
Pics from Club MIA:


Lexi, Masako, Emily, me, Olivia, Junko and Meg

Friday was our last class with our salsa instructor. Clay and I partnered up again and we continued to practice old moves combined with new moves. The problem I have with salsa, is allowing the male to take the lead. Dancing in the US is way different and I like to know what move is coming up. With Salsa, you never know what move is coming next because the male has control. Overall, we had a great last day of salsa class. Hopefully we can take more classes in the future!

Friday night a bunch of my BCA friends and I took a taxi to La Mariscal. We hung out at a cool lounge bar called "Cirque" and it was a good place to go and converse with friends over a few drinks. Jordan and Clay shared some type of salty beer. I tried it, but was instantly not a fan because I don't like salt too much.

Here's a few pics from Cirque with my BCA friends:
Sara, me, Madde and Emily

Clay, me, Eric
Me, Eric, Emily, Madde, Jordan, Stina and Clay

Jordan and Clay

Stina y yo

On Saturday morning I left to go fishing with my friend Diego and his father. This fishing trip was like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. We left around 11am on Saturday morning and didn't get to the private farm: Yanahurco until about 5pm. We had plans to spend the night in a civilized building, but the owner of the farm forgot to leave the keys for us. Luckily for us, there was a hut style home that was equally as nice (total sarcasm for those who haven't picked up on it yet). It reminded me of the indigenous huts I saw last week in a town close to Otovalo. Before I came on this fishing trip, I was well aware that it was in the mountains but I was not ready for what I was about to get myself into. Out of the 5hr drive, 4 hrs was driving up hill on old cobble stone streets. But the majority of the drive was basically on huge rocks and consisted of off roading through streams and muddy terrain. The farm was located near Cotopaxi which is the largest active volcano in the world! I got some pretty awesome pictures of the snow caped mountain! As if the drive to the farm wasn't an adventure in itself, I was in for a lot more fun. Our campsite was supposed to have a small amount of electricity that was offered until 11pm. I guess the owner of the farm knew I was coming and decided that electricity wasn't an important factor. It's not like I've been camping before, clearly I could handle this. HAHA. but thank god I'm a go-with-the-flow type of girl, otherwise I don't think I would have survived the weekend.

 Once again, I must make another shot out to my mother DEBB. She bought me an EXTREMELY small key chain flashlight before I came to Ecuador, and I was like what on earth will I ever need this for!? But sure enough, it was probably the most useful tool I had this weekend. None of us had flashlights and we instantly went fishing in the dark the first night there! THANK YOU DEBB for purchasing this life saving mini flashlight! It prevented me from getting totally stuck in the muddy swamps. I say "totally" because I could barely move for almost 5 minutes. Thankfully I had big rubber boots that kept my feet somewhat warm and prevented any dirt/mud from getting in my shoes.

Saturday night was extremely cold and it was not easy to catch any trout when it was pitch black out. Let alone, my lack of fishing skills using tuna and flour for bait. HA. But after freezing for about 2hrs we called it a night and went back to the camp site for dinner. We had a home made fire and I tried out my domestic skills by heating up our previously cooked rotisserie chicken. I must say, I did a pretty damn good job cooking over that fire! Even if my eyes were burning from the amount of smoke that was being blown into them. But after dinner was over we went to bed, which was one of the coldest sleeping experiences I have ever had. All I wanted to do was fall asleep so I could wake up the next day feeling warm from the heat of the sun.

Sunday morning we went fishing again around 9:30am. This time, the sun was shining so I had a much easier time seeing where I was going and what exactly I was throwing my line into. There was A LOT of walking and trekking up/down hills during this fishing experience. I suggest only those physically active try this type of fishing. Did I mention how much harder it is to breathe when your thousands of feet above sea level? Not fun. After fishing for about 4hrs, I had no success in catching any trout. I almost had 2 the entire day, but they got loose from my line as I was trying to pull them in. FAIL. but oh well, I learned how to gut a fish which was kind of cool/gross. haha

Although the day went quick, I was pretty excited to pack up and head home. I've gone fishing before in the past, but nothing like what I had experienced this past weekend. I think I'll stick to fishing on a boat from now on. It was definitely an awesome experience, but I'm not sure if I'll find myself doing something similar again in the near future. This type of fishing is something you would find on the Discovery Chanel. WARNING: for extreme fishers with a LOT of patience. Don't tell me I didn't warn you! hahah

Here are some pics from my weekend fishing trip: *(the view was AMAZING)



this is what we were driving through!

little bridges we had to cross



                                                                                                  huts

heating up some chicken haha

frost in the morning


haha pretending to eat a trout

the trout I should have caught

standing in front of Cotopaxi!


On Monday night, Clay's uncle got a few of us cheap tickets to the Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito futbol game (LDU for short). They are a professional Ecuadorian club team that play in the A series. Unfortunately they lost but the game was a lot of fun, and their fans were wild! Plus they were selling huge cups of Pilsner beer for only 2 dollars! A drink at any professional league game in the states would cost you at least close to 10 bucks! Jerseys were also being sold for less than 10 dollars! Incredibleee. I really want to go to a national game soon! Need to buy myself an Ecuador jersey first! =]

Chicas-Me, Sara, Masako, Stina, Emily and Madde

chicos-Clay and Eric


This past week of school, was my last week for my pre-semester class. I had my final on Thursday and today we had to put on our final presentation. The entire group of BCA students (21 students) were separated into 4 groups. The 1st group was North America (United States), 2nd group was Central America: (Cuba and Dominica Republic, but Mexico was included as well), 3rd group was South America (Ecuador and Chile) and the 4th group was Asia (China, Japan, and Korea). The funny thing is, the professors placed students into groups based on their ethnicity and physical characteristics. All the students from Asian decent (minus my friend Madde hahaha) were placed in the Asia group. Many of the students with blonde hair and north american characteristics were placed in the US group. Students placed in Cuba/Puerto Rico group were students actually from those countries or had Hispanic backgrounds. Not too sure how I was placed in that group but I guess it's because I'm Italian but seem to resemble someone with a Hispanic background. bahahah Either way, it was a blast! Each group cooked foods that are typical in their country. Everything was delicious! My group made Empanadas and tostones (made from green bananas, a salty snack). Both very easy to make! and very cheap as well. We also put on a performance for the class of 4 different styles of dance (Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and Reggaeton). Gasaolina by Daddy Yankee was a big hit! haha

Here are some pictures of my classmates with their professors:
Evelyn's class

Sonya's class

Claudia's class

my class-professora Lidice

all the professors with my director Daniel


As for now, I need to prepare some paperwork for tomorrow morning since I need to head to the consulate early! On Sunday, I will be leaving for a 3 night excursion with the rest of my BCA classmates. We are going out to the coast and will be spending several days at Rio Muchaco which is an organic farm that is about 80% self-sustainable. We will be participating in daily chores on the farm and hiking as well. Some students are renting horses for the day while some will take on the muddy hike to an area that is home to bunch of monkeys! I am super excited! After our stay at Rio Muchacho, some of us will extend our stay on the coast at a private beach. The hostel/private beach we're staying at will cost us anywhere between 12-20 bucks a person per night which is bit on the costly side here, but we do get our own private beach! Try finding something that cheap in the US! yeah rightttttt. but I'm excited for this trip, it's going to be awesome! A week from tomorrow, my sister Laura and my cousin Dana will be visiting me for about 8 days. I can't wait for them to experience with their own eyes, the beautiful country that I get to live in for the next 4 months. They will have the time of their life here!

New favorite word/phrase: endings ito/ita. This is not a word or really a phrase but people here love placing this on the ending of certain words. I bought a DVD the other day for 2 dollars and the man selling it to me told me it's only "dos dolaritos". Meaning only 2 small dollars. You can also use it in context when addressing litte kids or calling something "cute". My sister here is named Karla, but my family will usually call her Karlita! I love itttt.

Even though there are not too many things I miss about living in the United States(minus my friends and family of course), but here are a few things I DO miss about the US:
1-being able to stroll out of your house in shorts/sweat pants and flip flops without people staring at you and instantly thinking you're a gringa.
2-easy access to having a car to go wherever you want, when you want.
3-never having to take a crowded bus.
4-never having to worry about people stealing your stuff.
5-this is a BIG one. NOT HAVING TO LOCK MULTIPLE GATES TO YOUR HOUSE. And I thought my family at home was bad with making sure the door is locked at all times, at least we don't have multiple locks on a gate outside of our house that take forever to open. hahahha

One more thing: I don't think I ever posted pics of my living quarters so here's a little peek at my room! I have my own bathroom too which is awesome! Not many BCA students have that privilege so I'm grateful for that!






So far I'm loving everything about this country! This has been and will be the best experience of my life!

Until my next post, hastaaa la vista!
<3Nicole


Monday, August 1, 2011

newest update! =]

First off I would like to make a birthday shout out to DEBB (my real madre!), so happy birthdayy mom! Hope it was a blast! But I'm sure you'd be happy to know I spent the day doing things I do best: feeding llamas salt from my hand and shopping in one of the biggest outdoor markets in South America! hahaha But any who, since my last update I have continued taking more salsa dance lessons. This time we worked on some moves with salsa partners. Unfortunately there are only 5 guys in our group so some girls needed to take on the male role. Since I'm such a fantastic dancer and all, I had the opportunity to dance with one of the guys in my group so I didn't have to shift parts (jajaja). My partner and I made a few mistakes every once in awhile, but overall we did a fairly decent job. At least our little Cuban intructor didn't have to correct any of our moves!

On Friday, the whole group participated in an academic Scavenger Hunt located in the historical center of Quito. We broke up into groups of 4, and worked our way around Quito with the use of clever clues written in Spanish. We needed to walk up to complete strangers and ask for help/directions in Espanol. The last clue brought us to the house of our BCA director. Here, we enjoyed small Ecuadorian snacks while discussing our experiences from the scavenger hunt. Unfortunately my team took 3rd place, but everyone still finished quicker than other groups from BCA have done in the past.
Here's a pic of my scavenger hunt team! (Clay, Me, Meg, Kelly)



I almost forgot that on Thursday I had my first trip to the health clinic located on the campus on my University. The day before I left for Qutio, I felt as if I couldn't hear very clearly out of my left ear. After taking two different planes, it only got worse due to the amount of pressure at high altitudes. Although it was annoying not being able to hear everyone clearly, I hadn't experienced any pain until last week. I woke up around 4am on Thursday morning with ringing in my ears and pain that made it difficult to fall back asleep. I told my host mom about it, and she told me to visit the Otorrinolaringologo doctura (translation: Ears, nose and throat doctor). wow what a word. It was very easy to make an appointment at this office. I went in around 10, and they told me I could come back at 12:15. I got there earlier just as they told me to, and immediately I was taken in. This clinic was very modernized and had up to date medical technology. After sitting for a couple of minutes outside of the ENT doctors office, I was finally called in. I was expecting that my doctor would know some English, but sure enough, he spoke in Spanish the entire time. Good thing I knew enough to explain my problem and understand everything he was telling me. He also used a type of tuning fork to test my hearing which I thought was pretty cool. Within a couple of minutes, I found out I had an ear infection in my left ear. I was given a prescription for Amoxicillin and it was already available at the health clinic. I'm not sure if my medical insurance fully covers me while abroad, but I only needed to pay $35 for the doctor visit, and about $7 for my antibiotics. In Ecuador it's also very easy to get a hold of prescription drugs without the need of a doctors order.

On Friday night, I went out with two Etown alumni students that reside in Ecuador. We went out to La Mariscal again which is foreigners nation here. We went into one bar and once again ladies did not have to pay a cover fee! Even though there were many foreignors, it was still likely to find Spanish speaking Ecuadorians. There was a mix of Spanish and American music. I was on the dance floor the whole night as per usual. I also tried to salsa again for a short period of time. There has been some improvement since my last couple of lessons! Yesss.
Here's a pic of my Etown friends and I (Diego and Daniel):


On Saturday morning, I needed to be at the Rio Coca bus stop by 7:30am! We were leaving for our first weekend excursion to the town of Otovalo. Along the way we stopped at the center of the world! The military of Ecuador has confirmed that the latitude of Ecuador is 0' 0' 0'. We were able to straddle both the North and South equator. Not only did it provide us with the perfect photo op but it was such an awesome experience!
Here I am attempting a split in jeans on both sides of the Equator:


Next stop was "Parque Arquelogico de Investigacion Cientifica". I should probably find out how to use the codes on my keyboard to add accent marks to certain letters, but I'm short with time right now (haha). This park is mainly known as Cochasqui and it had some of the most amazing views I've ever seen! Here we stood on Pre-Incan pyramids and I also got to feed multiple llamas! I was tempted to hop on one so I could go for a ride...but I'm not sure if our tour guide would have appreciated that. Llamas LOVE salt and it was the only way we could get them to come over to us. It tickled very much when they would lick the salt off your hand. It was quite the experience!
Pics of  the beautiful view and llamas!





Once we got closer to Otavalo, we stopped off at a small store that sold fresh individual string cheese. The cheese was very good but it was a lot different from the string cheese you would typically find in the refrigerated section of your local food store. I also tried "dulche de leche" which is very similar to caramel. It was a bit too sweet for my liking so I wouldn't put it up there in my top favorite foods. I also tried a small sweet roll that contained some sort of pumpkin filling in it. Not too bad!

After driving for more than 2 hours on our private coach bus, we arrived at our hostel. This hostel was not as luxurious as the first one we stayed at, but it was so cool! I felt like I was staying in a HUGE tree house. It had a very relaxed feel to it, and it also had hammocks just chilling underneath Avocado trees! It was very simple but perfect for our one night stay! Once we placed our belongings in our room, we went out in search for great deals at one of the biggest outdoor markets in all of a South America. We had plenty of time to search from stand to stand of all the different products that street vendors would try and get you to buy. I found great souvenirs for some friends and family, and I think I did a pretty good job of bartering on my own! Many of the vendors were selling pretty much the exact same things as each other. There was lots of jewelry, scarfs, clothes, hand made bowls, replicas of famous paintings, coin purses, fresh fruits/vegetables, key chains, etc. I think I only spent about $20 dollars there and I definitely got my moneys worth!
Awesome hostel pics:


Otovalo Mercado:


Later at night, we all went out to dinner at a local Pizza restaurant. Live music was performed by a well known Andean group. They were so full of energy and had the whole restaurant clapping to the beat of their songs! I also shared a Margherita pizza with my friend Stina. Although the pizza was tasty, it was very different from the margherita pizzas I have had in my past. The dough was very flaky, kind of like filo-dough and there seemed to be almost no tomato sauce on the pizza. Oh well, guess I need to return to Italy for the best brick oven pizzas around! After dinner, a bunch of people from the group relaxed on our balcony at the hostel and enjoyed each others company.

Early Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hostel and got ready for our next adventure. After chowing down on pancakes and fresh fruit, we were set for our hiking trip to a cascada (waterfall). Once the waterfall was in sight, half of the group took part in the harder climb to get to the top of the waterfall. When heading back down, we were able to trek through a stream where we had the opportunity to stand underneath the waterfall. The water was a bit cold at first, but we were all amazed with the beauty of the waterfall that our bodies became too numb to realize how cold we were. Walking barefoot on slippery rocks is not always easy, but it was totally worth it for the photos we managed to get!
Waterfall pics:





After the hike, we were back on the bus where we traveled to another local stop. We watched a world-known Andean musician make instruments from scratch in only a few minutes. His family also played a few songs for us live! Afterwards we were allowed to try out any instrument we'd like. Totally awesome.

On our next stop we watched a 70+ year old woman weave the traditional Andean way. She was probably about 4 ft tall and most likely had stronger upper body strength than myself. Pretty embarrassing, but the work she did was not easy! She took sheep wool and turned it into strong string using an old fashioned wooden spinner. So impressive!
Pics from traditional Andean artisan:






Afterwards we checked out another market that is well known for their leather goods. We only had 30 minutes and of course I ended up being a few minutes late because I lost track of time! But it was unbelievable how cheap leather bags were being sold for! Bags that would cost over a $100 dollars in the US were being sold for $20-30. loco!

The last stop of the day was a lake that was located in a volcanic crater! We were so high up, that we were legit in the clouds! The pictures we took were so real that they looked fake! Increibleeee.






After a 2 hour ride home in pouring rain, we were all exhausted and ready to get home. My loving family welcomed me with open arms upon my return. They really are the best! My mom's a great cook! She has a small breakfast ready for me every morning and my dinner is ready for me every night aground 6:30/7. My father is always excited to see me when he gets home from work, and I tell him about how my day was. My sister Karla is also really sweet! I see my brother Michael every once in awhile but he's a bit more on the quiet side. I'm always singing to songs with my mother and we dance to salsa together too! So much fun!
Here's a pic of the house I live in:



Also I don't remember if I wrote about the prices of things in my earlier entry, but bus rides here cost no more than a quarter in all directions. Taxis are usually no more than 50 cents-$1 depending on where you're going. Lunch is soooo cheap. You can get a whole set meal for $1.50-3. I usually buy 1 or 2 bottles of water a day because the water isn't very safe to drink from unless you boil it. This morning my friend purchased a 3 liter bottle of water from a pharmacy for only .80 cents! Such a good find!

I honestly can't believe how many different adventures we have managed to fit in, in such little time. All I could think about when visiting these new places, is how lucky I am to be experiencing this journey. The United States does have some very beautiful sites, but there is just no way one can experience the things I have seen without traveling. It truly is amazing and I can't even put into words how awesome my experience has been so far. I always try and think about what I would be doing right now if I hadn't come to Ecuador. I definitely encourage everyone to travel outside of the US if possible! You won't regret it!

But now I need to study for my first exam that I have on Wednesday! Wish me luckkk! =]

Another new phrase I like to use: Que Chevere! (meaning: wow, incredible!). It's fun to say, so try it out!

Buenas noches muchachos
<3Nicole