Friday morning I went with my work group to the town known as Salinas de Guaranda. Salinas means “salt mines”. It’s a town about two hours from Riobamba where one of the most famous Ecuadorian Fair Trade cooperative, “Salinerito”, is located and from where all the products are made, packaged and shipped throughout Ecuador. The wind was so cold and powerful today and the area we were in desert landscape, with only a few small spruces here and there. Standing in the cold wind for over a half hour –and when I say cold I mean Canadian winter jacket cold- I desperately had to pee. My colleagues urged me to go to into an abandoned shelter right across from us. This might gross some people out… but when nature calls, you can’t ask for her to call you back at some other time. The wind lightened me as I ran to shelter. As I squatted, I scared a hummingbird who flew right past the left side of my head and shot out the door. I consider this an amazing occurrence for the following reasons: 1) humming birds need and like warmish weather, not the frigid winds that carry ice off of Chimborazo, 2) humming birds live around green and clean areas… but this little house was pitched black and filthy with garbage littering its floors in an environment where there isn’t a tree or even a decent-sized bush in sight! 3) without greenery, there are no flowers from which the hummingbird can eat from. Reading this, I’m sure you’ve come to the following conclusion: well, it wasn’t a humming bird then. But, I saw it clearly and it was one. The same reasons that I have provided above are what are making me doubt my sight more and more. Perhaps that was a good omen, to reassure me that today would be better than yesterday. Sure enough, the day kept getting better from then on.
We lucked out and at our stop where we had an incredibly clear day and breathtaking view of Chimborazo the highest volcano and mountain in all of Ecuador, and just a few metres short from Mt Everest, and caught a bus full of high school students where on a field trip to the very same Salinas! I say this because there is also a famous Salinas on the Coast, known for its beautiful beaches. Happily, the three of us hopped on. About 45 min into our ride, one of the teachers asks us: Um, do you know which way to Salinas? Of course we didn’t, it being all of our first times on that particular road. Another half hour later we came across a community with a man city outside on the side of the road and he gave us infallible directions: “just keep going straight”. We arrived a bit before 12pm and in 3 hours we: visited the chocolate factory, the ceramic factory, the salt mines, the cheese factory (Gruyère and Raclette Cheese in Ecuador? You bet!), waited on an extremely slow waiter and wasted nearly an hour, got some ice cream, climbed to the top of a mountain to the cross and to look at the view of the town and got the grand tour a homeopathic remedy-making house. All of our touring was free for some reason…
Our afternoon was just what I needed: a spur of the moment adventure in which we walked through muddy roads and animal dung, crossed a rickety-rackety sugar cane sticks bridge, hiked very steep streets and slopes and witnessed the magically appearing and disappearing fog that one minute was so thick you could see more than a few feet away from you to dissipating literally, into thing air. During our escapades, I ran into two little nieces of my new host family who just so happened to be also visiting Salinas as part as a day field trip. And sure enough, we were offered a ride back! While we waited for the driver to finish his lunch, we looked into a hotel called El Refugio, took advantage of their bathroom and split a shandy in three to celebrate our successful day! One the way back in the bus, the fog had settled in once again and I couldn’t help but be touched by the magic of it…we came up behind a white horse, who galloped ahead of us for a bit, then next to us. I felt like in a dream.

Thursday was a bad day. Went to go check my email early in the morning since I had an interview with a potential employer in Canada and hadn’t had the chance to check my email the night before, I just wanted to make sure that our meeting was still ok. Luckily I checked because the person wanted to switch our interview time from 10:30am to 2:30pm…when I had already organized with my supervisor to have the morning off and to work the afternoon. *sigh*. At that moment, I couldn’t tell them off the top of my head because I needed to rearrange with my supervisor who wasn’t getting into the office until 9am. So I sent them an email explaining that and told them that I would give them a quick call at 9:30 to let them know if I could change for the new time. 9:30 rolled around and I kept trying to call Canada. The person-in-question’s answering machine message was so long that it kept cutting me off before I could leave a message. When I called from my cellphone –gah, incredibly expensive- I managed to get to the end of the message and leave my own. I also realized that my USB key was missing because my supervisor wanted to put on our computer our new photos to the communities. I raced back to the internet café to look for it, but the woman said she had no idea she hadn’t seen anything. Argh.
Throughout the morning, I tried contacting them repeatedly hoping I would reach them at their desk. I tried until lunchtime and then figured that I’d just have to wait and see if they called me for 2pm. The arrangement was that if I was late for work the colleague that I was supposed to go out and do medical visits with would give my supervisor a call and she would tell her to wait for me until 2:45pm. My supervisor offered to take me downtown to a place that sells usb keys for cheap and good quality. Lucked out for 1GB, 21$! Kept trying to call again to Canada, still no answer…got on the bus to be home for 1:20ish in case the potential employer got my message and could call me a few minutes before 2pm. Got stuck in traffic and go home at 1:35pm, at 1:30pm I get a message from my host family saying that Canada called… Raced into a phonebooth that is in our residencial complex. Reach my interviewer, got them to call me back. Run across the lawn to get back into the house, another dog sees me, runs after me and nips at my ankles!!!

I went to visit a Queen’s friend’s host family from last summer in Cotacachi which is about 20min by car from Otavalo and about 30min by bus. I went there on my own since the rest of my group organized alternate plans. In truth, I really enjoyed traveling on my own. This experience was my first tourist escapade without my friends, and it has made traveling on my own a lot easier and comfortable since then. Over the phone I was told my friend’s host mum that the bus would drop me off right in front of their house if I provided the driver with the family name. Well, there are two different buses that go to Cotacachi and I took the wrong one…but since Cotacachi really isn’t big, it wasn’t a big deal. I got off the bus and went into one of the many leather stores –Cotacachi is famous for its leather products and you have many leather stores one next to the other- and asked a woman for directions. The family name didn’t ring a bell, but when I said: “Big white house”. And then it clicked for her. “Aaaaaaaah, yes, I know the family. Ooooooh, but it’s so far…on the other side of town and down a bit. I recommend you take a taxi”. Now, I have learned here that walking is not a preferred means of transportation and so anything longer than a 5min walk is described as an excruciating and insurmountable distance. I got to the square, and from there the woman’s directions didn’t make sense. That’s another thing about here, people do not seem capable to say: “I don’t know”. Either they hate the idea of disappointing you or they don’t want you to think they’re ignorant. Either way, I would much rather someone say: “Gee, I’m sorry, I really have no clue…” and that way I wouldn’t go on a wild goose chase! Crossing through the Park in the square, I asked another woman. She recognized the family name immediately and pointed to me the way. In under 10 min, I was there. Ha. The family was incredible… they welcomed me in like a daughter. I was to stay in my friend’s old room. Two of the woman-of-the-house’s niece, excitedly greeted me and we hit off the moment I got in. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so part of a family so quickly… The kids wanted to take me everywhere and show me everything, they seemed to feel that it was their responsibility to keep me happy and entertained. I think that their love for my friend made them welcome me even more so than they usually would –which would be really well anyway. I even ended up helping out with one of the niece’s boy-troubles, listening and advising. I also helped one of the nephew’s set up a hotmail account so that he could write to my friend. What an exciting event for him! I also offered to the family to help set up a webcam date in April with my friend, that I could bring my equipment and that way they could all have a chance to see each other! They’re ecstatic about it…and I think about me coming back too; they kept asking me, when are you leaving? Can’t you stay longer? When are you coming back? The host-dad also drove me to the laguna the next day (about 30min out of Cotacachi) and accompanied me on a short walk and hike around part of the lake. Truth is, I felt so comfortable with that family, that I started to think: Oh, if only I had come here earlier, I could’ve done my placement work here!!! Gah. Oh well, we make do with the decisions and commitments that we make. I will see them again in mid-April, and I look forward to taking them thank-you gift. I know that they don’t expect anything and would see it as me troubling myself… but deep-down… I know they’ll love the thought and the effort. Just a bit more over a month… wow, time flies!

Carnaval is a grand festivity in Ecuador. Every city and village practices the game of throwing stuff at people. Reminds me of Indian Holi. If you´re lucky, they only wet you..even if the water balloons splat hard. ´The reality is that eggs, flour, spray, car oil, and anything else you can get your hands on is fair game. I only got hit once during this holiday, which is quite a feat since Carnaval was technically only on Monday the 19th of February but people were playing about 3 weeks before... Here is how I spent my Carnaval four-day weekend...
I decided to go to Esmeraldas to visit some friends at the beach. Getting there was interesting… When I was walking –and daydreaming- to the bus stop in Riobamba, a water balloon hit me in the space between my pack and back, and splat, my whole backside and legs were soaked. Then spent the next four hours sitting and when I got up in Quito, I was nearly as wet as when I had left. Lol. Had the nasty surprise –well, really I shouldn’t have been- to find out that there were no more buses to Esmaraldas until 11pm. It was 5pm at the time. One guy told me to sit in a waiting room and that he would find me one for 10pm. After waiting for a half hour, I decided to roam a bit more. Found another company that had a bus leaving at 6pm, at that time it was 5:30pm. Of course, we pulled out of the station late and it took us about an 1hr and a half just to get out to Quito. Got to Esmeraldas at 1:30 am. Lost in Esmeraldas, I start walking while talking to Nell on the phone trying to figure out where I’m located… I’m already shooing men and their questions away from me, when this one guy starts calling me towards him. Still on the phone, I keep waving my hand “no” towards him. Put he doesn’t stop, and finally I hear Nell’s voice calling me and she’S waiting right across the street from me. The guy was Javier, her friend, who I then got to know how great he was…lol. That was the story of how they met me for the rest of the weekend…
Our beach house was interesting though. A large wooden cabin without, unsurprisingly, hygienic facilities. Chino asked one of the restaurant owners if we could use the bathroom and Nell and I pretty much abused of that when we were there. When that restaurant was closed, we’d find a spot outside… which was sometimes tricky since there were still quite a few people there!!! Got to say though, Nell is the Queen of Pee. I have never known anyone to pee outside so quickly!!! There was also no plumbing or sink… we would use water from a well, i-e water from the sea that was filtered through the sand. You sometimes got some sand at the bottom of your bucket. Hahaha. Everything made out of slabs wood, I was puzzled when I saw these triangle-shaped holes in the counter of the kitchen: a rustic drainage system. Smart really, just toss all your water and leftovers down the holes, it would all land on the sand below and the chickens and ducks could then clean it up. Cooking was always an adventure, at one point I picked up a pot and two cockroaches fell out of it. Another day, a gecko was chilling out inside a glass. At night, the rat would run across the ceiling beams of the shack. I was fine with that really… as long as it didn’t start nibbling my toes. I saw some of the biggest spiders there too. It was all fun though. The guys sometimes cooked, at other times Nell and I would. One night we prepared an entirely vegetarian meal… some of the guys liked it but China, Javier and Watusa wouldn’t even touch it. Hahaha. They were very happy to know that I do eat meat, although I didn’t really that weekend.
I definitely needed time to relax my muscles. Lol. We had great sunny adventures. Nell and I did a lot of touring the place, walking around tons. We even went on our own on a 40min walk escapade to this one incredible beach that the guys had told us about. Boiling, boiling hot it was those couple of days! Well, quite pleasant really compared to Friobamba! At other times, we went with the guys to visit beaches. We all went to this one called Portete, where we had to cross a river by boat (the guys swam across on the way back when the water was down and hence, less current) and walked on this beach that is nearly inhabited. Incredible. My return was also incredible… I managed to get my hands on a ticket reurning to quito at 6pm on Monday thanks to the guys. And was in Riobamba by Tuesday morning!!! All in all, it was an awesome time, of beach, sun, hamacs, fresh off the tree coconut and ice cream sandwiches. I currently don´t have much of a tan though because I protected myself very well: a big beach hat, 45SPF and a long sleeved shirt at peak ray times...

Of course, this list will keep growing…

1- Car alarms are in every car and go off every few minutes…
2- Toilet paper is commonly baby-powder scented
3- The tops of walls are covered in large shards of glass to stop anyone from climbing over them
4- The cheapest and most popular alarm system are dogs… You can tell in which direction someone is walking from the canon of dog barks
5- You can have a full lunch for a 1-1.50$ US
6- Soup is eaten with popcorn… you add it in like we do crackers
7- In the Highlands… Potatoes and Yuca are vegetables...and life isn´t complete without rice...and if you can affor it meat everyday!
8- Starch? What´s that?
9- “Ya mismo viene” translates into “It’s/they’re/he’s/she’s on it’s/their/his/her way right now” but is just an expression… people have told me that when they had no idea whether or not something/someone was coming. And if they do know, the waiting time runs from 10 min to hours.
10- Traffic lights and road signs are mere recommendations...the surest way is to go through intersections making sure you honkn your horn a lot of times first so that everyone gets out of your way
11- Fresh juices are less than a dollar
12- The equivalent to the sparrow we have in Canada has a funny crest of feathers on his head…looks like a rocker
13- You can find things extremely cheaply or you could go to the huge new malls and get the same things and brand names as you do in Canada… usually more expensive
14- I often get asked with a look of shock and disgust: You eat RAW vegetables???

Guargualla Chico and Tranca Shulpuj are two neighbouring communities about 2 hours and a half to 3 hours from Riobamba. Well, three hours when you take the milk truck that leaves Riobamba at about 4am and makes its way deep into the mountains to pick up milk, to then bring it back the milk into Riobamba. On Thursday, the January 24th we set out, all bundled up and ready to have to sleep over at the community. The milk truck dropped us off at Guargualla Chico, which is at a lower part of a mountain, for the measly price of a dollar. I think he just really enjoyed having the company during the trip. Stepping out of the car, I felt like I was back in Canada, with the humid cold we have towards the end of November but without the snow. From Guargualla Chico we walked 45 minutes mostly uphill to get to Tranca Shulpuj. Surprisingly, the altitude didn’t affect me and we made our way quite quickly. I was grateful for my Alpaca gloves, hat, scarf and Canadian winter jacket. Oh yes, believe it. We were in the mountains at nearly 4000m from what I could tell…In Tranca Shulpuj arrived at 7:15am and waited three hours for the members of the community to gather. According to the two girls that I work with in the department of Community health at the hospital, they said they had given them two weeks warning that we were arriving that day and time. In the meantime, they served us white bread with “Queso Fresco” (Fresh Cheese) which is an over-salted and bitter version of feta accompanied by some tea so sugared that I thought I was drinking liquefied sugar. *shudder shudder*. But in these communities, you can’t refuse any food because if you do they take great offense and never offer you anything again. In a way, it’s understandable, considering they have so little… it’s an insult to reject the little that they have and the great lengths they have gone to prepare and give to you. Finally, at 10:30 we began our short presentation of letting them know that we were coming back on Tuesday for a Medical Brigade; bringing with us two doctors, a dentist, a Yachak (Shamans knowledgeable in Andean medicine) and some medicines donated to us by the hospital. We gave them the good news that this time the Brigade would be held in their community instead of Guargualla Chico were it has usually been held in the past by previous coordinators. They were enthusiastic and assured us that they would have the schoolroom set up so that we could make it a medical attention centre for the day. One of the healh promoters of the community, that comes to the hospital twice a month to receive training in Health and Medicine from Western, Alternative and Andean perspectives with respective remedies for different kinds of medical emergencies, gave us a speech in Kichwa. It consisted of inspirational words for his community, urging them to work together to advance, or “salir adelante” (go on ahead, or move forward) and to take advantage of the opportunity we were giving them. When most of the crowd had left and gone back to either the fields or to help with the cooking of our lunch, an older woman approached me, speaking a mix of Kichwa and Spanish. From what I understood she was explaining to me her ailing and particularly, the stomack pains she has been experiencing. With that, she offered to me two eggs which I politely took and graciously thanked her for. I quickly turn to one of my colleagues who is a Kichwa native and ask her what she said. She translated most of it, but I had gotten the right gist. Later on, my other colleague explained to me that the woman gave me those eggs as payment because she saw me as a Gringa and thought me a doctor… Oh, why didn’t I clue in? Later on when I ran into the woman, I managed to utter in Kichwa (from my own efforts, yay!): “Ñuka mana yachak kani” (I am not a Yachak/Doctor). Although we had only had our Cafecito just an hour before, we were served lunch in a mud hut with a tin roof. The meal consisted of a humongous bowl of potato soup with some green onion and carrot, hard boiled eggs and Machika, a super-sweet hot drink – kind of like an oatmeal drink- made from a very healthy grain called Sebada in tin cups. In essence, it was quite the appetizing meal… but the dirty spoon, and the dirt at the bottom of my soup bowl made my eating progress a bit slow. But I managed! And from what I know, I have not offended the community in my small appetite… Truthfully, I also don’t have much room for the usual big lunches Ecuadorians eat. This is a constant source of jokes but that’s ok!!!

The family arrived on Thursday the 21st of December close to 11pm. I went to Quito in the late afternoon, with most of my things for the cooler to cold weather in Quito and hot, hot, hot Galapagos. I spent the afternoon killing some time: did some readings, watched a movie on the laptop. For the past couple of weeks previously, all my friends were asking me how excited I was for my family to come. And of course I was looking forward to it but I think that with all our moves and travels, I have built a particular defense mechanism, where I don’t actually let myself believe that something will happen, until it does. In this way, although I had told myself many times that my family actually was coming to Ecuador and spending the holidays with me, I couldn’t really accept it until they were right there in front of me. I had worried that it might be hard getting used going from not having them around for four months to suddenly be cohabitating with them for two weeks. In reality, the transition was smooth and pleasant. I think that being flung into all kinds of new situations in Ecuador- on my own or with my group- has, if possible, made me more flexible to change. Or at least, that is what I’m hoping! The first night, I spent full of adrenaline and excitement, sharing a room with my sister. So ecstatic to see each other, we started to exchange Christmas presents. The first day was mostly to relax so that the 2 850 m of altitude didn’t hit them too hard. Saturday the 23rd, spur of the moment we decide to go to Otavalo because then they wouldn’t have a chance to go on another Saturday. Fortunately, the bus was in pretty good shape and the driver was sane. We got there about noon. Had a chance to look at things together and then do some separated Christmas shopping. Otavalo really is an amazing sight. One of the biggest indigenous markets and recognized internationally. Many of the Otavaleños you see have cell phones, and from what I’ve been told then can be chatting to their brokers in New York. Otavaleños are seen as the “rich Indians” of Ecuador. They are also usually described as hard-working, smart and as the “exemplary” Indian… or what an Indian should be. Racism is as much a part of Ecuador as its incredible and diverse geography. But that’s another story for another day. In Otavalo we found leather, the famous colourful bags, chessboards with intricately carved and brightly painted pieces, jewellery, scarves, rainmakers, paintings and much more! It was definitely worth the trip. I personally enjoy seeing all the different kinds of dress present in Otavalo. Saturday we went to La Virgen del Panecillo, El Monumento de la Patria and then to my host family’s for Christmas Eve dinner. In Ecuador, la Cena de Navidad is also on the 24th of December. But everything for Christmas is on that day; we even opened up all our presents that night. Back in Canada the 25th was the day dedicated to presents and another one of two big family meals. …Dinner in Ecuadorian families is also usually served at midnight. With the little kids in the house, we ended up having it close to 11pm. That was definitely hard on my family. Not so much on me, because I have gotten used to not eating a “dinner” at night. I really found it incredible, having both families getting along so well and working in the kitchen. That memory, the feelings and the smells, will definitely stay with me my whole life. On Sunday, everything was closed except a few churches. We therefore spent most of Sunday walking around Old Quito (or Quito Historico), getting familiar with the streets and Plazas so that we could go back on Monday. We visited: La Plaza de la Independencia, Plaza del Teatro, San Francisco Plaza and Church, La Merced Church and Santo Domingo Plaza. Sunday night, we cooked a big Christmas dinner with two girlfriends from my program and their families who were staying with us at the same hostel; the very same one where the 27 of us TiEgers spent our first week in Ecuador. On Monday, went back to Old Quito and visited: La Basilica and la Compania de Jesus Church which consists mostly of gold inside. On our last day in Quito before heading off early in the morning on the 28th of December to Galapagos, we visited La Mitad del Mundo and Inti Ñan (or the “real” Middle of the World, as they call it, measured with GPS). Now for some reason… I can’t remember! What day we did El Teleferico up the Pichincha volcano… which is about 4700 m you go up in a cable car on a steep incline. Then up there, you can also climb some more and if you wish to, you can rent some horses and explore the mountains on horse-back.
Our trip to Galapagos started on a good foot: we made it plenty to the airport in plenty of time and were in the company of one of my girlfriends from the program and her family. Turned out that the flight time our tickets showed was wrong and our flight was two hours later than we had anticipated. Then it turns out our flight isn’t direct but we have to stop in Guayaquil, where we were delayed because our flight had mechanical difficulties that had to be repaired “for our safety”… reeeeeeassuring…At the Galapagos Airport, we are greeted by a land iguana, casually crossing the air strip. Wonderfully, hot and humid Galapagos, my friend and I are separated from our families since we are considered “Ecuadorian residents” because of our visas. Not for too long though and the upside was that we only had to pay the 25$ entrance fee as opposed to the foreigner/tourist fare of 100$. From there, we went to a different hotel then my friend. Things got complicated from that moment… I won’t go into the details and the drama because really, it was the quality time spent with the family, the new friendships and the beauty that we did get to see of Galapagos that matters. Indeed, we had the opportunity to see a great variety of wildlife and landscapes. We saw humongous land turtles but missed Lonesome George; visited beaches, my favourite one being Tortuga Bay with sand made from white coral, in a calm bay surrounded by bushy and shady mangroves; visit a natural land turtle reserve and a island famous for its land and sea iguanas as well as its blue-footed Boobies (i-e a kind of bird); and deep, high and wide lava tunnels, thousands of years old beneath the ground. My favourite visit and most incredible experience was swimming with the sea lions. These sea lions were so curious, playful and friendly. We played games with them, doing flips, turns, floating upside-down and blowing bubbles although never touching them. As I was getting out of the water, one seal even snuck up behind me and brushed my upper thigh with its whiskers. For some reason, it frightened me and I quickly pushed myself into the boat. Unfortunately, I didn’t push hard enough –so surprised that I was just focusing on getting into the boat and not calculating the strength needed to get myself in- and dangled there for a few seconds with my bum in the air, arms and legs flailing and laughing at my silliness. We didn’t see as much Coral and water creatures we thought we would and we didn’t enjoy the military-like organization of the daily expeditions. But we made some friends at our hotel and had a great time with them, and enjoying the sun, cool waters and fresh air. New Year’s was also exceptional in Galapagos in that we got to see the island we were on, Santa Cruz, stuffed with people at the main harbour. We also witnessed the tradition of burning mannequins in the streets. These mannequins represent el Viejo Año or “Old Year” in the form of a person. You burn this mannequin to get rid of all the bad things that happened that year and start off fresh and new for the upcoming year. It looked like quite the purge. It was however kind of a surprising occurrence in Galapagos since apparently they have harsh restrictions to preserve the environment and the wildlife in a natural setting. I’m not sure how fireworks, smoke and fire fit into the preservation of habitats and the well-being of the animals… but Ecuador is the second-most corrupt country in the world… To avoid making this too long an entry, I will not go into the controversial topic of illegal fishing in the Galapagos; the boats of course are owned by working or retired police and military people. We left Galapagos on the 3rd of January and made our way back to Quito. Sadly, my family left the same night (or really early morning) to go back to Canada. It was easy getting used to them being around but a lot harder loosing their company all of a sudden. I am still hoping that we will return to make up for the mistakes the travel agent and company made for our trip… Of course, that means I have to pay back my parents for my education ASAP!

We finally made it in close to 7pm on Friday night. There were many promoters for hotels and we ended up choosing one close to the historical centre so that we could easily walk to the Colonial buildings. El Capitolio, formely known as the Hotel Tinku, charged 8$ a night for a room with double beds, colour TV, private bath, hot water and an included breakfast. We even had a living room and a third single bed! Usually, we would’ve opted for the cheaper rooms since sharing a bathroom isn’t a problem but my stomach was acting up and Nadia didn’t mind paying a bit more for our own bathroom. Around 8pm we decided to have a quick nap and then we’d go out and listen to music… but we slept through our alarms and woke up at 7 the next morning… Both with sunburns! …Mine with the distinct mark of my sunglasses. Quite embarrassing. We spent all of Saturday touring around the old part of Cuenca. Breathtaking churches and now turned civic buildings. In the afternoon I went and bought a yellow canari (male) for Martha since we discovered the night before we left from one of the kitchen staff that it was her birthday and her male canari had died just two weeks before. We visited the Ceramics market as it is called… but really it had everything, even Panama hats in search of a little cage for the bird. There an Old Casanova, complemented me as beautiful with a star’s face despite my burn. He was a funny one, telling me how I had to find an Ecuadorian man to adore me. Hahahaha. By “adore” he of course meant “drown with lovely nothings and lots of bull”. I asked him, why would I want an Ecuadorian man when my Canadian one also takes care of me and knows how to cook? Nadia and I asked him about his culinary capabilities, and unsurprisingly, he told us that he didn’t know how to cook and that it was his wife was back at the house cooking for him right now. Nadia and I had a good laugh, he also insisted on praising our beautiful selves and kissing our hands before letting us go. Saturday night, we once again had a nap but this time woke up! We went to listen to Salsa music at Tinku Bar (whose owners I’m guessing made Hotel Tinku change its name) and met some Saleños on a Marketing Class outing… We danced the night away and had a good laugh with them. It felt like we’d been buddies for a long time. One of them was hilarious and into techno moves and busted them out as often as he could, making Nadia and I laugh so hard I was nearly crying. Nadia wanted to take the 3 am bus and make her way back to Quito to back and then go to Esmeraldas. I nearly went with her… I really enjoy traveling with someone. But I couldn’t be ready quickly enough; since we considered it last minute and so she left. I ended up waking up four hours later, and went back to take more pictures of Cuenca. I then caught the 9am bus back to Riobamba and made some interesting acquaintances. One was a 19year old girl from a community before Alausi who seemed every curious about me from the moment she sat down next to me, with a toddler on her lap. She kept looking at me, with her mouth slightly open like I was this rare thing that would do something amazing at any moment. I could feel her eyes on me from the corner of mine as I read my book. So I turned and looked at her and gave her a friendly smile. Then I decided to close the book and chat. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble understanding her… Kichwa must be her first language. From what I gathered, she said she had seen me in Tixan when we were stranded; I usually have a great memory for faces but didn’t remember her. She wanted to know if I was married, how old I was, where I was from, where was I going and why was I here. I, in turn, wanted to know where she was from and if the child on her lap was hers. I then revealed to her my secret and showed to her the bird and its cage beneath my shawl and she squealed with joy and looked at it with the baby. I was kinda sad to see her get off only a half hour later and then I had a conversation-less bus ride for another 3 hours.

The train leaves the station at 7am but you have to be there around 6ish to get a good seat on the roof. We made it for 6:20 and it was already close to being packed!!! At the entrance, a man tried to rent out cushions to us for a buck a piece… I had already been warned of the discomfort of the trip and so we decided to take them… Except those ones smelled like someone –abundantly- peed on them. Armed with non-stinky cushions, we climbed up the latter and found a spot. I have honestly never seen so many “extranjeros” (foreigners) in Ecuador in one place: Gringos, and Gringos, and Chinos and a few Latin and South Americans. Right on the dot, the train set out. It was an incredible sight… for the first time in my visits to Riobamba (a total of 9 days during my placement visit) the Chimborazo volcano was without a cloud. It is a mountain of 6 310m, just a few meters shorter than Mount Everest, with a third of it –from the top obviously- covered in snow. They say that Chimborazo hides itself from foreigners… I guess I have crossed over and I am no longer a foreigner in Ecuador. Everyone we saw along the way waved, old and young, the younger ones usually running after the train for a short while. Funny how it touches you, when people smile and wave, making you feel special. But in truth, the train goes by that same route Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, 365 days a year! Further into the trip, I could see little treats –i.e., pencils, crayons, candies- being thrown from somewhere on the train. Then it made sense as to why the children waved their hands so furiously… perhaps they frequently get things thrown to them from the train. Just 20 min out of Alausi (the town where the rest of the tourists who didn’t want to do the trip on the train) where people get on to make the chilling ride down La Nariz del Diablo, our train broke down. At midday, hundreds of tourists were stranded in a little community called Tixan. There, I rested and protected my face with one umbrella and two New Zealand girls. I also got to hold onto a baby goat and get a ferocious sunburn. An hour afterwards, we finally continued our trip. I asked one of our conductors –each car had a man with a conductor’s cap in charge of turning the wheels to lift or lower the breaks- what had happened. He said that they temporarily fixed a part to the train and we’d have to make it quickly to Alausi to replace it. If we couldn’t there, then the people on the train would be divided into 2 groups and taken on a smaller coach. Apparently, the malfunctioning piece was fixed at the Alausi station –in only ten minutes???- and we then made our way done the “hair-rising descent from Alausi to Sibambe, down the death-defying stretch of track called El Nariz del Diablo” (Lonely Planet: 2003, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands). The building of the tracks began in 1899 from Guayaquil and made it as far as Sibambe where it met a steep Andean slope of nearly solid rock. To make your way down or back up to Alausi, the train has to make many switchbacks where it advances, then backs up onto new tracks, allowing the train to ascend/descend 1000m. Apparently the completion and first ascent of the Nariz del Diablo was the greatest engineering feat the world had seen in 1902. The landslides due to the torrential rains of el Niño in 1982-3 and 1997-8 closed most of the tracks. Only the part from Riobamba to Sibambe has been repaired. Back in Alausi after our ride over some rickety-rackety bridges, thin paths and steep ravines, Nadia and I had lunch in Alausi waiting for the bus to Cuenca to arrive. The road to Cuenca I also found a little nerve-racking. Nearly four hours of riding through mountain roads looking out on ravines… all in fog! That high up in the mountains, the neblina is nearly always present, but the roads are good so there’s really nothing to worry about.

The colonial town of Riobamba dates from 1797 is referred to as the “Sultan of the Andes”, has beautiful 18th and 19th stone architecture and is located in a valley surrounded by snowcapped peaks, Chimborazo, Carhuairazo, and el Altar as well as the still active Tungurahua volcano. The road to Riobamba began on Wednesday the 10th of January. Nadia and I left in the afternoon, right after our last day of school. We weren’t sure of the bus times to Riobamba so we decided to just go to the Terminal and wait if we had to. Fortunately, we made the 4 o’clock bus with a good little run behind it as it was pulling out of the station. On the bus we met two American guys whose last trip was Riobamba then they were off to Peru I think. It’s been a while, that detail’s already escaped me. On our ride we also ate some delicious banana cakes…still warm and steamy. We got in at around 8:30pm and made our way to the restaurant where I was to live on top of. The owner of the restaurant is a really nice woman who is one of the really close friends of my host aunt. It’s all about friends and family connection here. You want to go somewhere and visit? Turns out someone’s brother or friend’s cousin’s wife lives there and you can stay with them! It’s amazing how they are much better here of being very close with extended family, their friends and their friends’ friends. Everybody knows each other in some way for another. We met up with Martha, Nadia ate some dinner and I just had a tea since I was having a big nausea attack. Nadia and I spent the night in my new room (where I spoiled-ly have two beds). The plan was to sightsee Riobamba on Thursday and get food ready for our big train right to El Nariz del Diablo at 6:30 am on Friday morning. Unfortunately, I woke up in the middle of the night, unable to shake off the nausea feeling, racing to the bathroom and throwing up my banana bread and later Anis tea. I thought at first that maybe I threw it up because of the hair that I saw floating in the toilet-bowl and that must have been in the cake… Of course, then of course I used my brain and remembered that something as small would have easily been digested in my stomach. I’m not one to get so sick to my stomach that I would throw up. In my life, I can count up to 4 times that I’ve thrown up (great topic, isn’t it?) so I knew that I was coming down with something pretty bad. Then I spent the whole night with shivers, then the sweats. In the morning I told Martha what happened and she offered to take me to a Doctor (who turns out is her sister’s father-in-law). In the process of telling her that, I had a dizziness attack that quickly passed. We made it to the Doctor, me tired and with no appetite. As he checked me he said… “You know what you are? Very thin” in response to what he thought I had. The conclusion was: Gastritis. You’re stressed, he says. Here is some medication that will help heal it and try to relax. Feeling a lot better that that’s all it was, and that he said I was fit to travel, we made our way to the pharmacist then the Restaurant. Waiting at a set of lights… I got a really bad feeling, and for some reason I saw myself falling in the street. I told Martha: “I’m not feeling well and suddenly weak, let’s hurry.” She wrapped my right arm around my shoulder and grabbed onto my waist. The second I take a step into the street, my legs give way and thankfully, Martha already had a good hold on me and kept us both up. Her yelling my name gave me energy and we kept walking. She kept wanting me to stop and have a break… but really, all I wanted was to get home. Finally at the restaurant (really, just 4 blocks from the Doctor’s office), then again I started blacking out… I remember a young guy, who I then met as one of the waiters, helping Martha and putting me on a stool. I remember feeling so clammy, and seeing everything go black, then Martha was calling but she sounded really far away. It’s not that I couldn’t hear her, it’s just that I didn’t feel like answering. There was water put on my face and that woke me up a bit more. When I felt ready we went to my room. I lay down, Martha called the Doctor then brought me hot water with sugar –Yuck. From there, I spent the whole day sleeping, waking up to eat some soup then sleeping until 7 that night. The Doctor said that perhaps being in a new and unknown environment might have scared me or something. Unh hunh. I think more like: I didn’t sleep all night, and then the next morning I had only eaten an apple at 8 am and by 12:30pm when we went to go so the Doctor, I was missing sugar. Anyway, by that night, I felt great. Went for a walk with Nadia and when I woke up the next morning for the train trip, I felt in tip-top shape! Some of you might be reading this –i-e family members- and wonder why you hadn’t heard this story before… it’s because a) I didn’t want to worry you from far away because really there was nothing to be worried about b) because the Doctor said I was fine and c) because I wasn’t going to cancel my trip if I didn’t have too!

The Orient is the Ecuadorian Amazon which is located in the Eastern part of the country. I went end of November and spent a magical Halloween in the Amazon. I went from Sangolqui to Tena: a breathtaking trip from the Highlands’ Paramo to the Piedmont to the rainforest. The hotel I stayed at was Los Aucas it was the only one in Tena with a garden inside of it… There a met a pocket-monkey who ate out of my hand. It was such a shock to my body, going from cold to hot and humid; reminded me of India. The next day it was off to the Alukos community. In the back of white pick-up trucks we rode out of Tena for about a half hour, on the brand new smooth roads made by the oil companies to take Petrol swiftly and smoothly from the Ecuadorian Amazon. There were two cabins for our group to stay in. The way the guide put it: “One for the fat people, the other one for the skinny people.” Since we are more skinny people than fat ones in our group, I went to the elevated cabin, aka known as the Fat-People Cabin or the Beautiful people Cabin. We played soccer with some of the kids in the community. Had large meals everyday, each one with this tea made from a plant called Wayusa. According to people in the Highlands and in the Oriente, this plant will cure you from anything. Mostly, our meals consisted of Yuca and if you were not vegetarian an entire fish. With the Alukos guides we had a four hour hike through the Amazon. Tiring, but worth it! We even swung on some vines, I fell of course, in my nervousness, I hadn’t thought of lifting up my legs to my chest and so my weight pulled me down really quickly from the vine. Two hours into the walk we came to a beautiful waterfall and natural pool to swim in. We were also given apples for a snack and after a nice dip, we hiked back. At night we had a Rinti Rinti (in Kichwa means a reciprocal exchange) in which we sang Canadian songs to the community and they presented to us their music and a cleansing ritual. Some of us chose to white water raft back to Tena. The craziest and scariest experience of my life… I had already white water rafted when I was 14 and loved it… the difference this time was that our boat flipped and I was sucked down in the current three times. I couldn’t get enough breaths and just kept swallowing dirty Amazonian water. For the first time in my life, I was sure I was going to die, my life flashed before my eyes and I was in shock when my friends were calling me back to the boat… I couldn’t move and didn’t want to. Of course, I made it through that, and the feelings that I had when I was in the water were completely exaggerated. Needless to say, I had a terrible stomach ache that night, but after I was sick, I felt renewed and we all went out dancing.
From Tena we had a three hour boat ride down Rio Napo to go to a community in the jungle. There, we had the biggest dinner I have ever had in my life at a large all-sides open bungalow… and ate my first full fish (a Tilapia it is called), with lentils, vegetables, a large bowl of Yuca soup to start off and a thick slice of fresh pineapple for desert. At 9pm we went on a night walk through the jungle to see all the different creatures at night. During our 2 hr walk we saw a great variety of spiders, snakes, bugs (including Giant Ants that are very poisonous), a chameleon and bats. Since we had to wear a headlamp or carry a flash light, and I was wearing a headlamp I also had many opportunities to taste some bugs. There came this one moment during the walk where we had to go in between the two cores of a tree which was covered with small red fire ants (they are called that because their bites burn something terrible), with a poisonous tarantula and the most venomous Coral Snake in the forest that were fighting it off… The scary part was that the passage I had to sneak through was narrow and I thought if the ants wouldn’t get me then the tarantula or snake would. When we came back, a large family of bats were settled in the roof of the bungalow that we checked out for a while. Making our way to bed, one of my roommates found an Alacrán in our bathroom, which is pretty much a small scorpion, equally as poisonous. A big, bulky rainboot stomps later we were creature free. Since one of my 2 roomies didn’t have a mosquito net, we shared a single bed and the mosquito net that night. Surprisingly, we both slept well… I only woke up once and that was on account of the powerful thunder and lightning that made themselves known to us at 3 am. After a good breakfast we headed out for another 3 hr boat ride to get to Coca. The plan was to go on a “Toxic Tour” and visit one of the oil companies around Coca in Lago Agrio. In the end, we could not because of complications and safety issues. Our hotel in Coca was its own little jungle with wild animals roaming around… We shared lunch out on a patio with a Toucan and monkeys invited themselves eagerly. While I was sitting on a bench reading my guide book, a humongous tortoise peacefully passed me and disappeared under one of the bungalows porches… Believe it or not, not giving me enough time to run to my room and get my camera. From Coca, I returned to Tena with some friends. We went dancing and the next day back to the Alukos community to spend the day in the natural pools. Of course, it did not organize itself as easily as I make it seem. We got told by our guide that there was this other gorgeous place we could go to so we went to check it out instead, about 30 min out of Tena. We got there the sorry sight was muddy and rough waters, with a large rusty bridge for scenery. We then had to go back in the opposite direction for about 2 hours to get to the same pools that we had so enjoyed just a few days back. Cold waters from the Cotopaxi volcano have over time carved out deep pools close to the Alukos community and we refreshed ourselves there for about 4 hours…

Friday afternoon, the 15th of December, 3 friends and I began our first day of holidays and head off towards Baños, south from where I leave here in Ecuador (close to Quito). We started off by choosing one of the smaller bus companies and it took us 4 hours and a half to get there as opposed to the usual 3 and a half. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Spanish, “Baños” jeans Baths and the town has been named that because of the hot springs present and heated by the volcano Tungurahua (the most active volcano in Ecuador right now, although it hasn’t been for a month now). By the time we got into Baños it was 7 at night. Using my trustee Lonely Planet guide, we found a hostal that sounded fabulous, with a patio looking onto the city and a steam bath. Perhaps it was because it was dark, that the receptionist/owner wasn’t particularly friendly and that to go into the baths you had to pay an extra 3.50 bucks. Now, all of you ready this are probably saying: “So what?! That’s awesome!” but in a country where you can get a huge lunch (soup, dish with meat and rice and a drink) for about 1.50$ and where a night at a good hostal is 5-6.50$, that really is a quite a bit. So instead we went to a hostal called Santa Cruz, with nice gardens, hamacs, free internet, kitchen facilities and private bathrooms with hot water for 6.50$ as well. It really was a lovely place and with the advantage of a nighttime security guard!
One funny thing was that we had met this British girl on the bus when we got on in Quito, when we got to Baños we said our goodbyes and went our own ways…We then ran into the first hostal we looked at (the one with the Turkish Baths) then we ended up running into her at Santa Cruz, in the room right next to us! With that, we invited her out to dinner with us to a place that was recommended by the receptionist of our hostal. Casa Hood, was a trendy, warm and friendly place. It also screamed “multicultural” when you walked in… All these different kinds of art, decorations and for seating there was a long table on an elevated platform where you could sit-cross legged and sit! It also had a movie night for every night. Friday night was the 1960s production of Romeo & Juliet. We all had delicious meals filled with vegetables (which you tend to crave after a few months of the Highlands “Starch and Carbs” diet) ranging from my colourful salad to a Pad Thai. We also listened to a great band playing a mix of Ecuadorian, Peruvian and Bolivian music called Alturas and I, of course, bought their cd.
The British girl was a really fun and nice girl. One of my friend’s and I ended up hanging out with her quite a bit. For instance, the three of us went on an ATV trip for the day on Saturday. We went in the direction of Puyo (in the Amazon) to visit 5 Cascades along the way: Ulba, la Cienega, Salto de Agoyan, Manto de la Novia and Pailon del Diablo. At the Manto de la Novia Cascade we did a Tarabita ride, which is a cable car that swung across the river in the gulf before the Cascade and took you right over it. A little nerve-racking since we were so high up… On the other side we met Martin the Monkey who was sleeping in the chip racks of a little store. We went walking around, admiring the scenery. Crossed a make-shift bridge and took some pictures. We went back on the cable car and continued our ATV ride to the next Cascades. Right before the last and biggest one, one of the girl’s wheels pops. A seven-inch metal rod (like in the foundation of houses) had entered her wheel and only and inch was sticking out, visible to us. One friend and I waled ten minutes to find a phone and call the travel agent since my cell phone –obviously- we were not a reception area, while the other one stayed with the ATVs. The owner told us to wait there and she’s be on her way…while I waited by the phone booths, my other friend went to join the other one and let her know what was going on. An hour and a half later when the owner still had not come to find me and I didn’t want to leave my post just in case she showed up right then, I asked this young boy if he’s like to make a little bit of money and run an errand. From what I had observed, he was in charge of renting bikes from that spot and for polishing them. I sent him to my friend’s to find out if the woman had arrived yet because I had the feeling that she would have run into them first before me and that no one had thought of letting me know what was going on… Turns out I was right, 50 cents later I made my way back to the ATVs. At least twenty minutes after that, the ATVs were fixed and we were given one more hour to finish our trip. Here in Ecuador people are not usually punctual… The owner had said about the ATVs that “Ya mismo viene” (it’s own its way right at this moment) when really it wasn’t… The three of us had a good time waiting and laughing at the Ecuadorian “5 minutes” which can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour…We finally made out way to the Pailon del Diablo Cascades. An amazing site, humongous waterfalls carving out 5000 year old lava-rock. The gardens you walked through to visit this place was the cleanest I have yet seen in Ecuador… not even one piece of garbage on the ground… We chatted with the owner and discovered that he is a Torontonian who moved here just a few years ago!!! After our super-speedy visit we raced back to Baños so as to avoid paying an extra hour’s worth. On the way back, we ended up going through all of the tunnels instead of just the one since it was so much faster. But these tunnels were incredible, like caves carved out of the mountains… Pitch black, you could only depend on your headlights to see… And water kept falling from the ceiling. Crazy people though, would still pass us despite it clearly saying at the entrance of the tunnel that passing was not allowed… Most signs and rules here are just “suggestions” anyway. On our way back, on the highway, as if a popped wheel wasn’t enough, I noticed that Nadia’s motor was smoking. Trying to tell her that was an adventure in itself… I had to pass her on the high way so that she could here me, and then our friend ahead of us since she was even further up…then the British girl and I had to turn around and go back to Nadia. Thankfully, my cellphone had reception there and we called our famous owner once again. We finally convinced her to let us right two on one and Nadia went back to Baños on the back of mine. When we arrived at the agency, the owner informed us that Nadia’s ATV was perfectly fine and that the mechanic was driving it back. Crazy people. When he arrived and we showed him the split in the rubber tube over the motor, he said that was nothing, it was perfectly normal and that the smoke that was coming out of the car was from the exhaust pipe. Ok, we might be girls but we’re not idiots… the exhaust pipe was on the other side of the engine AND Nadia’s legs getting burned weren’t her imagination. The combo of the overheating engine and the crappy tube made it that it had started melting, hence the smoke. On Sunday when we walked passed the ATVs on our way to horseback riding, we saw that they had put electrical tape around the tube. Good job idiots.
Saturday night we went to thermal springs called La Virgen. Bathed in wonderfully hot waters and then showered under Glacier waters, all for the great sum of a 1.60$ Americam. Later that night we went on a famous Chiva ride. Typically you sit inside, behind or on top of these large colourful party buses and dance, drink, etc. But since I don’t usually drink, the sober ride was exhilarating on its own. We rode up in the dark up the mountains to the Bellavista Cross. Since Baños was in Fiestas (each town or city in Ecuador had a time during the year from a week to two weeks where they celebrate their foundation with music, parades and lots of dancing) we got to here music from the valley below and just had missed the last of the fireworks when we got to the top. The organizers gave everyone Canelaza which is an alcohol made out of cinnamon and Aguardiente (a black liquorice alcohol) and we then watched a fire-juggling show. They were impressive. Nadia volunteered to go up and they tossed torches to each other with Nadia in the middle. Good thing they were professionals.
Sunday I woke up early and visited the town, taking pictures, buying some souvenir taffy (Baños is famous for its taffy as well) and having breakfast at Ali Cumba, a restaurant owned by a Danish woman who has lived in Ecuador for 5 years. Very interesting person this woman was. Big and scary for one. She also had a way of pressuring you into things and making you feel guilty… her prices were astronomically expensive (for Ecuadorian standards again) and I had to insist on what I wanted. Then Nadia came to join me. When she went to the bathroom and I went to pay my meal, she asked me: “do you want to pay for your friend as well?” I said that I didn’t think so, but just to give me a second to check and when Nadia came out the woman said: “Too late, your friend already paid for you…when I hadn’t even agreed yet…” She then was all like: What do you think of my place… and we said it’s nice, told her about this other place we were going to that was also very good and right next to our hotel called Casa Hood and she replied: “this place has had excellent reviews” blah blah blah. Then we saw her little daughter and she exclaimed: “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” and then I think she said something about sometimes considering some day having to lock her up she’s so beautiful…As a sidenote, blond girls, or the stereotypical “Gringa” (white foreign girl) is very attractive to Ecuadorians, especially since they are believed to be loose and crazy. Hahahaha. Me, easy to get, I don’t think soooooooo. It is also a question of colonial legacy and the whitening projects most of Latin and South American countries had throughout the 20th century in order to “better” and “advance” their “backwards Indian” population.
After our pricey breakfast of a smoothie and two buns of whole wheat Swedish-recipe bread, we set off for our 4hour horseback ride in the mountains. Chiquito (Little One, who was my horse), Pascal (Nadia’s) & Timon (our guide’s). These horses were a blast, Pascal and Chiquito would randomly start races and we’d go galloping across dirt roads, main roads and mountain paths. They reminded me how much I had loved and still love riding. There is nothing like moving in sync with a horse and tearing through the air. We visited the Chamana waterfalls and saw people canyoning, which is rappelling down a waterfall and low and behold, one of our fire-throwers had a second job!!! Helping down the rappellers… unh hunnnnnnh. I wonder which one he was better at, hopefully the second. Making our way down the mountains was a little sketch…our guide took us down these small, steep and rocky paths. When Nadia and I got off our horses we could not even walk… We were so wobbly from all the posting, up-down, up-down, up-down for four hours!!! We then made our way to a small crafts market and met an artist who is half Mexican and half Ecuadorian. His speciality is making jewelry from garbage or materials people don’t want… I got a pair of indredible beer-bottle cap earrings (that don’t look like beer caps) and earrings made out of the inside of seeds. Very talented this man. Our stay in Baños ended with an incredible lunch at Café Hood (not the same as Casa Hood) with unsweetened fresh juices of Papaya and Passionfruit… A tasty and spicy soup (reminded me of India, in addition to the Ganesha they had painted on the wall) and a hot veggie sandwich with a white wine sauce, just a dollar more expensive than our meagre breakfast!!! Then back to Sangolqui it was, where we believe it or not, ran into our British friend again!!! Some other tourists recognized Nadia from the fire-night. Running on our way to catch our bus, we saw some guys pulling taffy and they gave us some, hopped onto our bus that was leaving the station and began our 4 hour journey back! All in all, one of the best weekends I have had in Ecuador yet! Totally spur-of-the-moment and improve the whole time!

On Friday afternoon and we rode at the back of a pick-up truck once again, soooo fun! We got to the drop off point up what seemed an already decent part of the mountain… which of course ended up being nothing to how far you had to hike. Of course, it was grey, cold and rainy. We were nine people including my friend’s host dad. He apparently has spent most of his life on Pasochoa mountain and he likes to race up to the peak. Throughout the hike, thick fog rolled in and out. Very creepy. One minute it was clear although humid in the air and the next you couldn’t see a few feet in front of you. Most of the time you thought you were already up in the clouds. Anyway, so my friend’s dad (i-e our guide), so used to climbing this thing hurries ahead of everyone but there are people of different physical capabilities with us. And he treks on not keeping an eye out on the slower ones (which was always this one couple and at other times the other as well). For fear of losing them, I would frequently to check on them and often they were so far being you couldn’t see them or they were hidden by a peak. So, since Steph’s dad didn’t seem willing to slow down, I would stop until they could see me (through the fog or not) whistle to them to make sure they saw me and knew which way we were going and go back to catching up with the group of front. It was hard because sometimes the slower group took so long to be in my sight that I would start to lose the leader. We had hiked for about 3 and a half hours, when we asked our guide, “look, aren’t we going to set camp soon before it gets dark” and he says “just a 10 more minutes”… 3 times longer than that we are still walking…We ask again and he still says “a bit further, just a bit further”. The few that were lagging behind are getting even slower. Getting a bit darker, we bug the dad again. Same reply. Then night hits us and we can’t see where we’re hiking. I pull out my headlamp. Fortunately the group has 1 more and three more flashlights. By this point, with the fog still thick, the rain pouring down on us, we have to yell to each other so that we know where to go because otherwise we can’t see anything. We’re gripping onto the big tufts of wet and cold grasses and crawling on our knees to not lose our balance on the steep hill. One couple had been having the most trouble with the hike, they yell at us to stop, but my friend’s dad doesn’t despite me yelling at the group as well. So I stop for them. The girl of the couple I mentioned, not only exhausted, is blind without her glasses and the rain and darkness has made it impossible for her to see so she’s very nervously moving and hence very slowly. She’s even crying, she’s so frusterated. Since her boyfriend was carrying the tent and couldn’t guide her well, I offered. But she was so nervous and clumsy that she nearly made me fall with her a few times. I kept having to encourage her and drag her, she was so ready to give up right there. When we finally hear the others, we yell at them that we have to stop asap. That’s when our guide says we’ve arrived, and by that we all (mis)understand that we've reached the plain since that’s what we all thought we were looking for to camp safely. Then another guy, is shivering and hyperventilating, and appearing to start a bout of hypothermia. Another girl in our group, light-headed, gripping her chest saying she can’t breathe. Fortunately, as you know me, I’m a heater and I was well dressed. Pat was soaked and with not many warm layers. As 3 people set up the tents, I rounded up the getting sick people and tried to help them out, I opened up my jacket and wrapped Pat with the sides of my coat. As he benefited from my body heat, I got the other 4 people to encircle us to keep us and each other warm. Our friend was so blue and shivering so hard, his entire body was shaking, we were all worried about what would happen to him in the night. Finally when the tent was ready and 7 of us got in a 6 person tent (one of the couples had another 2 person tent they slept in) we all huddled. The hill was so steep that we all kept sliding to the bottom of the tent. But the tent could not hold all of our weights on that steep an incline and so it started to rip and kept on doing so as well as sliding down, slowly, more and more down the slope. The hole got so big that we had to get out for fear of travelling down the mountain. We slept in the outer part of the tent, you know the flaps of the entrance? Terribly cold and unpleasantly wet. One of my other friends' sleeping bag was soaked by the rain dring the hike and she had nothing else, so I offered to share my sleeping back with her. We managed to both fit in, but so tightly, like sardines that we couldn’t move one at a time, we had to move together and slowly in order to change out of an uncomfortable position. In addition to that, the extra weight in the sleeping bag made us slide more easily… every 15 minutes we had to use our elbows and crawl back up the hill since we had already slid down so far. As my sleeping-bag buddy pointed out, on my birthday (on the early morning of) at least I had company! None of us really slept that night obviously. We just counted down the hours until sunrise. As soon as it was light enough outside we got our shit together to leave. All our belongings were pretty much soaked. Thankfully, I’m a nerd that likes to be prepared for everything if I possibly can be… so all my stuff was backed in a big garbage back in my bag and within that back my stuff was individually packed in smaller Ziplocs in order to shrink the volume of my stuff… so I had more dry compared to most. Of course, I shared what was dry and I even lent my sleeping bag to serve as a coat for the guy who was really chilled on the way back since all his stuff was still soaked. Our guide was like “you guys sure you don’t want to go to the top, it’s only a 20 min hike away”. We all said, no thanks, we’re exhausted, cold and some of us getting very sick, we just want to go home and be happy we made it all ok. On the way back down I saw a sign that had fallen over but that said “Private property”. I told my host family about our experience and apparently, where we were (which wasn’t the way you were allowed to go where you pay an entrance fee and then have cabins you can sleep in for the night if you want) and they freaked out… apparently there are pumas, foxes and wild horses in that area that could easy attack you. In addition to that, if you get caught trespassing, because in the end, that’s what happened without us clueing in, you are fined and banned from ever going back. Not like I’m in a rush to go there anytime soon anyway.
At least when I got home, moving on less than a couple hours of sleep, my host family had made me a birthday cake and bought me a gorgeous bouquet of roses. It was also funny because the little girl, was happy to see me and wanting to give me all these gifts she made (which included cards and such), she was hanging out in my room and randomly said: “Natti, hueles feo….” (Natti you smell bad). I hadn’t noticed… lol and was surprised by what she said, and said WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAT? And she said, “Well, you’re pretty but right now smell bad and need a shower”. Boy did she ever make me laugh. All in all, that experience has given me perspective, and I will make a point that we never allow anything like that to happen ever again!

Last Sunday we wanted to go to Cascades close to Sangolqui, only a half hour or so away, and a very exhilarating bus ride away.
Let me just start this story off by saying that things are disorganized and unpredictable here…In a refreshing way I guess, from our always so organized and relatively punctual bus system. My host family had explained to me how to get there and so when I met up with two more of my friends and one of the girl’s host brothers, we made our way for el Parque del Turismo, which is a common stop for buses in Sangolqui, but the host brother we were with kept saying that he was sure that the stop was somewhere else. Despite our protests, he went and asked a taxi driver who told him that we had to go to la Plaza del Municipio. Thinking we were going to miss the bus, we ran with our packs –did I mention that we’re at over 3 000 feet of altitude here?- and arrived breathless the stop. Just to make sure we were at the right place we asked a woman if this is were we got the bus to the cascades and she informed us that the bus use to stop there, but it had been two years since it had changed its route. Great. She directed us to a main street, two blocks right from where we were. We arrive at the stop she spoke of. Waiting for our bus, and worried that we might have already missed it we asked a few buses if we had. Every answer was different. One was: oh it’ll be here by 8:30am; the other was “Oh you’ve already missed it”, another reply still was: “Oh you need to be further up the road to catch it, you won’t catch it here”. That was when it looked like we wouldn’t make it to the Cascades that weekend. 20 minutes later, the famous bus took us on.
The bus wasn’t that big but the roads were just a little bit wider than you are. And there you are, driving along dirt or roads that look from the Roman times with big rocks inlaid into grass, making you go Bumpitybump Bumpitybump the whole way there. Boy, am I ever glad my host family didn’t tell me how small the roads were in comparison to the buses and how deep the gorges were, or I wouldn’t have gone. It is important to keep in mind, that it must be safe if so many people make that same trip every weekend…Right? That’s just me trying to convince myself. Looking back on it, it wasn’t THAT bad, just a little nerve racking, that’s all. As usual, the bus was packed, and of course one of my friend’s and I had to go through the usual Having-our-pictures-taken-by-Ecuadorian-guys-with-their-cell-phones. I really don’t know what the point of that is or how meaningful having a picture of (the side of) me –not even looking at them since at first I don’t realize it’s happening- while I’m talking to my friend.
When we finally arrive to the Cascades del Rio Pita (or Chorrera del Pita) safe and sound, and just happy to have finally made it. We also ran into a large part of our group that had been camping and were just returning home. This was at 9 am in the morning. It was only at that point when we found out from our driver that the next bus wasn’t getting there until 4 to take us back. The day was quite foggy, humidity hanging in the air like a wet cloth ready to drip. Here and there, a glimpse of the sun and its bright rays showed themselves. Walking through the paths, reminded me at first of Australia, since we were surrounded by a luscious population of Eucalyptus trees. Once we got passed that first set of tree alcove, it looked like we were going into the jungle. Thick and lush green trees, bushes and grasses covered nearly everything in sight. If you overlooked the path we were walking on, you could see rivers with some rapids in a deep, deep gorge. We climbed up the steps dug into some parts of the mountains, tiptoed on rocks in rivers, got wet passing under smaller waterfalls, grabbed onto branches as we balanced on tree logs and walked in natural roofs made out of bushes’ branches. Nearly 2 hours later, we reached the main waterfall, said to be at nearly a 100m What a breathtaking sight, despite the grey weather. The waterfall was so powerful, it’s water carried over to you like mist, even at a 100m away. We went two by two to the waterfall. Walking up to it was like fighting a huge storm. The water was frigid, remind me of a polar bear swim and as we were reaching the cascade, I became short of breath like the guide warned us we would. The water resonated so loudly when it fell you couldn’t hear yourself unless you yelled. Which is what we did when we got to the back of the icy water: made a wish and yelled. Laughing, soaked and chilled to the bone we raced back to our friends so that they could have their turn. Thankfully, I thought of bringing a towel and I shared it with my group. An hour and a half later we were back at the entrance of the park and went to the little restaurant. The people there were wonderful and they even built then lit a fire for us. The host brother ordered trout for lunch –the speciality of the Cascades since they also breed trout there- while the rest of us pulled out our packed lunches and ordered hot drinks. It was hilarious, I was actually steaming. It was the host brother who noticed that fumes were coming out of my knees!!!! At least I know that my body’s warming mechanisms function well. Then the owner of the estate came in and asked us if we would mind speaking with his daughter since she is studying English and would like to go on exchange in the next year. Of course we obliged, it was only noon and we still had a few hours before the bus came. After we had the chance to chat with us, when we went to pay we were informed that the drinks were on us since we helped the owner out! In return he also offered to drive us into the nearest town for just 2$ to catch a bus sooner. The fire burnt out, us cold and still slightly wet; we gladly took up his offer. What a fun day that was! We want to go back again…maybe this time camp there.

On Thursday (sept 21st) we went to a soccer game in Quito at el Estado Olimpico de Atahualpa. Quito is about a half hour to 45 min bus ride from Sangolquí. Instead of having to take the bus, one of the host families offered to take a bunch of us into town in their pick-up. I must say, driving into Quito at night, seeing all the lights coating the mountains like colourful sparkles on a cupcake, is breathtaking. The game was the Ecuadorian team Nacional (red) versus the Bolivian team Universitario de Sucre (white). We first started watching the game on a quite section of the stadium, high up in the bleachers. One of the girls bought from a vendor what looked like a flattened empanada made with veggies and cheese and they were delicious! On our left, there was a huge group or rowdy people dressed in red. Supporters of a team, or as I see them, crazy Football Fanatics (here football is soccer) are called Hinchas (pronounced: “Heenchas”). Obviously, they were all dressed in red and were drunk –referred to as borrachos- and/or still in the process of drinking. The interesting part was that they were standing on this huge red carpet that covered a strip of the stadium steps and at the top of the carpet there was a set of gigantic drums that were repeatedly being bashed my either red or shirtless men (but if they were shirtless, they of course had red on them, often a red “N”). Torches were also being lit around there… or as I later discovered, rolled up newspapers. Not sketchy, not sketchy at all. Of course, our group was drawn to the crowd and by half time we made our way to that end of the stadium. It was GREAT! One of the girl’s host brother’s friends were there -or maybe recently acquired friends, I’m not sure- and they were all teaching us the songs to sing. Most of the time quite vulgar and explicit, but a really fun learning experience all the same. Everyone was jumping, dancing, blowing whistles and banging the drums. It was kind of touching to see everyone come together that way… Until people get hurt. Which happened, one guy behind us and further up was probably, in his drunken stupor, jumping up and down too much and too hard, lost his balance and by the looks of it broke his hip. Of course, as soon as I saw this I went over to try to help him, but everyone was saying: “Naaah, he’s fine, just a little bump”. Meanwhile, his friends are trying to move him and he’s wincing and yelping in pain. Over him, I’m yelling: “Don’t touch him, don’t move him”, in Spanish of course. They wouldn’t listen, I tried to find out from someone where there would be paramedics but no one knew and the host brother’s friends got me away from him, telling me not to worry, yaddiyadda. Even the friends of the hurt man were telling me he was fine and to forget about it. People can be so dumb and oblivious. I’m still angry at myself for not fighting people more and going to find a phone to call 911. But then Ecuador won 2:1 and everything was fine and forgotten. On the way back we sang cheesy 90s songs, since those are that ones that usually everyone knows the words to.
Oh, I forgot to mention a sort of creepy experience. As I was walking over to a friend’s house, earlier in the afternoon before the soccer game, I walked past this black fluffy mound lying on the side of the road, right by the curb. Of course I assumed that it was a poor animal that got run over by a car and tossed on the side. As I approached, I could tell it was a dog with scrapped legs and skin peeling off his chest. He/she didn’t seem to be bleeding so I thought maybe it had been dead for a day already (it had been raining). As I got closer and walked past this sorry sight I said: “Oh poor thing” out loud and I swear the glazy light brown eyes blinked. Freaked out, I jumped and started walking away quickly. Then curiosity kicked in and I decided to go back to see if what had just happened my wild imagination. I move back, cautiously and look at the dog intently; it still doesn’t show a sign of life. Then I puckered my lips and made the kiss sound and that’s when the dog moved its head, to I guess look at me better and then I skedaddled out of there quickly. On my way back home to drop off my school stuff before heading out to the soccer game, I saw the poor creature again. There was no one I could call to put it out of its mystery, but it was still alive.

School stars at 8 am and either finishes at 10 am, 11 or 12:30pm. Now when i say school, I,m actually referring to a small house that has 3 offices for the main coordinators of the programs, one small library, a computer room with 4 working computers (3 of which make me think I, in teh 80s...), a kitchen, a bathroom and a classroom. We have another classroom outside (which is always cold) and wo german sheperds that guard the place (a mother and a son, the latter blind). We even have a dilapitated pool at the back that I plan to tackle as a project and put it to use.
My host family is really nice and I live just a 3min walk away from school. I live with my host mum, her son, his wife and their two children, a five yeard} old and a two. Our house is nice and definitely bigger than I had expected. I even have a double bed and a TV in my room, I have yet to turn the TV on. We also have two outside dogs, a black lab named Habibi and a German Sheperd named Bax (who is exceptionally good'looking and is a competition dog). Habibi just became a father on Sunday night to a beautiful litter of 5 black lab males and 1 female golden lab. Every morning (and night) I wake up to the screeching of the neighbour;s rooster and the joke here is that his internal clock is screwed up.This loony also sings at 2 and 4 in the afternoon.
Breakfast, is whatever you want it to be at my house. There is always yogourt, milk, cereal and some sort of fruit. My favourite time and the biggest event of the day is our lunch, or El Almuerzo, that usually has three courses. It starts usually raound 1:30 or 2 and lasts an hour and a bit more. There is always soup, followed by the main course with a salad, and quite often there´s a dessert (some sort of fruit preparation). There is a cleaning woman that comes to our house everyday of the week and usually she prepares everything for that day. She also eats with us. She´s about my age and still goes to school. It´s impressive how many people juggle here a day job and then night classes. We also give thanks at every lunch, and everyday they alternate, often playfully fighting over who´s turn it is. Since I don´t know how -or at least don´t know the words- I haven´t yet.
In the afternoon, I do homework. We´ve sure got plenty of it!!! Often, we meet up with other people from the program, sit outside or find a little café and do our readings that way. Maybe not the most productive way, but definitely the most enjoyable... With all the time you can spend in your house, it{s really nice to get a change of scenery.
At night, Ecuadorians don´t have dinner. Or at least the majority of them don´t. I´ve been told that it´s only young children who have a sort of supper and then guys who just can eat all the time. Instead, the family gets together for Cafécito, or in my case Técito. It´s really funny hjow coffee is integral to their day, since it´s a breakfast option for the five year old and every day, depsite them knowing that I don´t drink coffee, they ask me if I would like some. It has become nearly an inside joke, htey ask me, jsut so that I can say: No thanks, I´ll just have a tea (or Aguita as they call it as well). Sometimes, my host mum will have fresh bread or some other little treat to go with it. WE also end up chatting quite a bit and by the time we´re done our hot drinks, we´re all ready for bed (at like 9pm).
Yes, my sleep patterns have definitely changed around here... I´m tired by 8:30, struggle to keep myself awake from 8:30 to either 9 or 9:30pm and then pass out. I also wake up earlier, usually at 6am to go for a quick run, then come back to shower and get ready for school and another day is down!!! Time´s finally starting to speed up a bit more, I would say that now that we´re into routines and a little bit more accustomed to life -and are finally realizing that we are here for 8 months and not just a 2 week holiday- has helped with speeding up the day.

On Sunday september the 3rd we went to different parts of Quito. One of them was Old Quito-or Quito Historico- where we listened to live music and performers in the Gran Plaza; and visited the Presendential Palace, the Basilica Catholica bathed in gold inside.
In the afternoon we went up to Itchimbia park to have a picnic lunch and admire the view of the surrounding mountains. In a large Vengaboys looking bus, we sinewed through the tiny mountain roads and the residential areas. So many beatufiul colonial houses! It was breathtaking, even just getting up there!!!
At the top, I couldn´t believe my eyes, we were on a relatively flat part of land (despite it being a mountain), and all around, mountains wrapped around us. The little Pinchincha and the large one right in front of us (9000ft high). On some of my pictures you can see a statue, la Virgen de Panecillo (I believe it´s on a mountain called Pasochoa).
I also had my first taste -and sight- of cactus fruit. It´s the size of a roman tomato (so kinda thin and elongated), light green with darker green bumps (that loook like dulled spikes). When you crack it open, it can be wither fuscia or yellow when it´s ripe. It was good, tasted a bit like watered down pomegranate (i-e not as sweet) . It even had the same consostency of seeds inside: little jelly pouches of trnaslucent goo with dark little seeds inside of them. We also made sandwiches with squeezed avocado... my friend poked a hole in it and it gushed out.. It was most definitely a feast witha view fit for the gods.
We then looked at the clouds engulfing the mountain peaks and lazily rolling down their slopes, creeping down as fog does. This seems to happen everyday in Quito... Thick grey rain clouds come to blanket the top of the mountains and slowly lolling down their sides. In the distance you see what appears to be smog and know that it is raining towards the horizon, but where you´re standing, no rain drop falls. Then the clouds can part and the sun can pop in and disappear just as quickly as it came in.

Second day in Ecuador. Time seem to creep by very slwoly here.. I feel like it´s already been a week... Arrived at the airport and had a flashback to India as we walked out. Huge billboards will beautiful people with gorgeous smiling faces, colourful pictures and bright writing... Our provided transportation was what drew me back to India the most. A huge bus-mobile, that reminded me of the travel bus in the Museum of Civilization (the kids section): bright blue with decorations. It reminded me of what I would call a Vengaboys bus. Our luggage was tossed onto the roof by the men who were driving the bus, and a little 10 year boy who was hanging off the ladder on the side of the bus tossing these huge bags. It was an impressive sight. Quito is breathtaking. We are situated in a valley, and huge mountains surround us. you can see the trees at the top of these mountainstç they are so close... but the hills are also very steep. Apparently today we´re going for a picnic up the mountains... hopefully we won´t be too out of breath with the altitude. Must go! Can´t hog the internet for too long! Just wanted you all to know that I´m safe and sound, loving the view and missing and thinking of all of you!

Well, the day that I had been hoping for and planning for months is here. I am simultaneously been torn two ways... in Canada because I have found someone of great personal interest here...in Ecuador because travelling and meeting people is my passion and what I love doing... I'm thinking that someone up there is putting me through a life test to see how I will handle these changes... to see how handle having to leave people that I care about so increddibly much behind. Well, then bring it on. With 8 months, I don't think you have anything on me!!! It would take me a lot longer than that to fall out of love, I'm sure. Funny story though, when visiting my little nephew (only 2 months and a half) we ordered chinese food... my fortune cookie read: "Your change will make the better of you". I believe that was the exact wording. I'm sure the meaning was: "You will make a change for the better" (since that's exactly what the french side read, translated). I think that fortune is well placed. And I'm glad it was something positive!!! ;)... Last post for probably a couple of days...xox

I had an interesting trip today. First off, when I took a cab to the bus station, the driver - from Lebanon- wanted to ask for my advice on a verb use. I thought he already had a good vocabulary, just an obvious Arabic accent to his words. He described to me a current situation so that I could help him find the verb he was looking for. Oddly enough it had to do with sponsoring his brother in Lebanon to help him immigrate to Canada... by the sounds of his story though he was trying to cheat the system and act illegally... making me feel quite awkward. Then I was boarding the bus and tell the driver that I'm interested at getting off at this particular stop. He informed me that the bus doesn't offer that stop anymore and it's been three years since the route has changed but things haven't been changed on the website. Grrrrrrrrrreat. I had worked my travel through Toronto to get to my friend's house all around that stop. He reassured me that he would take me to the next closest one and direct me to the appropriate metro station. We got to the stop that he was describing to me but he doesn't get up from his seat: "Excuse me, my bag is still in the compatment," I say. "Oh, I'm not allowed to take out luggage on these intermediary stops...". I looked at him befuddled. DEspite me telling him where I wanted to be dropped off, he didn't clue in or inform me that if I wanted to get off at the stop he was mentioning, I would have to take all my luggage on the bus with me. Yay. Finally, we arrive at the terminal. He describes to me the route I should take and I set on my adventure through an unfamiliar city and subway system.
On an exciting note though, on our 15 minute stop, a shiny green garden snake slithered right in front of me. I moved closer to it and was surprised by it's beauty. I'm not a fan of snakes particularly, the feel of their sking rubs me the wrong way (no pun intended), but it was slithering so gracefully I couldn't help but smile... AS the woman next to me caught sight of what I was looking at, gasped in surprise and scurried away in disgust.