Tours and Turtles

Guadalupe woke me up early Monday to go to USFQ for the first time. She drove me over and we went in the only gate you can get in or out. She asked the security guard, they’re all over the place, where to go to find Maria and he told us to go to the “Casa Tomate” and pointed in the general direction. We got there before Maria did! The campus is really pretty, with lots of palm trees and cool flowers and plants. It looks more like a botanic garden than a school. Campus is super tiny but most of the buildings are connected so it gets confusing.

Eventually everyone else in the group shows up and we all walk to find a classroom we can sit in. So we end up in a kindergarten or first grade classroom where the kids are obviously learning English given the English words all over the walls. Everyone introduced themselves and Maria started talking about getting robbed. She told us that Brandon, our area coordinator at the U of I study abroad office studied here for a year and decided to live in an apartment second semester. He ended up renting one in La Mariscal aka “gringo land” and Maria told us “he got robbed every night.” She also told us that once a man tried to rob him and Brandon just asked him “why do you want to rob me? I’m a student, I’m poor too” so they started talking and became friends! Maria followed this story by saying ‘don’t do that, just give them your money.”

After that we went on a little tour of Cumbaya led by Maria’s son Andrés and Christina, a U of I grad who works for the program now. We saw the school bookstore which was really tiny and then got some of that awesome fruit ice cream but at a different shop from yesterday. I got naranjilla which was delicious even though I still don’t know what it is.

Back at the university we were given maps and we talked about what buses to take. Then we had lunch in the university cafeteria and it was really good. Then we went out again to the little ‘mall’ in Cumbaya where there’s a book store and some cute restaurants. When we were walking back to USFQ we walked up this really steep, never-ending road and I realized that I will have to walk up this every day to get to class. That is not an incentive to go to class!

Then we waited for our host families to pick us up but Guadalupe never showed. I don’t think she knew she was supposed to pick me up too. So Maria drove me home and I rang the bell so Miria the maid could let me in. Guadalupe came up to my room while I was napping and she asked me where my tv was. She had mentioned getting me a tv in my room even though I really don’t need one and apparently it was supposed to magically appear in my room. So she appears, tv in hand, to set it up. It’s pretty old- it even has antennae- but it gets a few channels. I doubt I’ll watch it much but it’s sweet that she got it for me.

Then we had dinner. Soup again as well as some kind of thin steak, rice, a little salad and these little potato pancakes with cheese in the middle. Those were my favorite. As we were drinking our tea, Guadalupe’s son, and my ‘brother’, Patricio, came home from the beach. He seems pretty nice. We all drank tea while they discussed the relative attractiveness of Latin American woman. The consensus seemed to be that Argentine woman are beautiful and Ecuadorian women are cute. After dinner Pato helped me connect to the wireless in the house and I Skyped with my parents, Emily and Zach. Guadalupe asked me if I wanted to watch a movie but I hadn’t talked to Zach in forever so I couldn’t.

The next morning I went downstairs to the kitchen where my breakfast was laid out already. I had the same stuff as I usually do (minus the Capn Crunch plus a pancake). Then Guadalupe dropped me off at the university. We had a lecture about the Tiputini reserve in the Amazon rainforest by a man who works there. I'm hoping to go there so I'll talk more about it then.

Then we had another lecture about the USFQ campus on the Galápagos. After our lectures we went with Christina and Andrés to Quito by bus. That was an experience. The first bus no one from my trip sat next to me so I just looked out the window. The views are just gorgeous! With all the houses going up the mountains and the town in the valley with mountains all around. I don’t think that view will ever get boring to me. Then we got of that bus and got on another to get to el Parque de la Carolina. There we wandered a bit and went to the botanic gardens. We got a little guided tour so that was nice. They had some of the most beautiful roses there, and they smelled so good! We learned about plants in several different ecological regions and even went into the carnivorous plant house that had artificial rain! We all came out with water droplets all over our hair.

After the botanic garden we went to the vivario where they have reptiles and amphibians on display. There were a bunch of cool snakes and adorable turtles, plus a cayman! We got to touch a boa constrictor which was pretty cool too. Some people even had their picture taken with the snake around their necks but I didn’t do it because it cost $3.

Then we took the buses back to Cumbaya and Bianca, Betty, Emily T., and Alex went to a little restaurant to get a beer. We got the national beer, Pilsner. It’s pretty light so I didn’t hate it, but I couldn’t drink all of mine. But we talked for a while and it was fun. By the time we were thinking of heading out it was already dark so we hailed a cab for all of us and he dropped us off one at a time. He left me at the front gate so I had to talk to the security guard and tell him I live with Guadalupe etc etc. Then I walked through the somewhat poorly lit neighborhood to her house and again rang the bell. Apparently Guadalupe was worried about me because I didn’t come home until after dark. And she was surprised that I had a beer.

After dinner Pato came home and shortly thereafter, some of his friends showed up too. They eventually decided we were going to the crazy gringo’s house. It’s an abandoned house in the neighborhood. So we climbed the wall and when we got over we found the front doors to the house were just open. It was slightly unsettling. Then we came back and played cards. We played “Cuarenta” or “Forty” and I taught them to play Egyptian Rap. It was pretty fun. Pato’s friends were nice and I could usually understand them so that’s good. Usually it’s when they ask me a question that I can’t understand them, haha.

Pretty soon this will be caught up!
Hasta luego,

Caitlin