This is a Big One

I had an awesome weekend.

In this case, I'm counting the weekend as starting on Thursday evening, because although there was class from 8:00 to 10:00 Friday morning, everyone's minds were already on the beach.

So starting with the new beginning of the weekend, Thursday night: Thursday was one of our classmates' birthdays, and so someone decided that to celebrate, we needed to order a Chiva. Chivas are, simply put, Latin American party buses. They are always colorful, always loud, they always offer alcohol (canelazo--a warm, cinnamony, slightly fruity liquor), they always drive around the city for as long as you pay them to, and they always make their occupants look like complete fools.

What a great way to celebrate a birthday.

So our tour was from 8 to 10 in the evening, cruising around Quito in this ridiculous looking bus (I didn't bring my camera, but I'll jack some pictures from some other people and put them up soon). Disco lights were flashing, there was a live band in the back and a DJ in the front, the fog machine was going, the canelazo was being passed around, and since the seats were around the walls of the Chiva, the middle was left open for a dance floor type thing. This was basically our evening, having a blast making fools of ourselves in front of all of Quito, until we pulled into the Centro Histórico, where we stopped in front of the Plaza de San Francisco, and the band unloaded... and told us to dance. There were not many people in the Plaza at 9:20 in the evening, but there was a really short, homeless, nearly-toothless, drunk old man who LOVED the impromptu party. For all the ridiculous dancing we did on the Chiva, we did just as much awkward standing around in the Plaza, until this old man walked over to us shaking his hands (and his hips) to the music. He approached Courtney, doing his little drunken old man dance, and she decided to humor him... and that's when Courtney and the short, drunk old man began dancing around the Plaza. As if this wasn't good enough, when Courtney had finished, the man got to dance around the Plaza again with one of the Jessicas. There's no way that suddenly getting to dance around the Plaza de San Francisco with a couple of beautiful young gringas who appeared out of nowhere wasn't an answer to this man's prayers.


That's right. Amor Imposible: Impossible Love. (Photo from Kirsten)


No drunken indigenous Ecuadorian man has ever had a better dance. (Photo from Kirsten)

Friday after class, we left for the beach, and it was absolutely incredible. The beauty of our time on the beach (as with all good times on the beach) wasn’t in the things that were planned, but with all the things that weren’t planned: we were on a beach, on the Pacific, on the equator, in the middle of February, and we DIDN’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING. And yeah, we’re getting credit for this, too. The weather was beautiful the whole time, so we had a good time hanging out, getting some sun, playing in the waves, boogie boarding, playing strip euchre… you know, beachy things. The memorable quote from the weekend came thanks to Adam Luzio who, wanting to know if there were many crabs on the beach, asked one of our teachers at dinner Friday night, “Hey Mario, hay muchos conejos en esta playa?” The problem is that this sentence translates to “Hey Mario, are there a lot of rabbits on this beach?” This was good enough to elicit an incredulous “What the f***?” out of one of our normally conservative directors, which only made it better.

We left Esmeraldas around 1:00 on Sunday afternoon for our seven hour drive back to Quito. With only about two and a half hours left to go, we came to a section of the road that had previously washed out and all cars in both directions were forced to share a one lane dirt detour. We had passed this going to Esmeraldas and had only spent 20 to 30 minutes waiting for our turn to go, so we didn’t figure it was a big deal. Three hours and more than one whole movie later, we finally got to pass… and as we would later learn, a mere five minutes after we passed through, the detour washed out. That meant that both roads between Esmeraldas and Quito were impassible, which wouldn’t have mattered to us, except two of our classmates who had gone to a different part of Esmeraldas on their own for the weekend had not yet left Esmeraldas. Their bus left around midnight Sunday, and they got stopped around the same place we had been due to traffic… but they ended up spending FIFTEEN HOURS in the same spot without moving an inch. That’s from 5:00 AM until 8:00 PM in the same spot in the middle of nowhere, with no bathroom, and their only food and water coming from sugarcane they cut down from the side of the road. Eventually, their bus returned to Esmeraldas, and I am completely serious that they are still there, trying to find a way back to Quito. Allegedly, they managed to get a flight for 4:00 this afternoon… we’ll see.

Sounds cool, right?

Other random stuff: Thursday night when I got home, there was a beautiful bouquet of blue roses on my desk with a note signed by my whole Ecuafamilia. Abuela Joven said they were for Valentine’s Day, but since it was my last night here before the 14th, I was just getting them early. She also said she got them to match my eyes, but I’m pretty sure it’s just because everyone in this house loves blue. Also, today was my last day of Spanish 302. Spanish 395 starts tomorrow, and it will be my class until March 24. I think I did well in 302, but we’ll see. In any case, I’m now officially done with 2 of the 3 classes I’m taking down here. Craziness. Also, our every-Thursday exploration of the city of Quito this week is a 2 hour salsa lesson. That's right.... I will honestly attempt to learn at least basic salsa dancing tomorrow. I will probably not be willing to demonstrate this for you when I get back, so don't ask.

This weekend and into next week is our next excursion, and this time we get to go to the AMAZON RAINFOREST. We leave at 6:30 in the morning on Saturday, and we will return to Quito around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon. I’m honestly not sure exactly what we’ll be doing, but I know that there will hikes, some swimming, a nature preserve and animal sanctuary, and one hot tub per room. And of course, we’ll be in the Amazon, and again, I’ll be receiving credit for this. Yeah, I’m sold. So just a reminder, I will not have internet access from Saturday until Wednesday afternoon.


My flowers from mi familia.

























Cultural note of the day: I am going to teach you how to speak like you’re from Quito. It doesn’t matter if you have no prior knowledge whatsoever of the Spanish language, you only need to know three simple words for any situation to blend right in with the natives. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear each of these words at least fifty times. Presenting the Keys to Speaking like a Quiteño:

#1: Tranquilo (tran-KEEL-o), adjective. Uses: It’s all good, be cool, be calm, quiet down, don’t be upset. Personal example: “Wait, you’re angry that you paid for four soccer jerseys and I only gave you three? Tranquilo. Here’s another one.”

#2: Chévere (CHAY-vay-ray), adjective. Uses: Awesome, special, fun, good, neat, cool, or any possible synonym. Personal examples: “You got to talk to your family? How chévere!” “Finished your homework? Chévere!” “You won? Chévere!”

#3: Lindo (LEEN-do), adjective. Uses: In the rest of the Spanish world, this means “pretty” or “beautiful.” Here, it means anything in the world that you want it to. Personal examples: “You have a twin sister? How lindo!” “Your girlfriend aced her test? Lindo!” “I think there’s air in this room! Lindo!” “Your dog just died? How lindo.” …Okay, that last example isn’t true, but the rest of them are.

Yes, this entry was huge, but I probably won’t post again until I’m back from the rainforest late next week. Tranquilo.

SHOUT-OUTS GO TO: My dog, and Horse.

From Ecuador,
Andy