domingo, 28 de septiembre de 2008
sorry guys i felt like writing in spanish i have a feeling only 1 person reading this will understand
El si gano con mas que 62% pero en Guayaquil se perdio con solo 42% por el si. el alcalde de Guayaquil dijo que si el si no ganaria, el pais tendra problemas muy serios de una division muy fuerte de las ciudades y provincias mas grande del pais. posiblemente problemas tan grandes como los que tienen bolivia con santa cruz. Guayaquil y Quito tienen una historia muy larga de una seperacion de ideologia y de partidos politicos. Guayaquil es el centro de negocios para Ecuador y por eso son mas conservados politicamente y ellos no les gusta al presidente Rafael Correa.
libertad es ser respetoso a cada otro
s
today is voting day, where everyone mandatorially votes on the constitution. from what i've heard, everyone seems to know it will pass. my dad voted null (marking both yes and no) and my mom voted no.
Adventure Crew 2008: Papallacta Edition (insert adventure crew music)
llapingachos! Hot Springs! Donkey! Jurassic Park (without dinosaurs)! Sugar Cane! Ley Seca!
There was much to be found in the town of Papallacta with a population of 600 people, more or less. The main attraction are the hot springs, which come from LAVA somewhere and bubble up from the underground into perfectly temperate pools.
llapingachos (which always make me think of yelping cats) are an ecuadorian piece of art. that is, mashed potatos with cheese, fried into a nice, orange mound. Fried eggs on top. sausage/chicharones.
There were probably more cows, donkeys and chickens combined than humans. this place was seriously empty. kind of like the beginning of a scary movie where all the oblivious kids get eaten by zombies.
Then we went on this mini hike on a mini nature reserve where i was expecting to see a dinosaur come around the corner any second. It was like the setting of jurassic park, the show lost and kind of like jumanji all wrapped into one.
Will you guys let me know if this ecuador constitution thing is being covered in the news or not? i would be very interested to know if the u.s. news outlets care about this.
jueves, 25 de septiembre de 2008
NO somos ovejas
i would not be surprised if my ecuafamilia thought i was dumb, or maybe even special. i got home today just in time for lunch and my mom asked if i was ready to eat. i said i just had to use the bathroom and then i would be, and so started walking towards the bathroom. she said, your sister is in there right now, use the other one, and pointed towards the living room.
-there's a bathroom over there???
-you didn't know there was a bathroom over there????
-um, no.
-(after some laughter) you found a new bathroom after a month here (jajajaja)
at least i didn't explode anything today.
tomorrow i'm off on a bus to visit a fine town called papallacta. these ecuatorianos pronounce their lls exactly like js. this is the town of natural hot springs and great hikes in mountains. four of us are going just for a night to return for the ELECTIONS on sunday. maybe it will be interesting, probably it will be like any other election day in the states where the excitement won't begin until the results start aflowin' on everyone's constantly-on-no-matter-what tv sets.
my professor says that it's a known fact that the new constitution will be voted for. we'll see.
-there's a bathroom over there???
-you didn't know there was a bathroom over there????
-um, no.
-(after some laughter) you found a new bathroom after a month here (jajajaja)
at least i didn't explode anything today.
tomorrow i'm off on a bus to visit a fine town called papallacta. these ecuatorianos pronounce their lls exactly like js. this is the town of natural hot springs and great hikes in mountains. four of us are going just for a night to return for the ELECTIONS on sunday. maybe it will be interesting, probably it will be like any other election day in the states where the excitement won't begin until the results start aflowin' on everyone's constantly-on-no-matter-what tv sets.
my professor says that it's a known fact that the new constitution will be voted for. we'll see.
martes, 23 de septiembre de 2008
la poesia esta en las calles
so, what did i do today?
-community service (the good doctor gave an older woman like 10 shots in her hands for her rheumatoid arthritis)
-ate delicious lunch including strawberries with homemade whipped cream
-studied for a quichua quiz (paykunaka urku urapimi kankuna: they are under the mountain)
-EXPLODED THE KITCHEN (apparently there was a glass cover that goes on top of the stove but that i had never seen in use before. it was there, and a pot was on top, i assumed they added it because the burners don't hold pots and pans very stable and it was a recent and untold addition to the kitchen. with a friend, josue, by my side, i turn on the stove to boil some water for tea.
while talking about nothing i can reme-KABOOOOOOM! there goes millions of shards of glass all over the kitchen. EVERYWHERE. under (ura) the fridge, behind (washa) the stove, on top of (janak) the counters, EVERYWHERE. even in the other room. SO MUCH GLASS.
"MAKI" i shout a couple seconds later, while still in shock that i had created and EXPLOSION in the kitchen. she runs over and does the spanish language gasp and i run and get shoes while apologizing and saying i have NO IDEA what just happened " NO SE QUE PASO! AY LO SIENTO!"
basically a half hour later, maki, josue and i have finished cleaning with fingers feeling like they just picked up thousands of pieces of glass.
i was supposed to remove the cover made of glass with pretty decorations before using the stove. yeah. i forgot that glass doesn't always do well with fire.
and parents: don't worry the company is coming to replace it free of charge tomorrow)
i really can't think of anything that should or could follow that little adventure.
-community service (the good doctor gave an older woman like 10 shots in her hands for her rheumatoid arthritis)
-ate delicious lunch including strawberries with homemade whipped cream
-studied for a quichua quiz (paykunaka urku urapimi kankuna: they are under the mountain)
-EXPLODED THE KITCHEN (apparently there was a glass cover that goes on top of the stove but that i had never seen in use before. it was there, and a pot was on top, i assumed they added it because the burners don't hold pots and pans very stable and it was a recent and untold addition to the kitchen. with a friend, josue, by my side, i turn on the stove to boil some water for tea.
while talking about nothing i can reme-KABOOOOOOM! there goes millions of shards of glass all over the kitchen. EVERYWHERE. under (ura) the fridge, behind (washa) the stove, on top of (janak) the counters, EVERYWHERE. even in the other room. SO MUCH GLASS.
"MAKI" i shout a couple seconds later, while still in shock that i had created and EXPLOSION in the kitchen. she runs over and does the spanish language gasp and i run and get shoes while apologizing and saying i have NO IDEA what just happened " NO SE QUE PASO! AY LO SIENTO!"
basically a half hour later, maki, josue and i have finished cleaning with fingers feeling like they just picked up thousands of pieces of glass.
i was supposed to remove the cover made of glass with pretty decorations before using the stove. yeah. i forgot that glass doesn't always do well with fire.
and parents: don't worry the company is coming to replace it free of charge tomorrow)
i really can't think of anything that should or could follow that little adventure.
a couple nights ago i had my first home made burrito. when i figured out what was inside it hit me like a big lightning bolt of culture shock, maybe more than anything previously had. it was a burrito alright, but it was a burrito with a hot dog inside with melted cheese. it was a strange fusion of american cultural food, knowing that i love mexican burritos, and the ecuatorian distance from both cultures.
large sanduche and a drink: $2.35
on sunday i saw a policeman reading the constitution booklet that has been widely distributed while standing in front of a church. this sunday is the big day, where everybody must go to the city where they are currently registered and vote. si o no. there is this thing called ley seca, dry law, where no one is allowed to buy or consume alcohol on saturday or sunday so that everyone votes with a clear head. if you get caught drinking, my professor warned us, you will be put in jail.
ecuatorianos do things different here. that's my lesson from these events.
large sanduche and a drink: $2.35
on sunday i saw a policeman reading the constitution booklet that has been widely distributed while standing in front of a church. this sunday is the big day, where everybody must go to the city where they are currently registered and vote. si o no. there is this thing called ley seca, dry law, where no one is allowed to buy or consume alcohol on saturday or sunday so that everyone votes with a clear head. if you get caught drinking, my professor warned us, you will be put in jail.
ecuatorianos do things different here. that's my lesson from these events.
sábado, 20 de septiembre de 2008
the storm perfecto
adventure crew, in much smaller form, came out today to do the good deed: adventure!
this is how it went down. yesterday, today and tomorrow there is this quitofest going on in a park a pretty good hike uphill with many musicians from all over south america and mexico. it's kind of a big deal. thousands of people go.
a friend, josue cafe and i live close to each other and decided to take the bus over to quitofest and check out the music. we got there around three and we both were impressed by the location the kinds of people and the music playing.
well, after five minutes, really not more than five, it started to rain. no biggy, i brought a paraguas. we both take cover under it while talking to several ecuatorians about punk music. ok well then the lightning and thunder came. and it began to really rain. we ran with the umbrella to this big red bull (it gives you wings!) tent along with probably a couple dozen newly wet souls.
and then it started to hail. the painful kind of hail. it almost completely covered the trampled grass with perfectly round miniture ice cubes. the tent selling ceviche to our right unhinged itself from the ground and uncovered 3 people with quite surprised looks on their faces. our tent began to look vulnerable and some people were making a dash to the crystal house, a public building made of glass that was already filled with people avoiding this little episode of rain.
we realized it wasn't going to get any better so, josue with my umbrella in hand and i started the 200 meter dash to the glass house with people staring out at us. the umbrella betrayed us and flipped its curvature out in the opposite direction, like in the movies.
the door is closed! there's at least hundreds of people inside this building, watching us and the pending storm and no one is letting us in. so we stand right against the glass walls on a bit of a ledge and under a bit of the roof so that we aren't really getting rained on. we talk to some teenagers in spanish while they talk to us in english.
we get inside and start trading slang words and customs from our homelands. for an hour. it keeps raining, but no more hail, for an hour. it won't get any better any time soon so we decide to begin the journey home with five minutes of live music under our belt and over an hour of seriously complete soaking wetness attached to us in the form of our clothing. so we walk down the 265 stairs (with the fixed umbrella) and make it to pollo campero, our favorite fried chicken fast food place here.
it took 12 minutes to make popcorn chicken.
we walked to a bus stop, got on a bus and realized it had stopped raining when we got off, a half hour later.
viva ecuador!
this is how it went down. yesterday, today and tomorrow there is this quitofest going on in a park a pretty good hike uphill with many musicians from all over south america and mexico. it's kind of a big deal. thousands of people go.
a friend, josue cafe and i live close to each other and decided to take the bus over to quitofest and check out the music. we got there around three and we both were impressed by the location the kinds of people and the music playing.
well, after five minutes, really not more than five, it started to rain. no biggy, i brought a paraguas. we both take cover under it while talking to several ecuatorians about punk music. ok well then the lightning and thunder came. and it began to really rain. we ran with the umbrella to this big red bull (it gives you wings!) tent along with probably a couple dozen newly wet souls.
and then it started to hail. the painful kind of hail. it almost completely covered the trampled grass with perfectly round miniture ice cubes. the tent selling ceviche to our right unhinged itself from the ground and uncovered 3 people with quite surprised looks on their faces. our tent began to look vulnerable and some people were making a dash to the crystal house, a public building made of glass that was already filled with people avoiding this little episode of rain.
we realized it wasn't going to get any better so, josue with my umbrella in hand and i started the 200 meter dash to the glass house with people staring out at us. the umbrella betrayed us and flipped its curvature out in the opposite direction, like in the movies.
the door is closed! there's at least hundreds of people inside this building, watching us and the pending storm and no one is letting us in. so we stand right against the glass walls on a bit of a ledge and under a bit of the roof so that we aren't really getting rained on. we talk to some teenagers in spanish while they talk to us in english.
we get inside and start trading slang words and customs from our homelands. for an hour. it keeps raining, but no more hail, for an hour. it won't get any better any time soon so we decide to begin the journey home with five minutes of live music under our belt and over an hour of seriously complete soaking wetness attached to us in the form of our clothing. so we walk down the 265 stairs (with the fixed umbrella) and make it to pollo campero, our favorite fried chicken fast food place here.
it took 12 minutes to make popcorn chicken.
we walked to a bus stop, got on a bus and realized it had stopped raining when we got off, a half hour later.
viva ecuador!
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