A Volcanic Weekend: Baños and Mt Tungerahua

Last weekend I decided to go to Baños, a small town nestled among a drastic landscape of ridges, mountains and an active volcano. Baños offers Relaxation, Recreation (& extreme sports), and a Tourist Nightlife.

We stayed out of the main bustle of the city in a hostal high above the city on a ridge that looks at the volcano. Mt. Tungerahua (Mama T. for short) and had a great view of the landscape surrounding us. and close the La Casa del Arbol:

Tungerahua the day before the eruption

We rented bikes and rode them down in the morning to the waterfall El Pylon del Diablo. On the way down we went for a casual zipline session, and signed up to go canyoning later in the afternoon (rappelling down waterfalls) I knew enough about rappelling, and also enough spanish to understand the safety instructions for both activities... thank goodness. HA. at least I'm pretty sure i knew what they were saying.. =]

Canyoning

 about to Zipline (in the laying down position)

 Riding bikes.

Pylon del Diablo:

That evening we decided to rest our legs and nerves in the thermal waters of Baños. While in line waiting for the pools to open for the evening, mama T woke up from her nap.. The staff advised us that she was a bit more active than usually happens and that bathing was 'our own responsibility' so we naturally went in anyway and peacefully soaked in the pools while occasionally admiring how much ash was being spewed up into the air and noting the occasional grumble.

 While in line for the Thermal Waters

 Once heading back to our hostal we started to see what they meant. through the clouds/ash we could see the bright red glow of LAVA! Contemplating this on our drive up the ridge we got a bit nervous. But once at our hostal the woman owner was waiting for us excitedly and asking why we hadnt come sooner to watch up here! We spent the evening drinking a beer and watching the show which looked a bot like this: we could see this clearly, but i didn't have my camera, naturally.

We could see this clearly, but i didn't have my camera, naturally. We were a bit lower than these photos, but these look much like the ones the Colombians were taking next to us.


Much more to do in Baños so I will be going back! What next? Bungee jumping? Paragliding? =]

Chao!
Until next time,
Joe

Holidays Abroad

Happy New Year everyone! (Better late then never?)

2013 has been great to me and I am looking forward to the year to come! My Holiday season was as follows:

As you may not know the month of december is especially festive here in Ecuador, especially in Quito. December 6th marks the day of Quito's Foundation. Therefore the whole first week of December is full of Parades and Parties and Concerts and food, and especially Canelazo (cinnamon, cane alcohol, and naranjilla juice) We learned a typical game that they play here called Cuarenta (40), which is too difficult to explain but very fun, during this week as well.

Christmas was spent in the valley with friends from my TESOL course. A couple from Canada with a house here, and their american/canadian neighbors.

(Kate's Neighbors)

(Kate's House in the Valley)

New years in Ecuador is a crazy thing. Everyone makes or buys a newspaper doll, that they decorate with things from the past year. they are called Año Viejos (old years) and are to represent the old year. When it is Midnight they burn them, to start the year fresh. There are also hundreds of men that dress up as the Widows of the old year and all day they stand at intersections dancing funny and asking for change from the cars. Comical. Aside from this there are many superstitions involving the New Year such as eating 12 grapes and walking with your suitcase around the block to have a year of travel, and wearing yellow underwear. Friends of Dawn came to visit and hung out with us for the week and took us to great restaurants we were too poor to try before!! We all had a blast the whole week and celebrated the New Year in quite the fashion... 

 (Vista Hermosa Restaurant. Basilica in the Background)

 Año Viejos.

Our New Years Table... just beginning.... 

 The Burning of the dolls

Since the holidays I have begun teaching again, and even started with a new student this week. Even busier! But i am searching for a student to teach privately to cushion my income to hopefully travel more!  I am also enjoying the weather here. While i miss snow/skiing i also don't at the same time.. especially when it was so sunny and hot today. =] I am also planning a trip to see a beach town that i am getting excited to see in two weeks! =] I will update you on that later!

Best Wishes!
Joe

Finally Settled

With the arrival of a permanent internet source in our apartment, I have no other excuse to put off updating you all on the happenings here in Quito. Because this can help me avoid planning more for my lessons this week...

Where to begin? I have since started working as a 'real teacher' for a company called LenguaTec, which is a 'gringo' company owned by a young Canadian. Carla and I both work here. We are a company that is commissioned out to teach english at various corporations in Quito. I have all of my classes at one company though, while the rest of the teachers are at a couple different companies teaching mainly 1on1 or 1on2. I have 6 classes Mon-Thurs in blocks from 7am to 7pm. Most of my classes are small groups from 4-12 students, and I have one class that is 1on1, and a class that is 1on 2. I enjoy all my students, and we have great classes where we are all learning a lot. Since every class will surely have some spanish lesson for me that comes up inadvertently. Additional info: (All my students are older than me and work at QBE, an insurance agency. ha. )

Carla and I have found a fantastic apartment in the northern central metropolitan area of Quito with great views of the city and the mountains, and the park. We have a spectacular terrace which is now naturally decked out in christmas lights! We are close to work, and anything else we could possibly want! and now it is complete with internet! YAY

 view of our building from Parque Carolina

View of Pichincha and the mall! haha

We are feeling more and more settled and at home here every day. but also getting worse at english too. we often make fun of each other and the way we have started phrasing our sentences like our students.. oops!

We hope to start more exploring on the weekends and meeting more of Ecuador! will keep you posted! hopefully more often....

Chao chao!

El Oriente: The Ecudorian part of The Amazon

First off, I went to the jungle with a group of guys i didn't know...(sorry mom) I knew one for a week and they invited me to see the Jungle with them.. So I thought.. why not?? =]

Well nothing bad happened and I'm still alive and Malaria free! (yahoo!) Most people in this country are so nice!

Our journey began with our flight from Quito. Since all the airports in Ecuador are pretty small (ok.. REALLY small) the only planes they fly in-country are small propellor planes with two seats on either side of the aisle. (bigger than most of the planes between RDM and SEATAC/PDX) But this group had never been on a plane so small.. go figure. =] (there was a lot of pictures taken of them with the crazy plane..) And since we asked fro seat next to each other we got the first four seats on the plane.. two of which were facing backwards... this made taking off and landing really weird...  All 8 of us on the flight made it to Tena safely to their very new state-of-the-art Airport, which was EMPTY, and they only supply power to small parts of it at a time. (AKA only the computer at check in)

We had a cab come and get us and take us to our hostal in Tena which cost a whopping 4 dollars a night and we even had our own bathroom between the 5 of us. Breakfast was an extra two, and they had beer in the fridge that we paid for on the way out, aka $1.50 per 22oz of Pilsner. (Yes)

Our tour guide company came to check with us, and after some confusion over whether or not transportation was included or not, we landed on a change of plans that was 1/2 the price. (SCORE)

The next morning we went to the next town over: Misayualli, where we met our tour guide and we went on a hike to a waterfall, where we took a much needed swim.. (SO HOT SO HUMID)

After the hike we tried some fresh Guava, and Guayabas! Very tasty! And we returned to Misayualli for lunch, and a walk around the beach to see the monkeys... who let people feed them etc. naturally.

We then boarded a boat and went to a small wildlife museum on the river, and after went 'tubing' (we floated for a bit on inner tubes) and ended at the compound where we stayed that night. Which after the walk up to it, seemed like it was in the middle of the jungle, but in fact was a kilometer from the airport, and we were able to walk to the road and buy beer. (score!) haha

Also i almost slept with this GIANT grasshopper... literally 4 inches long.... no thanks.

The next morning we went on a long walk around the jungle here and saw a bunch of plants and more bugs etc. rested, ate lunch, and went down by the river and learned about the Kitchwa traps for fish and game in the jungle. We held a baby Caiman, and learned to shoot with this giant blow dart they use with poison tipped darts.

We then went down the river a bit with dugout canoes to a Kitchwa family's house where we learned of her ways of making bracelets and bags with the fibers of a palm leaf of some kind. She also made all natural ceramic, paint, glaze and all.

The next day we went on one last hike in the jungle to see a giant tree, and then returned to Misayualli, ate lunch and retuned to the airport.

Successful first trip to the Jungle.

Whoops its about time for a Blog update..

Well if you hadn't assumed, the wrapping up of our TESOL course occurred very rapidly and was a whirlwind of papers and documentation! We said goodbye to our students and had a little party in celebration!

The following weekend we celebrated as a group of teachers out in San Goulqui at our classmate Kate's house. We ate ALL day and talked and had a great time together!

This week has been busy in another sense, because we are trying to do as many things around quito as we can while we have time! We went to the Contemporary Art Museum and walked around a bit in the Centro Histórico and Carla made a wonderful home-made black bean burger dinner! YUM!

Yesterday we went on a long 4-hour cramped car ride to Quevedo to look at the University there where there are 2 job openings. The town is small, but still about 200k people, so a much safer location, and the job had many perks. We would be working with University Students and on the Military base as well, where we have full access to their pool/workout facilities. and apparently anything else they decide to let us try... We will just say its a little more lax than the US military... HA. The job also comes with free housing and a food stipend on top of our monetary compensation, and plenty of exploring opportunities that are also free.. (sign me up!) Even though it is 4 hours from Quito, it is also 4 hours from Guayaquil and the Coast. But it is HOT and HUMID. So I did apply here even though I am still stinking of staying in Quito, or relocating to a mid sized city somewhere else.. There are just too many decisions!

I'll be doing more exploring this weekend and searching hard for more jobs/ thinking about the ones already on the table as well.

Staying in touch!

  (SMILE! despite everything in life, its BEAUTIFUL)

Lo Siento

I am already failing at this blog eh?
Anyhow, a small update: I am still super busy.
Weeks are long and fast at the same time, Its already been a month since I got here!?? I have done so little and also done SO MUCH.  I have seen nothing of this beautiful country except the inside of the EIL institute where my classes are. However, since we are in a constant state of being behind in our lesson planning and writing of assignments the 10 hour work/school days plus the additional 3-5 work hours at home I have found myself in awe of how much we have done. I have already taught 7 classes for the learners at the institute and have one more next week. As well as critiqued, observed, and brainstormed strategies and lessons with, the others in my teaching group. weekends consist of attempts at going out on fridays, writing papers and stocking up on sleep for the week on saturdays, and planing lessons on sunday. When I'm feeling really motivated (obligated? =]) which is apparently now, while sitting in my bed, post paper writing session with my morning Nescafe (...) I will write a blog post. (You may have gathered through various other means that this isn't very often.. whoops!)
Today I think I'm going to some unknown location with my host sister, but not sure when.. ahh in 30 minutes! haha
My Spanish is getting better. Slowly, it hard though when most of my day is in English, and for some reason the people I have the hardest time understanding on a regular basis are my family.. go figure. However I am getting better at speaking and understanding people in general. On the other side, my English just seems to be getting worse... I talk slow and simply, and mess up sentence structure, and slip in and out of this weird accent... (WTF?) But I am learning a lot about grammar that i never knew before! So thats a plus.
Well I'm off to finish getting ready to leave!
Hasta luego

Some thoughts on Ecuadorian 'drivers'

Every time I get in a car in Ecuador I take a huge deep breath and brace myself for an experience unlike any other. I am hesitant to say the word "drive" to ever describe what people do with cars here. I've yet to discover the verb one might use to describe this action, perhaps I will need to make one up. When I do I will inform you.

The common position on a steering wheel in the states is 10 and 2. Or some variation involving both hands somewhere on the outer rim of the wheel. Perhaps you prefer one hand but usually when turning both hands become available and grip the outer rim to successfully turn the vehicle into the closest lane going our same direction. The emphasis is that we make it into the lane closest to us.

In ecuador the first thing you should know about (insert new verb+ing here) a car is that one should always have one hand on the horn. This means the standard grip of choice is '10 and gripping the horn/hub of the steering wheel.' This position ensures that they can operate the horn every few minutes/seconds with ease. A honk can means many things: move faster, hey! you cut me off, I'm cutting you off!, I'm not stopping for you pedestrian, I'm passing you, I'm switching into your lane, and any other thought that pops into your head while (verb+ing).

Another important aspect of the road here in Ecuador is that lanes are just suggestions. There may be two lanes painted on the street, but there is definitely room for me to just (verb) down the middle occasionally since its easy to just drift side to side randomly.

You should also be aware that no Ecuadorian (verb+er) is aware of the actual size of their car. The car often changes sizes depending on what task it is performing. When stopping on a hill it in not necessary to leave more than 2 feet between you and the other cars (even though they are all manuals, and the hills are steeper than San Fran) because bumpers are meant to help each other keep from sliding back down the hill right? The car is much smaller when weaving in and out of the rest of the traffic in traffic circles and when you should definitely be the first one to go through the light, but had to stop 3 cars back. However every car has the turning radius of a semi-truck when trying take a right turn or when parking.

Finally, parking should always take at least 7 tries no matter how large or small the parking spot is. In addition, if a store is in the middle of a block on a busy street, the sidewalk provides a super convenient parking space. Just be sure to turn on your hazards. And no, it is not necessary to pull completely onto the sidewalk. Everyone can just go around. Besides, your hazards are on!