Hola Amigos! I arrived in Quito around 10 pm on Saturday the 18th after quite a long day! I am not sure I would recommend flying on Delta for those planning a trip overseas. After half of the bathrooms broke, they burned 21 of the dinners so I had a salad, and then when we arrived in Quito (wearing our masks to prevent the spread of H1N1 or Swine Flu) they had lost my luggage (along with about 12 others). Not a great start!
My first day in Quito was spent getting to know my host family and waiting for luggage. My host parents (Juana and Cesar) are two of the nicest people I have ever met! Their home is about 15 minutes by bus and 30 minutes walking from my school. On my first day, we went to the grocery store where I bought shampoo (Herbal Essences) and toothpaste (Colgate). The store was fairly typical of an american grocery store...with the exception of the chicken heads and feets in the deli section....yummy! I help Juana cook a traditional Ecuadorian dish for lunch and then the most typical Quito dish for dinner...its called Humitas and you eat them with Cafe. We bought fresh corn, milled it our selves with some onion. We added a little water, milk, and yeast, and sliver of cheese and then scooped the mixture into corn husks. We then rolled them like burritas and cooked them in a steam pot. Delicious! At lunch we also had plantanos...fried plantanes. yum again!
I began classes Monday with a visit to the plaza gobierno where we watched a weekly tradition of the Changing of the Guards. The president or in my case vice president, watches from the second story balcany of his palace while the guards march around to the military band playing patriotic music. At the end of the 30 minute ceremony, new guards are put in place to guard the palace and the president for the next week. It was a nice ceremony which was followed by demonstrations. People yelled chants, some of which were taken from Che Gueverro, in favor of the current president. A few dissenters yell liar in return. It was interesting to see...long live the freedom of speech I guess!
Today I attended my first meeting of my sponsor Rotary Club in Quito. The people in Ecuador are amazingly friendly...for the most part...and my club was no different. After many hugs and kisses, the meeting began. We had a lunch meeting the local Hilton Hotel. My sponsor counselor, Maria Ellena, is president of her club. After the meeting she invited me to visit local schools with her (a speech therapist) and a doctor who operates on children with cleft palate and a dentist (all club members) when they visit a school next month. She also invited me to spend the weekend with her and her family in Porto Viejo, a city on the coast in the South of Ecuador, during the weekend of August 10th which is a big holiday here. I met another Rotarian who attended USC in the late 1980s as a Fulbright Scholar! He majored in international studies and had two of the same professors that I had! What a strange coincidence!
Officially, I begin my volunteer work on Thursday with an organization call the Fundation Salesiano for Street Children. On the weekend, I hope to travel to Otovalo, where the largest indigenous market in South America is located, about two hours north of Quito. After, a friend from school and I plan on taking another 20 minute ride to a crater lake, which formed when a volcano collapsed! Next week I am visiting FEVI to learn about their projects in Lumbisi, an indigenous community about 45 minutes outside of Quito. I cannot wait to visit Lumbisi as well!
I hope to post pictures soon and Id love an email or two as well! Thanks guys! take care!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment