I have been in the middle of the world, as my blog title says, for about two weeks at this point, but it feels like I know the city and people so well already! I am down here with about 20 other students with my program, all of us are great friends already. It's nice having other people in the same situation so we can figure things out together.
I moved in with my host family two Sundays ago and I already love them! My dad is Papa Poncho (Alfonso) he is an architect and my mom is Mami Eli (Elizabeth) she owns a salon. I have two identical twin sisters Sofi and Pamela who are 26, an older brother Denisse who lives in an apartment but still visits, and a younger brother Ricky who is 7. I feel like I am already a part of the family, I love them :) So meal times are interesting here, very different than the U.S. It's almost 9 and I just had dinner. Ecuadorians eat big lunches around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and then eat a really small dinner later between 8 or 9, they save me a big dinner (left overs from lunch) and then they drink coffee or hot chocolate and dip bread in it.
Last weekend we went to Otavalo- a big market about two hours from Quito where we got to buy a bunch of cool stuff and learned how to bargain! On the way there we stopped at these hidden Pyramids from pre-Incan time. They were hidden so the Incas and Mayas couldn't find them, so they are all covered in grass. It's really sad that Ecuador is the place with the most ruins and artifacts in South America, but other countries have stolen the artifacts and have them in museums. At the end of our tour we got to feed lamas, which I'm not gonna lie was AWESOME!!
We also stopped at the equator before getting to Otavalo. Obviously the equator goes through many different countries, but Ecuador really is the middle of the world because it has the highest altitude of all the countries the equator passes through. Because of the mountains Ecuador has the best reference point, therefore, is the middle of the world. The next day before heading back to Quito we had a full schedule ahead of us. We woke up bright and early and went to a man's house who makes all kinds of instruments. It took him maybe 2 minutes to make a flute out of bamboo he carved it right in front of us! Then we went and swam in a waterfall near Otavalo, it was amazing! The hike up and around the falls was pretty scary, I'm really glad we had our guide, we were really far up, and basically rock climbing. Next, we stopped at another market that has a lot of leather products, but we had all spent most of our money so we just walked around and got icecream. Next, we went to a house that a couple makes their own products of wool (lana) here. They showed us how to knead the wool and make it soft and then roll it so they could make it into long pieces of thread. They even let a couple of us try, and boy did they make it look easy! I could barely move the two pallets they gave us to make the wool softer, let alone roll it into any shape! Some people bought some of their scarves, and we all wanted to buy hammocks since we were so fond of the ones in our hostel.
The last stop on our trip was Lake Cotapoxi, which is a volcanic lake. All of us were so tired, but a few of us really wanted to hike to the top to see it all. The altitude is really hard to get adjusted to, and I still find myself breathing heavily when I walk uphill for awhile. But it was soooo worth the amazing view!! We took almost five hours to make it back to Quito, when it should really take 2, because when we were almost home we had to turn around because a semi was flipped on the highway. We made the best of it though and told funny stories. I can't wait to learn more about this amazing country, but a fun fact for some crazy things I've seen so far include: sidewalks, not ONLY for walking. I have seen motorcycles drive on them (Quito has about 2.4 million residents, traffic is crazy) people park on them, and yesterday I witnessed a small car driving on one. Well, I think that is it for now, CHOW as they say here :) Oh an additional note, saying hello and goodbye is VERY important! You always hug and give a kiss on the cheek when you see people, its very rude to leave a room without saying goodbye. I will come back to the states hugging and kissing everyone <3 :)
The last stop on our trip was Lake Cotapoxi, which is a volcanic lake. All of us were so tired, but a few of us really wanted to hike to the top to see it all. The altitude is really hard to get adjusted to, and I still find myself breathing heavily when I walk uphill for awhile. But it was soooo worth the amazing view!! We took almost five hours to make it back to Quito, when it should really take 2, because when we were almost home we had to turn around because a semi was flipped on the highway. We made the best of it though and told funny stories. I can't wait to learn more about this amazing country, but a fun fact for some crazy things I've seen so far include: sidewalks, not ONLY for walking. I have seen motorcycles drive on them (Quito has about 2.4 million residents, traffic is crazy) people park on them, and yesterday I witnessed a small car driving on one. Well, I think that is it for now, CHOW as they say here :) Oh an additional note, saying hello and goodbye is VERY important! You always hug and give a kiss on the cheek when you see people, its very rude to leave a room without saying goodbye. I will come back to the states hugging and kissing everyone <3 :)
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