Well, it´s been quite the trip! I´ve enjoyed every moment and am so very glad I took this journey. I have definitely learned a lot of spanish, although there is still more to learn. To that effect I kept one of my books from the school because we didn´t get to future tense, which is a whole new beast, plus I know I´ll need to review all those darn irregular verbs that keep tripping me up in all the various tenses of present and past that I did learn in my month here. I also feel I grew in my independance, which is always a good thing too. My English has suffered a bit, which is a funny side effect. I cringe to hear myself sometimes in English put words in the wrong order (Spanish is reversed for describing...like..."the red car" in English would be "the car red" in Spanish) and I find myself sticking to simpler vocabulary because I have to do that in my Spanish sentences. I also do that because about a third of the students here speak English as a second language, although because their countries teach it in school from a young age I am super impressed by how fluent EVERYONE is. It´s been very interesting to learn some of the ways other countries run their education systems, but I won´t bore you with the details here. There´s also about a 50/50 split of native English speakers between students from the U.S. and England. That has led to a lot of laughs over different terms for things, which will probably end up as a small blog post all to itself...I´m thinking of creating a list on the bus ride of all the things during this trip that were lost in translation. As one small example, it started raining lightly during class and my comment of "it´s sprinkling"was met with laughs and very confused looks as the other three students at the table that day were from England. By this point I knew why they were laughing, so I just said "okay...what do YOU call a light rain?" Turns out they call it "spitting"which in my mind is gross, but to them of course "sprinkling"sounded ridiculous.
I´m glad to be heading home to see friends, families, and the two new babies my friends had while I was away, but I´m also a bit melancholy as I walk around town and say goodbye to the teachers at school and get that one last taste of fresh ceviche. I still have pics to post from a big trip Sunday to Agua Blanca and Dos Frilles, but this week went by super fast (as they have been my entire time here) and at this point I´d rather upload those memories and pictures from home where the internet is fast and not charged by the minute. And, I don´t tend to get a minimum of 5 mosquito bites when using my laptop on the couch...as opposed to this internet cafe! :)
Thanks to those of you who emailed or posted comments, it always felt really great to know someone back home was listening and helped me feel a bit more connected while I was away.
Tomorrow will be a long day of bus rides, flights, and layovers, with an early morning landing the next day. Hopefully everything goes smoothly, and I will see those of you in Florida very soon!
Much love,
Sarah
Friday, July 30, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Paragliding
On Saturday a few of us got adventurous and decided to go parasailing. But...it turned out there wasn´t anywhere to do that locally, despite being oceanside...so we did paragliding instead. For whatever reason this was way more scary to us, but we were determined to do it. In the end it was not scary at all, as you are soaring very slowly and gently. It was a gorgeous day and one of the rare sunny ones, and I´m so glad we went. I gave my camera to one of the girls to take pictures but she forgot and used her own camera the whole time, so I don´t have any to post now but we´ll swap photos online later (thank you Facebook!)
The crew loaded into the back of the truck. And to think 3 weeks ago when I saw all those kids, families, EVERYONE riding around in the back of trucks I thought they were crazy. It´s just the norm here, and we had no choice! I did intentionally grab what I deemed the safest seat however!!
We jumped off about 20 minutes south of Montañita. It was so gorgeous! (This is Tomak´s turn, he kepts his arms out like that for most of his time so he´s easy to identify) :)
Carly just after takeoff
Waiting for Carly to reappear over those hills
Carly was the last to go, so her instructor asked her if she wanted to land on the beach instead of back up on the mountain with us. Of course she said yes, but then it turned out to be high tide with not enough beach, so they landed in the street! The traffic here is pretty light though, so thankfully all ended well. They landed in front of a little beachside resturant and he bought her some calimari to munch on while they waited for us to drive down and pick them up. Of course no one told US that they were landing on the beach, so we were waiting, and watching, and waiting, and watching, and waiting for them to come back over those hills. No one else had gone to that side, everyone had been going to the left, so we were a bit nervous that it was an accident and they were stuck somewhere. After about 5 mintues of nervous anticipation I asked the other instructor "Donde esta Carly?" (Where´s Carly?) and thankfully HE was in on the plan. It was a fun day, and something I´d definitley be willing to do again!
Where Carly landed
After our adventure we were pretty hungry, so we all went out to lunch together. We´d all heard about how great ceviche is here, but none of us had ever had it and we were a bit nervous. The best I can describe it is a cold soup with your choice of fish, shrimp, octopus, squid, or mixed. We decided to share a bowl of mixed ceviche and we all LOVED it! Yummo!! I hesitated slightly when my spoon had a bit of octopus tentacles on it, but even that was okay! (Just a bit chewy...but I managed.)
Ceviche
The CUTEST puppy was begging for our scraps while we ate lunch. It was so hard to resist his adorable face and little yelps, but since street dogs are so pesky and prevalent here we knew we had to resist. But it´s a lot easier to deny the dirty, scraggly dogs than this adorable little guy!!
3rd Week in Montañita
My third week flew by just as fast as the others. It seems every day is packed, even though to list out the activities it doesn´t seem to be that much...I guess it belongs in that category of time flying when you´re having fun.
On Monday we delved into past tense in Spanish. Now, I know I´ve always heard that English is a very hard language to learn...but for the most part past tense is past tense. I went, you went, he-she-it went, we went, you all went. MAYBE the he-she-it form changes, like in I go, you go, he goes...but really, it´s pretty straightforward. They have SO MANY past tenses in Spanish! It´s insane! I´m starting to get the hang of it, but I only type that with semi confidence after an entire week of practice, since I´m typing this the following Monday. Plus, with the addition of my new roommate Carly and a med student Peter, both of whom have some background with spanish, I feel it´s more difficult because now I´m just as confused as Kim, whereas in the past classes I´ve kind of had a bit better handle on it and people would turn to me for help. I guess I´ve reached the limit on anything I´d heard before in highschool, and am now in new territory!
Monday night I returned from school a bit frustrated with my lack of understanding, and continuing sinus infection. I told Olga I was pretty sure I needed antibiotics, not just over the counter meds (but of course in not so many words...more like "I have an infection, please I need antibiotics") so after dinner Olga called a taxi and she, Carly, and I drove to a nearby town to visit a doctors office. It was really sweet watching Olga explain with obvious concern that I had been sick for awhile and couldn´t breathe and coughed a lot at night. It reminded me of a mother taking a small child to the doctor and having to explain what is wrong because the child can´t speak for themselves. In the end I did get to practice some of my Spanish when he started asking me questions, and he ended up speaking some English too. So between my partial Spanish, his partial English, and Olga´s reports, I felt pretty confident that I was finally going to get the medicine I needed. The doctor asked me about the medicines I´d been taking, so I was glad I thought to grab them on the way out the door. I was more than willing to spend the $21 which included the office visit and 3 medications, an expensive outing by Ecuadorian standards, but cheap compared to what I´d pay in the U.S.! He wanted me to continue with the sleep-inducing cough syrup (bah) and gave me an antibiotic, an antihistamine, and vitamin C in a alkaseltzer form. I did adjust the every 8 hour timing of the cough syrup so that at least I wasn´t taking it first thing in the morning before class. Past tense is hard enough without the aid of codiene, thank you!!
MY HERO
Not much to report from Tuesday, except I was already feeling better, and several student commented that I had a lot more pep in my step then the past several days. Finally! I came home and started laughing...Arsenio (my Ecuadorian dad) asked "Que pasa" (What´s up?) to which I responded "Un pollo en la esclatera!" (There´s a chicken on the stairs!" Somehow it had made it all the way from the backyard through the kitchen, living room, and around the corner to the stairs!
A chicken on the stairs that lead from the front door up to my room.
After dinner Carly and I had a sweet tooth, so we went to a local panaria (bakery) and got some passion fruit pie. Delicious!! We ate it on the boulders that border the town from the ocean, and it was a beautiful night with the high tide lapping at the rocks below us. I tried to get some pictures, but the camera couldn´t pick up the moonlight in the shadow of the rocks and it was too far below us for the flash to reach. Sorry!
On Wednesday I had a lot more energy now that I was starting to be able to breath properly, so Carly, Peter (another student in our class) and I decided to talk a walk down the beach during our break between classes. We walked south about 30 minutes to another town called Monglaralto. It´s smaller than Montañita, and not at all touristy. We saw interesting things like beautiful shells, an abandoned and crumbling factory, etc. But what brought out the cameras was wild horses grazing in some grass along the beach!
On Wednesday I had a lot more energy now that I was starting to be able to breath properly, so Carly, Peter (another student in our class) and I decided to talk a walk down the beach during our break between classes. We walked south about 30 minutes to another town called Monglaralto. It´s smaller than Montañita, and not at all touristy. We saw interesting things like beautiful shells, an abandoned and crumbling factory, etc. But what brought out the cameras was wild horses grazing in some grass along the beach!
Carly and Peter ran down towards the horses, but I was a bit behind because I was picking up lots of shells. Good thing though, because it gave me a chance to see something in the bushes that the other two had ran past. I moved in for a closer look, using my zoom lens to confirm what my brain said was impossible.
Ozo Perisozo (not sure about that spelling, but my family called it "lazy bear")
That´s right folks, it´s a SLOTH!! Don´t ask me WHY it was on the beach, as clearly that is not where a tree living animal belongs. Nobody would have believed us at all if it weren´t for our pictures. My host family said they have never seen one in their lives, and were absolutely stunned that we´d seen one walking on the beach! Although walking is a bit of an exaggeration. When you hear that they move so slowly things grow on them, it sounds slow. But to see this thing moving was UNREAL. It was like super super super slow motion. I love reanacting the movements, so if you ask, I´ll be happy to show you. It´s unreal, I´m telling you.
Thursday night was again Ladies Night at the local resturant, and since I skipped last week with the failed deal for health, I decided to go tonight. I was feeling better, but promised my host parents I wouldn´t drink anything. I knew I shouldn´t while I was in the last stages of getting healthy anyway, but I´m glad they gave me a mini-lecture on my way out the door, because it helped me stay strong when people kept offering my empty hands tasty drinks to hold onto. I told them I would be ready to rejoin the festivities for tomorrow...Fun Pants Night! And thankfully, I was back to 100%. I love breathing freely!!
There´s a student here who´s from the US but has been teaching in Venezuela for the past 10 years. Greg is quite a character. He is one of those fun loving guys that will probably be a bachelor his entire life. We gave him a hard time for all the pairs of colorful pants he bought here and wore each day, which he called his "fun pants". To celebrate his last night before heading home, he came up with the idea of "Fun Pants Night". I think this was quite the windfall for the vendors that sell pants Montañita, because most things here cost under $2 and the pants are all about $10 depending on your negotiating skills (I got mine for $9) and a TON of us bought Fun Pants for the night. It was a lot of fun walking around as a group with ridiculous pants on...although our host family told Carly and I that we looked very beautiful, while we were laughing at how silly we looked. I have to say though, they are very comfy, and have grown on us! We now where them voluntarily...although once we´re back in the states I´m sure they´ll be reserved for pajama pants.
For the record, I tried on a few pairs, and my friends all like these the best. They just HAPPENED to be Gator colors, but none of them knew that about me, believe it or not! Also note how well the pants fit me in length...everyone else wears them as capris like Carly is. I finally found a country where the pants are made for shorter people!!
The group in our Fun Pants! These pants will travel home to 6 different countries!
Holland, Venezuela, United States, Scotland, England, and Poland
Last Friday the school hosted a BBQ at The Cabanas, which was pretty fun and I completey forgot to mention earlier. It was all you can eat and the food was delicious and plentiful. The highlight for me though, was chatting with a girl named Shawntel. She asked where in Florida I was from, and when I said near Orlando, she asked where specifically. Turns out, she went to Lake Brantley high school too! According to her it was long before me, so she wouldn´t tell me when, but talk about a small world!!
Small World--Brantley Alumni in Montañita!
At the BBQ they played some local party games, including this one pictured below. You pair with a partner and are given a small lime. You have to place the lime between your foreheads, and then try to dance without letting the lime fall. It´s pretty funny to watch, and very hard to do! My partner and I lasted about 30 seconds, but this pair did much better.
Alto and Maria, both from Holland
It wasn´t pretty, but these guys managed to win! (You can see them struggling already in the background of Alto and Maria´s picture...somehow they kept that lime in his eye socket a remarkably long time!)
Friday, July 23, 2010
2nd Week in Montanita flies by!
This week totally flew by, so here is a short summary of a seemingly very short week.
On Monday we moved up from A1 level to A2 and started in on irregular verbs. Ugh. We also had a new group of students in this class, which really changed things. We´d been spoiled the first week by just having a group of 3 girls. Now we had myself, Jenny and Kim still (both from England) plus we added Keeran (an Irish name but from England also), Kyle from Texas, and Dave from Scotland. The boys are fun, but goof off a lot in class so sometimes us girls wish it was just us again. The boys are more likely to skip the early morning class after a night out, so we got our wish a few times. I skipped surfing Monday because of all the intense hiking from Saturday and Sunday...my legs were very tired and sore, so I figured they deserved a day of rest. Monday night is the "Reggae Party" which is really just a bonfire on the beach, but it was fun. If you´re up for it there´s a party EVERY night here...but I usually just go to one a week or so.
Tuesday´s class was extremely frustrating for me, and I really had to bite my tongue with the teacher. She´d assigned us 8 pages of homework, which us girls struggled for over four hours to complete. The boys only stuck with us for the first hour. Then when we got to class and told her it had taken us 4 hours, she LAUGHED and said we didn´t have to do it all in one night! I didn´t appreciate being laughed at for my extreme efforts. But then she made it worse. When grading the boys (who had quit on us after an hour) she made a proud remark towards the boys about them understanding that the assignment was to be done in pieces!! I kept my mouth shut, but I´m quite sure my facial expression spoke volumes. She also doesn´t speak English very well, and we all try to stick to Spanish throughout class (well, the girls do) but after I said something TOTALLY unrelated to the homework she lectured me about if I had complaints to talk to her and not complain to the other students in class. (See, I told you my face had spoken volumes). I pretty much clammed up after that unless she directly asked me a question. I´ve loved all the other teachers here, but we certainly did not click after that. Surfing was great today though! The waves were a lot smaller, and because I´d taken a few days off the week before due to illness, and Monday due to soreness, I was in the beginner group again today. This didn´t bother me at all though, because that meant Isidro picked the waves, told you when to paddle, and then gave you a push into the wave.
Wednesday morning I woke up seriously stuffed up. Here you walk up to the pharmacies and just ask for whatever you want, so I used my handy dandy traveler´s guide to ask for some antihistamines. I have a feeling this might be a sinus infection, but my guide isn´t that detailed, so antihistamines it is. They ask you how many you want, and cut them out of the aluminum sheets that come in the boxes you normally have to buy the whole box of in the States. This is kinda cool, and kinda sketchy. Well, the pills barely make a dent in my congestion, so I´ll have to try again after asking some of the students studying medical spanish how I can ask for what I need. We also got another lecture in class today about telling her directly if we had complaints, and it seemed like perhaps someone from the school had spoken to her. We certianly hadn´t been complaining to "the principal" or any other teachers, but we did end up having some confusion (because she´s not that good at explaining things) that the afternoon teacher helped us clarify. So as calmly as we could managed we explained in Spanglish that at NO time had we been complaing to the other teachers about her, but we´d simply been making mistakes in the afternoon class and needed a second explanation of the grammatical rules. Geesh, unnecessary drama. (Oh, haha, it probably didn´t help that yesterday afternoon the teacher asked how I was, and I said "I´m tired and I´m stuffy" and one of the boys said "You´re tired of Steffie?!?" (The morning teacher) Thanks Keeran, I´m sure that really helped matters!!) :)
Thursday is Julie´s last night in the homestay, which is sad. She´s been a good friend to have around, and she also helps me struggle through dinner conversations when I don´t understand the question. Arsenio (the husband) speaks more quickly, but Olga and Veronica (the wife and daughter) are better about slowing down a bit. I always want to laugh/cringe when Arsenio gets into trouble on my behalf...if I look too confused Olga scolds him for always talking too fast. Today they also finished the construction on the new bedroom, so after school I move all my things into there. I now have a nice tiled floor, which keeps my feet clean a tiny bit longer after my showers than before. I alo have a bathroom and shower connected to my room, and the smaller window doesn´t get as much breeze as the front of the house, so the room is less drafty. This also means I can get dressed without running from side to side to avoid flashing the neighbors as the sheet blows around, haha!! So much so, in fact, that I brought in a small fan for when I´m sleeping to get some air movement under that mosquito net...which is a helpful thing but sometimes feels a bit claustrophobic. The med students weren´t much help, because the things I usually use for sinus infections aren´t available here (Nasonex, etc). So, I cut a deal with myself tonight that I´d skip the Ladies Night party so that I´d be healthy in the morning. This was hard because a lot of my new friends were leaving soon and this was their last night out...but I was hating being sick, and no one likes being around someone blowing their nose every 5 minutes either. Unfortunatley, I can hear the party from my room, and that plus my stuffy nose keep me up way too late anyway.
Friday morning I realize my body didn´t hold up it´s side of the bargain either, and walking back from class at 10am I´m feeling very homesick and wanting to walk into my own bathroom and grab my own nasal spray and feel better immediatley. I decide to swallow my pride and ask Olga if she´ll go to the pharmacy with me (a 1 min walk from the house) so that she can ask for something more specific to my needs. She willingly does, and I´m very grateful. I now have two medicines and feel I´m turning a corner. I continue to lay low...class in the morning, skip surfing to take a nap, class in the afternoon, nap, dinner, and early to bed.
Saturday morning I haven´t improved much, and my cough is now worse, so Olga drags me back to the pharmacy to buy some cough syrup. Consequently I slept throught the entire weekend, except for the few times I wandered downstairs in a fog to eat. Eventually I investigated the spanish ingredient label and found something spelled very similar to codiene, so that explains that! Sunday night brought a new student to the homestay, Carly, a teacher in Connecticut. She has a stronger Spanish background, so although I´ll be starting B1 and past tense, she will be in my group next week!
A few pictures from this week:
On Monday we moved up from A1 level to A2 and started in on irregular verbs. Ugh. We also had a new group of students in this class, which really changed things. We´d been spoiled the first week by just having a group of 3 girls. Now we had myself, Jenny and Kim still (both from England) plus we added Keeran (an Irish name but from England also), Kyle from Texas, and Dave from Scotland. The boys are fun, but goof off a lot in class so sometimes us girls wish it was just us again. The boys are more likely to skip the early morning class after a night out, so we got our wish a few times. I skipped surfing Monday because of all the intense hiking from Saturday and Sunday...my legs were very tired and sore, so I figured they deserved a day of rest. Monday night is the "Reggae Party" which is really just a bonfire on the beach, but it was fun. If you´re up for it there´s a party EVERY night here...but I usually just go to one a week or so.
Tuesday´s class was extremely frustrating for me, and I really had to bite my tongue with the teacher. She´d assigned us 8 pages of homework, which us girls struggled for over four hours to complete. The boys only stuck with us for the first hour. Then when we got to class and told her it had taken us 4 hours, she LAUGHED and said we didn´t have to do it all in one night! I didn´t appreciate being laughed at for my extreme efforts. But then she made it worse. When grading the boys (who had quit on us after an hour) she made a proud remark towards the boys about them understanding that the assignment was to be done in pieces!! I kept my mouth shut, but I´m quite sure my facial expression spoke volumes. She also doesn´t speak English very well, and we all try to stick to Spanish throughout class (well, the girls do) but after I said something TOTALLY unrelated to the homework she lectured me about if I had complaints to talk to her and not complain to the other students in class. (See, I told you my face had spoken volumes). I pretty much clammed up after that unless she directly asked me a question. I´ve loved all the other teachers here, but we certainly did not click after that. Surfing was great today though! The waves were a lot smaller, and because I´d taken a few days off the week before due to illness, and Monday due to soreness, I was in the beginner group again today. This didn´t bother me at all though, because that meant Isidro picked the waves, told you when to paddle, and then gave you a push into the wave.
Wednesday morning I woke up seriously stuffed up. Here you walk up to the pharmacies and just ask for whatever you want, so I used my handy dandy traveler´s guide to ask for some antihistamines. I have a feeling this might be a sinus infection, but my guide isn´t that detailed, so antihistamines it is. They ask you how many you want, and cut them out of the aluminum sheets that come in the boxes you normally have to buy the whole box of in the States. This is kinda cool, and kinda sketchy. Well, the pills barely make a dent in my congestion, so I´ll have to try again after asking some of the students studying medical spanish how I can ask for what I need. We also got another lecture in class today about telling her directly if we had complaints, and it seemed like perhaps someone from the school had spoken to her. We certianly hadn´t been complaining to "the principal" or any other teachers, but we did end up having some confusion (because she´s not that good at explaining things) that the afternoon teacher helped us clarify. So as calmly as we could managed we explained in Spanglish that at NO time had we been complaing to the other teachers about her, but we´d simply been making mistakes in the afternoon class and needed a second explanation of the grammatical rules. Geesh, unnecessary drama. (Oh, haha, it probably didn´t help that yesterday afternoon the teacher asked how I was, and I said "I´m tired and I´m stuffy" and one of the boys said "You´re tired of Steffie?!?" (The morning teacher) Thanks Keeran, I´m sure that really helped matters!!) :)
Thursday is Julie´s last night in the homestay, which is sad. She´s been a good friend to have around, and she also helps me struggle through dinner conversations when I don´t understand the question. Arsenio (the husband) speaks more quickly, but Olga and Veronica (the wife and daughter) are better about slowing down a bit. I always want to laugh/cringe when Arsenio gets into trouble on my behalf...if I look too confused Olga scolds him for always talking too fast. Today they also finished the construction on the new bedroom, so after school I move all my things into there. I now have a nice tiled floor, which keeps my feet clean a tiny bit longer after my showers than before. I alo have a bathroom and shower connected to my room, and the smaller window doesn´t get as much breeze as the front of the house, so the room is less drafty. This also means I can get dressed without running from side to side to avoid flashing the neighbors as the sheet blows around, haha!! So much so, in fact, that I brought in a small fan for when I´m sleeping to get some air movement under that mosquito net...which is a helpful thing but sometimes feels a bit claustrophobic. The med students weren´t much help, because the things I usually use for sinus infections aren´t available here (Nasonex, etc). So, I cut a deal with myself tonight that I´d skip the Ladies Night party so that I´d be healthy in the morning. This was hard because a lot of my new friends were leaving soon and this was their last night out...but I was hating being sick, and no one likes being around someone blowing their nose every 5 minutes either. Unfortunatley, I can hear the party from my room, and that plus my stuffy nose keep me up way too late anyway.
Friday morning I realize my body didn´t hold up it´s side of the bargain either, and walking back from class at 10am I´m feeling very homesick and wanting to walk into my own bathroom and grab my own nasal spray and feel better immediatley. I decide to swallow my pride and ask Olga if she´ll go to the pharmacy with me (a 1 min walk from the house) so that she can ask for something more specific to my needs. She willingly does, and I´m very grateful. I now have two medicines and feel I´m turning a corner. I continue to lay low...class in the morning, skip surfing to take a nap, class in the afternoon, nap, dinner, and early to bed.
Saturday morning I haven´t improved much, and my cough is now worse, so Olga drags me back to the pharmacy to buy some cough syrup. Consequently I slept throught the entire weekend, except for the few times I wandered downstairs in a fog to eat. Eventually I investigated the spanish ingredient label and found something spelled very similar to codiene, so that explains that! Sunday night brought a new student to the homestay, Carly, a teacher in Connecticut. She has a stronger Spanish background, so although I´ll be starting B1 and past tense, she will be in my group next week!
A few pictures from this week:
The living room, kitchen beyond, and the "backyard" beyond that where there are chickens, and unfortunately, a rooster that can´t tell time. 3am is pitch dark, but he crows every morning at this time.
The backyard where suddenly today instead of just chickens and roosters there were some baby chicks!!
We had one sunny day this week, so everyone spent as much time as possible on the beach in between classes. Here are my two English classmates, Jenny and Kim, and their whale, Doug.
You can buy ANYTHING on the beach here. Including, as shown in this picture, lamps, table centerpieces, and ceviche (which involves fish) from a cart.
Julie and I on her last day. This was taken on the balcony of the school.
Some students sneaking in time on the local´s volleyball net. Even though they can´t possibly use it all day everyday, sometimes they give us a hard time anyway.
Even the teachers get excited this time of year when there´s a sunny day, so many of the afternoon classes, which practice the grammar you learn in the morning, will practice their talking on the beach. Thankfully, my teacher did this with us as well!
Cascada de Alex
11 Julio
A few of us from the Isla de la Plata trip decided to go on a "short" adventure trip to Cascada de Alex (Alex´s Waterfall) so we met up this morning at 8am at a bike rental shop in Montanita. It was estimated the round trip would be 3 hours, but it turned out to be a bit more adventurous then we´d imagined!!
We set off with five bikes and promises to me of a casual ride...but I still found myself pushing harder than anything I´d call "casual" to keep up with everyone. (I later learned that the other 4 people on this journey regularly ride bikes for long distances...thus the difference between my "casual" and theirs.) The first leg of our journey took us up some nice hills for a bit...thankfully that didn´t last too terribly long! We then turned off the main road onto a very bumpy dirt road. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL and I again found myself wishing I´d brough Julie´s camcorder along. Not that any video would have turned out that well, because it was such a bumpy ride I thought my teeth might bounce right out of my gums! As it turned out, the bikes didn´t like the road very much either. Despite being "mountain bikes", one of them called it quits about 10 minutes down the dirt road (about 30 min into the trip). One of the guys road ahead to the next little house-hut, and the man there said the waterfall was only about another 5 minutes, maybe 15 with one guy running-walking. Sweet!! Since the bike shop had given us two locks, so we secured the bike to a power poll and and continued on our journey, with one guy running along side the four bikes. (This hardly slowed us down at all, but it was just enough that I could now more "casually" keep up with everyone. So secretly, I wasn´t that upset about the fiasco.)
I thought it was odd that we were riding down this lonely road and every few minutes we´d pass these HUGE piles of poop. They were all over the road! I didn´t get it at all...we´d barely had one car pass us the whole time. Well, soon enough we came across a herd of cattle meandering down the road towards us. That explains the poop! I thought it was pretty cool until I stopped to take a picture, and in those two minutes of me pausing to get my camera the herd had spread across the road and were now between me and my friends. Yikes! Do I look at them? Do I avoid eye contact? Do I stand here like a statue until this herd passes me? They weren´t nearly as "cute" up close, and those horns looked pretty sharp. I ended up peddling VERY slowly through the herd, trying not to make direct eye contact, but it was frightening only because I had to pass within 6 inches on both sides sometimes depending on where they were wandering. I was terrified one of them would consider me a threat and charge me. I was just glad to be wearing light colors and nothing resembling red, haha!! Thankfully, they let me pass unscathed and once I was safely through the herd I peddled like mad to catch up with my friends. (They were oblivious to the whole thing, as I hadn´t wanted to yell out for them to wait, and risk startling the cattle into a stampede with me in their way!)
We road down the dirt road about another 30 minutes when a few young boys road by in the opposite direction. We asked them if they knew where the waterfall was, and they cheefully told us they did, and we again heard the line "about 5 minutes!" Since we were already 25 minutes past our last 5 min deadline we were skeptical, but hopeful. We did end up turning off the road about 5 minutes later, onto a smaller dirt "road". I use this term lightly. Within a minute or two we came to our first stream crossing, which was no problem for the others as they were wearing flip flops. But I, the prepared one, had worn tennis shoes for a bike ride and hike. Duh, safety first! Well, now here I am the only one stuck wondering how to cross without getting wet. In the end we decided I´d get a fast start and then the boys would try to pull me across so I wouldn´t have to peddle. This almost worked, but about 3/4 of the way across I started to tip and put my feet down to catch myself. As it turned out this was for the best, because then I simply sloshed through the next 7 streams without hesitation. Eventually the streams were too frequent to make the bikes sensible, so we used our second lock to lock the 4 remaining bikes together, and then to a tiny branch. We had to guess a few times which way to turn, which was fun and felt very adventurous. Sometimes there were old wooden signs for the falls, but sometimes they were fallen on the ground and we had to guess from the flow of the water which way the arrow had probably been pointing.
We continued to hike on foot about another 45 minutes before we FINALLY came to the entrance to the falls.
There was a pretty little garden area and it seems this Alex fellow, who bought the land and named the waterfall after himself, had a nice little operation going. Which he wanted to charge us $5 per person to enter, which around here is insanely expensive. Also, we´d been told it would be $5 for the group. But after 2 hours we weren´t about to just turn around and not see the falls. We made like we were leaving so we could discuss what to do, and we eventually pooled all our loose change and a few small bills and told them this was all we had. We crossed our fingers because if it didn´t work we couldn´t very well suddenly discover another $10 in a pocket somewhere...but it worked!!
He told us there was a 20 minute hike up to the lookout, and then a 10 minute hike on a different path to the waterfall. After all this way, we figured we may as well see all there was to see. The 20 minute hike to the lookout was INSANE though!! It was very very steep, very very narrow, and very very muddy. It took us quite awhile to get up there, but it was very very pretty at least! We had a heck of a time getting pictures of us because of the lighting and propping out camera up on a backpack with the self timer, but these are my two best shots.
Coming back DOWN from the lookout was even harder than getting up, due to all that mud. In the end, the best approach was to take tiny running steps and just aim for a tree at the end of each diagonally cut path. It was extremely hazardous, but we all managed to make the journey unscathed.
We then headed down the other path towards the waterfall. They told us that they were taking photos and we couldn´t disturb them, which we agreed to, but were a bit confused about. I was the least experienced with Spanish, so the others would usually translate a summary for me after each little conversation, but this one about "photos" they just shrugged. We headed up another muddy path, but not nearly as steep...in fact we started by going downhill. Of course about 5 minutes into this I took a step SLIGHLY too big because I was reaching for a tree, my foot slid in the mud, and I fell hard...but caught myself around the trunk of the very tree I´d been reaching for. Ouch. After standing and pressing each rib on my side to make sure nothing was broken, I declared myself okay and we continued on. We came to a small little waterfall, which to the side had a steeper climb to the main falls.
This path was clearly more maintened than the lookout, because there where rocks placed to make a very nature-made staircase, plus a bamboo railing. We climbed for another 10 minutes or so, and suddenly we came up on the photo shoot. And then we understood why we had to stay out of the way. It was a model shooting pictures in front of the waterfall! It was really fun to watch while we caught our breaths. It was all in Spanish, but the photographer would give her directions and she would pose, pout, change positions, etc. It was all I could do not to take a picture of the scene, but I didn´t want to ruin any of his shots with my own flash. After a few minutes the photographer stopped and surprised us all by speaking to us in English. It turned out he was from Ecuador, but had been living in the US for 10 years. He was back in town and was using the scenery for a book he was working on. He said they´d take a break for a bit, and we could swim in the pool below the waterfall. After swimming a bit I decided to test my spanish, and asked the model if she wanted to take a picture with us. To our complete surprise she said yes!! We couldn´t believe it. We gave our cameras to the photographer, who carried them back to where he´d been shooting his own photos. He squatted down and everything, taking very careful aim. I guess professionals never point and shoot...or this guy was just REALLY nice!!
After this we decided that the trip, as adventurous as it had turned out to be, was certainly worth the effort. The trek back was surprisingly easier and quicker, so we must have been traveling slightly uphill the entire time there, which would make sense. We hurried as fast as we could but didn´t make the 3pm deadline to have the bikes back, but what with the broken wheel we had a pretty good excuse and were actually only about 30 min late. We then hustled to catch the last of the World Cup Finals, which we thought we´d be able to see all of...but thanks to a even match even in the last 5 minutes of the game (which is when we sat down and I started ringing out my socks and shoes) the score was 0-0. We ordered a late lunch and scarfed it down while we watched the action of overtime. It was a fabulous day, and to my surprise, my wrinkled feet (from 5 hours of wet socks and shoes) did eventually return to normal.
A few of us from the Isla de la Plata trip decided to go on a "short" adventure trip to Cascada de Alex (Alex´s Waterfall) so we met up this morning at 8am at a bike rental shop in Montanita. It was estimated the round trip would be 3 hours, but it turned out to be a bit more adventurous then we´d imagined!!
Mike (Austria) Crystal (California) Me and Derek (USA) (Andrew, USA, is taking the pic)
We set off with five bikes and promises to me of a casual ride...but I still found myself pushing harder than anything I´d call "casual" to keep up with everyone. (I later learned that the other 4 people on this journey regularly ride bikes for long distances...thus the difference between my "casual" and theirs.) The first leg of our journey took us up some nice hills for a bit...thankfully that didn´t last too terribly long! We then turned off the main road onto a very bumpy dirt road. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL and I again found myself wishing I´d brough Julie´s camcorder along. Not that any video would have turned out that well, because it was such a bumpy ride I thought my teeth might bounce right out of my gums! As it turned out, the bikes didn´t like the road very much either. Despite being "mountain bikes", one of them called it quits about 10 minutes down the dirt road (about 30 min into the trip). One of the guys road ahead to the next little house-hut, and the man there said the waterfall was only about another 5 minutes, maybe 15 with one guy running-walking. Sweet!! Since the bike shop had given us two locks, so we secured the bike to a power poll and and continued on our journey, with one guy running along side the four bikes. (This hardly slowed us down at all, but it was just enough that I could now more "casually" keep up with everyone. So secretly, I wasn´t that upset about the fiasco.)
In the middle of NOWHERE. Andrew is changing into his running shoes, what a good sport!
I thought it was odd that we were riding down this lonely road and every few minutes we´d pass these HUGE piles of poop. They were all over the road! I didn´t get it at all...we´d barely had one car pass us the whole time. Well, soon enough we came across a herd of cattle meandering down the road towards us. That explains the poop! I thought it was pretty cool until I stopped to take a picture, and in those two minutes of me pausing to get my camera the herd had spread across the road and were now between me and my friends. Yikes! Do I look at them? Do I avoid eye contact? Do I stand here like a statue until this herd passes me? They weren´t nearly as "cute" up close, and those horns looked pretty sharp. I ended up peddling VERY slowly through the herd, trying not to make direct eye contact, but it was frightening only because I had to pass within 6 inches on both sides sometimes depending on where they were wandering. I was terrified one of them would consider me a threat and charge me. I was just glad to be wearing light colors and nothing resembling red, haha!! Thankfully, they let me pass unscathed and once I was safely through the herd I peddled like mad to catch up with my friends. (They were oblivious to the whole thing, as I hadn´t wanted to yell out for them to wait, and risk startling the cattle into a stampede with me in their way!)
When the safe looking herd was marching in a nice row to one side of the road.
We road down the dirt road about another 30 minutes when a few young boys road by in the opposite direction. We asked them if they knew where the waterfall was, and they cheefully told us they did, and we again heard the line "about 5 minutes!" Since we were already 25 minutes past our last 5 min deadline we were skeptical, but hopeful. We did end up turning off the road about 5 minutes later, onto a smaller dirt "road". I use this term lightly. Within a minute or two we came to our first stream crossing, which was no problem for the others as they were wearing flip flops. But I, the prepared one, had worn tennis shoes for a bike ride and hike. Duh, safety first! Well, now here I am the only one stuck wondering how to cross without getting wet. In the end we decided I´d get a fast start and then the boys would try to pull me across so I wouldn´t have to peddle. This almost worked, but about 3/4 of the way across I started to tip and put my feet down to catch myself. As it turned out this was for the best, because then I simply sloshed through the next 7 streams without hesitation. Eventually the streams were too frequent to make the bikes sensible, so we used our second lock to lock the 4 remaining bikes together, and then to a tiny branch. We had to guess a few times which way to turn, which was fun and felt very adventurous. Sometimes there were old wooden signs for the falls, but sometimes they were fallen on the ground and we had to guess from the flow of the water which way the arrow had probably been pointing.
One of the little wooden signs, at a very pretty turn in the path.
One of the first places where we were up against the wall of the mountain...it was so beautiful.
The boys crossing one of many, many streams.
We continued to hike on foot about another 45 minutes before we FINALLY came to the entrance to the falls.
There was a pretty little garden area and it seems this Alex fellow, who bought the land and named the waterfall after himself, had a nice little operation going. Which he wanted to charge us $5 per person to enter, which around here is insanely expensive. Also, we´d been told it would be $5 for the group. But after 2 hours we weren´t about to just turn around and not see the falls. We made like we were leaving so we could discuss what to do, and we eventually pooled all our loose change and a few small bills and told them this was all we had. We crossed our fingers because if it didn´t work we couldn´t very well suddenly discover another $10 in a pocket somewhere...but it worked!!
You could watch these ants carrying these massive bits of leaves (compared to the size of the ants) down the entire tree from several branches. Then there was a parallel line of empty-handed ants marching back up for more.
Hard at work. We wondered why they chose to destroy this particular tree (some branches were almost entirely bare with just shreds of what had once been huge leaves). They were walking a long long ways, past many other seemingly identical trees.
He told us there was a 20 minute hike up to the lookout, and then a 10 minute hike on a different path to the waterfall. After all this way, we figured we may as well see all there was to see. The 20 minute hike to the lookout was INSANE though!! It was very very steep, very very narrow, and very very muddy. It took us quite awhile to get up there, but it was very very pretty at least! We had a heck of a time getting pictures of us because of the lighting and propping out camera up on a backpack with the self timer, but these are my two best shots.
If you look closely, right in the middle is the dirt road we rode our bikes down. If the weather was better, past the last bit of land you´d be able to see the ocean.
Derek, Andrew, Crystal, Mike, Me
Coming back DOWN from the lookout was even harder than getting up, due to all that mud. In the end, the best approach was to take tiny running steps and just aim for a tree at the end of each diagonally cut path. It was extremely hazardous, but we all managed to make the journey unscathed.
We then headed down the other path towards the waterfall. They told us that they were taking photos and we couldn´t disturb them, which we agreed to, but were a bit confused about. I was the least experienced with Spanish, so the others would usually translate a summary for me after each little conversation, but this one about "photos" they just shrugged. We headed up another muddy path, but not nearly as steep...in fact we started by going downhill. Of course about 5 minutes into this I took a step SLIGHLY too big because I was reaching for a tree, my foot slid in the mud, and I fell hard...but caught myself around the trunk of the very tree I´d been reaching for. Ouch. After standing and pressing each rib on my side to make sure nothing was broken, I declared myself okay and we continued on. We came to a small little waterfall, which to the side had a steeper climb to the main falls.
Small falls
This path was clearly more maintened than the lookout, because there where rocks placed to make a very nature-made staircase, plus a bamboo railing. We climbed for another 10 minutes or so, and suddenly we came up on the photo shoot. And then we understood why we had to stay out of the way. It was a model shooting pictures in front of the waterfall! It was really fun to watch while we caught our breaths. It was all in Spanish, but the photographer would give her directions and she would pose, pout, change positions, etc. It was all I could do not to take a picture of the scene, but I didn´t want to ruin any of his shots with my own flash. After a few minutes the photographer stopped and surprised us all by speaking to us in English. It turned out he was from Ecuador, but had been living in the US for 10 years. He was back in town and was using the scenery for a book he was working on. He said they´d take a break for a bit, and we could swim in the pool below the waterfall. After swimming a bit I decided to test my spanish, and asked the model if she wanted to take a picture with us. To our complete surprise she said yes!! We couldn´t believe it. We gave our cameras to the photographer, who carried them back to where he´d been shooting his own photos. He squatted down and everything, taking very careful aim. I guess professionals never point and shoot...or this guy was just REALLY nice!!
It took the photographer several times of telling us to squeeze in to get us this close to her, haha. Especially the guys, believe it or not!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Isla de la Plata
Today a few of the students from my spanish school went to Isla de la Plata, aka The Poor Man´s Galapagos. It cost $60 instead of $2000, which is the cheapest I´d seen for the Galapagos because it´s like a cruise to get there and you really have to stay at least a week to see it all. I´d love to go someday, but for now this suits me just fine!
We met at the school at 8am and loaded into a van, and drove north about an hour. The tours leave from a small town that had a fish market happening on the shore, so we walked around with our guide while we waited for a family from Holland that was joining us. We literally saw the fish being hauled off the boats and carried ashore. Some were in tubs or crates but the larger catches were just tossed onto the sand at our feet. The fish were HUGE!! I´d never seen anything like it. Here´s a funny looking fish called a "rabbit fish"...can you guess why?
I was admiring an easily 5-6 foot swordfish when suddenly a machete appeared and within seconds the fins, tail, and head had been hacked off. The head took a few good whacks, and blood was spilling onto the sand. I´m sure my jaw was hanging open as I stood a mere 3 feet from this masacre. But the fisherman wasn´t done yet! One quick slice down the belly and all the guts spilled out. That was enough for me...I scrambled away after that!
We boarded a small boat for the hour ride to Isla de la Plata...Island of Silver. Legend has it some silver was buried off the island long ago, although none has ever been found. But, it´s a cool name for an island! I was grateful the guide was bilingual, because we definitely learned a lot more on the trip than if we´d only been able to use our eyes and not our ears. She gave us the run down of our day and we set off. It is mating season for humback whales, so she sounded pretty sure we´d get to see some, and boy did we ever! Within a mile of shower one came up for air, but we continued on. Later we spotted some breaching whales so we stopped and were allowed to sit on the front of the boat for a better view. This was awesome for watching, except there wasn´t much to hold on to, so I apologize my pics aren´t better. I didn´t want to miss any of the action with my own eyes, so I just held the camera at the ready and clicked whenever the whales came up. When I packed my purse I intentionally didn´t bring the videocamera because I worried it´d get splashed and ruined, but as I look over my pictures of sky and waves (without whales) I realize it would´ve been worth buying Julie a new one! Oh well...I did get a few good shots, especially when I get home and can crop and zoom and such. The guide said there were at least three whales playing and breaching, which they do to wash off the parasites that get on their skin when they come to the warmer waters to mate and give birth. She could tell by the different markings on their tails-pretty cool!
Eventually the whales moved on, and so did we. We arrived at Isla de la Plata about noon and cheered when the sun came out for the first time all week! We were told the story of the island; that a family had owned it and build a hourse that was now the "office" building. They brought goats and deer to the island and people would pay big money to come hunt the island "surfari style". Eventually the government bought back the island and cleared out the goats and deer, so the only non-indigenous thing left are the rats that came in on ships long ago. I´m not at all bummed that we didn´t see any of those. The only mammal on the island (besides the rats) is one solitary sea lion. His friends are living over on the Galapagos Islands, and apparently Isla de la Plata sometimes has as many as 20 but recently he´s been the only one hanging around.
We climbed a ton of stairs, all the way to the top of the island. As you look at the pictures, keep in mind that we started at sea level and climbed all the way up here!!
While we walked around the island we saw lots of unique animals: colorful lizards, like skinks maybe, and some butterflies. As we got to the top the real action started. We had to be very quiet so as not to disturb the mating and nesting blue footed boobies (I know you´re smirking) and we were able to get very close to them as they nest right on the ground, often within a foot or two of the path.
We could tell male and female apart by their calls- one was a whistle that reminded me of a nurf football whistler from when I was little, the other was more of a gruff caw. I THINK the male was the whistle, but I could have that switched. We also saw some other birds that were mating, but I can´t remember their name. The males poof up a large red sack on their throat to attract the ladies, but can´t fly or eat too easily with it inflated so they will often stay put for two weeks without eating, hoping to attract a mate. We were all pretty impressed by that dedication!
We met at the school at 8am and loaded into a van, and drove north about an hour. The tours leave from a small town that had a fish market happening on the shore, so we walked around with our guide while we waited for a family from Holland that was joining us. We literally saw the fish being hauled off the boats and carried ashore. Some were in tubs or crates but the larger catches were just tossed onto the sand at our feet. The fish were HUGE!! I´d never seen anything like it. Here´s a funny looking fish called a "rabbit fish"...can you guess why?
We boarded a small boat for the hour ride to Isla de la Plata...Island of Silver. Legend has it some silver was buried off the island long ago, although none has ever been found. But, it´s a cool name for an island! I was grateful the guide was bilingual, because we definitely learned a lot more on the trip than if we´d only been able to use our eyes and not our ears. She gave us the run down of our day and we set off. It is mating season for humback whales, so she sounded pretty sure we´d get to see some, and boy did we ever! Within a mile of shower one came up for air, but we continued on. Later we spotted some breaching whales so we stopped and were allowed to sit on the front of the boat for a better view. This was awesome for watching, except there wasn´t much to hold on to, so I apologize my pics aren´t better. I didn´t want to miss any of the action with my own eyes, so I just held the camera at the ready and clicked whenever the whales came up. When I packed my purse I intentionally didn´t bring the videocamera because I worried it´d get splashed and ruined, but as I look over my pictures of sky and waves (without whales) I realize it would´ve been worth buying Julie a new one! Oh well...I did get a few good shots, especially when I get home and can crop and zoom and such. The guide said there were at least three whales playing and breaching, which they do to wash off the parasites that get on their skin when they come to the warmer waters to mate and give birth. She could tell by the different markings on their tails-pretty cool!
Eventually the whales moved on, and so did we. We arrived at Isla de la Plata about noon and cheered when the sun came out for the first time all week! We were told the story of the island; that a family had owned it and build a hourse that was now the "office" building. They brought goats and deer to the island and people would pay big money to come hunt the island "surfari style". Eventually the government bought back the island and cleared out the goats and deer, so the only non-indigenous thing left are the rats that came in on ships long ago. I´m not at all bummed that we didn´t see any of those. The only mammal on the island (besides the rats) is one solitary sea lion. His friends are living over on the Galapagos Islands, and apparently Isla de la Plata sometimes has as many as 20 but recently he´s been the only one hanging around.
We climbed a ton of stairs, all the way to the top of the island. As you look at the pictures, keep in mind that we started at sea level and climbed all the way up here!!
While we walked around the island we saw lots of unique animals: colorful lizards, like skinks maybe, and some butterflies. As we got to the top the real action started. We had to be very quiet so as not to disturb the mating and nesting blue footed boobies (I know you´re smirking) and we were able to get very close to them as they nest right on the ground, often within a foot or two of the path.
It took us about two hours to hike the path around the island-they don´t allow you to do both paths. They gave us lunch on the boat and then we got to snorkel a bit beside the island. I thought the water felt warm compared to my recent trips to the Florida beaches, but a few girls were shivering and grumbling at those of us who "tricked" them into getting in the water. I saw lots of different fish-parrot fish, angel fish, an other black and white striped ones. One girl saw an eel and got a great shot with her underwater camera. After that we headed back towards the mainland but got quite a treat as we spotted more whales and stopped to watch. There are strict rules about keeping your distance, but on this trip we stopped and the whales came to us! They were "playing with the boat" as the guide put it. They weren´t breaching this time but just coming up for air so close it seemed we could touch them. I wasn´t afraid to use up my mymore since the trip was ending, so I took a video of them-you can really tell how close to us they are!! They circles us for about 10 minutes and then suddenly were gone. It was SO cool. You really got an idea of how huge they are because we were seeing several feet of them but really only the upper part near their blow holes. (Well, it doesn´t look like I can get the video to work. Sorry guys. You´ll have to wait until I get back!)
On the ride back the driver picked up another couple and I realized that out of 12 people we had someone in the van from Ecuador, Panama, U.S.A, Poland, Austria, England, and Venezuela! And the family on the boat with us was from Holland! It was a great day, and while I hope to make it to the REAL Galapogos Islands someday, this "poor man´s" version will definitely tie me over for now!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Underwater Dancing
9 Julio
Well, I´ve made it to my first Friday in Ecuador! I´ve been holding my own in Spanish class and feeling quite proud of myself, although really I heard all of it years ago in highschool. Today, however, we got into irregular verbs and I now remember WHY Spanish seemed so hard!
Surfing was really hard too today because we were on our own while Isidro (aka Antonio Bandares) stayed on shore. This meant we had to pick our own waves and paddle, in addition to actually standing up on the board, on the wave. I managed to get up (sort of) about 4 times, but had some serious wipeouts. So really, today I learned how to cartwheel off the front of a surfboard and do interpretive dance moves underwater. But, you can´t wipeout if you´re not UP on the surfboard first, so really I suppose that counts as progress! Only surfers have wipeouts, right?? The waves were smaller today, which was nice, because I swallowed a lot less water. So, I think today was my best day yet, I´d say! I´m REALLY excited for tomorrow...Isla de la Plata!
Well, I´ve made it to my first Friday in Ecuador! I´ve been holding my own in Spanish class and feeling quite proud of myself, although really I heard all of it years ago in highschool. Today, however, we got into irregular verbs and I now remember WHY Spanish seemed so hard!
Surfing was really hard too today because we were on our own while Isidro (aka Antonio Bandares) stayed on shore. This meant we had to pick our own waves and paddle, in addition to actually standing up on the board, on the wave. I managed to get up (sort of) about 4 times, but had some serious wipeouts. So really, today I learned how to cartwheel off the front of a surfboard and do interpretive dance moves underwater. But, you can´t wipeout if you´re not UP on the surfboard first, so really I suppose that counts as progress! Only surfers have wipeouts, right?? The waves were smaller today, which was nice, because I swallowed a lot less water. So, I think today was my best day yet, I´d say! I´m REALLY excited for tomorrow...Isla de la Plata!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
"Don´t drink the water" means ocean water too.
7 Julio
Well, apparently two days of near drowning (a.k.a. surfing lessons) added up to me drinking too much ocean water and I was quite sick last night. It´s actually more work waiting your turn in the waves than it is trying to get up on the board. The waves have been really big and knock you around a lot, and crash over my head forcing water up my nose. It´s also really exhausting trying not to get washed ashore when you´re short like me and aren´t standing in the waves but treading water next to your board!
So, it wasn´t a great night, and the next day was just an all day yucky feeling. In the morning I was super embarrased because when Olga said "¿Buenas dias, como estas?" I burst into tears. Why is it that even as adults we can only hold it together until someone asks if we´re okay, and then we fall to pieces? Well, I was able to explain through pantomime that I didn´t feel well and she made me special meals all day that were mild on the stomach. It´s moments like these that make me glad I´m at a homestay instead of at The Cabanas with everyone else...there´s been some yucky stuff going around over there and the students are on their own to get healthy. (The Cabanas are the housing associated with the school, about 90% of the students stay there). Sometimes I wish I was there because of the community, but I hang out over there and meet up with my classmates to do homework, so I´m sort of getting the best of both worlds. Except for the cold showers...did I mention that before? The water is so cold it literally takes my breath away. I´ve become an expert in super fast showering...only having the water on to get wet and rinse off. I also dropped all nonessential things, like shaving and conditioner, from the shower agenda!!
8 Julio
No entries in my journal for today...but it was pretty much spanish class, skip surfing to take a nap, spanish class, another nap before dinner, and then bed! But, by the end of that, I was feeling much better, and made it to a fiesta at a local resturant/bar that is a favorite with the students. They play a lot of English music, so it´s nice to have a taste of home. There was lots of dancing, and the boys from school are good at cutting in when the locals get a little too friendly with their dance moves.
Well, apparently two days of near drowning (a.k.a. surfing lessons) added up to me drinking too much ocean water and I was quite sick last night. It´s actually more work waiting your turn in the waves than it is trying to get up on the board. The waves have been really big and knock you around a lot, and crash over my head forcing water up my nose. It´s also really exhausting trying not to get washed ashore when you´re short like me and aren´t standing in the waves but treading water next to your board!
So, it wasn´t a great night, and the next day was just an all day yucky feeling. In the morning I was super embarrased because when Olga said "¿Buenas dias, como estas?" I burst into tears. Why is it that even as adults we can only hold it together until someone asks if we´re okay, and then we fall to pieces? Well, I was able to explain through pantomime that I didn´t feel well and she made me special meals all day that were mild on the stomach. It´s moments like these that make me glad I´m at a homestay instead of at The Cabanas with everyone else...there´s been some yucky stuff going around over there and the students are on their own to get healthy. (The Cabanas are the housing associated with the school, about 90% of the students stay there). Sometimes I wish I was there because of the community, but I hang out over there and meet up with my classmates to do homework, so I´m sort of getting the best of both worlds. Except for the cold showers...did I mention that before? The water is so cold it literally takes my breath away. I´ve become an expert in super fast showering...only having the water on to get wet and rinse off. I also dropped all nonessential things, like shaving and conditioner, from the shower agenda!!
8 Julio
No entries in my journal for today...but it was pretty much spanish class, skip surfing to take a nap, spanish class, another nap before dinner, and then bed! But, by the end of that, I was feeling much better, and made it to a fiesta at a local resturant/bar that is a favorite with the students. They play a lot of English music, so it´s nice to have a taste of home. There was lots of dancing, and the boys from school are good at cutting in when the locals get a little too friendly with their dance moves.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
First days in Montanita
I´m sorry I haven´t been able to update this blog more frequently! I´ve been kept remarkably busy around here, plus I´m so worn out physically and mentally from the 6 hours of classes (4 of spanish and 2 of surfing) I take 1 or 2 naps everyday. Yeah, life around here is REALLY hard. Haha!!
Thanks to the journal Sarah gave me before I left I have been able to jot down some thoughts each night and then I can use that to update you when I can´t get to the internet cafe each day. Although, I have found one that´s a lot nicer, the computers are more current and a BIT more familiar looking, so it´s a nice change from before, and I´m a bit more willing to sit here for an hour bécause it´s less frustrating! Although the mosquitos are feastin on my legs...
A few more details about my homestay...the family consists of Olga, Arsenio, and Veronica, their daughter, who is a teacher and about my age. I´m staying in her room now while they do construction on a new addition to the house, so she is staying with friends. I was REALLY excited after being there about 30 min when Julie walked in, a student also staying with this family. Julie teaches at an alternative highschool in California for students that have been expelled from their schools or are recently out of juvenille detention. She is here for the same reason as me...to better communicate with her students and their families. She also saved me from having to shower outside in an unfinished shower stall that consists of cement walls and a pipe...not even a drain that I could see. She was more than willing to share her finished, tiled, bathroom!!
5 Julio
Today was the first day of spanish classes and I made fast friends with the other girls who are in my beginner level. They are both from England, as are many students here. The morning class is usually a lot of grammar rules and vocabulary, and the afternoon class you practice applying what you learned in the morning. This first week my two teachers are sisters that live in Manta, a town a few minutes north of Montanita, and they are both awesome. Friendly, laugh easily, and willing to explain things repeatedly if necessary! We played a fun game where we had words written on index cards and we had to go all around school taping the cards to what we thought they meant. We had some good laughs at some of our mistakes (like the word for woman was taped to the trashcan) and the activity really helped us learn the words quickly. After class we went to lunch and succesfully ordered from the menu (some pointing might have helped us) and paid with all communication with the waiter in Spanish. We were very proud of ourselves! Then we bartered a coin purse for my friend from $5 to $3 and were proud of ourselves again! Bartering (is that the right word?) is a way of life around here but it´s new to us so it was a bit unnerving....but it went well!
We also had our first surfing lesson today, which started with drawings in the sand of where on the board you head, feet, etc should be. Then we practice the action of getting up, which reminded me A LOT of the "suicides" we used to do at crew practice. You start laying down, and it´s basically a push up and jump to your feet all in one (supposedly fluid) motion. We went out into the very large waves and the instructor helped us a lot with telling us when to get on, and then pushing us along with the wave. By the end of class he also had us paddling but we won´t be on our own until later.
6 Julio
Today had some real ups and downs. On the plus side, I felt like I finally understood some congegation rules that never clicked in highschool, and Jenny, Kim, and I had a really fun study session at a local resturant over a few cervezas. It was also a riot when the waitress cleared our plates and I thought she asked "are you finished" because that´s what they USUALLY say...so I said yes...but as she walked away I realized she had said "quieres otro" which means do you want another. We had a pretty good laugh about accidentally ordering another beer! I also had a pretty sucessful conversation with Olga, my homestay mom, using a postcard of Florida. It had Orlando, Gainesville, Miami, and Pensacola all marked, so I was able to talk about my family, where I went to college, and how more people in Miami speak Spanish than English, etc. (On a side note lots of folks from Europe flew through Miami on their way here and thought they were already in South America because the airport personnel were speaking to them in Spanish!)
On the negative side, Julie took a few days off class to travel to Lima, Peru with some other students here so I was on my own to converse with the family at dinner. It was a lot harder without her to help translate, as her Spanish is a lot better than mine. I brought a beginner Sudoko book with me because I thought it would be a fun game to teach them and I figured I could do it because it´s based off numbers and words I know...no seven here because seven is here...etc. Well, that was silly of me. It was a total flop and Veronica and I were very frustrated at the effort...Olga though it was pretty amusing, but in the end put her hands up and surrendered saying she didn´t understand. I also made a complete fool of myself repeatedly going from store to store trying to buy an alarm clock. My phone has no service, so doesn´t know what time it is, so it won´t let me use the alarm function. Since Julie left today I need an alarm clock for tomorrow!! I went from store to store using just the vocabulary I had "Tienes un reloj" (do you have a clock) and then I´d pantomime sleeping, say "beep beep beep" and wake up. The clerks would look at me blankly, but usually after a second act they´d figure out what I needed and then tell me, no, they don´t have any. I did eventually find one though, and was glad I could stop putting myself through that embarrasment!!
More to come soon, I have it all written in my journal but it´s almost time for dinner so I have to log off and run back to the house!
Thanks to the journal Sarah gave me before I left I have been able to jot down some thoughts each night and then I can use that to update you when I can´t get to the internet cafe each day. Although, I have found one that´s a lot nicer, the computers are more current and a BIT more familiar looking, so it´s a nice change from before, and I´m a bit more willing to sit here for an hour bécause it´s less frustrating! Although the mosquitos are feastin on my legs...
A few more details about my homestay...the family consists of Olga, Arsenio, and Veronica, their daughter, who is a teacher and about my age. I´m staying in her room now while they do construction on a new addition to the house, so she is staying with friends. I was REALLY excited after being there about 30 min when Julie walked in, a student also staying with this family. Julie teaches at an alternative highschool in California for students that have been expelled from their schools or are recently out of juvenille detention. She is here for the same reason as me...to better communicate with her students and their families. She also saved me from having to shower outside in an unfinished shower stall that consists of cement walls and a pipe...not even a drain that I could see. She was more than willing to share her finished, tiled, bathroom!!
5 Julio
Today was the first day of spanish classes and I made fast friends with the other girls who are in my beginner level. They are both from England, as are many students here. The morning class is usually a lot of grammar rules and vocabulary, and the afternoon class you practice applying what you learned in the morning. This first week my two teachers are sisters that live in Manta, a town a few minutes north of Montanita, and they are both awesome. Friendly, laugh easily, and willing to explain things repeatedly if necessary! We played a fun game where we had words written on index cards and we had to go all around school taping the cards to what we thought they meant. We had some good laughs at some of our mistakes (like the word for woman was taped to the trashcan) and the activity really helped us learn the words quickly. After class we went to lunch and succesfully ordered from the menu (some pointing might have helped us) and paid with all communication with the waiter in Spanish. We were very proud of ourselves! Then we bartered a coin purse for my friend from $5 to $3 and were proud of ourselves again! Bartering (is that the right word?) is a way of life around here but it´s new to us so it was a bit unnerving....but it went well!
We also had our first surfing lesson today, which started with drawings in the sand of where on the board you head, feet, etc should be. Then we practice the action of getting up, which reminded me A LOT of the "suicides" we used to do at crew practice. You start laying down, and it´s basically a push up and jump to your feet all in one (supposedly fluid) motion. We went out into the very large waves and the instructor helped us a lot with telling us when to get on, and then pushing us along with the wave. By the end of class he also had us paddling but we won´t be on our own until later.
6 Julio
Today had some real ups and downs. On the plus side, I felt like I finally understood some congegation rules that never clicked in highschool, and Jenny, Kim, and I had a really fun study session at a local resturant over a few cervezas. It was also a riot when the waitress cleared our plates and I thought she asked "are you finished" because that´s what they USUALLY say...so I said yes...but as she walked away I realized she had said "quieres otro" which means do you want another. We had a pretty good laugh about accidentally ordering another beer! I also had a pretty sucessful conversation with Olga, my homestay mom, using a postcard of Florida. It had Orlando, Gainesville, Miami, and Pensacola all marked, so I was able to talk about my family, where I went to college, and how more people in Miami speak Spanish than English, etc. (On a side note lots of folks from Europe flew through Miami on their way here and thought they were already in South America because the airport personnel were speaking to them in Spanish!)
On the negative side, Julie took a few days off class to travel to Lima, Peru with some other students here so I was on my own to converse with the family at dinner. It was a lot harder without her to help translate, as her Spanish is a lot better than mine. I brought a beginner Sudoko book with me because I thought it would be a fun game to teach them and I figured I could do it because it´s based off numbers and words I know...no seven here because seven is here...etc. Well, that was silly of me. It was a total flop and Veronica and I were very frustrated at the effort...Olga though it was pretty amusing, but in the end put her hands up and surrendered saying she didn´t understand. I also made a complete fool of myself repeatedly going from store to store trying to buy an alarm clock. My phone has no service, so doesn´t know what time it is, so it won´t let me use the alarm function. Since Julie left today I need an alarm clock for tomorrow!! I went from store to store using just the vocabulary I had "Tienes un reloj" (do you have a clock) and then I´d pantomime sleeping, say "beep beep beep" and wake up. The clerks would look at me blankly, but usually after a second act they´d figure out what I needed and then tell me, no, they don´t have any. I did eventually find one though, and was glad I could stop putting myself through that embarrasment!!
More to come soon, I have it all written in my journal but it´s almost time for dinner so I have to log off and run back to the house!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A view of Montanita
Here are 3 short videos of Montanita! I hope this gives you an idea of my life for the next month. It´s been very overcast and chilly...the other girls in my class are from England and say it feels just like home. And I, coming from FL, though that I´d be the one used to the weather! Oh well...at least I don´t have to worry about sunburns!
If you subscribe to get the blog via email, I think you might have to go to my actual blog to see the videos, or they might show up at the bottom of the email as a link. This first clip should be of the front of my house and my block, then a clip of the town, and then finally a clip of the school and beach. I´m no videographer...so apologies in advance!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Pictures of my room
This is my room, at least for right now. I think this is probably the daugher Veronica's room because the other room where Julie is staying has no decorations and there were some clothes and jewelry and such here. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of the outside yet, but I hope to tomorrow. The green hanging thing is a mosquito net, and the balcony is open with just the sheet as a door. This is okay most of the time, but is a little unnerving when I'm getting dressed!
Okay, the internet here is better but the keyboard is giving me a super hard time! My patience is low because I am so mentally exhausted from translating all day and physically exhausted from surfing for two hours! I did manage two short and one longer ride. I want to put quotes around ride but I can't figure it out...sorry! The pictures on the keyboard don't match all the actual things it's typing!
Buenos noches!
Traveling and First Impressions
I am safe and sound in Montanita! I didn´t have any trouble in the airports and was very relieved to see my airport pickup waiting for me with my name written on his clipboard. He immediatley asked me a string of questions however, that I had no idea how to answer!! He was very patient though, and broke it down for me. Domingo, Lunes...days of the week! Ah, how many weeks am I staying! That´s pretty much how the entire two hour drive went. He would say something and I would struggle to figure it out from his clues. I took some pictures along the drive that I will try to post of few of for you. There don´t seem to be many traffic laws here, and if there are no one seems to care. Many sections of the road have no painted lines, so the cars just squeeze around eachother like you would walking down a busy hallway in highschool. Instead of turn signals, people just honk to say ¨"hey there big bus, I´m passing you, don´t run us over!" There are also lots of people riding in the backs of trucks just waiting to hit a big bump and go flying...which doesn´t seem like it would be hard due to unfinished roads, especially once you get out of Guyaquil.
It was a bit interesting when I was dropped off at the house, because no one was home at first. A neighbor came out to answer my driver´s honking and said for me to go ahead inside. She then disappeared and a few minutes later the daughter, Veronica, came in. She gave me a tour, which I will post some pics of now and some more later. I was pleased with the room, although it´s very different from home! I panicked though when I saw the shower...it´s pretty much upstairs, four cement walls with a pipe, no visible drain, and no ceiling or door. Thankfully about 5 minutes later Julie, another girl staying at this house, came home and for the first time in several hours I had someone I could talk to. She was very friendly and helpful, and after my comment about "the room is great, the shower will be interesting" she offered to let me share the shower connected to her room. Phew!! It is enclosed, with tile, a sink, a drain, all the things you would expect in a bathroom!! She has been here two weeks and is leaving tomorrow to travel to Lima, then will be back for one more week. I think they might move me into that room when she is gone, because when Veronica was showing me the shower she was definitely trying to explain something and I think (and pray) that it was "only two days because there is two people". We´ll see, I guess!
The family has been very kind and helpful. I´m glad I brought the library book of Spanish phrases and English-Spanish dictionary though! It has been very helpful. The food has been really delicious so far also. Last night we had rice, lentils, chicken, and plantains, and this morning eggs and bread. The Cabanos, a kind of hotel where many of the students are staying, has a nice pool, finished walls, etc, but there are 4 to a room and no meals included, so I still think I am better off overall. Plus I can hang out over there like we did last night playing cards, and walk back into town with all the other students who have homestays.
The town of Montanita is very small, so in only one day I feel comfortable finding my way around. I could probably walk the entire perimeter of the town in about 20 min at a comfortable pace. It takes about 2 minutes to walk from my homestay to the school, or The Cabanas, or the beach, etc. Since it is such a quick journey I will probably videotape the walk for you one of these days. That´ll say a lot more than explaining the dirt roads, chickens and dogs everywhere, no glass in the windows, etc. (Or did I just give you a good visual?)
I could say lots more, but I also have many more days ahead to post, and I am pretty tired after a successful day of classes. Two hours of class (8-10) in the morning, then me and two girls from my class successfully ordered, in Spanish, lunch at a resturant! We were quite proud of ourselves! We had two more hours of class in the afternoon (1-3) and we have surfing tonight (5-7). That will be my schedule for all of this week.
Lots of love to all of you! And a BIG shout out to the boy sitting next to me who is helping me upload my pics because all the directions are in Spanish! :)
It was a bit interesting when I was dropped off at the house, because no one was home at first. A neighbor came out to answer my driver´s honking and said for me to go ahead inside. She then disappeared and a few minutes later the daughter, Veronica, came in. She gave me a tour, which I will post some pics of now and some more later. I was pleased with the room, although it´s very different from home! I panicked though when I saw the shower...it´s pretty much upstairs, four cement walls with a pipe, no visible drain, and no ceiling or door. Thankfully about 5 minutes later Julie, another girl staying at this house, came home and for the first time in several hours I had someone I could talk to. She was very friendly and helpful, and after my comment about "the room is great, the shower will be interesting" she offered to let me share the shower connected to her room. Phew!! It is enclosed, with tile, a sink, a drain, all the things you would expect in a bathroom!! She has been here two weeks and is leaving tomorrow to travel to Lima, then will be back for one more week. I think they might move me into that room when she is gone, because when Veronica was showing me the shower she was definitely trying to explain something and I think (and pray) that it was "only two days because there is two people". We´ll see, I guess!
The family has been very kind and helpful. I´m glad I brought the library book of Spanish phrases and English-Spanish dictionary though! It has been very helpful. The food has been really delicious so far also. Last night we had rice, lentils, chicken, and plantains, and this morning eggs and bread. The Cabanos, a kind of hotel where many of the students are staying, has a nice pool, finished walls, etc, but there are 4 to a room and no meals included, so I still think I am better off overall. Plus I can hang out over there like we did last night playing cards, and walk back into town with all the other students who have homestays.
The town of Montanita is very small, so in only one day I feel comfortable finding my way around. I could probably walk the entire perimeter of the town in about 20 min at a comfortable pace. It takes about 2 minutes to walk from my homestay to the school, or The Cabanas, or the beach, etc. Since it is such a quick journey I will probably videotape the walk for you one of these days. That´ll say a lot more than explaining the dirt roads, chickens and dogs everywhere, no glass in the windows, etc. (Or did I just give you a good visual?)
I could say lots more, but I also have many more days ahead to post, and I am pretty tired after a successful day of classes. Two hours of class (8-10) in the morning, then me and two girls from my class successfully ordered, in Spanish, lunch at a resturant! We were quite proud of ourselves! We had two more hours of class in the afternoon (1-3) and we have surfing tonight (5-7). That will be my schedule for all of this week.
Lots of love to all of you! And a BIG shout out to the boy sitting next to me who is helping me upload my pics because all the directions are in Spanish! :)
This is a driving down a fast highway in town. Also notice the blue car is not quite far enough over to be in a different lane, but is not directly in front of us either!
Okay...it is now several hours later because the internet here is so spotty...so I am posting this asap before I get disconnected again, and then I will try for an update on today!
Friday, July 2, 2010
A new adventure...blogging!
Several of you asked if I would be blogging, especially since I will not really be posting anything to Facebook while I'm away so as to avoid advertising to the world that I'm away... so to please you, my adoring fans (haha), I have started this blog. I will try to post something every few days with some pics of what I'm up to. I did get the "blogger" job with AmeriSpan, which means they will give me a retroactive discount for my 350 words 3x a week about my experience! So I guess this will help me with that project, kind of like a rough draft!!
So, here goes nothing! Bear with me please, as I have no idea what I'm doing, and have never used these templates before. But I've spent a good bit of time procrastinating up until this point, and my suitcase still needs packing.
Hasta luego!
So, here goes nothing! Bear with me please, as I have no idea what I'm doing, and have never used these templates before. But I've spent a good bit of time procrastinating up until this point, and my suitcase still needs packing.
Hasta luego!
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