Cosas

A lot has happened here in the past ten days. We went to both Ingapirca (Incan ruins) and Cajas (An amazing national park), I will try to post pictures soon. Both places were incredible, but Cajas was gorgeous. It is mountainous terrain filled with hundreds of small lakes. One of the girls in the group managed to find the only patch of quicksand in the whole park. We all snapped photos as she sank thigh deep into the mud.

Possibly the most interesting, yet least surprising part of the past few days is the fact that I went on a date with a very nice Cuencan girl named Adriana. We met at a birthday party, I later asked her to go to dinner and salsa dancing. She said yes, after asking her father for permission.

Thats such an interesting aspect of life, here. It never even occurred to me that she would have to ask her father, but of course she would. People live with their parents until they are 40. 

The date was kind of difficult with my fluency in spanish and her nearly flawless english. I thought it went okay at best, and did not really expect to hear from her again. On the contrary, round two is this Wednesday.

Maybe we'll hold hands, since thats like 3rd base here.

Si ella es bonita, da la un momento más.

Here in Cuenca, I am living with a not so typical family of five. My host mother has four children of her own, all in their 30's. Two of her children live in the house with us: Maria, a teacher and Patricio, a lawyer (It appears that I am destined to live with lawyers). Maria and Patrico each have a son, ages 6 and 11 respectively. This helps me greatly with my language skills because as we all know, children speak very clearly and slowly. I only have to ask them to repeat themselves three or four times before I understand half of what they say, but I figure that if I can understand them I can understand anyone.

The most interesting fact about my host family is that they share the same religious views as Mitt Romney. At first, when I was told this, I thought perhaps I had misunderstood them or that maybe it was even a joke they were playing on the gringo.

No.

This revelation gave way to many other thoughts. No coffee in the morning. No beer/wine/alcohol of any sort in the house. Will I be able to stay out late? Will they be mad if I come home not quite three sheets to the wind, but maybe two? How is this going to work?

On Wednesday we decided to go out for some drinks, then some Salsa dancing at la Mesa (The Salsa club). So before I left; out of respect for my family and their faith, I asked my host mother what time she wanted me to return. At first she said, "Whenever you like", but she went on to say, "Si ella es bonita, da la un momento más." In english: If she is pretty, give her some more time.

Relief washed over me, and I left the house for a great night.

El Comienzo Del Viaje

The beginning of my journey consisted of a one day layover in Miami. I noticed that 30 yards from my hotel there was a latin restaurant, so I decided to partake in a preview of the food to come. My meal of a giant Cuban Sandwich and fried platanos was quite satisfying, and held me over until the cheese pizza hot pocket I received on the flight from Miami to Costa Rica, which was, as expected, not quite as satisfying as the Cuban Sandwich and platanos.

The flights from Miami to Quito, Ecuador were very short and comfortable. Upon arriving in Quito we (a group of students) went to the Hotel to settle in and get something to eat. The Hotel was surprisingly nice for being part of a student program, it had a heated pool and a phenomenal view of the Andes. 

The following day we boarded a bus that had been more than gently used and headed off on a city tour of Quito. The interesting thing about Quito is that it is sprawled out over the foothills of the Andes, giving way to streets with treacherously steep inclines and close quarters for busses.

I was shocked to find that the city tour consisted mainly of churches. Who would have thought a former colony of Spain would be Catholic? In all seriousness, one of the Churches was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, and I have seen many a church. It was done almost completely in gold leafing. I managed to quell my sense of socio-political outrage in order to enjoy the craftsmanship of the church. A revealing aspect of the church was the presence of two corresponding paintings, one of heaven and one of hell. All the people in heaven are white, and all of those in hell are black. I was told that the indigenous people of Ecuador are not allowed inside of the church, but they are able to stand in the doorway and observe the two paintings. This racism still exists today, as the indigenous people are the most poor in the country.

A very special part of the city tour was a walkthrough of the Presidential Palace, much like the White House only less security, and the people who pay for it are allowed inside. I was told however, that this has only been allowed recently, with the election of the new President. Whilst waiting in line to enter the palace I was surrounded by soldiers with sub-machine guns and other small arms, but once inside the gates the security was very lax. I passed through the metal detector with pockets filled with various objects that set it off, yet no one seemed to care. On the contrary to the lax security at the gate, a soldier did follow us thought out the entire tour and our guide kept us in marching formation.

At first glance, Ecuador appears to fulfill all the stereotypes we gringos have of Latin American countries; corruption, poverty and danger. I hope that throughout my journeys I can venture past this stereotype and discover the heart of Ecuador.