Time flies....
We have been having fun! Apologies for not posting in a while...I feel less motivated with no camera and classes slowly coming to an end..."if there was ever a time, now would be the time to see your time here is limited..."
My sweet girlfriend, Sheena, arrived last Monday and has been adjusting quite well to the new place, the language, the altitude and the food and water. She showed up to an insane bunch of kids scrambling to make a garden project more than a big mess of dirt and in between that a Thanksgiving dinner with the students and their families. I felt for her because at a few moments she was obviously not very excited to be speaking Spanish to people...on her second day here. Two thumbs up for her ability to roll with the punches, though!
Here are some pics and short explanations:
My sweet girlfriend, Sheena, arrived last Monday and has been adjusting quite well to the new place, the language, the altitude and the food and water. She showed up to an insane bunch of kids scrambling to make a garden project more than a big mess of dirt and in between that a Thanksgiving dinner with the students and their families. I felt for her because at a few moments she was obviously not very excited to be speaking Spanish to people...on her second day here. Two thumbs up for her ability to roll with the punches, though!
Here are some pics and short explanations:
We stayed a weekend in San Juan, outside of Riobamba, and view from our rooms was gorgeous rolling farmland and view of Mt. Chimborazo (Thanks Leigh/Ash), the mountain peak that is the furthest from the center of the earth...thus closest to la luna as well. According to one engineer/surveyors calculations, Mt. Chimborazo reaches 1.5 miles higher than Mt. Everest, into space that is...Everest is still higher from sea level.
This is the oldest shurch in the country, La Iglesia Balbanera, or the Balbanera Church, which was founded on the 15th of August, 1534! It was a strong little stone building with neat architecture, and Chimborazo can be partly seen behind it. We met our train/bus chiva just across the street from the church. ¡De la iglesia primera en Ecuador a la nariz del diablo! From the first church in Ecuador to the devil's nose!
We hopped on this chiva and rode it into la nariz del diablo. Bascially a little party bus converted to tun on train tracks with seats and ponshos on top...nice countryside! Below is a view from the bu...if you click the pic or look closely, their is a little diamond in the tracks and another bus waiting for us to come down so that they can start back up the mountain. We got some good views but I was looking forward to more excitement..maybe some boulder falls or a hold up by armed robbers...alas, it was very safe.
Now we move on more peaks in Ecuador....
Mt. Cotopaxi is the second highest volcanic mountain in Ecuador. Some of us hiked up to the shelter that you see in the picture above. I nabbed a pilsener and made a few boot turns in the sunny snow. Sheena and I just missed the view of the mountain as the clouds rolled in...standing next to the Avalanche Danger sign...
Later, the group rode bikes down the "washboard" road from Cotopaxi and across the barren bouldery park and through some pleasant farmland. Thanks to the Biking Dutchman for some good bikes to rip on, a nice bumpy Land Rover ride, and a stellar vegetarian lunch...and brownies!!!
Always smiling...Cotopaxi is hidden in them there clouds!
This is blackmail, eh? Prof. Biddle sampling the fine wears being peddled at the gate of the north entrance to the park....a "west coast hippie" head band for his granddaughter...¡qué lindo!
Leigh in perfect style....can you tell what is on the table?
¡El grupo!
We ran into some local traffic on the way back to Quito...amazingly, these mellow creatures casually made their way past us in about one minute or so...
The leader of the cows was a tranquil looking young lady, and her horse was petite and gorgeous.
The next day some of us went to the most important national football game of the season, the number two team, La Liga, versus the number one team, S.D. Quito. Team Quito has not been the champions in over 40 years! They won the game 2-0, a good win. Talk about team spirit and fanaticism, these people know how to do it! The fowl language never ceased, the ticker tape and confetti flew through the air constantly, and when a goal was scored everyone was sure to get soaked in beer....truly a strange spectacle to behold! Notice the obscene amounts of basically reciept paper on the ground...
It was quite packed! More than 35,000 people in attendance, and we found our little seats on the stairway...something that probably rarely happens in the rule-obsessed USA. One wild fan broke past the police on the field and ran for the crowd of people surrounding some star players...they should consider him for the team...he can at least run like a rabbit and dodge past opponents (the cops) quite well.
A goal was scored....the crowd roars and more paper soars.
Well, I have three more days of classes and then some time to explore more of Quito, say goodbye at the end of the week to my gracious host family, and then we all have some time in Baños and some other more remote places to chill out before heading back to the USA. I realize that I have included little about my studies in this weblog...but who wants to know about how neo-liberalism crushes cultures, how capitalism is deeply flawed and leading to serious global problems, or how the governments of the USA throughout the decades have played big daddy with Latin America and, for the most part, made things worse for everyone???
If that sounds interesting...it is. But I only found the tip of the iceberg, even though I would love to chat about it all! I am off to bed and, maybe, preparing for some final exams, papers and presentaions.
Take care,
clc
Oh yes, want to see more pics? Check out Renatas Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79494&l=53a98&id=703542603. Thanks!
Mt. Cotopaxi is the second highest volcanic mountain in Ecuador. Some of us hiked up to the shelter that you see in the picture above. I nabbed a pilsener and made a few boot turns in the sunny snow. Sheena and I just missed the view of the mountain as the clouds rolled in...standing next to the Avalanche Danger sign...
Later, the group rode bikes down the "washboard" road from Cotopaxi and across the barren bouldery park and through some pleasant farmland. Thanks to the Biking Dutchman for some good bikes to rip on, a nice bumpy Land Rover ride, and a stellar vegetarian lunch...and brownies!!!
Always smiling...Cotopaxi is hidden in them there clouds!
This is blackmail, eh? Prof. Biddle sampling the fine wears being peddled at the gate of the north entrance to the park....a "west coast hippie" head band for his granddaughter...¡qué lindo!
Leigh in perfect style....can you tell what is on the table?
¡El grupo!
We ran into some local traffic on the way back to Quito...amazingly, these mellow creatures casually made their way past us in about one minute or so...
The leader of the cows was a tranquil looking young lady, and her horse was petite and gorgeous.
The next day some of us went to the most important national football game of the season, the number two team, La Liga, versus the number one team, S.D. Quito. Team Quito has not been the champions in over 40 years! They won the game 2-0, a good win. Talk about team spirit and fanaticism, these people know how to do it! The fowl language never ceased, the ticker tape and confetti flew through the air constantly, and when a goal was scored everyone was sure to get soaked in beer....truly a strange spectacle to behold! Notice the obscene amounts of basically reciept paper on the ground...
It was quite packed! More than 35,000 people in attendance, and we found our little seats on the stairway...something that probably rarely happens in the rule-obsessed USA. One wild fan broke past the police on the field and ran for the crowd of people surrounding some star players...they should consider him for the team...he can at least run like a rabbit and dodge past opponents (the cops) quite well.
A goal was scored....the crowd roars and more paper soars.
Well, I have three more days of classes and then some time to explore more of Quito, say goodbye at the end of the week to my gracious host family, and then we all have some time in Baños and some other more remote places to chill out before heading back to the USA. I realize that I have included little about my studies in this weblog...but who wants to know about how neo-liberalism crushes cultures, how capitalism is deeply flawed and leading to serious global problems, or how the governments of the USA throughout the decades have played big daddy with Latin America and, for the most part, made things worse for everyone???
If that sounds interesting...it is. But I only found the tip of the iceberg, even though I would love to chat about it all! I am off to bed and, maybe, preparing for some final exams, papers and presentaions.
Take care,
clc
Oh yes, want to see more pics? Check out Renatas Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79494&l=53a98&id=703542603. Thanks!
posted by Cory at
12/01/2008 07:27:00 PM
3 Comments
