It's been a week!

Today marks the first full week living with my host family in Cuenca. It was overwhelmingly wonderful. I've definitely felt culture shock and the ups and downs of trying to always speak spanish. (For example, I was just interrupted by the door bell, and greeted a woman at the gate where I understood parts of what she was saying but did not know who she was or what to do as my family isn't home...she said she will return in 2 hours so hopefully my family will be here to great her, and at least I didn't completely send her away!)
I have experienced all types of weather; cool and cloudy, thick fog, hot sun, perfect sun and warmth, sprinkling and pouring rain, and freezing weather, not to mention all different altitudes, reaching up to 13,000 feet.

My schedule sometimes feels busy, yet I am loving it and it really is great. My friend Kyla (from NPU) and I meet and leave for school at 7:30am. We walk for a half an hour to the city center and start classes at 8am. We have 2 classes (30min break in between) 8am-12:30. Yes, each class is 2 hours long, everyday! Although my second class only meets Monday-Thursday, praise the Lord!

Courtyard at CEDEI school.

After class we walk home for lunch with the family and usually a short nap or time to do some homework/relax. We then walk back to school for the afternoon activity. This past week, the first day we went on a scavenger hunt around Cuenca. Tuesday and Wednesday we went to a elementary school, which has a great program for children with disabilities, and worked in the garden; taking out all the weeds and planting new flowers. Thursday we had a lecture and Friday we had a dance class! Thursday and Friday were both really fun!

Thursday night, our group along with my host sister and Kyla's host brother went to the city center for a classical and folk music concert. We then went to a bar and played jenga! Friday, the dance class was great. We learned bachata, but thankfully mainly the simple step and turn, not so sensual style. The dance teacher had me dance with him to show the steps we would be doing...and it got really awkward when he started the more typical style of bachata. After the dance class, our group picked up some food and then went over to our professor's apartment for dinner! Later that night our group and some of the host sisters and brothers (including my sister and her boyfriend) all went out to a discotec. Fun fact of the day: US americans get in free to discotecs here because (usually) they consume so much more alcohol. Kinda sad but true...although they didn't make much money off of our group :) So after a long night of dancing, we got home late, to wake up the next day at 7am for our adventure to Cajas national park.

Cajas was awesome. Our whole group camped with most of the Syracuse group as well! It was very tiring, especially being at 13,000 feet, but it was absolutely beautiful and lots of fun. I will post some pictures and a video!

First stop in high altitude at Cajas.

I wanted to live in this forest.

Our group...close to where we would set up camp!

Where we camped!

Roomies don't look so excited...but it was awesome! Red tent :D

Lauren and I are twins :)

Eating dinner together.

Primera día con la familia :)

Sunday was the first full day with my host family. We went to a catholic church in the morning, it was hard understanding everything that was going on, mainly because of the language and how fast everyone speaks, but also because I am not used to the way a catholic service is run. After church we came back for breakfast, and then I unpacked and set up my room. While I was unpacking I did feel homesick as I was moving into a room in a house, but it just wasn't my house, my home. I now fully see how moving into university and back each semester is much different than moving into a house, not to mention in a completely different culture, city and continent! As I was finished packing, my host mom asked if I was ready to go, I did not know where to, but of course I was ready!

We ended up driving almost an hour to a smaller town where lots of their family lives. On the way, we stopped for lunch and I really wish I had taken a picture. At least 20 fully roasted pigs laid out on tables where you ordered and they prepared a meal for you. Annnnddd it was delicious! We also had amazing coconut juice, not coconut water or milk, but juice! yum :) after lunch, we went to their aunts and sat and talked outside for a good 3 or 4 hours, while more and more family came, greeting all with besos. I mostly just listened and tried to understand what everyone was talking about. When my family speaks to me I understand and can answer, but it's hard trying to understand what everyone is saying to each other.

We then went into their house and hung out for about another hour. One of the cousins had surgery on his neck last week, so I got to meet him and we watched TNT (yes the american channel but in Spanish) together. The movie that was on was "Chuck and Larry" with Adam Sandler and Kevin James. I tried to explain the plot line of the movie to them, which if any of you know, is hard enough/odd to explain in English. But it worked, and it was fun to just hang out with them. That night we had a small dinner around 8:30 of empañatas and a warm drink similar a rice milk drink. The empañatas reminded me of chicken pot pie! Anywho, it was a good day meeting lots of family.

From the Amazon Jungle!

On the way to the Jungle-we saw snow!

Video from the mountains on the way to the amazon.

Cascadas!

Lunch on the way, $2.50 US bombtown.

Most of our group!

Our room in the ecolodge.

Club 11 baby!

Hola amigos. 

That's our cabaña back there :)

We did all of the above.

Walking through the Jungle!

First day on the napo river.

Be careful the monkeys are part of life.

Los monos.

Think princess bride rodents.

The turtles :)

Our best friend Dani!!

Videos from Otavalo!

Hearing about indigenous instruments! 

She also demonstrated the process to make this type of flauta!

He is explaining about the indigenous of Ecuador, and his papá is making a scarf on a pre-spanish loom!

The cathedral in Otavalo and a snippet of our group, on the way to dinner!

Pictures from first two days in Quito and Otavalo!

One of the views from our hotel in Quito.

The museum in Quito

Roomie (for the week) picture!!! I love this chica!

Views on the trip between Quito and Otavalo.

Entering Otavalo, love the mountains here :)

The hotel in Otavalo!

Otavalo carlot!

First week in Ecuador: traveling the beautiful country!

The first night (saturday) in Ecuador we stayed in Quito, and the next morning we went to a museum in Quito and then traveled to Otavalo. The museum was of Oswaldo Guayasamín's paintings, who is from Quito. Otavalo is a town north of Quito known especially for its weavings of textiles and their market. While we were there, we got to meet a few different indigenous people in their homes and hear about their lifestyle and history. It was incredible, I will post some videos/pictures from those experiences. This was the first full day and already our group was bonding wonderfully together. 

After the market the next day (monday), we headed back to Quito (the capital city). On the way, we stopped at the equator! I have now had half of my body in one hemisphere and the other half in the other hemisphere, nbd ;) It was incredibly hot, and interesting. That night in Quito, we had dinner at a nice restaurant (thanks to North Park) with Covenant Christian missionaries. It was awesome to hear about various ministries and how to get connected to missionary work in Ecuador. After dinner, we celebrated Sarah's birthday upstairs at the bar. This was a memorial experience with fellow american (family) tourists buying us drinks. 

The next day (tuesday), we were off to the Amazon! We stayed at an ecolodge for 3 nights in Cotococha (literally meaning Monkey lagoon in Quichua). On the first full day in the jungle we took a boat ride on the napo river to an animal rescue center called the "amazOOnico" were we saw lots of interestingly beautiful animals and danced in a rain storm. Becky and I met one of our best friends Dani, who lives across the river. After a hike with our awesome guide Alfreado and Dani, we swung on a rope into the river and ate arroz con pollo on the bank of the napo. After lunch we went to an indigenous community where they demonstrated the finding of gold in the sand of the napo, preparation of types of food from the yuca-a root that tastes kind of like a potato, ceramics and painting, and blow darts. Even though we were soaking most of the day, it was awesome!!

The next full day in the jungle (Thursday), we took a hike to a beautiful waterfall were we went swimming and jumped off the waterfall-don't worry, not the top, and then went tubing down the river back to the lodge. After descansa y almuerzo we went to a mariposario where we saw all types of butterflies and humungo beechos (bugs).

Happy Friday! (although I would have never known what day if it wasn't for this nifty watch-thanks ma) After becky and I lugged our bags through the rock paths in the rain, to breakfast, we said chow to la selva and headed south. We stopped along the way at puyo and baños, and then stayed at a beautiful Hacienda. We had a wonderful dinner and some bailando as well! ¡que rico!  

The next morning (today!), Becky and I woke up early to again haul our lovely bags up multiple steps and runways, and then of course we took pictures with the vacas and such. After breakfast we were on our way to our new home, Cuenca!

Yet of course, on the way we stopped in a small town for a tire problema. But everything was okay, because we purchased esnacks :) and presumably there were chicos lindos that we talked to and I got to give my "jungle princess crown" (made by Alfreado out of a plant) to una chica, adorable. Through more "la gente" y "20 preguntas" games as well as songs and craziness and sleeping, we arrived in Cuenca! Everyone was anxious, even if we said we were only excited.

In CEDEI (our school) they set us students up in a room and our host families were concealed in the other room. They pulled back curtains (seriously) and por supesto, they bring in a women and have a drum role, and it's my host mamá! So I joined the anxious families as everyone else waited to be united. 

I mentioned previously shortly about my host family, and I'm sure there will be more to come! I hope you enjoyed, and managed through, some details of the past week, although there is much more if you are interested :) ¡hasta luego chicos! 

Estoy en Cuenca!!!

¡Hola de Cuenca, Ecuador! Everything has been going great. As I said earlier, we were in the jungle and so this is my first time back with internet connection. I will (hopefully tonight) post some videos and pictures about la selva and other places we have been for the past week.

I met my host family tonight! I am here in a Cuencano home! I have mis padres and a sister close to my age as well as an older sister who is married with three kids! They all came over tonight and we had a great time. There is also an older brother but he lives in Nueva York. It was a little nerve racking meeting our families today but all in a good way. It's been fun to only speak spanish, although when everyone is talking to each other it is easy to get lost. We start classes on monday at 8am, yay! 8am everyday is the schedule. Tomorrow we will go to inglesia together a las 9, which I'm excited to experience, here. Feel free to leave any comments or ask me any questions about everything! I hope all is well from where you are reading this :) ¡besos!

¡Estamos en Ecuador!

We arrived in Quito, Ecuador late Saturday night! So far it has been absolutely amazing. I have taken lots of pictures and videos and will be posting some soon. Tomorrow morning we leave for the jungle- Cotococha, so I may not post about everything until I arrive in Cuenca, where I will meet my host family!

I am so thankful for the way everything has gone so far and especially the group I am with of 8 students and 1 professor! Praise the Lord everything is so good. I will be posting info about our adventures soon. ¡Adios!