Big Volcano Go ¨Boom!¨

Well, well, well. Christmas has passed and now it´s on to the New Year. Christmas was really nice here. We went to Manuel´s brother´s house on Christmas Eve around 11:15 pm, where there was the biggest mountain of presents I´ve ever seen in my life. At midnight there was a toast with champagne, then present opening, then a big dinner. We left that celebration at around 2:15 and started opening presents at my host family´s house at 2:30 am. Everyone got a pretty good haul! Then we fell into bed around 3:30 or so. Christmas itself was more laid back. We all woke up late, ordered Chinese food, relaxed and watched movies.

I should probably also rewind to the weekend before Christmas. A friend of Alejandro´s was in town visiting from Colombia with his wife, and last weekend was their last chance to do touristy stuff. On a very spur of the moment decision, we all decided to take an overnight trip to a town 3 hours away called Baños. They have tons of things to do there, like hikes, hot springs, steam rooms, off-roading, etc. Baños also happens to be located right near an active volcano called Tungurahua. Anyhoozie, we arrived in Baños in the early afternoon. Hostals and food there were super cheap!! We ate a nice lunch at a French restaurant. After that, we hopped on some 4-wheelers to go offroading. We rode up the side of Tungurahua and got to see the path where the lava flowed in the last eruption. When we made it to the end of the trail to see the old lava flow, we saw a huge cloud of black smoke. Then, when we were driving down the mountain and had stopped to take some more pictures of the landscape, we heard booming noises, kind of like thunder but not quite as loud, coupled with another big cloud of black smoke. Very impressive! Luckily enough, no eruptions. We definitely didn´t realize that the volcano was going to be that active when we decided to visit Baños. What was even more surprising/nervewracking after the fact was that when we returned to Quito and read the newspaper that day, it said that Tungurahua was having higher than normal volcanic activity and that while we were busy cavorting on the volcano, a couple of the small towns closer to the eruption path had been evacuated. Yikes! Kind of thrilling, though, and makes for a good story. And I have to admit, I think that hearing the volcano was probably my favorite part of the trip.

After our excursion, we crashed at the hostal for awhile, then did some exploring in town, which wasn´t a very big place but was very picturesque. Then we had some cheap but excellent Mexican food. Finally to cap off the night, we drove up the mountain in a chiva, in which we got to ride on the roof again. We reached a lookout point where we had an aerial view of the whole town. The chiva company served us hot drinks, called canelazo, which is sweet and made from a fruit called naranjilla (similar to an orange) and cinnamon. There was also a place where we could buy grilled corn on the cob and kebabs. Finally, there was a big bonfire and jugglers that performed their acts with fire.

The next morning, we ate breakfast at a German restaurant and I satisfied my craving for pancakes (we certainly were very multicultural with our restaurant choices, and they were all cheap and fabulous!). To end our trip, we walked around the town and its 2 plazas a little bit more, took pictures, and then rolled on out of there. All in all, it was a short but really fun trip! It was nice to get outside of Quito for a little while, and the countryside while we were driving to and from Baños was gorgeous with all the mountains, clouds, and little towns.

Right now everyone is relaxing in the downtime between Christmas and New Years. I can´t believe it´s almost time to welcome in 2008! At any rate, I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful holiday and has an excellent New Year!

A Few Asides

Saw 2 gringos get robbed yesterday by 4 hooligans. We actually almost ran over the robbers because they ran in front of our car when we were driving back from picking up Alejo from the ¨U¨ (university). Pobrecitos... That was the first mugging I´ve seen here, so it was a bit unsettling. Luckily, I know well enough not to walk around the streets at 9:30 pm, so I´m not too worried. Even though I´m not from here, I definitely feel less like a tourist because I´ve learned a lot of the ins and outs of the culture here as well as how to stay safe.

On a happier note, Quito looks really nice with all the Christmas decorations going up around town! I think I´m going to revert to being a tad touristy and do a little excursion around town this weekend to take pictures.

Busy Bee

Here´s a very overdue update about the past few weeks.

-I saw the national soccer team´s last game of 2007, which was against Peru. As predicted, it was a slaughterfest, only this time it was Ecuador that did the slaughtering: 5-1! It was nice to see that for a change. I guess having the coach resign and making a few adjustments was just what the team needed. I´ll have to wait until June 2008 to see how the saga unfolds because that´s when the matches to qualify for the World Cup resume.

-It was a lot of fun meeting my host family´s extended family. One of my host mom´s sisters returned to live in Quito after living for about 10 years in the US. One of her sons, Hugo, accompanied her here to help her move in, although he still lives in the states (right outside of DC, actually). And another cousin was, and still is, in town from Australia. At any rate, there were many family gatherings a couple weeks ago, such as the soccer game, a big family dinner, and a going away party for cousin Hugo when he had to return home. Suffice it to say that that was one of the best parties I have ever been to! My family hosted a bbq at their house for about 30 family members. After everyone finished eating, it was time for drinks, which were passed around the entire night. Following drinks and conversation, the mariachi band my family hired showed up and played some songs, and then the dancing really started--but didn´t end until hours later. It was really exciting having so many people dancing salsa and other traditional dances, and the energy level was really high throughout the night. We would also sometimes dance in a circle and one person at a time would have to get in the middle, do dance moves of any kind, and everyone else would have to copy the person leading. I thought it might be embarassing but it was actually very comfortable, and we definitely busted out with some pretty silly dance moves. After much of the family had left, a core group of us was left at the house around 4 am. That´s when everyone seemed to be feeling their drinks, so we all congregated in the kitchen and each person present made an individual toast to Hugo, wishing him a good trip, saying how good it was to see him (because he doesn´t come to Quito that often and the family misses him a lot), toasting the family in general, etc. It was actually really emotional, perhaps in part because the cocktails had kicked in as well, but many of us were teary-eyed, or maybe we had dirt in our eyes, I´m not sure. At any rate, I really liked how comfortable everyone felt expressing themselves and showing very strong emotions, and there were some really eloquent toasts. It was a beautiful way to end the party. Needless to say, by the time I walked home to my apartment to fall into bed, the birds were chirping and the sun was rising--I finally fell asleep at 7 am and proceeded to sleep through most of the day with a few periods of wakefulness to eat. (Reminiscent of certain choice weekends from the Wellesley College days...)

-This past week were the ¨fiestas de Quito,¨ celebrating independence from Spain. The partying started last weekend and lasted until this past Thursday. There were tons of chivas every day driving around the city (chivas are the truck-type vehicles that have 2 levels and that you can ride on the ¨caboose¨ and roof, like the one I rode when I visited the coast) with bands on the lower levels playing music and lots of people yelling, singing, and cheering (many of them drunk). At the beginning of the week there were the bullfights which are still very popular here. After how far the human race has come, I´m still trying to figure out how people can still get so pumped up at the sight of blood and animals being tortured. What cracks me up even more (not really) is that the fans of the bullfights try to label it as ¨art.¨ Oh, please. An exposé about the bullfights in Quito aired last night to show people what it´s all really about. I could barely even watch and had to close my eyes at certain parts. They showed close-ups of what the matadors do, and the whole spectacle essentially consists of jabbing various large pointy metal objects, spurs, and swords into the bull (some of which stay in the animals back and neck the whole time), gradually weakening it and wounding it until they kill it. There´s tons of blood, eventually the animal is drooling white stuff and can barely breathe, and then it falls down on itself as it´s being stabbed to death. Really cool, huh? I´m sorry, but I have to ask--I mean, I know the fights are historical and all, but really, what the hell is wrong with some people that they get their jollies from this kind of stuff? Ok, not trying to be judgmental. I just find the whole thing really sad. Anyhoo, I hope this tv program last night opened up some eyes, changes the opinions of the majority, and that this kind of ¨entertainment¨ drops off the face of the planet. Okay, getting off my soapbox now...

So yeah, the festivals of Quito...Unfortunately I got sick right before the fiestas started. I don´t know what kind of germs they have here but they really cling on to you for dear life! I´m still trying to get rid of the remains of my cough and cold as I write this, a week and change later. However, I did manage to get it together enough to hit the town one night to take in the sights and mingle with the people. I went out with Alejo, his friend Janet, and the two exchange students staying with my family. We saw some of an outdoor concert with alternative music that was pretty good, wandered the streets a little to see what was going on and watch all the drunks (and there were lots), and finally ended up at a bar called the Whiskey House, which had good, cheap drinks and where we could sit at the balcony, people-watch, and play foosball. So that was pretty much the extent of my partying during the fiestas week. Not at all hardcore, but I didn´t really mind since I was watching my health, and since I also appear to be evolving into somewhat of a homebody.

-After the festivals ended, people started to remember that it´s December and Christmas is coming. So everyone is starting to get into Christmas mode, which I really like. My family put up their tree and we all helped decorate it, in addition to the rest of the house. I even have a little fake tree in my apartment that´s decorated, too! I did a bit more Christmas shopping and I can almost see the finish line. I also found out the plan for Christmas: apparently each of the 9 days leading up to Christmas, the family prays and reads aloud about the events each night leading up to Jesus´ birth. Here Christmas Eve is the main event, not the actual Christmas day, although I think my family makes a nice meal on Christmas day as well. On Christmas Eve, all of Manuel´s (host dad) family gets together at his brother´s house, finishes the prayers and reading of the story, there´s a big meal, and at midnight everyone exchanges gifts and opens their presents. Then, after we go home from that, we´ll exchange gifts within my host family, and then probably go to bed around 3 am. I think maybe we save one gift to open on Christmas day, and then we´ll stuff ourselves silly again. I have to admit, the ritual will be different than I´m used to, but I´m really excited to see what the celebrations are like here. The only thing that I can think of that will potentially be missing will be snow. But I think I can live without that for one year. After all, it doesn´t always snow in DC on Christmas, anyway.

Well, I think that´s all I´ll leave you with for now. Hope everyone´s partaking in and enjoying the holiday spirit and the season! Besos xoxo