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Eric in Ecuador
"Sorry to anybody who
has no idea what this email is about, but i basically sent it to all my contacts...
man! have things been craazy here.. I´ve been falling asleep at alteast
12am every night because of all the parties and dinners.. every night! I absolutely
looove it here, the food, the people, the animals.... the weather... awesome...
Arriving in Quito (the capital, 2 hours north of Latacunga) was really easy.
Passing security/customs in Mexico city consisted of a shrug from me, and a
nod from the officer. Luckily I had my mandolin packed in my bag (yes i fixed
it) so i could sing and play in the middle of the airport. Karina (sp) who is
also from BC flew with me right from Van. Unfortunately we weren´t sitting
together on the planes, but it wouldn´t have mattered cuz i basically
slept the whole time. Arriving in Quito at 6:00am with a beautiful sunrise,
Karina (sp) and i were overwhelmed by our individual families and parted ways.
My family, los Cárdenas, are really great. I truly feel part of the family,
and comfortably refer to them as mi padres (parents) mamá y papá.
My host father had a doctorate in business and runs (or maybe just the president
or something) of a chain of business´ around Cotopaxi (the name of the
province). I´m actually not entirely positive whether or not my host mom
works, because we havn´t fully discussed that. Either way they are quite
wealthy, having a huge fountain "inside" their house, a private tennis
court, a massive house, and two employados (sp) (people who work in the house).
one of the "maids" lives in the house, will cook you something whenever
you want (though i never ask outside of meal times) eg. i wake up at 7 or 8
or 10 or whenever, their she is ready to cook breakfast. Food is amazing, natural,
wholesome, just all around delicious. sure some of it i truly have no idea what
it is, but it still tastes great.
Here I'm definitely not vegetarian,
i would undoubtedly starve. my very first meal in Ecuador was at the café
vaca, (cow café), which consisted of very light sqwooshy quesa (cheese),
pan (bread), a really hot, slightly cracked, clay bowl that had eggs and some
type of meat smothered in melted cheese. Really tasty though. To top it off
they served us milk just milked from the cow! really awesome.
Aaah so much to write! I´m trying to get used to this keyboard, which
is kinda wonky. wow! the other day i went to a city 2 hours south of Latacunga
called baños. baños (meaning baths) is named after the hot spring
baths notorious for the city. the surrounding are is kind of a transitional
point between los andes and el Oriente (the amazon), so in result, has huge
peaks, massive waterfalls, and thick forests. my family took me to a place called
"el pilon del diablo" a huge waterfall.... soooo beautiful.
So far ive probably met 70 new people somehow all related to each other. the
people here in ecuador are really friendly, and i feel very comfortable with
the entire rotary club who offer their homes and service at my disposal. my
Youth Exchange officer Renato (as all people here insist i use their first name)
is one of the most friendly people i know, and i feel very privileged to have
as my chairman. My adviser "miguel" is also very easy to talk to (for
as far as my spanish takes me) and lives one block away giving me another place
to turn to.
while here i hope to buy a "charango" which is a little ukulele like
instrument native to the andes. theres so much more to write but ill have to
save it for another day...
Eric
--
" I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in.
Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"
-Aldo Leopold
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