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3
de noviembre
Well,
today I came back from my trip to
Quito
with my host family. It was three days of fun and
travel….even though the majority of the time was spent in the car.
We
left
Portoviejo
early Saturday morning. The trip to
Quito
was 7 hours long….so we had all kind of junk food
with us. I can’t really tell you about the car ride to
Quito
because I slept almost all the way there…and when I
was awake I was praying that these crazy drivers would stay on their side
of the road.
When
we were near to
Quito
, I was wide awake because that very cold, dry mountain
air hit my face sooooooooo hard that waking up was the only option or die
sleeping. (Ok maybe it wasn’t that intense but hey I’m from the
Bahamas
…any type of weather that requires a jacket daily is
pretty intense to me).
Quito
is located really high up in the mountains...while we
were driving…clouds covered the roads so it was hard to see. Yea I said
clouds. (I took a picture if
you don’t believe me).
By
the time we reached my Tìa’s house, we were all tired….so we ate then
went to bed.
Sunday,
after breakfast, all of us packed ourselves in the car and went on a tour
of
Quito
. We went into the Centro Histórica where
buildings…churches…and schools were hundreds of years old.
Our
first stop was to the great Cathedral which is over 300 years old…and
it’s not even finished yet.
La Catedral
is amazingly beautiful. In the day it looks like a
painting of historic
Europe
and at night…the building changes colour.
It is really a beautiful site. We took a tour inside…and it is as
equally beautiful inside as it is outside. I took a picture of the inside
where mass is held…B…E…A…Utiful.
After
that we went to
La Plaza
de
la Independencia
where I took pictures of the Municipal…
La Casa
de Presidencia…el Monasterio de San Francisco…la
iglesia de Santo Domingo…and el Museo de Cultura de Ecuador (where we
took a tour of the museum and went through the history of Ecuador since it
was re-discovered in 1526 by Francisco Pizarro).
It was amazing.
Sunday
night we took a ride around the area again…but this time the buildings
had changed because of the colour lights.
La Catedral
changed colour every 5 minutes…the parks too had
colour lights around the trees so it gave the park a rainbow effect.
We
also went to visit the Mitad
Del Mundo on Sunday. I guess everyone knows what
that is…well if you don’t the Mitad
Del Mundo is a statue famous for its position on
the equator in
Ecuador
.
Monday
we took another long drive to the
province
of
Cotopaxi
and into the mountains where Ecuadorians of Inca
descent… (Quechua) live. It was freeeezing up there, but it was the most
beautiful thing that I’ve seen so far.
We went to Volcán
Quilatoa and that was quite a site to see. When
I saw that volcano and those mountains…it hit me again that I’m in
Ecuador
…and the only thing I could’ve said was “Wow”.
Afterwards we went on a tour of Latacunga (the capital of the
province
of
Cotopaxi
); we only went on the tour because we were trying to
find somewhere to eat.
Monday
night, we went to another “wow” worthy place…Rio Machangrara Mirador.
This I don’t have pictures of because my batteries went dead and I
didn’t bring a spare pair with me.
Our
last day in
Quito
, we went to the Balneario Shumaher (I think) for most
of the day. This is a park with indoor and outdoor pools….saunas…and
play areas. It was a good
experience…going into a sauna and a really really really hot “hot
tub”. By the end of the day I had my first sauna experience…was 3
shades of brown…and had a home and cell phone number of a gorgeous speci…
who is planning on coming to
Portoviejo
next week… (Wish me luck on that one). J
Later
that day we went to visit the Panecillo. Here is where you can find the
famous statue of the Virgen de Quito. (It’s an angel that watches over
the city of
Quito
).
Afterwards,
we spent the remainder of the day driving around
Quito
, from north to south.
This
morning we woke up at
7am
, ate breakfast, packed up all our stuff and took the
7hr drive back to
Portoviejo
(and we made it in one piece). Next week starts the
new and last semester of school. I decided that I’m actually going to do
the work because I have nothing to do when I’m in school…and it’s
only for 5hrs everyday…so it can’t hurt. Plus there’s a guy in my
class that thinks he’s king of the world…and wouldn’t ever dare let
someone, let alone a girl, beat him at anything…so we’ll just see what
happens.
Hasta
luego, tenga un lindo dìa!
P.S.
¡El Feliz Cumpleaños a mi hermano, Ullin!!! ¡Mi hermano primer y el
amigo mejor! Siempre y Para Siempre…Te Amo.
21
de noviembre
Yesterday
made 3 months since I’ve been here…but it feels more like 3 years.
I’m sitting here eating torta de tres leches (which by the way is
RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING) and I’m thinking to myself…Hey I’m in
Ecuador
. I have those kind of moments a lot…like this
morning when I woke up…the first thing I heard was Spanish…and for a
split second I thought I was dreaming but then I thought…I’m in
Ecuador… and burst into laughter. I’m sure you don’t think that’s
funny but if you had seen the confused look on my face…then you would
have laughed too.
So
do you want to hear something funny? I cooked today. Food…real, edible,
ECUATORIAN food. My Mamí was tired so she asked if I could help her cook
and of course being the helpful person that I am J
I said claro! So we made arroz
con mariscos…ensalada de frijoles (with our special cream)…conchas
(straight out the shell) and jugo de naranjilla. And for dessert we had
the torta de tres leches. D E L ICIOUS!! Unfortunately I’m not a big fan
of the raw conchas but I ate
one anyway.
Everyone
that knows me or has seen me before will be happy to know that in the 3
months I’ve been here I’ve gained quite a bit more pounds already.
When I came here in August I was 106lbs. nooooooooooooooooow I am 131lbs. ;-)
It’s a good thing though.
My
host parents went to
Guayaquil
today because my dad’s dad is sick in the hospital
there. So it’s just me and my host brother for 2 days. It’s ok…he
makes me laugh even when he gets me upset…he’s just very funny for a
14yrd old.
On
the whole…I’m doing well. My Spanish is great…school is going well
(oh by the way speaking of school…my class is doing Secret Santa for
Christmas. We all know that guys are really hard to shop for…so if
anyone has any suggestions on what to buy for one of my guy friends since
I got his name…feel free to email me…thanks), and I’m happy. HOT!!!!
But happy. (I’m telling you this heat is serious and this isn’t even
the hottest it’s going to get here).
Thanks
for listening. ¡Que pases bien!
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