Returning once more...

So, I didn't do such an awesome job keeping up with my blog this summer when I was in Ecuador, mostly because I had no internet in my house. However, I have been given a second chance! That's right! I'm going back to Ecuador to study for an entire semester! I will leave the first week of January and return sometime in June. I have big, big plans for this trip! Firstly, classes start January 10th and don't end until May 15th. What a long semester, right? Then I plan on staying an extra month to do some serious traveling. My best friend, Shantala, and some of my greatest friends, Ty, William, and Peter will be studying in Cordoba, Argentina and I am really hoping I can find a cheap flight to spend some time with them! I am also considering writing my Senior Thesis on a topic specific to the Ecuadorian Amazon so I hope to do a little bit of research while I'm in the country. However, before I can get there I have to do all the paperwork, and calling, and emailing. I've been working really hard for over a month now trying to get all my applications in and the due date is sneaking up on me (Oct 20). So, keep your fingers crossed for me and be waiting on more updates!

Otavalo

Last weekend, Corie, Ty, and I went to Otavalo to take part in the countries largest marketplace. It was amazing. Comparable to Double Decker weekend but on crack. I spent way to much money on gifts I'm sure you will all enjoy. We stayed two nights in the Hostel Santa Fe, which Ty did a fantastic job of reserving for us. Friday night we ate at a restaurant named Quino where we found the best cup of hot chocolate in the world. Not exaggerating. Saturday we got up early and scouted the market for Ecuador's finest artesians. I have tons of pictures but of course I can't upload them so the one you see is stolen from Corie.



We decided to stay two nights but returned home early Sunday morning. AND since sunday was my last sunday in Quito, Ty and I decided to get lost in Old Town Quito. It was so much more pleasant to walk the streets of Old Town without a tour guide who spoke Spanish 90 mph. There was even a music festival going on in La Plaza de San Fransisco so Ty and I enjoyed a cup of canelazo while listening to the Ecuadorian bands. Canelazo is a hot drink made with sugar cane liquor, orange juice, lemon, and brown sugar. The entire evening was "tranquilo," until Ty got jumped by a cracked out ladron with a bottle opener. Apparently, Ecuadorians think that Americans who buy 15 cent pieces of gum have money. Thankfully the police were very close by and made sure nothing happened.

This picture is from the very first week I was in Quito. Meghan and my friend, Rachel Johnson, introduced us to some "equas." Now our friends and Andrew and Marco have since shown us the ropes of nightlife in Quito.

Stolen photos...

The first picture is the view front outside my school.
The second is the campus on which I am studying.
I told you about the tour we went on the first day. The third picture is of one of the churches we went in. You aren´t supposed to take photos because the gold you see on the walls is actually real gold paper and is very fragile.

Life´s a Beach

Last weekend, I went to Canoa Beach on the Pacific Ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous and we paid little to nothing to stay in a very beach hostel. It was just what we all needed after the first week of school.

This week has been pretty laid back. Yesterday, Ty, Shantala and I went to an orphanage where our friend Mary Anna Wright has been working all summer. The kids were absolutely adorable and all of our heart broke when they cried as we left. We WILL be going back!

I have plans to stay in Quito this weekend and experience some things here. There is a big group traveling to Montanita for $130 road trip flight. Have fun!

Sorry I haven´t been keeping up. Will try to do better.

I´m going to try to upload photos soon.

On top of the world...

Yesterday I went to Teleferiqo with my friends Rob, Ty, Max, Margaret, Corie, Lexi, and Kathy. It was better than I thought it would be. We rode a cable car to the top of Mount Pichincha, which is the mountain my house is located on. On the way there, we got totally ripped out but a cab driver and Robert argued with him all the way there. We paid 8.50 to ride the cable car and when we got to the top we hiked about a two miles up the mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous. Pictures to come, hopefully.

After school, some of us ate dinner with Meghan's friend Priscilla. She is absolutely gorgeous and is sooo much fun! I laughed the entire time. I think I may got to Mindo with her next weekend. She said it is a small town but there is tons to do there. We would go tubing and ride zip lines. Then I rode all three buses back to my house where I talked with my mother for an hour and ate some of the dinner she had prepared. It consisted of a potatoe and cheese pancake with a salad made of beets, carrots, onions, and tomatoes. It was very purple.

This morning, I slept in until 930, took a cold shower and have been working on my homework for hours. We have so much! I am getting ready to eat lunch with Meghan in mariscal and get our bus tickets to Canoa this weekend. Meghan, Margaret, Shantala, and I are riding eight hours on a bus to the beach. I can't wait.

After school today I'm going to go swimming at Priscilla's house and then go out on the town with her! You'll hear all about it tomorrow! Chao!

In two places at once!

Day 2

Orientation was yesterday. It was boring but afterwards we went to Mariscal. Mariscal is where all the bars and “diskotecas” are. We met Meghan’s friend Marcos and his brother, Andrew, and we ate at Aladdin’s. The menu’s had Jasmine and Aladdin on them. :) I ate a Shawarma, it was kind of like a gyro with an Ecuadorian twist. I also had my first, Cerveza CLUB. Not bad. We also had a hookah. I mean when in Rome right? My mother and my grandparents might be ashamed. After dinner, los equas of Ecuadorians showed us around Mariscal and told us which dance club were safe and which were sketchy. They told us where all the Americans go and which are rip-offs. We didn’t go out but I had a good time just walking around downtown.

So Marco’s brother, Andrew, goes to school in the US. He started at Texas Tech and transferred to a school in Miami. He is majoring in acting but the coolest part is that, today, he tried out for the Barcelona team in Ecuador. I texted him tonight and asked him how it went. He is going to start training with them. How cool huh? Ecuadorian teams play every Saturday and I live right down the road from the Olympic Stadium! If I have a free Saturday I know where I am going to be. As for today, I didn’t get to see Holland beat Uruguay. I had class but before I left Quicentro, the local mall, people were crowded around the big screens. I hear it gets crazy here.

Day 3 This morning, I woke up at 7 am, had breakfast with mi madre, and left for the Olympis Stadium, where the professional players play futbol! I walked about a quarter of a mile and then took a bus to a street that sounds like shitty’s but is spelled shyris. Try repeating that to your host mother. I met Corie, Kathy, Lexi, and Margaret at the stadium and we took two taxis to la terminal ofiela, a bus station. Then we took an hour bus ride to La mitad del mundo, the equator! It was so much fun! How cool to think that I have now stood in two places at once.

For my parents: I went to class today. I like my teacher a lot. She is funny and has a dry sense of humor. We are only allowed to speak in Spanish. Go figure. Today we talked about ourselves and what five things we’d bring to a deserted island. I think that I am going to do very well in this class.

After class, we ate a small dinner at one of the restaurants next to our school and called it an early night. I went home and talked to mi madre in espanol for almost an hour until I went to La Plaza de las Americas with Ty and Shantala. I got to talk to my younger siblings, my parents, and my boyfriend!! :) All-in-all, I’d say I had a pretty good day. Tomorrow we are going to Teleferico, to ride cable cars up mount Pichincha. It reminds me of Pike’s Peak. Nos vemos!

The result of no internet in my house...

Hola! Estoy segura en Quito y me encántala! For those of you who do not speak Spanish, that means that I am safe en Quito and I love it. After a 24 hour flight delay, thanks to Alex the hurricane, and another hour delay that almost cause Shantala and I to spend the night in Houston, we finally arrived in Quito. The second we got off the plane we felt like we were put on parade but I finally found my host family and they are just as nice as I thought they would be. Mi madre, Marcela, no hable ingles. !Nada! My mother speaks no English! NONE! It is very difficult to understand her because she talks so fast but I think I am getting the hang of it. I have one sister name Paula and she is my age and is ten times prettier than me. She is stunning. She tries to talk to me but I can see it in her face that she thinks I am an idiot.
My living situation is on the lower end of what most Ole Miss students have received so far. William and I are the only students that don’t have internet in our houses which is extremely frustrating when trying to plan things. I have my own room with a whole wall of windows and a view of urban Quito. I have a bed, a huge closet, and a desk. In my bathroom, there is no hot water and the sink doesn’t drain. It is extremely hard to sleep at night because there is so much going on outside my window. I can see planes flying at almost eye level. There is always music playing. Shantala told her host sister that in the US someone would have called the police for a noise complaint and her sister was shocked. She said, “We just want everyone to have fun.” There are also about a million mangy dogs running around barking their heads off. Surprisingly, though, they all look fairly well fed. So the living arrangements so far are awkward and uncomfortable but I’m making the best out of the situation that I am in. My family is nice and I live in a good neighborhood close to the plazas. I have a McDonalds. :) And I am super close to the Olympic Stadium where they play futbol!
My first full day in Ecuador was very interesting. Today 17 of us from Ole Miss went on a tour of the center of the city. This is where all the government buildings are located along with about a million Catholic Churches. They churches were absolutely the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen but after about the 5th church I was about ready to call it quits. Not to mention that the entire tour was in Spanish. Talk about spacing out… Gee. I took so many pictures but unfortunately it was prohibited to take picture inside of a church so you’ll have to take my word for it that the papel de oro (gold paper) that covered the walls ceiling to floor was gorgeous. We also visited the Museum of the city (en español- La Mvsevo de la civdad- they used v’s for u’s). We also saw a huge statue of la Pichincha. We walked the entire city and my legs are so fatigued from running through the airport to scaling the city. We drank a hot drink called canelazo de naranjillos that contained a good bit of alcohol in about a two ounce cup. With the altitude so bad it didn’t take much for Shantala to feel her arms tingling and after climbing a hill I thought I was about to die. After the tour I met my mother and went to her sister’s house to feed her dog while she is out of the country. She has a yellow lab named Melbot. It was so sweet- yes Allen, I admit that they are sweet. Labrador is the same word in Spanish and English and she asked me about my dogs. They knew right away what a weimeraner was and when I told her I had a cocker spaniel she told me she didn’t like “cockers.” Well excuse me! What was interesting about this whole experience was that they spoke to the dog in Spanish. They said things like siéntete (sit) and bajo (down). It was so weird to think that the dog thought in Spanish. That he was a Spanish-hearing dog. I kept wanting to says hey there wittle puppy dawg! But would he understand me? Weird huh? After that I told my mother that I’d really like to go to the Plaza de las Americas to celebrate our day of independence with my friend Meghan. I waited for Meghan to pick me up in a cab and we went to McDonald’s and had good ole American food for the 4th of July. I hate that I missed all my friends at ReReMaskeeskee’s house. I love you all and I know you had a blast. I can just see the firework show that Allen has engineered with a ballin’ finale. After we ate McDonald’s, Meghan and I caught another taxi to la Mariscal. This is basically the equivalent of the Oxford square in Quito. We sat at the Coffee Tree for over another talking about the day over drinks. When we left Meghan proceeded to get in an argument with the cab driver about how her house was not far from mine and that 6 dollars was way too much. It was hysterical. Then I got home and tried to explain to my mother that all my friends were meeting up at 9 to go to school together and she told me no, she would take me at 8. OK? Guess I’ll see you guys there! Orientation is tomorrow. Buenos noches!