Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Bienvenidos a Quito a mis padres

Day 1: Tuesday, January 28th
All's quiet on the Quito front here right now. It's 6:20 pm and Mom is napping and Dad is playing on his iPad (perhaps reading). Mom and Dad arrived last night, landing in Quito at 8 pm. At 9 pm (I was supposed to be at the airport at 8:30) Mom had found an Ecuadorian with an Ecuaphone and somewhat frantically dialed my number. "Jamie! Why are you so late?" came her concerned voice. My response: "I'm 15 minutes away. I'll tell you about it later." This was their first taste of the workings of South American life. The best laid schemes...

I was late in picking up mis padres because the driver I had called (recommended by a friend)--a sweet woman named Franny--picked me up a few minutes late. No big deal at that point. Then we proceeded to drive to a part of Quito foreign to me, pick up a saxophone player, and go deep into the valley suburb of Tumbaco to drop him off to play his gig for the night. My own anxiety was rising as each minute past 8:30 ticked by as I knew Mom's head would be weaving tales of why I hadn't arrived when I had promised.

In the end, we all made it back to my apartment by around 10. I continue to feel some kind of high here when I come to realize that I, the "expert", get to show off my world in Ecuador. After a solid night's sleep, our itinerary today has been as follows:

7 am: I hear Dad get up.

7:30 am: After laying in bed trying to catch a few more zzzz's, I arise to make some coffee and read while Dad busies himself on his iPad.

8:00 am: I begin making breakfast, llapingachos, a traditional Ecuadorian food, thanks to Mariana, my amazing housekeeper.

8:10 am: I can't help myself, I have to wake Mom from her slumber. Lo siento a mi mama, but sleep is for the frigid Minnesota winter when you return home.

8:30 am: We chow on the llapingachos served with Marian's homemade aji, and avocado.

9:00 am: A walk around La Carolina gives Mom and Dad a glimpse of my part of town. Note: It is nearly 90 degrees warmer in Quito than Minneapolis. En serio.

10:30 am: We're showered and walking back to the part of La Carolina where we get on a tour bus for a 3 hour ride around the city. My camera's battery goes dead as I am taking my first photos of the tour, as we are stopped at The Virgin of El Panecillo. Altogether, though, the tour is pretty cool, taking us to places I had yet to discover and giving us a bit more history than I have come to learn at this point.

2:45 pm: We are heading to Ana's restaurant Papas Fritas a lo Bestia for a late lunch. My stomach's eating itself by this point, but great chicken and french fries are just around the corner...well, really up a pretty steep hill. Mom and Dad are troopers as their lungs are getting acclimated to the altura. They haven't seen Ana since summer of 2006. Abrazos fuertes all around.

Mi prima can perfectly season a chicken breast and fry up some fantastic papas fritas!
5:00 pm: Nap time, reading time, simply quiet time. An HSP will never argue with this.

7:00 pm: Time to head to Vista Hermosa for an Ecuadorian dinner and an unbeatable view of the city.

Rain inclined us to dine inside, but still it was a lovely meal. 
Tomorrow we are off to Mindo. Between Dad and I, we'll probably buy El Quetzal out of chocolate.

Love from Ecuador,

Jame

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Circumferencing a volcano

800 years ago a catastrophic eruption occurred in the Western most volcano in Ecuador. After 14,000 years of dormancy, this final eruption caused volcanic ash to permeate the northern Andes. It also produced a 2-mile wide caldera, known today as Quilotoa. This past Saturday I, along with four other Americano friends, joined Paypahuasi once again for a good hike, which meant a 3:30 am wake-up call. A bit rough, but worth it.

After about 4 hours in the bus, we arrived to the province of Cotopaxi where Quilotoa is located. For the next 4.5 hours we circumferenced the entire ridge of the volcano, stopping to take in some vistas hermosas and have a bite to eat. (Aside: I realize "circumference" is not a verb, but as an English teacher, I feel entitled to make up my own words.) It was no walk in the park, but it also didn't rival Pichincha in difficulty. Really, one of the most amazing things about Ecuador is the amount of outdoor adventures one can engage in in a country about the size of Colorado--biking to waterfalls, hiking volcanoes, eating amazing chocolate. Yes, when I eat artisanal chocolate after the chocolate tour on the picnic table at El Quetzal, it is considered an outdoor adventure as well. The following are photos that will bring you a bit closer to my latest escapade outside of the city.

Note: Mom and Dad bought me a camera for Christmas and I love it, but Charles Denson takes beautiful photos that do much more justice to the sites and scenes than my very amateur ones. As resident photographer, his photos are featured here. I highly recommend taking a minute, or maybe 10, to look at more on his webpage.

Americano teachers and bomberos! The most incredible man here is the one with the sunglasses. He is blind and was guided by his friend the whole hike. 
Quite breathtaking, isn't it?
Admittedly I missed the wildlife because I was too busy trying to get to the spot for lunch. 
The whole Paypahuasi group. 
No, we're not in Kansas anymore. 
Cuy, an Ecuadorian delicacy. 
After arriving home from the hike, it was time to celebrate my birthday. Wish I could tell you more about that, but this blog isn't for those shenanigans. Most of the time I am 31 going on 60. Once in awhile I am 31 going on 21. Thank you Michelle, Vale and Pedro for helping me celebrate 3-1!

Miss you always,

Jame

Sunday, January 12, 2014

A Gringo and his Translator came to visit

Meet the Gringo and his Translator
Tomorrow marks the end of Hannah and Eric's stay in Ecuador. They've pretty much been the perfect houseguests, praising my cooking, doing the dishes, being great company...yes, I'm bummed to see them go. Having these "newlyweds" in Quito with me has renewed my appreciation of the city, and perhaps deepened it altogether. Hannah and Eric are eager to learn about a place and their excitement about most things Ecuador made me kind of proud of this place I am currently calling home. Observing Hannah chat up so many of the locals has inspired me to do more so myself. Too often if I don't understand a cab driver or the woman doing my pedicure I go a bit mute rather than asking for them to repeat what they said or changing the subject to something I may have a more robust vocabulary around. These two's presence here has also pushed me to take advantage of some of the city's perks and tourist destinations such as Mitad del Mundo where you can stand in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time. More than anything, I think I have just enjoyed having my world from the States bridged with my world from abroad.

As we were chatting about this blog entry, we were trying to come up with a super creative way to share their stay. A spin on the Newlyweds game show? A choose your own adventure? Jeopardy? Quirky things about Quito for 300, anyone? As it stands, I had my fair share of vino tinto anoche and Hannah and Eric have been bopping around the country for the past two weeks, so we're a bit fried today. Below is an interview with my first visitors, though, where you'll find out more about their stay and their perspective on Ecuador.

What Ecuadorian tradition do you think the United States should adopt?
E: The New Year's celebration in general. Hannah chimes in her agreement here. The tradition they speak of is the custom of burning a straw man called an Año Viejo in the street. H: While the New Year's celebration is violent, it has nice symbolism. So you write down the things from the past year that you want to be done with, things that aren't serving you anymore. Then you reflect on the things for the upcoming year that you want to come into your life. It feels richer than just making a New Year's resolution for some reason. E: It was also funny when the guys dressed up as women and stopped cars in the street for money, but what I liked even more is when the kids pulled a rope across the street so that cars couldn't pass until giving them money.

What is a vivid image from the trip that you will remember for years to come?
E and H together: El Diablo cascada in Baños. After pausing for a moment of reflection, they continue. While staying in Canoa we watched the tide coming in and as the water was approaching we took in the sight of thousands of red crabs scurrying across the beach to find safer sand.

What is one new word or phrase that you have learned? 
E: With a giant smile, and before Hannah can open her mouth, exclaims, Batido! Batidos are essentially fruit smoothies, though we would all argue the fruit in Ecuador makes these fruit frappes superior to what we can make at home. 
H: Largàte. It means "get back." The phrase is derived from the reflexive verb largarse which is a colloquial way to say "leave." What we have to sensor here is that Jorge, the driver from Manta to Canoa, indirectly taught Hannah this phrase while translating Linkin Park lyrics. Suffice it to say, there was more to the phrase than just "largate." 

What should gringos be sure to do when they visit? 
E: The dishes at Jamie's place. Eric chuckles at this, as do I, while also considering how lovely it's been to cook for my friends without having to do any clean-up. 
H: Hike in Metropolitano. Buy fruits and vegetables from Jamie's admirers in the fruit market. Bring good walking shoes.
E: Eat as many fresh fruits as possible. Cyclopaseo. That was awesome. That was really cool. Each Sunday Amazonas, one of the larger roads through the city, shuts down on one side so that bikers can ride from Centro Historico in the south of the city through the Mariscal (Gringolandia) past Parque Carolina and continues north out of the city. 
H: Time your trip so that when you are enjoying the beautiful weather in Ecuador, you will also be missing 20 below back home in Minnesota.

What is your most memorable South American misadventure?
E: We really didn't have that many misadventures.
H: Misadventure Hannah states pondering. We shouldn't say we haven't had any or else our return travel could get messed up.
E: Well, we could say our flight to Manta. H: One, it was a really early flight. We sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, the plane didn't pass the safety check, then we had to de-plane and no one knew what was going on. Then they got a new plane, but still no one knew what was going on, but eventually we made it. Par for the course, my friends, par for the course. What could an acronym be for Tame, the airline we flew to Manta? Eric and Hannah play with some words. They come up with Time of Arrival Mostly Estimated. 

Here's a million dollar question: Where do you think all of the change in Ecuador is stored? (A bit of background for you: Whether you are at the grocery store, paying to go into Mitad del Mundo, or getting a coffee at Juan Valdez, the business expects you to have exact change more or less. Where can one get change in order to have smaller bills to use? Mystery to us, but one is often met with a scowl when trying to pay with a $10 or $20 bill.)
E: With Juan Valdez. Whoever he is, wherever he is.
H: I think it's underneath the decorations the cab drivers put on their dashboards.

What is the most interesting conversation you had with an Ecuadorian?
E: I really enjoyed talking with Jorge. H: It was truly a half Spanish half English conversation. E: I would also say Jose, who lived in Shakopee and worked at Valleyfair and let us use his phone.

What is something you learned about your spouse during the past two weeks?
E: Hannah is very good at making small talk with street vendors, taxi drivers, and people on planes. She's received a dozen compliments on her Spanish.
H: Eric is not afraid to try to speak Spanish even when he knows very few words. Here Eric reflects on his personal pride of ordering coffee at Juan Valdez in Spanish. 

What are Jamie's best qualities as a hostess?
(As an aside, Hannah and Eric have hijacked Jamie's blog at this point).
H & E:  Jamie is generous, patient, flexible, up for anything,  a great cook and an exceptional conversationalist.  We are already planning our next adventure with her (Machu Picchu, Summer 2015).  We love you, Jamie. Thank you for making our trip amazing -- we look forward to reflecting back on our adventure with you 30 years from now.  Keep up the good work in Ecuador.


Friday, January 3, 2014

My heart's homebase...and my first visitors!

As I sit here (with a mind of mush after little sleep upon returning to this place of high altitude--sleeplessness is a side affect of being 9,350 feet above sea level) pondering the past couple of weeks, it almost feels like Christmas didn't happen. Or it did happen, but in some parallel universe. It often feels something like I am living two lives. When I was home for Christmas, it felt like the past 4 months in Ecuador had been a dream, as if I would be returning to Jefferson to teach the following week. Sometimes so much of life seems surreal I question what is real. Maybe a topic for a night of philosophizing...

Being home was pretty unbeatable. Some highlights:
*Hanging with my little chicas bonitas
Exhibit A: Big smiles on our way to see Cinderella at the Children's Theatre Company
*Hanging out at Mom and Dad's new house: sauna, comfy bed, my puppy...Yes, please!
*Daily kick-boxing/dance workouts with Linds (beachbody.com)
*Being able to attend Cass's wedding dress shopping (she said yes to the dress!)
*Drinking, dining, and chatting with some of my favorite people (life is so easy when I just get to play)
*Everbodydancing on the PS3 with my awesome familia (shout out to Matthias and the Timster...and Gram, next time you are going to shake your booty too!)
*Movie with my NieNie (Philomena has my endorsement)
*Family.Time.
Exhibit B: Sporting their Alpaca ponchos from Otavalo. 
Yes, my Christmas break was quite lovely. It had me reflecting, once again, on how I will spend my whole life working on a compromise between my desire to travel and explore and my desire to be where I feel so grounded, near my family and many friends.

I'm feeling a little Dr. Seuss coming on here...
You have brains in your head. 
You have feet in your shoes. 
You can steer yourself any direction you choose. 
You're on your own. And you know what you know. 
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...

So be sure when you step, 
Step with care and great tact. 
And remember that life's 
A Great Balancing Act
And will you succeed? 
Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) 
Kid, you'll move mountains.

Dad used to read us Dr. Seuss. Little nostalgic. Even as an adult, I can appreciate this brilliant author's wisdom...perhaps more so than I did when I was young. 

So, my transition back to the Southern Hemisphere (where I may boast it is 70+ degrees right now) was eased as I am fortunate enough to have Mr. Eric Antonson and Mrs. Hannah Julien in Ecuador now, helping to bridge my two worlds. I am loving being a hostess and tour guide. As I write, the duo is currently at the beach in Canoa soaking up some coastal sun, but we've had a blast hanging out in Quito so far. I know one of my favorite things thus far about their visit is that I have had people to cook for...and someone else does the dishes! Eric is ready to move to Ecuador as he is a big biker--the mountain biking culture thrives here. Hannah, well Hannah's favorite thing about Ecuador (besides me, she says) is Guitig, which is naturally carbonated water, a miracle of nature for certain. 

My apartment feels a bit lonely without their presence tonight, but I look forward to their return as I am sure they will have plenty of stories to tell. I'm going to ask them to be guest writers on the next blog entry, so stay tuned...

Love you. Miss you. Think of you often.

Feliz año nuevo a todos,

Jame