Whew! Finally I can take a breath of (polluted) air.

Yep, I'm back in Quito. We went for the last two days to a pueblo called Tabacundo, within which was Hacienda Guachala, built in 1583, where we stayed the night. It was a trip that really made me think. The first thing we did yesterday was visit a flower plantation, where we were brought on a tour by one of the owners (I think) who painted a very rosy (it's a pun...) picture of the floricola industry for us. The next thing we did, though, was walk through one of the last remaining agricultural areas with a farmer, who told us about how the industry ruined the community that once existed in Tabacundo. See, the people in the village used to be much poorer but they had community that was there when things were bad, so everyone pretty much came out poor but surviving. Now, there are the flower plantations and the community is broken down because of the nature of work in a factory and because there is now a lot of immigration from Colombia and the coast and emigration to Spain and the US. Plus, health conditions are much poorer because of all of the pesticides being put on the roses that affect workers and their babies. And there is a lot more divorce and girls having babies. So from a monetary perspective, people are richer, but from a community perspective, the people are much poorer. Now just try to get that out of our head the next time you're buying roses for that someone special. Sorry.
After all of that, we spent the night in this ancient hacienda. Let me tell you, it's pretty freezing up in the mountains at night. We all had fireplaces in our room though, and I pulled out my good old outdoor winter survival skills and built one. Unfortunately, the flames only lasted about 20 minutes but the effort put into building the fire warmed me up and was enough to get to be comfortably. My question, though: who decided that central heating (or space heaters, for that matter) do not belong in Ecuador? It may be on the equator, but there are lots of chilly spots. And they make me curse Quito every time I go to bed and it is 62 degrees in my room.
Okay, that's all for now. Quito, I apologize, I really do love you, I was just kidding.

Viajes, viajes, viajes...

Hola to all! Sorry I haven´t updated in so long. The last two weeks have been filled with trips to every geographical region of Ecuador. The first was to the sierra (the mountainous region), to a town called Baños, which is my new favorite city in Ecuador. To say that there is a lot to do in Baños is an understatement, and to say that said things to do are inexpensive is also an understatement. In Baños, we stayed in a great little hostal called Hostal Plantas y Blanco with the best showers I´ve taken in Ecuador so far as well as the cleanest rooms I´ve found in a hotel for $6 per night. We went for two nights, and in that time we took a three-hour hike in the mountains, went to the hot springs after which Baños was named, and took at 13-mile bike ride past seven or so waterfalls (and under one waterfall) to a huge cascade called el Pailon del Diablo. The bike seat was pretty uncomfortable but that was one of the most breathtaking bike rides I´ve ever taken. Though the bike ride was a little scary because we had to ride through a dark tunnel intended for cars and screamed the whole way through, praying that 1) we would not hit something in the dark, fall, and die and 2)something would not hit us in the dark and kill us. That and we biked on roads with approximately 200-meter drop-offs with little but a 1 foot guard rail to keep us from falling to our deaths. That said, the bike ride was so incredibly worth it, I would do it again in a heartbeat. And we bought freshly pulled taffy in flavors such as Guanabana (a fruit you can´t find in the states), blackberry, and avocado-mint, and ate at a bunch of really great restaurants.
Then on Thursday the 15th, I went to my summer internship site with the other girls who will be there. The location is Tena, in the oriente, which is hot, sticky, and jungle-y. The town is about 40,000 people and seems really friendly. Everyone walks around at night, which I took to be a good sign because that doesn´t happen in Quito. I will be working in a hospital there, likely three weeks in pediatrics and three in obstetrics/gynecology. I also met a woman who can potentially be my host mother, and her husband owns a jungle tour company. Turns out, Tena is world famous for its rafting, and she says her husband should definitely take us out while we are there. We came back on Friday (6 hours each way) and I packed to go to San Vicente.
San Vicente was the last location, and we went there for Carnaval between Saturday and Tuesday. I did not very much enjoy San Vicente (thanks, Kristin). It was the beach location, and on Sunday I ate some bad mariscos and spend Sunday night ill and Monday in bed, weak. I never want to see or smell seafood again.
And now we are off to another viaje, up in the mountains, so I´ve got to go! Adios!

¡Futbol!

I went to my first pro-futbol game last night, Ecuador vs. Paraguay, and it was amazing. We bought the more expensive seats for the game ($8.50) because we´d heard that the cheap seats ($5.50) could be dangerous. It was a little sad, because when we got in there we wished we had saved the three dollars. In the cheap seats, it was constant fight songs and people threw toilet paper onto the field at every goal, and someone had a smoke machine... It looked incredibly fun. I want to know all of the fight songs now. We kind of learned one, but it´s hard to make out lyrics when they are being shouted by a crowd of thousands. There was one really amazing goal, where one of the players did a back flip more or less and kicked the ball into the goal while upside down. Wow. I am now a futbol fan. Even better, Ecuador (called Liga) won, 3-0.

Oops, it´s been awhile.

I am in an internet place called Papayanet right now, typing for a dollar an hour. Here is what has been happening:
Yesterday, Grace (a friend who is a nursing student at the UMN), Nora (a Grinnellian from Virginia) and I went to the Teleferico, which is this gondola that goes to the top of the highest mountain in Quito and that overlooks the whole city. Mom and Dad, when you are in Quito I am sending you there because it is one of the most beautiful views I have ever soon. That said, It was COLD up there and poor Grace didn´t realize how cold it would be so she just was wearing a T shirt and skirt and pretty much everyone else was wearing winter jackets, more or less. After she was sick of freezing her ass off, we went into a cafe and got a coffee with cream and amaretto for $2. It was so worth it. Then, we went to Gringolandia and ate some dinner at a place where I got an amazing falafel sandwich for $1.50. Also worth it. That night in the Mariscal (=Gringolandia)we found a bar called Shooters which had a five liter thing of beer for $10 which was shared amongst 5 people. Except I´m not that big of a beer person, so, again Mom and Dad, I definitely didn´t drink my two dollars´worth. The company was nice, and I got to chatwith people I hadn´t bonded with before. After that, we pretty much went home.
Today Cecilia took me to the Mitad del Mundo, and it was alright because it had a pretty cool museum about the indigenous in Ecuador, but was mostly memorable for its delicious ice cream that rivaled Sebastian Joe´s, or at least I´ll tell myself that to make it taste better to me. Then I got home and my mom fed me Chinese food that really tasted like American Chinese food. Which was so surprisingly pleasant because it reminded me of Chuong Garden.
Which brings me to now, in the Papayanet, with the Superbowl pregame show playing on the tv. Wahoo! I´m not going to watch it though. I have a lot to read tonight and I have to write a paper in Spanish about one Ecuadorian custom that has changed over the years. I think it will be both boring and hard to write because things change slowly here. And because I really I am still learning about Ecuadorian culture in the first place. So I´d better go write.
I miss you all, and hope to hear from you soon!