Cuenca!

Hello all! I am slightly bored waiting to go home for lunch so I decided to upload some of the recent pictures I've taken of Cuenca! Unfortunately I don't have any of my house but those will come soon hopefully! The weather is finally getting better here (although not today) but the past couple of days have been beautiful...blue skies, some clouds and hot! Well in the sun it's really hot and in the shade its freezing! Haha sort of weird. Anyway, here are some pictures!

This is the flower market. Its there everyday and you can get a dozen roses for $2. I got my host mom a gorgeous arrangement of tropical looking flowers for $3...and it was huge!

This is my University. So now you know where I am everyday!

My doggie Camila!!! Cutest puppy ever. She loves to lay outside in the sun.

Doing some painting at a school as a service project. We had the lovely task of the bathrooms! I won't go into detail but it wasn't pretty. These are some of the girls I hang out with the most. From left to right: Hanna, Allison, Jess and me!

This is the big church in the town square (parque calderon). It's really pretty, I'll have to put a picture up sometime of the inside of the church.

More of parque calderón or the town square

The archways of the big church. There are usually elderly women sitting outside selling candles and other things to use for worship or prayer.

Alright so there are some pictures! Hopefully you enjoyed them. Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early for Cajas National Park. It's supposed to be absolutely gorgeous (but freezing because it's way up in the mountains) and we are camping there! Everyone cross their fingers that Lindsey doesn't freeze to death and can appreciate all the beauty that is around her!! I think I'll be okay, but a little extra support doesn't hurt ;) I'm sure I'll have pictures to put up next week!

Hope you are all doing well, miss everyone and love you all. Let me know what you're up to!
Besitos,
Lindsey

¡más fotos!

Alright folks, another round of photos! This time slightly less exciting and lacking in numbers, but oh well. The weather is starting to get better around here so hopefully sometime this week I'll have time to get some pictures of Cuenca!

Anyway, these pictures are from the past two weekends. One was spent at an old archealogical site: Ingapirca (old ruins of the Incas and also the Cañaris). The other weekend was spent in the tiny little town of Principal. There is a branch of the peace corps working there to try and promote eco tourism and local handicrafts in the town. Principal has a very large problem with immigration. Many men leave the town for the United States or Europe to get a better job and more money, and usually don't return, leaving the town full of wives and children. So the peace corps are trying to bring people to the town so that the men have a reason to stay there and make money. Therefore, we went and visited but then decided to stay the night in the only Hostel in the town. It was actually a really nice hostel and we had a great time. The town was celebrating the confirmation of alot of the children in town so there were huge parties that night. (and I do mean parties...I've never seen anything like it, haha) Ok on with the pics...

This is a view from our hostel of Principal.

Guess what we had for lunch?? CUY!!! a.k.a guinea pig. Ok I had chicken, but I tried Nick's cuy and it actually wasn't bad...its just the presentation that gets ya. (picture what you see above minus the head and that's what's on your plate)

Me with the Andes, again. Our hostel is in the right corner of the pic, the orange looking building.

This is a woman weaving together plant strands to make their most popular arteseñia here.

Just thought it looked cool, shows how small the town is.

These are some ruins at ingapirca.

This was a typical house built in those times, the roof is straw and the walls are a mixture of straw, mud and animal feces. Its actually a really sturdy house and very warm.

The local form of graffitti, I thought it was funny. Those are the plants that make tequila.

The best tour guide ever! Estéban! Man he was funny...

This is the face rock. If you look closely you will see the profile of a man. Many people argue over whether or not this is a natural phenomenon or man made.

Well I guess that's it, hope the pictures were enjoyable! Hopefully I will have more soon. This weekend we are camping at Cajas National Park from saturday-sunday, so fingers crossed for good weather! The park is supposed to be gorgeous.

I hope you are all doing well in the beautiful weather that is summer in the U.S. (I'm slightly jealous)

Miss you and love you!
abrazitos,
Linds

Classes and Such...

Well I don´t have any fancy pictures to put up here again but hopefully soon I will have some from the Cuenca area. The weather is so hard to predict here that I never know when a good day will be to go out and take some pics. It can go from cloudy and raining in the morning to really hot in the afternoon. Plus weathermen don´t really exist here, I´ve never once seen a weather report on the news (which we watch every day during lunch and every night during dinner) nor I have I seen one in the newspaper. So I pretty much have to guess everyday. But it´s not that big of a deal since I live a block away from the school, I can always go change if I need to.

Classes are going pretty well here, I guess they are easier then I expected them to be. All of my Professors are very different from one another. I really enjoy the man who teaches my indigenous culture class. He knows alot about the indigenous culture here and teaches us some pretty cool stuff. He teaches like I expected the prof´s to, he is right at our level of spanish and does a great job. Now my two other teachers have some problems. I feel like one thinks that she´s teaching ecuadorian students in a university rather than people from another country who don´t speak spanish fluently. For the most part it isn´t a problem but sometimes she just talks and talks and doesn´t every ask if we understand or need clarification so it makes it hard for us to interject and say that we don´t understand something. And finally the last professor is the exact opposite of the previous. She speaks to us like we are five years old and we don´t understand anything. It´s pretty funny actually, hopefully she´ll catch on soon that we actually do indeed understand her quite well.

Overall I enjoy my classes, I think I will learn alot about different aspects. My three classes cover: Indigenous lifestyles and practices and how they are apparent in modern day Ecuador, The history of Latin America (it´s conquest and colonization) and lastly Contemporary Latin American Society. So good stuff there.

Last weekend we went and visited some Incan ruins called "Ingapirca". I don´t have much to say about it because it wasn´t the most exciting thing in the world. Pretty, and interesting how they lived the way they did so long ago, but mostly nothing too amazing. Except for our tour guides, they were hilarious. A son and his father. I got a picture with the father, he was great, made a lot of dirty jokes, but it was all pretty funny.

Tonight is ladies night at a local "gringo bar" (gringos are northamericans) so basically a toursit bar. Its supposed to be a really nice place and ladies pay $3 for entry and get four drinks of their choice I guess. So I think most of the group is headed there for the night, but I am definitely not staying that late. I´m already tired enough every morning, I don´t need another reason to be!

I guess that´s all for now, sorry this wasn´t the most exciting update. Hopefully I´ll have some pictures up soon so you can see Cuenca in all its beauty! (pray for the rain to stop...)

Hope you are all doing well, I miss you and love you!!
Besitos,
Lindsey

pictures??

I think I finally figured out how to work this picture thing, but the computers are really slow, so I´ll try and show you guys a good summary of everything I´ve seen so far...cuz I´ve taken over 150 pictures already. Sooo here we go! (and they are out of order which really bugs me but oh well, you´ll live).

The cute little town of Patate, known for their wine. When we tried to go and buy said wine, we found out it was boxed...and flavored like fruits, so we passed.

This is the hotel we stayed in for two nights, it was so gorgeous, surrounded by mountains (see below) and each room was really nice with a fireplace and everything. I could have stayed there for weeks.

Me and the Andes and the hotel mentioned above

This is a really old Hacienda we visited, I think around 300 some years old. Its now a hotel but it used to be sort of a plantation for various things, roses being one of them.

I bought this hammock...for $12!! Its sweet and don´t worry ladies of the Russian house, it will be in place either inside or outside next year!

Nick the adventurer giving the rope swing a shot. He later did a back flip off of it...

This kid really wanted me to take a picture of him, so I did.

Guards, guarding the presidents house, but he doesn´t live there. The president is a pretty touchy subject here in Ecuador. They´ve had about 10 presidents in the last 12 or so years. When they don´t like the president anymore, he´s gone. The current president has been in office for about 7 months, which is apparently pretty good. My host family tends to refer to him as a dictator though, so I´m not sure that will be good. We will see...

Ecuador is known for its beautiful flowers. It´s one of their main exports and they are really cheap here, a dozen of gorgeous roses = $2!

This is the market in Otavalo. I think I wrote about it, we stopped there on a saturday and I wanted to buy everything.

más flores

A traditional dance by some indigenas.

Here they are dying wool with a paste found in a cactus. The paste goes through a process of drying and mixing with water and then it boils with the fabric and turns it purple/red, very pretty.

Gorgeous view

This is Humpy. You can guess where his nickname came from....

Another gorgeous view

This is the guinea pig farm. Aren´t they cute?

This is the beautiful volcano/lake

Big pretty church in Quito

I just thought it was a pretty road

This is our whole group straddling the Equator!

Well I guess that´s all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed the picture tour! Hopefully if it ever stops raining I can get some pictures of Cuenca, but so far it´s rained everyday here and it´s cold so we don´t do much. Although since this is our first weekend in the city, we will probably go out tonight and check out the nightlife!

I hope you all are doing well and I miss you all! Let me know how you´re doing!
Love and miss you,
Linds

Finally with the family!

Well folks I finally met my family. It seems weird to travel for a week and just now be in the place I´ll be spending the rest of my summer. So far Cuenca seems like a beautiful city, it´s hard to really explore because it´s been raining non stop and its pretty cold. My family keeps saying they are dying of cold. I told them where I´m from this is nothing! haha I don´t think they´ll ever be visiting the midwest.
Anyway, about the family. We arrived at CEDEI (the university) around 5 oclock last night to meet our host families. I had to chuckle at the way they presented us to our families, pretty much like cattle being auctioned off. We all wore nametags with our name on it and then the host families name. Then we stood in a line and one by one our names were called off with the family name and our family came up to greet us with a rose. It was just funny because you know they are all thinking, I wonder which one is mine?? and we are thinking the same thing of course. But it seems that all the families are a good fit and people are enjoying themselves.
My family consists of a Mother and a Father and three children who all live at home. The youngest is 23 and her name is Rosana. She´s really nice but very busy. She works all day at the bank and then at night she attends university (which alot of people do here) and she doesn´t get home until 10:00pm! craziness. She´s really nice though, sort of hard to understand because she speaks so fast. The middle child is Diego and he is 28. He works full time as some sort of engineer. He is very nice as well. The eldest is Maria Augusta and she is 30. So far she´s my favorite. Very nice and easy to talk to. All of the children speak english and have spent time in the U.S. but they agreed to not speak english with me so that I can improve.
Immediately when I met my Mother we began talking and she told me that I spoke spanish well so now they are speaking fast and whatnot so I´m trying to keep up! I´m not as good as they think. haha. The mother is wonderful, I really like her. She knows about my mom passing away so she is so wonderful and comforting, she tells me that I have a family in Ecuador and that I can come to them for anything. She asked me what types of food I like for breakfast and I told her I really like bread with the yummy sauces (like jelly) used here. She immediatley bundled up and said lets go to the ¨panaderia¨which is a bread shop. We went out on the street and she hooked her arm around mine and we set off. We got to the store and it all smelt wonderful. fresh bread here is amazing. She bought alot of it and said that its mine for the taking. haha. I am just so impressed by the family here, my family in mexico hardly talked to me and they were never home. here it´s expected that I spend time with them because I am a member of the family. We even watched some tv in my mom´s bedroom! haha can you imagine doing that in the states? I have yet to meet my host dad, he is in New York right now on a vacation with some friends. I think he gets back next week.
The house is really nice too. I´m literally a block away from from school, which is amazing. Some people have a half an hour walk, so they have to get up pretty early. I think it took me two minutes to get here this morning.
But the house is very pretty, and larger than I expected since it´s right in the city. It has three floors, everyone has their own bedroom, there are a few bathrooms, some living rooms, everything. Its very nice. My bedroom happens to be the crazy part. I live in what I´m assuming was one a maids quarters or something? Its not attached to the house, it´s out back across a cute little courtyard (not a big one, takes about 10 steps to get across) and then there´s my room. or tiny house i guess. I have my own room for studying, then my own bedroom, and then my own bathroom! Its really nice. That way I can do things on my own time and I don´t have to worry about screwing up their schedules. I don´t want to spend too much time along in my little house though because I dont´want to seem rude, so I will have to sit around with the family more. Which won´t be hard because I already love them.
Oh and the best part! They have a 4 month old puppy! Adorable. It´s a shizu or however you spell it. Her name is camilia and all she wants is to be loved. perfect for me :)
Well I hope you are all still awake after reading this novel! Hopefully I can figure out how to get some pictures uploaded to one of these computers so you can at least see a little bit of what I´ve been up to.
Hope everything is going well for all of you! Take comfort in knowing that the weather is nicer in the midwest than it is in South America! at least my part of south america..hehe
Miss you all and I´m sending love straight north to you all!
linds

Loving the view!

Let me tell you all, Ecuador is beautiful. Everyone should visit it. now. then I can see you...ok I guess that's a little selfish. Anyway, I guess I could let you all know what I've been up to in the past couple of days!

Well it's saturday night and I'm back in Quito. I think I wrote last on Thursday. So I'll pick up with Friday. We woke up bright and early and headed off to the city of Otavalo. Its north of Quito about two hours. On the way we just happened to stop at "la ciudad mitad del mundo" (or, the city in the middle of the world). You guessed it, the equator! Haha it was kinda silly but very cool to see. Of course surrounded by the beautiful andes mountains (like everything in this region) it was a big statue with a line drawn all the way through the park demonstrating where the equator is. (we later learned that the line is actually off by a little bit). We just spent some time enjoying the view and then got back on the bus to Otavalo.

Otavalo is a very charming city. I loved it. Mostly I have a great respect for the city, they've done some amazing things. It is probably the only city in the world to have an indigenous mayor. (that is, someone from the native descent, in this case the Incas). Not only is he the mayor but he has completely turned the city upside down and shifted the power from those who had it for hundreds of years to those who have never had it. It's truly remarkable.

We spent alot of time visiting nearby pueblos or villages where music and arts are abundant. 90% of this native tribe is gifted musically and can play multiple instruments. We got plenty of demonstrations and I was so impressed. We also got the chance to see a guinea pig farm...yes, they eat guinea pig here in Ecuador. They are called "cuyos". I wanted to grab them all and put them in my bag pack and save them. But then I remembered just becuase their culture is different, doesn't mean it's wrong.

Lets see...after all the visiting of places we had some free time in the city. We ate at this hilarious restaurant which I think was also used for growing some sort of illegal substances and was filled with american hippies who apparantely own the place. Cats and dogs roamed the area and sat on my feet while I ate. It was amazing food. The fruit here is unbelievable.

This morning we got to sleep in a little...finally and had the morning free to go to the local market. Otavalo is known for it's saturday market. Most of the city center and more is taken up by booth after booth of venders selling beautiful handicrafts, clothes, food, everything. The weather was gorgeous so it was really nice to walk around.

After that we got on the bus and headed up to the most beautiful place I have seen so far in my entire life. It is an ancient volcano that somehow has developed a lake in the middle. I don't know how high up we were but it was alot, and then the water was this beautiful blue color and the volcano was an amazing shade of green. The weather was beautiful, blue skies and everything. It was absolutely perfect.

Then we left for a smaller town to have some lunch and look around. Nothing too exciting there. Lots of leather.

After that we got on the bus for our two hour ride back to Quito, and now I'm here back in the same hotel we were in Wednesday and Thursday night. I think we are planning on checking out the nightlife here in Quito since it's our last night here. Apparently there is some club close to our hotel called "flashback" so I'm excited to see what the entails.

Tomorrow we begin our journey to Cuenca, the city I will be in the majority of the summer. We will be making some stops along the way so it's going to take a few days. I arrive Tuesday night and then I meet my host family! Hopefully I will be able to give you an update on that as soon as possible!

I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer. I miss you all and love you lots!

Linds

Estoy aqui!

Hi All!

I apologize for this lackluster blog but I´m afraid I can´t use the blog I set up before. I was silly and forgot that I need my actual computer to update my blog and well my computer didn´t make the trip.

So you´ll have to settle for this! I´m sorry...Hopefully I can find a way to at least get some pictures on here.

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that I arrived in Quito, Ecuador (the capital) last night around midnight. After plenty of delays in our flight and one health emergency (a lady had some sort of a panic attack and had to be taken off the plane after like an hour of doctors helping her on the plane which hadn´t taken off yet) we arrived safely in Quito.

This city is beautiful. It´s surrounded by mountains and green lush hills. It was surreal to look out my window this morning and see mountains! (megan, zach and frenchie I´m sure you know what I´m talking about). The andes mountains are really awesome.

Today was a really packed day. We got up at 7am, had a wonderful breakfast in our hotel and then departed for a day of exploring. We took a city bus tour around Quito but spent most of the time walking around the huge city looking at church after church, governmental buildings, beautiful plazas and other great sites. I took some real nice pictures. We went to the top of this lower part of the mountains and saw an amazing view of the city but it was raining so I didn´t really get a good picture.

Then we had some lunch in a mall, which was funny and then we were off to an art museum.

Now we have a free night and after the nap I just took I should be ready for it!

I miss you all lots, sorry this wasnt the most informative entry but there´s about 4 people waiting in line to use computers.

I love you all and miss you tons!
Besos,
Lindsey