First, I want whoever reads this to take a second to thank their Internet connection just for being there. You dont know what you have until its not there anymore...
So, I made it to Quito alright and even had a little of that money left over thanks to a dive bar in Miami! When we arrived, we went straight to a little hostel in Quito for the night, then headed to Cayambe the next morning. We stayed in a complex there for two nights, alternating between being bored to death by classes, eating YUMMY food, and hanging out at night (I´m addicted to mafia now btw). The last day (today) they assigned us our host families with who we will be living with for the next 8 weeks. Im in a quaint little mountain town, and am staying with a sweet little old lady.
A little aside on the food: Every meal that I´ve had here has had at least three starches, and in no small quantity for that matter. Usually its rice, potatoes, and bread/pasta.
Well today my host mom cooked a large meal for my first lunch here. It was a bowl of potato soup (prob about 2 1/2 cups), white rice (at least 1 1/2 cup), fried potato (a whole potato), a chicken breast and a salad. Everything was DELICIOUS! However, my mom stood next to me and watched me eat the entire meal (as it turns out she was nervous of whether or not I would like it). This obviously made me nervous, so I cleared my entire plate even though I felt ill with fullness half way through. Big mistake. She intrepreted this as me being hungry and ran to the kitchen to bring me another plate of plain white rice. I wanted to cry as I shoveled it into my mouth, but decided to suck it up for the sake of cultural sensitivity. So now I´m sitting in an Internet cafe, wanting to puke, and reading on the Internet how one should not finish their plate in Ecuador for this very reason.
At least I´m prepared for breakfast tomorrow!
Other fun things that have happened: I got bit by a dog, got 3 vaccines, rode in the bed of a truck through the Andes to my site, discovered I WAY overpacked and finished 5 corsswords.
This month is the fiesta de san pedro, so I´m sure I have more stories to come!
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Sounds great to me so far, except the overpacking, which I have always highly recommended for travel! Maybe your new mom can put some weight on those bones. Do they like the Tabasco?
ReplyDeleteYour host mom sounds like my kind of cook!!!!!!! YUM!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited about your new blog and I can't wait to see more updates, it sounds like you're already having adventures! I'm gonna a post a link to your blog on my xanga for David/Sarah/Kelly etc.
...so I'm curious, how did you get bit by a dog? And what did you bring that you don't need (that "WAY" is very emphatic!)?
btw, mafia is awesome....we used to play a version in Munich ALL the time at Stefi and Karsten's apartment called "Werewolf"....it's the exact same as mafia (we alwas play that at Reed's psych retreat) except you have Werewolves instead of Mafia etc etc (like the Apothecary that can protect someone and the Little Girl who is allowed to peek and Mayor who gets to ask if someone is a werewolf every night and the Townspeople who are everyone else)
ReplyDeletedont guess Animal Control quarantined the dog. Hope it didnt have rabies but I guess you wont know that until its too late.
ReplyDeleteYay!!! I have your wonderful mother to thank for introducing me to your blog. Ecuador sounds delicious. It may be sounding extra delicious to me right now since I haven't eaten all day, but that is besides the point... I want to hear more about Ecuador! The masses demand frequent posts!
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