Quito, Ecuador
Every so often I find myself in random situations, situations that I never could've even guessed I'd be in. For instance, dancing samba on top of a ferry on the amazon,or having tea with the postmaster of Varanasi. To add to this ever growing list, the other day, I found myself playing uno with a girl from my class, the son of a shaman, and a Ecuadorian soldier, while tripping on Ayhuasca. How did I do I find myself in these situations? Well, in this case, our class took a trip into the Oriente, the Amazonian region of Ecuador. We spent four days in a beautiful little campground hostal that looked over the Napo river. The first day, our guide took us in a dugout canoe to a nature reserve where they rescued abused animals and tried to re-introduce them back into the wild. It was a intriguing little place, replete with squawking macaws, slinking jaguars, and greedy little monkeys crawling up our legs trying to take anything off our bodies that wasn’t zipped up, locked, or otherwise tied down. Afterwards, I put aside my National Geographic visions of piranhas devouring cows in five minutes, or crocodiles that snatch unsuspecting tourists, and went for a swim, along with my classmates, in the river.
That night, we had a shaman come to our campground to cleanse our souls and give us a little ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic drink that has been used in the Amazon for thousands of years to put you in touch with the jungle and yourself. I had read quite a bit about it, and supposedly it can take you to other worlds, however it was obvious that we were not going to be taken anywhere, as we received the watered-down tourist version, that made our head spin slightly, but nothing else. I had been interested in shamans and ayahuasca for quite some time, and I wanted to experience the real thing. So I spoke privately to the shaman afterwards, and he invited me to his house the next night. The next day, we took a jungle walk, and learned why its sometimes called the rain forest, as it rained so hard that it felt like we were swimming more than walking through the forest. That night, I thought that I would probably be the only one interested in pursuing the Ayahuascan trip further, but I apparently underestimated the loconess of my classmates, because I found myself crammed into the shaman’s stilted bamboo hut with eight out of nine of my campeneros. It was an interesting experience, he definitely gave us gave us more of a stronger drink. He then cleansed our spirit, by dusting us with leaves, whistleing and humming over us, and finally by blowing aguardiente (a local alcohol) and Marlbro cigarette smoke in our faces. The Ayahuasca, mainly only succeeded in making us feel dizzy and nauseated. I think that, once again, there probably wasn’t enough to go around to give a real experience, but I did have some visuals, and a buzzing my ears. Most people didn’t feel anything, however, so we journeyed back to our campground ( walking in the dark, with only a couple of flashlights through the jungle is scary enough, without a couple of shots of Ayahuasca thrown into the equation). I went and sat by myself for a little while, and was able to increase the effects of the drink, but in the end I gave up. Which brings me back to what I was talking about in the beginning of this anecdote. I walked from the darkness into the well-lit covered area, where people were hanging out, and was asked to play uno. Walking to the light messed with my head enough, but trying to explain the intricacies of skip and reverse, in spanish to a Ecadorian soldier, really made my head spin. Anyway, I just thought I would share my little story with everybody. I hope that you are all well, and I will talk to y’all later, Moe.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Ecuador vs. Peru
Quito, Ecuador
Hello once again, everyone. Here’s another friendly email from your friend just south of the Equator. Well, today is Thanksgiving, or día de accion de gracias, as they call it down here (not that they actually celebrate it or anything), but I have the day off of school, so I thought I would try and get you caught up. So let’s see, checking my notes I see that, gol durn’ it, we haven’t even covered my birthday yet, which was more than a month ago (I really should try and be more diligent about these things). Well for my birthday, my parents threw an entertaining party. All my fellow students came, as well as the other gringos and Ecuadorian friends that we had made up to that point. We cleared the living room floor and my brother brought some salsa music that we could dance to. I made sangria and white Russians for everybody. It was lovely. Afterwards, my sister took us all out on the town, and we danced until the sun came up.
The next week we had something even more exciting happen. It was the Peru vs. Ecuador world cup qualifying match. Now I had wanted to go to an international soccer game, ever since I watched the world cup in ’98 while working on a British cruise line, and this promised to be a beaut, as Peru and Ecuador are huge rivals (owing to the fact that they’re neighbors and have had wars off and on for 50 or 60 years over border disputes). We were able to finangle tickets for the ten of us, so we all bought Ecuadorian national jerseys and head to the Estadio Olympico for the match. Walking into the stadium was like walking into a sea of yellow and blue. We made it there 2 hours early and it was already half-full. By the time that the game started, there wasn’t even standing room available. Trying to go to the bathroom was like trying to crabwalk down Bourbon Street on Fat Tuesday (which, because we were seated conveniently 2 rows behind the beer chica, I had to do quite regularly). When we came in the crowd was already at a low murmur, which grew to a dull rumble, and finally, by the time the game started, a crazed roar. As the game started, I realized that I had never been to a sporting event quite like this. There was a genuine hatred for the Peruvian players, that was infectious, I sat next to a guy and his five-year old son, who taught me all the local, regional, and hemispheric obscenities that I didn’t know all ready. For each situation, the crowd had a song ready. I even got to learn some of them, though my favorite still went like this: (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) ECUADOR! (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) ECUADOR! (repeat), I mastered that one fairly quickly, and was able to chant with confidence (though I had to put my beer down for it). Everyone in the entire stadium hung on every dribble, pass and shot. It was the most exciting game I’ve ever been to, and the score ended in a 0-0 tie. I can’t imagine what it’d be like if someone actually scored. There’s another match in January, I think against Argentina, so I’m sure I’ll have a chance to find out.
We’ll ladies and gentlemen. You’re still not caught up (you should really try and hurry), but at least you’re closer. You’ll probably be getting another email soon about our adventure in the Orient rainforest, but that will have to wait until the next installment. I hope everyone is happy, healthy, wealthy and well, until next time. Moe.
Hello once again, everyone. Here’s another friendly email from your friend just south of the Equator. Well, today is Thanksgiving, or día de accion de gracias, as they call it down here (not that they actually celebrate it or anything), but I have the day off of school, so I thought I would try and get you caught up. So let’s see, checking my notes I see that, gol durn’ it, we haven’t even covered my birthday yet, which was more than a month ago (I really should try and be more diligent about these things). Well for my birthday, my parents threw an entertaining party. All my fellow students came, as well as the other gringos and Ecuadorian friends that we had made up to that point. We cleared the living room floor and my brother brought some salsa music that we could dance to. I made sangria and white Russians for everybody. It was lovely. Afterwards, my sister took us all out on the town, and we danced until the sun came up.
The next week we had something even more exciting happen. It was the Peru vs. Ecuador world cup qualifying match. Now I had wanted to go to an international soccer game, ever since I watched the world cup in ’98 while working on a British cruise line, and this promised to be a beaut, as Peru and Ecuador are huge rivals (owing to the fact that they’re neighbors and have had wars off and on for 50 or 60 years over border disputes). We were able to finangle tickets for the ten of us, so we all bought Ecuadorian national jerseys and head to the Estadio Olympico for the match. Walking into the stadium was like walking into a sea of yellow and blue. We made it there 2 hours early and it was already half-full. By the time that the game started, there wasn’t even standing room available. Trying to go to the bathroom was like trying to crabwalk down Bourbon Street on Fat Tuesday (which, because we were seated conveniently 2 rows behind the beer chica, I had to do quite regularly). When we came in the crowd was already at a low murmur, which grew to a dull rumble, and finally, by the time the game started, a crazed roar. As the game started, I realized that I had never been to a sporting event quite like this. There was a genuine hatred for the Peruvian players, that was infectious, I sat next to a guy and his five-year old son, who taught me all the local, regional, and hemispheric obscenities that I didn’t know all ready. For each situation, the crowd had a song ready. I even got to learn some of them, though my favorite still went like this: (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) ECUADOR! (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) (clap) ECUADOR! (repeat), I mastered that one fairly quickly, and was able to chant with confidence (though I had to put my beer down for it). Everyone in the entire stadium hung on every dribble, pass and shot. It was the most exciting game I’ve ever been to, and the score ended in a 0-0 tie. I can’t imagine what it’d be like if someone actually scored. There’s another match in January, I think against Argentina, so I’m sure I’ll have a chance to find out.
We’ll ladies and gentlemen. You’re still not caught up (you should really try and hurry), but at least you’re closer. You’ll probably be getting another email soon about our adventure in the Orient rainforest, but that will have to wait until the next installment. I hope everyone is happy, healthy, wealthy and well, until next time. Moe.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Early Morning Antics
Quito, Ecuador
Ahhhh, good afternoon everyone. I just thought that I would try and catch everyone up with what's happening in my life (I'm sure y'all have been just desprately waiting to find out, but I have an hour to kill before salsa class, and I've run out of things to do to occupy my time, so what are you going to do). Last time I wrote, I believe that I was just starting classes. Well since then I've gone on numerous side trips to beaches and cloud forests, learned mucho espanol, and had a kick ass birthday party. I'm getting along with my family very well. My host mother is constantly fussing over me, making sure that I have enough to eat (like I'm on the verge of starving), I'm not allowed to make my own food, or wash my own laundry, we have a maid for that. It's taken a lot of getting used to, but When in Rome, as they say, and who am I to go against a country's culture.
Also every morning, I'm treated to a comedy of the highest standards. I'm convinced that my mother, Rosa (our maid) and Gabby (my sister) should go on tour. A typical morning consists of me waking up around 7:30 or so and coming out to breakfast around 8:00. Every morning I surprise my mother who's in the kitchen trying to make sure that my breakfast is ready and on the table before I get there, god forbid I walk in 5 minutes early. Every morning she boils milk for my coffee (here we are surrounded by the best coffee growing countries in the world, and we drink Nescafé, don´t ask me why, also for some reason they like to boil and mix the coffee in milk, instead of water). It's about this time that Rosa enters the kitchen and hilarity ensues. While my mom scurries about the kitchen, and Rosa attacks the mountain of dishes left over from the previous day, the milk boils over (it wouldn't be that funny, if it didn't happen every day), before I finish my breakfast some other disaster will take place (yesterdays episode was Rosa breaks the shelf that holds the dishes, the day before's episode was Mom tries to soften the nutella in the microwave, but forgets to take off the foil) After breakfast, around 8:30, Mom yells at Gabby that its time to go, and she scurries (she doesn't ever walk, only scurries) down to start the car, assuming that Gabby and I are right behind her, as I need to be at school at 9:00 and it's about 10 minutes away. This is the time that Gabby makes her first appearance, hair and clothes looking immaculate, she saunters in (she never walks, only saunters) and commences to eat breakfast and sip at her coffee, while mom honks the horn and rings the phone from the front gate buzzer. Invariably Rosa answers the phone, and says that yes Gabby is coming right down. Five minutes later, Mom makes her first reappearance back upstairs to rally the troops, and then charges back downstairs to the car assuming that we're right behind her. While Gabby stretches, gets up from the breakfast table and saunters back into her room, where she starts to dry her hair. The first couple of days that this happened, I waited for Gabby downstairs in the car with Mom, but I've since realized that the better viewpoint, is upstairs with Gabby. After a couple of more reappearances and charges, around 8:56, Gabby saunters back out of her room (usually in a completely different immaculate outfit, and a completely different immaculate hairstyle) and we finally saunter down (her sauntering is infectious) to the car. As we enter the car, the mother smiles and says "Hey Gabby, how did you sleep" (in Spanish, of course) and she takes off as if she has not a care in the world. This happens every morning. At first it worried me that I was getting to school ten minutes late, but I've since discovered what I call Ecuadorito time, which means class always starts at least fifteen minutes late, and if someone is even more late, it's not a big deal.
Whoops, this is getting long, so I had better cut it off here. I, of course, haven't come close to catching you up, but I will have to do that another time, as salsa class awaits, and I'm sure that y'all have lives of your own. So once again, I bid adieu, and I hope that this message finds you well. Moe
Ahhhh, good afternoon everyone. I just thought that I would try and catch everyone up with what's happening in my life (I'm sure y'all have been just desprately waiting to find out, but I have an hour to kill before salsa class, and I've run out of things to do to occupy my time, so what are you going to do). Last time I wrote, I believe that I was just starting classes. Well since then I've gone on numerous side trips to beaches and cloud forests, learned mucho espanol, and had a kick ass birthday party. I'm getting along with my family very well. My host mother is constantly fussing over me, making sure that I have enough to eat (like I'm on the verge of starving), I'm not allowed to make my own food, or wash my own laundry, we have a maid for that. It's taken a lot of getting used to, but When in Rome, as they say, and who am I to go against a country's culture.
Also every morning, I'm treated to a comedy of the highest standards. I'm convinced that my mother, Rosa (our maid) and Gabby (my sister) should go on tour. A typical morning consists of me waking up around 7:30 or so and coming out to breakfast around 8:00. Every morning I surprise my mother who's in the kitchen trying to make sure that my breakfast is ready and on the table before I get there, god forbid I walk in 5 minutes early. Every morning she boils milk for my coffee (here we are surrounded by the best coffee growing countries in the world, and we drink Nescafé, don´t ask me why, also for some reason they like to boil and mix the coffee in milk, instead of water). It's about this time that Rosa enters the kitchen and hilarity ensues. While my mom scurries about the kitchen, and Rosa attacks the mountain of dishes left over from the previous day, the milk boils over (it wouldn't be that funny, if it didn't happen every day), before I finish my breakfast some other disaster will take place (yesterdays episode was Rosa breaks the shelf that holds the dishes, the day before's episode was Mom tries to soften the nutella in the microwave, but forgets to take off the foil) After breakfast, around 8:30, Mom yells at Gabby that its time to go, and she scurries (she doesn't ever walk, only scurries) down to start the car, assuming that Gabby and I are right behind her, as I need to be at school at 9:00 and it's about 10 minutes away. This is the time that Gabby makes her first appearance, hair and clothes looking immaculate, she saunters in (she never walks, only saunters) and commences to eat breakfast and sip at her coffee, while mom honks the horn and rings the phone from the front gate buzzer. Invariably Rosa answers the phone, and says that yes Gabby is coming right down. Five minutes later, Mom makes her first reappearance back upstairs to rally the troops, and then charges back downstairs to the car assuming that we're right behind her. While Gabby stretches, gets up from the breakfast table and saunters back into her room, where she starts to dry her hair. The first couple of days that this happened, I waited for Gabby downstairs in the car with Mom, but I've since realized that the better viewpoint, is upstairs with Gabby. After a couple of more reappearances and charges, around 8:56, Gabby saunters back out of her room (usually in a completely different immaculate outfit, and a completely different immaculate hairstyle) and we finally saunter down (her sauntering is infectious) to the car. As we enter the car, the mother smiles and says "Hey Gabby, how did you sleep" (in Spanish, of course) and she takes off as if she has not a care in the world. This happens every morning. At first it worried me that I was getting to school ten minutes late, but I've since discovered what I call Ecuadorito time, which means class always starts at least fifteen minutes late, and if someone is even more late, it's not a big deal.
Whoops, this is getting long, so I had better cut it off here. I, of course, haven't come close to catching you up, but I will have to do that another time, as salsa class awaits, and I'm sure that y'all have lives of your own. So once again, I bid adieu, and I hope that this message finds you well. Moe
Monday, October 13, 2003
Life in Quito and Other Adventures
Quito Ecuador
What´s up everyone? Ready for a new installation of Moe´s adventures in Ecuador? Well, lets see…where did we leave off last? I believe that I was leaving the Spanish-colonial town of Cuenca and was on the way to the beach. Since school let out in June, I had only two harried days to get ready for the boat, one extremely busy and crazy week off, and five days to get ready for Ecuador. Besides those very few days, I worked twelve hours a day or more on the boat. So when I made it to the beach town of Montanita, I decided that I had some well deserved r and r coming to me. It was five days of intense hammock swinging, trying of the local cervezas and laying on the beach. It was lovely.
Finally, however, it was time to head back to Quito to start school. I took the night bus back, which I'm told is dangerous, but at least the inherent danger is unseen. Back in Quito, I met my fellow students for the next year. There are only ten of us, two (myself included) from Evergreen State, seven from the UW, and one from Western Washington. The first night that they were in Quito, we all went out and did some bonding (drinking) and I could not be happier with everyone. So far everybody likes to have a good time, and there's been no drama whatsoever. The next day we met our families and had our first day of school. We go to school Monday through Thursday, about 4 to 6 hours a day. Three or four hours a day of class time in spent in intense spanish study, with the other time devoted to various projects and field trips, also in spanish. I figure that after all our time in school, communicating with our host families, and living day to day in Ecuador, I should be fluent in Spanish by next Tuesday. My family is really nice. My host padre is a high school gym teacher, my madre works in insurance, and I have an 18 year old sister who goes to college. We also have a maid who cleans my room and my bathroom for me, so I'm a little spoiled. The Mom is cute, she is constantly scurrying about, and it seems that her major preoccupation in life is that I have enough to eat (like I'm going to starve).
Back in school, during our first week, we took a four day field trip to visit some small commuities north of Quito, highlighted by visiting a couple of marketplaces and schools. During once such visit to a school, after our little cultural exchange, there was an impromptu soccer game, between us and several kids range eight to twelve. We were going easy on them, until we figured out that they were going easy on us and were kicking our butt. With ball control like Pele, and shots like Ronaldo, they proceeded to make us look like a bunch of silly gringos. It was okay, because it only took a couple of hip checks and hard slide tackles to take those grins off their faces. A good time was had by all. So now we're back in Quito delving into escuela. I'm still getting used to the whole breathing situation here, in Quito. Imagine fresh mountain air, filtered through thousands of diesel engines, and on top of that, at eight thousand feet the air is a lot thinner anyway. Just getting out of bed feels like a marathon, but I'm adjusting. Alrighty, I hope this message finds everybody happy, healthy, and terrific, I'll talk to you later. Moe
What´s up everyone? Ready for a new installation of Moe´s adventures in Ecuador? Well, lets see…where did we leave off last? I believe that I was leaving the Spanish-colonial town of Cuenca and was on the way to the beach. Since school let out in June, I had only two harried days to get ready for the boat, one extremely busy and crazy week off, and five days to get ready for Ecuador. Besides those very few days, I worked twelve hours a day or more on the boat. So when I made it to the beach town of Montanita, I decided that I had some well deserved r and r coming to me. It was five days of intense hammock swinging, trying of the local cervezas and laying on the beach. It was lovely.
Finally, however, it was time to head back to Quito to start school. I took the night bus back, which I'm told is dangerous, but at least the inherent danger is unseen. Back in Quito, I met my fellow students for the next year. There are only ten of us, two (myself included) from Evergreen State, seven from the UW, and one from Western Washington. The first night that they were in Quito, we all went out and did some bonding (drinking) and I could not be happier with everyone. So far everybody likes to have a good time, and there's been no drama whatsoever. The next day we met our families and had our first day of school. We go to school Monday through Thursday, about 4 to 6 hours a day. Three or four hours a day of class time in spent in intense spanish study, with the other time devoted to various projects and field trips, also in spanish. I figure that after all our time in school, communicating with our host families, and living day to day in Ecuador, I should be fluent in Spanish by next Tuesday. My family is really nice. My host padre is a high school gym teacher, my madre works in insurance, and I have an 18 year old sister who goes to college. We also have a maid who cleans my room and my bathroom for me, so I'm a little spoiled. The Mom is cute, she is constantly scurrying about, and it seems that her major preoccupation in life is that I have enough to eat (like I'm going to starve).
Back in school, during our first week, we took a four day field trip to visit some small commuities north of Quito, highlighted by visiting a couple of marketplaces and schools. During once such visit to a school, after our little cultural exchange, there was an impromptu soccer game, between us and several kids range eight to twelve. We were going easy on them, until we figured out that they were going easy on us and were kicking our butt. With ball control like Pele, and shots like Ronaldo, they proceeded to make us look like a bunch of silly gringos. It was okay, because it only took a couple of hip checks and hard slide tackles to take those grins off their faces. A good time was had by all. So now we're back in Quito delving into escuela. I'm still getting used to the whole breathing situation here, in Quito. Imagine fresh mountain air, filtered through thousands of diesel engines, and on top of that, at eight thousand feet the air is a lot thinner anyway. Just getting out of bed feels like a marathon, but I'm adjusting. Alrighty, I hope this message finds everybody happy, healthy, and terrific, I'll talk to you later. Moe
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