the first week here in ecuador went by really slowly, but now it seems like the days are whizzing by! so many crazy ecuadorian adventures in the past ten days i might have to split it up into two blogs...
last weekend was spent doing all the touristy things. on saturday, my friends jacob and julia, and i went to teleferiQo (yes, that is a random capital letter Q. i think the quitenos thought they were being creative). for those of you who have not spent much time perusing the lonely planet guide to ecuador, i shall describe this wonderful attraction. basically the teleferiQo is a system of cables cars that transports passengers up Cruz Loma, a hill on the active Pichincha volcano! each cable car takes off at about 9,500 feet and reaches over 13,000 ft, while providing the most amazing view of all of quito. on the way up, i took about 34523452345 pictures of the beautiful view but little did i know we were allowed (and expected) to get out of the cable car at the top of the mountain and walk around! looking back, i would've been very mad if i had paid $8.50 just to take a 10 minute ride in that cable car up and down the mountain. anyway, i proceeded to take about 34523452345 more pictures, this time without the dirty glass of the cable car blocking the view. but the pictures don't even do the view justice! i could literally see all of quito and all of the beautiful mountains that surround the city. and even though i would take 10 steps and be out of breath at that altitude, it was totally worth it because that's the freshest air i've ever experienced! it was a fabulous way to spend saturday morning, but after stalking other friends' teleferiQo facebook albums, i realized i didn't even get the full teleferiQo experience! apparently there are horses and llamas to ride, a world famous oxygen bar, and some of the most delicious restaurants at the top of the mountain so i will be planning another trip there if anyone wants to accompany me :)
the following day, my friends, aliceann and katy, and i went to la mitad del mundo or THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD! before i describe, i need to tell you a thing or two about the transportation in ecuador. it's great because there are a few different bus systems, a trole system, a metro system, and taxis. the problem? all the systems overlap, are really unorganized, the buses arrive at random times, and stop of random times. for example, on my way to school the other day, the bus stopped at fybeca (equivalent of a walgreens in the states) for a few minutes so the bus driver could run in and grab a sandwich. only in ecuador! but the buses do provide lots of entertainment. while riding downtown the other day, a mom and her 2-year old son sat down in front of me. he was probably one of the cutest little boys i have ever seen and he seemed very mischievous so i couldn't help but stare. as his mom day dreamed, the little boy started biting the rubber neck rest on his seat. i think the neck rests were yellow at some point but over the years, have turned a brownish-black color from who knows what. anyway, the boy bit his neck rest, really unsatisfied with the taste, he took the piece of rubber out of his mouth, and not knowing where to put it, he daintily placed it on the head of the old woman sitting behind him. this process happened about 3 or 4 times. it was the funniest thing i have ever seen! i was just far enough away that i couldn't get his mother's attention, but just close enough that i had a great view of the action! so my point is, you never know what you are going to get or how you are going to get somewhere; you just kinda have to go with it. so aliceann's mom had given us a very detailed explanation on how we could get to la mitad del mundo. well, we got to the bus stop already a little confused and resorted to our favorite tourist move: just ask a local. thankfully we met claudia, a very nice ecuadorian, and it just so happened that she was traveling in the direction of la mitad and said we could follow her. looking back, it sounds a little sketchy, but claudia told us about her children and grandchildren and i just had a really hard time picturing her kidnapping three americans, so we followed her. after a 10 minute walk, 5 minute bus ride, 15 minute walk, 20 minute wait, 20 minute metro ride, 5 minute wait, 40 minute bus ride, and 10 minute walk we finally arrived! it was so worth the crazy travel... they have built a little town around the la mitad del mundo, with overpriced shops, cute restaurants, a park, etc. we were so touristy, posing with the equator sign, standing in front of la mitad monument, and taking pictures of the view from every angle. we even saw some llamas just chillin outside the gates! oh, this was also my first encounter with cuy, an ecuadorian delicacy. do you remember the murphy family guinea pig, oakley? that's cuy... roasted guinea pig on a stick. i asked the vendor how they get the guinea pigs and he very calmly explained that they stalk the animals and then bash them on their noses with a large stick. and these are the times that i don't question my vegetarianism. anyway, when i arrived home, my homestaymom asked "fuiste a la mitad del mundo real?" aka "did you go to the real middle of the world?" i was so confused... there's a fake middle of the world i asked!? homestaymom proceeded to tell me that yes, in fact, i had visited the tourist-trap mitad del mundo and the real middle of the world, on the exact equator, is in a little village 5 miles south of the tourist trap. so all that hard work getting to the equator and i was 5 miles short! i was super bummed, and still am, but i must admit, i really like la mitad del mundo, with its tourist-trapness and all!
it's always sad when the weekend ends because that means school, but i can hardly complain because i'm doing about 1/100 of the work i would be doing if i were at UNC this semester. in ceramics, we made a pinch pot and i received the lowest grade in the class. if you know anything about me, you know i pride myself on being pretty well rounded and i think i do have some of mom's artistic abilities. well, my ceramics teacher thought my pot was only worth a B, but let me tell you that was definitely A- work! this was our first assignment and really basic and i kept asking her if i could add details or make it more creative and i was always shot down. so i think that B was just because she was annoyed with all my questions. but don't worry, this past week i redeemed myself with a very very creative cord pot and got an A! i am learning a lot in my language & literature class and conversation classes, too. although i feel like my spanish speaking abilities are improving at a veryyyyy slow rate, i can tell that it is a lot easier to understand other people than it was when i first arrived. this is great news because i no longer start telling my homestaymom about my day when she really just wants to know what i want for dinner.
another great thing about not having a UNC- sized workload? i can have fun during the week too! i practice with the USFQ soccer team for 2 hours every day after school. it's hard to keep up with some of the girls - they have foot skills like i've never seen before - but i'm doing my best. i get dirty and bruised, but it's a lot of fun and my teammates are teaching me some of the most useful spanish phrases! in addition to soccer, my friends and i have been successful in experiencing the quito nightlife. like last tuesday, my friends and i went to trivia night at Finn McCool's, an awesome Irish pub in La Mariscal. we didn't win but it was blast! then wednesday is salsa night at this club we like. unfortunately, it's pretty common for me to somehow get stuck with a terrible ecuadorian dancer who also reeks of sweat and alcohol, but when i do snatch a good dance partner, salsa night is spectacular! i've been learning lots of salsa moves, and if the ecuadorians are lucky, my friends and i even teach them some american steps... it's safe to say that "the dougie" is spreading across south america thanks to us.
well, this blog is already muy largo and i've only told you about last week! i will post again in the next few days about the amazing adventure i went on this past weekend. i am so thankful to be in this fabulous place with fabulous friends and i'm really happy i can share some of the exciting stories with you. so thanks for tuning in!
mucho amor,
sha
(i am strictly know as "sha" on the soccer field. i guess the name "shannon" or "murphy"just isn't ecuadorian enough.)
last weekend was spent doing all the touristy things. on saturday, my friends jacob and julia, and i went to teleferiQo (yes, that is a random capital letter Q. i think the quitenos thought they were being creative). for those of you who have not spent much time perusing the lonely planet guide to ecuador, i shall describe this wonderful attraction. basically the teleferiQo is a system of cables cars that transports passengers up Cruz Loma, a hill on the active Pichincha volcano! each cable car takes off at about 9,500 feet and reaches over 13,000 ft, while providing the most amazing view of all of quito. on the way up, i took about 34523452345 pictures of the beautiful view but little did i know we were allowed (and expected) to get out of the cable car at the top of the mountain and walk around! looking back, i would've been very mad if i had paid $8.50 just to take a 10 minute ride in that cable car up and down the mountain. anyway, i proceeded to take about 34523452345 more pictures, this time without the dirty glass of the cable car blocking the view. but the pictures don't even do the view justice! i could literally see all of quito and all of the beautiful mountains that surround the city. and even though i would take 10 steps and be out of breath at that altitude, it was totally worth it because that's the freshest air i've ever experienced! it was a fabulous way to spend saturday morning, but after stalking other friends' teleferiQo facebook albums, i realized i didn't even get the full teleferiQo experience! apparently there are horses and llamas to ride, a world famous oxygen bar, and some of the most delicious restaurants at the top of the mountain so i will be planning another trip there if anyone wants to accompany me :)
the following day, my friends, aliceann and katy, and i went to la mitad del mundo or THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD! before i describe, i need to tell you a thing or two about the transportation in ecuador. it's great because there are a few different bus systems, a trole system, a metro system, and taxis. the problem? all the systems overlap, are really unorganized, the buses arrive at random times, and stop of random times. for example, on my way to school the other day, the bus stopped at fybeca (equivalent of a walgreens in the states) for a few minutes so the bus driver could run in and grab a sandwich. only in ecuador! but the buses do provide lots of entertainment. while riding downtown the other day, a mom and her 2-year old son sat down in front of me. he was probably one of the cutest little boys i have ever seen and he seemed very mischievous so i couldn't help but stare. as his mom day dreamed, the little boy started biting the rubber neck rest on his seat. i think the neck rests were yellow at some point but over the years, have turned a brownish-black color from who knows what. anyway, the boy bit his neck rest, really unsatisfied with the taste, he took the piece of rubber out of his mouth, and not knowing where to put it, he daintily placed it on the head of the old woman sitting behind him. this process happened about 3 or 4 times. it was the funniest thing i have ever seen! i was just far enough away that i couldn't get his mother's attention, but just close enough that i had a great view of the action! so my point is, you never know what you are going to get or how you are going to get somewhere; you just kinda have to go with it. so aliceann's mom had given us a very detailed explanation on how we could get to la mitad del mundo. well, we got to the bus stop already a little confused and resorted to our favorite tourist move: just ask a local. thankfully we met claudia, a very nice ecuadorian, and it just so happened that she was traveling in the direction of la mitad and said we could follow her. looking back, it sounds a little sketchy, but claudia told us about her children and grandchildren and i just had a really hard time picturing her kidnapping three americans, so we followed her. after a 10 minute walk, 5 minute bus ride, 15 minute walk, 20 minute wait, 20 minute metro ride, 5 minute wait, 40 minute bus ride, and 10 minute walk we finally arrived! it was so worth the crazy travel... they have built a little town around the la mitad del mundo, with overpriced shops, cute restaurants, a park, etc. we were so touristy, posing with the equator sign, standing in front of la mitad monument, and taking pictures of the view from every angle. we even saw some llamas just chillin outside the gates! oh, this was also my first encounter with cuy, an ecuadorian delicacy. do you remember the murphy family guinea pig, oakley? that's cuy... roasted guinea pig on a stick. i asked the vendor how they get the guinea pigs and he very calmly explained that they stalk the animals and then bash them on their noses with a large stick. and these are the times that i don't question my vegetarianism. anyway, when i arrived home, my homestaymom asked "fuiste a la mitad del mundo real?" aka "did you go to the real middle of the world?" i was so confused... there's a fake middle of the world i asked!? homestaymom proceeded to tell me that yes, in fact, i had visited the tourist-trap mitad del mundo and the real middle of the world, on the exact equator, is in a little village 5 miles south of the tourist trap. so all that hard work getting to the equator and i was 5 miles short! i was super bummed, and still am, but i must admit, i really like la mitad del mundo, with its tourist-trapness and all!
it's always sad when the weekend ends because that means school, but i can hardly complain because i'm doing about 1/100 of the work i would be doing if i were at UNC this semester. in ceramics, we made a pinch pot and i received the lowest grade in the class. if you know anything about me, you know i pride myself on being pretty well rounded and i think i do have some of mom's artistic abilities. well, my ceramics teacher thought my pot was only worth a B, but let me tell you that was definitely A- work! this was our first assignment and really basic and i kept asking her if i could add details or make it more creative and i was always shot down. so i think that B was just because she was annoyed with all my questions. but don't worry, this past week i redeemed myself with a very very creative cord pot and got an A! i am learning a lot in my language & literature class and conversation classes, too. although i feel like my spanish speaking abilities are improving at a veryyyyy slow rate, i can tell that it is a lot easier to understand other people than it was when i first arrived. this is great news because i no longer start telling my homestaymom about my day when she really just wants to know what i want for dinner.
another great thing about not having a UNC- sized workload? i can have fun during the week too! i practice with the USFQ soccer team for 2 hours every day after school. it's hard to keep up with some of the girls - they have foot skills like i've never seen before - but i'm doing my best. i get dirty and bruised, but it's a lot of fun and my teammates are teaching me some of the most useful spanish phrases! in addition to soccer, my friends and i have been successful in experiencing the quito nightlife. like last tuesday, my friends and i went to trivia night at Finn McCool's, an awesome Irish pub in La Mariscal. we didn't win but it was blast! then wednesday is salsa night at this club we like. unfortunately, it's pretty common for me to somehow get stuck with a terrible ecuadorian dancer who also reeks of sweat and alcohol, but when i do snatch a good dance partner, salsa night is spectacular! i've been learning lots of salsa moves, and if the ecuadorians are lucky, my friends and i even teach them some american steps... it's safe to say that "the dougie" is spreading across south america thanks to us.
well, this blog is already muy largo and i've only told you about last week! i will post again in the next few days about the amazing adventure i went on this past weekend. i am so thankful to be in this fabulous place with fabulous friends and i'm really happy i can share some of the exciting stories with you. so thanks for tuning in!
mucho amor,
sha
(i am strictly know as "sha" on the soccer field. i guess the name "shannon" or "murphy"just isn't ecuadorian enough.)
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