First Impressions of Cuenca

It's now been about a week that we've been in Cuenca. I've settled somewhat into a regular routine. Here it is: wake up at 6-6:30, shower, eat breakfast at 7:00, walk half hour to school, classes from 8:00 until 12:30, walk home for lunch, return to school at 2:00-2:30 for a planned activity, do homework from 5:30-7:30, eat dinner at 7:30, finish homework from 8:00-9:00, from 9:00 until 10:00 I sit in my room and stare at the wall, incapable of thought. At 10:00 I fall into a slumber somewhere between coma and death. Next morning, repeat. Needless to say, this schedule keeps me quite busy. The plus side to this, however, is that there is very little time to feel homesick, and with the 4 hours of class completely in Spanish and the 3+ hours of homework in Spanish my speaking and understanding have improved a lot more than I could have hoped after this long.

I've realized one thing about this city. The pedestrians do not have the right of way. I was told this before coming to Ecuador, but the gringo in me wouldn't really accept the gravity of this until I took part in the highly dangerous and adrenaline rushing sport known as "crossing the street". When I first came here I thought that everyone honked at each other out of anger, as in North America. I have recently discovered that the honking has much more benevolent motives than that. When a motorist honks at you, it's not to say, "f### you! get out of my way!" as in North America. On the contrary, what a honk means in Cuenca is "excuse me, pedestrian, I am about to run you down without remorse, but I thought that I would give you a sporting good chance to get out of the way." Also, I believe this their way of putting themselves right with god before committing vehicular manslaughter. "I'm going to drive 120 km/h in a residential area and if you get in my way, it's your own fault."

I love the food here. If it weren't for the 3 hours of brisk walking per day, I would be coming back several pounds heavier than I am now. Breakfast consists of café con leche, cheesy bread, nata (milk condensed over night in which you dip the cheesy bread), a banana or apple, fresh juice of some unpronounceable fruit, and an omelette or warm-boiled egg. (For those of you who know me well, you will know that eggs are just about the only food I will not eat. You will be proud to know that I have eaten an egg nearly every day I have been here and I am starting to develop a taste for cheesy omelettes.) Lunch is the generally the biggest meal of the day with soup to start and then a heaping plate of rice, vegetables and meat. This heaping plate alternates as well with meat, vegetables and rice; and sometimes,  vegetables, rice and meat. Afterwards, there is nearly always a dessert made of fresh fruit or a tamale dolce (a sweet dessert made with corn, cheese, milk and sugar cooked in a corn husk). Dinner is smaller, usually just leftovers from lunch and a cup of coffee.

I have inherited a new job when we all go out for nachos and cervezas. Unfortunately I am not getting paid for this job, but it is pretty fun nonetheless. I am the designated translator. One of the other student's host mother came out with us one night and she was constantly saying to me "diles lo que digo" (tell them what I'm saying) whenever she got blank looks from the other students. This job has also taken me to banks where I try to resolve money problems for fellow students as well. I have to say, however, that this more than anything else has helped me improve. Constantly trying to switch between two languages is somewhat akin to doing push-ups for my brain.

There are days where I think I am going completely crazy and I miss Risa and Beckham so much, but on the whole I love being here and I love learning the language. Everything I have eaten I have loved and everything I have seen the same.

Bienvenido a Ecuador

Hola a mis amigos canadienses 

Tuesday was the last full day in Canada. I decided to have a day that would be as Canadian as possible. It comprised of Tim Horton’s for breakfast, the better part of the afternoon spent in a mall of epic proportions, dinner at Boston Pizza, and then beer and hockey to finish off the night. It seemed only fitting as it was the last chance for nearly all of these things for about 5 and a half weeks. It was tough saying goodbye to Risa knowing that it would be at least 6 weeks that we wouldn't see each other; however, it will be over quickly and we're going to try to keep in touch as much as possible.

After a 4 hour flight out of Calgary I spent about 6 hours in the Houston air port. I can now cross Houston off my list. I have two lists: one of places that I need to see before I die, and one of places that I couldn’t care less if I ever see. I will let you guess which one Houston falls under. The day’s activities fell into two basic categories: 1. sitting around and 2. eating highly unhealthy airport food, both of which seem pretty appropriate considering the average weight of Texans. The flight to Quito was a special kind of hell. Just before the final descent the captain announces that there is too much fog to land and that we’re going to have to circle for a while. He also says that it should be no more than 10 to 15 minutes. 45 minutes later we are informed that we are getting low on fuel and we need to swing over to Guayaquil (just a quick 300 km to the southwest). By the time we arrive in Quito airport it is 3:00 AM local time, an impressive 4 and a half hours late. After more line-ups and waiting for shuttles and confused wanderings through an enormous hotel I roll into bed at 4:30, just 4 hours before the wake-up call.

The only thing that could assuage such an ordeal would be a huge-ass breakfast buffet and Hotel Quito did not let me down on that part. Colombian coffee, fresh papaya and pineapple, fresh squeezed juice, granola, and breakfast pastries soothed all troubles and left me in a much better mood. After breakfast we traveled to a beautiful town about 2 hours from Quito called Otavalo. I may consider moving to Otavalo forever. We ate meals priced between 3 and 5 dollars, drank beers ranging from 1.50 to 1.75, explored the huge market, and visited churches. Being South America, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a Catholic church (but they really frown on throwing rocks at their churches). The market was a new experience for me and the highlight of my day was having little old lady say, “¡Hola, blanco amigo!” (hello, white friend) to get my attention. We spent the night in a gorgeous old hotel and explored the town for a while the next day before heading back to Quito. 

Quito is an amazing city. It is one of the biggest cities I have ever seen and by far the most densely populated. We spent a few hours in Old Quito visiting a simply enormous cathedral with towers that could only be reached by some questionable ladders. Said ladders inspired at least one of the group to stay back and take pictures and others to wish that they had. We finished the day with dinner at an Argentinian restaurant that served sandwiches slightly smaller than full loaves of bread (have I mentioned that the food is blowing me away?). 

So far I am so thankful to be here (mostly thankful to Risa for sacrificing our tax return to put towards the trip and to let me leave for so long). I am in love with the culture, sights, music, and food that I have experienced so far. I can’t wait to get to Cuenca and meet my host family who apparently speak almost no English, all the better to put my Spanish to the test.

Gabe

p.s. I'm having troubles uploading pictures right now (dodgy hotel internet connection) and I will put another post up in a couple of days with a bunch of pictures (fingers crossed).

10 Days to Go and I'm Climbing the Walls! (Sólo Faltan 10 Días y Me Pongo Loco!)

It's official; I can count the number of days left before my trip with my shoes on. This is the hardest part, the last week or so. I am filled with both bowel-gnawing anxiety and irrepressible excitement. The anxiety stems from the fact that I am not extremely well-travelled. I can count all the big trips in my life not only with my shoes on, but probably with at least one mitt on as well. The excitement is easy enough to explain, an adventure in a foreign country, speaking a foreign language, trying foreign foods etc.

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, the first part of the title of this blog, 37 Días Sin Afeitarme La Barba, means 37 days without shaving my beard. The reasons for this decision are very hard to put into words, mostly because I'm not sure about them myself. If any of you can grow a beard, you will understand that sometimes you just have to push it to the limit and see just how big it can get. Plus, 5 weeks away from my wife is about the only time I can do this. As you can see from the picture, I've got a bit of a head start on the beard. Now just try to picture 6 more weeks of growth. It's possible that I might get stopped on the way back into Canada and get searched for drugs. I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it and I'll just have to make sure to make sure any drugs are well hidden. Risa has stated quite unequivocally that she will not kiss me upon my return without my trimming the beard, but once again, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. 

So this is hopefully the first of a several blogs to chronicle my adventure in Ecuador. I'm going to try and keep all of you well-informed about every detail, no matter how mundane. In the meantime, here is how I am feeling right now. Despite being both anxious and excited, I have to say the excitement is winning out. I'm eager to put two years of Spanish classes to the test and to find out, as every second language learner discovers, that no one actually speaks like you learn in class.


P.S. I'm posting this video on here because I can!