Hostal Los Chasquis Quito

... most of which we learnt from the lesson that day. While Jo proceeded to repeat ŽNo buenoŽ Saskia opted for the sharper ŽNUNCAŽ. Anyway, this didnt work. And he demanded 5 dollars. We couldnt keep up our broken argument. So we caved in. No chevre. BUT never fear, Saskia made her feelings very clear on leaving the taxi, with the universally acknoweldged "Up yours *******" fist. Screw you. 10 points to us. Taxi 3: this began with the usual discussion about fruit ...

... en tijdens de wandeling kwam ik (rond 18uur) op een binnenplaatsje waar eendansvoorstelling plaatsvond (de 1 usd was zeker de moeite waard).
Omdat ik al van zo vroeg wakker was dacht ik vroeg te gaan slapen, maar toen ik buiten muziek hoorde kon ik het toch niet laten om even te gaan kijken. Juist om de hoek bevindt zich La Ronda, een straat met vele barretjes waar overal zangers live optredens geven. Heb er even ...

... monkeys. Followed by an afternoon in a local community making tradditional breads.

Day there nature walking learing about the plants and animals, with the option to fish for Piranhas and swim in the river (IŽm hoping the river isnt the same as the one with Piranhas!)

Day four more exploring and canoe rides and then head back home on a night bus.

All the tours to the Amazon are Eco Friendly and the provide you with special ...

... Brian and I had a camera between us. We had to take two buses and trying to work our way around the complicated metro system was a bit of a nightmare, especially on the way back when the bus driver decided to change his destination randomly. Fun times.

The equator was something else. Very touristy but pretty impressive all the same. We took bucket loads of photos and acted like proper tourists for a few hours. It was fun ...

... that will tie in with how we approach the academic and scientific. This is also where I would like to bring in a concept of spirituality, in the way that there is ‘something’ that drives us somewhere, and this something, which for Bourdieu would be us aiming for higher cultural, economic and symbolic capital, is the real essence of what motivates us to do anything, in this my case, to do an anthropological field study about voluntarism in Ecuador. And so, with participant ...

... of daylight left, we decided to check everything out as we walked. We must have sampled food from about 10 different cart venders: coconut, taffy, platano, ice cream, cookies, juice, cheese, and tomales to name but a few. Not sure if we were all hungary or just curious. Either way it was pretty good. We ate a small supper that night together by Jen stir fying some vegetables. Maria and Dany went out and bought a huge thing of gnutella for dessert. Good times.

... uniformed men with banners sat atop beautiful white horses. Unfortunately my camera decided to be temperamental at that moment. We couldn’t decide if a graduation was happening or some sort of government celebration, but there were throngs of people and afterward a number of people with signs were chanting and protesting something. Later we saw riot police, but it all seemed half ...

... her as she danced in the mosh pit. The next day Anna, Berny and I went to a concert that was supposed to include hip hop, reggae and alternative bands, but they all sounded like rock to us. That night we went to another concert that made up for the previous ones. A hip hop band opened up and their homemade videos of strange sights of Ecuador played behind them. Then a funkier hip hop band followed them and the lead singer was a guy from California! He ...

... a comfy bed and brightly decorated walls adorned with local art works). Tuesday is curry night, and we ate the best red curry outside of Thailand.

The menu is a three week rotation, so we'll only ever eat the same meal for the last week of our stint here. Two nights ago we had portabello mushrooms in a tomato and cheese sauce and it was the best meal I've ever eaten in my life, he was stoked when I told him so.

My room mate in the staff quarters is Callum, a 19 year ...

... atmosphere and took pictures of picturesque people and buildings. Ecuador, we were beginning to realise, was one of those countries. By this I mean that it has some sort of indefinable quality that begs you to linger and enjoy. I was alarmed that we were merely rushing through on our way to Peru. The countryside seemed verdant, the people friendly enough, the atmosphere relaxed and safe (unless, of course, you were a dog near a road). Its growing reputation as a trouble spot seemed to ...