Language School and Sun Festival
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2008
1
2
28
Trip End
Nov 20, 2008
Latacunga,
Ecuador
Monday, June 23, 2008
For the last week we were learning spanish at the Simon Bolivar language school in Quito. Out teacher, Luis, was great and we had a real laugh with him as well as learning loads. He was very good humoured about all the mistakes we made during the week. Some of the highlights were when Dom said "I am raining" to which Luis replied, "youīre not God". Dom also said "I want to use you" to Luis, which resulted in a rather peculiar look from our teacher. My problems were around the verb morir, to die. I seem to have a real problem saying this without turning it into "sh*t". One day I spents ages (and I mean ages!!) explaining the story of the film Titanic only to spoil it right at the end by saying "and at the end Jack sh*ts" We laughed for about 5 minutes about that one!
We did get a lot of homework though which was good in a way, because we learnt so much in a week, but it did feel like we were back at school for a week and were constantly testing each other
Latacunga Market
.On wednesday there was a great atmosphere in Quito because Ecuador were playing Columbia in the city stadium in a qualifier for the football world cup. Everyone had Ecuador shirts on and there was an amazing atmosphere in the City. We didnīt go to the match as it would have meant missing a lot of class and we wanted to go to the cooking lesson after school. It was really good fun, we made cerviche and met some other people who were studying at the school. We have become particularly friendly with a couple from New Zealand called Caleb and Chrissie. Theyīre really lovely, about our age and like the same sorts of things as us. Theyīre also doing the same route as us so are hoping weīll be able to meet up at various points along the way.
After the cookng class we walked through the main square in El Mariscal to get a taxi home. The football was on and the atmosphere was incredible, people were screaming whenever Columbia got anywhere near the ball. Unfortunately the game finished 0-0 which was sad because I would have loved to have seen what happened if Ecuador had scored. The evening finished on a bit of a sour note though, Dom and are were studying in our room when the two german girls returned home from the match and said that they had been robbed at gunpoint just 200 meters from our home
The bullfight
. They were obviously shaken up but ok which is the main thing. Cecelia was very upset because nothing like this has ever happened before. It has just made us be ultra careful now, Dom and I donīt go out much at night anyway. When we do come back after dark we make sure we get an official taxi and make them take us to our door. This weekend we went to an indigenous festival in a town called Guaytacama about 2 hours outside Quito and near a town called Latacunga. It was a trip organised by the school, and it was good to get away from the fumes of Quito. It was also our first chance to experience a South American bus.... It was from the 1970s, rattled like you wouldnīt believe, leaked when it rained but was good fun and all part of the south american way! On the way we went to Latacunga to a market, there was everything there you could imagine, including an animal section which was noisy and smelly! There were cages and cages of guinea pigs and even some kittens which was a bit random. I hope they were being sold as pets! We stopped off at a beautiful hacienda for lunch. It was in the middle of no-where, so the bus had to go off road for a while, I didnīt realise how much buses can lean without falling over! It was built by the spanish when they invaded and was lovely, and real oasis in the middle of no-where. After lunch we headed to Guaytacama, chatching a glimpse of Cotopaxi volcano along the way
The Garden at the Hacienda
. We arrived in the town just as the party was getting going. We were treated to an hour of traditional dance, by a dance company and band that is apparently quite famous in Ecuador. The costumes were so colourful and it was so great to experience a different culture and be surrounded by indigenous people. I think they were quite surprised to see 40 europeans and americans descend on their small town - I donīt know who was looking at who more!At the end of the dancing we went to pick corn, I still havenīt found out if anyone had given us permission to do this! However it absolutely poured (ironic when we were at a festival to celebrate the sun!) Dom and I had left our rain jackets on the coach so got soaked. We learnt a lesson there, always always have your rain jacket nearby! We arrived at our hostel after dark, cold, wet and tired. We were dreading this part as we had a feeling the hostel was going to be really bad. So we were very surprised when we arrived at an Ecolodge that seemed to be really nice. We had a lovely dinner and the plan was to go back into the town for the street party. However by this time is was really raining so several of us decided to give it a miss and stay in the warm.
We explored the sight a bit and it turned out was massive, it had volleyball courts, football pitches, and ostrich farm (I kept well back, Ellie!!!!), and an amazing spa complex
The Parade1
. This was lesson number 2 for us, always take your swimming stuff with you because you never know when youīll stumble across an amazing spa in the middle of nowhere! I was starting to think this place was a bit like a mini CentreParcs. However on closer inspection I realised there were some crucial differences. Firstly, everyone had some problem with their room. Ours was that when we went in Caleb (we shared with Chrissie and Caleb) sat on his bed and broke one of the wooden slats! Others found that the bathroom door had the lock on the wrong side, some didnīt even have a bathroom door. Out friend Lars reported his bathroom light didnīt work; the fix, he discovered later, was to rip out the light swtich completely leaving 2 exposed wires. If he wanted light he had to put the wires together and then pull them apart to turn the light off! The second key difference was security. We decided to spend the evening with some beers down by the pool (it was warm there!) The pool complex was about a 2 minute walk from our room, but the entire time we were down there 2 people from the hotel were patrolling the complex....with guns!!!The next day we headed into the town for the parade. This was brilliant. All the schools and nearby villages had a section in the parade. There was lots of music, dancing and traditional dress. People were so friendly and were chatting away to us and inviting to have shots of their rather strange looking drinks
The Parade2
. At one point one of the men in the parade came an gave me a rose!We went and lunch in the home of one of the villagers, which turned out to be the father of one of our teachers. He had a simple but comfortable home and I will never know how they cooked lunch for 40 people in the kitchen. We ate guinea pig for lunch! I really liked it, and will definitely have it again if I can. The only downside was that it was pouring with ran at this point so we were a bit cold. But the three year old grandson cheered us up by singing songs he had learnt at nursey!
After lunch we headed to the village green for the bull fight! Some people watched from the roof of our bus but I managed to get myself a good spot in the back of a truck. They had built a makeshift "ring" from wooden fences and then chucked an angry bull in and anyone was allowed to jump in and have a go! There was a band and the whole town was there shouting and cheering. It was total madness but hilarious. No-one was badly hurt although at one point one guy didnīt quite manage to jump the fence and got a cut leg and torn jeans as a result. Then someone from our party decided to jump in (Iīm pleased to say it wasnīt Dom!) It was a german guy called Cornelius, heīs really tall and to the indigenous people who are all quite short (many about my height) he was a giant! They all started screaming "extranjero loco" (crazy foreigner!) There was only one time when the bull really went for him and he sprinted away to the screams of the whole crowd and his adrenaline meant that he completely cleared the fence and jumped into the back of a truck with a load of locals who all collapsed in a heap of hysterics. Afterwards they gave him a banner, which was made in honour of the fiesta, as a sign of their respect for him!
We arrived back in Quito in time for dinner back at the house but were all shattered so had an early night. Today we have been doing bits and pieces in Quito because tonight we are off to the jungle for 4 nights!! Iīm pretty scared about it to be honest because we will certainly see tarantulas and anacondas and Iīm not sure how Iīll react when I see them. Iīll let you know how I get on in my next blog!
Comments
Martinonexe
Wow! what we get up to. Wait til I tell Frank of your upgrade he is always very jealous of anyone who achieves! Keep the blogs coming I enjoy.
Martin