Here are some more pictures from before:
Our room at El Rancho Alegre 
The group, at least part of it
Karina, our program assistant, with Fauto Mino, who´s a famous Ecuadorian singerHola hola. Right now I am in my bed at my host family’s house in Los Chillos. (I’m going to put this on my jumpdrive and upload it later when I get to an Internet café.) My bedspread is decorated with happy bunnies and little carrots, and the bed itself is a white-framed twin bed with a Winnie the Pooh headrest. One of the pictures in my room is a put-together puzzle of the Lion King, with Simba’s silhouette at the bottom and a big cloudy sky with Mufasa’s head up there. The rest of the decorations are put-together puzzles with pictures of dogs.
The family has three dogs – two little ones and one big grey lab-like one. The two little ones have been hanging out with me on my bed. They are all really nice and not very barky so I don’t mind them at all.
This morning we walked around in Quito. Overall I thought it was interesting but probably pretty typical for a touristy center of a Latin American city, but two things stood out. One was an awesome church, Iglesia de Santa Teresita – it was huge and dark and the only light came from the nave. There were relatively gruesome Stations of the Cross along the sides, and the alter had a sparkly painting with rays of light. The other thing was an awesome indoor market. We came by it by accident (the church too) and it was so cool – when you walk in there are tons of people and little places to eat, mostly soup. I saw one soup in particular with lots of shrimp, it looked really good. Further on there were tons of vegetable and then fruit. There were loads of plants and medicinal herbs, too. I only recognized chamomile and that’s only because Meredith, one of the SIT group, made tea with the full plant the other day in San Antonio. The tea was bright yellow and really good, kind of with a lemony taste. I don’t remember ever having teabag chamomile tea so I can’t compare. People keep pointing things out that help with specific ailments, especially stomach problems and nausea. The market also had lots of beautiful fresh flowers and different kinds of meat (I saw a fried up pig head for instance and lots of unrecognizable parts) and woven baskets and terracotta pots and ceramic animal figurines. I’m excited to go back to things like that later and talk to the vendors more.
We took a bus to Los Chillos and got in around 4:00. My family was a little late, but I wasn’t the last one waiting. My host mom and youngest sister came for me. Their house is really nice, it’s big. The three daughters all have their own room, which is great because I was a little worried that I’d be taking one of their rooms, forcing them to pair up. My room’s a lot smaller than my room in Costa Rica, but my room in Costa Rica was pretty big. It’s very comfortable. I played basketball with the youngest daughter for a long time and later I talked to my host mother for a while about her family and politics and her godchild. The other two daughters have kind of left me alone. They’ve already had six host students just from SIT and some from other placement organizations too – SIT is part of an organization that organizes homestay placements, so I think the novelty is pretty much gone for them. I feel welcome though, so it’s okay. When I get more comfortable I’ll take pictures.
Okay, this is pretty long. My host mom said in a week the house will have wireless, which will make it easy to call home. We got our cell-phones last night! I got a phonecard. We only have to pay for calls we make, not for ones we receive.
The family has three dogs – two little ones and one big grey lab-like one. The two little ones have been hanging out with me on my bed. They are all really nice and not very barky so I don’t mind them at all.
This morning we walked around in Quito. Overall I thought it was interesting but probably pretty typical for a touristy center of a Latin American city, but two things stood out. One was an awesome church, Iglesia de Santa Teresita – it was huge and dark and the only light came from the nave. There were relatively gruesome Stations of the Cross along the sides, and the alter had a sparkly painting with rays of light. The other thing was an awesome indoor market. We came by it by accident (the church too) and it was so cool – when you walk in there are tons of people and little places to eat, mostly soup. I saw one soup in particular with lots of shrimp, it looked really good. Further on there were tons of vegetable and then fruit. There were loads of plants and medicinal herbs, too. I only recognized chamomile and that’s only because Meredith, one of the SIT group, made tea with the full plant the other day in San Antonio. The tea was bright yellow and really good, kind of with a lemony taste. I don’t remember ever having teabag chamomile tea so I can’t compare. People keep pointing things out that help with specific ailments, especially stomach problems and nausea. The market also had lots of beautiful fresh flowers and different kinds of meat (I saw a fried up pig head for instance and lots of unrecognizable parts) and woven baskets and terracotta pots and ceramic animal figurines. I’m excited to go back to things like that later and talk to the vendors more.
We took a bus to Los Chillos and got in around 4:00. My family was a little late, but I wasn’t the last one waiting. My host mom and youngest sister came for me. Their house is really nice, it’s big. The three daughters all have their own room, which is great because I was a little worried that I’d be taking one of their rooms, forcing them to pair up. My room’s a lot smaller than my room in Costa Rica, but my room in Costa Rica was pretty big. It’s very comfortable. I played basketball with the youngest daughter for a long time and later I talked to my host mother for a while about her family and politics and her godchild. The other two daughters have kind of left me alone. They’ve already had six host students just from SIT and some from other placement organizations too – SIT is part of an organization that organizes homestay placements, so I think the novelty is pretty much gone for them. I feel welcome though, so it’s okay. When I get more comfortable I’ll take pictures.
Okay, this is pretty long. My host mom said in a week the house will have wireless, which will make it easy to call home. We got our cell-phones last night! I got a phonecard. We only have to pay for calls we make, not for ones we receive.
you've already seen a lot in a short period of time. Have you started the Spanish classes yet? Love hearing about your host family and your travels from the back of a truck. How are the roads that you've been on so far? Love, Mom
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