It was a long journey to get here, but now I am in Guayaquil, a city located on the coastal plain of Ecuador. The city has a population of around 2.5 million inhabitants and there is always something to do. The food is amazing...bread made of yucca, rice and plantain, mangrove crabs, and cebiche,have become some of my favorite dishes. I was also surprised at first to see that popcorn is a popular pre-meal appetizer in most restaurants. Apart from eating and exploring the city with friends, the academic aspect of the study abroad began this past week. Here some classes are on bimesters while others are on semesters. The professors are nice and have a good sense of humor, but we learned that you shouldn't be surprised if they call on you to present half of the lecture from slides. I just began my internship for the Ecuadorian government in the Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion. The first day was hectic, and the office is across the street from the World Trade Center. As a Political Science major, I could not have asked for better, and the experience really tests my knowledge of the Spanish language.
But as I mentioned, it was a long journey to get here, and it began in Otavalo. In that small town in the mountains we shopped in the famous craft market, where we bought jackets, hats, and scarves of alpaca wool to ward off the freezing wind. We ate locro (a potato-based soup) and drank Chicha del Día Yamor at a local festival. On the next day, we actually watched a curandera perform a spiritual cleansing on a couple members of our group...which was an interesting experience to say the least, and not the first thing I would rush to do. Then, we listened to a family who produced indigenous instruments by hand and produced their own CDs to support the family through tourism. But it was not long before we left Otavalo and went to Riobamba.
In Riobamba we visited a local farm and listened to indigenous music of a different tribe. They tried to teach us Quichua but they only word that stuck was "ñaño" (brother). From there we visited the Cuicocha Crater Lake, a volcano that had filled with water. Our guide maneuvered the small boat between islands that had formed inside the volcano, and at certain points we actually saw gas bubbles, since the volcano is still active.
The next day, we climbed another volcano, Mt. Chimborazo, the peak of which is the closest point to the sun on Earth. At the first base, we stopped to drink mate and to give our bodies time to adjust to the lack of oxygen at such a high altitud. The climb was exhausting, and everyone had to stop and rest frequently, but the end was rewarding and seeing the world from 16,000 feet in air was amazing. The top of the volcano was covered with snow, and the sky too was white from the clouds swirling around and below us. It was freezing, and I was glad I bought my alpaca wool jacket. After catching our breath and taking a few photos, we descended Mt. Chimborazo, and began our bus ride to Guayaquil in "la Costa" to meet our host families.
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