Week number 4

So I have been in Ecuador for a month now and wow what a roller coaster it had been.. A lot of ups and downs but both making me stronger!! :)

The picture below is a picture of the breakfast that they serve at KFC. I thought it was really interesting how they changed their menu to fit the kind of food that people here in Ecuador like and are accustomed to.  Fired chicken, rice, lentils and a fried plantain for $1.99.

We went out driving the other day and there is graffiti EVERYWHRE in Quito but the art we passed was actually pretty good so I took some pictures my favorite is the little kitty :)

So on Wednesday (which is also ladies night here)  the German students invited everyone over to the student residence to eat before we all went out to the clubs.  They cooked something called schnitzel and the white pasta looking thing that I can not remember the name of right now, but I am pretty sure they told me they made it with flour eggs and water then mixed it together and then pushed it through some sort of strainer and boiled it maybe?  The meal was actually really good even though the picture doesn't look very appetizing in the picuture.

So on Thursday I hiked up a volcano that is called Pinchincha. This volcano hike was originally about a 5 and a half hour hike but I haven't already explained in my previous postings the Germans can hike EXTREMELY fast (while smoking) so we were able to go up and down in about 3 and a half hours and I was dying!!! But the views were really great.

On Friday it rained for about 24 hours and when it finally stopped it was soo beautiful outside the pictures below are of the school after it stopped raining.

This past weekend I was invited by Sandra and Patty ( who are the owners of the school I attend ) to a family reunion in a city called Santo Domingo which is about a 3 hour drive outside of Qutito.  We left really early on Saturday morning and came back Sunday night.  The picture below is a picture of the parents of Sandra and Patty, we wore these shirts to the reunion so that everyone would know which family we belonged too.

On Saturday we arrived at a farm where we played games such as volleyball, ping pong and of coarse futbol.  The farm was owned by one of the cousins it think.

 

After spending a full day at the farm we made it to the hotel which someone from their family owns and I got assigned my favorite room number.. the 505 :)

The picture below is the view from out hotel balcony.

Later that night we started round number two which included dinner and dancing but they like to start the parties late so we didn't end up eating until about 11 at night.  The picture below is of me and Sandra (the lady who invited me)  she is really great and has helped me a lot since I've been here.  I love her!!

To the left Sandra, me Patty ( the sister of Sandra and another owner of the school) and to the very right an exchange student from Oregon who is living with Patty. 

View from the hotel in the morning.

So on Sunday morning we all woke up really early at went to church.  Even though I couldn't really understand everything that the priest was saying, all catholic no matter where you are have the same structure so I knew exactly where we were supposed to be even though I couldn't follow along with the words.

When we were on our way back we stopped off at a local store for some fresh coconut juice :) 

Driving back we passed by this statue that was carved out of the mountain called the devil's face and about 5 minutes after we passed it we got a flat tire.. Coincidence I don't know? 

 And out last stop on our way back was at a little rrestaurantthat sells a typical dish called fritada, which consists of yuca, fried banana, banana chips, posole corn, roasted corn, fried pig skin, and chunks of pig.  Lets just say its probably not a good idea to be cutting open a freshly killed pig while people are eating in your restaurant.  I think I am going to become veterinarian.  Until next week :) 

Week number three

I worked with my first kid on Friday by myself because my supervisor  had to go to a doctors appointment so she left me in charge :) He has quite a few speech problems got example he repeats everything that you say but he's working on it!! 

On Wednesday I went out for ladies night to plaza fosh which is basically a huge plaza with tons or bars and discos as they say.

I had my first legal alcoholic drink before I was 21 so that was really cool and it was also delicious :)

This weekend I went to a city about 3 hours outside of quito called Mindo also called the cloud forest. It's called the cloud forest because it's on too of a huge mountain inside the clouds.

So I stayed in a hostel for the first time ever and it was actually really nice below are a picture of the room I stayed in.

Me and ALL the Germans :)

This was a view from the breakfast area at our hostel and we all went swimming in it the first morning we were there and it was absolutely freezing but we just had to try it.

The outside of the hostel.

Probably the scariest thing I've done so far was stand up in the back of a truck as it went drove up a one lane windy dirt road.

Second scariest thing  but also the coolest thing I've done was go zip lining. It was so much fun although I don't have pictures of it because I didn't want to drop my phone. I was basically just in a harness and one connector thing that latched on to the wire and then the people working there would push you off this plank and there you would go over all the trees and rivers.

After zip lining we went to the waterfalls and you have to take like a gondala looking thing as seen below to the other mountain.

We were able to go swimming in the waterfalls which was also really cold but so worth it :)

One thing about the Germans is they hike so quickly like they basically don't even hike they run. They also smoked like a whole pack of cigarettes while hiking back up the mountain and were still able to go faster than me but I had to keep up because I didn't want to get lost but I was dying at the end and my shirt was all sweaty but they were perfectly fine and already smoking again. 

We got to go on a chocolate tour while we were there down below is what they call nibs which is the dried caco seed.

The actual caco fruit.

Coffee bean.

We went into this large room where the caco or chocolate seeds ferment and then lay out to dry for I' am pretty sure around 3 weeks.

After the chocolate tour we then preceded to eat dinner there the picture below is the patio we ate on. 

So I branched out of what I will eat and what I wont and tried two of my favorite foods chicken and chocolate and I am sad to report that it was not very good but I am still glad that I tried it :)

We went on a jungle hike on Sunday and we saw monkeys and all kinds of cool humming birds and even some really interesting looking bees that I've never seen before.

One of the most beautiful plants I've ever seen I' am not sure what it is called but I absolutely loved the colors.

After our hike they served us some tea for working so hard.

Right before our bus left we stopped of at a butterfly exhibit and the butterflies that we saw were AMAZING. 

My favorite picture below that I took that day, there are two different butterflies here each on opposite sides of the branch.

All in all it was a good weekend :) I miss everyone and I hope you are all doing well!!