Quite the learning experience...

1. What not to pack (homework/text books)
2. Never put off today what you can do tomorrow- a.k.a. buying a round trip bus ticket
3. If you want something, get it. You never know when you will have to skip town in 20 minutes to ride in a shady van that gets pulled over because you are considered an illegal passenger and you miss getting that purse you really really wanted. (I know there must be a cuter, better bag out there…)
4. 12 hours of traveling actually means 15+
5. Never trust a bus driver
6. Bring toilet paper with you everywhere you go
7. Expect the unexpected
8. Jumping in the ocean at three in the morning is always a good idea
9. You can sit down at the dinner table with Germans, Ecuadorians, and Americans and still have amazing conversation
10. Apply and reapply sunscreen or else you may find yourself traveling in very uncomfortable conditions (aka on your bottom, plus 15+hours of travel makes for some nasty chaffing..)

When we first heard about Montantito, we were told it was the best beach in Ecuador. An I know we were told it was 12 hours of traveling, but for some reason that didn’t totally register. Like most of our plans in Ecuador, we should know that the only plan is no plan. However, we always try our hardest...

From the beginning almost everything that could have gone wrong did. Our trusty guide unfortunately got really sick the day we were leaving- which can and usually does hit with no warning and with no real identifiable cause, and I know from experience when it does hit, and it will – that there is nothing you can do. Anyways, the rest of us were still determined to head to the beach, and kind of excited about the prospect of figuring it out all on our own.

The plan was to leave Thursday afternoon after classes and travel seamlessly through the night, arriving in Montanito just in time to wake up with the sun. I was so excited. I mean really really really pumped, envisioning margaritas, surfing, and some serious sun. I packed the night before, even making lists of everything I needed and fitting all of it in my jansport backpack. First of all, I packed everything but what I needed, and I put way to much homework and books in there. Also, trying to shave down space, I only packed one pair of underwear, dumb. I should have dumped the books to leave more room for the wine and snacks we bought at the supermaxi before we got on bus number 1 of 18. No exaggeration. 18 different modes of transportation. In two days. The ridiculousness started with taking a bus to Quito, then a taxi to the north station, where we needed to catch a trolley to the south station. However, along the way we either took the wrong trolley or were told the wrong directions and then had to take an extra trolley to the south station. From the south station we finally found the main terminal where we would get our 8 hour overnight bus to Guayquil and then a 3 hour bus to Montanito. However, Ecuador bus systems are run by multiple companies whose main objective is to fill up their buses as fast as they can. Therefore, if you say where you want to go, they say of course we go there and obviously its direct! Which really means, “I am lying through my teeth and if you are super lucky then maybe we won’t dump you on the side of the road..” However, we were still Ecuador bus virgins, clean, awake, well fed, and stoked to experience the transportation system.

That changed very quickly. Right before we were supposed to get on the overnight bus a group of European guys approached us saying we should wait until morning to travel because their bus had just gotten held up and violently robbed. 14, 000 pounds was stolen from them. While we appreciated their good intentions, this was not the best thing to hear right after we bought tickets and were stepping onto the bus. We boarded and everything was going smoothly until we had a bathroom break at the nastiest place I’ve ever been. I’m convinced it was some sort of prostitution pick up place- there was porn on all the tvs, all the stalls were backed up, and creepy crawly men were just lurking in corners staring and trying to pick up women at like 3 in the morning. This is where our bus driver thought would be a good place to stop. An hour later I woke up to the police searching our bus. Everyone had to get off and get searched for drugs. Thank goodness I had my I.D. with me, I had almost left it at home… Then finally we got back on the road, but then our bus broke down and we had to wait until another came and picked us up. Long story short, three busses, about 15 hours, and some sweet talking later (we had to beg the bus driver to let us on his bus because the other had left without us) we finally made it to Montanito…

And it was worth it. Montanito is a little beach town in the middle of the most destitute, poor, and random 6 block radius on the Pacific Coast. It’s in the middle of nowhere, but whoever discovered it had the epiphany of a lifetime or was just too much of a beach bum to ever want to leave. Try and picture the most hippy, colorful, tripped out town you can imagine and multiply that by a thousand. Everyone there is barefoot, dreaded out, smoking on the streets, hippy to the max, hammocks everywhere, people selling homemade bags, earrings, scarves, etc., and loving life. Bungalow thatched type buildings, music 24/7, mostly from the people playing drums and bongos on the street- that is until about 7 at night when the dancing salsa, marengue, rap tunes all mingle together in a mass of sweaty, drunk, happy, zoned out people, hostels, side bars with fresh fruit drinks made right in front of you, and all different kinds of people. I mean one night we had dinner with Germans, Ecuadorians, Americans, and Argentineans and the language barrier wasn’t even a problem. After our long travels we needed a drink and some food- so we stopped at Hola Ola.. where I had the best most mouth watering meal ever. I don’t think I will ever taste food that good again. No exaggeration- I think we were also starving and slightly traumatized from the bus situation though. Then we had to find a hostel and we had been told about a good one, but there was only one room left and these other girls were trying to take it. I don’t know where this came from or how I got the room, but I firmly told the owner that we were going to get that room (all in Spanish) and we did! A very proud moment for me.. The room had a loft and a balcony and hammock and was right on the beach and came with a free breakfast and drink- all for 10$ a night.. I love Ecuador prices! We hit the beach as soon as possible. The waves were enormous and the sun muy fuerte! The water was perfect, not to hot, not to cold.. I was in heaven. A nap and a margarita later, we got ready for a night on the town, except we weren’t accustomed yet to the social norms of Montanito. The people here stay on the beach until about 8 at night, take a quick nap, eat and heavily drink and go out around 11 and party until 7 the next morning. Literally the streets are just as packed at 10 oclock at night as it at 6 in the morning. Not only are the streets packed, but the beach is full of groups of people chilling out around bonfires and playing guitar or just passing a bottle around hanging out. We decided later that night that jumping in the ocean at about 3 in the morning was a grand idea- which it was! My favorite part of the weekend had to be making our Ecuadorian friend- who told us we had to call him Rico Suave. He was the tiniest Ecuadorian I had ever seen. This is his life.. he competes and teaches surfing all day, “works” at his bar stand making delicious fruity drinks all night, where he comes and goes whenever he likes, and parties all night until he surfs, usually intoxicated from 6 in the morning until around 9.. and maybe sleeps for two hours and does it all again. He was the most energetic person I’ve ever met, and he made it his personal duty to show us the ropes of Montanito. He gave us surfing lessons for practically free the next day, and was our personal bartender, protector, and salsa teacher the entire weekend. Rico suave might have been tiny, but he was the man. Also, there was a live Bob Marley coverband from the coast that was amazing. We were going crazy! The beach was just as much fun, and we passed the rest of the time eating, drinking, and making friends with our German neighbors. After our first night out Lauren turned to me and said “this is the most intense place I’ve been”- to which I meakly replied.. “We can be intense…”

While all this was glorious, there were some bumps in the road. We were exhausted from the transportation situation and def. did not make it the whole night like the rest of Montanito, also for some reason, maybe we’re not used to the food yet- all of us had pretty weak stomachs. But by far, the dumbest thing we did that weekend was not buy roundtrip bus tickets. Our German friends informed us Saturday that everyone goes home on Sunday and we would be lucky to get tickets. With that in mind, we decided we would have to get up right when the place opened to try and get tickets on the last bus home at 5oclock and then just sleep through the night and get home just in time for classes. However, at 7 oclock in the morning, the guy working behind the desk was asleep in his basement and no one could wake him up, so we returned an hour later and everything was sold out. A creepy man came up to us, told us he had a van and that he was leaving in 20 minutes with our without us. This barely registered to us considering we all went to bed only about 2 hours before and we ran to the hostel, packed in 10 minutes and almost got left behind by this weird man. About 10 people were packed into this little shady van and the man across from me looked like he was going to hurl. I was so angry, we got gyped on a beach day, and no one had gotten a chance to buy anything on the streets. Plus, we hadn’t eaten or slept yet. Then 30 minutes into the ride we got pulled over by the cops saying we were illegal passengers and we had to get out. We were left on the side of the road to wait for a bus, and the van driver said he would wait for the police officer to stop following us and pick us up at the next checkpoint. To which all of us said hell no we are not getting back in that shady van with you, and we decided to try our luck with the bus system again. Somehow a series of connections later, we made it to Guayakil, where we had 10 minutes to order food, beg the bus driver to let us on his bus, and find a restroom. I don’t know how we made it. Finally back in to Quito in the South station- we were exhausted, and in so many places in only four days that we were confused as to if the weekend had even happened. Convinced to take another “direct” bus back for 1$ instead of a 20$ cab, it was not direct and we were escorted onto another bus that finally took us back to Cumbaya. It was 12:30 at night, and our last ride was a cab driver that took us to our homes… Def. a learning experience and weekend I will never forget. I can’t wait to go back, but I think we might fly next time…

One of our first nights out in Quito was quite the experience. The main plaza is called La forge, in Mariscol or aka Gringo land. If you want to go out in Quito that is where you go, so naturally that is where we went. In Ecuador it is legal to drink on the streets. So feeling very badass, we engaged in this ¨cultural” activity while trying to decide where to begin the night. Our first location was ¨la mango¨ where you can get a delicious meal cooked in front of you, or even have the 95 cent drink specials.Our new Ecuadorian friends met up with us, and a few rounds and multiple toasts later, we decided to relocate, but not before we found this hole in the wall burrito place. The smell alone made me want to jump over the counter, grab a burrito from the stove and run. However, I had a little bit of restraint and five minutes later one of the best burrittos I´ve ever had was also probably the fastest I´ve ever consumed. Ready to go, we skipped over to a bar called upper level where we got to know our Ecuadorian friends better and hung out on the balcony enjoying the people watching below us. Soon the music was calling our names and we could not ignore it any longer. We initiated a huge dance party and the whole place was suddenly a mass of sweaty people jumping all around. I always consider it a successful night when I’ve started a dance party. Just as I was about to head out to the balcony for some fresh air, the power went out because of the electricity crisis going on here. Not feeling safe or like it was a good place to be anymore we decided to call it a night. However, whenever you plan on doing something here that usually changes. We passed another club that Pedro insisted was grand and we had to stop at! So of course we did, and about an hour later we finally got in a cab home after an exhausting but glorious night out.

Sorry if these thoughts sound random and separate.. I’m trying to catch up on the days and they are running together. It seem like in Ecuador mistakes only cost about 25 cents. Last friday Elizabeth, Sarah and I decided to be adventurous after class and went to find this bohemian market in Guapolo. We hailed a taxi from Cumbaya and confidently asked in Spanish to be dropped off there. A few minutes later we were left in a famous church square in a beautiful mountain village. Of course everything in Ecuador is beautiful, but after a few minutes we realized that the church was closed, and nothing else was around us. Guessing where the market could be, we followed a main path that brought us on a completely vertical uphill hike, through a seeminly deserted town. The view was amazing, but our calves didn´t appreciate it as much as our eyes and quickly we realized there was no market and we didn´t know where we were. Finally what seemed like hours later, a cab drove by, and again in our broken spanish we asked to be dropped off in quito, but it was too expensive and the cab driver offered to drop us off at the bus stop. It was the craziest slash scariest bus ride I have ever been on in my life. This cute little town had so many sharp turns and zigzags that I truly thought we were going to topple over. Plus, we accidentally had gotten on a private bus back to Cumbaya that was completely filled with moms, kids, and parents coming home from work and we had to stand in the isles without anything to hold on to. I said ¨lo siento¨ about a million times and gave up after the 20th accidental time I had grabbed the stranger next to me. However, only 25 cents and some great pictures later, we were back in Cumbaya. Not wanting to waste the day, we grabbed the bus and the Ecuavia into Quito and navigated our way to the artisan market where my eyes were bigger than my pockets and a 10 dollar hammock was considered expensive and could always be bartered down to 8! We met up with our new Ecuadorian friend and we got ice cream at the most delicious place called waffles and crepes. My friends had to hold me back from getting seconds and thirds, who knows maybe fourths. I still think about that place, and its almost been a week later. The day ended up very successful, I have decided that I may try and make more ¨mistakes¨from now on. I wish all mistakes in life only cost me 25 cents. In fact, if this were the case then I would probably try and make them more often. My new goal in ecuador is to try and make as many¨mistakes¨as possible.

Saturday, after the Friday Guapalo and Quito amazing ice cream place day I woke up bright and early ready for our first overnight trip in Ecuador. Sarah’s mom made amazing kiwi smoothies for us along with the usual spread of breakfast essentials. In Ecuador its common to have for breakfast cheese and ham, yogurt with fresh fruit, bread, juice, coffee with lots of milk, and sometimes even eggs. Something else that really threw me off at first was the blend of jam and butter in the same jar and that everyone eats white bread here. Peanut butter is also almost non-existent. However, I am very content with my usual yogurt containing about 10 different fruits sliced in it and cereal sprinkled on top, my glass of whatever fresh fruit juice Gloria makes, and toast. I don’t think I could stomach ham and cheese for breakfast every morning. I think the best part of my day is waking up. Besides my amazing breakfast, almost the first thing I see every day is the mountains, and the first thing I smell are the fresh flowers outside my window. I don’t know how I am going to return to the indoors after being in Ecuador for almost 5 months.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my host family. My little sister Vanessa and I are buddies and she has been incredibly selfless and patient when she tutors me in Spanish and helps me with my homework. My family especially, but even most equadorians will drop anything to help you with something. For example, my mom is a gynecologist and her consult is attached to the house and every time I leave or come home I walk through the consult to say buenas dias and let her know I’m home. Almost every time she will drop everything she’s doing, and multiple times she has left patients butt in the air waiting for shots or legs open in the chair waiting for an examination. “OHH!! Me precioso, muy lindo, ohh muy rica, me poquita!!” she shouts.. Them I’m showered with hugs and kisses and she has once again left a patient hanging in order to prepare for me a snack and sit down and ask about my day. Its crazy! She will literally leave anything she’s doing to make sure I’m hydrated, well fed, and healthy. Even if I leave the room for five minutes she acts like I haven’t seen her in days. Hahaa.. and Nathy gives me all the advice I need about where to go, where to avoid, what music to listen to, and how to stay safe. She is an amazing cook, and one of these days she’s offered to give me lessons. My dad is a whole other story. He is so sweet! I don’t really think he knows how to communicate with me yet, so he just shows his affection by bringing me things every night, as he hands me these gifts his face lights up and looks at me expectantly, hoping that I will like it. So far I’ve accumulated a newspaper, a coin purse, and chocolate. He also brings me highlighted articles, crème for a huge stress zit I had, sun lotion for the day I got super burned, a huge huge huge textbook full of nursing terminology (however its in Spanish), and more gifts that he just smiles and hands me once a day and then happily walks away. I am also the tallest person in my family, at least a foot taller than everyone, and I have to bend over to give the standard hug and kiss greeting.

Everyday here is a toss-up with my Spanish. Monday I got really frustrated and very discouraged after my Spanish presentation, plus I was exhausted from a full weekend of travel and only a few hours of sleep, when my teacher pulled me aside to tell me she was concerned I wasn’t at the right Spanish level and that my Spanish was too basic. (However, looking back on this, she told me all this in Spanish, and in my defense I did understand her) I was crushed. This was my favorite class and the teacher was telling me I didn’t belong in it! I couldn’t concentrate the rest of the day and the rest of my classes might as well have been in a different language- ohh wait, they were! I didn’t know I had homework due in one class because I hadn’t understood the teacher and then I found out two of my classes might not transfer and I know my teacher was trying to tell me something important about an upcoming test but I had no clue what she said. Frustrated, tired, and missing my family and friends, I all of a sudden felt super lonely, isolated, missing the stableness of home, and unable to find the vocabulary to express this to anyone. Dejectedly I walked home and I could feel tears of frustration and disappointment forming.. just ready to bubble over. But then I looked up at the mountains and walked into the consult like normal, receiving the classic “Me precioso! Me lindo! Me poquito” from my mom as she asked me how my day was. For a moment I dumbfoundly opened and closed my mouth, ready to give the usual muy bueno response.

However, this time I decided it was now or never. I struggled through finding the right words to explain what had happened that day and how upset I was, and immediately she left her patient mid- shot to make me hot tea and to talk things over. I couldn’t believe I had finally actually clearly conveyed, using my Spanish, what I needed to say and someone had understood me! The rest of the night each family member took turns tutoring me and now everyone is going out of their way to point out Spanish terms or identify objects for me, or to gently correct my Spanish. I don’t know if it was the mountains, my mom’s quirkiness and kindness, or the realization that I have 5 months to learn this language, but it was def. a reality check. I am re-inspired and even more determined than ever to become fluent, and its amazing to gage myself and actually be able to see how much I’ve been improving everyday. Sometimes the worst days here turn into the best..

An ecuadorian whirlwind

There are so many thoughts bouncing around in my brain right now and I want to paint a picture of everything! However, instead I'm going to summarize the whirlwind that has been my Ecuador trip so far so that I can start fresh with more details about the here and now..

I want to explain about trying to adjust to Ecuador, about my beautiful new casa in the mountains, about the crazy driving, my awesome garden patio, about not ever having to look at a clock, about the laid back atmosphere, about already crying in front of my new mom twice, about not understanding anything, about the indigenous people, the nature, the family lifestyle, and the modern culture of ecuador, about being incredibly and happily exhausted at the end of every day and being so excited to wake up to the next. There is so much to say about my amazing host family and the hot tea and spanish conversations I have with my host mom almost every night and how my sister and I tutor each other in spanish and english.

I could try to explain how my 20 minutes walk to school makes me feel apart of the hustle and bustle of the start and end of every day, or the first time I didn't feel like a Gringo when I took the bus alone and explored around Quito and successfully got home safely all by myself. I can't explain how amazing it is to wake up and look out at the mountains every morning, or how I'm lucky I am to be lulled asleep every night to the live band that plays at the sushi restaurant across the street, or my new ecuadorian friends, or how exciting our plans are to the beach and the galapagos and the markets and the hacienda and old quito and mountain climbing trips.

Being here is about the stress of translating and my brain physically hurting every night, or the excitement of understanding more and more each day, or helping my sister with english and then walking to get ice cream while she teaches me spanish, about the pizza place where you can get three beers and a slice of pizza for $2.50, about missing my family and friends at home, about the huge family get togethers every sunday with all my new aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., about all the embarrassing ways I have misused my spanish ( saying I am pregnant instead of I am excited during a HUGE christmas dinner with my entire new family during a moment of silence), about my tennis class, about witnessing the worst pick pocketer ever, about the buses, about getting deathly ill my first week, about the $1 movies I've been buying and watching in spanish (season of friends for $2!! ) about the amazing helado here ( Its my goal to try all 25ish flavors before I leave), how happy, content, sometimes lonely, sometimes busy, sometimes overwhelmed, or incredibly inspired I am by being here and much much much more....

I've arrived~

Where do I begin? First, i'm sorry to everyone whose been asking/wondering if I am alive, especially to Val who had to call my Mom to confirm my safety.

The moment has arrived!! I am here! I've been in a whirlwind. I may not be certain about a lot of things, but I've known absolutely, without a doubt, like kids whose lifelong dreams are to be doctors or teachers or firefighters, that I was meant to study abroad - adventures awaiting me and within my grasp, just as I like it....

Flying over Chicago, Equador bound, I know that my feet will be returning with a few more miles on them. I am pumped. All excitement aside, usually mental preparation for any major life changing event is key. However, I usually skip this step and go straight for the gold. This backfires sometimes. For instance about an hour into the plane ride. to ecuador. for five months. My heart definitely beating a little faster now... I don't know anyone. They speak spanish. I speak english. Third world country. Energy/water crisis. Classes in spanish. No english. New family. No english. Stranger danger. Did I pack enough underwear. Where is my passport. Is anyone picking me up at the airport. No english. I started looking up phrases such as "I don't understand"- no entiendo, and "please speak more slowly"- por favor, hable mas despacio, etc.

I kept going back and forth between out of my mind excited, and wanting to spitefully puke on the boy next to me who was feeding off my insecurities and falsely confiding to me that he was "completely hopeless at spanish" mean while he has smartly whipped out a spanish textbook, explaining in perfect sing-songy spanish how he loves reading them for fun and is offering to lend me his other copy for the plane ride (at which point I had a mental picture of me cracking this book over his head, as I am now actually terrified and up to this moment have truly been hopeless at spanish). Now I am rapidly writing in my journal attempting to drain every thought out of my head onto my paper in hopes of peacefully returning to my blissfully ignorant pre- mental preparation happy pumped place. Mental preparation is overrated.

The plane landed in Atlanta, and some fellow study abroad students and I shyly rallied together during our layover at T.G.I. Fridays. Randomly we ended up sharing a meal with this young guy recounting his travels all over South America as a professional poker player. A round of drinks later, my new compadres and I were feeling united, refreshed, and very inspired to shed our normal lives as students in Champaign, Illinois. Plus for this flight I sat in the isle seat next to a sleeping grandmother. She was much less intimidating, although she did snore.