I really have no interesting stories for today.
I am in Papayanet facing out on the busiest corner in Mariscal. Calama and Juan Leon Mera. Annoyed that I can´t use the computer at my hostal because Kenny the computer hog is on it. Kenny is a very interesting bloke from Scotland. In his late 30s. Came here to study spanish (met him at the school in early July)who was supposed to be in some rural farm volunteering now. But apparently Kenny arrived at the farm and couldn´t be bothered to milk the cows. His OCD kicked in when he saw the food being cooked over an open fire, and he caught the first bus out of there. Now he is obsessed with his other choices and spends all day reviewing his email and obsessively emailing other potential volunteer places. It is getting very boring to be around him! I went to lunch with him today and had to listen to him faff on about it all. Can hardly understand his english. All in all, not a good replacement for Caroline and the other girls. But limitedly comforting to have him around since I know him well from the past 2 months at school.
Other option for gringo companionship is crazy Anne from the school who roams around Mariscal looking for men and who has dyed her hair red now. She is a small town girl from Wisconsin. 20 I think. Here for a year and really, i think she has lost her mind. So she too is not a good option.
Oh, final option is Leo. Former flame of Caroline´s from Venezuela whose heart was broken when Caroline ditched him and headed off to the coast. Every single day I manage to run into him at least once and then have to suffer his terrible mumbly spanish accent and his moaning on about how much he misses her, where is she, etc. ugh.
Last night I went out with a bunch of Quiteno friends that I made at least 5 weeks ago. Diego being the main one, he works with children on the street and I have done some volunteering with him feeding children on the street at night. Anyway, Diego´s friends are great. They have taught me lots of good card games and shown me around the city. Most are from here but they come with an entourage of friends from a few other countries. Like Flor, who is from Germany and won´t speak english with me because she hates the sound of it. Anway, they showed up last night to take me out and produced a bottle of Vodka. You cannot imagine how many people wander around here on the weekends drinking from big bottles. It is very common. So we sat on a bench waiting for our table at Mongos (restaurant) and taking sips from the bottle. I don´t know what I was thinking! I guess I was thinking sips and not realizing I was basically taking shots. To make a long story short I got very drunk very early, ended up blubbering about how sad I was going to be to say goodbye, blah blah blah and ended up being walked home at 10:30pm in a drunken stupor. So embarrassing! Thank God I live 2 blocks away only. And my spanish is really not stellar when drunk. I woke up this morning with the worst hangover. So stupid to waste a fun night out like that. ANd more than a little embarrassing.
Have spent today lounging around, running errands, watching Gilmore girls with spanish subtitles. (You can learn so much from subtitles!) and sitting in the sun up on my patio.
Hmmm, what else?
Solved the deoderant problem with fascinatingly good smelling Ecuadorian spray deoderant. It was the best option at Supermaxi.
Receiving lots of emails from school. Very stressful to realize that I have a welcome party to plan for Sept 8th and a prospectus to write for my capstone project. REal life is surging back in. And summer is almost over. I can´t believe it. I have dreams at night now of my upcoming high school reunion. Last night I dreamt that I went in jeans despite Seema´s no jeans requirement on the invitation. Funny because when I got here I dreamt in spanish and the closer I am to going home the more I am dreaming about home life. I suppose that is the mind preparing itself for another change.
I will leave you with some funny things about Ecuador.
-When you go for fast food it takes at least 20 minutes.
-There is absolutely nothing wrong with men whipping down their pants and taking a leak on the street. SEriously, at first I thought maybe these were just delincuents but no, apparently it is culturally acceptable for all men at any time of day. So it is best to avoid anyone with their back to the street!
-At night the old city is lit up with pink and blue and white lights. You can look down on it from any of the hills around here or from the Panecillo (virgin statue overlooking the city) and it is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.
-They take any opportunity possible to light off fireworks here.
-At the grocery store, the toothpaste is in the toilet paper aisle and not with the makeup, hair or personal hygiene products.
-A bottle of water costs .18 in supermaxi but .45 in gringoland corner stores.
-The bookstores here stock books in English. But really only classics and translated books from Latino authors like Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Apparently they think tourists are more culturally advanced than we really are. Could really just go for a beach novel or John Grisham right now. HAve had my fill of Marquez´ endlessly meandering metaphors.
And that´s all folks.
Seeing you soon!!!!!
Amanda
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