15 - Cerro Blanco and Fútbol

Cerro Blanco is a small protected patch of dry forest about 45 minutes outside of Guayaquil. I was hoping to be able to hike around on my own, but when I got there I found out I needed a guide. Luckily there weren´t really any other people there, so I had my own personal guide to hike around with and learn some things.


Check out the spikes on this ceibo tree.


Here´s a cool picture of a butterfly


We heard howler monkeys... or did we?


I went to a Guayaquil fútbol game with some of Greta´s family. Fútbol games are awesome because everyone is so excited and cheers the entire game.


Vamos vamos azules este tarde tenemos que ganar (let´s go let´s go blue this afternoon we have to win) - which we did!


Here I am at the game with Carlos, Ivanna, and Carlos´amiga

14 - Santo Domingo

Last weekend was a long holiday weekend, so I went with my friend Karina to visit her family in Santo Domingo. We took an overnight bus, which is the easiest and cheapest, and consequently most dangerous way to travel around Ecuador. We left the terminal terrestre around midnight, and arrived in Santo Domingo around 4:30 AM. The ride was easy for me because I slept the entire way. Karina, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep because of a little kitten that didn’t want to stay in her box.


Here I am with that little kitten. Karina’s family’s cat had a couple kittens, and we brought one of them to Karina’s family in Santo Domingo.


To transport the kitten they put her in a cardboard box, but she was not happy. Karina spent almost the whole bus ride holding the kitten in her arms making sure she didn’t escape.

Karina’s family in Santo Domingo was awesome. She has so many aunts, uncles and cousins living there. It seemed like she was related to everyone in the city. We stayed at her aunt Lidia’s house. Lidia has three children: Ronny (15), William (10), and Juliana (9). I had a great time losing in chess to Ronny, playing ping pong with William, and getting huge hugs from Juliana. Karina’s cousin Karla (18) also stayed in the house while we there. Karina’s mom, Gloria, came the next day. In total there were 8 of us staying in the house and only 4 beds. Good thing Ecuadorians are great at sharing.


Here’s a video of Juliana showing us her house. Gloria (Karina’s mom) is the flustered woman at the end.

Saturday morning I went with Karina and her cousin Karla (K and K) to a fish market to buy crabs and shrimp to cook for lunch. The market was a narrow cobblestone alley filled with hundreds of vendors yelling out the foods and prices. There were giant buckets of shrimp, clams galore, carts selling crabs, dead fish chopped into filets on newspaper on the ground, and all the fishy smells that go along with it.

When we got back from the fish market we started getting lunch ready. The whole family was coming over, and we had a lot of work to do. First I helped with the crabs.


When we bought the crabs they were tied tightly together holding their claws down. The crabs were still very alive, so second the strings were cut the crabs went crazy running all over with their huge claws out ready to pinch anything in site.


My job was to use a butcher knife to push the crabs toward the middle of the table to keep them from falling off the edge.


Meanwhile, a bucket on the floor was also filled with pinching crabs, and I had to keep two curious dogs away from the bucket.


While I was busy herding crabs and saving dogs from losing their noses Karina’s aunt was ripping out the crab’s intestines and cleaning the crabs.

When my fun with crabs was done I helped with the shrimp. I got the job of removing the poop track from over 200 shrimp.



Cooking this meal was a lot of work, but so worth it when we finally got to sit down and eat.


The food was soooo delicious. We had this soup with plaintain matza-ball like things with two big crabs. We also had breaded fried shrimp, patacones, and a heaping scoop of rice. Que rico!


Saturday night was pretty crazy. The night started in the house drinking some Pilseners. All the woman got dressed up in nice clothes and makeup. Tía Lidia even had sparkly hats and masks for us. We were decked out and ready for a full night of fun.
First we went to a free concert. The place was packed, and again I felt like a canned sardine. Only this time the canned sardines were dancing. Normally I like dancing canned sardines, but being in the middle of this sweaty clumpy mess was hard to handle. Everyone around me enjoyed the concert and sang and danced along, but I was happy to get out of there.
Our next stop was a bar. At this point I was with K and K, and lots of aunts and uncles. We ordered a bottle of whiskey to share. The waitress came back with the bottle, a bunch of glasses, ice, and a pitcher of water. I thought water was a strange chaser for whiskey, but I figured things were different in Ecuador. Turns out the water wasn’t a chaser. One of the uncles made drinks for everyone with whiskey, one ice cube, and lots of water. Guacala! I didn’t even pretend to enjoy it.
K and K and I didn’t stay at this bar too long. We left around 12:00 AM to meet one of Karina’s amigos at a discoteca. The disco was packed, the music pumping, and the strobe lights, lasers, and fog machines really set the mood. I shook my little booty all night with a nice Ecuadorian boy named Andre.
After the disco K,K, some amigos, and I went to an area called La Pampa. It’s an area where young people go and drink by their cars in a parking lot after a long night of dancing. After La Pampa we went back to the first bar where Karina’s aunts and uncles were still drinking. We all headed back to the house in taxis around 5 in the morning! I was exhausted and went to sleep, but when I woke up at 9 am some of the aunts and uncles were still drinking!



Sunday was Dia de los Difuntos, also known as Day of the Dead. On this day everybody goes to the cemetery to visit their dead loved ones. They put flowers and candles on the grave. It was amazing because there were so many people at the cemetery, and none of them were crying. It’s a nice holiday because it’s a day to remember the dead, and not to lament their loss.




It was really beautiful because all the family was together sitting around the grave talking and laughing.


Sunday night we celebrated Tía Lidia’s birthday with cake and of course lots of dancing. Top row: Gloria, Ronny, Tía Lidia, Karina, Karla, Me
Bottom: Jiuliana, William


Here’s a collection of some of the songs we danced to. I’m the awkward white girl dancing in the back. And yes, William is dancing with a tiny dog in a dress at the end.


I bought the game Scrabble for the family as a thank you gift.


Here I am with two of Karina’s friends. Latin twins!

13 - University with my friend Karina

Last Friday I took La Metrovia early in the morning to meet my friend Karina to go to her university with her. I met Karina through her mom, Gloria, who I met at the Fundacion Alberto Spencer at the beginning of October (see blog entry 7).
To get to her school from my house I had to take 4 buses! When we got there all her friends were sitting together outside. I already knew a lot of them because I met them at Karina´s birthday party. We all walked to class together and one of the boys carried my backpack for me. ¡Qué machisimo!


The classroom was pretty small. There were about 30 metal desks, empty cement walls, and a white board and table at the front. Before the teacher came in everyone was loud, joking, and having fun, but as soon as the teacher came in everyone took their seats. The teacher was pretty strict. She took one look at me, asked what I was doing in her classroom, and then made me move to a desk far away from everyone. I felt like a trouble maker in grade school.
After class, which didn´t last long because they just had a short quiz, I went with Karina and a bunch of her friends to a bar/discoteca around the corner. You had two options to get in to the bar. You could either pay $1.00, which included a drink, or you could pay .50 cents and not get a drink. I think almost everyone just paid the .50 cents. No American college student in their right mind would ever skip a deal like that.
Inside was a dark room with a few tables and chairs, a disco ball, and blazing music.


I sat down with a few girls and one of the boys brought over a bottle of Pilsener. We drank the beer the same way people here always drink. Pour some beer into a plastic cup, pass it to someone, they chug it down, and pass back the empty cup for it to be refilled and passed on to someone else to chug.
Not long after getting to the disco Karina´s friend Juan Pablo invited me to dance with him. People here dance all the time. Dancing is a huge part of their lives from the time they´re very little. In my life I only danced at Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, and drunk college parties. I stand no chance dancing with Latinos.



Although I know I looked really silly, Juan Pablo was a great teacher, and there´s a slight chance that I´m improving.

Like I said before, inside the bar it was dark except for the disco lights, so it felt like we were dancing all night. In reality, by the time we left it was only 10:30 AM, and the sun wasn´t even up all the way. Oh how I love Ecuador.

12 - Bit by a whistling parrot in a nail salon

Yesterday I went to lunch at my Guayaquileña amgia, Karina´s house. After lunch I went with her and her mom to their beautician/friend´s house/nail salon. Before Diana got started on Karina´s nails she brought out her pet parrot, and put him in the window. Apparently this parrot could talk and whistle and all sorts of things, but we couldn´t get anything out of him. I played with the parrot while Diana worked on Karina´s nails. I tried to get him to go onto my hand, but he kept biting me instead, so eventually I gave up on that. Stupid parrot didn´t do anything cool. Or so I thought...
At one point someone said something funny and we all started laughing. Out of nowhere the parrot started laughing too. It was CRAZY! He laughed just like us. We laughed harder, and the parrot laughed harder. Throughout the rest of the night the parrot kept saying Hola, and also kept doing a perfect whistling catcall, just like the whistle construction workers make when hot girls walk by. Diana put the parrot on my shoulder, which was cool cause I felt like a pirate. Later in the night the parrot fell asleep next to the sleeping cat. HAHA.
After Diana was done with Karina´s nails it was time for the encore. She went into the backroom and came back a few minutes later with a monkey. Only in Ecuador can you go to a house that´s also a nail salon, get bit by a parrot, and pet a monkey.

11 - Quito and Baños

This past weekend I flew up to Quito (where I studied abroad two years ago) to visit my host family, my professors, and just to do some reminiscing.


The flight there was incredible because we flew over the Andes, and there were a bunch of volcanoes sticking up through the clouds. This is the glacier covered picture-perfect Volcán Cotopaxi, the second highest peak in Ecuador (5897 m). I took this picture from the airplane.



Here I am with my host mom, Matele.


Don Jaime and Kelly Swing, my two favorite professors of all time.


I met up with a bunch of the kids doing the BU Ecuador study abroad program now. On Friday night we went to La Mariscal and I partied like a well-practiced Gringita. Saturday morning I woke up early and Matele drove Samantha (Matele’s current BU student) and me to a bus stop where we met up with a bunch of other study abroad kids. From there we took three buses to the bus terminal, and then spent 4 hours on a bus to get to Baños. Baños is an incredible little town, and I was lucky enough to make my third visit. Baños is surrounded by beautiful green hills, blue rivers, and huge waterfalls. When we arrived in Baños I led the group to my favorite little hostal where we found my favorite little hostal worker, Roberto.


I met Roberto when I stayed in the same hostal two years ago. Last time I was in Baños I went on an incredible day of biking with my closest friends, and it was awesome. At $5 for renting a bike for the day, why would I skip on doing it again? So again I led the group to a bike rental shop, we got some bikes, and off we went for a grand biking adventure.




Our bike ride took us past some amazing waterfalls.





Press play to watch a short video clip.


Here I am at the Pailon Del Diablo


Here I am getting soaked behind the Pailon Del Diablo. We had to crawl up through a narrow tunnel to get behind the waterfall. It was AWESOME!


We took a tarabito (kindof like an open-air gondola) across a river to get a better look at a waterfall.

10 - Just Smile and Nod

Little by little my Spanish is improving. I can usually figure out the main idea of what is said to me, and in one way or another I can usually explain what I need to say. However, there are times when I am so lost that GPS couldn’t save me. During these times I do one of two things:
1. Give the blank stare

2. Smile and nod

(I know what you´re thinking Mike and Dan... I´m a nerd)

I have pretty much perfected making people believe I know what they’re talking about. The old “smile and nod” works wonders…. Most of the time. But sometimes I get caught in my act; like when people finish what they’re saying with a question:
Them: Blah gato blah blah biblioteca blah blah
Me: (smile and nod)
Them: Blah blah blah pantelones blah blah Taco Bell blah. Sí o no?
Me: Uh… Sí…?

Wrong answer.

The other day I had to go to the cell phone store to add some information to my account. The man that worked there told me to text something to the number 4545. I thought he said to text, “Mi Status”. Which translates to “My Status”. As in single, married, in a relationship, it’s complicated etc… I thought it was a weird thing to have to text to a cell phone company, but I typed it into my phone anyway. Then I showed my screen to the guy to make sure that I wrote the correct thing. He looked at it, chuckled to himself, and then typed something else and handed my phone back to me. The screen now said “Mis Datos”, as in “My Information”. Yeah. I guess that makes more sense than My Status. I was kind of embarrassed, but at least I didn’t say, “Estoy embarasada” because that translates to, “I’m pregnant”.
Oh the joys of language barriers.

9 – Centro Civico

From my apartment I can see a big half-dome structure in the distance. I wasn’t sure what it was, so I decided to walk to it and figure it out. It took about twenty minutes to get there, but it was well worth it. Outside the dome was a beautiful park with trees, and a man-made lake. There were lots of birds around, so I was happy. The building seemed was closed, so I went around to the back. I talked to a security guard and he told me that it was a theater, and I could go inside to find out about shows. I went inside and spoke to a woman at the front desk. Shows were only at night, so there was nothing going on at the time. I asked if I could look around, and she said no, but another man that worked there said he could show me around. So I went with him on a private tour of the theater. I got to see the percussion room, and the accounting room, and a room with a woman playing the piano and a man playing a giant flute instrument. Last but not least, he brought me to the theater. He opened the doors and on stage was an entire orchestra of about 50 people practicing for their next show. My “tour guide” left me alone for a bit, and I got to sit in the theater and listen to my own private symphony. It was AWESOME!