Ecuador

Ups and downs

I’m over three months into living in Quito, and the time has absolutely flown by. I’m increasingly glad that I’m staying here through next January (as opposed to leaving in November, which is what I had initially planned) since there are certain things about the lifestyle here in Quito that I adore, and I still feel I have so much to learn…particularly with regard to my Spanish skills.
Overall, everything continues to go great. There was a stretch between mid-May and mid-June that was very stressful with regard to work, but it eased up about three weeks ago, and everything – work and play - has been much more enjoyable ever since. (I’ll explain more below.) Hence, things have been a bit up and down, but all seems to be looking up again, and I’m very glad…

Mompiche sunset

ASELER: Missing and almost missing
The beginning of the tough stretch was an unprecedented week of work at ASELER. On a Tuesday near the end of the May, one of our clients was almost kidnapped. Our client, BC, and his family had been staying at a homeless shelter and were on their way to our office for their afternoon appointment when the incident occurred. They were walking along a busy street about a mile from our office when a 4x4 pulled up along side of them. Three FARC members jumped out and tried to take BC. Fortunately, BC and his family had been walking with another one of our clients, RS, and his family (they met the fellow refugee family and had become friends at the homeless shelter) and RS managed to fight off the FARC members and prevent the kidnapping. As I so often think when reflecting on these stories, I just can’t imagine what it must have felt like. With the two families combined, there were six children there, witnessing the event, and the two mothers pulled them into nearby restaurant amidst their screaming.
They came to our office immediately thereafter, and our office went into ‘lockdown.’ We managed to contact the right people so the two families were both relocated to secret hostels in Quito for the night, and they then were relocated to unidentified cities over 6 hours from Quito – where they would stay until a decision was made about if they were refugees. In addition, we convinced the refugee office to expedite the refugee status determination process, and thankfully, there is a possibility that the UNHCR will consider BC and his family for resettlement in another country. Which, as I’ve written before, is very rare. The process is a mysterious one. Essentially, the client must show that they are receiving threats in the host country (in this case, Ecuador) and that they exhausted all avenues for state protection – meaning, they’ve denounced the persecution attempts in Ecuador to the police but continue to receive threats. It not only is difficult to show, but the process if further complicated by the fact that a person cannot apply for resettlement. The UNHCR, who has access to the database at the refugee office, selects refugees and offers them a resettlement interview in one of the least transparent processes fathomable. Fortunately, we have a relatively strong relationship with the UNHCR here, but, as with much of the laws and procedures here, the lack of accountability in the procedures make much of the decisions based on ‘who you know.’
Coming back to the families, the two families were both wonderful, and had created an unlikely friendship. The BC family was well-educated and middle-class. BC was a politician in Colombia – which was a rarity for us – and he had an anti-FARC stance: a bold and dangerous platform to hold in Colombia. Thus, it is not surprising that the FARC would come to Quito to find him. The RS family, however, lived and worked on a farm. They had very little money, and neither RS nor his wife had been educated beyond 4th grade. I worked primarily with RS and his wife, and preparing people for an interview who had minimal reading skills presented new challenges for me, but it also was even more rewarding to seem them make progress in their preparation. The RS family had their first instance interview about two weeks ago, and we are still waiting to hear the result.
That Tuesday was an intense and high-pressure day, but at the end of the day, I at least felt assured that we had done all that we could for the two families and that they would be safe, at least for the time being. The following day, however, I did not go home with that same feeling. On Wednesday afternoon, one of our clients came into the office in tears. In the same day, her father had been put in jail, her brother-in-law had nearly been detained by the immigration police, and her brother had been missing since the previous day, which meant he was likely kidnapped because he had been kidnapped before. This family is the same family I wrote about in my previous entry: the father and son who had been reunited after the son had been kidnapped by the ELN for 14 months. Though I never could have thought it was possible, the son was kidnapped again, here in Quito. He went to work in the morning and never returned, which is precisely how the last kidnapping happened. The father was put in jail because his Ecuadorian landlord accused him of stealing. Someone had broken into her house and stole her TV and DVD player, and since – as with so many Ecuadorians, I regret to write about this stereotype – are very discriminatory towards Colombians, she automatically assumed it was the father and son. To give you a sense of how ridiculously unjust and prevalent the discrimination is towards Colombians, when the police came to the landlord’s home to take the father to jail, the police took all the official documents and papers from the father and gave them to the landlord, telling her she could keep them until her stolen goods had been returned. Despite the problems with the police system in the United States, I can’t imagine anything of the sort EVER happening there. We were able to get the father out of jail and get his papers back; and the brother-in-law, was lucky that when the immigration officers came to the restaurant he was working at and demanded his papers, they decided to ‘let him slide,’ but he could no longer work there.
We, again, exhausted our resources in advocating for this family – including going to the anti-kidnapping unit of the police that evening, where were told that since the family did not have any money, and since they were Colombian, they could not do anything for us. Plus, they weren’t convinced he actually was missing; despite the fact that he had already been kidnapped before. The mix of emotions that come up in these sorts of scenarios is not something anyone can really prepare for. Frustration, sadness, and fear are only the beginning, and seemed to be compounded by my exhaustion. I’ve never known anyone who’s disappeared before, but the inconclusiveness is wearing to say the least. After some rest and many tears, I began to feel better; but, for a while, I would walk through Quito and do double-takes at people’s faces, thinking I was seeing the son. We are putting pressure on UNHCR to resettle this family, though they have not been very responsive, and we are also trying to get connected with immigration lawyers in the states that might have ideas on how to get this family our of Ecuador. It is so clear, they simply are not safe here. Of course this time forced me to consider my own safety here in Quito. I know I am cautious, and I take more precautions than most (I recently started carrying pepper-spray with me) but I know I constantly have to remind myself to never feel too comfortable here, as there are things that happen here that I simply don’t see.
So this extraordinary week, and its aftereffects, was primarily what made the stretch or work so tough. But we also had a brand new set of volunteers – who wanted to be helpful but did not know how – and we were in the process of hiring a new Director, which became a seemingly never-ending process. Fortunately, the majority of these things have subsided. The new volunteers now have found their respective grooves, and they do just fine. I seem to be taking on more and more administrative and management roles, which I enjoy because it is interesting, but struggle with because it takes me away from working with clients, which is what is really what makes the work rewarding. And we hired a Director, though the transition coming up over the next few months is going to be tough! (More to come on this below)
And, following up from the last posting, the deaf-woman and her husband got refugee status! They came by the office last week to let us know, and I was so excited I sort of screamed when I found out. I think I was more excited than they were! They also came to give me a gift, a little box of chocolate cornflakes. We are not supposed to accept gifts, but when I tried to refuse, he looked deeply offended, so I had to accept it. They often don’t have money to take the bus to get to our office…I never thought I could be so touched by a box of cereal.

Otavalo, Peguche Falls, Mompiche
During those few weeks when things were tough at work, I hung around Quito during the weekends because I was just too exhausted to do much else. However, when I finally did make it out to a day trip to Otavalo, I felt rejuvenated, refreshed, and thrilled to be out of the city. A friend and I went to Otavalo, which is one of the most famous markets in all of South America and is about two hours from Quito. My friend, a 52-year-old Kiwi who just went back to New Zealand after teaching English in Ecuador for over a year, and I immersed ourselves in the seemingly endless rows of wool blankets, woven hammocks, alpaca sweaters, wood carvings, jewelry and any and everything else that makes this community one of the wealthiest indigenous groups in Ecuador. While I liked Otavalo, we tired of shopping fairly quickly and made our way to a waterfall nearby called Peguche falls. It was fabulous! There was a well-kept trail that lead us to a bridge right in front of the falls, where we were rinsed with the mist from the falls. A natural shower, nothing could be more refreshing.
And then, over the third weekend in June, I went with a random mix of people to a beach called Mompiche. (I’m trying my best to keep my promise to myself to go to the beach once a month…it is so accessable!) Mompiche is a small fishing village with hardly any tourists. We took an overnight bus and arrived in the morning, and it was strange how you could immediately get the sense that life moved at a slower pace there. I, again, played in the waves, got a bit sunburned, read a book, got to know the people I was traveling with, and went for a few long walks and runs on the coastline. I loved Mompiche. Even though it was quite different from the last beach I went to, Canoa – where there were many Ecuadorians on holiday, and a lively nightlife. Mompiche exudes tranquility (if that is even possible) and rarely is there anything to fuss about – except when the restaurants run out of plantains, fruit, or seafood; which did happened one evening. The best part about Mompiche, however, was a nearby beach called Playa Negra (literally, black beach). Fittingly, the sand is black, the turquoise waves are huge, there are hundreds of crabs scurrying around, and I had the BEST time swimming and jumping in the waves. People used to ask me if I preferred the mountains over the beach, and I never really knew, but I am sure now that it is the sea!

Otavalo Market

Otavalo Tienda

Otavalo Basketball

Otavalo - Terrorista?

Otavalo Herder

Otavalo Girl

Peguche Falls

Peguche Falls

Peguche Falls

Mompiche crab

Playa Negra

And the rest
But it hasn’t been all work and weekend trips. I still feel I’m carving our a routine for myself here, and I seem to have no troubles finding things to do and people to hang with to occupy my time. I continue to take Spanish lessons, and my Spanish teacher has become a wonderful friend of mine. We usually meet at a coffee shop, go over my homework and just chat about nothing in particular, and pending the location of the coffee shop, he’ll give me a ride on his motorcycle – which is so fun! (Though I’m quite opposed to them and think they are very dangerous, I trust him and I’m never on it for more than 5 minutes.) Last weekend there was a birthday fiesta for him, and it was a blast. I was so grateful to be a part of an Ecuadorian party…it was MUCH more lively than any sort of birthday party I’ve been to in the states. Not to mention, I was literally sore the next day from dancing so much! And, in an attempt to bring in a little money, I was teaching English to a hilarious and animated 13-year-old boy for a few weeks in May. It was really fun, but I found it was just too much with work and everything else. So, I’m back to just my own Spanish and salsa classes now (and I’m sure to be very broke when I return to the states.) And while I’m not sure if I’m really improving all that much in my salsa lessons, it certainly is fun and a great workout, so I’ve decided to stick with it.

Liga Game 1

Liga Game 2

Near the end of May, I ran in a 15k race through the middle of Quito, and it was wild! I was in the middle of a sea of about 14,000 people, tromping from the beautiful old town of Quito up to the northern part of the city near my apartment. I was going pathetically slow, but I finished and quite enjoyed it as the demographics of the people who ran were fascinating to me. Of the 10,000 that were officially registered, 8,200 were men. And, I think the majority of the women I saw were foreigners. Women do play some sports here, but it is primarily aerobics or jogging. To my dismay, women generally do not play soccer. Apparently there are some teams on the coast, but not in Quito. The few times I’ve gone out with some of my guys friends to find a pick-up game to play, the guys often stare at me in disbelief that I might actually enjoy the sport also. Along these same lines, nearly a month ago I went to watch Quito’s soccer team, Liga, beat a Mexican team, Americas, in the quarterfinals of la Copa Libertadores. It was loud, rowdy, and everything you’d imagine a Latin American soccer game to be. My friend went early, so we had fabulous seats, right up front at half field. However, being so close turned out to not be the best place for my two 6 feet+ tall friends and myself to be standing, as when the fans behind us threw paper rolls and more onto the field, they were more likely to hit the back of our heads than make it to the field! Blasted height! Nonetheless, it gave us a good laugh. And, we had so much fun learning all the cheers from the Ecuadorians around us. And then, just last week, Liga won the entire tournament! It was the first time Ecuador has won an international cup, and I’m convinced no one in the city slept more than 3 hours that night.

(from the last beach trip to Canoa)

Canoa - Asi es la vida

Canoa boat

Looking forward
A few weeks ago we had a huge party at our place – it was fabulously eclectic mix of foreign and Ecuadorian friends between my three roommates and I. And while I had fun, particularly when my roommates’ co-workers brought out their guitars and pan flutes to play some traditional Ecuadorian folk music – I also have remembered why I don’t have or go to huge parties all that often. There were two or three guys drinking and smoking in our living room for the next day and a half. Definitely not for me. I had recently been thinking that I’d like to be in my own place, and that sort of helped me make the decision. Shortly thereafter, I, conveniently, found out that my friend who lives in a flat on the top floor of our building, was leaving in a few weeks. Fingers crossed, I’ll be moving upstairs into my place where I’ll have a terrace and the option of spending time with my roommates downstairs, but without the hassle of sharing a place with three people. I think it will be perfect!

As for work, it is sort of the calm before the storm. The Director we had initially hired backed out at the last minute – for personal and professional reasons – and so we’ve hired someone else, but she does not have a background in Ecuadorian law, (her background is in public policy, which will be ASELER’s next steps), she will only work part-time, and she will not be able to start until August, three days before my boss leaves. In addition, all of our current volunteers – except for two who will be there part-time – will also leave at the beginning of August, and the next volunteers aren’t able to come until late August/early September. Hence, a storm is brewing! I’ll be getting a crash course in Ecuadorian refugee law over the next month before my boss leaves, and then I will be training the new director and new volunteers. I’m not sure when I’ll be sleeping in August, but I’m also looking forward to the challenge and recognize there is only so much one person can do, so I’m not too worried about it. I’ll do my best, and they can’t ask me for much more.

I’m off for a run in the park on a beautifully sunny day, and then I’m going to help with a seminar that we are giving on refugee rights in a barrio where many refugees live in the northeast of Quito. Oh, and as for everything with Ingrid Bentacourt, while it is amazing that they escaped; despite what many people may be speculating, I highly doubt that the FARC will be dismantled anytime soon…at least not before I leave in January, so there will be plenty of work to do! Thanks again for reading my post, and pretty please send along updates on your life and any thoughts you have from the post!

ps: if you want to donate to Asylum Access/ASELER, you can do so directly from their website. I'd be super grateful! Hopefully the stories from the blog give a sense of what you're money will be going towards...thanks!! http://www.asylumaccess.org/

Hi Everyone!

Nearly 2 weeks in Quito now, and everything is busy, exciting, and overall going really well!
But before I rave about Quito and my experience thus far, I have to briefly update on the week before I arrived! I went from Boston to Minnesota for a 6-day whirlwind visit, and though I was running short on time, as always, I was glad to see my family. (thanks again to my visitors/moving crew! I couldn’t have managed without you!) We celebrated my brother JD's birthday with homemade Swedish pancakes (thanks Didi!), and I had a blast with my 4-year-old niece Linnea when we went to visit my brother Kirk and his fiancée Julie at their home in Ely, MN. Linnea and I listened to her CDs the whole way up – about 5 hours - and I now have The Little Mermaid soundtrack completely memorized...who knew!

Since this following is quite extensive, (sorry!), my hope is that the little paragraph headers will help you navigate through it all

ARRIVAL IN QUITO AND THE FIRST FEW DAYS

On to Quito: I arrived during the evening of March 25, and my first views of the city were spectacular. I've never been to a city that is so thoroughly surrounded by mountains, and with the seemingly every-expanding landscape all lit-up, the view coming in was amazing. The taxi ride to the hostel made me nostalgic for all the other times I had been in Latin America and so excited to be back...
My first day could not have been better. I woke up after a long night's sleep, went straight to a market in the centro historico (old town) to get that dose of fresh fruit that I've been longing for: pineapples and blackberry juice. (mangos are out of season!) Shortly thereafter, an Ecuadorian photography student, Jorge Luis, approached me and we started chatting. Shortly thereafter, I suddenly had an Ecuadorian friend and tour guide to show me all around the centro historico. It was great! I was glad to be able to practice my (rusty) Spanish and he told me all about the legends that go along with some of the famous churches and plazas. He really wanted to talk to me about U.S. politics. Apparently, the majority of Ecuadorians are Obama (pronounced, ohbamaah) fans. However, he informed me this is because Obama is moreno and doesn’t love war like Bush…ah yes. So after about 5 hours of walking, Jorge Luis and I had lunch at a small typical Ecuadorian place - soup, chicken, rice, beans, and juice for $1.80 each - where I had to duck my head because the ceilings were so low. We then parted, I went back to my hostel to relax for a while, and he went to work. I then made my way to a barrio on the edge of the city called Guapulo. Though only 2k from the center of Quito, Guapulo is incredibly calm, and has the most breathtaking views of nearby mountains. The colonial style housing and cobblestone streets made me fall in love with the area immediately, but it is slightly too far via public transportation for me to live there. Although, anyone that comes to visit me will have to stay in Guapulo!!

The next day was another day of exploring. I made my way to a large park in the north end of town, Parque Carolina, where the area is much more modern and wealthy. There are a plethora of high-rise apartments and a few malls, and it is not quite as polluted and loud as the old town. I walked and walked and then relaxed and read in the park for a little while. The weather the first few days was about 70 and sunny, the perfect temperature and altitude to get me slightly sunburned without realizing it until the next day Thereafter, however, it has rained nearly every afternoon or evening. Apparently April showers apply near the equator too.

MY WORK VOLUNTEERING AT ASELER

On the Friday after I arrived, I went to the office of the non-profit I’m working at, ASELER (Asesoría y Servicios Legales para los Refugiados en Ecuador/ Legal services and Advice for Refugees in Ecuador) to continue my training. Oh my goodness, there is so much to learn. I’m very excited for the incredible challenges that are ahead. I simultaneously feel extremely lucky for the opportunity to be here and slightly overwhelmed with the amount of material, systems, and concepts (in Spanish) that I need to get a handle on ASAP. The 4 other people that work here, including the director, are all very welcoming and accomplished: fluent in multiple languages, have multiple masters, and a deep understanding of refugee law that I’m hoping to soak up over the next few months…

But before I go on about my experience at ASELER, I should explain a bit about what they/we do. ASELER is a non-profit that is a project of an organization in San Francisco called Asylum Access. In short, we help people right appeals to become officially recognized as refugees. The longer version: when a person decides to leave their country because they are fleeing persecution, the person must go through a RSD (refugee status determination) process to be recognized as an official refugee. Once this is established, the person can remain in the host country legally. If they are not recognized, they legally are not allowed to stay in the host country. Contrary to popular belief, resettlement in the US is extremely rare. In fact, it is very difficult to even be granted official refugee status in Ecuador. There are an estimated 250,00 asylum seekers in Colombia (Colombians in Ecuador that are eligible to seek refugee status) and about 15,000 of which have been recognized as refugees. Yikes! That leaves much for us to do! For our work, we generally help Colombian asylum seekers - those who have been targeted by the guerrillas or the paramilitaries and therefore fled to Ecuador - go through the RSD process. And since I’ve been here, we’ve also had a few Peruvians and Cubans come through our door. We most frequently help those who have already applied for refugee status once but have been denied, and we write their appeals for them - but we also help with first instance applications, meaning those that are applying for refugee status for the first time.

So, now that you have that context under your belt, my hope is that everything else will make a little more sense. Every day, 8am to 5pm, we have people that come to our office seeking help gaining refugee status. We conduct preliminary interviews to determine if we will either take on their case, meaning we’ll write their appeal OR if we’ll give them a half-hour lesson on the RSD process and a template to help them write the appeals themselves. If we decide to take the case, we usually have just a few weeks to write and submit their appeal as there is a deadline for appeal submissions 30 days from when the asylum seeker receives their rejection letter for their first application. As you can imagine, this means we often work in overdrive to: take their testimonies, clarify any inconsistencies from their first application and interview, do research on the area (usually in Colombia) they are from in order to support their claims, and determine which and what international laws and references we need to use to support the arguments. Hence, the first few days of work have been quite a bit to grasp but also fascinating. We frequently have people that come in who have had mothers, fathers, cousins, brothers, sisters, and/or other family members that have been tortured, threatened, or killed in Colombia. (I would be more specific, but I’m not allowed!) More or less, it is really unfathomable the types of hardships some of these people have endured and the situations they are fleeing. However, I should also state, that since being officially recognized as a refugee is the only type of free ‘VISA,’ in Ecuador, there are many people, often economic migrants, that come in to our office trying to take advantage of the system. So we also do a lot of lie-detecting too.

We are about to finish up the first appeals case that I’ve been working on. I mostly helped write the legal arguments for it, which was really fun, and my boss seemed to be pleased with my work, which was encouraging. As I mentioned earlier, however, I am really looking forward to when I have a better command of everything. I think as I learn more, and as my Spanish improves, I will absolutely love the combination of challenges this work presents: helping people, researching, and writing. And since there is so much work to do, and so little time for training people, as you can imagine, it is mostly learning by doing! Have to love working for a new non-profit

APARTMENT HUNTING AND THE SAFETY CHECK

Other than work, which really takes up most of my time, my priority when I first arrived had been to find an apartment. And I’m thrilled to say I moved into a fabulous place on April Fools Day. I was staying in a simple and clean hostel, hostel revolution (have to love that name), run by a very nice Australian, who has a little dog-named Shakira. And while the hostel was fine, and there really weren’t too many people staying there, it wasn’t in the best neighborhood. This became quite apparent to me last Saturday afternoon, when I was walking back to my hostel, and three sad, poor, and pathetic 14-year-olds tried to rob me. One never really knows how they are going to react in these types of situations, likely because they hope to never be in one of them, but I must admit I had the exact wrong reaction…I saw the tallest of the three kids, still a solid 6 inches shorter than me, put his finger under his shirt as if it were a gun. They then surrounded me and started asking for my money and my camera. I simply said I didn’t have either – which was a lie. I had about $10 and my digital camera. I just continued walking and they did the same, looking sort of defeated. I couldn’t believe how stupid I was as I should have just given them something. I also was just sad for them as they were so young and needy. Though Quito is pretty safe during the day, I do hear more and more stories, and am not taking any chances… It is a hard adjustment and harsh reality, but also necessary in order to live here safely.
Understandably, I began to focus solely on finding an apartment. I got the local paper, El Comercio, and called many, many people with postings in the classifieds; but it was through a friend of my co-worker that I ended up finding my amazing place. It has four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, brand new hardwood floors, and is on the second floor of a building that is in the safest area I know: two blocks from Parque Carolina, the equivalent of Central Park in Quito. The space is huge – with a large dining room and living room – and I particularly love that there are huge windows so there is great light that comes in. There currently is a trendy young German woman, Germaine, who recently moved and will be here in Quito for the next few months with an internship at a travel agency. And my other roommate, Olivia, is a lovely young British woman who has been here since the fall and is moving next weekend. I’m not sure whom our fourth roommate will be, but our friendly landlord – an older Ecuadorian man named Galo – is sure to find someone respectable. It seems as though he’ll be taking good care of us…we have six different keys just to get into our apartment!

QUITO: PEOPLE AND THE VIBE ON THE STREETS

All the people I’ve met so far have been absolutely wonderful. The expat community -primarily volunteers, English teachers, and students - is seemingly large as it is easy to meet people, but also very small everyone seems to know someone through someone else. As for all the Quitenos I’ve met, they are welcoming, interested, friendly, and eager to talk to you about just about anything. And, there are so many intriguing things to see here, I’m glad I’ll be here for a while! I’ve seen about 6 different impromptu soccer games taking place in la Parque Carolina; a man preaching the gospel in one of the plazas; a plethora of stray dogs; fruit stands everywhere; indigenous women selling the daily newspaper; a shop selling hundreds of ties, and only ties; a man selling razors on the street; a roast suckling pig in the window of a restaurant; a man juggling in the middle of the street – stopping traffic – to get some money; big malls with stores you see in the states and then some; a truck that drives through my neighborhood on the weekend selling fruit out the back; families walking together in the park; men on bikes selling ice cream; aerobics in the park with about 50 people participating (oh yes, I participated with some friends, and it was hilarious and fun!); many loud busses that make for the disgusting pollution here (struggling to not be bothered by this); couples kissing in the parks; international restaurants galore, anti-Bush graffiti, families riding in the backs of pick-up trucks, older men playing accordions in the streets, women with raspy voices selling lottery tickets, beautiful artwork in the park on the weekend, backpackers in internet cafes, and just lots and lots of people…

LAST WEEKEND – THE PARK, EL PANECILLO, DANCING, DINNER

After feeling a bit more settled into my apartment, I had a weekend without an agenda, and it was awesome. Friday night was really relaxed as my co-workers and I were all pretty spent from the week. We met at a hotel with where there was a Spanish guitar player singing some songs (including one of my favorites, Buena Vista Social Club). We then made our way to dinner at an Arabic restaurant - with excellent mint tea – and called it an early night at about 11:30pm. The following day, I met some of the young women I had just met the night before for aerobics in Parque Carolina – so hilarious but really fun – and I then went to El Panecillo with Olivia and her German friend Sara. El Panecillo, literally the little bread loaf, is a huge statue in the southern part of the city that is up on a hill. After taking a short taxi ride to the top, you see the most incredible views of Quito, and get a sense of how gigantic the city really is:

It is estimated to be 4K wide and about 50K long…somewhere around 30 miles long!!!

After some photos at the top, we made our way down to centro historico to a famous street called la Ronda. It is a beautiful, traditional, colonial street that actually reminded me quite a bit of Antigua, Guatemala. We had a little lunch and then made our way back to our respective apartments. That evening, however, is when the real fun began. We decided to go out dancing, which means that you don’t actually go out until about 11pm…this was a new concept for an early-rising gringa like me. However, it was definitely the most fun I’ve had yet! Went to a place with incredible ambiance called Rhonda Antigua where there was a live Colombian band with really great singers. We danced, and danced, and danced – salsa, cumbia, merengue, bachata, and more. We were all spent by the time 3am rolled around, so we called it a night and made our way home. If I could somehow live without sleep, I’d be quite pleased to salsa dance every night…I’m hoping to take some lessons starting next week

The following morning I woke up and decided to go for a run in the park. It was a wonderfully sunny day, and although I definitely felt the altitude, it was great to be outside with my heart rate up. I’ve been practicing yoga nearly every day, but I miss my running…And then, that afternoon (Sunday) we decided to make a big lunch/dinner at my friend Mauricio’s house. He is a wonderful Chilean co-worker, who has live all over, but grew up in Quito and is currently living with his family. It was great to be in a home, and his family was extremely nice to allow our group of about 8 people take over the kitchen and make shrimp and arugula salad, cooked veggies and pasta, hummus, delicious chai tea, vegan raspberries brownies, and my cookies – oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, and chocolate chip with macadamia nuts (I know, quite a variety of cookies, but I had to fulfill everyone’s requests!). After a whole lot of cooking, eating, and story telling, we all went home to get ready for our work/volunteer-weeks.

And, well, that sums it up for now. This week I’m hoping to look into where/when I’m going to take salsa lessons and if I’m going to teach English; and next weekend I’m off to Banos with friends from work. Think spas and whitewater rafting in a bohemian sort of town…can’t wait! Hopefully the next postings will be shorter and coming more frequently!

WRITE ME IF YOU CAN! I LOVE UPDATES!

Much love to all –
Robin