ecuador: parte tres

so as for the many parts i missed regarding my salasaca/volunteering stay....

first there was christmas eve. on the way to the jungle, we stopped to buy boots (jungle´s aren´t dry sometimes...) and i called my family. i can´t BELIEVE i didn´t cry! SHOCKING! i was so impressed with myself. i was all shaky and nervous about calling because i hate getting uncontrollably emotional like that, and then i decided minutes before going to the cabina that i was NOT going to cry... and it worked. wicked.
ANYway, roberto, his friend maggie, and i trekked out to the midi of the jungle to stay at linda´s place. robert got a big kick out of the fact that i looked like some frail lil lady trekking thru with my tank top and umbrella in the rain... complete with big black rain boots. maggie ACTUALLY laughs more and louder than i do for reasons stupider than the reasons i do. i swear. it´s amazing. she´s fun.
linda was my idol... she was this sassy wicked social 61-year old with an attitude.. she treks out to her jungle abode every week and lives with her dogs and cat. she just had SO much energy and love and openness and accepting and non-judgement and.. i really loved that lady. what other 61-year old do you know that says stuff like "well technically, that word tranlates to "your mother´s pussy"", or, as she packs the cucumber for a hike, looks up slyly and says "your boyfriend?" with a slight brow lift to the ladies. hilArious. sally was another invite (CANADIAN too! guelph) at linda´s and she was super sweet and worked as a travel agent all over the world which was really interesting to hear about. all night long we sang christmas carols and laughed and enjoyed good company and drank and drank and drank (okay maybe just me..). mixing wine, champagne and rum made me feel mighty pretty christmas day, i tell ya. that was sarcasm, by the way. but the eve was just lovely- i danced to gypsy queens the whole night long, while everyone was sleeping... i woke up and repeatedly said out loud "WHERE are my paannttss?" while clutching my hazy head.
christmas day was spent either sleeping, singing more to the christmas carols (same CD, over n over, but i can never get enough! i love christmas!) or frantically trying to finish the book i thought i was going to trade upon my return to baños (the jerk ended up telling me he thought my book was only a fun summer fling, so i could only trade it for a fun summer fling (read: danielle steel).. bastard).
that night, linda invited me to the casa hood christmas party with her and sally. how sweet. i think the highlight of my night was the devilled eggs (not to say anything about the night, just to say something about how much i love those eggs). omiGOD heavenly delicious... i was LOVIN life. merry christmas, hallelujah, thank god for devilled eggs. and the green peanut brittle (the lady told me the colour of the brittle was funny, so she added food colouring... i have a feeling they looked better before the green) just made me laugh. i met a lot of really nice folks that eve. one little boy came up to me and yelled "I HAVE NUMBERS!".. i asked him where they were and he said "they´re in my HEAD!..." and ran away. hilarious.

the week or so of christmas was a little boring other than the parties because nothing was open. my BLESSED sandals from when i was 15 finally BROKE! i was devastated. most comfortable shoes ever. seven good years. i could have cried. i taped them, i put blue plastic around them, but all i got was a night of dancing with salasacan drunks and a painful lesion on my foot.

as for that night of dancing with salasacan drunks... rosa maria (the teacher mentioned last post... see, this is why i like to finish the country up all in one blog! too much past referencing) invited roberto and i to the village "children´s" christmas party. children´s is quoted because the real one´s enjoying the fiesta were certainly the older males. it was therefore incredibly entertaining. we arrived at two in the afternoon and, of course, every local man was already completely and entirely wasted. like, not just drunk, but a MESS. the way the drunkest guy at any given north american party would be at about 4am... the ENTIRE VILLAGE... is that guy. as if they´re ALL getting drunk for the first time and going completely overboard (the first point being the furthest thing from the truth). but since every man is exactly the same, it´s not only expected, but accepted. the new norm is every man passed out on top of each other, in the backs of trucks, on the sidewalk, possibly bloody from falling or getting in a fight. if they somehow managed to remain conscious, they´re stumbling around without shame, dancing to the music in their heads, yelling at each other, reeking of either peach wine or puro (local strong stuff), with their eyes either completely closed at half mast and fully blank. being the only white girl there, i was lucky enough to NEVER be without partner, not even for one song. and by partner, i mean the guy that stands eleven feet from me and i´m pretty sure forgets he´s dancing with me, shuffling about with his eyes closed, drooling and turning the other way. that, or the automatic dance superstar drunks who made me laugh so hard as they swung me around and exagerrated "smooth moves". it was not abnormal for someone to just pass right out on the dance floor, they were droppin like flies. everyone just danced around them, thought nothing of it. nor was it abnormal to make the band drink or hug them whilst playing. either way, the whooole situation had me smiling (and that lovely, genuine, coming easy smile too... the one you feel so good throwing out into the world, and it spills so naturally) permanently the entire night. especially because, as extreme as the drunks are in the village, they are rarely EVER aggressive, which is what really matters. there was also a lot of traditional dancing that night, which was great to watch (regardless of how repetitive traditional ecuadorian music is). unfortunately something made me feel really sick and my stomach just about exploded, so i had to go back to rosa maria´s and lie down. but what a lovely night and lovely people, no matter how much alcohol they ingested.

after rosa maria´s place, i headed straight back to baños for new years because robert told me it was good there. the whole town (as is common in much of ecuador, i think) makes effigies of, traditionally, people they jokingly hate, like your boss or your wife or whatnot. they also dress up. for a reason i´m unsure of. and just like halloween in canada has completely degraded to like naughty nurses and dorothy from the wizard of oz instead of scary things frighten the demons n whatever, the tradition in baños has degraded to include effigies of spiderman and every man dressed as a woman (latin men SURE can pull it off well). the effigies are then taped to the front of cars (like you´re running them over) and carried around all day and then burned at midnight. it was all very hectic, even in the daytime, transvestites running the streets begging for money, stopping cars, little dolls everywhere you look. in the park a drunk old man DEMANDED i rise and give him a hug. i declined. i ended up begrudgingly taking a $10 dinner (long story, i SWEAR the sign said $1) and instead of dessert asked for a second glass of wine so that i could forget about spending so much on my stupid dinner. this cali girl i´d met before was trying to make me feel better by saying "just think, this food has to last you til NEXT YYEEAARR! ten dollars is NOTHING for that!" that was pretty funny. plus a band randomly came into the restaurant for a few songs, so that was nice. so after a cocktail, two glasses of wine and nearly a bottle of champagne, i headed out to the plaza and listened to the salsa band play. the alcohol was slowly leaking through my bloodstream, which gave my hip even more of a sway than it might normally have in a public concert situation. there was one couple dancing in the whole of this enormous crowd. in my head i was thinking two things: 1. wow, takes guts to be the only ones dancing out here. 2. why the hell is no one else dancing?? but i sure as hell wasn´t about to start dancing by myself (well, any more than the pronounced sway in the hip). so when the guy came up to me and asked me to dance, it´s a good thing i had ingested juusstt enough alcohol to release the “oh lord, we´re only 2 of 4 people dancing in this huge crowd and i don´t even really know how to salsa” inhibitions, and went for it. sooo much fun. i ended up trading to his friend, a much better dancer, and by the end of the night i was swinging and swaying and even doing the close salsa where you can´t see your feet (and thus, if they´re going to step on those of your partner), the type that always terrified me. i felt like such a smooth operator. we had such a good time. we drank WAY too much. i didn´t even get to see effigies burned, i completely forgot about it, but i saw fireworks and it was a magical eve nonetheless. the guys were telling me the singer just sent me a shout-out and i was all like “pppffttt no way” and then i heard “canada” and squealed, raised my hands and yelled “CANAADDAAA!!!” like i was at a maple leafs game er something.
thank goodness my lovely hostel allowed me to sleep til three because that puro hangover is sooo incredibly hazy.

back in ambato, i finished painting the entire second floor, at least. i quite liked it- i just put designs everywhere. when bobby saw the first room he just stood there with his arms crossed and a glazed eye look, mouth agape repeating "iiiinteresting". i had no idea what he was thinking. i think in the end he liked it, but it took some getting used to! i mounted some fabric on the walls and i removed a painting from a frame and painted the wall then put the frame on the wall on top of the painting. he says "we have curtains without windows and a frame without a painting... who would´ve thought?"

the people in ambato were so nice. one morning i went out for breakfast and an old man sat with me and then ended up buying me an empanada and talking to me, how sweet! then there was the pharmacist, my lover. he was SO incredibly hilarious. when robert would walk by he would stop him and give him candies to give to me! everytime i walked past his shop he´d usher me in and talk forever. on my last day he asked me "so looks don´t matter to you in a relationship, right?" and i almost died of laughter. he was seriously into me. i got a haircut in ambato that could have made me cry. mushroom cut AGAIN! my theory is that the hairdressers here are so unaccusomted to cutting women´s hair short (very rare) that they just cut it like they would a man´s. not impressed. one of the kids actually asked me why my hair looked like alejandro´s haha.... o lord.
at one shop in ambato i went to pull out my wallet, which is attached to a long string. i usually, therefore, have to pull high so that it comes out. i accidentally grabbed a different string though, that of my thong, and proudly raised it to shoulder level as it exited my bag. i was so confused, i just looked at it blankly then rapidly restuffed it into the bag, but not before the owner noticed and giggled at me.

i was teaching about a half hour from tungurahua volcano. this volcano actually erupted when i was there! we had no idea it happened actually- word doesn´t really travel fast there. but jesus, by month 7.5 i´ve been through four robberies, one possible rabies infection, and within kilometers of three large natural disasters. much more drama than the asia trip!

some people came to volunteer a few days before i left. they ended up making stupid excuses and leaving the next morning, but while they were there it was fun. the really wild and lovely and awesome one was berta, from honduras. we had sooo much fun. she kept trying to hook me up with her son which was hilarious. so we were talking about him for awhile and her friend mentioned that he was really cute and so on, then we made one quick comment about the mail- sending things home- and her friend says "how has your luck been here with the mail?", which we ALL thought was meant to be male, not mail. after a second of silence we all exploded. pretty sure i cried.

anyway, after 3.5 weeks with robert, 2.5 weeks teaching, my dearest peggy can meet me in quito so i can get my MUCH-needed hiking boots that have not been purchased at a market in any latin-american country. so i needta go. it is time.
i wasn´t sure of the day though, so roberto told the school i was leaving a day before i actually was, just incase. so my going away party was a day beforehand. that´s good though, it released my emotional pressure early. robert told me ahead of time that i was for sure going to cry, and that got me all scared because i hate being out of control emotional, as i mentioned previously, so BECAUSE i was all worked up and expecting tears, when the kids handed me a card and a homemade fanny pack and did a dance for me, i was the aforementioned out of control emotional and cried like a baby. seriously, i can tell, it was nothing situational and entirely anticipatory why i cried. thanks, bobby. when the kids asked me the next day “why did you cry?”, i should have told them “ask roberto”. it was really cute too because the kids all brought food in as a special thing... rosa maria and i got a kick out of the fact that our entire table was filled with maiz products of all different forms, and nothing else- popcorn, corn puffs, boiled choclo, toasted maiz in two different forms... so funny.

the next day the kids went above and beyond and nearly half of them gave me personal notes and drawings... so adorable. i was shocked be jessica´s- the girl who went out of her way to ignore me- she gave me an envelope full of little slips, each one with a sentence about how she loves me or will miss me and wants me to come back, thank yous... it was unexpected and very sweet. i showed roberto the drawing alex gave to me and we exploded into hysterics. it was a girl on a hill that appeared to be holding a llama´s tail or something (i don´t even remember if they HAVE tails). "what does this MEAN?!" i managed to say between breath-taking bouts of laughter. it was kindof mean, i know, but it´s not like he knew we were laughing at him. andy wrote me the sweetest and longest note... each note made the already rich experience of being there even more meaningful. i gave the kids stickers and necklaces and candies and little bottles of bubbles. hilariously, i walked by santiago very seriously explaining to the younger boys that they need to choose the dog or kitty bubble bottles because they have more bubbles than the cell phone shape. later santiago was seen with a cell phone bubble bottle... he must´ve realized kitties are for pussies ha. thankfully i didn´t cry when i left the kids the last day. when i left robert i cried though. it was so nice there. i gave him a donation and some colombian coffee and a card and we got our photo taken and i hopped on the vw and got a ride to the bus. when i got on the bus, i looked out the window to find the vw still parked on the side of the road, all the kids looking out the window trying to spot me in the bus. when they did, they started waving wildly. i couldn´t resist a huge " my god, how sweet" smile for the first like ten minutes of my ride. good feelings. i will miss them muchly, but such is life. as much as i would´ve loved to stay, the thrill of the open road quickly resumed its rightful place in my heart. if anyone wants to volunteer there, let me know and i will get you in contact with roberto!

so in quito i enjoyed the indian food and warm peanut sauce salad i had literally been dreaming about and yearning for since my last visit in quito. there was a free rum and coke night at the hostel so i chilled there all night with a big crew... the night ended with a t-shirt spray-painting party. obviously. how random.

FREE rum and coke means CHEAP rum which therefore pretty much equates to MAD hangover, so my meeting with peggy was vveerryy hazy but i still had lots of fun. this was the first person from home i´ve seen since california! i´m meeting a girl i haven´t been to school with since grade two in ECUADOR.... wicked, i love it. now THAT´s keeping in touch. her spanish is amazing, i was so in awe.

next stop was cuenca. i wasn´t impressed at all. just another colonial city with one really beautiful blue-domed cathedral. it also has one cool museum about traditional costumes and handicrafts which was really neat and i could identify with some of the costumes, having been in the salasacan community. i met an austrian named helga on the street- she just smiled at me on a street corner and then started talking to me and following me to the laundry! i wish i was that forward, that´s awesome for meeting new people. i admire courage n confidence like that. she ended up being quite annoying but i stayed with her for the next five days! i don´t know if it was the upcoming period she kept reminding me of or its just her nature, but her personality was incredibly negative. after everything she said she would close her eyes and give this hideous grimace face that made me want to slap her and yell "STOP that!" plus she wasn´t used to travelling, especially solo, so she was super clingy which drives me a little mad. i think my favourite part of travelling solo is the freedom. anyway.

we went to the art museum and vegetarian food and then we went out that night. i was dressed in a fleece sweater- really sexy- and i really wanted to dance. we ended up warming up by drinking enormous beers on some steps. two locals came up to us and at first were pretty cool, then they sat on either side of us. then they proceeded to try to seduce us with sexy spanish compliments. in other words, bullshit. i was hysterical. helga can´t even understand spanish so he was wasting his time and she was just so confused. my guy kept saying stuff like "your eyes are beautiful... do you understand me? you are so sexy... do you understand me?", and just dishing it out like there was no tomorrow, asking me after every line if i understood him. so. incredibly. hilarious. we ended up just getting up and leaving them, but it was pretty entertaining. we then asked two random guys if it was legal to drink in the street and they said it was fun and took chugs of our beer and then hung out with us. we went to a club and tried to salsa and then one of the guys made a very inappropriate comment that pissed me off and i lost all interest in being anywhere near them. i marched home ranting loudly about how you can never be just friends with a latin man, it seems. they followed us back and the guy tapped his cheek asking for a kiss and i slammed the door in his face. i´ve developed QUITE the attitude in the face of unwanted attention. really great night in general, though. loved watching the talented salsa dancers.

we then went to loja, which lonely planet, those lyin bastards, says is full of beautiful parks and musicians, neither of which we came into contact with. then off to vilcabamba, which i had heard great reviews of, including "it´s the most beautiful place in the world", which is a very strong statement! so i was so excited, and i suppose had high expectations maybe, so i was therefore quite disappointed when, to me, vilcabamba proved to be quite pretty but nothing really all that special. a town in the mountains. engh. we stayed in the forest and there was a really nice crowd there so we had a good night. i met a danish guy i´d met previously in colombia, twice. my memory of him was hazy and i tried to convince him he was from new zealand when i first met him heh. there was also a couple from holland there. i love the dutch, i´ve decided. every one of em.

we did some hikes in the surrounding mountains, always the same view so i got tired of it quick. we hiked the highest mountain which was quite striking. i got MAD vertigo at one part and had to sit down on my ass and super slow slide down the ridge (that dropped ten stories on either side). scary. the cacti and agaves in the meadowed fields on intriguing mountains was all very beautiful. we ended up getting lost and going through lots of scratchy bushes and trying to hop fences and having to herd cows off trails (the six and a half feet tall dutchman was scared of them, it was hilarious) n stuff. by the end, we were crossing over an overgrown graveyard. i was the only one absolutely covered in burrs and the sand had attached everywhere i´d sweated and i had some sweet scars- i was a wreck. but lots of fun.

next, i was off to peru. in colombia, in my mid-trip crisis, it was photos of patagonia that renewed my travel spirit, so i knew i needed to give it the attention it deserved. patagonia is only good weather from december to february and if you don´t go in the good season there is essentially no reason going because it´s miserable weather, you can´t see anything, and half the transportation and services even shut down. so i decided to get there quickly and loop back on everything that´s between ecuador and southern argentina afterwards. and there is LOADS between ecuador and the end of the world. so anyway, i´ve been BOOTING it since ecuador and i am now in patagonia and i don´t have time to write more right now, even random additions! so... i´m four countries behind heh. but you shall have to wait. i´m sure this is sufficient for now.
i love you all. ciao ciao!