Seriously, I’m not kidding, I really do love public transportation here in Ecuador. Buses go anywhere and everywhere around Quito and the country in general. In Quito, a bus ride typically costs $0.25 which is quite a bargain. What’s more is that in using public transportation, I hear and see so much more than if I were driven by my host mother or a taxi. I am able to eavesdrop (discretely of course) on conversations to improve my Spanish listening skills and listen to fun Latina music while travelling among almost all Ecuadorians going to work and school.
One of my favorite parts of school is the ride down the mountain into the valley of Cumbayá where my university is located (just outside of Quito). It takes almost an hour in total and takes three buses but the commute is absolutely worth it because of what I can see along the way. Every day on the ride to school I see beautiful mountains and valleys and it looks different every day depending on the light and the clouds. One day this week I could see the snow covered volcano, Cotopaxi in the distance (I plan to head there someday this semester!). The University of San Fransisco de Quito (USFQ) has a beautiful campus and very excited, knowledgeable professors. I feel like I am at a resort and not at school when I am on campus. There are beautiful views of the mountains and very impressive architecture. The weather is also beautiful and is almost always sunny in Cumbayá. It has been quite rainy in Quito but rains much less frequently where the university is located. I think it’s pretty safe to say that with such a warm November/December in Chapel Hill, I think I pretty much skipped winter this year!
Here are the classes that I will be taking this semester (if nothing changes): Anthropology of the Andes, Ecology & Conservation of the Galapagos Islands, Advanced Conversation, Introduction to Painting, and Social Problems in Ecuador
I was surprised to see that I have two American or, “Gringo” professors this semester. “Gringo” is a term used here to refer to non-Ecuadorians like myself. Unfortunately there are several more “gringos” than Ecuadorian students in my classes. However, I’m sure I will be able to meet Ecuadorians in other ways outside of class and at the least I will have plenty of travel buddies. I’m looking forward to planning weekend trips around the country and I am very pleased to not have classes on Friday so I will have lots of time to travel.
This past week I spent several hours at the “Department of Foreigners” registering my VISA and applying for a CENSO (a card that will say that I am a resident of Ecuador for now). Given that they just changed the process a couple of weeks ago, I ended up spending three hours there one morning and it reminded me a lot of the DMV in Chapel Hill -long lines, some impatience, and a lack of employees! However, it had to be done and in a couple of weeks I should receive my CENSO.
Today, a couple of friends and I ventured to “La Mitad del Mundo”, also known as the center of the world, also known as the Equator! This is a very touristy site located about an hour outside of Quito, accessible by bus as well (like everything)! We enjoyed taking cheesy pictures on the painted equator line but to our dismay, we remembered hearing that down the road from this site is another museum with the “real” equator. Apparently, the equator line was mismeasured so several years ago and a new museum was built claiming to contain the “real” equator line. Given that we had already spent money to see the fake equator line, we decided against paying more to see the real equator line. My favorite parts of the trip were actually the traditional dancing that we saw as we ate lunch and llamas that were on the loose in the park! I was fascinated by the five llamas walking around the park that were in search of greener pastures. As it seemed they had escaped their usual abode. We ate lunch on the top floor porch of a café and from our table were able to see traditional dancing in the plaza, close to the Mitad del Mundo monument. There were several different dances and were all beautiful. Several had to do with cultural aspects of life such as the harvest, a wedding ceremony, and hunting. Overall, it’s pretty neat to say that I was (at least almost) at 0’0”.
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