I also was starting to feel like I was making a bit of progress. After all, I'd dreamt in Spanish the night before. However, we watched a movie in part of class, and that feeling quickly vanished. Oh well, that's the way it works. That day's break was a group class too, where we did Ecuadorian snacks. Now I hadn't tried any of them before, but it was the Amy and Amy show in guessing correctly. Once we did finish tasting, I knew I wanted more of the empanada de verde and pan de yuca.
The day's field trip was with Carina to the Museo de Cera (wax museum). It actually has a big formal name from the gentleman who gave much of the collection to the city, but apparently everyone knows it as the Museo de Cera. This was down in the city center, so it was my first chance to actually walk through the plaza in the historic center. There were still troops everywhere, but it was no longer blockaded. However, it was pouring rain and beginning to thunder, so no photos. Then, no photos allowed in the museum either.
The museum was really interesting. I didn't know much about the Ecuadorian struggle for independence from Spain. I still don't know much, but it's a vast improvement from before. What was most interesting was that we opted to skip the guide, then got a guide anyway. Two members of the military came in after us and so they grouped us all together. Our guide spoke too fast for me, but I got the big ideas. It was very strange, however, to be touring a museum with two men in fatigues, with assault rifles. But they were really interested and asked lots of questions of our guide. Not bad, but it was just a bit odd.
After, Carina and I went through it again on our own, so that she could explain more. However, we realized that I had indeed gotten much of it. So if asked, I could tell you a bit about Pedro Vicente Maldonado, Padre Juan de Velasco, Eugenio de Santa Cruz y Espejo, and Simón Bolívar and José de Sucre, or about the 2nd of August. It's in the Centro Cultural Metropolitano which is built over some of the old prisons, and they are included and used in the museum, since that's certainly part of the story of this time. It was well done.
Finally the rain let up a bit and I could snap some photos from the terraces of the surrounding buildings. This is part of the Banco Central. El Panecillo is in the background on the hill.
And I even made it back to school in time for salsa class! Not quite as great as last week, as we didn't get to some of the more advanced steps, but it was still great fun. Now I just needed to go out dancing to practice!
Wednesday brought horrible confusion as I just could not get those verbs straight. It just made me sad, because I felt like all Vinicio did was correct me. (Homework was so bad I was embarrassed to show it to him next day. For his part, he seemed genuinely puzzled by me and my inability to have faith in myself.) But we made gnocchi for lunch at the school, and that was fun. Then Vinicio and I took off for a walk in the rain and storm to Guápolo, my excursion for the day.
Our destination was a lovely old church and the Museo Francisco y El Santuario de Nueatra Señora de Guápolo. As many of you know, I don't like being outside when it's lightning (that's an understatement, actually). But Vinicio insisted that no one's ever died in Ecuador from lightning. I'm not sure I believed him, but I took off with him anyway. It was a great walk, through some really pretty neighborhoods, and looking out to the mountains and on the city.
I took advantage of a break in the weather to grab these couple of shots.
The church as we were leaving, in the fog and rain and oncoming evening.
We couldn't find a taxi but managed to grab a bus. However, on the way back to school we jumped off when we spotted a traditional street food market. Here was my chance to try some real home-cooked and traditional dishes. Somewhere I know I have the word for the legumes and tubers I had, but I can't find it just now. I've never seen anything like them, but I love them. I tried grilled tripe -- tasty, but really, it just reminded me of octopus. We both decided that this should be a school field trip one day for lunch.
Thursday's excursion was to El Panecillo and La Ronda. Because the excursion was at night, I didn't take the camera, as it just doesn't do well -- it needs the tripod and a bigger flash. But I can tell you that it was a fun evening. I ended up translating for some British students who spoke virtually no Spanish, and that was a nice change. We had a private bus (we would have needed taxis otherwise, it's just not a safe area). An interesting monument, yes, but really spectacular views of the city. Then we headed for La Ronda, a street in the historic area that's been reclaimed and is now a big tourist area with lots of shops and restaurants. We had canelazos to drink and empanadas de viento that were, as Vinicio said, monstres! We ordered one for every two people, and not a single one was finished. But I met Hannele, who will be traveling with me to the rainforest -- yes I decided on Yachana Lodge -- and knew that I'd have a blast in her company. She was from Finland living in Germany, working for the Finnish Embassy there. She used to work for Marimekko, which gave us something fun to talk about instantly. A few years older than me, she also was married traveling alone, so that was great too.
Generally the theme for the week was, no matter how much I studied, I just wasn't getting it. And no matter how well I slept, I was just exhausted. I think it was all just mental drain, but there you are.
Friday brought a bit of subjunctive tense, just to add to my misery. We finished watching Maria Full of Grace, which I really enjoyed. And the realization that my program was already half over.....
After class I headed up to the COICA offices, to check in with my friends there. I bumped into Juan Carlos on the way, as he was headed to lunch. Good news -- I may have been frustrated, but he saw good progress. And in the offices I found out that next week there were two workshops in the rainforest, one for the men down in Sucúa and one for the women in Puyo, and the ladies in the office thought I was going with them! How sad. It was too late for me to change my plans for the lodge, and I'd had no idea.
The COICA offices.
But the school/foundation was having a birthday party that evening, celebrating their fourth anniversary. Juan Carlos came with me, and it was fun. I even helped my team earn a few points in the trivia game. I wanted to connect Vinicio with COICA. I never did get him to meet the other Juan Carlos, who is the director, but at least he did meet this Juan Carlos and that's a start.
Then we headed downtown, because there was an immigration rally Juan Carlos wanted to attend. However, it turned out to be a concert, by the National Orchestra of Andean Instruments. And it was fantastic! We just stood in the plaza with everyone else and danced for an hour. Then a quick dinner, and yet another tasty treat -- colada morada -- loved it! Purple, juice-like, hot, with fruit. Yum! Back to the hostel before midnight even, because I just couldn't stay awake any more. Next day, Teleférico.
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