Walking On Hills

On Friday I completed my first full official week of school at USFQ. It was an adventure. I changed my schedule around basically daily until the last day possible (Friday) but I think I’ve got it down. I’m taking an archeology class which I’ve become super excited about. I’ve realized that archeology is like a mixture of anthropology, history, and digging in the dirt except way more sophisticated and it’s awesome. I don’t know why it never hit me before. Archeology is super cool. I’m also in a weaving class which is great. The first class I was on it and thought I was a pro (except for the fact that I almost made a friend but didn’t have any of the right materials so had to borrow all of hers so now I’m afraid she thinks I’m dumb). The second class I went in certain of my abilities, spent an hour trying a new technique, realized I did it all wrong, and had to undo it. At the very end of class I finally asked the prof for help and she weaved basically as much as I had during the previous hour in about three minutes. I guess I’m not as natural of a weaver as I thought.

Doing homework on the terrace! It was windy.

Other fun things that happened this week: I was asked for directions on like my third day of school, so like a pro I took out my map of campus and gave some spot on fantastic directions; I sat in the sun because who doesn’t; drank black coffee with sugar (aka no milk) because I’m becoming hardcore; took the wrong bus again but this time it was dark and I had to try flagging down a taxi in the dark for like 30min (I looked like such an extranjera with my backpack and worried face); celebrated the birthdays of the beautiful Marcela and Megan (two women I am so grateful to know and share this adventure with—love you both! <3).

Birthday Marcy!

Birthday Megan!

Birthdays are fun

Last night we had a sleepover at my house. Megan and I went grocery shopping at the MegaMaxi which was like an entire adventure in itself. They aren’t kidding when they say Mega. It was huge 

and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Instead of an escalator or stairs, you rose to the grocery store section on a sloped conveyor belt. Once we were in the grocery store it was like a people-filled maze. We wandered around the isles with an oversized cart dodging other carts and weaving through crowds. At one point I almost died when an employee with a giant cart of boxes was booking it down the aisle but I kept my cool and calmly swerved to the side as if I did it every day and averted certain collision. We got home, the whole groups trickled in, when made a feast, ate some cookies, chatted and gossiped and told our life stories (the best part of sleepovers), and went to sleep only to wake up at 7am this morning to make out way to the Teleférico.

Sleepover muchies

trekking

The Teleférico is a ski-lift/tram type thing/gondola lift that goes up Pichincha Volcano. Fun fact: it is one of the highest aerial lifts in the world, rising from 10,226ft to 12,943ft in about eight minutes. My ears were popping and walking up hills at the top was super difficult, but it was super worth it. The views from the top were beautiful. We looked down at Quito, speckled buildings, the mountains, and could see the crescent shape of the city. The morning was beautiful: an almost unreal blue sky dotted with creamy-white clouds, a little bit of wind but not too much. 

Selfie with Marcy

we are excited
llama friend is not
(photocred Nadia Torres!)

We took pictures of us jumping and pictures of us trying to jump. We made a llama friend and took pictures with him (he wasn’t really into it). We took pictures of each other taking pictures. We stared at the city. We laughed. We drank coffee. We rode back down the volcano. Then we went on a really long walking trek to find food. We walked down a steep hill (like super steep) for like 20min. We finally got to the bottom and realized we still didn’t know where to go. We looked at the map, figured out which way was north, and got on a bus. We later got off the bus where we were supposed to and walked for another probably 40min and finally found a place to eat. It was an exhausting walk and it was a magnificent walk. We basically fell asleep at our table while waiting for food. The food was so delicious but we were so hungry that no one got a picture. I got home in the afternoon and took a two hour nap. I spent my evening eating dinner and talking with my host mom/mamagramma about the difficulties of life, how those difficulties make you stronger, about the strong winds, about the puppies running around on the roof, about traveling, about traveling to Portland together (fingers crossed!), about how there’s nothing on TV on Sundays, about our families. Then we drank warm milk with sugar. Now I’m watching Ecuador Tiene Talento. It is Sunday after all.