FART, but seriously

How can a blog entry on a Find and Replace Text utility for the Windows  command line called “FART” not once crack a smile? Where is the bathroom humor? What is the internet coming to???

Semana Santa

The week leading up to Easter is a huge deal in Spanish-speaking super Catholic countries, and we had a front row view of a great deal of it. First, on Sunday, there was a concert in the Plaza San Francisco where there was a choir singing a traditional religious piece (never found out exactly what), but the featured aspect of this performance was that all the bells in all 18 churches throughout the old part of the city were chiming along with them. It was a bit strange, as the chiming didn´t really go along as harmoniously with the singers as we expected. However, there was an entertaining jumbo tv screen showing the guys with piercings, ponytails, and “oh my god I´m on tv” faces ringing the bells with the guidance of their bell-side conductor. After the performance there were huge fireworks which were made even more incredible by the fact that they were exploding dangerously close to our heads.

We spent the rest of the week working until Friday, the main event. Here they follow the tradition from Spain of having a huge procession imitating the stations of the cross graphically. Included are cucuruchos (the anonymous penitent with scary purple hoods (yes the kkk got the idea from this stuff, so its a little weird for the American psyche)), female veiled mourners, people bearing crosses (complete with “Roman soldiers” whipping them along the way), Jesus impersonators, and finally 2 floats. Both floats are adorned with flowers. One features Jesus and the other Mary. When I saw these processions in Sevilla there was an individual procession for each congregation in the city, each with its patron version of the virgin Mary, each with its own color hood. All the processions would end in the central cathedral. But here in Quito, there was just one procession, but it was monstrous.

We walked around it in the hot sun trying to get as good a view as we could when Ricardo, our resident guide and incidentally now Abigail´s boyfriend, suggested we climb the towers in the basilica (just a $2 entry fee) to get a better, more comfortable view. It was a complete success. Actually, even better than the high up views was the super close up views I got when we crossed the procession to get to the side where we could get to the basilica.

After the procession we headed (starving) to Ricardo´s family´s home in the south of Quito to have fanesca, the traditional semana santa soup. It has 12 grains in it, representing the 12 apostles, and tasted fantastic. Apparently they only eat it once a year around here, but I want to learn how to cook it so I can make it from time to time anyway. Ricardo has been extremely welcoming and helpful to us. Check out the Viernes Santo set on my flickr.

First Photo Credit!

I’ve been credited on a German guy’s poison dart-frog website.

Battledecks

What an awesome competition.

Otavalo

We spent last weekend in Otavalo. The city is super famous for its huge outdoor market which takes place largely on Saturdays and Tuesdays. I bought some cool stuff made of wool and alpaca. Liz and I also purchased a pretty cool piece of art that is pretty funky and supposedly made of corn that is crushed up and made into pigment.

We stayed in a gorgeous hostal called the Hostal Riviera Sucre. We hiked both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we hiked around the crater of an old volcano called Mojanda which is now filled with a lake. We were told it is the highest elevation lake in Ecuador and considering how long the bus took going straight uphill to get us there, I believe it.

Sunday we hiked a few miles with all our bags to Lago San Pablo, next town over from Otavalo. We had an amazing lunch on the beautiful lake and got to see some quality rural Ecuador in the process.

Saturday night we had gone to a peña, which is a ¨place¨by translation, but its a bar/night club sort of location where there is always a live band. There was an Andean/modern fusion type band that night, but they were pretty fun, especially when they played the more traditional sounding songs. Andy, our group leader, introduced Hardeep and me to the delight and the destruction that is Zhumir.

Quito Old Town Photoset

This past Sunday we got a free tour of Quito´s Old Town from a friend of a friend. Ricardo, our guide, works with an English teacher we know named Vaughn (John, he went to Vassar, do you know him? He said he thinks he knows who you are) at a museum in the city and gives tours of the historical center of the city on the side. He spoke all Spanish and I was impressed with myself at how few times I needed him to repeat or explain. He gave us a great tour and we were pretty lucky with the weather that day. The photoset is here.

Wasipichay

Last weekend we underwent the traditional housewarming ceremony in Ecuador. Wasipichay is the Quichua word for the ceremony. We had to find three herbs: chilca, ruda, and marco. We found them all at the market in Santa Clara (a neighborhood in Quito). First, we bound the three herbs into miniature brooms and swept the bad spirits out of the house.

Next we took put hot coals in a dish and burned Palo Santo (a nice smelling root) and incense on top of it. We then carried the dish around the house thinking very positive thoughts.

For added protection, we put a potted ruda plant right outside our front door. According to our TESOL trainer, Elias, this has kept his house from being burglarized in the past. Supposedly seeing the plant rids the potential burglar´s mind of his negative intentions.

When the ceremony was completed, Pilsenars were cracked open and our housewarming party began. Our guests were extremely generous in the amount of liquor they donated to the party and as a result we have quite a bar stocked for future occasions. We had friends representing Germany, Ecuador, Ireland, and the U.S. in attendance. There weren´t quite as many people there as we had anticipated (half the old LanguageCorps crowd didn´t come), but it wasn´t without excitement. It continued until about 4:30 the following morning and included someone cauterizing a wound with the very knife that initially inflicted the injury, some very creative haircuts, and a late night dance party (I don´t know where the energy came from, or do I, Hardeep?)

Casa de Hardeep

We have moved into our new house and despite a few bumps along the way, we’re doing great. The house is enormous, and until we finally moved in the living room and dining room furniture it was looking and feeling pretty empty and cold. We’ve since had many successful dinners come from our kitchen and many successful evenings from our living room and dining room tables so its starting to feel like home. 

  

 The search for an apartment was a bit stressful. We are down here in Ecuador in a program called LanguageCorps, which puts us through TESOL training and finds us teaching jobs down here. We had jobs lined up since before even stepping on the plane (credit to our coordinator Andy) but had to find a place to live after the training course. There are 6 of us in the current LC group. One person was only planning to be down here for 6 months, so the rest of us get along pretty well and decided to try to live together. There are an enormous amount of 3 bedroom apartments in Quito but very few 4 bedrooms and up. We needed 4 (Liz and I sharing one). On top of that, its tough to find places that are furnished. We settled on a house in the Universidad Catolica district. Unfortunately it was entirely unfurnished and we’ve had to furnish it from top to bottom not including the fridge and stove/oven. As a result the up front costs have been very high, but I think it will even out in the end.

The number one selling point was the location. We’re about 5 blocks from the school where we’ll be working. About 10 blocks from the busiest bar district (a distance short enough to walk home in a group and long enough to be living in a safe neighborhood). We’re also one block from a great 25 cent public transportation line called the Eco Via. Within a 3 block radius there are several laundromats, hardware stores, cafes and restaurants. We actually live right next door to a great little cafe called Caffetal with extremely welcoming owners. A big supermarket is also about 6 blocks away. 

 The house has 5 bedrooms upstairs (so we’re still hoping to find another roommate to bring down costs) and has a huge living room/dining room area downstairs with a operational chimney. The kitchen is also spacious and functional. It was a pain to clean in the first place (we moved into a very…. dirty… house…) but its in great shape now. We share an outer gate with a couple other apartments and the back door to the cafe. We have roof access. I went outside on the roof yesterday and got a wicked sunburn in a half an hour. The sun is strong here. 

 One more week of settling in until we have our big Wasipichay (Quichua for housewarming party) this friday. There are some ceremonial aspects of the event involving coals and particular plants and some sweeping out of evil spirits, but then there will be a huge party. We don’t know too many other people (mainly other English teachers and some masters students), but we hope they bring everyone they know because its a big house to fill. After next weekend we start working and our schedules will become a lot more regular. 

 Today Liz and I walked only 4 blocks to Parque Elijido, which has a huge outdoor crafts and art market every Sunday. It was pretty incredible that it will be happening weekly. I can’t wait to return with more money.  

 I will continue to take pictures and upload them, as my house has been wired for internet. Things are starting to feel official down here. There is a local internet account in my name, we’re getting a subscription to the local paper delivered to our house, and we have our official Ecuadorian resident photo ID’s. Take care, everyone, and I hope people find the time/money to visit.