LIGA LIGA! & TeleferiQo - Gondola Lift

So last night I went to the futbol game, championship game of the University here in Quito versus a university in Brasil. It was a crazy game, long, and the room was once again smoke filled with the nervous tension of the situation which I didn´t fully aprehend until later. Ecuador has NEVER had a futbol (soccer) champion in their history. So I am sitting next to men in their 60´s wishing, hoping, for a victory. Although the referees tried to steal a victory from the LIGA, in the penalty kicks at the end, they pulled it out and won.

Imagine my surpise to see tears on their faces and hugs for all present. It was a point of national pride for this small South American country. Finally they had overcome and are champions of South America. Now they will face (England?) for the championship of the world. On the ride home Sr. Gutierrez kept honking the horn along with everyone else and every street seemed to have people on it at 12am and all were screaming, waving banners, and were so full of excitement and emotion. It was really really incredible! I am so happy for these Ecuatorians.

The picture above is from today...where I am tired but got to finally ascend the lift to the mountains above the city of Quito and WOW the views are amazing! We were at around 4400 meters of altitude which is fairly high. It was cold, colder than I expected on this relatively sunfilled day, and windy, THAT was expected. The weird things was to see airplanes lifting off and turning and YEA, they were still lower than us. I also realized that the altitude sucks the energy out of you when you are hiking up. I think we only ascended another 2-300 feet from the top of the lift but WOW....I feel old. :(

This has been one of the most chevere things that I have done so far. I loved it....and wish that I had the time and stamina to continue to the volcano. They finally caught the criminal that was causing problems so YEA...it is safe to hike up here again...as long as you don´t take a big jump! Oh...one interesting thing that I didn´t know...Quito is 70km long. That is a big city!

I will load more pictures soon as this place doesn´t work well with big pictures. Enjoy!

Quito, Studies, More Pics, 4th

Well...I am back in Quito and have had generally beautiful, rain-free days since I have been back. This is an important week at the school as several students are returning to the states and there are not many more than 6-7 students here. At any rate, we are having a 4th of July party and I will miss not being with my friends and family for the event. I have tried to explain the beauty of the fireworks in front of the Arch over the Mississippi, but I am not sure I conveyed it well.

My spanish is improving I think, but when I was talking to another student here, granted she has been here for 6 months, I really felt like I am far away from true fluency...but I guess that is the difficult question. I am able to communicate with virtually anyone here as long as it relates to things I know about or concepts that are normal to staying/living in another country. I have good days and bad days as well and I think that I need to refocus so that I can get a lot out of these last few weeks. I guess like always, the key is to practice, practice, practice...

OH YEA...since it is the 4th of July, guess who has to read the Declaration of Independence in Spanish for everyone...um...yea...me.

We went to the Guyasamin museum today which was kinda cool, and I think I appreciate his works more. There was one which at first glance was very strange but once I understood it, very profound. It was a painting of a face in the shape of a volcano with its mouth as the crater, the head on its side sort of, and it represented the volcanic eruptions of people who gossip. Interesting, no?

Tomorrow night is important because Ecuador plays Brasil for the South American Cup or something like that...it is about national pride and they normally are the bottom of the barrel team in South America. As you can imagin, everyone will be watching the soccer (futbol) game and I have come to enjoy watching the team as they have been regarded always as underdogs, but have played really well recently. ¡Ecuador! ¡Ecuador! Its the time of futbol and cuba libres...

Finally I am putting a few more pictures on from my trip to the Selva, aka rainforest. The one at the bottom is of the first part of the canyons... Studying indoors for all day leaves little opportunity for new pictures, but I will do my best!

The raining Futbol day

Right now, Ecuador and Colombia are tied 0-0 and the game is in Quito, not too far from where I live. I was thankful that the trolley-bus was not too full because I felt horrible when I was coming home. I don´t feel too much better now, but I needed to write and get out of the house for a bit.

I found some Halls!! I am so happy because I thought this country had not menthol tablets for soothing sore throats. How wrong was I? I mean, I should have known, if you have Coke Zero, you must have about everything. I have been taking pills from my emergency pack that are for sore throat fever, muscle soreness, etc. but it seems like they take a while to work. On the other hand I saw aspirin today too but the aspirin may have codine and as much as I might want to try this, Ecuador is not the country to try new medicines. ;)

I got a message from the American government about a danger that can happen on the mountain path to the closest volcano to Quito. I was planning on summiting it, but now am having second thoughts. It will not be this week either way and therefore I have time to think and find out if the ladrones are still causing problems. Que lastima!

I have to give a speech in Spanish (of course) on Friday about the Quitus people who lived here before the Incas and Spanish. I need to write it tonight and practice tomorrow. I really hope that a second full night of sleep with make my mind function well. I did wake up thinking is Spanish, which is not that unusual when all you do is speak it. Well, another tie for Ecuador who had way more chances to score and should have won with 3 or 4 goals. What a strange game?

I am in the internet cafe that hates my pictures but I don´t feel strong and don´t want to walk more. I promise you that there is no way to gain a lot of weight here unless you stay indoors, because I walk everywhere...even when we take busses I still get in miles each day. I hope that it pays off and I can have that girlish figure that I really want - ;)

Today we went to the Cima (Apex) de Libertad (uh...Liberty) where there is a museum of the history of the independence of Ecuador and Quito. It has an amazing view, higher than anywhere else that I have been but the clouds came in with a good sized storm and boom....cold, wet, & tired. Our guide reluctantly walked us around but he was like some military guy and didn´t even know the date for their independence (he was within 2 years). Thankfully, I had my current teacher Laura and she knows tons about everything. She essentially gave me a tour after the tour in Spanish that I can understand. The other guy slurred his words and seemed uncertain....hmmm....wonder why?

At any rate we jumped back on the bus and went back across the city to the school. Today I learned so forms for common expressions and had to practice them. It was pretty difficult. We also talked about intonation and she told me that sinafelas and enlaces are used mainly in poetic type literature. She said is would be too difficult to understand each other otherwise...For me, it cleared up a lot. She also cleared up the idea that while there are normal intonations for sentences and questions, circumstances and the individual will use different forms for the language. (If you don´t understand this part, its OK...my Spanish Ed major friends will understand)

So because the city is surrounded by mountains the pollution at times can get bad...I mean, where can the wind blow it....into another mountain? Anyway, the storm I think is helping because it feels like a cool, mountain air day now and very fresh. I am happy with the the fresh air, and wish that I could enjoy it more. I will get pictures up soon....so sorry....

Buenas noches.

Food, Folks and Fun

Yesterday afternoon, we watched the futbol (soccer) game with the brother in law of Sr. Gutierrez and Ecuador was the huge underdog. With some luck and perserverance they were winning 1-0, much to the delight of everyone with less than a minute to go. Well...actually, the game was over, but in soccer they add time for ïnteruptions¨and for this reason, there was still time left when Argentina kicked a tying GOOOOOAAAAAL! But in soccer, there are not tie-breakers apparently and th game ended. Which was really sucky because it was a huge deal to everyone here in Quito.

Unfortunately, I was in the room with 4 other men with an average age of 65 and all but myself and Sr. G were smoking....a lot....because of nerves. So last night my throat hurt and today as well. I just found some medicine in my emergency pack and I hope that it helps. It stinks to have a scratchy throat, but it has definitely reinforced my belief in not smoking.

Apparently, Rum and Coke is the drink of choice when watching a Soccer game with older guys. It was wierd because after lunch all of the girls went to another room to watch the television while the rest of us guys were in the living room. We watched the game on a 20-24 inch television, tube. What a different experience from home!

At any rate, I did not take my camera to the house, but it was fairly large, having three stories, a living room (with a huge painting of a winged, naked woman?), a dining room, a kitchen, at least 4 bedrooms, a tv room, a sitting/computer room, and two bathrooms on the main level. Pretty stinkin´huge. Keep in mind that the rooms are way smaller than most of ours in the US.