Hola again! Here I am back in Quito after an amazing time at the beach, where the ground literally moved. First of all I must say thanks to all those who post comments on the blog. I do read them but rarely respond as I am not sure those who posted check back to see if there is a response. So anyway....if you respond and want a response, please say so and I will send a comment your way!
I am heading back to Chugchilan tomorrow in anticipation of a nice turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, so that is very exciting! Of course I have just found out that I have a task of trying to find some cranberries here, but alas have found out too late and think the likely stores to have it will be closed by the time I get there.......drat.
Anyway, the beach was great although I was really too lazy to take many pictures, so have about 3 and will add them next time. I did get to encounter the earthquake though, and as it has been many years since I felt one, it was like a new experience all over again! The ground literally shook right after I sunk the eight ball at pool (actually on purpose this time!) and everyone went running for the doorway. No major damage, although the bar did lose it´s sign that was swinging outside.
I must say before we move on, that you always find these great little towns and think you could really settle in for a while and take it easy. Unfortunatley, inevitably some local guy takes a shine to me and then starts to stalk me and finally I have to leave town. So sad and this little beach town was no exception....sigh. Oh well.
But let´s get back to the real topic at hand: yes, the gripe pill. Gripe (pronounced gree-pay) is a standard latin american term for everything ill it seems. From a cold, to the flu, to menstral cramps to hemmoroids. The real issue is of course the pill since it treats everything! These pills of dubious origin usually come in a packet that the pharmacist or your good buddy gives you and are never labelled, so it is really unclear how many to take or what they should actually do for you. Which I think is nothing anyway, so guess that where it comes from is no muy importante. Just another latin american ism to ponder on those 7 hour bus rides!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
"He was so cute....and delicious!"
OK, before you all freak out, the cuys on the left are not the one on the right! The quote is actually referring to a pic of one of the former sheep at the BSI that I was viewing. Haha.
In all seriousness though, here I am in Quito catching up on some interneting as ours has been out at work for the last couple of weeks. I have to say I was so excited to get here and have an empanada yesterday. Unfortunatley, it had to be one of the most disgusting things I have eaten in a long time. It was supposed to be filled with carne, but had what had to be dog food in it. Fortunately I am not in the habit of eating dog food and so cannot attest to the vailidy of that statement, but it was nasty. And empanadanas are made from flour people, not corn! So disappointing......but thankfully the McDonald{s burger I had today was not!
The day started with a 4 AM bus towards Latacunga, and the discovery in the dark that with all the rain we have had, the road has disappeared down into the canyon. This part of Ecuador is so high in altitude, nothing is growing and it looks a bit like you are on the moon. So in the pitch black, they announce we all have to get off the bus. The driver attempts for about a half hour to see if he can get the bus over enough of the sand road that is left for us to continue on. He is missing about 6 inches of road space, and so finally decides it is not happening. Of course there is nowhere to turn around, so we all trudge after the bus for about a mile while he backs up to a point where he can finally turn it around. We get back on and head the way we have come. We are about an hour and a half from Chugchilan, and I think we have to go all the way back and then around through Sigchos and am not convinced I shouldn{t get off and just go back to bed when we get there. But apparently he has other choices, as we finally pull into Zumbahuaa about 2 hours later. So I get here to Quito a couple of hours late, but it is all good. Well, until the disappointing empanada, but we won{t revisit that.
I am off to the beach for a few days of relaxing and eating fish and getting warmed up as it is damn cold in the Andes. I have been at the BSI for about 5 weeks now and am having a grand time--except for the internet being out. And the phone line has been out more often than not as well, so I am really quite out of touch. But that is actually OK as it makes getting a chance to send some email a bit of a novel experience again!
For a vegetarian place, I admit I am getting to have a bit of meat once in a while. We had a party with the local staff to celebrate the day of the dead, so I got to have some rabbit, which I don{t think I have had before, as well as finally getting to try the guinea pig, the Ecuadorian delicacy we would never think to have in the states. Unless your pet died, I guess. It was rather tasty albiet a bit bony. The dogs love to munch on cuy bones though. :) The cat is disinterested, as she prefers her cuys to be alive when she starts on them. Word on the street is that one of the new babies has apparently been a victim to the cat{s desire for live cuy, but thankfully I was not a witness to this event.
In the past few weeks I have done a bunch of hikes near the inn and gotten lost, as well as finally tackling the big hike from Laguna Quilotoa back to Chugchilan. The laguna is a crater lake about 7 or 8 miles away from the inn, where you take a pickup truck with all of us squished in the back about an hour from the inn and then do the hike back. Included in this episode are a couple of pictures from that day.
I have met some great people during my time at the inn, as well as a bunch of weirdos you only seem to get to meet when working in the hospitality industry. Every day there is something new to laugh at, and I am also getting to learn alot about how to function in a different culture. Very much like the states, there are a bunch of people in the community that want to get things done (Andres is working with the local community to get a new water system in place) but don{t want to actually do anything but talk about how differently everything should be done. And no one wants to take direction from anyone else. So some things are universal!
So here are some of the photos, but coming in our next installment will hopefully be the answer to the burning question--what exactly is in a gripe pill?
http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/BSI%20Dos/
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