From the valley where we live we can see the many mountains which surround us. One of the prominent ones is called 'Ilalo'. It is an extremely triangular-shaped mountain with a series of potato, corn and fava bean fields which stretch up its slopes and are framed by two forests climbing the right and left sides of Ilalo. We caught a couple different over packed buses to the town of Al Tingo which is at the bottom of Ilalo. One of the buses was so packed I could hardly get on through the back door, and it started driving away with me half hanging out, door wide open. That was fun... When we got to Al Tingo, the day was starting to warm up (a lot). We asked for directions to the trail, and then asked a woman if beth could use the washroom. She reluctantly allowed beth into the back of her restaurant (definitely not somewhere I would eat....) to a washroom. It was pretty stinky. But Beth 'braved' it. She really had no choice, she really had to go!!! It was kind of like how some people find courage on the brink of death, simply because adrenaline and lack of alternatives become the only two factors. Anyhow, she managed to pee. I was proud. After attempting to follow directions to the trail, we ended up in various peoples 'yards' who redirected us closer and closer to the trail as if people had made the same mistake a thousand times. We finally started our ascent of Ilalo, and the trail was more or less straight up. Switchbacks were simply non-existent. The sun was hot, and the hike to the top was extremely hard, however the views along the way were extremely rewarding. Once we were at the top, we found the enormous cross that can be seen by all the towns in the valley below. We snacked on some tostados (hard salted roasted corn kernals) and drank some water. We met a couple of Ecuadorian university professors at the top who were keen hikers. We decided to scout out a route down the other side of the mountain into another town. We spotted a way to descend onto a ridgeline which followed a ways until meeting a road which vaguely looked as if it went somewhere. We decided to try it. It was very fortunate to meet some Ecuadorians up for some adventure, other wise we would have never attempted it. The initial descent down the back side of the mountain was extremely steep, but the views were even better than the climb up. Beth and I had developed some sores on our feet because we were wearing relatively new hikers. We landed on the ridgeline, a lot of which had been burned (slash and burn) for farming. It was really nice to hike along that mountain pass. Eventually we hit a small 'road,' passed a farm, defended our lives against some very aggressive dogs, and descended into the new town. We were able to catch some different buses home to Sangolqui. Our new found friends are planning another hiking adventure soon, to wawa pichincha, a bigger better mountain, and we have been invited along. Hopefully we will be able to make it work out.
In the mean time we have a ton of school work to do, and need to find time to visit the placement Beth hopes to work at. It is a ministry which gives itself to microbusiness, social programs, health and education, along with bible training and spiritual ministry. It is holistic, and is really the type of thing we would like to be involved with.
Love you all, and bye for now,
~Matt
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Jeans, Leather, .... Stormy Weather!
Winter is fast approaching. The rainy season here is fast approaching. Since we have been here from the end of August we have hardly seen a drop of rain. But for the last two days, while the sun has been shining bright in the morning, by mid-afternoon it is down pouring. The rain drops feel more like rain-cups. The rain doesn't last long, but I have been reassured that for a while, it will at least be consistent. I myself really enjoy the rain, however thats not the same for everyone. Our family had an appointment at two yesterday. They were ready to go and then within seconds it started raining 'cups.' They chose to be late for their appointment over walking 4 meters in the rain from the house to the car. I thought that was very funny. When they told me they were going to wait they were standing in the doorway, looking out at the rain....and me with my MEC rain gear on, smiling big, water dripping off the beak of my hood over my face. I was thinking 'lets go!' It was a funny moment.
A few days previous, Fanny (The mom), Ruperto (The Dad), Analea (The sister), and Daniel (the cute brother), all drove us two and a half hours further and higher into the Andes to a small town. The town was well known by ecuadorians as the place to buy cheap jeans. Literally, this town was jean town. Their was pretty well only one main st, and virtually every shop on the main street was a jean store. Their must have been 40 jean stores, all selling more or less the same styles of jeans for the same prices (8-12 dollars). It was funny, Beth and I couldn't figure out how all these shops survived, but they do. We walked in and out of jean stores trying stuff on, and bargaining (which is a lot like bickering) about prices. Sometimes people tried to really rip us off, other times they were quite friendly about it. Once we had finished shopping jean heave, we piled into the car and headed 40 minutes further up and into a mountain to another town. This town was pretty much identical to the jean town, except every single one of its shops sold leather. Leather leather leather. Leather jackets, leather hats, leather boots, leather belts, leather purses. Again, at least 40 leather shops made up most of the town. It was also cheap. I managed to buy a top quality leather jacket for $40, which was a great find, but lesser quality stuff started and the $20 range for a jacket. It was just a funny little 'family' adventure further into the mountains. The altitude really hit Beth and I, and in the car we both got entirely drowsy and passed out for over an hour. Our family thought it was really funny. Anyways, we drove the 2 and half hours back to our home here, and took in some sights along the pan-American highway.
So there is your update. Hope everyone is doing well,
Matt
A few days previous, Fanny (The mom), Ruperto (The Dad), Analea (The sister), and Daniel (the cute brother), all drove us two and a half hours further and higher into the Andes to a small town. The town was well known by ecuadorians as the place to buy cheap jeans. Literally, this town was jean town. Their was pretty well only one main st, and virtually every shop on the main street was a jean store. Their must have been 40 jean stores, all selling more or less the same styles of jeans for the same prices (8-12 dollars). It was funny, Beth and I couldn't figure out how all these shops survived, but they do. We walked in and out of jean stores trying stuff on, and bargaining (which is a lot like bickering) about prices. Sometimes people tried to really rip us off, other times they were quite friendly about it. Once we had finished shopping jean heave, we piled into the car and headed 40 minutes further up and into a mountain to another town. This town was pretty much identical to the jean town, except every single one of its shops sold leather. Leather leather leather. Leather jackets, leather hats, leather boots, leather belts, leather purses. Again, at least 40 leather shops made up most of the town. It was also cheap. I managed to buy a top quality leather jacket for $40, which was a great find, but lesser quality stuff started and the $20 range for a jacket. It was just a funny little 'family' adventure further into the mountains. The altitude really hit Beth and I, and in the car we both got entirely drowsy and passed out for over an hour. Our family thought it was really funny. Anyways, we drove the 2 and half hours back to our home here, and took in some sights along the pan-American highway.
So there is your update. Hope everyone is doing well,
Matt
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Bulls, Jewels, and Classical Music
Beth and I have settled well into our new family. We have been living with the Montano family for slightly just over a week now, and have nothing but good things to say. Because I havn't posted for a week, I have a few things to fill you all in on. So here goes. . .
Friday night the program through a banquet for all of us students to meet our new families with whom we will all be living with for the next four months. The banquet involved an amazing meal, as well as a performance by. . . . us. We talked about indigenous culture, sang classic campfire songs like land of the silver birch, square danced, and us five guys serenaded our program administrator Maria with the 'one semester of spanish, spanish love song.' You can find the love song on youtube.
Friday night we slept soundly in our new home in Sangolqui, waiting for Saturdays events. We had heard about 'los torros de sangolqui' but really had no idea what to expect. 'Torros' are bulls. Saturday morning we woke up and our host sister, Analea, took us to the 4 day bull festivals opening ceremonies - a two hour long parade of drunken cowboys from the surrounding ranches. You stand on the street as hundreds - a thousand maybe - cowboys ride by on their horses, making them do little tricks along the way. Everyonce in a while a cowboy would yell 'Viva Sangolqui!' ... to which the crowd would shout back 'Viva!!!' All the while, almost every cowboy is either sipping away at their flask, or accepting drinks from the spectators. By the end of the whole thing, cowboys are swaggering back and forth on their horses, hanging limp over the sides of them, or simply falling off them altogether. Despite the over drunkeness of it all, it was a very entertaining event.
After the parade, we passed the afternoon away at our family's hobby farm in the country, where they have one big hairy pig, chickens, hens, roosters, etc.. It was beautiful, and it was really nice to get off the beaten path a little bit, and out of the hustle and bustle of the cities.
Then came the moment we had been waiting for - time to go see the bulls. Our host dad drove us out to the stadium where the bulls would be runing for 4 days straight. As we got closer and closer, the density of traffic and people got thicker and thicker. We drove past occupied parking spots for a couple of kilometers as we got closer and closer. I thought our host dad must be crazy, if all the parking spots were taken this far away, how could he expect to get one any closer?? But, with confidence we drove within a couple hundred meters of the stadium, and parked in the tiniest space imaginable. Somebody was yelling at us as we did it, saying we couldn't park there, but Ruperto payed no attention. As we pushed, literally, pushed through the crowd, we saw the stadium for the first time. It was a makeshift, 3 story tall set off booths stacked on top of each other. The whole thing looked like it was built out of sticks. Wooden latters were the method of ascenion into the top booth, which was where we were headed. We climbed into the booth, which flexed with the weight of the some some 20 people occupying it. Every booth, on every level, surrounding the whole stadium, was packed full. It was incedible. Then we witnessed something which could hardly be described. A chaotic bull charging, mauling, flinging, and stomping those whome he could catch. Whoever wanted was allowed in the ring with the bull, and hundreds were down there risking their lives. I found a video of a similar festival. Click the link and watch it, it is almost exactly like what I witnessed, only where I was, the stands were higher, and more full. the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqalFZ3EXmE
It was a mixed feeling watching the bulls. It was the most entertained I have even been, ever.....ever. But, it was also pretty horrifying, 3 people died the day I was there. You are never quite sure who, but, you can usually narrow it down to the ones you saw carried out of the ring. The whole crowd, however, is having the time of their lives. Just watch the video, you will understand better.
Ok, moving beyond the bulls, school has been good, and soo has our family here. Antonio, the uncle, is an artizan who makes gold and silver jewelry by hand. I have spent a couple hours sitting in his shop and watching him. Its pretty amazing. Yesterday, he secretly made beth a silver ring, with 5 blue stones in it, and a matching pair of silver earings. He gave them to her today, they are really really nice. I watched him make them, not nowing they were for beth. If anyone wants some custum jewelry made, email me...
Last night, we went to quito with some friends. Adam, one friend, got free tickets from his host dad to a classical concert. So six of us went. It was really good, as the orchastra used only typical andean intruments, including wooden wind pipes. It was fantastic. Today, we are off to a wedding, and Beth is wearing her new jewelry. When are we going to have time to do our schoolwork? I guess we will have to stay up late.
I will add some photos soon, hopefully.
Ok,
Bye for now,
love matt (and beth)
Friday night the program through a banquet for all of us students to meet our new families with whom we will all be living with for the next four months. The banquet involved an amazing meal, as well as a performance by. . . . us. We talked about indigenous culture, sang classic campfire songs like land of the silver birch, square danced, and us five guys serenaded our program administrator Maria with the 'one semester of spanish, spanish love song.' You can find the love song on youtube.
Friday night we slept soundly in our new home in Sangolqui, waiting for Saturdays events. We had heard about 'los torros de sangolqui' but really had no idea what to expect. 'Torros' are bulls. Saturday morning we woke up and our host sister, Analea, took us to the 4 day bull festivals opening ceremonies - a two hour long parade of drunken cowboys from the surrounding ranches. You stand on the street as hundreds - a thousand maybe - cowboys ride by on their horses, making them do little tricks along the way. Everyonce in a while a cowboy would yell 'Viva Sangolqui!' ... to which the crowd would shout back 'Viva!!!' All the while, almost every cowboy is either sipping away at their flask, or accepting drinks from the spectators. By the end of the whole thing, cowboys are swaggering back and forth on their horses, hanging limp over the sides of them, or simply falling off them altogether. Despite the over drunkeness of it all, it was a very entertaining event.
After the parade, we passed the afternoon away at our family's hobby farm in the country, where they have one big hairy pig, chickens, hens, roosters, etc.. It was beautiful, and it was really nice to get off the beaten path a little bit, and out of the hustle and bustle of the cities.
Then came the moment we had been waiting for - time to go see the bulls. Our host dad drove us out to the stadium where the bulls would be runing for 4 days straight. As we got closer and closer, the density of traffic and people got thicker and thicker. We drove past occupied parking spots for a couple of kilometers as we got closer and closer. I thought our host dad must be crazy, if all the parking spots were taken this far away, how could he expect to get one any closer?? But, with confidence we drove within a couple hundred meters of the stadium, and parked in the tiniest space imaginable. Somebody was yelling at us as we did it, saying we couldn't park there, but Ruperto payed no attention. As we pushed, literally, pushed through the crowd, we saw the stadium for the first time. It was a makeshift, 3 story tall set off booths stacked on top of each other. The whole thing looked like it was built out of sticks. Wooden latters were the method of ascenion into the top booth, which was where we were headed. We climbed into the booth, which flexed with the weight of the some some 20 people occupying it. Every booth, on every level, surrounding the whole stadium, was packed full. It was incedible. Then we witnessed something which could hardly be described. A chaotic bull charging, mauling, flinging, and stomping those whome he could catch. Whoever wanted was allowed in the ring with the bull, and hundreds were down there risking their lives. I found a video of a similar festival. Click the link and watch it, it is almost exactly like what I witnessed, only where I was, the stands were higher, and more full. the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqalFZ3EXmE
It was a mixed feeling watching the bulls. It was the most entertained I have even been, ever.....ever. But, it was also pretty horrifying, 3 people died the day I was there. You are never quite sure who, but, you can usually narrow it down to the ones you saw carried out of the ring. The whole crowd, however, is having the time of their lives. Just watch the video, you will understand better.
Ok, moving beyond the bulls, school has been good, and soo has our family here. Antonio, the uncle, is an artizan who makes gold and silver jewelry by hand. I have spent a couple hours sitting in his shop and watching him. Its pretty amazing. Yesterday, he secretly made beth a silver ring, with 5 blue stones in it, and a matching pair of silver earings. He gave them to her today, they are really really nice. I watched him make them, not nowing they were for beth. If anyone wants some custum jewelry made, email me...
Last night, we went to quito with some friends. Adam, one friend, got free tickets from his host dad to a classical concert. So six of us went. It was really good, as the orchastra used only typical andean intruments, including wooden wind pipes. It was fantastic. Today, we are off to a wedding, and Beth is wearing her new jewelry. When are we going to have time to do our schoolwork? I guess we will have to stay up late.
I will add some photos soon, hopefully.
Ok,
Bye for now,
love matt (and beth)
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
A Dangerous View
Today was absolutely fantastic. I think that this first week in Quito is partly to get the tourist bug out of us before we head to sangolqui on friday - and it is a lot of fun. So, today's tourist fix was a short cab ride away in Quito Antiguo (Old Quito). Bethany, Emma, Erica and Myself took the 3 dollar cab over to Plaza Grande. From there we walked up and down the beautiful streets taking in the noise and architecture. 'Up and Down' is literal, as the streets were all steep. We were looking for the Monestario de Carmen Alto - an active convent where the nuns are only allowed to see each other for an hour every day, and then are required to be alone. They sell goods through a revolving window/shelf so they can sell there goods without actually seeing anybody. However 'Carmen Alto' which was supposed to be easy to find was on an obscure street and not well marked. We asked directions many times, and attempted to follow them well, but Carmen always eluded us. During our wonderings we came accross an old Catholic church in a square and decided to go in. It was under construction on the inside, which added to oppressive feelings I had when I entered. It was very dark, and very solomn. A ceiling in the entryway contained endless depictions of faces of children and saints. In the depictions it was interesting to see first hand the blending of catholisism and traditional incan/quechwan (not sure exactly) art religion. Saints were depicted along with the sun, and the Andes. The colors and lightling in the church were dark. At one point, I stood at a caged entryway to some sort of shrine to a saint. A women stood next to me holding a large white candle. We both stood staring through the bars into the dark, almost black room at the barely visible shrine. I thought she would light the candle as I had seen in the past, but after some meditation, she threw into to room, where it broke on the floor. Only then did I notice that it was only one of many broken candles strewn about the room. I am not sure why I am writing all this in such detail, it was just a very eary and unique experience for me.
After we were done their we decided to walk up a large hill to the Basillica Voto Nacional, one of the famous churches of quito with two large towers standing in its front (77 meters tall). Our little travel book told us that you could climb the towers, so we were determined to do so. We arrived there, and a wonderful man offered us a tour, and we gladly accepted. It was spectacular, and scary. Our travel book described it as a dangerous view of Quito, and we soon learned why. As we climbed the stairs we arrived at a balcony overlooking the main cathedral. It was beautiful, and not nearly as dark as the last one we had visited. we were around 25 meters high above the cathedral floor, and the railing we were leaning on swayed back and forth. The guide explained that that was because the whole building was designed to withstand earthquakes. We then took more stairs until we arrived at a level above the cathedral. A small plank-built bridge led us overtop the cathedral ceiling. Below us we could see the top of the curved cathedral ceiling. We climbed outside then, and then traverst outdoor latters/stairs along the outside of the lower tower (50 meters high). The latter was very precarious, and was very fun to climb. I am not afraid of hieghts, but this even gave me a slight vertigo. The view was amazing from that tower. We enjoyed it, and then decended back into the main building. We then climbed to the top of one of the 77 meter high main towers. Took latters up until we were standing on a rebar floor, and, by our guide's suggestion and constant encouragement, hung out through an opening of the roof of the tower over old quito and snapped some pretty awesome shots. It was really really fun! I was able to snap a great shot of the top of the tower, which was only a couple meters away from where I was hanging out of. Beth attempted the same stunt and we were very satisfied with our tour. Nothing like that would ever be even close to allowed in Canada. I could just see the lawsuits piling up!
The rest of the day was spent visiting a university here, and getting a lecture on ecuadorian politics, which was very interesting. However, I will spare you all the details, because I am pretty tired and need some sleep. So, bye for now, and high to everyone back home!
Love,
Matt.
After we were done their we decided to walk up a large hill to the Basillica Voto Nacional, one of the famous churches of quito with two large towers standing in its front (77 meters tall). Our little travel book told us that you could climb the towers, so we were determined to do so. We arrived there, and a wonderful man offered us a tour, and we gladly accepted. It was spectacular, and scary. Our travel book described it as a dangerous view of Quito, and we soon learned why. As we climbed the stairs we arrived at a balcony overlooking the main cathedral. It was beautiful, and not nearly as dark as the last one we had visited. we were around 25 meters high above the cathedral floor, and the railing we were leaning on swayed back and forth. The guide explained that that was because the whole building was designed to withstand earthquakes. We then took more stairs until we arrived at a level above the cathedral. A small plank-built bridge led us overtop the cathedral ceiling. Below us we could see the top of the curved cathedral ceiling. We climbed outside then, and then traverst outdoor latters/stairs along the outside of the lower tower (50 meters high). The latter was very precarious, and was very fun to climb. I am not afraid of hieghts, but this even gave me a slight vertigo. The view was amazing from that tower. We enjoyed it, and then decended back into the main building. We then climbed to the top of one of the 77 meter high main towers. Took latters up until we were standing on a rebar floor, and, by our guide's suggestion and constant encouragement, hung out through an opening of the roof of the tower over old quito and snapped some pretty awesome shots. It was really really fun! I was able to snap a great shot of the top of the tower, which was only a couple meters away from where I was hanging out of. Beth attempted the same stunt and we were very satisfied with our tour. Nothing like that would ever be even close to allowed in Canada. I could just see the lawsuits piling up!
The rest of the day was spent visiting a university here, and getting a lecture on ecuadorian politics, which was very interesting. However, I will spare you all the details, because I am pretty tired and need some sleep. So, bye for now, and high to everyone back home!
Love,
Matt.
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