Una camina muy de la mañana...
I got up at about 5:45 and went for a walk around the countryside. There were so many wonderful sounds -- swallows, little brooks, tree frogs -- and then of course the sweeping landscape was overwhelming. It was a very enjoyable walk...time to slow everything down and meditate, concentrate on each breath, and take in the life around me. I wandered down the hillside, the grass was like a thick and wet sponge, and I meandered my way into a cornfield (the corn wasn't very high at all) and I was looking at a bull and two horses that were about twenty feet from me. Not to be alarmed though, the bull was tied to a pole and it seemed like he couldn't escape.
I began to hear a strange noise, though, and it sounded like a low growl of some kind of big cat. Last night, Jake (one of the members of my group and who is a biology major) warned me that there is a slight chance of a puma or cougar population up in the Andes, so I began to be considerably scared once I started hearing the noise. I got really scared and then jogged up the hill, about three times faster than the way I had come.
Once we had breakfast, we spent the day in Patate (a small town of about 13,000). We had an assignment from our group leaders Lewis and Ésteban to find out information about Patate by interviewing people on the street. Questions we asked were ones like -- "What is the most important industry of Patate?" "What do you think about the dollarization process?" "What is the most common last name in Patate?" "What do you think about president Rafael Correa?" etc. It was really cool to have some practice speaking spanish and meeting local people without the guise of formally being a part of a program. Some people just didn't want to talk, though, some were a little rude, but most people we talked to were really friendly.
Later on, after our survey, we loaded up on the bus and went to a town called Los Baños. Baños was much more touristy than Patate -- maybe twice as many people (or more) -- and we spent most of our time there walking around and taking in the sights. We had lunch in Baños and it was great -- a plate of rice, potatoes, meat, salad, a soup and a dessert all for two dollars! After we ate, we went to the natural hot springs that are located in the town. I didn't bring a swimsuit on this trip, so I guarded everyone's bags while they went swimming. I don't really like to swim outside too much -- I always sunburn easily and I hate wearing sunscreen -- so it didn't really bother me that I wasn't active in swimming or sitting in the hot springs. Other people in our group did some really cool stuff -- Shawn rode around the town on a rented bicycle, some people went and tried out some cuy (a very Ecaudoran dish that is basically fried guinea pig), and Nick bought a switchblade knife.
After we were done at Baños, we returned back to the hacienda. We got back sometime around six and people partied the night away or relaxed. I sat out on the hacienda porch that ran around the building sharing music on my iTunes and talking to some of the members of my group. A couple people offered me drinks but I declined -- I have decided that I am going to abstain from drinking alcohol during my time in Ecuador. Actually, it's larger than that -- I haven't had any alcohol for all of 2009. I am planning to go all year.
Calle Luis Cordero...
