Mas fotos- 2nd full day in Quito

Hola again from down South,

Day 2 proved to be just as exciting as day 1, even though they seem to have a different definition of descansar than I had in mind... I got to sleep in until 9:30 or so, but then I kind of felt bad because it seems as if their entire lives revolve around me. And sure enough, when I finally made it out of my room at 10 and kissed Lolita buenos dias, she promptly asked me what I wanted for breakfast. Guys, this is the life. Except no, that's not true. The FIRST thing she did was look down at my stocking feet and ask "donde esta tu sandales??" Aye aye aye. For some reason (I think it goes along with the mindset that nothing has ever been colder than 55 degrees) it's like committing a mortal sin when you walk around the house with no shoes or sandales and they had to loan me some so that I could avoid such debauchery. But alas, old habits die hard, not wearing shoes in the house being one of them. I'm learning that, at least in my house, there are quite a lot of rules that seem pretty silly to me and if I was at home, I wouldn't follow them. But here I am. A good deal of them are to keep me safe, I know that and appreciate it, but then there are some like I have to push my zappatos all the way under my bed so my amigas won't trip on them when they come over and I can't take a shower at night because I will catch la gripa. Hmmm, been doin it for a lot of years now folks and I'm still happy and healthy. But whatever, that just means that now I have to wake up at 7:30 instead of 8 because apparently I have to shower before I eat breakfast.

ANYWAY, tangent, sorry. Back to the rest of today. Manuel, Lolita y yo ate breakfast and then Javi (yeah, that's it), Mati y Christian came down because apparently we had big plans for the day, which I think Manuel had told me about but I always tend to understand more after I do it and can then look back and say "ohhh so THAT'S what he said". Not SUPER helpful, but keeps me on my toes. So we were in the middle of another such conversation where all I know is that I need sunscreen and my camera and then all of a sudden "vamos!". Everyone else is dressed and ready, but I am still in my PJs and clearly not ready to vamos. SO I RUN into my room, change, grab stuff I think I will need based on what I understood of the conversation and run out the door where they're all sitting, waiting for me. Geez.

We all pile into the truck (including 6 month old Christian because apparently no one uses car seats here) and head off to some unknown (to me) destination. It's only when we finally arrive that I realize we are at the actual equator. So cool! I was at the middle of the earth today. Nbd.
The whole place is one big cultural/ historical celebration. There was traditional dancing and music, which is where the inspiration for Paul Simon's "El Condor Pasa" came from. Lolita and I paid $3 to go inside that big monument behind me and went up to the top where again, there were 360 degree views of Quito. Then on the way down there are like 8 floors all filled with artifacts and history about each of the different parts of Ecuador. So, about this: I thought we were just going to go up to the top and look around, I didn't even know there was this museum aspect. It was super cool and Lolita acted as my tour guide because apparently she knows everything about everything. But what this meant for me was that for an hour straight she spoke rapid Spanish about the history and culture of Ecuador and I said "ahhh si" about 5 billion times. I probably understood about 30% of what she was saying. Dios mio!!! I've never been more ready for a nap than after that one hour.
This is baby Christian dancing to the flouta.
Then we went to a parque that is pretty close to my house. It was really really incredibly beautiful with tons of Eucalyptus trees, play grounds and apparently miles and miles and miles of trails (and, of course, 360 degree views of Quito, because I mean, why not?). It was nice, Manuel and I walked around and he explained a lot of stuff to me that I actually understood. It wasn't until I got home and googled the park that I found out that it's actually one of the biggest natural parks in Latin America (some sources say it's the biggest) at 600 hectares. Now, to be honest, I don't really know exactly how big a hectare is, but judging by the size of this park, it's freaking massive.
I actually have quite a few pictures of me from today because my family discovered how fun it is to take pictures on my camera so they, especially Javi y Manuel were constantly asking if I wanted my picture taken. The result is a bunch of awkward pictures of me by myself in front of whatever it was we were by when they asked to take the picture. It is cool though because they don't have a camera and Javi was telling me that he's excited to get to see pictures of the baby for the next 6 months :) And they were way into seeing the pictures on my computer and also asked to see pictures of my family. It was really cute.

A couple more things, even though I know this is quite long already (so much for me not blogging, huh). The food: Lolita cooks three meals a day. Mostly meals consist of soup with potatoes or yucca and vegetables and chicken. I think that usually they eat more pork and beef, but on the first night I was here they were grilling me with questions and eventually deduced that I prefer chicken so we've had it for almost every meal now. We also have bread and eggs and lots of yummy natural, homemade fruit juice and rice, of course. They are simple but satisfying. We are always comparing the fruits and veggies that they have here with what we have in the US and normally I find myself saying "yeah, we have that too, but it's bigger" to which she responds "ahhh porque de las quimicas." They take great pride in their organic (but they don't call it that, just naturales) and cheap produce, which is something I sure could get used to. One thing that they do eat are "cuyos" or, yep, guinea pigs.
We saw this little guy roasting on a stake at the equator and all I could say was "ohhhhhhhh pobre cuyo" which they though was hilarious. It's really quite gross to look at though and they'd probably have to trick me and hide it in some delicious sopa for me to eat it, but even then... pobre cuyo. I also tried to my host aunt what a ferret was the other day, to no avail. It's probably for the best...

At dinner the past two nights we've had conversations about our respective presidents, immigration, drug trafficking, racism, travel and some other stuff. It was pretty cool, but also made me realize how much more I need to learn. So that's what I plan to do with the rest of my evening: lay in bed and spend some time with my 501 Spanish Verb book. My little Spanish dictionary (thanks, Mom) that I've been carrying around has been my Bible for the past couple days and is actually really helpful for both parties involved. But school starts tomorrow and I'm ready for a) some interaction with other people besides my family (I spoke no English today. Zero. Except for a few words to the baby because they want me to speak to him in English haha) and b) working a lot more on my Spanish. I will eventually post more photos on my flickr. Here's the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtsenecal/ but there aren't more Ecuador pics yet.

Well, buenos noches!! Te amo!