3/7/12
-had my first 'unsupervised' weekend trip
-wandered the charming tourist town of Baños
-had one of the best veggie burger I've Ever eaten
-sat next to an Ecuadorian clone of Joseph Gordon Leveit on the most ridiculous bus I've ever seen. It had neon lights everywhere and played really loud club like music
-biked roughly 25 miles in the mountains- SO fun
- visited a huge water fall called puntal de Diablo
-visited the town of Shell- If you've seen the movie "The end of the spear" the missionaries are based out of this little town with an airstrip
-had my last program trip and it was hands down the best one
-saw the ash cloud from a volcanic eruption(was safely on a different mountain promise)
-stayed the night in a farmers house and was served an absolutely delious breakfast
-I finally broke my streak of perfect health here by throwing up said breakfast :P
-visited a school for young carpenters and saw how they make the solidarity economic model work
-brought my first book here (yes it's in English don't judge)
Food and dining
I realized that while I been in Quito for over 6 weeks (SO crazy), I haven't actually taken the time to discuss one of the most important activities in my day- Eating! According to one of my professors food is second only to family, as a favorite thing for Ecuadorians to talk about. So I'm not being snarky when I say they take food very seriously here. Though in my home there isn't a ton of variety in meals, all the food I've eaten here is of excellent quality. I begin each day with a large breakfast by US standards. There's an egg, a bread roll, instant coffee in warm milk and often, fresh juice. Most days my hostmom joins me for breakfast and I usually get to cook my own egg, which is a small thing, but it's really nice to have control over my food every now and then. I usually do the breakfast dishes by myself since Gemma needs time to put on her face haha. Lunch is the one meal where I am expected to completely fend for myself and there a few different options available to me- I can buy the fixings to make my own salad or sandwich in the school kitchen or go out to lunch at one of the little restaurants near school. The first of these choices is fun because there's lots of room to experiment and if I don't actually want to prepare something two rolls of bread filled with cheese are only 40 cents. Unfortunately when it comes to being economically minded it's really hard to turn down going out for lunch because for $1.50 you can get a TWO course meal- soup and a plate of rice, meat and veggies. Thus I tend to choose the second option, as it is more food for less work, but occasionally I create exciting experimental mango, onion and avocado salads. For supper my host mom and I eat the same meal that my sisters have for lunch, so it's more soup and rice with meat and a salad of some sort. I've prepared my own supper a few times out of necessity, but most days Gemma prefers to do it herself. My sisters only join my hostmom and I about half the time for dinner, depending on how late they eat lunch, and how early we eat. Now for my favorite part of eating here, the deserts!!! I've had so many great pastries, including chimboyaso (spelled that how it sounds...), which is basically orange flavored corn bread/cake wrapped in a cornhusk. These are sent via my host cousin from my host grandma, who lives 3 hrs away, for the whole family to enjoy. There is also a bakery near school that makes this fantastic creation that involves a wonderful creamy caramel spread sandwiched between two cookies that are covered in powdered sugar and coconut. But the Very Best thing I have eaten here is, hands down, the frozen chocolate covered bananas that cost 10 CENTS. While of the subject of food I'd like to proudly say that I made chocolate chip cookies at 9000 ft the other day, which was a blast and they even turned out to be quite delicious.
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