4.9.08

FTJ: 30-8-08

I woke up at eight, of course, and ate breakfast with Anita. I love the breakfast here. I have a cup of cocoa and a glass of juice from a new and interesting fruit every day. In addition, there's rice, fried with an egg until it sticks together like a rice pankake, or an egg sunny-side up over rice, and bread. It's very delicious.

After breakfast, Anita and I went to the bus station and met up with the other foreign exchange kids. We took a bus to Otavalo in order to go to the gigantic market there. The buses here are very comfortable. They're like the buses of private companies, like tour buses, that cost a lot in the US.

The Otavalo market is very big, much larger than the one in Ibarra, and they sell the "artesanĂ­as" there. (NOTE: ArtesanĂ­as translates to "arts and crafts," or so my Spanish teacher told me. But that doesn't really explain them. They're the traditional works of art of the Indigenous population there, but they are made to be sold. They're handmade, but mass produced. It's weird.) The first thing I saw was the tableclothes, many people selling them. I had to learn very quickly how to say "No!" to the sellers, because there's always someone trying to earn your money in the Otavalo market. I saw many things that I wanted but nothing I needed. There were turtles made of wood and crystal, and very detailed chess boards of the Indians versus the Conquistadors, and many fabrics. I didn't buy any fabric, but I'll return to buy some things for my mom. (NOTE: You hear that, Mom? I love you! Yeah, I know you guys gave me the money, but still.)

It was very fun talking with the other exchange students. The guy from Germany, Johanes, is very funny. There first thing he said to me and the other guy was, "So, fellas, how's it going with the ladies?" Plus he sounds like Arnold Schwartzenegger. Johanes likes Ecuador a lot, because the girls pay him a lot of attention because he's a foreigner. The other guy from Germany, Hannes, had long hair, but cut it because long hair isn't allowed in schools. I hope I don't have to cut my hair too.

Now, in Otavalo there's a festical and they sell a meal called Chicha y Yamor, and we ate it for lunch. It was very tasty, but I was the only person who like the Chicha, the drink made out of seven types of corn, no the five I had thought before.

Finally, I bought an alpaca sweater, with the picture of an alpaca on the front, for twelve dollars. The price was eighteen, but Anita helped me out. I don't buy much in shops, except in the first video store, where I bought two seasons of the X-Files and some movies for $23.50. I never have money, and when I do, I am always very cautious.

It seems to me like the other AFS kids are enjoying Ecuador. I am. I want to stay with Anita, and go to school, and climb mountains. I am DREAMING NEW DREAMS.

295 more days.

Seriously, this mountain thing is big. One of my teachers asked today what we would do if today were our last day on Earth, and I immediately thought, "CLIMB A MOUNTAIN." I mean, I really want to.

So, more tomorrow. With some pictures. There are two little posts below this one, if you missed them, so check those out too. I love you guys.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey Jacob. Rock climbing is really fun but if you do face climbing make sure you are very, very careful. Afterall, nobody likes a dead Jacob. About the english-spanish thing, whenever I have conflicting language thoughts I punish myself by forcibly thinking in spanish for a certain amount of time even though when I start to speak in spanish it annoys the @#$% out of my mother.

Miss You,
M.