La Vida Gringa

I'll have to start with an apology to my faithful (or not so faithful) readers for my delinquency. I've really fallen off on the blogging front, and I'll have to honestly say that there isn't probably an improvement on the way so I guess you'll just have to bear with me.

I've been living La Vida Gringa all over Ecuador lately. Lisa, one of my oldest friends, came to visit a week ago and we made it our business to see as much of Ecuador as possible, which unfortunately involved twenty hours on buses in six days. Our first stop was Canoa. Lisa was the planner of the trip and I was more or less just along for translation so I didn't really know what to expect in Canoa but it blew me away. Picture an almost empty white sand beach flanked on either side by cliffs. Throw in gorgeous surfers wandering the unpaved sand streets and a hostel with great ambiance and you've got Canoa.

After a night bus to and from Canoa we relaxed in Quito for a mere day before heading to Baños (of course) so that Lisa could fulfill her adventuresome spirit with a bit of ziplining. And then we headed back to Quito so Lisa could catch a plane home. A bit of a whirlwind trip to say the least.

Since Lisa has left I've been trying to get back into the swing of things. It's a bit more difficult than it sounds since at this point I only have three more weeks of normal life to get back into the swing of. I'm preparing finals for my English students and arranging final visits to refugees and trying to plan my travels for July all at the same time. And of course starting to prepare in earnest for Wash U in August. As a result I find that my head is never really 100% anywhere which can be exhausting.

Some highlights though... last night I went with some of my housemates to Traditional Folkloric Ballet that happens every Friday in the centro historico. I've been meaning to go for months and it was definitely worth the time. For about an hour indigenous Ecuadorians dance and play music, all for free. Keep an eye out for videos on facebook. At the advice of my guidebook, today I went to find the Guapúlo neighborhood. After some wrong turns and backtracking, I stumbled across it. I immediately felt as if I was no longer in Quito but rather in some small Andean town. The neighborhood is built on a steep hill behind a main street but feels a million miles away. Steep cobblestone streets run through the neighborhood, all more or less leading to or away from la Iglesia de Guapúlo, which dominates the neighborhood. Although I was fairly certain that I might die walking back up the hill, it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

And so continues la vida gringa, for about three more weeks until I take off on a month of traveling. Just for reference, if you're DC folk you can expect a visit from met between July 29 and August 9, and if you're Kansas folk you can expect me between August 9 and 16... and if you're Wash U folk you can expect to meet a very exhausted me on August 16, just barely in time for orientation.