How we Eat

Now that we're no longer feeding off the hostel breakfast and going out to eat as a way of checking out our surroundings, this is how we eat:

Breakfast
At a restaurant, hostel, and supposedly at home, the typical Ecuadorian breakfast is as follows:
Tea/Coffee
Juice
Several pieces of bread w/butter and marmalade

If you want more than that, you'll probably be ordering the Desayuno Americano, American Breakfast. It usually comes with eggs and meat.

We eat breakfast at home since it's cheaper and have a variation of the Ecuadorian breakfast.
Tea/coffee
Bread w/butter/marmalade/honey
& a piece of fruit. Usually banana or mango

Lunch
Lunch is the best. It is the biggest meal of the day for most Ecuadorians, and we read that most people go out for lunch since it's the cheapest way to get it. We always go out for lunch ourselves.

Our main spots serve lunch for 1.50 - but for a nicer dining area, and slightly better flavor you might pay as much as 2.50.

Lunch usually comes with an appetizer, popcorn, dried platanos (big, starchy bananas), and spicy, watery salsa.

It always includes hot soup (we don't go when places serve cold soup which is called ceviche). The soup is either split pea, random vegetables, or potato onion. Sometimes there is chicken or pork skin in it. Bert says it's good, and I spoon mine over to his bowl.

The main course is always a serving of rice, various protein (fish, chicken, spiced beef in sauce), and some kind of vegetable. The vegetable is either beets and carrots, lettuce and onion, or some variety of beans.

Lunch also comes with a glass of juice. The juice might be cantaloupe, watermelon, banana, pineapple, fruit punch with fruit pieces in it, naranjillo (which is a sour type of orange, and makes better juice than anything I've ever had), along with several other varieties that we have yet to identify.

Dinner

Most Ecuadorians eat dinner late, 8 or 9 pm is not uncommon. Unless we're craving pizza, we eat dinner at home. Going to the local market, we get two days worth of dinner vegetables for about 1.50. So it's either pizza bread (yes, we have a pizza problem), tuna melt, or rice and whatever we have - veggies, beans, cheese, and/or fish - all of it spiced with the hottest hot sauce we know of.

New Job

Job
Due some delays in our first job, (now we have to wait until mid-Feb to start, ug), we're seeking supplementary employment. The first school we went to hired me, since my degree is somewhat relevant, but not B. After he gets some experience through teaching at another school, they may be able to contract him out as well. That would be ideal, since the pay is on the high end for teachers here. They have extended free Spanish lessons to both of us, which we have decided to accept.

I will be working primarily with executives, to improve both business and casual conversation skills. I got to meet my first client shortly after I was hired. He works in the marketing and finance sector for a Galapagos Tourist cruiser. I'm stoked to get to know highly educated, professional Ecuadorians. --Definitely open to learning from their experience - and think that acquiring knowledge about finance and business could be very useful. My workplace will be providing term and info sheets for me to study, which is awesome.

Social Class
Unfortunately, clothes are very important here. There is a stronger class system than in the States. For example - if you are dressed casually, people in suits are unlikely to move aside for you on the sidewalk. We've also noticed nicely dressed people being quite curt and demanding with waiters. No one seems to be bothered or surprised by this.

Since my clients have important positions, my boss says I need to dress to their level in order to be respected and taken seriously. I know that this is often true in The States as well, but don't think that it would typically come into play if one was working as a personal tutor. Aside from my interview outfit, the wardrobe I brought only varies from t-shirt color to t-shirt color, and my shoes are of the hiking variety; I have some shopping to do, which is a bummer since I'd like to get paid first. "Usted sabe donde puedo comprar ropa barato y profesional?" "Do you know where I can buy inexpensive and professional clothing? "

More Ilinizas Photos!

So-uh, I took a lot of photos. This hike was incredible - definitely one of those 'I don't have words for this' experiences - all of it humbling and magnificent. As I was taking photos I became a broken record, repeating: "I can't capture this". And, you just can't. At any rate, here are some attempts.



At the top of the vertical photo above, the white is glacier. At the bottom, Bert.
The horizontal photo above is Cotopaxi, volcano.

The above mountain is 'Corazon', which translates to 'Heart'.

Horizontal photo on the right - the two peaks are Iliniza South, Iliniza North.


Above is our buddy and neighbor Daryl.

Los Ilinizas

About an hour on a bus south of Quito, there are two mountains called Ilinizas, two peaks of the same mountain really, north, and south. We set out to climb Ilinizas north, or norte, since it can be climbed with little experience and a guide is optional (we opted not to have one). The Ilinizas mountains used to be one big mountain, but has since imploded on itself...

The plan was to climb to the "refuge", which turned out to be a shack with no electricity or a fire, just a propane stove and a perpetually boiling vat of water (a lifesaver!), spend the night in the shack, get up at 4 or 5, and do the summit the next day... as fate would have it, one of our climbing partners got sick that night, so we decided not to summit. We did make it above 15,000 feet though.

Otavalo

We decided to go to Otavalo for the weekend.

Se Vende = For Sale

The town is mostly made up of indigenous people, and is in the Imbabura province, about 95 km NE of Quito. It's known for it's fabulous Saturday market; and since we might have to work most Saturdays, it seemed an appropriate first excursion
.

The People, The Market
The people were generally 4 to 5 feet tall, with younger people being taller. Maybe the altitude caused that? Less oxygen might favor littler bodies. The market was extensive, too big for us to walk all of it, especially considering the high risk of sensory overload.

Autobús
We had a pretty easy time with buses, but the fare was inconsistent. On the way there, it was 4.60 from the station, and on the way back it was 2.00 from the station. We had to make a pit-stop part way coming home, and the next bus we flagged down took us to Quito for .25. Many people caught the bus from the side of the road, and since they run fairly frequently, that is a pretty efficient way of doing it. Our first two buses had movies playing, and the last television seemed to be out of order. Comfortable seats, too(but the later you board, the more likely that you will have to stand).
Hotel/Hostel
We stayed at two different places, the first a hotel. The second a hostel. We had our first non-electric shower. The water pressure and temperature was consistent, which was something new for us. The second place was pretty fancy(albeit inexpensive), with a beautiful garden and hammocks throughout the courtyard.

Chicken Foot Soup
Chicken foot soup is considered a delicacy, I gave mine to Bert anyway. Clearly, it tried to escape his clutches by heaving itself out of the bowl... but was too slow.



Parade
We managed to catch a parade while we were there. It literally began with the paraders pouring out of one of the church doors. Bert uploaded a video he took of the parade here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbYPT33svUc

This guy was walking around growling at people, one scary clown!










Cheap Food!
This meal cost us 2.60, and came with a 12 ounce soda.







Fin.

Dog Attack

While we were visiting El Panecillo, this family was at a grassy site near the base of the statue. Bert caught a video of a pack of dogs coming up the ridge, and ... you can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/user/bingeebob#p/a/u/0/t3JfuAvQsig

El Panecillo

El Panecillo: A great place to get a view of the city.

The name refers to the volcanic hill itself, which is 9,842 feet above sea level, so the air is a bit sparse. The statue atop El Panecillo is of the Virgin of Quito, she is 656 feet tall. Bert says that according to local lore, she is the only virgin in Quito...

At least one historian claims that the Incas used to worship the sun on the same hill, until the conquistadors came along and destroyed the temple.
Something old, something new.

Taking a Taxi to the top is recommended, in order to avoid thieves.
Fin.