3/28 to 4/7

well last sunday sunday marked the end of an almost perfect week in ecuador. i had an incredible time in the mountains. this is the thing i love about ecuador: in the same week-in the same day even-i can be sitting on a beach enjoying perfect sand an surf and then three hours away i can see the awsome andes mountains. everything becomes different when the ecosystem and climate change, the culture, the people, the language etc.. anyway i waited all friday for sonja and pepe to get off work. we where supposed to leave by one but that soon became five. our bus left with us on it at six. the bus trip took three hours and we had no scenery to look out because we left after dark. about an hour and forty minutes into the trip our bus ran out of freeway and we traveled on bumpy mountainous roads. we were headed for the small town of pallatanga but we were on a bus bound for a city past that place. we ended up stopping at a place for everyone to get something to eat. pepe told us that we were very close when we at this bus stop but once we asked someone at the resturaunt we found out that we were actually in the town itself. feeling pretty dumb we went into the center of pallatanga to find a hotel that one of pepes friends had recomended. the town was completely deserted at nine a clock at night; a total ghost town. we found one open resturaunt, ate there and just went to sleep; its incredible that we were all in bed by ten on a friday. the next day we woke up to the sounds of noisy village life. the town of pallatanga is a the center of life for so many people who live in the mountains around. people come into buy stuff, go to church, go to work etc.. i said earlier that the culture changes with the scenery. in pallatanga women wear boler hats and wrap themselves in colorful shalls. the faces of people look more incan. the spanish accent is less agresive and the people are so much more friendly. after breakfast the three of us treked up a road that was supposed to take us to a bunch of water falls. what happened was we followed a river for an hour and a half then we climbed into the surrounding mountains. i thought these mountains would be rock faced and there wouldnt be much vegitation. actually everything was green and exploding with life. as we climbed up and up would be greeted by farmers and families of farmers who spoke in thick quichua accents. we saw one water fall, it was really nice but the view from this water fall was even better. as soon as i can i will put up some pictures. we continued upward to one last mountain farm and then we decided that it was a good idea to turn around. we had no water left and the next village up was three hours by car. back in the village-which got busier- we were ravenous and dehydrated, luckily we got a big lunch at a friendly sierrano restaurant. we rested for a little while after that but when we woke up we realized that the village was having some type of festival. we went out for a little while to see this specticle and we determined that it was just a saturday night and people were having a good time. the next morning we were invited to go to a farm by a guy who lived in pallatanga on the weekends and guayaquil on the weekdays but we missed our invatation because we got a late start. at around miday we set out up the mountains again to enjoy a part of some raging river. we sat by the banks of this river and i realized that there was no human made object withing 360 degrees of my eyesight-i always love that feeling. i wanted to go to the mountains to breath some fresh air and clear my head, by sunday afternoon i had accomplished my mission. later sunday afternoon we had to get home. this was supposed to be easy because pallatanga is a junction town, busses stop there on their way riobamba. unfortunately every bus was really full and after waiting for an hour we took whatever bus we could find. the bus we got was indeed full and the three of us ended up standing for the duration of the three hour trip. when i got home i was exhasted but sunday night i got a good sleep, enough to start the week off on a good foot. monday was a normal day of visiting families in the balerio district. tuesday all the people from afs were supposed to meet to having "global education" which is where some dude talks about issues in ecuador. he didnt show up and then afs in guayaquil insited that there was never such an appointment. so the seven of us all went down town to go to an artisan market. it was pretty cool i got an andean bag. after the market we went to the mall and hung out there for a few hours. i went home midafternoon to help set up for the birthday party of my host cousin. after that we had a pretty mellow, low-key party and it was fun. wednesday was another boring day of work. after that i went home to sleep. thursday i went to work with families in the south. there i work with one boy tutoring math and the other (in a different family) just mentoring him. the boy who i teach math didnt show up. i found it really difficult to talk to the kid who i mentor but i enjoy the challenge all the same. at first he only gave me one worded answers but later when i took out my spanish atlas we got to talking about geography. at the end of the day we had ice cream and he then said more things to me than i did to him. thursday night i went to the gym for the first time. all i can say is that it feels good to be doing some form of exersice again. after that i went out with my friends to play pool. that was a good time but a little expencive but still cool. on friday i worked at the office a little bit but then four of us from the foundation went to recruit some new street kids. we went to a highway over pass next to a mall in the south. there we played soccer for a couple of hours. this was a little tricky. the overpass that we were under was surrounded by a constant stream of cars and buses. kids would kid the balls-by accident- into the streets and we would have to rush across the hissing and honking road to get the ball. it was also a humid 95 degrees out. it was a fun time and it was fun playing some soccer. one kid wanted to play but said he couldnt because he had to sell his packet of breath mints. pati and i said that we would try to help him by selling them for him while he played. this was impossible for me to do. i would have to ask people to buy them practically begging them. after half an hour we gave up i played goal for the next hour and a half. i guess thats another reason why i respect these kids; their job is next to impossible. later friday night pepe and i went to go meet some friends of his from belgium who are traveling from buenos aires to mexico city (that is really really far) by bus. we took the metrovia (its works like a subway system but its above ground and uses busses) which i like. it felt like i was taking a subway in any developed country. but then, when i wanted to get off the bus the doors started closing. pepe got off but i didnt, so i got off at the next stop and walked back to where pepe was. that pissed me off a little bit but it was a beautiful night in downtown guayaquil and i was intent on enjoying it. once we met the belgians we met up with my friends at a night club and hung out there until the wee hours of the morning. it was a good time and the people from belgium turned out to be really cool. saturday i spent resting and washing my cloths. sunday was going to be a day of epic adventures and it was. first thing we did was take the belgians to the parque historico which this place that is half zoo half historical park. the zoo part was interesting because it there were native ecuadorian animals in their native habitat-the park was built on a mangrove. then once you exit the jungle there is a reconstruction of what downtown guayaquil used to look like. appently there was some great fire that burned the place down back in the day and most of the buildings here where built withing the last forty years. the historical part was nice but i had to leave early to meet one of my friends to go to a soccer game. i went with my friend jose and his cousins to an emelc game. beforehand pepe had warned me to be careful because such an event can get out of hand. entering and buying tickets was just like any baseball game but with longer lines and more "police" with submachine guns. we went to our seats, which were actually just designated places to stand, and waited for the game to start. once the game started the 25,000 fans (all dressed like me, in a blue emelec jersey) started thundering away with chants, songs and some serious drums. it was like a dream, i loved it and i must go back again. i rooted for emelec the best i could but i didnt know any chants. some of them where really simple but others captured the heart of the blues. good stuff i hope to get some photos up of the game and other stuff but unfortunately my computer at home broke and now i have to go to internet cafes. ill keep you guys updated the best i can about the this week.
-mark