I feel like I have so much to tell you all of my early adventures here in Quito! I have now spent only 3 days in Quito and have already been introduced to many Ecuadorian cultures and seen many parts of the city. My first few days have been overwhelming and fun at the same time. It is super exhausting to have to be speaking Spanish all of the time. On Friday, my first night in my host family’s house, I went to bed relieved that I could finally stop speaking Spanish, but kind of pissed that I had to get up the next day and do it again. Luckily, my host sister speaks some English, so she helps me when I am struggling for words or don’t understand something. I can already tell that I am getting better at understanding and speaking, but it is definitely going to be some hard work!
My host family is great and they basically spent the whole weekend introducing me to Quito and including me in their family outings. On Friday, my host mom, sister, and aunt took me to a casino, which I was not really a fan of. On Saturday, my host mom (Marcia) cooked a big lunch in honor of her son Rodrigo’s birthday. Rodrigo is a lawyer and has the most precious one year-old son named Juan Martin, which I love. Marcia made us ceviche, meat, potatoes, and salad, all of which was freaking delicious. I am pretty sure that I am going to gain a few pounds while I am here. Marcia and her husband Rodrigo also have two other children, Diego and Diana. Diego also has a little son named Mateo, and Mateo is here quite a bit. Right now, only Marcia, Diana, and I live in the house because Rodrigo works in Cuenca as a civil engineer(he comes home on the weekends). Diana is also 23, which is fun for me because she has already begun to take me places with her friends. On Saturday night, we went to a baby shower for one of her friends, which was interesting for me. Girls all act the same, no matter their language or country J .
On Sunday, we went on a little drive out of the city to look at places for Diana to get married. My host sister is getting married in November to a man named Andres, but he lives in Colombia which makes it hard for Diana to make wedding plans. Anyway, we went to these really neat places near a city called Miravalle. Also something that I learned is that women everywhere want the perfect wedding, and while other things are quite cheap here, weddings are not one of them. She wants the most beautiful location with the most extravagant and original decorations, as most brides do. Her Papi, however, does not think these are necessary. It was pretty funny to watch him bug her about every little detail. For some reason, he has latched onto the idea of having Pina Coladas and empanadas at the reception, an idea that Diana hates. She wants to have an elegant affair, not one of “comida tipica”. She also wants live butterflies to come out of boxes instead of a showering of rice when the couple exit the church, a pretty cool idea I think. This is turning out to be quite the problem because apparently every Latin American country has butterflies available for purchase except Ecuador. Also, I have learned that Ecuadorians have two weddings: a civil wedding and a church wedding. I don’t really know what a civil wedding entails, but I am sure I will find out. Another interesting tradition is that there is an hour called “La Hora Loca” in which all of the guests dress up in Mardi Gras-like attire and dance around. Again, I am not exactly sure what this is, but the video I watched was a little weird.
On Sunday we also visited the Historic District of Quito, which was absolutely stunning. There are a ton of gorgeous churches and old buildings that have been maintained. We get to go back to “El Centro” on Friday for school, but it was fun to have a little introduction and to spend time with my new little family. As you can see, I had a busy weekend and I am a very tired gal. I will update you with more adventures soon! I love you all and miss you all! Mil Besos.
-KNel
