Photos of Cuyes

2nd consecutive post on sports...

Greetings, earthlings. It's been a while since I posted, and well, you know what they say, "If you don't use it, you lose it." And, well......

First off, and this is not just because I live in a socialist country now, I hate the Winter Olympics. And I couldn't care less about hockey, either. I'm sorry if that makes me a bad person. The only event I watched (not by choice) was the gold medal curling match. And it was terrible. But, back to hockey. It is unwatchable. It's like if soccer were played underwater and you couldn't ever see the ball. What's the point. And most of the other events are all variations on one theme: There's a mountain and you see who can go down it the fastest. Luge, skeleton, bobsled, slalom, downhill. It's all the same look. The Winter Olympics is the Derek Zoolander of sporting events.

Sure, the Summer Olympics has a lot of the same stuff too, but there is a lot more variation. Plus it's exciting. There's basketball, boxing, Eastern European women(possibly) lifting cars, or something. If the Winter Olympics put the pommel horse on the side of a mountain and said, "Okay Nadia, lets see what you're made of", than perhaps they would grab my attention. Or they could draw up a basketball court on a frozen lake. That would really be the Winter Olympics' Magnum.

I finally had my first taste of cuy (pictures to come). I thought it was pretty good, as far as deep fried rodents go. Roasted is up next. Gotta try 'em all. Once you pop the fun don't stop. When pizza's on a bagel.... Oh yeah, Doritos time! Gotta crunch it 'cuz it's good.

That's all, off to bed and a 5:30 alarm.

-Ryan

Just Life

Just a couple of things we've been doing lately...

1. We both have pretty full class schedules. One of my classes might be canceled and Ryan needs one more but we still work a lot. Every day we're up at 5:30 for class at 7. Then about 3-4 nights a week we have class till 7pm. They're long days but it's nice to be able to work, come home, work, play tennis, work, eat dinner, etc.

2. We're taking Spanish classes everyday now. 1 hour/day. Tuesday and Friday at inlingua and Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday with Jhon. Jhon is our boss at inlingua, Danni's, fiance. He's studying to be a Spanish teacher. Classes at inlingua focus on grammar and move really slow. Classes with Jhon focus on conversation and move really quickly.

3. We've been playing tennis. We finally figured out how the courts work. There are about 10 courts in the parque by our house, La Carolina. You have to reserve a court before you just hop on it. It's fun and we're thinking about taking lessons.

4. We're cooking... A LOT. Almost everynight we cook a big meal and then have it for lunch the next few days. It's fun and we're enjoying it. The only problem is by the time we're done just about every dish in the kitchen is dirty and I hate doing dishes. But, I'm learning to like it.

5. I'm looking for someplace to volunteer. Maybe an orphanage or a day care. I'd like to be around kids but I'm not sure I could handle an orphanage. I think I'd want to take all of the babies home with me. And, well, we can't afford that. So I'm still looking. The problem is there aren't many things on the internet that are actually local in Quito. Most places that have a website are international companies. So when I google "orphanages in quito" or "volunteer in quito" there are all of these websites for gap years where you have to pay to volunteer. I'm going to ask Jhon about it tomorrow in spanish class.

That's all. Just wanted to give everyone a little update. Tonight we're going for sushi with Maria Jose and Casey. We're really excited! Then this weekend, on Friday we're going out for a drink or two with some of the other teachers. Saturday, I think we're going to Peguche waterfalls with another teacher and her Quiteno boyfriend. And Sunday we might go to the Leagua soccer game (supposedly it'll be a good one).

We'll it's my turn to do the dishes today.

MULUB,
Taylor

Are you ready for some football!

Today we went to our first football game here in Ecuador. It was actually a lot like an American sporting event. Except that we bought our tickets on the street. For sixteen dollars. Oh, and we bought our jerseys on the street too, five dollars each. The guy told me the were officially licensed merchandise and I have no reason not to believe him. He said it's supposed to give you a rash. That's how you know it's authentic.

We had general admission tickets, so we just went in and found an open seat. The game started right on time, unlike just about everything else. People walked around the seats selling refreshments, like beer, popsicles, cigarettes (sold by a five year old). At halftime we ate traditional stadium fare; fried chicken with rice, fries, lettuce and some purple stuff. The halftime show was a big inflatable milk carton in the middle of the pitch. It lacked some of the panache of American halftimes. Football games in Ecuador are a family affair, even if most members of the family are still breast-feeding. Some of the babies there were so young, as though they just recently fell out, crying because the stadium feels nothing like the womb.

The team that we decided to like, Barcelona, didn't win, they drew. So the Barcelona fans threw their empty bottles at the ref as he left the pitch. That'll teach him to be an idiot.

-Ryan

All Things F/Good

So dinner was AMAZING! If anyone is ever looking for a great place to eat for a special occasion in Quito, Zazu is the place! The food was decently priced and the wine list was sooo extensive. You can check out the menu at www.zazuquito.com. Don't miss the pictures too! There's a really cool one of the wine cellar.

The place was definitely trendy, but Ryan and I were dressed the part. I wore that fancy dress I bought for Rob and Cherice's wedding last summer. By my calculations, now that I've worn it three times I can justify what I paid for it! Ryan wore a black suite with a Ben Sherman shirt and tie. I even wore makeup for the first time since we've been here! The First and Second Pictures.

It was one of those really slow dinners, intentionally slow not poor service slow. The kind where you order one course and then another instead of everything all at once. The kind of meal where the food is the real star but the conversation is so great that you keep ordering more and more and more. All in all, it was the perfect evening! But without further ado, lets talk about the star of the evening... the food!

We'll we started with two appetizers and a bottle of Chardonnay (don't worry the Chardonnay lasted longer than the appetizers). I ordered the beef carpaccio and it was heavenly. First of all, we haven't had any beef (besides ground beef and you know how I feel about ground beef) since we've gotten here, with the exception of a hamburger (think fresh McDonald's quality not T's quality). So the idea of delicious, top grade raw beef was extremely enticing. To put me over the moon though, as if the raw beef didn't do it, they rolled the carpaccio around goat cheese and sauteed mushrooms... what? Ok, you know I'm not a huge mushroom fan but these mushrooms were chopped finely enough that they didn't overpower the goat cheese texture. Anyways, we knew we were in for a good meal once the carpaccio came out.

Ryan ordered the duck raviolis as an appetizer. Now, Ryan is a huge duck fan but we were slightly disappointed with the raviolis. Duck has such an intense flavor that these raviolis were missing. There wasn't any of that warm, earthy taste and the homemade raviolis could have used a few more minutes in the boiling hot water to soften them up a bit more. But oh well, the carpaccio made up for the flawed raviolis.

Then we realized we should probably take pictures of the meal so that everyone could see what we were eating.

We ordered the ceviche mixto next (see the third picture). OH MY WORD! The last time I had good seafood was in Chicago at Tapas Las Ramblas with all of the girls before Jess left for that one place she briefly moved to. Anyways, the beach is about an hour away, which makes the ocean about an hour away, which makes fresh delicious seafood highly available in Quito. DUH! Why didn't we realize this sooner? Why have I been ordering so much chicken everywhere? This ceviche. was. to. die. for. Yes, the sole was so fresh, the octopus so perfect, and I can't even remember what else constituted the 'mixto'. But what I can remember is the sauce. Oooooh, that sauce. Lemony fresh with just the right amount of acidity, and the cilantro, ah the cilantro. So perfect, so amazing, so energizing, so clean and fresh. Whatever you do, get the ceviche.

Then, as if we hadn't eaten more with the appetizers and the ceviche than we'd eaten at any other meal since we've been gone, we ordered our entrees. Now, don't get me wrong, the carpaccio was amazing, but it didn't quite quench my desire for beef. So, with the prompting of the waiter, I ordered the Uruguayan steak (see the fourth photo). I tried to switch the potato gratin for potato gnocchi but said waiter advised I shouldn't. So I went with his suggestion and HOLY COW (Uruguayan cow that is). I was not disappointed. The steak was perfectly medium rare, seasoned with aji amarillo. Before the meal, we thought aji only came in one color... red. We were wrong. Aji apparently comes in all different colors and, by golly, the red is probably the worst. Which is saying something because we LOVE the aji rosa and use it in everything. This aji amarillo gave the steak heat, but not cheap mexican food heat, it gave it that subtle heat that is more flavor than spice. You know, that 'I've been marinating in something oh so right for oh so long to make the flavor seem more apart of the meat than on top of the meat.' It gave it that kind of heat. And the potato gratin, well the waiter was right. It was delicious. The caramelized onions were shoestring thing and the tomatoes were a nice cross between grilled and confit. I'm not sure how they did it, but I could eat tomatoes like that every day.

Ryan had stone crab stuffed tiger prawns. I can't really describe them because he only gave me one intsy teensy bite. I guess that's description enough. (See photo 5)

Somewhere in there we ordered champagne and then dessert.

My all time favorite dessert in Creme Brule. I don't like a lot of chocolate; I don't like heavy desserts; I don't like a lot of fuss. Creme Brule is perfect because you've got the creamy texture of the creme contrasted by the brittle texture of the fire-glazed sugar. Its satisfying without being to heavy. And it comes with fruit... at least there's something healthy about it. I don't like flavored Brules, I don't like fancy fruit with it. Just give me a well made, not runny, vanilla creme brule with a couple berries and I'm a very happy girl.

Well, Zazu had no creme brule on the menu. Go figure. The next closest thing was Pana Cotta. Now, I've never had Pana Cota. I've heard of it and know generally what I would expect to get in front of me where I ever to order it. But I haven't because I've always been too busy ordering Creme Brule. This pana cota rocked my world to the core of dessert choices. It was that good. Light, creamy, a lot like brule but just a little different and still served with berries. YES PLEASE. (See photo 6)

Ryan ordered some chocolate trio. If you've read all of this you know my feeling about his dessert. But there was a chocolate espresso brownie of sort that was slightly redeeming. (See photo 7)

After two and a half hours of eating and talking and drinking, we were exhausted and sooo full. But not too tired for one last picture outside of Zazu after a fantastic evening. (See photo 8).

Valentine's Day a Week Late

So tonight we're going out to celebrate Valentine's Day because on the actual Valentine's Day Ryan was sick in bed (reference the picture below). Tonight we'll be going to one of the best restaurants in Quito, courtesy of my father, as we could not afford it on my $0.07 pay check.

Anyways, the menu looks great and it's been reviewed by the New York Times. This restaurant may be, in fact, the only thing in Quito EVER reviewed by the New York Times. But we'll see... I often get my hopes up for these great, swanky restaurants only to feel very uncool in the crowd and disappointed by the food. If there's one thing I can't stand its a restaurant that tries too hard.

Recently I've started to miss some of the things from home. I saw that Katie joined the facebook group for Chicago Festivals 2010 and it made me nostalgic. Even though I worked too much last summer to enjoy most of the festivals, it's nice knowing they're going on and that they're available to anyone who wants to grab some beer and greasy street food and sit on the sidewalk listening to local music. Ahhh... Chicago.

I also miss, Dad just keep your mouth shut, a good Gin and Tonic made by a bartender for under $5. Maybe I'll have one tonight, although I'm sure it will be much more than $5.

I miss Trader Joes like mad. We have great produce here, so that's not it. I don't even know what it is but I miss shopping there, just being in the store with the free samples and the constantly changing selection. Plus there's nothing remotely close to 2 Buck Chuck here. The cheapest wine we've seen has been $4 in a box and about $8 in a bottle. Too expensive.

There are certainly things I don't miss one bit though too. I don't miss writing a rent check, a car payment check, a car insurance check, and utilities checks every month. I don't miss that at all.

I also don't miss one bit all of the hours I spent at work. Don't get me wrong, I miss my co-workers, but not the hours I spent there. Certainly not.

I also don't miss having a car. This might be suprising, considering the amount of time I spent in my car. But goodness, I'm soo happy to not have one. I've got two legs that work great and for 25 cents I can get anywhere in this city. It's nice to be my own mode of transportation.

I also don't miss not seeing Ryan everyday. Living together is great for the sole fact that we get to see each other everyday. I love that!

Anyways, wish us luck tonight! I'm sure it will be great!

MULUB,

Taylor

PS. Can anyone guess what I miss probably the most about living in Chicago (besides seeing my girlfriends everyday)?

We're Home

Ryan sick in bed with tons of gatorade, fiber bars, and pedialite. This is how we spent most of Valentines Day, all of Monday and some of Tuesday.

At the beginning of the Cuicocha hike. See that ridge? That's what we hiked along. Pretty strenuous for a first hike.

Ryan bought a flute at the handicrafts market. yay. He can play two songs: When the saints go marching in and Jingle Bells.

At the waterfall before being sick, after the market!

We got home from Otavalo yesterday afternoon. It was a really great trip with one minor bump. On Sunday we went for a hike at Cuicocha lake. It was a pretty tough hike. We basically hiked along the ridge of these mountains overlooking the lake for 4-5 hours. Ryan got pretty sick from dehydration while we were hiking and it took him a couple of days to recover. Hence, coming home on Tuesday instead of the originally planned Sunday.

All in all though the trip was really great. The hostel was AMAZING! If anyone is ever in Otavalo we would highly recommend Rose Cottage. It was outside of the town, nestled in between valleys and mountains. It was so beautiful and so relaxing. The perfect escape from the city. Plus, we really got a long well with the people that run the hostel. Basically the place used to be a family's vacation home. Then about a year ago they decided to make it into a hostel. Instead of building one big building, they built a bunch of smaller houses. Each member of the family takes a turn living at the hostel and running it. One of the sons, Richard, had just arrived a couple of days before we arrived with his girlfriend, Sophie, and Sophie's brother, Alex. Sophie and Richard are going to be running the hostel until at least June. We exchanged phone numbers and hope to see them sometime again!

Anyways, we'll share more about the trip in the next couple of days. In the meantime, check out the photos on facebook. The album is Otavalo and they're on my account.

MULUB,

Taylor

PS. We're praying for the Matson family.

Going to Otavalo

We're going away for the weekend. It's Carnaval here so we have Monday and Tuesday off of work. It also happens to be Valentine's Day!!! So we're headed out of town, along with the rest of the Quitenos.

We're planning on leaving any minute now, well as soon as finish the dishes and the laundry. Supposedly there's a bus that leaves every 20 minutes from the main bus station. So we'll head over there and wait until the next one comes.

Once we get to Otavalo we plan on going to the markets all day tomorrow and then Sunday hiking around Cuichocha lake (Guinea Pig Lake). And yes folks, we plan on eating lots and lots of cui, otherwise known as guinea pig. =)

We'll be back either Sunday night or Monday morning, depending and then we're going out for dinner at Zazu to celebrate Valentine's Day (a day late).

We'll take lots of pictures and post them to Facebook when we get back. Plus we've got some skype dates that we're really excited on Monday!

Ryan is excited about going to the markets and possibly buying an Andean ukulele thingy (his words, not mine).

I'm excited to be in the mountains.

Cheers Mates,

Taylor and Ryan

It's like on MTV Cribs

This is what we have in our fridge and our cupboards!

Top Shelf: Brown Eggs (the only kind I've seen here) and Extra Yellow Butter

Second Shelf: A bag of olives, Brie, Cheddar (A note on cheese, they really only have Queso Fresco, everything else is garbage.)
The Freezer: A Turkey (It's not ours, it's the landlords), that thing wrapped in tin foil is a chicken.

Top Shelf of the Fridge: Bread, yogurt, beer

Second Shelf: Water, Milk, Juice

Bottom Shelf: Ground beef, left overs, and a cantaloup
In our cupboard: quinoa, black beans, brown sugar and regular sugar (the sugar is like cane sugar which is cool but not the same), flour (most of the flour has baking powder in it already... weird) rice, pasta.
A whole myriad of things: snacks from the plane, granola, oatmeal, chocolate bars (because there are no chocolate chips), syrup (for granola), walnuts and prunes (also for granola)

Then we've got some tea and coffee filters and our small collection of spices!

*Side note: those three little jars are a house warming gift from Maria Jose and Casey! They're filled with Cumin, Aji powder, and Oregano! Thanks Guys!

And that's it. Just thought you'd want to see =)

MULUB,

Taylor

Mystery Fruit #2, 3 and 4

Ok, well we know that the Kiwi is a Kiwi. All of the others, well, we're not quite sure.

The little banana looking things were filled with orange seeds that tasted kind of sour. Ryan mashed them and tried to make a juice. Meh, not so good.

The green and brown thing that looks like a mini-watermelon tasted like a pear combined with something else, but I'm not sure what. We sprinkled some brown sugar on it and it was pretty tasty.

The red things that look like sea urchins were by far the best thing we ate. You peel the spiny skin off of them and the inside looks like an eyeball. Yes this part was slightly unappetizing. They have long seeds in them and the fruit is around the long seed. They taste like nothing that I've tasted. They're sweet, in a good way, and have the texture of those little onion things that come in a jar that are sometimes served with cocktails. Regardless, I liked them best and I'd like to figure out how I could bake with them.

Has anyone seen any of these before? Or better yet, has anyone made anything with these before?

Thanks! MULUB,

Taylor

For the love of money

One thing that really bothers me is that no one here seems to have any change. Either that or they look at your money like it was printed at Milton Bradley. Look, I'm sorry that this five doesn't have any cigarette burns on it, but I can assure you that despite it's lack of wear, it is real money. But still, they feel it, hold it up to the light, call Ms. Cleo, align their chakras.

Back to the change. We were getting almuerzos one day after class (huge lunches for $1.50 each) and I go to pay and I give the guy a ten, and he looks at me like, "If I'd known you'd be using large bills, I would've, you know, not used a cup as my cash register." Now, I know, I'm the one who gave him a ten, but I couldn't give him a five, cause I didn't have one. And I couldn't give him a one, because the lunch was three dollars, and a one would've been insufficient.

He takes my ten, money is money after all, and digs through his cup looking for change, mostly fifty cent pieces. He only manages to muster four dollars before asking his (presumable) wife if she had change. (Well, you can probably guess where this story is going) She didn't. But she did ask another customer for change. Which he had. Sort of. I Think. I'm not really sure quite what happened, but I'm pretty sure I didn't lose any money in the deal.

Thankfully the ATMs here do give out fives, but maybe they can be bred with a slot machine, so that you can just put your card in and hold your over-sized drink cup underneath and, viola, no need for change ever again. Although, then you'll have to go to the renaissance fair to find a pouch big enough for all those coins. Then they'll probably tell you that they only accept bills as payment.

-Ryan

Mystery Fruit #1

This is the fruit that Ryan couldn't figure out what is was. We still have no idea, except we know that it was indeed NOT a black sapote.

Any ideas on what this is? Or what to do with it?

Three Weeks?!!?

How has it only been three weeks? I just don't understand. I feel like we've been here for three months.

Time is a different thing here in Ecuador. I'm not sure how to even explain it. It's as if it doesn't matter, it doesn't exist.

People say to be somewhere at 8 but don't show up till 9. Something starts at 10 but there's no one there until 12. Now, I'm not a very punctual person. I always came to work 30 minutes late but that was just me. I knew work would start at 9 no matter what and I would just be late. But here its like work can start whenever. A store may usually be open at 9 but then open at 10 or 11 one day just because.

So for right now, Ryan and I spend a lot of our time waiting. Waiting for meetings to happen, waiting for students to show up to class, waiting for stores to open, waiting for people to do things. Because we haven't been able to let go of our time focused American ideas that have been pounded into our heads.

Here being late is not rude. Period. Its just not. Now, I'm sure some of you (my Dad) might think that just because everyone else is late it's still rude to be late yourself. It's just not the case.

Perfect example...

Maria Jose invited us to a concert in the park for the Haitian community in Quito. The invitation said 10am. We got there at 10:45 and they were still doing sound check. We came back at 2 and the concert was just getting going.

Another example...

Yesterday we had our health insurance meeting with Pan American Life at inlingua. The email said the meeting would start at 3:30. Ryan and I hurried over there after attempting to run in the park. The Pan American Life reps didn't show up until 4 and didn't figure out the projection system until 4:30. A full hour late. These people are professionals. It's not rude to be late.

Anyways, time moves differently here and I feel like I've been here for a really long time already!

Hope all is well.

MULUB,

Taylor

ESPN Deportes

Super Bowl Sunday was yesterday, and like any red-blooded American it was our civic duty that we tune in. We actually had to sign a waiver stating that we would watch the Super Bowl while overseas, they wouldn't let us leave Miami without it. An Irish American bar (not the ethnic group, but a bar that was both Irish and American. Many restaurants down here have an identity crisis) called Mulligans was playing the game and our friend Maria Jose invited us so we went there.

The game however, was playing on ESPN Deportes, not ABC. That in and of itself was not a terrible thing, I mean, no one tunes in for the commentary. Especially when it's Chris Collinsworth. Unfortunately, the ESPN feed had NO SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS. Oh, that's right I actually sat through three hours of Super Bowl and not once saw Burt Reynolds fight a bear. Is this what my life has come to? Also, we were sitting with a Columbian who, through countless hours of Madden, knew more of the players than I did. Although he must not have been too tainted by Madden, as he never mentioned any of the players being good strippers.

Taylor wants everyone to know that she made $0.07 for the month of January. Mazel Tov!!

-Ryan

Daily Routine

It's nice to be settling into a routine. Although we're trying to be careful of not being too routine. Lately we've just been working and cooking. We got to the store almost everyday and pick up something new and exciting. Also, Ryan drinks a ton of milk so we're always out =)

I've picked up two more classes so I've got just shy of 20 hours. This is great news! They start on Monday and one of them is starting the same lesson I just started with my other class, so that will be nice because I won't have to come up with a whole other lesson. They offered Ryan two more classes too but one conflicted with his current teaching schedule and the other was on a Saturday. Frankly, teaching is a means to see this country and travel and learn so he said no to the Saturday class.

Tonight we're having all of the new teachers, Maria Jose and Casey over for tacos and drinks! They finally finished repainting the house and although it still smells like paint a tad, its finally ready to have guests! Everyone is bringing something to drink and then Ryan and I are going to make the tacos and some sort of dessert. Our dining room table is big enough to have everyone sit down and eat. It will be really nice and a great way to get to know the other new teachers too!

We heard some good and some not so good news from our Landlord today. The good news is that the TV repairman is coming over today at 5pm to fix the TV. We think this means to install cable, but we're not sure. The TV works fine for a TV that doesn't have cable (i.e. it plays our DVDs fine). The not so good news is that the whole neighborhood is not going to have water starting tomorrow at 7 (not sure AM or PM) until Sunday (not sure what time). I believe he said that its because we haven't had enough rain here and so there's not enough water to power the hydroelectricity for the city. There's a good chance that I'm wrong, but I think that's what he said. They did this before we came except instead of shutting off peoples water they shut off their electricity. So we'll see... we'll probably have to go to a McDonalds or something if we have to go to the bathroom. Weird...

Anyways, that's about it lately. This weekend we're on a mission to find shoes for Ryan. He couldn't find his black shoes before he left and so he needs to buy a pair here. The problem is that Ecuadorians don't have big feet like he does. So it will take us some time to find a good pair thats the right price and comfortable. We also are going to this concert for Haiti with Maria Jose and Casey on Sunday morning and then probably going to TGIFs or Chili's to watch the Superbowl.

Hope all is well at home. Miss you all.

MULUB,

Taylor

PS. For any bakers/foodies our there I've started following some pretty great blogs. Let me know if you're interested!

some things....

I love Ecuador. So far. There is nothing that tells me that this isn't a great country. And I'm sure that that will be true of most countries I visit. Unless I visit Afghanistan or Freedonia, or someplace, I will always find something that I can love about the country. That said, there are certain things about Ecuador that I haven't gotten used to, and for several reasons I hope I never get used to.

For one, very few, and I'm talking in the single digits, of the sidewalks have sloped curbs. Which is fine. If you have legs. If not, TOO BAD!!! Take your wheelchair on THE EFFING STREET!!! I mean this is just ridiculous. I saw a man in a wheelchair just rolling down Seis de Deciembre, which is one of the main North to South avenues in Quito, essentially taking up a whole lane, cabs honking at him and swerving out of the way. Now, I'm sure he's used to it and thinks not much of it, but I feel like he should not be tacitly excluded from using the sidewalks. These curbs are honestly at least one foot high in some places, so once you get off the sidewalk, good luck getting back on. Personally, I feel like the city should do more to help out this population, and they just don't seem to care.

I bought my guitar the other day at a store called Juan Eljuri. Earlier I went to Juan Eljuri Discount Center, which was like Payless Shoes in that the name was somewhat misleading since all the merchandise was prohibitively expensive for the average person. But Juan Eljuri regular had moderately priced merchandise, and I was able to get my guitar for under $150. But, forget the guitar, forget anything about how their merchandise was priced, that is painstakingly unimportant. The important part of this story is the security guard. Now most stores here in Quito, especially in and around New Town, have a security guard, so that I've become accustomed to. But this security guard had a shotgun. A SHOTGUN. Oh, well maybe it's loaded with a beanbag, or that plastic ring, or some other non-lethal munition. Maybe it's a paintball gun. Maybe it's really a fancy whistle that summons a unicorn who tells shoplifters that what they're doing is very, very bad and if their mother ever found out....

It would be one thing if this were a high-end jewelry store, or a BMW dealership, or something. No. This was the Ecuadorian Best Buy, and this security guard was prepared to use lethal force if things got out of hand. So what? Are you gonna fill my face with pellet if I try to steal a $15 plastic flute? Is that fax machine really worth a human life? Juan seems to think so. Hopefully, I never get used to that. Who knows, maybe I'll come home and have to show my receipt to the Wal-Mart greeter with a mac-10 shoved in my face.

-Ryan

Comment Confusion

So I've gotten some response that it's difficult to comment on our Blog. Seeing how much we love getting comments, and per my Dad's suggestion, I thought I'd leave some simple instructions...

Something I didn't realize before is that in order to post a comment you have to have either a Google, LiveJournal, Word Press, TypePad or an AIM account. If you don't have any of these accounts, I would suggest signing up for a gmail.com email account. Not only will you be able to comment on our blog but gmail also has a great video chat program that you can use between gmail accounts. Anyways, once you have one of those accounts, here are your instructions:

At the bottom of the post that you wish to comment on it says "1 Comment" or something to that affect, depending on how many comments there really are.

Click on the "1 Comment"

Then the comments that have already been posted will be displayed, along with a text box that says "Post a Comment".

Type your comment into the text box and select the type of account you have from the drop down box by "Comment As:"

Click "Post Comment".

You'll then be prompted to enter you gmail email address and password, or your aim screen name and password.

Lastly, you'll be asked to type one of those weird verification things where the letters look all funny.

And that's it.

It sounds like a bunch of steps, but once you do it the first time it remembers who you are and you don't have to keep doing it!

MULUB,

Taylor

black sapote

There's a fruit and vegetable market a few blocks from our place and it has a bit more ambiance than the soulless MegaMaxi, so we decided to shop there for our produce. Unfortunately, and this is where MegaMaxi has the upper hand, none of the produce is labeled. Which, ok, I'm not some mouth-breathing man-child, so I can identify the onions and tomatoes and such, but there are fruits. here that I have never seen before, so some of them could serve the same purpose as the seashells in Demolition Man for all I know.

I just cannot, however, I won't, I will not go without trying everything there is to offer here so I pick up some mystery produce. The problem is I'm not sure how to eat some of them. I've already failed at eating a granadilla (a fruit that, for whatever reason, seems to have a roe sack). Anyway I examine one of the fruits that I bought and my cursory google/wikipedia/youtube research tells me that it is a black sapote. This is good. I've wanted to eat a black sapote for the longest time, I just don't know how, I don't know when.

Now some of you (and I really do mean some, we only have 10 followers) may be saying to yourself, "Ryan, you are the dumbest person I know! Just cut the darn thing open and eat it!" Well if you did just say that to yourself, and not just because you're reading the blog outloud, but because you actually meant it and presumably have some personal issues you need to work on, then do me a favor and find a tropical fruit you've never heard of and google how to eat it. It's honestly scary. I guarantee it will say something along the lines of:

.........When this fruit is ripe it will depress slightly under moderate to medium-moderate pressure from three fingers. Make sure that you don't use more than three fingers, and also make sure that at least one of the fingers is your index finger. Ripeness usually occurs when the moon is in its waxing gibbous phase. If it appears to be ripe during the waning gibbous phase then you're probably holding a potato. When under ripe, consumption can cause hip dysplasia and 24hr blindness, when overripe consumption may or may not turn your skin inside-out. If an unripe fruit is accidentally eaten, find three sprigs of tarragon and, holding them in your left hand, twist them apart, clockwise, with your right hand and hold both hands under boiling water until the symptoms dissipate. If they do not, you will need to find a volcano and a Navajo shaman who speaks fluent Esperanto and.........

Look, I don't have time for all of this. I'm a simple man. I don't want to rely on a Ouija as a guide for ripeness. I just want to eat fruit that taste like chocolate pudding. Is that too much to ask? So, there it sits, on my table, until I can figure out when eating it won't make me sterile. I guess I'm saying, wish me luck.

-Ryan

But it's dark out...

Just a disclaimer... this might not make sense to anyone. I'm writing about what I realized today and you might think.... well obviously.

Another disclaimer... you might think this blog is cheesy and over the top travel-phile. Oh well... that's me.

Tomorrow makes it official; we'll have been here two week. Which makes this next statement kinda weird. Tonight was the first time I was out and about when it was dark out alone.

I had class from 5-7 and when I looked out of the window at the end of class it was dark. I didn't really know why I didn't think about that before hand but it really took me off guard.

This city isn't really the safest of cities. Especially for gringos, especially at night, especially for girls, and especially by parks. Well I'm a gringa (taking care of the gringo and the girl), it was night, and I had to walk past the biggest park in Quito, Carolina. Now I've been a bit on edge about safety since we got here for a number of reasons. Mostly because of what I've read and heard from others but it also has something to do with having all of my possessions with me that I'll need for a whole year and probably a little something to do with the fact that my Dad is ultra-cautious whenever we travel.

I mean my Dad parks the car a certain way when we eat at Lou Malnati's in Rosemont before a trip because he wants to make sure no one breaks into his locked and alarmed SUV while we enjoy some pizza. Were talking ultra cautious and ultra aware. But because of that I've learned to be aware and cautious too.

So I'm out tonight, walking to MegaMaxi to pick up a few things and then home and there are a lot of thoughts going on in my head. First I tell myself to put on my 'Don't mess with me, I'll mess you up' face and to walk with confidence and purpose so I don't look like typical scared American girl. Second I tell myself to be very aware of my surroundings... Is anyone following me, walking to close, etc... just the usual. So I'm doing all of these things that I've been taught and that I've learned and I forget to look around and experience what's actually going on in the city that I'm living in.

So as I begin to actually look around I begin to realize the exciting energy in the air. Families of grandmas and grandchildren are out, groups of what looks to be junior high age students are out doing their junior high thing, couples are taking a walk... people are living here. I must have walked past 15 street food vendors with large groups of people, families, friends, and couples gathered around eating dinner. There's a lot of talking and laughing, even some music at one of them and boy did the food look tasty! We're not talking your everyday hamburger of hotdog, we're talking shish-kabobs with three different kinds of meat and hamburgers with ALL of the toppings. There's beer and soda and just a general good time.

I mean it's not a revelation of the tenth degree, but tonight on my walk home in the dark I realized that people live here, real people. Quitenos, as they're called, and it reminded me about the heart of traveling, the reason it's addicting, and why I love it so much. So far this trip has been about finding a place to live, starting work, learning spanish, meeting friends, living together, fixing up the place, etc. But it hasn't been about the very reason that I started this process in the beginning. It hasn't been about traveling, about observing at first, then emulating, and then investing in the culture, the history and the daily grind of Ecuador.

So that's my plan... to continue to be aware but to stop being fearful and to put myself in the position to observe Quitenos. Because once that happens, the falling in love with a place is only a few months away.

Hope all is well! Only 13 days from Valentines Day!

MULUB,

Taylor