On Saturday I went to Salinas, one of several beaches in the country, with the other girl from the US. The beach called Playas is a little closer, but not as pretty, and the beach called Montañita is further and is already the destination for a weekend trip in the Planning Stage. The tricky/interesting/terrifying part of Salinas as a destination was the need to take a bus there. Now, there are several bus lines in the city of Guayaquil; one of them is fairly safe, but the others have frequent muggings, etc. So naturally we were a tad nervous... Then we arrived at the bus terminal, which is essentially a mall connected to a medium-sized airport, except for buses instead of planes! Huge, crowded, noisy, bustling. Eventually we found the ticket counter (after scouring the equivalent of 3 city blocks, with windows on both sides - you can go essentially anywhere in the Western hemisphere from Guayaquil!) As we walked away, dazedly deciding which way to try first to get to the departing buses, we realized our tickets were for a bus that would be leaving in 6 minutes! AH! So we started scuttling (almost running, but a little more discreet, a.k.a. less graceful) and eventually found it 2 stories up on the other side of the building, just in time. We even had time to settle in and get comfortable, since it left on Ecuadorian time about 10 minutes later. And the ride itself went off without a hitch! They showed what I'm pretty sure was Spanish-dubbed Eagle Eye on the way there (a 2 1/2 hour ride into the city, then another 20-30 minutes to drop everyone off at their respective stops). Then we started wandering off in the general direction that everyone else was, until the driver shouted from 2 blocks away "The beach is that way!" while pointing at a cement wall covered in graffiti. Gee, thanks. But after circling several individual blocks we did find the beach, and it was GORGEOUS! The softest sand I've ever felt; chilly cerulean water; grand, sparkling buildings edging the peninsula; and a ceviche shop every 10 steps! The beach was quite crowded - apparently the coastal region (of which Guayaquil is a part) is on a school schedule essentially mirroring that of the US. The Sierra (mountainous) region is on vacation now, so a lot of Ecuadorian families had traveled out for the weekend. After a delicious lunch of shrimp ceviche (a kind of cold soup with shrimp and lime juice, and red onions, tomatoes, cilantro, olive oil, ketchup and mustard as optional condiments) with chifle (fried plantain chips), we headed across the street to relax on the sand and stave off the street vendors selling everything from jewelry and dresses, to food and beverages, to hammocks, lamps, and temporary tattoos! We spent a couple of hours down on the beach before wandering back to the bus station, where the ride back was equally as uneventful, except that they played the movie Cellular this time, which I more or less understood (yippee!!) and is a pretty decent action flick! When we were pulling away from the parking lot in our cab, I looked over to see a little boy of about 5 or 6 standing next to Mommy, peeing into the taxi pickup lane! Not trying to hide it or avoid hitting cars or anything, just facing the oncoming traffic and letting loose. It was quite comical, as well as a bit shocking.
Today I took the MetroVia (the "safe bus") to school for the first time! Well, first I have to walk about 20 minutes to get to the station, which is actually nice because it gives me an excuse to get outside and exercise to work off all the starch in typical Ecuadorian fare. Then I ride the bus for 5 minutes, about another mile down the road, for 25c, a fraction of what I paid for a 'driver.' And it was easy as could be! So I'm planning to do this the rest of the semester.
This evening I had a brief Tai Chi session with my host father, Fernando. He has suffered 7 strokes in the last couple years, and I think he's over 70, so both his physical and mental faculties have declined considerably. But he asked if I would teach him some stuff in order to exercise better and more completely, gain some flexibility, and relax. And it went great! He does speak some English, which he learned while serving in the US Air Force for 20 years. But I led the form and helped him entirely in Spanish! I was so proud of myself!
Our Conversation class went half an hour over time today because we were talking about the political system of Ecuador - fascinating! Every day it seems to get a little easier to understand people and to form coherent sentences. I can't wait to look back in a couple months to see my progress!
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