Hi all,
it´s been a while ... and so far not much has come of the English resume that I have kept on promising ... Well, that is to say, I had written about two pages worth of our Ecuadorian exploits, but then on December 3rd, the Chilean-Ecuadorian girl that had been living in our place for about three weeks decided differently on my blogpost-under-construction. She took of with computer, camera and money, along with of course all my files and the pictures that I took the weekend before in Tena and Misahualli ...
Tena and Misahualli are two jungle towns at the edge of the Oriente, alias the “selva”, better known to Europeans as the rainforest. Early Saturday morning, 1st of December, a busride that made me feel rather uncomfortable took Hannes and me to Tena where we met up with Chris. Chris, being the English guy, 18, but you´d give him 24, and Hannes, our somewhat more-silent-than-Chris (and that is an understatement, cause Chris really talks a lot!!) German friend, the ones we met in our language school with whom we spent the great weekend in Banios. Maybe I should add here that we like Chris a lot, just in case he reads this blog; Will even adopted him as "my other boyfriend" ;-) Anyways, it was a great and very relaxing weekend with a lot of warm rain and loads of monkeys. Misahualli is a very small town that -every time a bus arrives - is invaded by a school of squirl monkeys and I managed to get some great pictures and films, that unfortunately got lost forever …
For those interested, you´ll find Chris´ account of our weekend in Banios underneath my entry. And once Will gets back home (that is - if he decides not to take the NASA´s offer to go to space with them for an undefined period of time) - he´s on his way home from San Fransisco right now - I´ll put some pictures on the blog from our jungle trip to Cuyabeno (19th to 23rd of November).
Besides the trip to Cuyabeno and hell bursting loose after that girl took off with everything, things have been rather quiet here …
Crime seems to pay off in Ecuador ...
For two weeks now, I have been trying to press charges against the girl, because we do have her name and I think she´ll try to do the same thing in other people´s places. This is how it works when you´re in Ecuador … I warn you, it´s a very boring, not-ever-ending story …
When going to the police, you can´t press charges for theft if you don´t have purchase proofs of whatever got stolen! So off you go to a notary where you have to declare on oath that beforementioned stolen property was indeed your property. Unfortunately enough you need to provide them with serial numbers, which of course you didn´t think of brining along.
So the quest for serial numbers begins … Once in possession of the serial numbers, another visit to the notary proofs quite useless, cause the next day (December 6th) will be the Fiestas de Quito and no person right in his mind here will want to work …
So, you try again two days later … But don´t dare to show up at 16.30 h, cause people stop working at 17.00 h and will not move! “Come back after the weekend!” …
Monday morning, 8.20 h, another try … a cedula and a colour copy of my international passport don´t suffice to identify myself … I might have gone through the trouble of falsifying all this - to never get either computer, camera or money back …
So, we´re Tuesday now … a week and a day after the facts … after half an hour of waiting for the computer to finally be functioning - or was it the secretary who needed to finished her nails and personal phone calls first - we (Maria the Landlady and I) can finally declare on oath that aforementioned good were rightly mine. For a signature I would have to come back later, since the notary “is visiting a relative in the hospital ...”
Tuesday afternoon … another try at the fiscalia to press charges, but no – too late again, it´s already 16.00 h. Finally, on Wednesday morning, I manage to press charges and think that I´m finally done with the whole story, until the nice lady behind the desk tells me that I can come back on Friday to go to the actual police! Apparently, it takes two days for the files to go up one floor …
Decided to do what I was resolved to do, Friday, first thing in the morning I go to the fiscalia again, this time accompanied by both Maria and Adriano, where they tell me to come back next Wednesday … which will be two weeks and two days after the facts!!
Conclusion of this story and of a brief summary of the Ecuadorian judicial system that Karla – who happens to be a lawyer – gave me: it really pays off to be a criminal here!!
Routine sets in
Back to the daily routine … Weekends, if spent in Quito usually include a football game with Kai and Karla and their friends at Parque Carolina, a huge park in the middle of town where you can ride little boats, visit the serpentario, join a public fitness session on Sunday morning and eat ceviche de chochos and other more greasy things. I thought that by now I´d be used to the height (2800 m), but sprints still wear me out and I just can´t keep running like I would in Belgium, nothing to do about it … On the more cold and rainy days, like yesterday and the day before, a good film is also an option. 1.5 $ for a decent copy, English spoken with Spanish subtitles … and I thought we were renting the movies!
During the week, I´m still taking spanish courses from 9.00 to 13.00. I got to the more advanced level of grammar, but due to a lack of studying I guess, my speaking doesn´t reflect that advanced level – at least not in my opinion. And the subjuntivo, which like in French you have in the presente, 3 preteritos and 2 futuros doesn´t make talking more straightforward …
ACJ
Since last week I also started working in the afternoon. Instead of putting me with the kids in ACJ Sur, they thought it might be better to put me on two projects in the Oficina Nacional. So, I´ll be assisting Annabel, who works for the No Bases network, and Yvan, managing YMCA Tours, to update their websites. My main task so far has been to watch several movies - documentaries - on the consequences on local or national level (ecological disasters, diseases due to testing of chemical and other weapons, people expropriated from their land and houses or altogether bannished from their island of origin, fishermen not allowed to fish any more, foreign investors exploiting locals with approval of the local government or - in the past - entire populations that have been massacrated) of mainly US, but also Great Britain, France and Italy for example, policy to expand its global military reach.
If you´d like to visit the website of ACJ, check at http://www.acjecuador.org/, or for YMCA Tours, see http://www.ymcatours.org/, and for No Bases, see http://www.no-bases.net/.
And here I end my update for now, you´ll find Chris´ account of our Baños weekend and a bit on our climb of the Pichincha below …
Kisses to all of you!
5th noviembre.
Chris´account
ok so i guess you guys will need an update, because ive been a bit antisocial for the last couple of weeks. so, here goes.
Righty then my lovelys, well I spent one day on my own, in the internet cafe mostly, and south american exploreres, before heading home to find a girl named jen form canada, and hannes from germany had arrived. they both are awsome, and we spent the next few days exploring quito together, at least when i didnt have a headache. Turns out jen is on the same scheme as me, so as i write im preparing an email for her. We discovered a bar that plays nothing but classic rock where the barman dance and make amazing cocktails, so a few nights were spent there. we began getting friendly with the other people who we would meet during the break in our lessons in the morning, and we all decided as a group to climb the nearby volcanoe Ruca Pichincha. The group consisted of me, jen, hannes, Will and Joke (from belgium), Merrill from the states, Richard from austria. it was an amazing climb, and a lot of fun, everybody seemed to gel really well, and that night we all went out for dinner in an all-you-can-eat restaurant, exactly what we needed after surviving on only bread and bananas on the mountain! Turns out im the youngest of the group by six years, but everybody assumed i was about 24, which was nice! on a non bragging note, its really really nice to be treated as an equal and im really enjoying their company. i feel like im making some quite amazing friends. its really strange how interesting other people are. for example, richard, 37, designs computer systems for airports, but because he finds that boring, also is a freelance journalist, as well as being one of the main organisers of live elctronic music in austria! and also a legend! will and joke are from belgium, and are ace cavers!!! very biyarre, but really quite awsome!
Anways, the last week we spent hanging out after lessons, and trying to plan a trip for all of us at the weekend. I spent a couple of lunchtimes at will and jokes house, and a few afternoons chilling in la mariscal, the main tourist area. Me and joke tried to visit the big museum, but it was shut, so we settled for a craft market instead! Jen left on monday, but it soon transpired that we would be meeting again when we all went to banos for the weekend. I spent a couple of nights out with John Paul for ireland and richard in the salstequeas. We had settled on bans after much indecision, whether to take an organised tour or not, where to go ect? we settled on banios because of its reputation as a great party town, with loads of opportunities for outdoor activities. With the weekend decided, all that remained was for me to buy a guitar, which had been my aim for ages! i dragged hannes around for about 3 hours, before settling on a 34 size steel sting, with a nice waterproof case, always useful in the jungle! it took me and hannes another half hour to find a cash point. from which to dispense money to pay the rasta guitar shop man! that night, we threw a dinner party in the hostel for will and joke, and hannes and a new girl, marion from austria cooked an amazing meal, we had an Ecuadorian guest for the evening, which was a great excuse to try out some Spanish. sadly, i didn't take this opportunity because i was embarrassed!!! Next day, we finished lessons, and headed off to banos, all very excited! On the way, we passed cotopaxi, the tallest active volcanoe in the world, and it was amazing. cotopaxi is a perfect cone, and as we watched it, dissapeared into the clouds, set alight by the setting sun. as night fell, we continued on to baons. as we neared our destination, we began to see what appeared to stars in the sky, which was strange seeing as the sky was overcast, and a little rain was falling. it was only when we arrived in banos we realised that the lights in the sky wer ein fact on top of huge hills, encircling the town. after checking imn to the hostal, we headed out to eat. thus begins the most surreal night in the world. We had decided on a nice quiet meal, and then bed, but after meeting some more gringos in the restaurant, we decided to go for a last drink before bed. this turned into a number of drinks, which then became salsa! after balgging our way into he club for free, we danced the salsa, and when ready to go home at about 1.30, we went to say goodbye to our new found frinds. however, the suggestion was made to go and visit the waterfall in banos, and one thing after another, it transpired that we all ended up in our underwear, in the waterfall at 2 in the morning! after splashing about for a bit, John Paul and I happened to notice a group of Ecuadorian kids around a car, playing salsa and drinking. undeterred by our nakedness, we headed over for some more salsa! remember that at this point i was soaking wet, and wearing white boxers. On the way over, we begged the security guard of the neaby hot baths that give banos its name to let us in to warm up, but he refused. it was up to the salsa to raise our body temperatures! turned out the people we met had spent time in england, which was pretty cool, but again not a great thing for the spanish! Just as we were about to slink home, lo and behold the gate of the hot baths swung open, and we plunged into the scalding water! it was amazing, so hot it was impossible to move. Richard and Will jumped in without a whimper, but I have to admit i screamed like a woman the whole way, and then ran for the slightly cooler baths! we head home, soaking wet about 3, for some much needed sleep. The next day, after breakfast, we head up the hill for a hike. However, once at the top, we caught sight of the volcano near banos, which has been erupting pretty frequently! with that in mind, we set out along another trail, heading straight for it, so we could get a better view. Along the way, as i stopped to zip off my shorts, we noticed for the first time a low rumble in the distance, like and airplane landing. after scouring the skies for said plane, our eyes settled on the plume of smoke emergin fro the cone of the volcano. It was only bloody erupting in formt of our eyes. Earger to see more, we hurried to the summit fo the climb, only to find the volcano had been obscured by the cloud. Our patience and hard work was rewarded however, for on the way back down, we got some great photos of the summit, as you will see. The landscape surrounding banos was stunning and warranted many pictures. We had heard ab out huge waterfalls you could swim in around the next valley, so we struck out for these, only to find that our long and sweaty walk was not to be ended with a cool dip, but instead with a hair raising ride in the back of a locals pick up back to banos, which was fine by me! That night, Jen came to meet us form the scheme, so i gave her a good grilling about what was what, and was pleasantly suprised! We had a chilled night, drinking beer in one of the local parks, and then headed home for some sleep. The nxt day we went canyoning, which was amazing, there were some huge jumps, and awsome abseil sections, the biggest being 35 meters. We found a way to climb behing one of the waterfall,s and it was an amazing experience, and one hell of a lot of fun! the pictures will appear soon, it takes a long time to upload, and jen has all the photos in the canyon on her camera. After canyoning, we lunched on fresh fish from an restaurant overlooking a fish farm, hich was delicious, then headed back to banos for the bus home. As the rain began to fall that night, we became increasingly concerned where our bus had gone. It transpired that the rain had washed away a large section of the road, and it took ages to get it clear. We finially got back to quito at 2 this morning, so today has been very lazy. After classes, i lunched at will and jokes, then joke and I headed to the immigration office to sort out our visas. Having no luck, we walked home in the rain, and now im writting this! The next time i write ill have been at the volunteer project, so wish me luck people!
Much love chrisxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
