Spanish Lessons

Since I first arrived in Ecuador more than three years ago, my Spanish has improved exponentially mostly through lots and lots of trial and error. I've also learned a lot by listening, especially to Andres and his family. I was repeating what I heard and hoping it made sense. But after Andres and I moved into our new apartment, I wasn't spending so much time practicing or listening. To add to my Spanish plight, Andres became more interested in practicing his English. So my Spanish suffered. And then last Fall I really started to notice a plateau in my skills. I just wasn't improving, I was making the same mistakes over and over and never knowing how to correct them.

So I finally decided to make a change and make a really effort to get beyond pretty good to great. My friend had been taking lessons with a local tutor, who she said was fantastic, and the proof was in the pudding because she hadn't known much Spanish at all before coming to Ecuador about 4 months before, and after a little time with her tutor, she was already using tons of new vocabulary and verbs tenses. I gave him a call, which was a little less successful than I had expected because I mixed up his name and asked for someone else the first time I called. He said I had the wrong number, so I hung up, confused. Then I asked my friend what his name was and realized I had made a mistake. I was too embarrassed to call back and tell him what happened, so I waited for Andres to get home and called on his phone! Well, I finally managed to make a time to meet, and I was delighted by my first lesson. We started just with some questions and conversation so that he could get an idea of my level and my mistakes. He is a larger than life character who is want to jump out of his chair in order to explain some vocabulary word, and is always laughing and smiling. I knew that it would be a good set up for me.

He told me that my level was very advanced (so flattered!) but that I was still making some stupid mistakes (my words, not his), so we started with some very basic stuff, like gender pronouns and ser and estar. This turned out to be really great though because he explained ser and estar to me in a new way, which I finally understood, and also explained several uses/differences that I hadn't been aware of. For example, if you use estar + participio pasado it indicates that the action has already happened and finished as in "él está muerto." If you use ser + participio pasado it's like the passive voice in English and implies that someone performed the action on the object as "el pavo de navidad fue hecho por Becky." This was mind-blowing for me because I never even thought about the distinction between those to structures, let alone understood it. Now I know why you say "las cobjas están hechas de lana" and "las cobijas son hechas en Otavalo." ( I really hope I didn't mess that up, I'll have to double-check with my tutor, feeling sheepish)

It's always frustrating when I find out I've been making a mistake for ages without realizing it (Hello, saying hago errores instead of cometo errores!) but it's also amazing when something clicks and I am actually able to integrate it into my knowledge of the language. Right now I'm learning phrases in order to say things in a more interesting way, but I feel pretty silly for learning this now because if I had just studied more in school, I would already know them (for example, it is taking me WAY too long to figure out that sin embargo means nevertheless; I'm pretty sure I was supposed to learn that in high school)

I'll keep you posted (haha) on more Spanish breakthroughs as they come up. I shall be the little engine that could

Visiting the Amazon: Liana Lodge

As you will remember from where our story left off, getting to Liana Lodge involved some less than luxurious bus travel, and a longer-than-expected wait by the side of the road for our canoe. By the time we embarked on our 15 minute canoe ride, we were pretty unsure about what awaited us at the lodge.

Liana Lodge

Children fishing, seen from the deck at Liana Lodge. Photo by Ramona McCabe.

What we discovered was one of the most comfortable and pleasant jungle stays any of us had experienced or heard tell of. The canoe dropped us off and we were met by a sweet Swiss volunteer who explained the regulations and procedures for staying at the lodge, a welcome cocktail of some local beverage and an extremely comfortable, beautiful, wood cabin to ourselves. Our room had three cozy twin beds with soft sheets and pillows, a private deck with a chair and hammock, several candles for the night time in lieu of electric lights, and, best of all, a hot shower. We didn't need to use mosquito nets because the bugs weren't bad (though I suppose Carmen's ankles might beg to differ), and when we went down to dinner we were treated to the five-star experience. We had our own table on the big wooden deck and we were served delicious garlic soup before a main course of chicken, salad, and potatoes, finished off with a carrot dessert. They also made accommodations for the vegetarian among us. The rest of the meals during the trip were similarly tasty, especially the breakfasts, though there was one lunch when we had to contend with an entire tilapia wrapped in banana leaves and looking very recently cooked.

Tour 1: Rainforest hike

For our morning activity we chose to go on the short rain forest walk to visit some giant trees. Our guide was a young man, maybe about 18 years old, from the local community, who had embraced punk style and had a thorough knowledge of the plants that we encountered. The hike was difficult and involved walking straight uphill for about 20 minutes and then straight down hill for about 15. I had a great time though and it was really interesting to learn how the local people used the plant materials. Our whippersnapper guide also demonstrated climbing up the side of these giant trees using vines as thick as his arm. The German girl in our group attempted to copy him but was utterly unsuccessful. Carmen and I did participate in some vine swinging further down the trail, and the guide clearly regretted letting us try in the face of our total ineptitude. We made him nervous, as Carmen managed to slo-mo slide to the end of the vine and I nearly smashed into a tree. So all in all, good times.

Proving that his punk outfit did not mutually exclude super jungle skills. Photo by Ramona McCabe.

AmaZOOnico

At the end of our hike, we came to the zoo, cutely named AmaZOOnico, where the foundation Selva Vida houses rescue animals and prepares them for release into the wild whenever possible. It turned out to be really lovely. We spent about 45 minutes wandering through the zoo with a new guide who was a volunteer and who we think was from Argentina, though I forgot to ask. He spoke great English and was very friendly and funny. We saw several types of monkeys and tons of different birds including the Scarlet Macaw. Our guide told us that the zoo was not planning on releasing them because poachers and bird smugglers can get up to $5,000 for their feathers, and therefore it would not be safe for them outside of the zoo. Unfortunately, most of the mammals were hiding when we were there, but we still enjoyed learning about them and asking questions about the zoo's operations. Possibly my favorite part involved animals not in captivity. While we were walking, a troop of spider monkeys came swinging through the forest to harass the birds and steal food from the zoo. They also stopped to harass a group of their fellow spider monkeys behind bars who were recovering from injuries. And! There was a baby! It was grasping hold of its mother, just enjoying the ride. This was one of three different types of wild monkeys we saw on this trip.

Photo by Ramona McCabe.

Tour 2: Visit to the Community

For our afternoon activity, we chose to visit the "plantations," which were really little farms belonging to the local people, and visit a home.  We were a little wary because we didn't want to be "those" tourists who use local people like tourist sites, but it sounded cool to see the farms, and we figured, what the heck. Ultimately we didn't feel awkward because it was obvious that our guide had a good relationship with the locals and we didn't seem to be intruding. We think there weren't enough of the usual guides for all of the groups when it was time to go because after waiting for about 10 minutes I asked the receptionist if there was a guide for us, and she said that the owner of the lodge was on his way down in a canoe to take us. This turned out to be both a good thing and a bad thing. Mostly it was cool because we got to ask him about the lodge and how it hires people from the community and hear him speak Kichwa with local children while asking directions. This brings me to the bad part. I think maybe he wasn't used to leading these tours because we got lost three times in dense banana plants or something similar and had to do a fair amount of bushwhacking to get ourselves unlost. I asked my Spanish tutor how to say "bushwhacking" and he said "entrar a machete" which just goes to show you how inextricably linked our language and culture are. The farms were beautiful and overgrown and our guide showed us male and female papaya plants, Conga ants, a praying mantis, a stick insect, and let us suck on cacao beans while we walked (a flavor suprisingly unlike chocolate).

After tromping through farms for 2 hours, we came to a house on stilts in a small clearing. There our guide taught us how to use the traditional blowdarks from the area (I asked and he said they're really only used deep in the jungle by the uncontacted communities nowadays), which we used to shoot at little wooden owl perched on a stick. Then we went up to the open air kitchen on the second floor where an elderly woman gave us "chicha," a local fermented alcohol drink traditionally made by chewing yuca and spitting it into a large pot to be cooked. The chicha we tried used a different method instead of chewing and our guide explained that the chewed chicha lost popularity many years ago when disease started to become more of a problem. The lady seemed sweet and asked for our names, but she didn't speak Spanish, only Kichwa so we couldn't exactly chat with her.

After the visit we returned to the lodge to relax, have dinner, and try fancy cocktails at the bar, including one that used an entire passion fruit. 

What are your favorite spots to visit in the Ecuadorian amazon? Reply in the comments.

Around Tena: Parque Amazónico La Isla and More Buses

Parque Amazónico La Isla

This activity was discovered by my friend as she browsed my guidebook, the Rough Guide to Ecuador, which was really a stroke of luck because we might never have met our tiny monkey friends otherwise. The park is at the fork in the river and though not a true island, resembles one, which gives it its name. We visited the park on Sunday before heading out on a bus and canoe journey rather more rustic than we had anticipated to get to Liana Lodge.

To get to the park, just locate the tall foot bridge crossing the river near to most of the main tourist restaurants, and walk halfway across to stairs down to the park. There was an elevator but it didn't appear functional. When we got to the entrance, there was an old woman collecting the entrance fee ($2) and I asked her if there was a map of the park, which was not small, but the only one available was on the big sign sticking out of the ground. We gave it a quick glance, hoping to remember something of it later, before we walked off towards the west side of the park. 

The park is very beautiful and gives you a hint of the lushness of the amazon. We wandered around for a while, climbing an observatory at the top of a small hill, and eventually running into a small zoo with various local creatures. 

Amazonian lushness in action. Photo by Ramona McCabe.

But the best part wasn't until the very end when we finished our loop and came out of the trees by a large building with a deck. There we encountered three tiny, dark brown monkeys! A family of Ecuadorian tourists was trying to take pictures of them and squealing whenever they hopped suddenly, and we happily joined in. 

Our plump friend taking a breakskie before resuming his mad hopping. Photo by Ramona McCabe.

More Buses: Getting to Liana Lodge from Tena

Buses, as you may know, are a common theme of mine on this blog and a common theme of pretty much all budget travelers in Ecuador. Also, as I have discovered through my travels in Peru and stories from friends who have spend time in other Latin American countries, Ecuador's buses are of the very bare bones variety. You can find pretty much exclusively what my aunt calls "chicken buses." In other words, buses for the normal folk, who sometimes have to transport chickens etc. and are not comfy, air-conditioned, executive buses like those that can be found in Peru. I have ridden several times on buses with actual chicken passengers and my friend once sat next to a chicken on the way to Mindo that proceeded to fall asleep on her arm. But that's a story for another day. The bus from Tena to Puerto Barantilla, where we caught the canoe to Liana Lodge, did not feature any live chickens, but we would rather have hung around with chickens than wait in the bus stop we were at.

At first we went to the main terminal and tried to get a bus from one company, Transporte Jumandy, but they only offered buses at 12pm and at 4pm and we wanted to leave at 2pm because we had told the lodge to pick us up in the canoe at 4. So we tried the other company that had buses going our way (catch a bus to Puerto Barantilla or Santa Rosa del Napo). We had to walk off the beaten tourist path, down Avenida del Chofer, to get to the bus company, Sentinella del Tena. When we arrived we had to join a crush of people trying to talk to one woman behind a plexiglass divider. I wedged myself in with my fellow travelers to try to get some information about the bus. Meanwhile, everyone was sweaty and hot from the humidity, we were trying to avoid looking at the dirty diaper on the ground nearby, an old man with some kind of mental disability was telling us stories and asking everyone for money, and I was trusting that my friends smooshed up behind me were protecting my bag from robbery. And we had to stand like that for about half an hour while the world's slowest ticket person attempted to help people at the front of the mass of travelers.

After we finally managed to buy our tickets and extract ourselves from the group of people still waiting, we had to sit on the dusty curb in the sun and wait for the bus to arrive. Once we actually got on the bus, the whole experience started to improve because we were finally out of the sun and sitting somewhere comfortable, with the breeze from the open windows cooling us down. We got underway, and had to be very alert to our surroundings because during Carnaval people love to throw water at the open windows of buses going buy. Several times we had to slam the windows shut so as to avoid getting ourselves and our bus mates doused in water.

After about an hour and a half, the bus driver's assistant, who we had asked to help us find our stop, signaled that it was time to get off. We gathered our belongings and hurried to the front of the bus while it came to a jerky halt. We stepped off the bus and looked around. We were on the side of a dirt road, surrounded by tropical trees, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Then we spotted a big wooden sign saying Liana Lodge and Amazoonico, and decided to walk up a little gravel driveway towards a run-down house and small parking area. Down the hill away from the road we found a small dock and waited hopefully by an old canoe. After about half an hour, by which point we had started to become rather anxious, a big motorized canoe pulled up and asked us to hop on (easier said than done when you consider the slippery, river-worn rocks we had to step precariously off of on to the canoe). Then we sped off down the river to Liana Lodge.

Photo by Ramona McCabe

Around Tena: Cavernas de Jumandy

Tena, which I wrote about in my last post, is a small city whose primary attraction is river rafting. Seriously, every time you turn around you run into another rafting company. If rafting isn't your thing, however, the list of other activity options is pretty short. We took it upon ourselves to investigate a couple of the other options for our fellow non-rafting-types.

Cavernas de Jumandy

On our first day, we went on an excursion to the Cavernas de Jumandy (not to be confused with Robin Williams in "jungle" garb), which turned out to be a bit more adventure than we had bargained on. But let's start from the beginning.

We were getting a late start so we decided to investigate taxi possibilities before trying our hand at the local bus system. We were glad we did because it only ended up being $6 for a 20 minute ride outside of Tena; past Archidona, a small town to the north; and through a jungle thundershower to arrive at an elaborate swimming complex at the mouth of the caves. We had to enter the complex to get to the caves ($2 entrance fee), before dropping off our clothes at the locker area--don't get too excited, we had worn our swimsuits underneath-- and then go rent rubber boot for trekking through the caves ($1).  Then we approached the entrance to the caves (a separate $2 fee to enter) and the fun really started. A young woman from the local indigenous community dressed in athletic wear guided us and a group of Ecuadorian tourists down the slippery steps and into the mouth of the cave. There she explained to us in rapid Spanish to follow her closely and not wander off the path lest we find ourselves in deep and unforgiving cave water. She then gave us each a headlamp and tromped off into the dark of the cave. We exchanged startled looks, took a deep breath, and went off after her. 

We walked and scrambled for about 5 minutes on surprisingly unslippery rocks before we got to our first challenge. The rocks dropped away and a deep pool loomed in the darkness. The guide instructed us to pull ourselves across to the other side on a thick rubber rope with our legs dangling in the water. Thankfully, I felt pretty adept at doing this due to my great affinity for all things swimming-related. It was at this point, however, that I decided to never bring guests with me to the caves. After traversing the pool, we had to clamber up steep, wet rocks in the dark and try to keep up with the Ecuadorian contingent of our group, all in all quite a feat. We continued like this for a while, some stretches requiring more clambering than others, and peered at the stalactites and stalagmites growing from the floor and ceiling. It was really quite remarkable, because we were able to touch some of them and we often had to duck to avoid smacking our heads on them. We felt a bit bad about trampling all over the geological formations, but we were reassured when the guide said that there were great expanses of the caves closed off to the public. One particularly striking stalagmites coming up from the floor (yes, I had to look up which was which) was shaped rather -- ehem -- phallically and according to the guide it used to be used by shamans to perform rituals meant to improve fertility and get rid of bad energy. We were instructed to pat it for good luck on our way by.

How I figured out whether it was a -gite or a -mite. From wikipedia.

The guide also gave us a mini history lesson on Jumandy, the indigenous leader who led an uprising against the Spaniards from the caves, and was subsequently killed. She told us, with a touch of bitterness that the caves are owned and operated by the local indigenous people but that the swimming complex is now owned by the province, and that is why the charge entrance separately. I won't give away all the secrets of the cave, but suffice it to say, it was a nutso adventure of the top order. I think the best and most terrifying part of the experience is that you really would never be allowed to do it in the U.S.

Tena, On the Way to the Jungle

We had a four day weekend for Carnival two weeks ago ( which was especially wonderful for me considering most of my weekends are one day), and my friends, Carmen and Katie, and I decided to make the most of it and visit somewhere we couldn't normally go. We decided to go to the jungle, usually called simply "el oriente" here, since I hadn't been in three years, and Carmen had never been. Since time was still limited, and the oriente is far away, we chose the closest of our many options, Tena.

Leaf bug at Liana Lodge

Tena is a small city and one of the most important and pleasant in the oriente. It's only about 5 hours from Quito on the bus (go to Terminal Quitumbe in the south of Quito and ask for a bus that goes to Tena; Transporte Pelileo and Expreso Baños are two companies among many) but we were lucky going there because a student of Katie's was also going to Tena Saturday morning and offered to take us in her car with her husband. It was so sweet of them; she even gave us sandwiches, which actually resulted in some clandestine activities in the back seat. Carmen is a vegetarian, and, like almost all sandwiches in Ecuador, these sandwiches were ham and cheese. So Carmen had to sneak her ham out of her sandwich and into mine in order to avoid seeming ungrateful. She was a good sport though and she ate the cheese and bread sandwich even though it had once housed ham.

Our trip took about 4 hours in the car, crossing over the mountains and through the paramo near Papallacta (my auntie and I are going to Papallacta when she visits soon), and down into increasingly wetter, more humid, tropical forest. On the way we listened to a mix of hipster music and Mana, which was perfect in my opinion, and we chatted about the family home in the Galapagos. As we got lost elevation and got closer to Tena, we saw several people bathing in a waterfall by the road wearing underwear and decorative head wear. Katie's student told us that they were performing a cleansing ritual in the water, sort of like the rituals that include cleansing with smoke, eggs or cuyes.

Tena differs from Coca, an oil town in the north, in that it has a much more home-town, family sort of feel. Coca, on the other hand, caters mostly to oil workers or oil executives which, as you might imagine, doesn't provide the sort of dining and entertainment options a young woman would be interested in.

Outside of Coca. photo from HECUA

Tena is very much geared towards the local families and to the tourists stopping by on their way to the jungle. We saw millions of adorable children, but you will not see pictures here because I still don't know how to approach strangers to ask to take their picture. We had two odd encounters with aggressive children also. The first was a pair of children playing Carnival, which involved throwing water on or spraying foam on random passersby. Most people outside of the Carnival hot spots (including Ambato, Baños, and the beach) are decent enough to only play with other people who are playing. These children apparently hadn't heard that guideline though because they ran up and around us, managing to squirt Carmen and Katie with their little water guns. Then, the next day we were walking to breakfast down a sort of side street, just minding our own business, and as we approached a store, a small child, maybe four years old, hopped up, ran over, and hit me in the hip! It was completely unexpected, and I sort of pushed him away as he turned back to the store. He sort of stumbled and fell over the curb, but I don't feel as bad as I should because I figure I taught him a little lesson about hitting random strangers. The strangest part, as Carmen pointed out as we walked away, was how completely silent the entire transaction was: the little boy gave no war cry, I didn't yell in surprise, and the boy's grandfather was completely devoid of admonitions to his erstwhile grandson. Altogether, a very odd situation. So, be careful of adorable, violent children in Tena.

We stayed at Hostel Acurios, which was hosting several Ecuadorian families at the same time. It was pretty decent for the price ($12 per person, no breakfast), and had clean comfortable beds and a very effective fan. It also had a hot shower but I don't think any of us used the hot water because the humidity was killing us. The shower itself looked like it could use a good scrub, but otherwise the hostel was quite pleasant.

View from Chuquitos of Bella Vista Pizza and Cafe Tortuga, partially hidden by the tree.

As far as food went, we mostly followed the recommendation of my guidebook, The Rough Guide to Ecuador. We ate at three places in Tena: Cafe Tortuga, Bella Vista Pizza, and Chuquitos. The pizzeria was not my favorite. The pizza was perfectly fine, but Carmen and I ordered iced mochas, and they were very disappointing, almost no coffee at all. Also, I felt a little funky after eating there, but that could easily be from traveling in general. At night we ate at the place with the view of the river. There was a gentle breeze off the river and the fried fish was great; it tasted just like fish and chips and came with a little salad. Carmen and I each got beers to reward our hard work in the Cavernas de Jumandy (more on that next week), and the meal wasn't too expensive. I think including drinks we each paid $10-12 which is expensive for Ecuador, but I'm happy to pay that for a yummy meal that doesn't make me sick (I have discovered through living in Ecuador that I have a very weak stomach). On Sunday we went to Cafe de la Tortuga, which is a cute little cafe by the river, attached to a hostel, and completely geared towards tourists. There was a silly group of older Americans (at least one Texan who looked like Willy Nelson) at a table near us talking with their guide about their tours/trip. They tried to order some things in Spanish including an egg "over easy" which, if memory serves, they translated to "sobre facil." I frankly don't think that over-easy eggs exist in Ecuador. You usually have three options: frito, revuelto, or duro. the breakfast was very good, with fresh coffee and everything. Carmen and I ordered the crepes with fruit and yogurt which was delicious, especially with a little marmalade dapped on too. The crepe was thick and spongy and about the size of the bowl and the fruit consisted of grapes (with seeds), pineapple, banana, and strawberries. Overall, I would definitely recommend it for breakfast, but we were underwhelmed with the lunch options when we returned later that day.

I tried to find a decent map of Tena online to post here but there really weren't any great options, so I will just recommend that you take a guidebook with a map because it'll make it a lot easier to find your way around. The bus terminal is at the southern end of the main street, 15 de noviembre, and has a lot of bus company options. We bought our tickets back to Quito when we arrived on Saturday so that we wouldn't be left without a seat, and we got the Expreso Baños leaving at 3:15. It got back to Quitumbe at 8:15, so it was exactly 5 hours.

Next week I'll fill you in on our trip to las Cavernas de Jumandy, the big park in Tena, and our bus trip to the canoe stop on the side of the road to Liana Lodge.

Daily Life

Today is the first day of the cycle for teachers and students but I have been working for a week and a half already. Today I am going to make potato leek soup and wash some shirts. Then I'll go to work, come home, eat soup, and skype with my auntie. This is daily life living in Quito...

Back to work

After having a wonderful trip home, I'm back in Quito and back at work. Things really built up while I was away, so I had a lot to do this week. I had to set up for and run an activity called "Interclass" which I had never done before and was really nervous about getting right. I spent all of Wednesday afternoon setting up the big room we use for the activity. Luckily, I had some help from some nice teachers who helped me figure out where everything was supposed to go. On Thursday we had the activity, in which multiple classes come together and basically do an elaborate role play to get the students talking. It all went pretty well and I sat down afterward and wrote the instructions for how to set it all up so that I have them for next cycle.

Andres took some vacation time this week, so it's been really nice to see him in the mornings before I go to work. Also, he's been doing all the cooking which has been awesome because I've been so tired from traveling and from work.


Speaking of cooking, I think I want to get back to trying new things, particularly vegetarian meals. This is a little tricky because Andres doesn't like some of the more hearty vegetables that are a good substitute for meat, but I don't want to cook meat or chicken right now because of all the added hassle in thawing and washing up. So we'll have to be a little creative. I think I'll start with trying to make a potato curry and see where things go from there.

Over and out