Feliz Cumpleaños, Andrea

Love you--here's a little something you can remember me by...

Take out your personal watercraft

Today in my intermediate class we played charades with two-part verbs. It goes like this: the students have to write down a bunch of requests using two-part verbs on little cards (por ejemplo, clean up the kitchen, put away your things, take out the trash, etc). Then they exchange cards and have to act out the request and get their team to guess correctly.

It was a fantastic game that really made me laugh, especially when I saw the following gems:

Take out the teacher (M.A) and close the door. (all in good fun, I promise)

Throw away your feelings.

and the most puzzling:

Take out your personal watercraft.

Where that came from, I have no idea.

love, M

Climbing Rocks

Hello all,

About to finish the fourth week of this cycle (the half-way point...jeez, things move quickly sometimes). The latest news is that our lease is up in mid-March. Roommates Will and Elsa are leaving--Will back to the states and Elsa back to Guayaquil. I will miss them terribly.

Sara and I would like to stay in this apartment because we love it. I don't love my room, but I might upgrade to one of the other rooms if we can find someone to take this one. If Sara and I can't find two people to move in, it's goodbye awesome apartment complete with washer, dryer and terrace. I saw a nice little place inhabited by two other CEC teachers the other day and they were interested in having me move in. And there are almost always people looking for roommates so I'm not worried about finding a place if it comes down to that. But nothing I've seen so far is quite as cozy as the place we have now...we'll see.

Carnaval is happening Feb. 15 & 16, so we're talking about going to the beach. I haven't been to the coast in a while so I'm definitely itching to go. I started a rumor that we're going camping on the beach and I'm hoping it catches on.

Below are some pictures from a little rock-climbing trip last weekend. In case you were wondering, no--I didn't make it to the top.

love, M

I got up to that arrow above my head...nice, but I didn't exactly conquer the beast.

Santiago, who owns the equipment and knew what he was doing, gracias a dios.

Cuyabeno Reserve...aka the jungle

I finally went to the Amazon, specifically the Cuyabeno Reserve, located near the border of Colombia. It was incredible--I can't really describe what it was like to be in the jungle, even if it was for only a few days. The Cuyabeno River is gorgeous and we spent most of our time rowing around looking for wildlife. We briefly saw a pink river dolphin and along with tons of other birds and animals, but just being there was the best part. Here are a few photos to give you an idea...the rest of which can be found here.

See her?

On our first day we came across this sleeping anaconda.

Early morning on the Cuyabeno River

See the macaw?

The base of the big tree

The big tree

Audrey and I

The moon, the moon, in the afternoon.

The Great Egret

Squirrel Monkey who got soooo close to us. Below you can see a little more monkey business.

Untitled from Marian Alonso on Vimeo.

Giant cricket

Yikes. Truth be told, I didn't take this picture but gave my camera to the guide. Ha, you thought I got that close?

Now leaving Cuyabeno.

In Lago Agrio, the last sizeable town before Cuyabeno, they sell milk shelks.

Sorry this took so long to get online, but our power goes out unpredictably...alright, no excuses. Here it is, and happy new year!!!

Amazon, here I come.

Leaving tonight on a bus to Cuyabeno, where anacondas, crocodiles, pink dolphins and piranhas await. I'll tell you all about it when I get back...

CMT Birthday

Hello all. Saturday was the celebration of the 45th year of the CMT. The day begins with a pancake breakfast and includes tons of games, prizes, music, and dancing. The volunteers (and other staff members) are in charge of running the games, so I got to just show up and enjoy. Here is the evidence of a fantastic day.

Drenching the volunteers with water was by far the most popular game.

Noé (on the left) sat with me during mass. I was pretty much cradling him the whole time. Meanwhile, he decided to start plucking hairs right out of my head in order to scrutinize them more closely. Why is your hair orange? Pluck away, Noé. In my eyes you can do no wrong.

Angie's a drama queen.

Lenin: so cheeky.

And then there's precious Christian.

I only have one more full week of classes left and then it's vacation time! I'm planning on spending a lot of time at the CMT and we're also looking into a trip to the jungle. I'll keep you posted.

much love,

Marian

Colada Morada, Guaguas de pan, y Vaca Verde

It's a beautiful sunny day in Quito. Unfortunately the lack of rain means that the biggest dam and energy supplier in Ecuador is not working, so we've been having planned blackouts this month. These will probably last through December--I'm glad I don't teach in the evenings because everyone has been using candles in their classrooms. Being at home with a blackout isn't so bad because we have a gas stove and a fireplace. It's actually kind of cozy and it makes me want to go to bed early...which is good for me.

Anywho, life is moving along and the culinary adventures are keeping me entertained. For instance, October/November is the era of Colada Morada and Guaguas de pan. That's the colada on the left--it's made with blackberries, blueberries (actually, something called mortiños, which are like a small hard blueberry) pineapple and strawberries all boiled together with herbs and spices, many of which can only be found here in the Andes. It's like a thick warm cider with bits of fruit floating around in it. It's fantastic, and you have to eat it with a frosted bread treat called a guagua (pronounced wawa...it means little one or baby and is shaped like a little person) that sometimes has jelly or cheese inside...you just never know. Anyway, it's an Ecuadorian tradition to partake in colada and guaguas in the fall season, though I wish people made it all year.

We had a two-day vacation earlier this month and Elsa decided that Will and I needed to see the Presidential Palace in the historic center of Quito. For some reason we took a lot of "arms spread out" pictures.

In front of the mosaic by Guayasamin, probably the most famous and well-loved visual artist of Ecuador.

There's Will allllll the way at the end. See him?

Overlooking the Plaza Grande.

Yesterday I went to my Spanish conversation professor's house to make more colada and lima bean hamburgers (or Vaca Verde, as she tells her kids). The electricity went out and we couldn't finish the colada (step 5 is "blend everything together in a blender") but the hamburguesas de vaca verde were actually pretty good. All you have to do is crush the lima beans, mix them with an egg, salt, pepper, mustard, garlic and whatever else you want, then throw them in a pan.

mmmmm, green cow.

She's a great teacher--only four of us go to class regularly and we usually just sit around and chat. Her husband is from India and yesterday they were telling me how to make shahi paneer (one of my favorites). They even gave me some tumeric to get me started. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Speaking of food, in my intermediate class we learned sequence adverbs (first, then, next, after that, and finally). So guess how they can get 2 extra credit points...by bringing food to class tomorrow with a recipe explaining the steps. Smart, right? There are only 7 students in that class so it should be a nice little gathering.

I'm already finished with the 4th week of an eight-week cycle and I can't believe it. I still haven't been paid, so I haven't been able to do much traveling. But I'm pretty sure that by the time my month-long vacation rolls around in December/January that I'll have enough funds to go to the beach and the jungle. Interested in joining me? All visitors are welcome.

That's all for today. Take care, guaguas.

Marian