Are You Laughing at Me?

What happened since Suday morning? Glad you asked. After the car alarm woke me, I decided to get up and check out the breakfast menu in the house. French toast with OJ? $2.50. Then on to check out my surrounding in the light before my ride came at 11am. I took a map along and went looking for the building where I would be taking Spanish classes. It was one block away. That killed 3 minutes. So I went walking to find the company that had put together my Galapagos trip. It was a block and a half away. Another 4 minutes. So I decided to chill in the plaza with a coke and people watch. I had an hour left before my ride arrived. The city was dead so there wasn´t much to watch aside from the occasional indegionous woman selling fruit or tiny paintings. (pardon my spelling. spell-check doesn´t seem to want to work here).

My coworker´s girlfriend arrived at eleven with her entire family. Mom, dad, bro, and sis were all in the car. Surprise! I was going on a family trip to the family hostel in the country. To this point I thought I was going for a drive to see the city from some mountain. We drove through the city, through the ghetto, and I did see that incredible view I thought I would see. The city is friggin huge. And it seems to stretch on forever. We drove for an hour and half and during the entire ride my hosts played tour guide. I got a full summary of everything we passed. It was great. If I was on my own, I would never have known that the kids wearing bright purple costumes and face paint were not dressed for Halloween, but to attract attention when they hopped on busses to hock popsicles, sunglasses, candy, etc. Who knew? Through out the trip there were several jokes told and much laughing. Unfortunately most of these were in Spanish and I had no idea if I was in on the joke or the butt of it.

We finally arrived at the family hostel in the middle of the countryside.It was beautiful. And it was empty. There wasn´t a single guest. So I got a walking tour of the place without distraction. Okay, not true. The family dog loved attention. As for the lack of guests, I was told they are working on a web site to advertise. They also have a bit of competition from a hostel across the way that is in a 300 year old colonial mansion. I got a tour of that too. I can see the challenge in trying to compete.


Anyway, the best part of the hostel? Okay, aside from direct TV in every room. The awesome view of Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world. The old mansion didn´t have that view. We walked around the "estate" and saw a few horses, lots of farm land, and a small field of alphalfa, which wasn´t actually part of the gardens(?). After lunch with a view of the volcano and watching her cousins and tios play soccer, the family packed us back in the car and drove us back to Quito. Not as much trivial info coming back, but I did see a man relieving himself on the highway. Not off the highway behind some trees. On the highway.

When they dropped me off, and after I managed to butcher the thanks-yous in spanish I had been practising in my mind for the past 30 minutes, I went back to my room and applied first-aid to my heels. Note to self: break in new kicks before taking them on travel. Flip-flops and bandages now on, I headed out to see what there was to eat. Combos and a bottle of water. Then back to the hostal where I read until 9:30 and passed out. Enough excitement for one day. I needed the rest for class tomorrow. Next time hopefully I will be in on the jokes being made in the car instead of being the source of them.

Pics of the day: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15233918@N00/sets/72157602793384373/