Chapter Two: Spanish School

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Saying my goodbyes to Jackie was the end of my 1st chapter here in South America. The second started with a man in a white car picking me up from the hostel and driving me to my new home. Whilst taking Spanish classes in Quito, I had chosen to live with a host family for the full three weeks. I was dropped off outside the house and as the car pulled away I walked up to the front gate and rang the bell. Hearing the jingling of keys, as firstly the front door opened and an old woman appeared, seocndly there was a the locked gate still between us that she opened. As I was given no information about the family, I had no idea if this was a house keeper a nanny for the two little children who had materialized from behind her, or if in fact she was a member of the family. It turned out that she was Mrs Bayar, who along with her husband, lived with their son; Miguel and daughter Silvia and their two grandchildren Martina and Valentine.


The house was on three levels, with a living space for Miguel and his fiancé at the top of the house; then at street level there was an open plan living room/dining room/TV room surrounding the kitchen and downstairs there were bedrooms and bathrooms including my room with its tiny bathroom.
The first time I met the whole family was at the evening meal, a meal of soup, followed by rice meat and a lentil sauce. All had been prepared that afternoon and each plateful heated individually in the microwave at time of service, so everyone received their food in staggered intervals. This was something that would remain the same for my whole time there: soup followed by a rice dish with some kind of meat, all reheated before consumption.


As I had arrived on a Thursday I was to go to the Spanish language school the next morning for my first day of classes. Friday morning started with a lukewarm shower at 7am, a breakfast of scrambled eggs coffee or tea with bread (which the norm was to dunk in your hot drink) and then Mr Bayar took me to the bus stop. The bus stop just being the corner of the street where one would just flag a bus down. The bus took me as far as Ave. Colon (the main road next to the hostel that Jackie and I had stayed at), which I had to walk down for about 15 minutes until I reached the school.


The school used to be a small residential mansion but now made for the headquarters of Ecuadorvolunteers.com and the Equinox Spanish School. Upon arriving I completed a test o find out my competency of Spanish, and even with all the stuff I had learned back in Scotland I failed it miserably (which did not dishearten me) and I was put in the beginners program… starting with the alphabet and pronunciation. These morning classes lasted from 8.30am - 12.30am and in the coming days I would make my way through several topics of grammar and Spanish conjugation. In the afternoon classes were primarily geared for conversational practice and vocabulary but at the same time to explore what the city of Quito had to offer in the form of cultural, historical and pastime activities.


The afternoon classes I was joined by another student, Demian from Switzerland, and we were tutored and guided round the city by Silvana. We visited different museums exhibiting indigenous pre-Columbian artifacts, explaining the history and of the Andean area up until the present day, the way of life of local tribes, their customs (human head shrinking being one! To maintain and capture knowledge of the deceased), textiles, trading and food. We visited a ´serpent house´ containing specimens of a variety of venomous and non-venomous snakes from around Ecuador and South America. Some were really quite fascinating in colour and shape, but did not compare to the Anacondas from the jungle.


Silvana, Demian and I also visited some of the famous monument and buildings of the city: the huge statue of the Virgin of Quito overlooking the city to the south; the Presidents Palace and the seat of the Ecuadorian government, with its impressive colonial architecture and displays of gifts from foreign dignitaries; the Basilica which, one could climb several of its towers for beautiful panoramic views of the Quito old town in the south and the modern high-rises in the north. At the top of the east clock tower one was able to squeeze out through a small window to a ledge large enough for one person to sit and dangle their legs over the edge, a pleasant spot to spy out other sites around the town… a perfect opportunity (not found in health and safety conscious Europe) for a photo!


The afternoon of my (official) final day at the school saw all the students (three of us) go to the Teleferico, a cable car which climbs the mountain side high above the city in to the peaks that obscure the last on the setting sun´s rays in the evenings. The view was awesome, as the whole of the city was visible, stretching along the valley no more than 6km wide and about 40km in length.


With regards to the amount of students in the school there were only a maximum of 5 during the period I was there, but for the majority of time there were only three if us, Nikki a girl from Australia also here in Ecuador to do volunteering, Demian and I. We got on very well and were know by the profersoras in the school as ¨los tres amegos¨. I spent my weekend with them seeing different parts of the surrounding country.

The first weekend it was only Demian and I, and we went to Latacunga a town 3hours south of Quito were his sister lived (she had been volunteering there for the last 6 months, found herself an Ecuadorian boyfriend and was planning to stay in the country for good). The four of us went out to eat the local specialty of deep fried pig skin cooked to a crisp…which I did not really like or dislike. We also sampled some of the local ice cream which was pretty good and amazingly fruity. Following the tasting sessions we went for a drive through the countryside and to a beautiful view point were we could see right up ¨volcano valley¨ with Cotopaxi on our right and several more volcanoes on the left (and right) further in the distance.

The second weekend's excursion took us north to Otovalo for the Saturday market, which was about three times larger than the time I had visited it before with Jackie, with every street leading off the main square, packed with stalls and venders. All very lively and again I found myself haggling with stall tenders to buy souvenirs on behalf of Nikki, Demian and a couple of small purchases for myself (a hackie sac and a friendship bracelet).

That night we returned to Quito to sample the nightlife of the Marescal: canolaso (a hot fruity cocktail), live music in the main square, an Irish pub, etc…( oh! And to see some of the Six nation match between Scotland and France). The Sunday saw us leave for the thermal baths of Papayacta, three hours south east of Quito, high up in the Andean mountains where we enjoyed the most amazing complex of 10 pools, ranging from 4 deg C to 46 deg C, set in the fantastic little valley, surrounded by nature and the magnificent backdrop of the mountain which from time to time were obscured by clouds. From there back to Quito we unintentionally hitched a ride, but arrived back safe and sound, only for a couple of guys trying and failing to mug me on the street on my way back to my host families house.

For my last day in Quito I (unofficially) went with Silvana and Demian, - whose last day at the school it was - to the Mitad del Mundo, this time to the ´real´ GPS equator, marked on the ground by a red line in the centre of a small outdoor museum. The highlights of which were the experiments relating to the equator: we saw water drain through a plug hole, swirling clockwise, anti clockwise or not at all, North, South and on the equator line itself respectively. The lack of carioles forces meant that it was possible to balance an egg on a nail head on the equator line (which I managed!). This was a great last day to end my stay in Quito and now my attention was focusing on my volunteering project and the fourth coming month.


P.S.
I know I am wearing the same cloths in nearly every photo, in my defence I don't have a lot of cloths here, they are comfortable and YES! I did wash them occasionally!!! 😊

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