So the last five days have been absolutely amazing! This was the first of two trips that all of the exchangers go on and also the first trip that didn’t include classes of any kind. I met a ton of new people and made friends that I know will last years after we return to our respective countries. Most of the time I was speaking in English but I think the my language skills did improve porque none of the natives spoke English. All of us had about the same comfort level with Spanish, so if you wanted something you had to ask yourself. Over all it was a great time with great people, great experiences and some awesome new dances to show off when I get back.
So the first day was pretty much the same as the first day of Language camp, at least the morning was. I got up super early in order to catch my bus that left at 5:30 in the morning. It was kind of unnerving though because when Jaime, pronounced high-may, told me when we were leaving I got the time right but wasn’t sure about the place. I assumed that it was the same spot as last time but when Paulina and I got there we were the only ones. We were twenty minutes early mind you but even so, there was no one there. I started freaking out to my self and thinking that I would miss my first fun trip because I didn’t know where to meet everyone. The bus arrived right on time though, much to my immense relief. The rest of the students arrived five minutes after that and we were on our way. Now, I hadn’t and still haven’t looked at a map of Ecuador to see where the province of Manabí is but I thought that it was in the south part of the coastal region. I was wrong though because if this was true our bus would have gone down to Riobamba and picked up the kids there but instead we went up to Latacunga like the last trip. From there pretty much the entire bus ride was the same even down to the KFC we stopped at for lunch. I slept for most of the ride because of the ungodly hour at which I got up and the late night I had before that making sure that I had everything I needed packed and ready to go. When the bus got to our hotel though, that was when things were definitely different from language camp. The hotel was not the five star resort that we were so luck to enjoy at the last camp, and instead was what one would call rustic living. The rooms were smaller than my room here and had three beds and four occupants in them. The showers had no hot water, only cold, and there was no pressure behind the water. The showers head faced down just so that you could some semblance of pressure from them. There was a pool though and the dinning area was nice enough with tables outside so that you could enjoy the beach view. The place was clean and it wasn’t like I was afraid for my life but going from the five star, all inclusive hotel we had at Mopiche to this was a stark contrast. So, the time between check in and dinner was spent talking to old friends meeting new people and, of course, dancing. That part was kind of interesting though because it was made clear that the kids from my language camp that were here enjoyed dancing. Most of them had learned how to dance to some of the songs that were played with specific dance moves. It was fun, and I got to meet a couple of new friends who I then continued on to eat dinner with that night. After dinner everyone had to sit through a presentation about the rules of the trip and unlike in Mopiche the presentation was in Spanish. I surprised myself though because I didn’t think I would be able to understand any of it but even if I didn’t understand every single word the guy said the general gist of the rules was not lost on me. Basically there was to be no drinking, someone, or drugs. We were to respect our elders and be punctual to all of the different activities throughout the trip. After that though things got really boring as we had to sit through the presentation of ID cards. Everyone had to go up, say their name, home country and host club here in Ecuador, of course it was all in Spanish. On the schedule we received it said that afterwards we were going to have Karaoke, but the introductions took so long that in the end everyone just went to bed. I shared my room with a girl from the States, a girl from France, and a girl from Alemanea or Germany. The German ended up sleeping in one of her friends rooms and I don’t think she slept in my room once during the entire trip.
Day two was definitely filled with more planned activities but it was still just, if not more relaxed, than the day before. breakfast was at seven but in true Ecuadorian fashion no body showed up until at least 7:30. I somehow managed also to meet up with my friends as they were leaving to eat. After breakfast everyone left for “la boca” or literally translated “the mouth”. It was a beach about forty minutes outside of Crucita where we were staying. The rest of the morning was spent swimming in the ocean, walking along the beach and we also got to take a fantastic boat ride down a river. I didn’t know what we were going to see or do so left my camera on the beach. I regret it. You had to walk about half a kilometer to get to the boats and when we got there they ended up being rickety old things that almost tipped over every time we made a turn. The view though was spectacular. The river banks on both sides were covered in trees and in turn these trees were covered in birds. Every one of them was in a different position. Some sunning themselves others looking for their next meal and still others were demonstrating their dominance. The funny part was all of the leafs underneath the birds were white and one student didn’t have the brains to figure out why. When they asked, the entire boat burst out laughing because it was fairly obvious that it was bird caca that was making the leafs white. The ride was around twenty minutes long and the rest of the morning was spent wave surfing, walking along the beach or just chillin’ in chairs on the beach. We had a snack that consisted of some type of starch ( nobody could tell what it was, it was white, chewier than potatoes, and had no flavor) covered in costal vegetables then wrapped and stemmed in a leaf. I had a very stimulating conversation with one of the other exchange students during this time. It was actually one of the most stimulating conversations I have had since leaving Canada. We debated over the merits and reasoning behind some aspects of religion. We stayed there for another hour before getting back in the buses and heading back to Crucita. Pretty much as soon as we got back it was time for lunch but nobody ate very much since we had eaten less than two hours before hand. We got a little bit of time after lunch to go and check out the different street venders just in-front of the hotel. I didn’t buy anything but it was rather funny to see us gringos bartering and winning against the local vendors. After they called everybody back in I ran and got my camera because I knew that we were going to a lookout point and I didn’t want to repeat my earlier mistake. It took a while but once everyone was ready to go, which included flags and cameras, we set off. It was a bit of a walk but even that was enjoyable when you have over 100 exchange students trying to make their own national anthems heard. It didn’t come as a surprise to me when I could hear both the German and American anthems but I also learned that the French can be very patriotic and extremely loud when they want to be. When we finally got to the top we all took a big group picture with all of flags with a view of the ocean in the background. So many people wanted a picture of it that there was actually a random little kid helping to take them. After that though the German students had the bright idea tie all of the flags together with Ecuador’s in the middle. It worked really well except for the fact that there was so many of them that it was extremely hard to get them all to fit into one picture. Well that, and the fact that the American flag kept coming in contact with the ground. For any other country that wasn’t so bad but I found out during this trip that if an American flag touches the ground you are suppose to burn it. I also didn’t realize before that both their national anthem and their pledge of allegiance are to the flag, their anthem doesn’t even say American or USA in it anywhere. After many, many pictures on top of the point it was time to head back. Somewhere in the middle of the walk down Rotary fed us a snack. I, at least, was very grateful for it since I had burned quite a few carbs on the way up. The way down wasn’t as amusing but I did get a few more pictures of my friends with their flags. The time until dinner was spent pretty much the same way as the day before with some swimming, talking and, of course, dancing. Diner that night included a talent show and so we all ate outside on the dance floor instead of in the dinning room. Their was a lot of people that signed up and some kids signed up as countries to perform. Some of the most entertaining performances were, a dance to cotton eye Joe by the Americans, a dance by the Brazilians, a Bob Marley song by two Americans, and a traditional Japanese dance by the one Japanese girl. At the end of the show the Japanese girl ended up winning but really, it was just a lot of fun for everyone involved. After that the DJ put on some music, we moved the tables and the party began. Most of my friends went to bed but I let go of all my inhibitions and danced my heart out. It was ¡SO MUCH FUN! At some point during the night some of the boys got the brilliant idea (insert sarcasm here) to jump in the pool then get out on the dance floor and get everyone soaking wet. After that though, everyone decided it was best to just jump in the pool ourselves and continue the party in there. Things got really crazy in there when people started surfing the crowd. I’m extremely glad that we were in a pool because more than a couple people would have gotten more than just a few scratches. I think in total we only got about 5 people all the way across the pool without dropping them. The Rotary, in a very kind moment, let us stay up until 12:00 but then, when we got into the rooms all of the lights in the place decided to blow out simultaneously. I’m sure the screams could be heard throughout the city because of that. I kept calm though and got ready for bed by the light of my iPod. Thank you, thank you , gracias, dad for that flashlight app.
Monday was by far the most relaxed day of the entire trip. We had no buses to catch and no specific places to be. One of the more interesting thing happened during breakfast. My table was just finishing our meals when out of the allyway behind us comes a cow. It had no harness or person watching it, which would obviously never happen in Canada. Then out comes, you guessed it, another cow, closely followed by a third. By this time they had everyones attention and s few kids asked us to take their picture with the cows. Unfortunately, all we got was the cow´s behind because they had started eating trash that had come out of the garbage can. I think that this is one thing that will be imprinted in my mind forever, three cows eating trash like street dogs, all with a beautiful beach background.
Pretty much the rest of the morning was spent on the beach or hanging out in a friend’s room. I did however, get to ride on a Banana boat for the first time. In all honesty all it was, was a tube on a short rope being pulled by motor boat in the ocean. It was still tons of fun though. We had to ride it in teams of four because eight people could fit on the boat. My group was first and we had a blast but nobody got thrown off, although our eyes suffered because of the salt water. The second group though, was all kids from France and they got it into their heads to be more adventurous and let go of the hand holds. Needless to say that that didn’t end well. Two of them did full 360 backflips over the back of the tube. No one was hurt though and it looked like they still had a good time. After that I had lunch in nothing but my bathing suit and towel. It reminded me a lot of the first night in Mopiche when I couldn’t get into my room and so I ate in my bathing suit. This time though it wasn’t awkward like it was then and I actually knew the people I was eating with so everything was fine. After that it was back to the beach for another Banana boat ride and to help clean the beach of rocks. I really don’t know why we did this but if it makes Rotary happy than I guess it does something. Not long after that, everyone was called back to the hotel for some much needed time out of the sun. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes after I got into my room though and the activities director was calling us all out to trade pins. This was one if the things I was hoping they would do here that didn’t happen in Mopiche, an organized pin exchange. It wasn’t very organized for me though as I don’t know who gave me what pins. Here’s how it went down. I was one of the first people out there since my cabin is close to the front and I knew exactly where my pins were, in my nice organized binder. As soon as I got out side I stood by a tree so that I had a place to put my bag of collected pins where I knew where they were if I had to leave. I don’t know what I was expecting when I opened my book but I know I wasn’t expecting what happened next. I was swarmed. I don’t mean with like one or two people, I mean I felt like everyone just charged me. It didn’t slow down for what seemed like forever and I the end I had over twenty pins and business cards thrown in the front cover of my bind with no idea which card matched which pin(s). I knew I handent gotten everyone yet so I started wandering and by the end of the pin exchange I had a bag full of pins and cards and a binder that felt about 5 pounds lighter. I managed to fit all of the pins, with pin backs on them, onto my jacket. I still have some that need pins to attach them and I don’t know where I’m going to find them.
And this is after less than three months in country.
It took so much time to put the pins on my jacket that by the time I was done, dinner was being served. We all ate together again but this time instead of a talent show following dinner, we had a scavenger hunt. Each country sent up a representative who had to find all kinds of crazy things. Everything was said in Spanish though so they not only had to find it but also understand what they were to find as well. Some of the funnier things included, a white bra, black boxers, a spoon(some people took them from people that were still eating), and black socks. The first three countries to hand in their items got a point. Because of this, all of the clothing items were taken from the bystanders. Yes, this even includes the black boxers. Austria ended up winning but Canada got one point so I was happy. Once the winner was declared we were all herded down to the beach for a campfire. It wasn’t what I was hoping for as no one sang any camp songs and I was too intimidated to start one on my own. It was good though, some groups sung their national anthem and some people just hung out on the beach talking and enjoying the fire. I think that everyone was tired though, after a full day of sun, sports and pins. Again, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow that night.
I know that this is blog entry is ‘tagged’ pictures and I have included only one, but this is from my iPod right now and I haven’t had the chance to download the pictures from my camera onto the computer yet. As soon as I do there will be more pictures here in order to help with the vicarious living you are doing through me. 
exchange students with flags proudly flying, on top of the look out spot.
