My first clubbing experience

So, I haven't posted anything in a few days and I have to catch up!

8.16.08......Day 4

On Saturday morning, I woke up early because I was planning on going to go to La Mitad del Mundo (the Equator Monument) with Caroline and Grace, but I decided not to becuase I wanted to sleep more, and I didn't feel like taking a trip out of the city. So I called up Imogene to see what she and Sierra were up to, and they said they were meeting everyone else around 12 to go to the market and explore the city more. That sounded like fun, so I decided to come along. 

I decided to walk the 12 blocks to school to get some exercise, plus I wanted to accustom myself to the city and the streets a little more. The walk was okay, but I didn't notice a single other gringo on my way there, which was a little unnerving. I've never been a minority before, and now I know what it feels like. It's really not a comfortable feeling. It's funny, I totally feel like I stand out, mostly because my clothes are different. But I definitely keep a low profile, and the way I dress must not be very appealing to Ecuadorian men, because I haven't been harassed at all! Love that. That would be a whole other aspect of my life here that would just make me uncomfortable, but thankfully I don't have to deal with it. I must not look too much like a foreigner... maybe it's the Spaniard in my blood. 

So I got safely to La Católica (the university) and soon everyone else showed up and we made our way to the artisan market again (Yay!). This time while I was there, Sierra and I slowly viewed the jewelry at every booth, and I bought 2 pairs of very pretty earrings for practically nothing, along with a pretty cool Ecuadorian bag. At one booth, we made friends with an Ecuadorian guy who passionately went on and on about his time spent living in El Oriente (the Amazon jungle part of the country), among the Indigenous people. He told us about all the crazy animals he saw and the traditions and culture of the Oulas (the people he lived with). He was very nice and asked for my email so he could send me pictures...I know, sounds sketch, but honestly, what can he do with an email address?

After about 20 minutes of talking with this guy (I forget his name!), and multiple worried calls from out friends, Sierra and I finally met back up with them and continued on our exploration. We were wandering around and came across a huge, beautiful Catholic Cathedral, which I later learned was called El Santo Teresita (I think that's right). We went inside and were blown away by the beautiful gothic arches and colorful stained glass windows. After taking pictures (quietly), we all sat down to take in the awe and spirituality that we were feeling just being in there. I wouldn't call myself a "religious" person, but the beauty and scope of that Cathedral definitely put a calming and spiritual feeling in my soul :)

After the church experience, we began the mission of finding something to eat. After wandering around following Max's instincts of where he thought a cafe was, we finally found a place to eat. Unfortunately, when we went inside and after we sat down, we learned that they were out of food. It was about 3 in the afternoon, after the Almuerzo (lunch) hour, which is the biggest meal of the day here, and happens around 1 or 2. We stayed anyway and a couple people ordered Pilsner (the choice beer of Ecuador, which I do not have a taste for). Everyone else got water. When the beer was finished, we left to find a place to eat, and it started raining. 

The rain here is basically like the rain in Oregon. The weather in general is very similar to that of Washington. Just because we're on the gosh darn Equator doesn't mean we're going to have lovely weather, thanks to the topography. So, we found a restaurant called Mi Playita, which means my little beach, which serves seafood. Everyone's appetizer was a bowl of popcorn and salty banana chips, which was strange and not really that enjoyable. The menu consisted of soup, rice, or types of fish and seafood, and combinations of all those. I ordered a plate which I forgot the name of that had fried fish, rice, and fried banana and potato biscuit type things which are salty but kind of sweet at the same time, and need something to go with them for flavor. The platters are served with limes surrounding all the food (for flavor I guess). It took kind of a long time for our food to come, and not all of it came at the same time, which made us really appreciate the skill of restaurants in Los Estados Unidos. When the last plate arrived, I finally got to enjoy my food. The fish was very flavorful, and  it tasted good to mix the fish, banana thing and rice all together, doused in lime. 

After our meal, we left and started back to all of our individual houses to rest before going out on the town Ecuador style. My host sister hadn't told me the details yet, but she said we would probably meet up around 9 in La Mariscal district, in La Plaza Foche, which is called Gringolandia. It took my host sister forever to get her act together and call her friends and tell me where we were going to meet, but we finally figured it out, and my host mom drove us to la Plaza. It was 10 o'clock and I couldn't believe how much traffic and people were out in that area. I guess it's the happening place. And it was TOTALLY Gringolandia--I hadn't seen so many non-Ecuadorians in one place before then. We sat down at a restaurant that was playing American music videos from the 80s: we heard a little bit of Queen, Rod Stewart, Eurythmics, and more music that I just love, so I was happy. We all ordered Pilsner pints to share in pairs, although I only drank probably a quarter of one. I've decided I'm just not going to drink from now on, because I dislike beer so much and  I NEVER want to compromise my safety with alcohol. Plus, I think it's kind of a waste of money. 

Anyway, after chilling at that place for a while, we decided we would leave and drink another Pilsner then find a club para bailar (dancing)! The brother of the boyfriend of one of the girls in my program was with us, so he was showing us around the area. Something that's cool about being here and hanging out with these people is that we speak English and Spanish to each other. In oregon, I never really felt comfortable using my spanish outside of class, but here you kind of have to use it everywhere so when we Oregonians are together, we are just used to speaking spanish, and want to practice it, so we speak both. I like it. We also had to speak spanish to communicate with our Ecuadorian friend Adrien. 

Something that I thought was funny was that there were police all around, patrolling the area to supposedly enforce laws and keep things safe, but they actually don't really care. For example, it's illegal to drink on the streets here, but everyone was doing it anyway, right next to the policemen. The law can be bent here, I guess, which is probably why there is so much crime....

So! The club we finally decided on (after Annie and I followed Adrien into the cheapest club there was, only to learn that it was probably the sketchiest club around, which had 80% men, most of whom looked like big creepers) was one that had about 50% gringos in it and played amazing electronica, techno, and alternative music, along with some hip hop, reggaton and salsa. We danced to songs like Sandstorm, Relax Take it Easy, some Justin Timberlake, and Nelly Furtado. It was totally awesome. Techno/electronica is totally my favorite music to dance to. 

After a few hours of intense dancing we left the club drenched in sweat and smelling like smoke (EW. A lot of people smoke here), we sat outside figuring out how we were going to get home. It was about 2 am and there were indigenous children on the street trying to sell chicle (gum). I felt so bad for them! They needed to be at home in their beds! After I told one girl that I don't have any money, she began admiring my rings and sweetly begging for one of them. I obviously said sorry, no. We finally figured out what was going on and they all walked me home (my house is only about 6 blocks from La Plaza). It was a very fun night, but I was upset that my clothes smelled so bad because it's a hassle to do laundry here. I went to sleep and that was that!