Paty and Nathan in Quito

Ecuador takes Easter seriously.  This morning Paty and I went to the Good Friday Procession, a tradition here and in many countries in Latin America.  What we saw was a half-hour long parade consisting of bands, Jesuses carrying crosses (some of them VERY big), and about 2,000 cucuruchos which marched through the old town.  I had seen pictures of these in movies before, but never in real life.  The cucurucho costume comes from traditional Spain where people who were condemned to death or were accused of religious crimes were forced to don them as a form of public humiliation.  In this procession the costume represents the penitent souls of the church who march with Jesus to the cross.  People walked barefoot through the streets, wearing crowns of thorns, carrying religious icons and performing various forms of self-flagellation (whipping themselves with lashes made of leather or poisonous plants, wrapping their bodies in barbed wire, chaining their feet and, as we saw, even wearing crosses made of cactus against their bare skins.  To someone not from this culture, it all seemed medieval and barbaric on the one hand and somehow strangely beautiful (or at least powerfully significant) on the other.  Thousands of people lined the streets of downtown Quito to watch.  After the procession, Paty and I met up with her cousins, aunts and grandparents to eat the traditional Easter dish “fanesca,” a thick soup with 13 different grains which is now my favorite Ecuadorian food.  Too bad they only have it once a year! 

The month of October just flew by.  We started it with the celebration of our 2nd wedding anniversary.  On that day (a work day), we decided to go hiking to a nearby lagoon that was formed centuries ago by a river of volcanic rock that flowed all the way down from a volcano about 8 miles away.  Carlitos was our guide, as usual, and we had a great time climbing rocks all morning and trying not to get crushed by loose rocks.  The view was wonderful and the place incredibly peaceful.  We were the only ones in the whole reserve.  I found a baby calf on the way there and it was the cutest thing.  Unfortunately, I did have to work that afternoon so we had to rush out of the reserve and I had a loooong and tiring afternoon of teaching English grammar.  My birthday came and went and we ended up spending that night at my cousin's graduation party.  That Sunday, my friend Andrea organized a birthday lunch for me.  Then it was time for Halloween again and my dress-up fever came back full strength.  However, we don't have all the props and wigs that we had access to in the U.S. here and, even worse, we have no thrift stores! So, for the first time we found ourselves at the costume rental place.  We ended up buying the only thing that did not include a pair of "Ecuadorian-size" pants (which would not go below Nathan's knees), a cloak.  So, we also got some face paint and I did our make up.  Believe it or not, that dress I wore is just part of my normal tango wardrobe... hum.  My co-workers at the party did not recognize me, so I felt like we did a good job at dressing up!!

Ok, so while I have to teach in a ghetto style building surrounded by cars honking, smog from buses and plain chaos in the middle of downtown Quito, my dear husband has to teach at a beautiful, new, spacious and full of nature campus in the valley of Cumbaya.  Talk about luck!  With those surroundings and teaching meditation, yoga and the like, you can already tell who's not going to be aging any time soon and who's going to look like a raisin in the near future!!...

Anyway, Nathan did complain about the fact that I always end up having the "down and dirty" urban experience and he ends up in a tidy and almost sterile private environment (just like Georgia State and Emory universities).  But, I really think that in this case he can't really complain too much.  We've posted some pictures of the main sections of the campus where he teaches or takes his tai-chi classes.  The views around campus are great too!  I might dare to take some pictures of my campus, which would pretty much be one building in the middle of a busy street in downtown.  UDLA (Universidad de las Americas) has been here for only a few years and they had to squeeze themselves into a group of buildings that were previously used for housing, so, they're all scattered inside one neighborhood and their facilities are just not ideal.  However, it is a good university and they're paying for our food, so, I like it!!  I'll share more about my teaching experience once it starts next Monday (yikes!).

So we finally made it out there to the Andes.  Our friend, Carlitos took us to the latest city project, the cable car that goes up the Pichincha volcano, the main mountain inside the city.  From there, we went on a 2 hour hike (we have to start slowly) to the first tower, which is about a third of the way to the summit of the mountain.  We were at 12,000 feet!! We were very proud of ourselves for making there on such a steep road, with such a cold wind and in not the best physical condition.  The day was a little cloudy so we couldn't see all the volcanoes around the city, but we'll be back there to take pictures on a clear day.  This was a short but very successful outing and even though I was 20 minutes late for my English class at Berlitz, I didn't regret it because it was totally worth it.  We've also continued to attent this milonga at this very cool, hippie and liberal coffee place, called Cafe Libro.  Although the floorcraft can be deemed no less than chaotic and almost lethal, the people are very nice and it's a cool atmosphere.  We've kept getting requests to start teaching but are still not interested.  The last thing that happened during these last weeks was my "baby shower" cake project for a friend from college.  We made 50 edible favors (pina colada cake cubes wrapped in white chocolate and with the baby's initial on top) and 4 big baby blocks in four different flavors to feed 50 people.  I also sculpted a chocolate bear to place on top of the cubes.  There were several nights of little or no sleep, even with my friend Andrea's help, but it was pretty cool and one of my favorite projects.  You should come visit so you can try some vary taste cake!!!

It was fast, but it wasn't easy.  So we've finally settled in the even deeper south, Quito.  The beginning was a little bumpy.  Being back here by myself took some getting used to, but after I got started on all the to-do things, I didn't even have time to think about it.  Then, one sweet day it was time to go get my dear husband from the airport!  He waltzed out of the baggage claim area holding a new dvd player in one hand (I had already broken the new one I brought down) and pushing a cart with a gargantuan amount of luggage with the other.  We stayed at my grandparents' for a week and a half and then took advantage of the first long weekend to haul all of our stuff (dogs, cats, baking stuff and all) down to the valley house.   So, we've been here for a couple of weeks and our biggest achievement so far has been getting the internet service installed.  We're definitely losing the battle against dust; by the time we are done cleaning one part of the house the rest has already gotten dirty again!  I guess it will take a while to get in the rhythm of it.  We've also gotten some outside repairs done but that is definitely a never-ending job!  Now we're getting ready to start our new jobs.  Nathan will have his first "Self-knowledge " class tonight, fully in Spanish, and with a group of about 20 people.  I am still working at Berlitz but will be soon given a final schedule at Fulbright and will have to quit Berlitz.  Classes at the Universidad de las Americas will start on October 1st, I'll be teaching four courses.