Chiva & Quilotoa

As I come to the final stretch in my time here in Ecuador, I have found myself unfortunately, and finally, swamped with work. However, as I have grown tired of reading endless anthropology articles for a paper I am writing, I will take this opportunity to write a blog post about my past weekend. Because despite the increasing homework loads we are all contending with, it does not stop us from having fun.
On Thursday we participated in an IES tradition known as the chiva. A chiva is like an open air bus. Everyone climbs into the back, music blasts, and the bus drives around Quito, passing through some well known spots. We were told to invite whomever we wanted, and so not only was everyone from the program present, so were many peoples' friends, both American and Ecuadorian, that we had made over the course of the semester. My own Ecuadorian friend Adrian was there as well. It was certainly fun on its own, but it was also a good reflection. Very rarely is everyone in the program gathered in one place, so it was good to see everyone. But moreover it was good to see the greater group of all of our friends. At the beginning we only knew each other. Now we knew so many more people.
On Friday I only worked. But on Saturday I went with my anthropology class on a field trip to an indigenous village called Quilotoa. The trip was fun and relaxing. We hiked down to a lagoon in the middle of a collapsed crater. Most people stuck to the path, but my friend Paul and I of course needed to find a shortcut. After finding a couple of shortcuts that only led to a vertical drop, we finally found a way down into the valley that was off the usual path. We beat everyone else down there. At the bottom, we rented a kayak to take around the lake. It was calm, but the valley was beautiful.
The hike back up needless to say was less fun than the trip down. We had the option of renting mules, but of course, being a man, I forwent that option. By the time I reached the top, my lungs were burning, but I had made it.
That night I learned a new card game, which I couldn't begin to spell, and is apparently played mostly in the midwest. Afterwards, we went outside, despite the biting cold, and looked at more stars than I had ever seen. I saw two shooting stars that night.
Sleeping that night was difficult at first. Quilotoa is incredibly cold, and I slept with six layers and a sweatshirt. The next day, we spoke with some of the indigenous about their lives in the village, which supposedly made the trip anthropology related. And afterwards we went home.
We got back into Quito around one. I went home, where I found my family beginning their mother's day lunch. There was more family than I had ever seen. My usual ecuasiblings, their significant others, and my ecuanephew were there. But my ecuaaunt, ecuacousins, and ecuagrandmother we all there as well, only one of whom I had met. My ecuagrandmother's mind was definitely starting to go, and she treated us to some very funny comments, one regarding how one of my ecuasisters needs to start having children because she's running out of time.
Afterwards I called my own mother, and was able to talk to her. We couldn't talk long, but it was okay because I was going to be back in Dallas in less than two weeks.
And it's true. I will be back in Dallas very soon, and my adventure in Ecuador will be over. It's hard to believe it went so quickly. I am so excited about returning home to see everything that is familiar and see everyone I love. But at the same time, I can't help hoping I end up back here in Ecuador one day.