The Chaos of Classes & "Have you been to Bahia my friend?"

Key:
PUCE = Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

IES= My Study Abroad Program

After a week of chaos I finally picked my classes.

"Desarollo Sustentable" or "Sustainable Development" of the PUCE Department of Geography
-The prof randomly didnt show up the first day
-Second day I arrived 10 minutes late cuz i missed my bus. It was okay. The class is all about environmental issues and sustainable development mainly in Ecuador. It looks like a really interesting class.

"Literatura Indigena" or "Indigenous Literature" at IES

-We discussed identity the first day. The point of his first class was that names are important. Some of you may know I have issues with grouping, generalizing, and labeling so I had a lot of arguments forming in my head. I always have a hard time agreeing with my teachers of literature. But this class seems intriguing.

-Im required to take a literature course

"Una aproximación a la teoría y practica de las culturas aborígenes ecuatorianas" aka. Aborigenous Ceramics at PUCE
-This class was cancelled the first day, but no one told us, so me and two other girls searched for the class for about 40 minutes before giving up.
-Taught by this wonderful indigenous man, this class is about studying and recreating ceramics of various indigenos cultures all over Ecuador. Class takes place in a small museum and is 2 classes of theory to 4 classes of sketching and playing with clay.

-Getting my hands dirty and experiencing it is by far my favorite way to learn about cultures.

"Recursos Flora" or Flora Resources of the PUCE Department of Ecotourism and Hotelerism

-Pretty much a Botany class. I believe it includes field trips. I believe we are also going to spend one class going to this other class about drawing flowers. :)
-Ecuador has amazing biodiversity, and a great place to study plants.

"Environmental Diversity of Ecuador" at IES

-This class starts next week, but it should be interesting. I was required to take one of three classes and I chose this one.

Reaching this schedule was definitely an adventure that included jumping buses, being passed up by busses, attempting to call taxis, being overchanrged by taxi drivers, getting lost on campus, not knowing where to find a schedule, not realizing some of my desired classes dont exist, misunderstanding many people, and a healthy dose of embarassment.

This weekend was even more of an adventure. About 17 exchange students in my program decided to go to the beach! We first took a 7 hour bus ride overnight to Bahia (Although the song i reference in the title of this blog is referring to Bahia, Brazil and not Bahia, Ecuador...I still can say I´ve been to Bahia). Then took a boat to San Vicente. Then took a "taxi," that consisted of a motorcycle with a buggy/compartment thing attached to the back that fits two people, to Canoa.

...Ahhhh....Bahía

Our boat. We were happy we didnt sink.

The strangest taxi Ive ever taken.

Canoa is right on the Pacific Ocean and is this wonderful surfer town. On Friday we ate, swam, enjoyed the waves, napped, and went dancing at night. On Saturday a friend and I rented a surfboard for the day, and spent most of the day "surfing" (aka. mainly wiping out). I was pretty good at catching the waves (they were nice waves) and totally stood up a couple times (righteous!). It was the most successful surfing experience Ive ever had. In the afternoon two of my friends rented boogie boards and we all kinda floated out in the ocean past where the waves were breaking. It was beautiful and so peaceful. That night we partyed at a karaoke bar where i sang "Colors of the Wind" and "The Circle of Life" in spanish. I didnt want to sing anything in English, but unfortunately didnt know any of the other Spanish songs.

We didnt pay for lesson, but received plenty of help from enthusiastic locals.

Of course all this beauty and relaxation comes with a bit of pain. I was stung by a jelly fish on my inner thigh, it wasnt too bad. Despite 3 applications SPF 45 very water and sweat resistant sunscreen, my face got scorched. I would like to thank Aunt Karen for my 100% UV protection shirt that I wore while surfing and completely saved by shoulders and back. All the other exchange students werent so lucky. I also have some bug bites despite all the 25% DEET bug spray we used. I have a rash from my surfboard. My muscles are sore from surfing. And my whole body was elecricuted when I accidently touched the shower head of my electric shower. However, I´m okay, still dont have any weird diseases yet, and it was totally worth it.
Our rooms with mosquito netting

Some kind of leaf soothing our burns.

On Sunday, we left our Hotel Paìs Libre in the morning to go to breakfast but quickly turned around cuz we were worried we didnt have enough time before we had to check out. We wound up checking out and then didnt leave the Hotel until sundown. We spent the whole day either napping in hammocks or hanging out with the owner of the hotel, Fabio, and his 25 employee/adopted son, Cèsar. (Cèsar is very popular around town for his surfing abilities) They treated me and my two friends like Queens! We talked a bunch, he gave us these soothing leaves and a chunk of their aloe vera plant for our sunburns, he gave us most excellent lemonade, gave us salsa dancing lessons in their discoteca, played with these adorable month-old puppies, we played pool, and met a bunch of their friends. At sunset we walked up a hill to Cèsars house with two of his friends where there was an incredible view of all of Canoa with the ocean and the sunset in the background. We were good friends by the end of the day and Fabio gave us a ride back to San Vicente and made sure we caught the boat back to Bahia. It was such a nice day, with so many chill people, and none of it was in direct sunlight. :)

This is what you saw after you walked down the very muddy road

Gringos!

Césars friends

Canoa at Sunset