Whats New? Santana!

I just had an Amazing Weekend. Fausto finally made it up to Quito. He has been taking in college something that pretty much translates into diplomacy and international relations. We spent the weekend waiting in the rain for a Santana concert and then exploring the historic district.
Saturday was a very interesting day... we spent it huddled in the rain as the first people in one of the 3 doors to get into the concert. We got there at about 2 P.M. literally just before the pooring rain. If anyone can imagine the crazy summer rainstorms that randomly show up... well it was like that except a lot colder. We were literally in inches of water. We managed to buy an umbrella and ponchos from some vendors which partially covered us. Adam showed up with the tickets at about 4. We waited and slowly watched the lines fill up... We were super lucky to have gotten right in front. At 6 they opened the doors. I sprinted into the next line to enter the colesseum. We wait for a few minutes and we are in! We sprint into the colluseum and pick out some great seats off to one side but much closer than if we had sat directly in line with the stage. The stadium slowly filled up, we amused ourselves by making paper airplanes from the free posters. At 8 a band called Prime Ministers played... they weren't that great but we still enjoyed it by dancing and scaring everyone around us. At about 8:30 or 8:45 Santana showed! He walked out with a green poncho and one of his classic white hats. The rest of the concert was an epic blur... all the members of the band were great. The drummers were amazing, they had a trap set and a couple of guys playing congo drums. Santana of course threw down some solos and a couple of great improve songs. The concert was a total success, we had a blast! Everyone that I know who went were just as stoked! That was the biggest concert I've ever been in. The energy was amazing, it was a mix of young people and adults. Adam and I danced like there was no tomorrow... we definatly recieved our fair share of funny looks! I now have such an appreciation for Santana, the guitarist and the band, they trew it down and made an amazing show!

Stuff

So I actually thought that there wasn't a mail service here... but there is... so late in coming here is my address for the good ol' snail mail.

Av. Ilalo, Calle Rio Paztasa y Rio Corrientes, Conjunto La Viña, Casa #6
Quito- San Rafael, Valle de los Chillos
Ecuador

So, I know that it works, my brother has been sending my family stuff from Germay, so I have Confidance in the mail system. So ya... sorry about not getting this out sooner but better late than never (you wouldn't believe how many times I hear this expression from my sister...)
So... I'm still doing a good job being lazy. But, whats new, I got a whopping 40% on my last math test. I have a boilogy quiz on carbohidrates and lipids. Oh, I'm going to learn how to do blood tests. In ecuador they are really big on the poop, pee, and blood tests. There is actually a Clinical Laboratory in my school. So I had to collect smaples of everything and had it all tested. So in biology we are going to learn how to take blood and then run it through a bunch of machines to sample it... and then later maybe with poop and pee! weee, anyways we practiced last week with oranges and syringes that we bought in a drug store (can you even buy syringes?), I'm a little scared actually, but it is becuase I'm going to have to be taking the blood from my sister... were partners... and, well, this is a little sticky... I'm afraid of the concequences.
I have a soccer game tomorrow, we are in the tournament, we won our last game and we had just enough points to enter the tournament. So here we go, I'm stoked, I played well but I don't have goal painted on my forehead like my coach says that I need. I just am always looking for passes first, I missed a great opportunity for a goal.
I was practicing Capoeira on friday with my teacher, his brother and another crazy kid named pancho, who is insane... well all of them are. They throw down the flips ike nothing and are frustrated at times becase their backflip 360°'s aren't perfect and stuff like that... anyways I just was working on backflips... I have some real confidance problems, with reason, the bother of my teacher practically killed me. The short of it is that I fell prety good on my head. I did such a good job of taking care of my body... but whatever, I'm a walking wreck.
My house is all decorated! We have a fiber optic tree... seriously. I bought a tie with my sister for my dad and I'm still short presents for the rest of my family. My mom is in another one of the houses in our apartment, the 9 days before christmas all of the neighbors are meeting in different houses to do a celebration for the birth of Jesus.
Ok there was a nice short update, big thanks to all those who are reading and especially commenting! thanks everyone!

Soccer

So tommorow I have a soccer game, if we lose we will be out of the running, period, tommorow will be our last chance. My teams record is bad, we have lost 2 or 3 times and tied once. Our problem is really stamina, we just don't play strong the whole game. I hope that we win and am excited, I really don't want to lose, not really for me but for my friends and coach. The last game he walked away after the game and didn't say anything to the team, he was pissed. I'll continue this post tomorrow with the results.

So we Won!!!! 2-1 finally, we recieved a very tense pep talk before the game from the coach and a kid who is on the teams dad. I am glad that my dad was never this serious about winning. Anyways, I didn't play which was a bummer... but I was chearing and screaming with the other 11 players on the sideline. The rules here only permit 4 substitutions, so it is definatly difficult to play. Claudio didn't play either. The score was 0-0 after the first half, but we scored once, they returned it, to tie it up. And in the last five minutes one of our players had a perfect shot which put us in the lead and finally... to win a game! So we will keep on going! we can't lose another game or we will be out of the championship, the pressure is on and I think that the team is finally ready to win.
I want to share a funny story, I have never seen anything like this in a soccer game at this level. One of our players took a player on the other team out. As he was on the ground clutching his leg another player on my team expertly pegged him with the ball... It really was comical, the kid falls, he's down for 3 seconds and gets hit with a soccer ball. The ref gave him a yellow and play went on, right after their free kick the wistle was blown again, and another yellow was diched out... to the same player. I didn't see it but when I asked what he did he just said "I punched him," so I'm not quite sure what he did, but his attitude was well whatever. It was jsut a little weird.

Quitenos know how to Party! part 1

So these last week was fiestas de Quito, celebrating the founding of Quito, it was from the 28 of November till 6 of December. It was wild, imagine a city that is all united for one cause, a huge party to shake the planet. I went to two bull fights on monday and thursday. And went out three nights this last weekend. The first things to note are the flags, for the week there were the flags of Ecuador and Quito flying everywhere. There are tons of songs... I of course picked up the songs that have to do with the youth. The whole week was really fun.
The first thing I can remember was watching the bike race down the Panecillo. There were many competitions for the festival, the bike race I only caught on TV but it was crazy! The Panecillo is a little mountain in the south of Quito, I actually went there on my first night. There is a big statue of the Virgin on top. It actually has a nativity scene on top right now, there ia a giant lighted nativity scene for christmas. It was lit up for the first time on the 28, I was in the car and actaully watched as the lights went on. There was also a lighted sign that said, ¡Viva Quito!. At the same time the smiling face off Jupiter, Venus and the cresent moon was But it is really steep, and cobblestoned. On Tv it looked so gnarly... flyinging from street to street and crazy scetchy landings like staircases... it was wild, again I was thinking of you Ben, and when you saw downhill biking in Viseu.
So the first weekend was uneventful, but on monday I went to Los Toros, the bullfight. The fair here is the best in the Americas. There were some of the best matodors in the world. I want everyone to know my reasons for going, I've never seen a bullfight and it is a deeply ingrained part of the culture here. Anyways so I skipped school on monday and met Adam at the plaza at about 9:30. We couldn't buy tickets and had to go to the scalpers. THey were everywere, and we couldn't find any tickets for cheaper than $25. Well we didn't really have an idea what we were doing so we bought our tickets and waited to enter, they would let people in at 10, we also learned that the bullfight wouldn't start until 12 so we had plenty of time to kill. We entered at 10 and walked around as preperations were being made for the after party, there were many... wow I cannot remember the word, just in spanish, if you know spanish carpas but I'm stumped... anyways Im talking about big outdoor tarps, and I can't remember the name. Anyways there was one for Brahma, a beer company, one for Wine, a healthcare company, and lots of booths selling spanish style sandwhiches, I was very tempted to buy a sandwhich with real jamón but I bought a cheaper sandwhich to bring into the plaza. Adam and I cruzed around watching people make the corn empanadas, sandwhiches and packaging wine and beer so that it can be easly brought into the plaza. We were recomended to enter early, so we did, we learned a couple of things as we entered. The first was that the doors have names, Sol, Sombra, sun and shadow, have no real meaning. The place is a round ring and the bullfight starts at 12, I'm about 25 from the Equator so as you can imagine the sun was directly over head. The other thing was the error in our intelligence, in our hurry to buy tickets we bought tickets completely seperate from each other... Well whatever we thought we'll work it out. As we sat down to take in the scenery I caught sight of Lorenz, he is another Rotary exchange student from Germany, he is easy to spot... as easy as Adam, he's a redhead, anyways he is really cool, we shared a class during my two week crash course in spanish that didn't teach me anything. He was with a friend from school. They had bought the tickets the week before hand and got them for 4 days. We talked as I was admiring the bullring. After the toros del pueblo, what I went to in August in Sangolquí. That was the place where the ring was breaking on us... anyways it was a circle about 50 meters across with two white painted rings in the dirt about 10 and 12 meters into the ring. The structure was concrete and we were seated quite far away from the ring, but the elevation gain made a good view. We waited as the ring filled up, our group of four creeped around and sat where there was space, slowly but surely people would come up, stick their tickets in our faces and tell us that we would have to move. But we found a spot for the beginning of the fights. There would be 3 matadors and 6 bulls, we would see every matador fight with two bulls.

Ok, Soy Vago

I really haven't posted anything interesting lately and it is long over due. I am just going to point everyone in the direction of Adam's blog, he does a good job of cronicaling stuff, which I don't so. Everyone should read the post labeled Pululagua and the one about the bull fights because I may never get to it...
Two weeks ago I went to a river called Morinuco with my family. There is a waterfall that is relatively famous. And it is close to my house. It is passed Sangolquí, which is a city in the same valley but a little farther away from Quito. We made a couple of wrong turns but finally got to the Morinuco cabañas which is a hostal of sorts for visitors. We parked our car and started walking down to the river. We passed the lodge which has soccer, and vollyball fields. We continued down the trail, stopping to look at the river below. There was a turn off to a smaller waterfall whcih we bypassed to the entrance to the second, it was a big wall with three paintings, each had a name above it: Big Adventure, Medium Adventure and Small Adventure... So we paid a couple of bukcs and entered the place. There were some benches, another soccer field and a wooden play structure, bathrooms and a restaurant.There was a guide who explained to us the adventures we could embark on. There was the Small adventure whci would take about 30 minutes, the medium about an hour and the big adventure 2 hours. There was a map and the guide explained all of the places we could go to. All had some name like Eden, Little Cotopaxi, Girls Waterfall's and odd things like that. We were wtold that there were high levels of energy in two places, the waterfall, which is 50 meters and pyramid rock. Anywasy, the guide made the place seem like it was full of magic and new things to be discovered... but with all of the labels I wasn't so sure.
We began walking down the trail towards the river, the first place that we came to was a rock that extended out into the water, there was a tiny little rope swing and not much else... this was the place called Eden. We continued walking along the river to another spot that had another name like the last and was non-descript. There were some people following us so we continued along rapidly. The third place that I can remember was the sport fishing pond... sport fishing is where there is a tiny pond full of trout and you can pay to catch one. Passed that was little cotopaxi... which was a tiny rock painted with white to make it look like a mountain on the other side of the river...
This river was really cool, I was thinking of my Dad and Ben the whole time. There are some crazy repids. Falls, chutes, closing holes... I definatly noted rapids at class 3 or 4. The water was funneled in between rocks and made some really wild rapids. The rapid at Little Cotopaxi was about a 50 foot rapid which fell about 25 feet in the same space, with the river about half the width. At the end was a drop and a closing hole. On the other side of the river was a sign that said only good swimmers should swim there.
Continuing on we passed two guys fishing for trout with minimal equipment, a stick, wooden leader hook and line. We saw a series of small waterfalls which were named Girls Waterfalls, they seemed to be springs that were running down the canyon walls. The pyramid rock was a real let down. It was a rock in the middle of the river shaped like a pyramid, but some one dumped white paint over it so it wouldn't be missed and painted letters for the four directions. We then crossed the threshold to the big adventure, there was a sign making sure that we wouldn't forget. But really... before that we had to cross the river as it widened out. When the water is low you wouldn`t have to do this but we did. We got there at the same time as a family that had drunk to much, a couple of the men and women were drunk... it was really stupid. My family crossed without incident. I walked the rest of the way without my shoes. We caght sight of the falls about ten minutes later. It was huge, the wet wind could be felt really far away. The day was overcast and was like 60º F. So I definatly felt the cold. My sister told me that we could walk around the other side of the waterfall, so I stripped to my shorts and hat...
If anyone remembers the hat I always wore, it is still the same. My mom made it for my brother and I started wering it... hopefully he doesn't mind. But it has some real value for me. I'm always fighting with the inspectors at my school over the use of my hat. Anyways, I never wash it, it gets wet, smells bad and is good again. So I wore it to wash it with a mixture of energy and water power. Just walking towards the falls was amazing. The bottom of the water fall wasn't very deep. So this attributed to the cray water works. I was soaked before I got within 50 meters. There are rivers of water forming from the water that is collecting on the rocks. At about 25 meters I crossed over the ock barrier and the winds were crazy, at this point I couldn't walk and look at the falls. There weren't any more plants, wate wind and rock. I took of my hat because it wasbeing blown off of my head. I put my hand in front of my face, the water collected on the other side and the wind blew the droplets into my face... I stood behind the falls and my sister was off to one side. The power of the waterfall was amazing. I was completely drenched. We returned to my mom and dad where it turned out that my sister hadn't brought any jacket. So my dad gave her his. I shared my last mojo bar with my sister and we walked back. When we returned to the gate we bought choclo, which is corn on the cob but with another specie of corn. It was a really fun adventure to share with my family. We got back to the house tired and happy. The waterfall had blown away the bad energy!

Not So Swell

So I wanted to wait just to be sure but... my Ipod was stolen on Tuesday. I put it in my backpack during my soccer practice, and put my backpack on the bleachers. When I got back someone had stolen my Ipod. I've put up notices around my school offering a reward, but I probably won't get it back. I'm definatly hopeful, the thing is that Ipods here are worth $400 USD so it definatly makes it a worthwhile item to steal. I'm not sad about the Ipod but all of my music... definatly is a bummer. It isn't the only incedent either, today a bunch of kids in 3rd year(Freshmen) had there cellphones stolen from their backpacks in the classroom. I just never thought that I had to guard my things in school...
Today is Thanksgiving so I'm just going to say thanks to everyone who is reading my blog. Thanks to my family and friends and thanks to this amazing expirience. I hope that with these few words everyone understands that I'm really so blessed anbd completely thankful. Life is good, I have all the things I need and more. I'm living an expirience of a lifetime and soaking it up!
These past two weeks weren't that interesting as far as school goes. Besides my Ipod being stolen... Last week my team lost the soccer game. But 3-4, so it wasn't horrible. And I played for about 20 minutes, it turns out that my shoes are horrible, I bought shoes for grass, not hard packed dirt. All of the highschool games are played at "The Hole" and whover governs the interschool play has decided to eliminate matenance and scrape off the grass... I miss NMP. I got my sweats for soccer today and they are super nice, but excesively hot, there like flanel. I'm going to roast, It is never cld enough to wear both the top and bottom.
Today all of the kids in BI, my special program wen't to the one of the cities sports centers to cheer on our basketball team. We won but the no one from the other teams school shoed up so all of our yelling was pretty pointless. I did learn that I have a lasting impression on the 4th year BI. There are a bunch of kids on the soccer team from that class, there are 4 of them who are good friends and they remind me of the mini four. But I would just start yelling and cheering and jumping around and they would just clear out... I'm only like twice their weight... But they are fun and I ended up spending most of the game talking with them.

Senorita de Deportes y Desfile! and Sunday

Ok so the weekend before last was pretty crazy... During the week there was a competition for the Senorita de deportes, it was interesting becuase every class picked a girl to represent and then there was a competition. The day of the competition every class had a list of ten people who were going to enter the theater and support their Senorita de Deportes. I was on the list but Adam wasn't and we were only allowed ten. So when a kid from another class came and asked for our ten people to leave the room, I quickly told him to count off eleven and to let Adam through too. Once we had left the class the general inspector was waitting at the door counting how many were entering from each class, somehow Adam with his blonde hair passed without a problem... once in we were herded up to the balcony with all of the other seniors and juniors... the actual show was pretty boring. Seriously... like 80% of the girls said for their interests: I like to dance and listen to music... every single one... anyways our class was out at the first cut and I don't know which class actually won. But on saturday I was the gentleman for the parade. There was some confusion and Claudio, the exchange student from switzerland was the gentleman too. Adam and Nick were the mascots! Our class is really boring if I hadn't explained that before, we got these shirts for this and the internal sports championship but they are the worst of all that I saw. I ripped the neck as I put it on my head, probably about half the class did the same. Things here are faked all the time our shirts have a Nike symbol but they aren't Nike obviously. Other classes had real Addidas and Kappa shirts, we just got shafted by the bad planning of our class, there were also numerous errors in our shirts. I recieved 111 not 11. Anyways I didn't have to wear mine becuase I was in my monday uniform. We walked around the track with Adam and Nick dancing in a Pooh and Tigger costume. But all of the other classes had skits or dances planned and did these in fron of the judges, but we just walked on by, without a song or an idea... my class is lame. But anyways it was cool to see what the other classes had done! After the parade, everyone went back to the school yard where some classes were selling food... and beer! 1 liter of pilsner, the national drink for one dollar! I saw a kid who rides my bus, he's 12, drinking a beer! This place is crazy! I asked nick If I could return the costume for him becuase I wanted to wear it! Adam and I put the costumes on... which I quickly learned are horribly uncomfortable and hot! We went down to the center of the school yard and danced to the music trying to get people to dance... but we failed horribly! So we left and went to Los Shyris, one of the main streets in Quito and decided that we were going to go native and dance in the steets for money. It was an expiriment and an expirience that we both wanted to do! So we asked another kid from our school if he could guard our backpacks and take photos! He agreed and we hit the streets, we did it for only 10 minutes, about 7 stoplights, we ran out into the street durin the red lights, danced for about 20 seconds, did handstands and cartwheels and the ran to the cars and asked for money in the 10 seconds that we had left. I think we made like $2.50! It was really a fun expirience, after we were done we gave the money to the kid who was taking the photos and walked to the store where Adam and Nick had rented the costume and returned them! Definatly a good day. Sunday was interesting, I went to Parque de La Carolina, which is alongside Los Shyris. My sister and I left our house and headed there, there wasn't anyone practicing Capoiera so we decided to put up my slackline. Finally two other people showed up, a little kid and his family and another adult. We were all beginners and so we just kinda messed around. I practiced some flips and can now do a sideflip! Adam showed up and at about the same time my sister left because she felt a little sick. Adam and I worked on backflips, helping eachother out and handstands. He went to go and skate and we met up later. I met two new people in the park, one was an ex-practicioner of Capoiera. He is really cool and I got his number, right now he focuses more on the music and he dances Samba. The other person I met was a girl who was interested in Slacklining and Capoiera. She watched for a little bit and then practiced a little with us. My slackline became an attraction I didn't expect. A bunch of kids and adults who juggle, ride unicycles and do other things in the streets for money. They all wanted to try the slackline, Adam and I were amazed, the kids seemed very adult like, I guess when your working in the streets for money you grow up fast. They moved in a gang but were completely disorganized, it was crazy trying to get them to take turns on the slackline! These people are very interesting, there is a whole subculture, they dress in brightly colored patched cloths, have oddly cut and dyed hair, I assume this is to attract attention in the streets. I have seen some of the same poeple a couple of other times. I guess that around the park is there turf. They are all really nice and they remind me of hippies, they would fit right in at Country Fair for sure! It was a fun day! When I left there were about 30 people practicing and showing off on and along side my slackline! How cool, I'm definatly going to try and pick up some of their juggling skills!

Looong school update! and more¡

Two weeks ago I had a real interesting expirience. On Thursday my inspecter came into the room and told us that we were going to a science fair in Conocoto. Conocoto is south of Quito, and north of where I live. It is situated on the edge of the valley. So the two classes hopped into two school busses and headed south. The school busses here are like charter busses in the U.S. All of the busses here really are better than what is found in the states... the only problem is that they can be uncomfortable becuase of my size. It was a military school, I'm not really sure what the difference is except that their summer break is from december to february. This is becuase all of the military schools in ecuador need to be on the same time. On the coast the schools are opposite of here... so all of the military schools are the same. Anyways, there school was more spread out with bunker like buildings. Adam and I were ushered into one of the rooms where there was about four ore five tables set up with science expirements. These really weren't what you would expect from a bunch of high schoolers. There were some really wild expirements, distilling alcohol, making wine, smoke machines, some really wierd thing with kidney stones... anyways it was really crazy, I sampled the alcohol and everything, one group had me mix an acid with my bare hands exposed. Essentially it was way better than any science fair in the U.S. plus there was tons of food, we ate granola cookies, cake and some other weird stuff. Anyways... the funniest thing was that we started being followed by groups of girls. We were aked to have our photos taken a few times and the floodgates were opened. There were girls trying to sneakly take photos with their cell phones, others would wait and ask for photos. THe whole thing was crazy, at first it was amusing, I've definatly had girls ask for my photos before but it became ridiculous. We were probably the main attraction, the thing was... the majority of the girls were from schools run by nuns, these schools are probably deathly boring because the dress code is really strict and they are only one gender. These schools also never take exchange students... all these factors kinda explain why they were like locusts... Adam and I ran at a couple of moments. After Adam and I were stuffed and had probably about a hundred photos taken we boarded the bus to head back to school. This is when some of my readers are going to cringe but I'll explain before I begin my stoy... So my school is crazy, the general inspecter does nothing but yell at me... take of your hat!, whay are you out of the classroom?, tuck in your shirt!, etc. Then I have to deal with my classes inspector. I don't know if this was clear but my program has four different classes. I'nm in a special program which is an International program. So, I have one inspector for four classes, everyone calls her la bruja, which is the witch. She is new to the school and seems to make it clear that under her watch we will be the best students the school has ever seen. So I am completely shut down, Adam says that we're a little army. So when the bus stopped becasue the police wanted to check our bus drivers papers, I asked if we could leave and buy pizza, we were right next to a place called la zona. This pizzeria is amazing, the pizza is only sold by the slice but... it is $1 for a pizza that literally is two handed, they back big square pizzas and your getting 1/8 of the pizza. But of course she said no. I had the bright idea to learn how to jump out of a bus window... really quite stupid! But I did, it is quite easy to do smoothly... but it is up to you to figure it out. I walked to the window of where she was sitting and tapped on the window and smiled! Well as you can imagine she was rightly pissed, and so was the bus driver when he found out that I jumped out of his bus. He told me that I had damaged the bus. I argued but to no avail. So when we got back to school I was told that tommorow I would need to remove the mark of my shoe. I was also going to need to talk to my parents, I had called my mom figuring that it would be best if she heard it from me first. She actually didn't care, and later told me about what my siblings have done in the past. When I showed up the next morning the bus driver was like whatever you didn't do anything... go back to class. I guess he was having a bad day after he spent 20 minutes talking with the police... Bueno, Another thing is that I now leave school everyday at 1:40, it has all worked out. The bad thing is that I'm not being graded in some classes and in others I'm getting really poor grades. The cool thing is that I've got more time to do new stuff. I'm taking dance lessons, latin rythms to be excact. I love Salsa, it is really fun and I'm learning how to dance for real! But Samba is the crazyest dance ever... it really doesn't mak any sense, I told my teacher that and she told me to teach the class. I lead the class in a movement but everyone just laughed at me :). I am also taking break dancing once a week. I think that Adam will start taking this class with me tomorrow. I have only done one week of classes but I'm dead tired and everything is great, yesterday for example finished school, had soccer practice, Capoiera, and then dance class! I am really tired but I'm loving it! As far as Soccer goes... I had a game today, we tied 3-3. My team is good but out of shape. We held them at 3-1 for the first 65 minutes or so, they scored two goals in 15 minutes, we have 80 minute games. It is really interesting, I don't have great skills, but I know how to play. All that time I spent with Chris and my dad taught me how to play... but two years without playing is a long time. In this league there are only four substitutions per game. I was actually the second person to be subbed but it was in the last minte of the game, literally. I never touched the ball. But I have uniform that is mine! it says Alexander and I'm number 9. The shorts are really small, the whole team recieved the same size. Mine are like higher than my compresion shorts... it is a little sad. The games here are really interesting, all the games will be held in this one place, which has a dirt feild, I bought shoes for grass... so this is a little anoying. My coach is really good, he is young but used to play pro when he was 15, but he continued with his studies and then became a coach. He has a soccer school for kids and coaches another pro team. He kinda reminds me of Eric, but he has a very different style of coaching. Hopefully I'll play more the next game... I just need to learn to play with my team. I lso need to work on my shot, becuase I'll be playing forward!

A couple of incompletes...

I never finished writing about the Capoiera show... everything went smoothly. I completed my routine without errors and watched some really amazing stuff. All of the different teachers in Quito had a show, and so I was able to watch some really great stuff. There are some people in this world that are practically inhuman... and I want to be the same. There were groups of kids who were like 7 doing some really crazy handstand stuff, a twelve year old who could do crazy flips... it was really just a shock! After all of the shows were finished there was the part in which the beginers recieved there first rope. In Capoiera there are circles in which you fight in... but it isn't really fighting becuase you never really want to hurt the other person except when it is a really high level. For the first rope you fight with a teacher, and when they get an opportunity they will put you on the ground. And then you recieve your rope. I have to say that I was nervous... before was the kids and watching them recieve there ropes was really cool. Some of them were really amazing. I ended up being last to fight... I'm not really sure how but they skipped over me and I fought last. I ended up holding my own and the teacher I was fighting with never was able to find an opportunity to take out my legs. He stopped, and it just kinda ended, I was bummed becuase I was really wanting to see one of these guys put me down. And then as I went to recieve my belt they were short one and I didn't get it... aand I still haven't gotten it... but it isn't that important. For the second rope it was an open circle, which is normal, just enter when you want to, that was pretty cool, I got to see my sister fight. She did really well and at the end all of the people recieved there ropes. After it had ended, the guy from Brazil told me that I did really well... so that was cool! The whole thing was really amazing... the live music and the vibe of the whole thhing was amazing. I saw some of the crazyest things I've ever seen a person do in my life... I am really inspired to get good! I just need to practice lots! The second thing was the party of my school that was a couple of weeks ago... it was horrible. The cops showed up and told everyone under 18 had to leave... But it was a school party, the kids doing it rented the place and obviously there were going to be a bunch of people under 18. I had honestly thought that the cops do almost nothing here, but really they bust school parties. Of course they sell alcohol there but, they do in every other place. So anyways, it was a bust. I didn't have much money so we went to a cheap disco and danced for a couple of hours. I got my money back, but it was a real bummer. I had a great mask and everything...
Bueno, so I have got two fotos of the Capoiera show... the one with me on the far right is after everyone recieved there ropes... but I didn't get mine. The guy on my right is another kid who practices with me. And on his right is my instructor Kury!
The other photo is of my sister after she finished her thingy. She is the one smiling and looking at the camera...

Soccer

So I somehow made it on my schools soccer team... I think it has something to do with the fact that there are 22 people on the team but whatever it is really cool. I ended up signing up on the last day! I still haven't practiced with my team but I played a friendly game with my team. The first game of the season is next thursday! I signed up and got my picture taken for my players card. Claudio, from Switzerland, is also on the team... but in comparison to him I suck. He is also playing on the college team of his host brother. On thursday I left school early and we caught a bus to another school which was really scary. Thiis school was super hardcor, everyone looked like they would fight you before they would talk with you. Our team passed peacefully through the school in our group... The room that we put our uniforms on was a gymnastics gym... man am I jealous... there were trampolines, springboards, big squishy mats and everything! But we just put our clothes on there. I bought soccer shoes a couple of days before and it was the first time that I had worn them. I watched the game for the first half... At the end of the half it was 2-2. We scored the first two goals, then we had an own goal and they scored right at the end of the half... The crazyest thing was that the kids in the stands were fighting and throwing water bottles at each other... but they were all from the same school. Anyways I played for the last twenty minutes and happly didn't make any errors. The ref wasn't impartail by any means and the other team was very physical. I was put in as right forward, which I have never played... But all went well, I didn't play that bad, I just was playing all over becuase I had no clue where I needed to be. We ended up losing 2-3, they scored right before the end of the game. I had a really close opportunity... but a couple of seconds too late. I am stoked to be playing... Futbol is really big here, the level in high school isn't that great but there are some kids who are amazing... there is one kid who is playing profesional ball.

The Weekend Before Last Day 1

Was......Sick! My Family went south. I didn't have school on friday and saturday so we hopped in the car and drove through some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Ecuador is really amazing because in one day it is possible to pass through tons of ecosystems. We left Quito and passed the Volcanos Ilinizas, they are twin mountains that are like two ice covered knives. They were partially hidden by clouds which added to the effect. The highlands are soooo beautiful, it is grass for kilometers and then mountains rising up... but there are places where there are pine tree plantations. It really ugly because there is only one type of native conifer and it isn't a pine tree, I'll guess that it is for wood to burn and to trap more water in the soil. The first place that we stopped at was San Miguel de Salcedo. This is a really comical place becuase the town produces more ice cream than any other in the world. I saw like twenty just as we passed through town. We stopped and bought some ice cream, I got Avocado, which believe it or not really is pretty good. Later we went east at Ambato and headed to Baños, which was super cool. We descended a couple thousand feet and encountered the beginning of the Jungle. Baños is at the foot of Tungurahua which starting in 1998 is active. It blew its top and the town was vacant for years but right now it is just another part of the fun. As we entered town we passed old lava flows and destroyed buildings. The town is alive with tourism, many places have signs written in English and Spanish. We rented a bike for me becuase we were going to see a waterfall farther east along the highway and my family asked me if I wanted to bike there, like 20 km. I of course agreed and we headed out. My family drove along side me for the first part which I thought was very nice seeing as they are the most impacient people in the car I have ever seen. It really doesn't make sense but by law all Ecuadorians must drive over the speed limit and pass when there is a double yellow (hehe... but seriously I am probably most likely to die in a car here than any part in the US, I have just decided to close my eyes when my dad or mom are passing cars). Anyways I explained to them that I was fine and we continued. The first waterfall that we stopped at dropped probably 40 meters into the river. I forgot to mention that it cost $4 to rent a bike and helmet for the whole day. Right after the waterfall was a tunnel which I had to enter in my bike... with a dog chasing me... but whatever, it's Ecuador!!!!¡¡¡¡ I continued on and passed two or three other waterfalls that my parents family didn't stop at so I just biked along slowly. There was a second tunnel which I entered by accident... dumb, I couldn't see the end and I didn't have lights on my bike. After about 200 meters and a car behind me I turned around and exited safely. There was a bike route around the tunnel and it was fun because there were mini waterfalls pouring right onto the road. On the other side of the tunnel was a bridge. And on the bridge was a set up for swing-jumping. The small one which cost $10 was a swing from the pedestrian bridge with the rope tied to the other bridge for the cars. The big one cost $15 and was a jump from one side of the bridge with the cars and the rope was tied to the other side, so with the second there was a freefall and the first no. My sister and I bothered our parents to let us do it, so after watching people do it my mom said yes, to do the big one too. Of course my mom had to haggle for the price, $25 for two. I went first, I asked the guy if it was ok if I jumped, becuase I watched as he would be talking with people and just push them mid-sentence, and grab there feet for a split second so there heads would be facing downwards. I remember standing on the railing thinking what I was about to do and was completely calm. I jumped and the second of freefall lasted for minutes, I saw the river rushing towards me and... bum, the rope caught me and I was soaring through the air. It was pretty cool, but I like paragliding more because it is really a lot smoother. This was like a giant kick of adrenaline, for seconds and not much more. I was let down to the ground and quickly ran to the top to see my sister do it. The guy was talking with her and just pushed her mid-sentence, but when she was done she was stoked too. The waterfall that we were there to see was about 10 km more. So I rode my bike on enjoying the scenery. When we got to the place where it was a 1 km walk. I learned that my sister wasn't fine, she couldn't move her neck and was laying sown in the back of the car. I figured the problem was that her neck was super tense becuase of the force of the jump. So I massaged her neck for about half an hour and she was able to move it later. We wen't to a restaurant to eat, it was pretty good, chicken soup and fresh fish. After that my dad and I walked down the path to Pailón del Diablo, devil's pail. It was a winding path that dropped down to the river, there were lots of people, I'm sure that in the day it is completely packed. We walked out onto a bridge to view the falls, it was one of those cable bridges that creakes and shudders everytime your foot falls. There wwas also a sign that said no more than five people on it at a time. The falls were spectacular. The river fell into a pool of water and then rushed down through a series of rapids and around a giant boulder. It was really awesome. The water reached us about 200 meters away. After viewing the falls from the bridge we decided to get a closer look, we paid $2 to view the falls on a much more personal level. There was a platform to see the falls but there was also a subterranian path that went behind the falls. That was cool, I was completely soaked. The noise and power of the falls was really spectacular. My dad and I headed back up the trail. On our way up we saw two elderly women and probably the daughter of one of them helping the women up the trail. My dad and I ach helped one. The woman that I was helping was really funny. She told me that the best place was my pants, so I walked up the trail with an old wolan clinging to shorts. We talked as we walked up, she was blazing, we left my dad in the dust... hehe. I asked her how old she was and she told me to guess, I guessed 73 and she told me that she was 73 years old. She asked me what I was eating to guess right like that and I told her I just followed my intuition. She talked to me about her views in god, and we continued on to nature. At one point I saw a brown blur, I asked her to stop, it was pretty dark at this time, and I found a frog. It was small and brown, and of course I was happy. We got to the top and we waited for my dad and her family. When they got there my dad and I returned to our family. As we were putting my bike in the car the ex-first lady walked by. She was cheated on by Ecuador´s president, but my parents knew her face so they small talked for a little while. We drove back to Baños where my sister and my mom rented a four wheeler. We went around the town for about an hour. It was really fun. After Baños we headed to Riobamba to stay with my grandparents on my mom´s side. I slept in the car and when we got to Riobamba I went right to sleep.

The CITY

I want to share this change in me but I really am having problems with it. I am become harder, colder and more distant from life. The city really changes a person. I have never spent this much time in a city before and there is a type of energy here that is not the same as in a town. It is a black cloud that is more profound than the smog... it sucks the energy of creativity, love and compasion from the hearts of people. I really am not sure if it is just because I have always grown up in a small town, but I really feel this. I am doing a good job of keeping a hold of my heart. But it is slipping at about the same rate as my english... jeje( mi ingles es peor todos los dias, realmente estoy haciendo lo mismo faltas de los estudiantes en mi clase). This last week I walked right by an old toothless woman sitting on the sidewalk, I had just bought pizza and she asked me for some of it. But I walked right by her. Right after I realized what I had done, so when I got to my house with my sister I turned around and bought her a piece of pizza. But I really am realizing that I can see theings that used to disgust me and now there is no feeling... this is something really sad for me. I am crying becuase I really don't know how this is happening, but it is. All that I can do is be more conscious of my thoughts and begin to reopen my heart to the city and find my way of passing through it without contacting this energy. But I have just found something perfect for me. I am in a special program in school and in the year all the kids need 150 hours of community service. And I am doing a forestation project. In Ashland I used to work for Blythe and Larry in the Greensprings, it was my time to be thoughtful, gather my thoughts and recuperate my energy in the purest sense, in Nature. So right now I am doing something kinda the same. Except that we are planting trees in an area were there never were any, but the grasses there are non-native and the trees are native... and a lot better than the eucalyptus trees which are everywhere. The soil there is perfect, I have never seen so many worms in natural soil(I'm writing with dirt under my nails!!!). I love it, the place is south of Quito on a mountain side, near a highway and a paragliding place, so I wtched people flying over me. I love getting my hands dirty, doing some work and contemplating my feelings as I work to better the world! This is one thing that I have been looking for here! Also the woman who runs the program knows Mount Shasta, she is big into metaphysics and all that cool stuff. There are small lizards in the grass and I have yet to catch one... I loved coming home with dirt on my jeans, blister and dirty hands!

Weekends... jeje

So I really haven't written anything about my wekends and I am really far behind so I'm going to wing it and write a little about all of them.
So my first weeekend of school I went to the farm of my dads parents. It was super cool, I loved being in nature! Everyone in my family is super cool but the thing most amazing is that my grandfather is 91 years old and he walks, works and moves like he is in his 60's. It is really inspirational.. I hope that if I make it to 91 that my life will be as healthy. All the kids went looking for insects, there really are some weird ones in Ecuador. The farm has cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, guiney pigs and about every type of plant that you can think of. I loved it, I explored the area with my dad, this was the place that he grew up.
The next weekend I went to QuitoFest to see Sudakaya an Ecuadorian Reggae group. But I never saw them cause they came on late and everyone was getting drunk so my sister and I left. But I saw Gondwana, another Reggae group wich was good, and a Capoiera demonstration which was really cool.
My next weekend my family went to Otavalo, which is famous for the hand made goods that can be bought in the markets. The trip was cool becuase I met more of my family and got to walk around a market with handmade stuff that is really cheap. I bought a sweater for 12 dollars. It is an alpaca wool hoodie. It is really hard to believe just how cheap things are. Work here is worth very little, people are working all day to produce rugs, sweaters, hats, hammocks, wall hangings and jewelry. And everything is way... way cheaper. I actually feel bad when I haggle with people but it is just a part of life here.

Capoiera

So as you may know I used to practice Aikido all the time in Ashland. Right now I have found a new art. It has become my new practice or obsesion. It is my way to express myself in movement and also what I have been thinking of when I'm horribly bored in my classes. Essentially I've really taken this new martial art, capioera, to a whole new level for me. I guess that when I get into something I really get into it. For example, today was one month of classes, tommorrow I have a seminar with some big head honchos from Brazil, tommorrow and the next day I'll be practicing Capoiera after school. Then on saturday all the capioera people in Quito have a show, and I'm in it. I'll be doing some cartweels, high kicks and an arial type thingy. I really hope I don't mess up. There will be tons of people watching I believe... about half the time I land on my head... so... we will see. I spent $80 bucks for this thing in Capoiera. I will be recieving my uniform from my teacher here, my rope( which is the same as a belt in other martial arts), a shirt from the event and two days of lessons. $80 bucks is more than I've spent in Ecuador in a month but whatever, if I'm going to do something, I'm really gonna do it. I also have two blisters on my feet from practicing on hard wood floors. But my dad and I prepared a first aid kit before I left, and I have moleskin! I'll let everyone know how this thing goes for me, it should be really fun!