¿What is Montañita?

I came down with my first stomach flu on Sunday. After a day of eating and drinking nothing but tea and water, I recovered. Due to my sickness I was not able to start volunteering or surf on Monday, but things have been worse. I did not start working in the school until Thursday because of logistical reasons, and I'll write about it in my next blog.

A couple of people have asked me to write about where I am living. Montañita is a small surfing town on the coast of Ecuador. Everything is at most 5 minutes away from everything else. I live 3 minutes walking from the ocean, and my Spanish school is on the way there. Around a thousand locals live in the vicinity, and the closest city, La Libertad, is an hour and a half away. I am constantly surprised by what Montañita does not sell- most food items, books, watches, and light bulbs. Locals are constantly taking the public bus to go to La Libertad for their grocery run. The town is a strange mix of locals that live off of the sea, international tourists on the weekends (mostly from South America), and a couple washed up hippies that are growing their dreads, walking around barefoot, and selling their crafts.

As I said in my last blog, mi madre runs a laundromat out of the kitchen. Yesterday, I made some advertisements for her to put in the Spanish school and around some of the local hostels. The family seemed really excited about the advertisements, and I spent 10 minutes before dinner explaining to them what it said. I have attached in in my email for those that are interested.

Other than that, I have been hanging out a lot with the Spanish instructors. They only speak Spanish, are all female, and are very affluent compared to their peers. They have been a fun group to hang out with. One took me surfing to a different beach yesterday, and we were the only people on the 2 mile long beach!

Hasta Luego.

Mi Familia

My family here seems to be very well off, but they work hard to make it so. My mom, Belhika, runs a laundry business out of the kitchen. We have 2 washers and 2 dryers right next to the sink and stove. She has been so successful recently that she has another woman come help her with the chores (washing clothes, cooking for the family, cleaning the house, etc.) She married the father, Pedro, when she was 15 and had her first kid at 16. Pedro is a plumber, meaning he constructs buildings and installs the water pipes. Right now, he is building a new room next to the house for the laundry machines. See the picture that I sent out in my email.

The oldest son, Jason, is in his early 20´s. On sunny days and during the tourist season, he sells clams, oysters, and other seafood on the beach. He finds them by snorkeling at 6 in the morning and grabbing them from the sea, which is somewhat dangerous when the waves are big. At night, Jason takes an hour bus ride to go to la universidad. He is married, and his wife Clara lives with us and helps around the house. I don´t think she is 20 yet, and she is 4 months pregnant. The yongest son is around 15. Mi madre has a daughter too, but she lives in Guayaquil, 3.5 hours away by bus. She cried when she told me that her only daughter left her to marry someone in Guayaquil. My American brother is 30, just finished his first year of med school, and is staying a week longer than me. We have already become really good friends. There are constantly cousins, neices and nephews, and random family members in and out of the house to watch TV or drink soda, but I honestly cannot keep track of them all.

The sun came out for the first time a couple of days ago (usually it is cloudy in the winter), and I hope that never happens again! The beach was packed. The waves were crowded. I could feel the sun burning my skin and sucking out my energy every minute. One of my friends that was in the sun all day with a rashguard and suntain lotion was as red as a lobster by the next day. Ironically, the sun makes me want to stay inside and in the shade!

I now own my own surf board, and I am still surfing every day. I got caught in my first rip tide a couple of days ago and got dragged out to sea. It took me about ten minutes to paddle back. Hopefully with more experience, I will learn to avoid them!

I finished my first week of classes, and someone hosted a party for the students and teachers. I have been working one-on-one with two different teachers every day. One teaches me grammar for two hours in the morning, and the other teaches application for two hours in the afternoon. I didn´t learn until the party on Friday night that neither of them speak English, and I was shocked! It was fun, and very difficult, to speak Spanish in a party setting with loud music and people dancing all around.

I am going to start volunteering at the local school tomorrow teaching English, so look for details in the next post.

Gringo in Montañita

I graduated from college. Wow. Less than two days later, after packing up my room, packing for Ecuador, partying with my friends, and making a quick pit stop in Atlanta, I arrived at my new home in Montañita, Ecuador, a small surfing town on the coast. The first 24 hours were a whirwind. I had two intense one-on-one Spanish classes. I rode my first waves and got thrown around by the ocean. And I spoke more Spanish than in the past 5 years combined. Now, after being here for three days, I feel like a local and a part of my new Spanish family.

Random power cuts, cold water, houses built with concrete cinder blocks, tin roofs, wild dogs, and the list goes on. When I went to Nepal, it took me three days to get over the culture shock that people in poorer countries don´t have the things that we always take for granted. But this time, everything feels strangly normal. Ecuador is in the deepest of winters, as the locals say. At night, it drops to a cool 70 degrees, and I debate wearing something other than shorts and flip flops.

I am staying with a homestay family and experiencing the most intimate details of their lives. They do not speak a word of English, so my Spanish is improving extremely rapidly. When I try to talk at the dinner table, mi madre makes everyone stop talking so I can form my thoughts and spit out a few coherent words. I call her mi madre because she has literally taken over as my mom. I did not bring my cell phone to Ecuador, which in the US doubles as my watch and alarm clock. So ironically, I have no way to keep time or wake myself up in the mornings. Imagine me not being able to keep track of time. The closest place to buy a watch is an hour and a half bus ride each way, so I´m not going to have one for a while. Every morning, mi madre wakes me up in time to eat breakfast and arrive at my Spanish school on time. She also asks if I will be home for dinner so she knows to expect me or not!

My family is huge. I have a grandpa, mom and dad, 2 brothers, a cousin, and an American brother. One of the brothers has a wife that also lives with us. And there are always cousins, nephews, and grand nephews stopping buy to hang out with the family. Mi madre already makes fun of me for asking them so many questions. Fortunately, it seems that because of the cultural differences, I can get away with asking them anything! I guess they are used to foreigners speaking very bluntly when they are learning Spanish.

I´ve been surfing every day, my Spanish is improving rapidly, and I have gotten used to the lifestyle here. Look out for the next post on details of my family to get an understanding of the typical life for a local. And I start volunteering teaching English in a local school next week!

Chao.