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.