Brevity and Chicken Feet

As it is mandatory for my internship to document my Ecuadorian experience in the virtual world, I decided I had procrastinated much too long. A great many things have happened, both unfortunate and wonderful, but for the sake of brevity and the interests of my readers, I will try and keep it short.


Ecuador is fantastic. It´s cheap, warm, has so many adventures to offer, and surprisingly, it is extremely easy to get around. I have been working in a hospital for a couple of weeks, both in emergency and in gynecology. I believe it is safe to say that the latter will not be my expertise, and also that if I ever questioned the direction of my sexuality, that curiosity has been obliterated. 


I have yet to spend a weekend in Quito. I consider Quito my work city, not because it doesnt have countless amounts of things to do, but because I have more interest in nature than in city wonders, and because I get plenty of civilization back in the States. My first weekend was spent in Tena, where I canoed along the Amazon river, saw numerous amounts of (what I consider) exotic animals, and hiked through the jungle. I don´t need to go into the details of how wonderful it was. My second weekend was spent in Otavalo, which is a small tourist city with a huge, cheap outdoor market. Shopping isnt an area of interest to me, and I found this experience to be so-so. Though it was very quaint.


The food here can be both wonderful and downright nauseating. Though I appreciate the indigenous practice of eating all parts of an animal, I cant seem to overcome the dizzy feeling I get when I am served chicken feet in my soup. I realize this is cultural and that the feet are probably just as nutritious and savory as the breast, but it really freaks me out. I have hence planned to request "¿Podria tener mi sopa sin pata, por favor?" (Could I get my soup without feet, please?") It is human nature to speak primarily of negative experiences, but overall, the food here is wonderful, though vegetables are scarce.


My Spanish is more than sufficient. Fortunately, people speak quite clearly here, although some do not seem to understand the desperate request, "¿hablas mas despacio, por favor?" which, in case you don´t know, means "could you speak slower, please?" They just stare at you stupidly for a second, certainly mirroring your own dumbfounded expression, and then repeat themselves as rapidly as they did before. I have since found it much easier, for both the spanish speaker and myself, to walk away. Most individuals, however, are more than willing to accomodate your infintile knowledge of their language.


This weekend I will be traveling to Mindo with friends from my internship (of whom I have become rather close), where I will be zip lining over the valleys (not just one zip line, but many connected zip lines that will take me across the city) and hiking in the "Cloud Forest," which I have yet to fully understand. I will keep you updated next week.