8 am- Ryan leaves for work
9 – 9:30 am- I wake up
10:15 am- Ryan returns from work and we go to breakfast
10:15 am- 4 pm—We explore the city or will use this time for excursions—mountain hiking, visiting the zoo, etc…
Around 1:30 we sit down for lunch with Saula’s family sans the children who are off at school.
4 pm—Ryan goes to work.
4 pm- 8 pm- I either blog, write, study Spanish or read.
8 pm- Ryan returns home and we either go out or hang around.
Weekends are for day trips and overnight journeys to visit indigenous tribes, the rainforest, horse-ride and go to the coast or villages on mountains.
This particular day we took an excursion to Loja’s city gates—a castle like structure complete with iron gates and an art gallery.
On the way there, we passed several of the town’s squares…
and had ice-cream.
Yes, the above image does say exactly what you think it says. “Emo = insufficiency of testosterone = fuck off.” As funny as this is, homophobia is culturally and socially sanctioned in this country. Travel books warn gay travelers to avoid PDA at all costs here because it is illegal. At least the 1998 travel book states it is. That might have changed in the last decade. But even our host was telling us that when her family visited America they ended up at a hippy commune and left early because there were gay couples that they found offensive.
There’s a lot of neat murals and art at the city gate:
And a lovely stream:
We wandered to the top of the Watch tower and took in the view of the city:
but quickly ran out of time to the point that Ryan had to go straight to work from there.
He gave me directions home and although I had a little trouble locating the particular house—I made it back all right.Earlier, after lunch I had handed over a thank you gift to Saula for hosting me. I had no idea what to get her family, so I went a little nuts at a dollar store and bought them a ton of American junk food that I figured might be difficult to find in Ecuador.
A large pack of Reeses peanut butter cups
A few packs of Reeses Swoops
A pack of dark chocolate raisinets
A pack of Good N'Plenty
A large Hershey's milk chocolate bar
Pop Rocks
Two packs of M and M's (one plain, one peanut)
2 milk chocolate and peanut regular sized hershey bars
One dark chocolate hershey bar
Some Krafts Mac N Cheese
Pringles
Fortunately, I haven’t seen a ton of this stuff around the country with the exception of maybe the Pringles and I haven’t seen any Hersheys products at all. I would have felt like a total idiot if I handed them a package of items that could be purchases for thirty cents a piece at any corner store. The gift went over well. Saula’s children apparently really miss Kraft Mac and Cheese from the states.
Ryan came home from work and I had expected to go downstairs and join Saula and her family for dinner. Instead, he was like “Vamos. We’re going out. The car is waiting for us outside.” So, I grabbed a piece of bread and a banana and rushed out the door where I was greeted by Eddie, who has lived many lives, his current one being an English teacher for the past eight years in Ecuador. I also met John from Nigeria who is also one of Ryan’s co-workers. John has also taught English in India.
The rest of the night was spent indulging in a cornucopia of unhealthy substances: mostly but not limited to lots of beer, chocolate and Doritos while watching Cheech & Chong and hanging out at Eddies. It was a night that won’t soon be repeated.
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