The Unblog: ¿Qué está pasando con esa man?

The title of this blog, ¿Qué está pasando con esa man?, happens to be my absolute favorite phrase in Spanish. I say it all the time for no reason at all.

It's one of the first 'vulgarismos' or slang, that I learned in Machala while sitting around the dinner table listening to music and eating cake with my host family. Good memories. I usually use the masculine version because I like the way it flows a little better. ¿Qué está pasando con ese man? translates to 'What's up with that dude?'. Having been absent for so long on this blog, I use the feminine version in the title to refer to myself.

Boy, it has been a while since I sat down and wrote. I'm a little rusty on the blogging. What pictures to include? Where to begin? Reading my last blog entry, I feel like an entirely different person. Perhaps it's the experience behind me. This year sure has been a strange journey.

My time in Ecuador is almost up. Sadly enough, I gave up on my Fulbright project b/c it turned out to be too costly and frankly, too difficult to complete on my own. I think a big turning point during my time here in Ecuador was realizing that in fact, my project was impossible to carry out. That may seem strange, but it takes a lot to give up on something into which you have put so much time and effort. Pero, asi es la vida, eh? I suppose I should tell you all where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing for these past 6 months, but I don’t want to bore. Instead, I’ll tell you the fun stuff I’m up to now. I’m including pics of my last week or so traveling in Southern Ecuador, from Cuenca to Loja, Loja to Vilcabamba. Originally I had planned to spend a few nights in Vilcabamba and then travel along to the Southeastern part of the country, but I’ve enjoyed these past two days so much that I have no intentions of leaving. It is magical here—I’m not sure if it’s the mountain air, the beauty of the surrounding valley, or the people, but I am loving every second of my time here. I’ve been climbing mountains in the mornings and taking easy hikes in the afternoons. Incredible, to say the very least.

I think of my remaining time here in Ecuador as a gift. I’m so very lucky to be here and I’m only starting to realize it. Better late than never, I suppose. I’ve decided to use this remaining time to travel and to start enjoying my own company. Yeah, sometimes it gets lonely, but it’s worth it. I get to meet people I’d never meet if I were traveling in a group. For example, yesterday as I was headed towards a trail outside of town, I passed by a young fellow painting a fence. At the same time, the town’s ‘loco’ was walking alongside me, begging in a most awful way (pockets inside out, head down, jabbing me with a stick….ya, really!). The painter got my back and told the local ‘loco’ to vayase al diablo (Translation: he told the guy to get lost in a semi to non polite way). I was very appreciative, so we began chatting. After a few moments I was headed along on my way when he asked if I wanted to pick some fruit at his farm. I took up the offer and we spent about a half hour picking oranges, limes, and bananas. I thoroughly enjoyed the oranges until I opened one up only to find a giant worm! But he was a cool worm so I let him on his way. My point is that I would probably have never had this experience had I been a part of a group. Perhaps I should explain my hodgepodge of photos that I've included here--most were picked at random but some are among my favorites. Pictures include culinary adventures, a pig I ate, a cute kid at a market, scenery pics from hikes, and a big a** leaf (not particularly in that order). There are many more good ones, so I'll have to dedicate a few pages to just pictures in the near future.