Being Ecuadorian!

View of Baos from above
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The time had now come in our South American journey that it had become embarrassing how little Spanish we knew, so we decided to head back to sunny Baños and enroll in school. Not to do things by halves, we studied 8-12 in the morning, and lived with an Ecuadorian family for those two weeks. The family, Carlos, Adriana and their two children, were lovely, and made sure we practiced Spanish all the time. I´m not sure they live as typical Ecuadorians do, as they had a TV in every room and a car they never use, but baring in mind the $15 a day (for bed and three meals, and as much Spanish conversation as we could shake a proverbial stick at) meant in the two weeks we stayed, they´d earned more from us than Carlos earns in a month as a teacher of economics in the local secondary school.

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Martin (their 4year old son) is just about the most hyperactive child I´ve ever met, which his parents can´t understand, and used to talk to us about over dinner, while Martin sat opposite, sipping his coffee...

We learned for more Spanish living with the family than would have been possible otherwise, and also were able to experience the culture a little too. For example, October in Baños is a month of festivities for The Virgin Mary, and every street is assigned a night for a fiesta, resulting in streets competing for the most extravagant fiestas every night in October! We went with the family to one of them, which was a really community-spirited night with free bread and coffee for all, and (coffee-fueled) dancing until 6 in the morning - men, women, children, and old people! There was a live band and Phil and i danced with the family´s children, it was a lot of fun. We were the only gringos there and we were made to feel very welcome and given free food and drink and dragged up to dance with people we´d never met before. Our family, Carlos and Adrianna, thought it was very very funny and danced with us too.

Carlos, Dominica, Adriana and me playing cards
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While we stayed with the family Ecuador had two football world cup qualifiers (against Chile and Venezuela) both of which they needed to win to qualify. It was quite an experience watching these matches in a bar full of Ecuadorians to whom it is life and death! Football is both a language and a religion out here! I´ve never seen such celebrations as when they beat Chile, or despair as when their defeat at the hands of Venezuela was confirmed by 3 Venezuelan goals in the final 15 minutes!

Dancing at the fiesta of the Virgin Mary
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Because Baños is surrounded by mountains, while we were staying with the family they also held the Ecuadorian down-hill mountain bike championship there one Sunday morning. It was really interesting to see a national sporting event (and to try to follow the commentating in Spanish!) Lots of mountain bikes came flying past us, with a couple of people falling off which made the crowd scream! Especially Adriana, the mum of the family - every time someone looked like they may fall she screamed very loudly; we left a little deafened, but it was a really good day!

The bike racing!
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During our stay we were asked twice by Adriana and Carlos what the volcanoes in England are like, and our answer was met with disbelief both times, as for them living in the lava-path of an active volcano is normal, as were the two complete evacuations in the last ten years! It´s interesting - I´m sure it´s no coincidence that the people of Baños make a connection between the Virgin Mary and the numerous waterfalls in the area, calling her the Virgin of the Waters, and worshipping her as such, baring in mind the very real threat of lava! An interesting mix of their strong Incan past and the Catholicism brought by the Spanish, almost like "we´ll get on board with this catholic thing, but we´re not giving up worshipping water, have you SEEN that volcano??!"

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So yes, learning Spanish was definitely a great experience, and hopefully I´ll do another week of school in Bolivia to keep up to it!