C.B.B.B. or calendars, bikes, balls, and birds

There are no calendars in Quito. This is a problem you see, as I am a calendar person. I like to lay out everything to come in the next few weeks on a gloriously large piece of paper. I actually bought a calendar before coming to EC but neglected to open it and see it was for ‘08/’09, doh! I will provide you with a sampling of my search for a calendar.

I enter a book/office supply store and wander around looking for a calendar. After not finding one I chalk it up to my gringoness and decide to ask the nice lady at the help desk. (The following conversation was originally conducted in Spanish). Me: Hi, do you have any calendars here? Her: No… Me: Do you know anywhere that has them? Her: No… Me: …Uhh, thanks. Now repeat this scenario five more times. I refuse to believe there no calendars in a city of 2 million people. However, so far, not a single person has been able to point me in any semblance of a direction. Amazing. So today I made my own calendar, not fancy but it works.

Not all has been frustrating; I recently met a friend of Dimas’ , Dennis, who rides mountain bikes and asked if I wanted to go the next time he went. That next time ended up being this morning. There is a large wooded park (Parque Metropolitano) at the edge of the city with miles and miles of singletrack. We rode for an hour or so and to be honest I got schooled. They’ve got some big jumps and stunts built up that reminded me of Whistler BC. Needless to say I was rather surprised to find them at the Ecuator but the surprise was of the most pleasant variety. I had a blast and can’t wait to get back out there and explore more.



(Pic of Dennis gettin' some air on one of the park's trails)


After biking I went to a futbol (soccer) game here in Quito. The home team got spanked but I was there more to see how futbol works in South America. Violent, in a word. The fans weren’t too pumped about losing to an inferior team and started throwing full water bottles onto the field, I also saw some huge ice chunks thrown. As the game drew to a close there were a number of police in full riot gear down by the field to protect the players.



(Riot Police)


I forgot to mention an exciting aspect of my home last time. Annita, the lady who lives upstairs and owns the whole building, has a lorro, or parrot. It likes to sit outside our living room window and man is the thing a chatterbox! He has three main sayings and doesn’t seem to like branching out in his old age. First is “hola,” second “corre corre corre” said machine gun fast (it means run run run!), and last is not a word but the seductive whistle guys often do to females. This last one is his favorite and before I knew there was a parrot in the vicinity I thought there was a whole gang of young fellows harassing girls nearby.



(El Lorito - the little parrot)


Tomorrow is my first full day at the lab and I’ll be sure to share how it’s going as soon as possible. Until then, cuidense.