Aventuras: Rain

It’s officially the rainy season here and for the next few months the weather will continue to repeat the exact pattern it has shown the last few days. Sunrise is at 6am or so and by 9am it is powerful enough to cook any gringo spending more than 20 unprotected minutes in it. The sun is out until 1pmish when everything starts to clouds over. By 3:30pm, like clockwork, it proceeds to pour, with lightening and thunder often added to the mix. The rain stops around 6pm and the lights go out about 20 minutes later, every day. I’ve never encountered such predictable weather in my life; it’s amazing really.

I’ve decided to share a few more details on my biking adventures. As I’ve stated before there is absolutely no respect for cyclists and thus I ride almost exclusively on the sidewalks. These sidewalks however were apparently not designed to be compatible with the wheel and thus sometimes I feel more like I’m on a technical off-road trail than a sidewalk. The picture below is a nice representation but I’ve encountered much worse and when said sidewalks become crowded with pedestrians things get really crazy.

(sidewalk...)

Today I joined Dimas and the other Cuban-Ecuadorians for baseball. I had a great time and hopefully won’t turn out too burned (I used lots of sunscreen mom, I promise!). Baseball is great but I’m more a fan of sports with increased action and movement; I wonder if I could teach them flag football… hmm… I’ll have to think more on that one. After the game we headed over to my “grandparents” house for a big lunch of churrascos. This is the definitive hearty-man (or woman) meal of Ecuador, a heaping plate of flat-cut steak, rice, veggies, and two sunny-side up eggs on top. It can be found in almost any restaurant and hasn’t failed me yet. Costs are up from the more normal portioned $1.50 lunches, but only a whopping $2.50 or $3.00 and worth every penny. Also at the lunch were two of Karla’s brother’s and sister’s families, I think we had 14 people there in total! I really like how family is so important here, they make time to be together (often weekly) and I see this as big contrast to the states.

Something that occurred to me today is the recent lack of those “wow, I am actually in another country thousands of miles from home” moments. I guess I’m getting used to Quito as my new home. Here are a few more random pics of people and places in mi hogar nuevo.