Friday, August 17, 2012
We don't have thunderstorms in Ambato
So as I lay in my bed this morning I heard the rumbling of what I thought would be a thunderstorm. Indeed it was not the onset of a storm, but the activation of the volcano Tungurahua. Apparently the volcano can be quite noisy when it wants to. As I heard this noise and realized it was the volcano it made me a bit nervous. I had never heard "volcano thunder" before...what does this mean??? Then I got to thinking, of all the rain we get here in Ambato there are NEVER thunderstorms, no lightening, no thunder, just rain...hmm I can't believe it took me a year to realize this. Just thought I'd share that tid bit on my blog :) Something to look forward to when I go back home....THUNDERSTORMS!!!
Monday, August 13, 2012
VACATION!!!!!
So for the first time in about a year I have vacation from work! Vacation started last week friday and that saturday I headed out to Santo Domingo to help out with the medical brigade that I helped out with in May. I went with two other PCV's and about 5 UTA students. We arrived later than the brigade group from Kentucky so missed out on introductions meaning that it was slow going getting to know everyone. The brigade was bigger than last time, about 40 people. All of them were from various medical fields (gen. med, pediatrics, neurology, physical therapy, and dentistry). We had a great time, very long days but by then end Im pretty sure they helped out over 800 people! I also got to meet the new PCV that will be replacing Ronald ( the PCV that works at the clinic that the Univ. of Kentucky started). Her name is Maggie and she's awesome!
I arrived really late wednesday night and was able to finally sleep in on Thursday! That afternoon I went with Chino and the basketball team to Quito to watch a basketball game (UTE vs IMPORTADORA) We got back late friday night and then got up early saturday morning to go on a little day trip to Tena.
We went with Chino's whole family (aunts, cousins and even his grandma!) We arrived in Tena around 11 and had lunch, from there we visited a zoo. About 10 minutes into the zoo tour it started to DOWNPOUR. Everyone got completely soaked. Everyone in the family had brought an extra pair of clothes (apparently knowing that we would get wet...lol) but I had to air-dry for the next couple hours. Luckily the weather in the rainforest changes drastically-it rained for about 30 minutes and then right after the sun came out, so I dried pretty quickly.
From there we headed to Misahualli, this lovely tourist town with monkeys! There were TONS of people because friday was Ecuador's independence day (which they do practically nothing for) and so everyone was traveling that weekend, many to Misahualli. We walked around on the beach and watched the monkeys, ate ice cream and then around 5 pm headed back to Ambato. We stopped in Puyo to have dinner and arrived in Ambato around midnight!
Sunday Chino and his friends had a basketball game at 9 AM so we had to get up early once again. They won and have qualified for the semi-finals. We went back to watch the men's basketball game in the Olympics YAY USA!! Chino's parents had gone to Quito that morning to pick up the new car. Yeah that's right, last week some guy offered to buy one of their cars and so they sold it and then like 5 days later bought another car...weird right? I guess Im not used to people buying and selling their cars...I always thought that people buy their car and keep it till it doesn't work and then look for a new one. But I guess it's something that Fausto (chino's dad) and actually his grandpa like to do. The new car is just like the one his dad has and is a lot better than the other one he had. We hung out at the aunt's house most of sunday afternoon and then at 10:40 pm went to go see the Batman movie.... It was dubbed...so i'll have to see it again..but it was still good.
Today, monday I pretty much just hung out, read. Im FINALLY finishing the Stieg Larsson books. Tomorrow I'll head to Ibarra with the basketball team to see them play tomorrow night and then head back wednesday.
Thursday Im hoping to go on the hunt for jeans...POR FIN!! Cross your fingers that I can find some that are nice and cheap. Otherwise the rest of my vacations will consist of hanging out here in Ambato and then going to Quito next week for our mid-service Medical check-up, Im getting my teeth cleaned, SO EXCITED!! Thursday of next week I'll head back to work and start the countdown until HANNAH COMES !!!!
Alright that's all for now :)
I arrived really late wednesday night and was able to finally sleep in on Thursday! That afternoon I went with Chino and the basketball team to Quito to watch a basketball game (UTE vs IMPORTADORA) We got back late friday night and then got up early saturday morning to go on a little day trip to Tena.
We went with Chino's whole family (aunts, cousins and even his grandma!) We arrived in Tena around 11 and had lunch, from there we visited a zoo. About 10 minutes into the zoo tour it started to DOWNPOUR. Everyone got completely soaked. Everyone in the family had brought an extra pair of clothes (apparently knowing that we would get wet...lol) but I had to air-dry for the next couple hours. Luckily the weather in the rainforest changes drastically-it rained for about 30 minutes and then right after the sun came out, so I dried pretty quickly.
From there we headed to Misahualli, this lovely tourist town with monkeys! There were TONS of people because friday was Ecuador's independence day (which they do practically nothing for) and so everyone was traveling that weekend, many to Misahualli. We walked around on the beach and watched the monkeys, ate ice cream and then around 5 pm headed back to Ambato. We stopped in Puyo to have dinner and arrived in Ambato around midnight!
Sunday Chino and his friends had a basketball game at 9 AM so we had to get up early once again. They won and have qualified for the semi-finals. We went back to watch the men's basketball game in the Olympics YAY USA!! Chino's parents had gone to Quito that morning to pick up the new car. Yeah that's right, last week some guy offered to buy one of their cars and so they sold it and then like 5 days later bought another car...weird right? I guess Im not used to people buying and selling their cars...I always thought that people buy their car and keep it till it doesn't work and then look for a new one. But I guess it's something that Fausto (chino's dad) and actually his grandpa like to do. The new car is just like the one his dad has and is a lot better than the other one he had. We hung out at the aunt's house most of sunday afternoon and then at 10:40 pm went to go see the Batman movie.... It was dubbed...so i'll have to see it again..but it was still good.
Today, monday I pretty much just hung out, read. Im FINALLY finishing the Stieg Larsson books. Tomorrow I'll head to Ibarra with the basketball team to see them play tomorrow night and then head back wednesday.
Thursday Im hoping to go on the hunt for jeans...POR FIN!! Cross your fingers that I can find some that are nice and cheap. Otherwise the rest of my vacations will consist of hanging out here in Ambato and then going to Quito next week for our mid-service Medical check-up, Im getting my teeth cleaned, SO EXCITED!! Thursday of next week I'll head back to work and start the countdown until HANNAH COMES !!!!
Alright that's all for now :)
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