F.A.Q

I spent the last fall semester studying abroad in Ecuador.

I lived with a host family in Cuenca Ecuador, but I traveled to many different cities and countrysides in Ecuador, most notably, Esmereldas, and Naranjal.  

I'm back home in Baltimore City now.

these guys.

WELP. It's finally over. The tears, the cheap food, the long lunches, the 2 dollar cab rides, the 40 dollar tank tops from forever 21. It's all over. I'm writing this blog post from the Lima Airport. This time tomorrow (God Willing, Ojala) I'll be sleeping in my own bed in Baltimore. 

So many things happened in this week alone! I feel like I've had two study abroad experiences, what happened before thanksgiving and what happened after thanksgiving. What happened after Thanksgiving was everything that made me love South America and living abroad. What happened before Thanksgiving gave me the strength and skills to enjoy my time in Ecuador. 

I know I need time to process the events that transpired in these three months, I need time to find my english writing voice again, and I need time to unpack. But this journey has been wonderful and as of right now a little above comprehension. However, once I find the words, in English or Spanish to describe what has happened to me, I'll be sure to share it with you on this here blog.

Gracias por todo, y que te vaya bien.

I commissioned the very talented painter/tour guide/friend Polinice, for a portrait. I've been in love with oil portraits since I first saw Kehinde Wiley's work and the way he captures brown skin on the canvas changed my image of self, which I wrote about here.

Being that we live in an age were photos are numerous, and easy to take I wanted to start capturing my own image in different ways. So portraits when I can afford them might be a new hobby. Even if it's one that I did of myself. 

#selfie.

Not only did I want I remember my time here in Ecuador and especially Esmereldas but I wanted something tangible of me at 21. With my bantu knots and my thrift store dress and my fingernails painted with strawberries, I felt like the girl I always wanted to be. I'm just glad Poli was able to capture my essence. 

I went to Naranjal to visit my friend Evelyn. She was one of my first friends here in Cuenca, back when I was at my first house. She recently went back to her home town of Naranjal and I had the pleasure of visiting her. She's a great tour guide.

yucca bread, HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH I SWEAR

Naranjal is a small town, in Guayas which is on the coast. The people were friendly, but I think the men were the most aggressive here compared to Esmereldas, Quito and Cuenca. 

cacao beans

We went to a hot water spring, and swam in a naturally hot pool that made Evelyn's cheeks turn red, and put her to sleep almost immediately after lol

my view from the hammock

Later we ate crabs. Now being form Baltimore, I was very excited, because crabs won't be in season for us until summer. Crabs in Ecuador are huge!

only thing missing was old bay.

First time eating crabs with Aji, rice and soup, it was good though.

Later I met her friend who recently had a baby, they asked me to help name him. I tried to get her to name him Nasir, after Nas. But that didn't happened so I suggested his last name, Jones. They had already decided that one of his first names would be Schneider. So now there will be a little baby boy in Naranjal Ecuador, with the name Jones Schneider. His life will be very interesting. lol

Little Jones Schneider...( I forgot his last name)

Overall, Naranjal was great, everyone was friendly and I was treated like family. I'm still amazed at the friendliness and hospitality of Ecuador.

Thanks Evelyn, espero que yo puedo retorno un dia.  

Dia de Gracias started out a little hard for me. I was expecting a call from my sister during our family's meal, but things didn't work out like I expected and I wasn't able to see everyone through FaceTime like I thought. 

my sad face.

However, after waiting for what felt like an eternity, I got to Factime my granma, FINALLY! She wasn't as awe struck by the technology as I thought she would be, but then again, my granma so cool and hip I'm not sure why I thought she would be. 

The food turned out better than what I thought it would be, thank god.

And we all sat together like a happy family and drank wine and some coco drink thats kinda like Puerto Rican eggnog. And there was a tree!

open toed sandals on Thanksgiving YASSSS

Later that night we went to a club that was pretty cool, I played the bongos. LOL

This week I made a new friend.

Hannah

She was just there, sitting in tutto freddo all alone, like me and i thought she was american so i introduced myself and long story short we spent the whole day together. She's from Japan but has been living in Lima and I met her literally hours before her bus left. QUE SUERTE.

Parque de La Madre

there were more people there than in this picture. She really loved it and it made me feel good to be able to pass the kindness that I've received when I travel to other places.

ALSO

CUENCA GOT A MCDONALDS NOW YALL *crowd applause*

BUT THEY DONT SERVE BREAKFAST *crowd boos*

it was decent. Just being in an McDonalds made me homesick, cause the last time I was with my bff's we were eating Mickey D's breakfast =(

which they don't have -_-

The line was long

the people love it though, it was about the same. I think the beef is actually beef though, and the special sauce was a little heavy on the mayonnaise, and the fries could use like two more shakes of salt-but it's only the first day. It should be interesting to see if McDonalds changes the culture of Cuenca....

Me and Angela

and lastly, I lost all my wisdom 

 all four for 200 dollars. 

so now I'm typing this post with one hand cause the other is holding an ice pack to my face

IT HURTS

the dentist keep talking bout how big and strong they were, he was surprised, the bottom ones were the worst. He actually couldn't pull them out so he called in another dentist how brought in a speacial machine that sounded like and axe. I got local  anesthesia so i saw and heard everything. it was kinda cool actually, felt like a horror movie, without the actual pain.

"QUE GRANDE QUE DURO" -the dentist

(-_-) - me

I'm on a lot of meds and I can't eat solid food for bout a week. 

I still don't think they that big.

First, check out my outfit and then notice all the other coats and jeans in the background

So, the Marc Anthony concert was last night. And no one told me that in Cuenca you should spend at least 4 hours in line getting drunk with your friends because the stadium won't sell liquor. Luckily, I had friends who stood in line since 2am! 

the awesome friends

The show didn't start till about 9pm, but the crowd was ready and rocking since like 6pm. I wasn't though. Actually we weren't. The temperature had to drop  to about 45 degrees toward 8pm and again, check the outift

look at all that skin exposed. (._.)

So the opening act was Americo, who was nice and seemed cute. I couldn't see from where I was.

However, HE NEVER STOPPED SINGING.

We waited for what felt like forever for Marc Anthony. 

in the cold, very little protection, body heat kept me alive that night