un poquito de todo

To clear up any confusion: the decor is tactfFUL, not tackY. Apologies for any changes in mental images that anyone may have to make.

Today I explored Old Town (la parte vieja) and it was una locura. It´s a lot like Valpo- it´s a UN cultural heritage site and there are steep hills with old, colonial looking houses painted vibrant colors. It´s absolutely filled with street vendors and tiny little shops selling things that appear completely random. I saw a store selling tacky gold/bronze lamp bases as well as mattresses, including one shaped like a car. I also saw a dog dressed in a sweater (which isn´t that surprising after Chile) but not only did he have a sweater, but he was also forced to wear a visor (light yellow). I also saw a man selling goldfish in plastic bags on the street, and a man dressed like a clown walking through the streets normally. Speaking of people who are out of place, I also saw what appeared to be a confused hippie gringo- an older man with long, white hair and a long, white beard wearing rose colored sunglases, his hair wrapped in a tie-dyed headband, and he was most definitely wearing bellbottoms- on a motorcycle. While I´m discussing cool things I saw, I also saw four people on one motorcycle- baby in front, dad next, mom behind and another kid on mom´s lap. But my favorite so far has been a family on a single bike, dad in front on a cell phone, mom behind with a baby on her back. But that´s not it! No one was actually pedalling on the bike- instead, the dad was holding on to the back of a pickup truck and they were cruising down the main avenue!

I´m thinking of moving out of my homestay family, mostly beause it´s so expensive to live there- $14.50/day, when a single room in a hostel is $7. Since I know how to cook and since I don´t eat all that much, I´m moving most of my stuff out of my house later today into the Yanapuma offices where it will be safe until I come back from my trip to Caimito (a community near the coast) on Wednesday. I´ll move into my hostel then. A friend is staying there now and says it´s quite nice, family-oriented, and safe.

Re: my trip to Caimito- I´m going out with Azalia, a Yanapuma full time employee, and we´ll see a few communities, but mostly I´m interested in Caimito, where there is a agronomist currently working there and I can talk to him about their cacao production. Hopefully when I come back, I can do more productive research and return to do some interviews.

And fiiiiinally, last night I went out with the housemates/amigos and some of their other Spanish students and teachers to do some karaoke. It was hilarious- one of the teachers sang Celine´s My Heart Will Go On and didn´t find it funny, and we sang backup for the German´s version of Eye of the Tiger. Afterwards, we all met up with a girl I used to know in high school who is now living in Quito with her pololo and we learned some local slang, and I bonded with a friend over cachais and cuicos and valpo´weons...the rapidity with which most Ecuadorians will want to mock the Chileans is truly incredible.

I´ll probably be out of contact until I get back (Wednesday), but don´t worry and I hope you´re all doing well and thriving.