I love being an exchange student!
The life of an exchange student can be pretty stressful at times.
Swimming in the ocean, eating seafood, watching movies, going to parties…the kind of stuff that really causes those premature gray hairs.
On the 10th of Janurary I left the cold, ash coated streets of Riobamba (a nearby volcano, Tungurahua, had just errupted) and headed for a warmer part of the country, the coastal city of Portoviejo.
I went with the two other exchange students in Riobamba (Johanna from Germany and Sabrina from Taiwan). After an eight hour bus ride and a quick stop in Guayaquil to eat McDonalds (!), we arrived in Portoviejo. Kirsty, my friend from Texas, and her host mom were waiting for me at the terminal since I would be staying at their house for the week.
So…Here´s a quick rundown of my week:
Monday: I went with Kirsty and a couple of other exchange students to a nearby beach called Crucita. We all met up at the terminal and after wandering around a bit, we finally found the right bus. Unfortunately, as soon as we got to Crucita it started to rain. So we decided to have an early lunch in the hopes that it would stop raining by the time we were done. No suck luck. Mother nature was not in a very forgiving mood that day. So instead of going home, we decided to brave the rain (like a true oregonian!) and go swimming. It was a fun day!
Tuesday: I went on a tour of Portoviejo and then went with all the exchange students to the cinema to watch Inglorious Bastards. The movie theater was packed! Probably because it´s pretty much the only place in Portoviejo that has air conditioning. Afterwards we went out for hamburgers and ice cream. I swear, I eat more hamburgers here than I ever did in the U.S. Most likely because a good hamburger only costs seventy cents!
Wednesday: We woke up early to take the bus to a further beach named San Clemente. Kirsty, Johanna, Leslie (an exchange student from Washington), and I spent the day enjoying the ocean. We had traditional Ecuadorian food for lunch (Ceviche), swam in the ocean, and layed out in the sun. At night we met up with some exchange friends at a great restaurant that only plays music from bands such as ¨The Beatles¨and ¨Queen.¨ Another great day!
Thursday: I wanted to see more of Portoviejo, so I went with Kirsty and some of my friends from Germany to the Botanical Gardens. In a city where trees are a very rare site, it was surprising to see how big the botanical gardens were. They had flora and fauna from all over Ecuador, a corn maze (which took us about half an hour to complete…it was hard!), and a mini zoo with native ecuadorian animals and birds. Afterwards, we went over to Leslie´s house to watch movies and eat junk food. Can you tell that we miss America??
Friday: Yet another day at the beach! This time we took the bus to an even further beach called Bahía. It´s probably my favorite Ecuadorian beach so far. To get to the beach we had to go in a little boat called a ¨Pallatanga.¨ The beach was beautiful and there were no waves, it felt like we were in a huge swimming pool! Once we were back in Portoviejo, we went to the movies again to see Sherlock Holmes….in Spanish. Despite the fact that we didn´t get to hear Jude Law´s voice, it was a really good movie!
Saturday: My last day in Portoviejo….and I spent it in the nearby city of Manta. Kirsty and I took the bus to the city of Manta and met up with the four exchange students that live in Manta. They live paradise. All of them live in these huge houses with pools, saunas, air conditioning (very important on the coast), maids, and a personal chofer. Wow! We all went swimming in the pool then went to the Supermaxi (Ecuador´s Walmart) and bought food for a picnic on the beach. It was a good way to end my trip!
Sunday: At 9 a.m we met at the terminal, said goodbye to everyone, and started the trip back to Riobamba. Once again, we made a short stop in Guayaquil to eat McDonalds and arrived in Riobamba around 7 p.m.
It was definitely one of the best weeks of my exchange and I have a sunburned face and many mosquitoe bites to prove it!
Hope everyone is enjoying the cold Oregon weather…I definitely miss it!
Alex
