Believe it or not (and it’s probably a lot easier for y’all to believe), the end of my trip abroad is quickly approaching! There is so much that I’m going to miss, and it feels like we are leaving just as I’ve come to see Cuenca as a home. HOWEVER, before I finish up with the program and the blog, I’d like to give everyone some of the best tips, tricks and pointers that I’ve learned since coming to study…
“Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” – C. Wright Mills Here’s a beautiful landscape in Saraguro to catch your attention! As my trip in Ecuador is beginning to wind down, I really want to impart some of the knowledge that I’ve picked up through my journey. Some of the most important knowledge I’ve gained concerns the creation of the Ecuadorian culture and reality. If you haven’t seen it,…
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Eliot This past week has been another filled with lifelong memories and special Ecuadorian traditions. If y’all wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk about the Easter celebrations and some funny encounters I’ve had with Cuencanos. So back in Tennessee, my Easter is usually celebrated with a couple of church services,…
This past week has had quite its share of activities, but they’ve had a much slower pace and have ended up with much more host family bonding: a welcome respite from my group’s fast-paced (but gorgeous and infinitely memorable) vacation in the Galapagos. My week of homey Ecuadorian activities began with a trip to my host father’s work at a family-owned hacienda thirty minutes outside of the city. It was a beautiful trip into the mountains and I got to…
“There is no reality except in action.” – Jean-Paul Sartre One of the most important attributes in my decision-making, and one of the reasons I was able to study abroad in the beautiful city of Cuenca, Ecuador, is pretty simple. I am adamant about taking advantage of every opportunity that I can. From tasting the odd, Cuencan specialty of Cuy (Guinea Pig, which is delicious), to studying abroad in the heart of Latin America, I have rarely let opportunities pass…
Now that I´ve written a bit about my tastes for Cuencan coffee, I decided that it´d be a swell idea to educate everyone on the history of Ecuadoran coffee, because it´s pretty interesting. So, Ecuador is one of the few places in the world that is able to grow quality coffee in extremely different biomes. They say that coffee needs to be grown at high altitudes to be quality, but Ecuador is able to cultivate its coffee beans at altitudes…
So, by no means do I actually claim to be a coffee connoisseur… I like my coffee sweet with milk and lots of different flavors. BUT, drinking coffee in Cuenca has taught me some distinct (and really enjoyable) ways to hang out and drink coffee with friends/family. My first lesson concerning coffee in Cuenca was that in very few places is there a concept of “to go.” If you want coffee, you’re going to sit down and spend at least…
You need to travel to Latin America as to fully experience the Carnival holiday. It´s such a unique and bewildering event, containing massive celebrations before Lent (a time of holiness and moderation). You´ll notice in the days leading up to Carnival weekend that many people are walking around the city, soaking wet, and returning the cold, wet favor to random passersby. You´ll also become much more familiar with this evil substance known as “carioca” (which is pretty much just aromatic…
“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” -Ludwig Wittenstein As it turns out, journeying to a foreign country entails learning its language (quite well) and transitioning to its customs. Unluckily for me, I was hardly proficient in Spanish coming into Ecuador, and I knew even less of its unique traditions. To cope with the massive influx of new information and Spanish conversation, I had become accustomed to just replying to nearly anything that my host family…
It’s going to be QUITE difficult to recap this past week and a half, as it’s been filled with so many incredible experiences. I’ve been blessed with a great group to make lifelong memories, and I look forward to what lies ahead. I arrived in Quito a day early (after some stressful flight delays) and got a quick glimpse of the capital city before I met the rest of my group. Ordering for myself in a foreign country was a…