Peguche

Breakfast with the familia this morning. Boiled eggs, fresh jugo de pina, y pan con queso. We had 4 hours of Spanish lessons this morning. It was difficult to pay attention, starting to feel overwhelmed with my lack of Spanish ability. Very few people speak English, and if they do, it´s just a few words. I speak quite well, but I don´t understand very often what is being said in return. My roommate, Andy, does an amazing job of understanding the local dialect, but he does not have as large a vocabulary as me, nor the ability to talk around words he doesn´t know. This essentially makes for a very complicated game of ¨telephone¨with the host family. Like Bill Murray, I´m feeling lost in translation.

Visted a small town called Peguche. It´s how to many indiginous Kichwa people. The town was significantly run down, many dogs in the streets, but the people seemed happy. They were especially pround of their textile crafts, and I have to admit, they were amazing. Normally, I do not even consider purchasing a sweater or other wearable things, but I came pretty close to it today. The 85$ pricetag kept me away.

The best part of the days was when we visited a Kichwa family famous for the their forklorico musica. We watched them make traditional flutas. The daughters of the family danced a traditional dance for us, and then the entire family played some of their traditional songs that have made them famous around the world. They were phenomenal musicians. Every member of the family participated, right down to the youngest daughter who could not have been more than 3 or 4.

Andy, my roommate, and I agree that this is probably the most difficult part of the trip. It´s a challenge to communicate, to adopt culturally, and to spend the mental energy in Spanish class. The day was a whirlwind, and it seems that each day is quicker than the last. My ability to speak English is even lessened. Without knowing it, I tend to talk around difficult words. Oh well, it´s a process, no?