Author Archives: tim

– Eileen started new classes this past Monday. She has Basic 2 and Intermediate 2, both of which are classes she hasn’t taught before. She was surprisingly nonchalant about her fate last weekend, but she’s pretty annoyed now. It’s definitely more work.
– Eileen won one of the three awards at her school for having the best teacher evaluations for the past cycle. $100! Way to go, Eileen
– Tim was a little too obsessed with learning Flash last week. He spent a lot of time on the computer, and didn’t make much progress, but he put some questions out there in forums on the internet, and the projects are slowly progressing.
– Tim’s brother Will has been taking intensive Spanish classes for the past few days. Four hours of Spanish only. He says he’s not sure yet if it’s helping at all.
– The director of SECAP called WorldTeach because Tim took vacation last week and didn’t tell students and he’s now going to cheat them out of a full week of class. (Actually, Tim told the students on three consecuetive days, but apparently, not all of them were listening to his careful explanation or looking at the calendar on the board or attending class or coming to class fewer than 40 minutes late, so they remained clueless. And of course, Tim’s not gonna cheat them out of a week. The real problem is that the director of SECAP is dum.)
– Tim’s sister Angie gets back today from her Peru trip.
– Now that our internet time is more consistent and free, we’re once again web junkies. Some of our most recent favorites:
boingboing.net: the best blog out there
dooce.com: a hilarious and sometimes gross mother blogs about her life
daily dose of imagery: our favorite photoblog
go fug yourself: very funny couple of women critique celebrities. Doesn’t seem like something we’d like, but it’s really funny.
commonbits.org: great collection of alternative and independent media
– Ecuadorian politics remain unstable. Next Wednesday is the “Paro Nacional.” For a while there, it looked like the various cities and provinces weren’t going to agree on a date, but now they have. This is huge. It means that people are uniting against Lucio. His chances of being ousted are greater.
– Will and Tim watched a soccer game on TV the other night between Liga, Quito’s favorite home team, and Santos, a Brazilian team. Liga got absolutely schooled. There’s a player for Santos named Robinho (pronounced row-bin-yo) who some are saying is the next Pele. For any soccer fans out there, keep your eye on that kid. He was incredible.
– Tim’s reading regiment has been successful, meaning he’s been sticking with all the deadline he’s set for himself. He just finished Plainsong by Kent Haruf, and before that, Lullaby by Chuch Palunhiuk (that’s gotta be spelled wrong), Oracle Night by Paul Auster, Kavalier and Clay, Wicked, Blankets, and Devil in the White City.
– Will and Angie brought the Wal-Mart TV for our landlords, just so everyone knows.
– More Galapagos pics posted in the coppermine.

Lots of weird political shtuff going on down here. The future is uncertain. Last week, these two former presidents came back to the country after years of exile. The current president is in cahoots with the old corrupt ones, and he has played the game such that his current president of the supreme court fired all the judges opposed to the old corrupt presidents. They were supposed to go immediately to jail if they returned to the country, but last week, that decision was overturned, and now they’re back. These two presidents, Bucaram and Noboa were really corrupt thieves. Here in Quito, the people absolutely loathe them. But in Guayaquil, where they’re not as smart, the people like at least Bucaram. They celebrated his return and didn’t think twice when he said, “The pope couldn’t die until I returned to Ecuador.”

Guayaquil is the biggest city in Ecuador, with about 3 million inhabitants. There are 13 million in the entire country. And since it’s actually a requirement for every citizen to vote, Guayaquil has big influence. But it’s been interesting talking with Quitenos during the past week. They don’t really believe that all people from Guayaquil are idiots, just as I don’t believe that everyone from Texas is a dumbass. But Bush was the governor there, and they have some pretty backward policies when it comes to schools, prisons, etc. Thus, I might not hesitate to say that Texans are idiots, though, of course not all of them are. Just the majority.

Anyhow, next Tuesday there’s this plan to have big “paros” at least in Quito. Paros are strikes. I’ve heard that the city is gonna shut down. But you never know. The rumors are seldom accurate. However, my more level-headed students — those less prone to exaggeration — are even saying things could get chaotic soon. Anything could happen. They could oust the current president. Or the various political contigents could stumble over each other in an effort to not have their own power sapped and, as a result, it could be that nothing will happen.

I’ll take a break from the posting today after that barrage of Galapagos blogs. But if you’re one of our seven readers, don’t worry. We’re gonna start posting pictures today. Check the coppermine.

We were supposed to leave this morning with the kids, but we extended our trip by a day. We changed the flight to Wednesday, so we’ll fly out tomorrow morning instead. Last night, we went out with Veronica and Angeline. We ended up going to Carapacho, the bar we were supposed to meet Javier at two nights ago. Finally found it.

Eileen and I stayed out til 12:00. In exchange for some vocabulary enrichments, I danced to a merengue song with Veronica. Apparently, Will danced with Angeline once and Angie danced with Veronica just so everyone could participate. We said goodbye to the kids, the moms, the remaining Perez’s, and Veronica this morning. As I write this, it’s 10:30. Everyone else is sleeping. We’ll stay in the Hotel Fiesta again tonight. It will cost $22 per person!

asleep in hotel fiesta
Originally uploaded by wiscostorm

Today, we went to Las Grietas, which means cracks, fissures, crevices. Basically, they’re big cliffs filled with sea water. The water doesn’t get a lot of sun, so it’s really cold. But it’s also very clear. We had to take a water taxi from the main island across the bay. There, we hiked into Las Grietas across some very rocky landscape. There were some very noisy local kids already swimming at Las Grietas when we arrived. They kept throwing water-filled bottles into the water and then diving after them. My eyes are watering right now just thinking about opening them under salt water. One of the kids in particular was pretty fearless. He kept climbing up the side of the cliff and then jumping in from great heights. I tried doing the same once, but the climb up was a little scary in wet sandals. After an hour or two at Las Grietas, we left and hiked back out to a beach by the Finch Bay Hotel. The hotel was very impressive, and the beach was shallow and really warm. We stayed for 40 minutes or so and then returned to the water taxi.

For dinner, we walked to a hotel/restaurant called the Red Mangrove. It was beautiful. From the street, you enter the hotel via a small, 50-yard boardwalk through a tunnel of mangroves. In the main lobby, there are several colorful hammocks hung between wood pillars. Brightly-colored sheets decorate the ceiling; the sliding glass doors overlooking the bay remain open, letting a nice sea breeze blow through the place. Small flood lights shine out at the aquatic scene just outside the doors, illuminating various crabs and fish. The occasional gecko is visible on the earthy orange walls, and a version of “No Woman, No Cry” by an Okinawan folk band plays on the stereo. They serve sushi and other Japanese fare. They accept credit cards.

We met Emily and her roommate Mauricio and ate a wonderful dinner. Emily told us that the son of the guy who owns the Red Mangrove is actually in jail for drugs or something. There are about three people in jail here on Santa Cruz. They occasionally let the son out for birthdays and holidays, etc. Emily said she saw him once in the streets and said, “Oh, you got out?” And he said, “no, I have to go back tonight.”

The story – strange and set against a gorgeous backdrop – seemed to fit perfectly with our whole Galapagos experience.