Fiesta de Cumpleanos

So today was Alex's birthday and her host mom invited us all over for tea. We had a blast! We spent several hours talking and laughing and eating cake, and then Jenny and I decided we'd try our hand at salsa! Which led to more laughing, since white girls can't dance!

I think one of the hardest things about speaking Spanish is that I've almost completely lost my personality. I know textbook Spanish. But I'm still picking up on slang and figuring out sarcasm and humor. And tonight for the first time, Ecuas laughed at me. And not because they couldn't understand me, but because I was able to make fun of myself in Spanish. It was the most I've laughed in such a long time, and it didn't matter that it was at my own expense. I just loved feeling like I could be 100% myself!

Bonus: got to play a really gorgeous guitar that belonged to Alex's mom's grandmother (over 100 years old) and listen to Alex's host brother play the piano. It was quite a fiesta!

Also, I've decided that all teenagers should want to live in the Dor. I told my mom I'd be home around 8, but since we're on Ecua time, it wasn't strange at all that I rolled in around 9:30. For those of you who don't know what Ecua time is, it basically means that if we say we're going to meet at 5, I'm still on time at 5:59 because its still 5. 6:30 I'm a little late, and 7:00 I should really call. Why does this not apply to curfews in high school?!

Chocolate y Eminem

Highlights of the day:

1. Found a chocolateria around the corner from the university. SCORE! Bonus points: got a free piece of chocolate. Say what?

2. Went to dance class and Marcela (profesora de danza moderna) told us we were learning a new dance. Next thing I know "I'm Not Afraid" by Eminem starts blaring. She must have known how hood I am (see what I did there?) and decided we needed to dance to something a little more gangsta!

El Dia de los Hombres Viejos

After church today, Anneke and I went exploring. We were going to ride our bikes down the street in front of my house that gets closed off on Sundays, but by the time we found the place that rents bikes, they were all gone. Another weekend maybe.

So instead we checked out everything Carolina (the park by my house...excellently named...almost as awesome as the real Carolina) had to offer. In doing so, we ended up talking to several old men (hetch-a-sketch! but not really)! One guy we met while watching Ecuavoli (the Dor's version of volleyball "played only in Ecuador"....they're very proud of that!). His name was Edi and introduced us as his novias (girlfriends) to his friends, and got very excited when we said we'd watch part of his match. He was so sweet and adorable. We adopted him as our Ecu grandpa for the day!

After that, we ended up talking to another old man who we'd asked a question about a game we saw being played (people with huge, heavy, rubber racket type thingys--the technical term I assure you--swatting around a 6 pound ball). He talked to us about everything from politics and the economy to the water in the Dor and sports. Again, so sweet. Ecuas are so friendly and so willing to speak with you and patient while you practice your Spanish. I love it!

Things I would bring to Quito if I had a bigger bag: roller blades.

Things I'm going to bring with me to Chapel Hill next semester: roller blades.

Roller date anyone??

Otavalo

This weekend, we went to an indigenous pueblo, se llama Otavalo.

The pueblo is known for its market place, but we found much more!

We took a cab out to this lake where we thought we were going to be able to hike around, but with no trails to be found we opted for paddle boats!

"Um. I'm 20. Paddling a boat. On a lake. In ECUADOR!!"

We had plenty of downtime hanging out (see what I did there?) in the hammocks at the hostel!

Tyler: "Wait, can we eat cake, and THEN hammock, and THEN eat dinner?"

Anneke: "What a life we live!"

Surprise of the weekend: my own personal serenade on my birthday. I have no idea what the song was about, but he said something about "tu cumpleanos" so I'm guessing he made up a song on the fly for my birthday. What can I say? I'm just so incredible, he felt inspired! Haha.

La Vida Verdad

True life: I got tickled by an Ecua.

PDA

I'm not sure there is a translation for this in Spanish, but if there was I'm pretty sure it would be the equivalent of "do whatever you can wherever you can." I'm not a super touchy person, and I'm not a big fan of watching others get all up in each other's space and pretend their in their own little world. (Its all of ours world and we can all see you.) Perks of having divorced parents: I never had to experience this at home, and lets face it, in the States, its not that common in public. But here...

So to all you Ecua couples out there, please please set some boundaries. For instance, if I'm standing next to you on the bus, don't bring me into your personal make-out session by bumping up against me. And you two sitting in front of me on the other bus, you each have your own seat. Use them. And to that girl practically being carried by her boyfriend at school today, here's a news flash: you don't have to be hugging him all the time. Seriously, he must be exhausted from holding you up all day. We get it. You're an item.

You don't have to believe in what we Americans like to call the bubble, but please let me have mine.

And here's something strange: for all the kisses on the cheek I've gotten (its how you greet women) and all the PDA ALL THE TIME, no one hugs here unless youre dating. Seriously, haven't been hugged in almost 3 weeks. So weird.

(Kaylee Burgess, prepare yourself!)

Mas Comida

I can't help it. I love food. A lot. So here goes another post about the food in the Dor.

arroz--everything here is served with rice. you can't escape it. seriously everything. tonight, my dinner was espagheti con arroz. seriously Tyler? seriously. pasta and rice. so far its great because I happen to love rice, but I'm starting to wonder if I'll last 4 months eating rice twice a day.

ahi--this right here is the reason I'm loving rice so much in the Dor. its this special sauce that everyone makes differently, but generally its citrusy and spicy. some people like it hott (como yo!! though not really my food if ya know what I'm sayin ;) solo chiste!) while others are more mild. some are super soupy and others are more like mayo consistency, but regardless, they are all delicious and rice just tastes neked (for all you yankees out there, that means naked) without it! i really think you could slather anything in ahi and I would eat it. its like the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding with his Windex. "Put some ahi on it." all better!

leche y queso--here's how they make milk and cheese here. they milk a cow and put it on your table. or for the cheese, allow it to mold and then put it on your table. skim milk is almost unheard of...everything is whole. not my fave, but luckily i only need a little to wet my cereal. the cheese is ok when melted, but also not mi favorito. cheddar farmers, yall best be gettin' busy cause I'm gonna bring you some crazy business when I get back stateside.

yogur--do ya'll remember Danimals?? (I believe a shoutout to Danimal himself is un poco necesario here!) the drinkable yogurt! well, welcome to all yogurt in the Dor. Eat your yogurt with a spoon and people look at you like "stupid gringa, can you do anything right?"

Banchis maqueno chifle (sabor limon)--this my friends is the greatest snack food on the planet earth. I plan on bringing home a suitcase dedicated to little bags of these alone. They are lime flavored plantain chips and are quite possibly the king of all snack foods. seriously, if I were a bag of potato chips I would fling myself off of grocery shelves to make way for this guy. Heck, as a human I would fling myself off of a grocery shelf to get a bag of these. Vive el rey!

Jugo--every day I get at least one large glass of juice. whether it comes with my lunch, or its what we drink for dinner. it is all fresh squeezed and made fresh daily. one of my favorite restaurants para almorzar (eat lunch) has a different kind each day. Guayava and mora are my favorites (guava and blackberry). Que ricos!

If I wasn't so full of rice, this just might have made me hungry.

El Ano de Dragun

Chinese New Year! Who knew I'd come to love it so much!?

Our president at the University is a Buddhist and very in to Asian culture, so he decided to cancel classes for the afternoon and throw us a party! Complete with live music (never heard such a good rendition of Billy Jean. girl could flat out sing!) and free pastel y vino (cake and wine).

Chancelor Thorp, if you're reading this, I think this is how we should celebrate University Day. Just sayin'.

The festivities actually started last night when all of a sudden fireworks started shooting off right outside my window. I thought they were an early birthday present for me, but Mama told me about the New Year festivities this morning. I guess the world really doesn't revolve around me. Rats.

You know you aren't a city girl when:

You can't tell the difference between a gunshot and fireworks. Oops.

Mindo Lindo!

This past weekend we headed out to Mindo! Every good trip has a catchphrase that you shout all the time (Spring Break 2K11!! OPA!!! London Baby!), and this weekend, it was MINDO LINDO!! (lindo=cute/neat/anything you need it to mean at the time...words here rarely have a solid definition i'm learning!) Also every good trip has a ton of great stories, so brace yourself for a long post!

We stayed in un hostal called Casa Cecilia which was heaven on earth! We had an awesome host, Paula, who helped us do everything we wanted to do, and a taxi driver Yaro/Yaru/Yuro/Yoru (he said it differently every time we asked!) who took us to do all those things!

This was our cabin and where we ate breakfast every morning. Paradise!

Taxis in Mindo are pick-up trucks. This place was made for me. I'm a pick-up (wo)man. (joe diffie anyone?)

We went zip-lining. Gorgeous. Breath-taking. Freakin' awesome. MINDO LINDO!

The guides let us do mariposas and supermans, which were really hilarious. For the mariposa (butterfly) you hang upside-down, spread eagle and zip. For the superman you lay on your stomach with your legs around the guide and put your arms out like you're flying. That's the one I did (not as awkward as it sounds I promise) and it really felt like you could fly. Absolutely incredible!

I have to say God works in mysterious ways. Less than a week after my chocolate rant, we stay in a hotel 5 seconds from a chocolate factory.

Meet Francisco. Our very own Willy Wonka.

He walked us through the entire process of producing chocolate and then gave us free samples. Sometimes, if you looked at him just right, you could see wings and a halo. They made the richest, chocolatiest brownies ever--the perfect combination of fudgyness and cakeyness. And thebrownie ice cream was even better. MMMmmmm. Needless to say, we went back every day.

Saturday. (For all you parents out there, I didn't skip class. I don't have class on Fridays. Holla!!)

We heard about this really amazing waterfall, so we went to find it. To get there, you ride on this ramshackle little cart across a zip-line.

And we get off on the other side and wait for the guide to lead the way. Nope. You're on your own. Here's what's different about Ecuador. There are no waivers, no forms, no signatures, no babysitting you through your adventure. You just go live you adventure. I saw this sign the other week and I think it sums it up pretty well:

In other words, there are no rules!

The hike to the falls was beautiful ("I'm in the middle of the freakin' rainforest!" "Actually, its a cloud forest." "I'm in a forest and it's raining. I'm in a rainforest.")

and long ("pretty tree!" "oh look, another pretty tree!" "a waterfall!")

and muddy. (they call me grace.)

But we made it! And when we reached the end (an hour later), the waterfall was incredible. Pictures can't even begin to do it justice. Glorious. (this was the lower part, you had to get really wet to get to the really big, awe-inspiring part of the falls since it had rained so much, so a picture wasn't exactly possible.)

When we got back to the skart (sketch cart), we wanted more! So, we hiked the other direction, and found another incredible waterfall. I saw a ladder, and well, ladders are meant to be climbed. So, I did, only to discover that on the other side of the falls was a jacuzzi and a waterslide. I'm sorry, a private jacuzzi and waterslide. But the view was incredible none the less.

TUBING! This was one of the coolest experiences. You sit in this sketchy raft, which is a ton of tubes tied together by rope, and you hold on for dear life while the guides push and shove you down the river. The water is FREEZING. Did you get that? I don't think you did. It was Antarctica, penguins floating on ice as you passed by, sitting in a tub of ice cubes, unable to feel pain because you're so numb, FREEZING! The guides were never still for more than a second, hopping in and out of the boat to steer us to the current and avoid the rocks. If you've ever been white water rafting, imagine they were the oars. All 8 of them at once. Extremely impressive and so fun.

Sidenote: If you ever decide to go tubing in the Dor, consider a yoga session afterwards. Waking up the next morning after 15 minutes of every muscle in your body being flexed (and numb so you can't feel any pain) means that your feet hit the floor and then you collapse, because you're so sore, your legs can't support you and your arms can't catch you.

We got a wonderful serenade at a salsa bar Saturday night, though no one was salsa-ing which was such a disappointment. You can't see him that well in this picture, but there was a really cute guy at the bar behind the guitar players and all us girls were semi-fighting (but not really) for him: "I saw him first." "He's my type. I can just tell." And then we saw that he was smoking and it was like: "You definitely saw him first." "You're right, he is SO you're type." Typs.

Sunday was check out day, but our bus didn't leave until 2:30. Well, not so much a bus (since we didn't buy tickets before they sold out) as Yaro driving Paula's dad's 11-passenger van back to Quito filled with us and some friends we made along the way at the hostel who were in the same boat (well, van) as us.

But, before that whole faisco, we went to a place actually called Mindo Lindo. Can you say PERFECTO?! It was owned by Paula's dad, Pedro, and her step-mom. Pedro took us around and told us about all the plants, and their uses, and how they grow. It was beautiful, but a little painful, since none of us could hardly walk! Hiking for zip-lining, and then for the waterfalls, and then tubing all adds up to a desperate need for pain-relievers. After the tour, we all got to have lemongrass tea and watch the hummingbirds. A great end to our weekend!

We left after one final stop at the chocolate factory. MINDO LINDO!

El Rey Leon

Today I got to watch my favorite movie of all time with the most adorable baby in the entire world. Donato and I (do you see how good my grammar is getting? gracias espanol!) watched Lion King in Spanish and it was incredible. I just didn't think that movie could get any better, but give all the characters some latin flavor and put all the songs in spanish and you have yourself one heck of an awesome movie! Still not better than the original, but they did a great job. I totally want the spanish soundtrack!!

In other news, my internet is down because of some stormy weather, so I'm mooching off of my grandparents for this post. I'm going with some friends to Mindo this weekend, so there won't be any posts for a few days, but I promise plenty of pictures and stories in the near future (if my internet starts working again!)

word of the week: pandillera=gangsta=Tyler

La Mas Alta

Reasons why being tall is great in Quito:

1. you always have air to breathe on the bus, even when it's super crowded, because your a whole head above everyone else

2. you can stand anywhere on the bus because you can always reach the bars, even if they're kind of far away

3. you can get food off the top shelf. you thought you were saving that Mama, but you weren't!

4. you can get everywhere faster on account of your long strides

5. you're easy to spot. people just flock to me, i'm so popular. (jj shout out to taylor boone!)

Reasons why being tall isn't so great in Quito:

1. you just barely fit in your bed

2. you have to duck to go up stairs or in and out of doorways (specifically at restaurants)

3. you kick people accidentally in dance class because you forget how long your legs are

4. people always seem a little afraid when they look up at you and feel like you're looming over them

5. you're easy to spot. add white skin and blonde hair to the equation and every ecua knows you're a gringa. no going incognito for yo!

Shout out to Abigail Coles. I can't even begin to explain my excitement when Mama told me I had a carta! My first international mail. Made my day!!

Amigos y Fiestas

I made some Ecu friends today in my lit class! Our friendships basically consist of them making fun of me and us talking in British accents, but lets face it, that's what most of my friendships look like! Haha

Today was Estebitan's (cousin) 3rd birthday and we had a big costume party for him. It was the opposite of Legally Blonde, no one told me it was a costume party. I wanted to dress up. Oh well. All the kids were super cute and there was a pinata and every spiderman decoration you could possibly imagine. Ecua cumpleanos are way different than Americans. Every time a kid walked through the door with a present, Estebitan would rip it open immediately, thank the parent, and then go play with it. There was dancing and a colored disco ball, tons of party favors, and a sparkler coming out of the cake. Yea, I'm super pumped I'm celebrating my birthday here!

My adorable brother, Donato as un leo.

Today I got to meet the other student that moved in downstairs. His name is Alex, and since my abuelos are his host parents that technically makes him my uncle. So meet Tio Alex. We're gonna be besties!

The three gringos!

La Comida

That's right folks, time for the food blog.

Everything here is delicious. I wish I could leave it at that, but some things require a little explanation and a little ranting. Ok so only one thing requires ranting; and I kind of lied before. I should have said "almost everything here is delicious."

Empanadas--every southerner's dream. Take whatever you want (I've seen everything from ground beef and veggies to pizza toppings to seafood to strawberries and chocolate.) and wrap it up in this delicious, crispy, yet soft dough and fry it. Fry it good.

Carne--the beef here is a little tough, but Mama makes it with a fried egg on top and it is glorious!

Sidenote: Mama isn't said like a baby to it's mother or like a southerner trying to prove they're right ("Well, Mama always said..."). Mama and Papa are pronounce in Spanish like maMA and paPA. Just so ya know.

Frutas--so much fruit. Some days, all I eat is fruit. Ok that's a lie too, but it seems like it a lot!

Lentils--yum. enough said.

Tea--I have found the greatest tea in the world. It requires no sugar or milk or honey or anything. It's that good: Manzanilla. It means literally "little apple" and its awesome!

Here's the other tea we have in the house. For those of you as immature as I am, please note that every time I see the box I giggle. Yes, I'm 12 and I know it.

Ok ready for the ranting?

Chocolate.

I know right? Not what you were expecting. I mean, who can screw up chocolate? Let me tell you. Ecuadorians can. They mix it with all these crispies and cookies and nuts and fruit jellies and flavorings and they screw it all up. I mean, they have taken one of the most glorious things God put on this earth and destroyed it. I'm looking in the Bible, because I'm pretty sure its sinful what they've done. Here's a for instance: I went to get ice cream at this place that specializes in desserts, and I saw this amazing looking chocolate sundae, and I thought to myself, "Self, you have to have this. Finally, you're going to get to taste the wonderful, bittersweet, heavenly taste of chocolate in Ecuador. All will be right with the world again."

Nope. I take my first bite and just about spit it out. They've put hazelnut in it. It tasted like Nutella. I know there are many of you out there who are all like, "Wow, that must have been so good. What's the matter with you? Nutella is the most amazing thing ever."

Nope. Wrong again. I'm here to tell you my friends that Nutella is not the most amazing thing ever. It's mediocre at best, and if you've ever seen me eat it, it was probably for one of two reasons: either you gave it to me and I didn't want to hurt your feelings, or I had a really bad sweet tooth and was willing to stoop as low as Nutella to satisfy it. Chocolate, now that might just be the greatest thing ever. But not when you botch it up with all this extra stuff. LEAVE MY CHOCOLATE ALONE. UGH.

Quemada por el Sol

Sunburnt. It ain't hard here. Basically, we're so close to the sun here in Quito (twice as high as Denver) that even on a cloudy day like today, I can end up looking like this guy:

or worse, this guy:

That's right folks, between today and yesterday I'm rockin' more farmer's tans than a NASCAR fan. You can take the girl out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the girl.

Mitad del Mundo

Middle Earth. Shout out to all the LOTR fans out there.

Today Alex, Kane, and I went to the equator. We took all the embarrassing touristy pictures and had a great time.

The place with the yellow line isn't actually the equator. Explorers hundreds of years ago thought that it was, so they built this really huge monument and park surrounding it. When GPS came out, they discovered that the equator was actually 200 meters north. Oops. So now there's an indigenous museum at the real equator.

Things unique to the equator:

-Water drains straight down.

-You can balance an egg on the head of a nail (though I think this takes magical powers because I couldn't do it for the life of me)

-With your arms out and your eyes closed you can't walk in a completely straight line because of the forces pulling you in different directions.

It was a really cool experience followed by a great lunch of empanadas! The restaurant was a little sketchy so if I'm sick in a few days remind me that this is why!

Jazz, Aerobicos, y Cerveza

Last night I went to a bar called Pobre Diablo. It was all Ecuas and there was a live jazz band. We were saying goodbye to Tio David's (another former exchange student of my abuela...therefore that makes him my uncle) sister as she headed back to 'merica. It was a really chill atmosphere and I really enjoyed just going out and listening to the live music (as opposed to being in my room all night!). That's one thing I took for granted at home--at UNC there's always something to do until you're ready to go to sleep. Here, it isn't safe to go out alone after dark, so your options are pretty limited.

Today I was supposed to take an aerobics class with my abuela, but she couldn't go so I went alone. For those of you who know me well, imagine me as an aerobics instructor making moves up off the top of my head to latin music and you've got a pretty good picture of my aerobics instructor. She was hilarious and was clearly just making things up on the spot. One thing that most certainly hasn't changed since I got to the Dor--still can't shake my booty. Got to work on that one! Also, I think one of my professors was in the class with me!

Then later tonight a big group of us headed to Mariscal which is the place to go for nightlife. There are more bars and restaurants and clubs than you could ever imagine, and if you go to the right places, drinks are cheap. We ended up in this little hole-in-the-wall bar, where I had dumdadadum.....cerveza! The beers were huge and I didn't even get close to finishing one. It just ain't my thing. But hey, at least I can say I had Ecuadorian beer in the Dor. Check that off the list!

Also, tonight marks 1 week in the Dor!!!

Bailar

Today was the first day of classes and my only class (that's right be jealous) was a modern dance class. My teacher is adorable and the class is really small (only 7 of us) so we already know each other's names which is muy chevere (very cool). Also, I just forgot how much fun it was to dance. And the look of fear on the teacher's face when me and this other girl said we didn't have any dance experience was priceless...but I think we did ok!

Also, saw a guy peeing in the park today. Totally normal. No big deal.

P.S. if you ever visit the Dor make sure you bring body wash and sunscreen. I just spent 12$ on soap (even though I swear the label said 3$) and didn't have the (13-17$) necessary to buy sunscreen. So carro (expensive).

El Tiempo Extrano

Today was Andrew's cumpleanos. He is my host brother of sorts. He studied abroad a year ago, and is back to visit the family. He came with a group of us to el centro historico which is this really beautiful part of Quito with a ton of history. Then later, we had a big celebration where my tio Esteban insisted that I play guitar for my cake in front of the whole family. But he said that David (another former exchange student of the family) and his sister could help me sing, so we rocked out to Man of Constant Sorrow. It wasn't the same as playing with the Lost Insides, but David was excellent at playing the spoons!

We all went to see el basilico, this really incredible church. My favorite part was that the gargoyles were all different animals, including armadillos. Intimidating.

The weather here is crazy. One second its like this:

and the next its like this:

And the real problem is that no matter what the weather actually is, weather.com will say there is a 60% chance of rain and a high of 65. Seriously, the next ten days all say the same thing. But yesterday, it barely sprinkled (even though I wore my rain boots all day) and today it poured (while I had neither an umbrella or a rain coat). Needless to say, it keeps things interesting!

Gordito! Bonito!

That's right. Fat and beautiful.

First fat:

There is no such thing as politically correct in the Dor. Nope, if you are the darkest in your family you're "el negro" and if you're the fattest, well you're "el gordo". Mi mama and the rest of the family call Papa, Gordo (Fatty) and Donato, Gordito (Little Fatty). So this is how a conversation might go:

Mama: Come here little fatty. Hey fatty, bring little fatty here please.

Ok, so that wasn't really a conversation, but you get the gist. Give me a break fatty.

Now beautiful:

UNC is the most beautiful school in the States, of this I am convinced. But, USFQ may just be the most beautiful school in the world. There's a waterfall and mountains surrounding it and all of the buildings are really beautiful. We had orientation today (including a diversity talk that rivals UNC's for most boring...did you know people are different? GASP!) and I got to meet a bunch of other internationals, so now I have friends. Ha. Didn't know I had it in me did ya?

Also, here's a shout out to all the moms out there who are or have ever been covered in slobber and always smelling of poop. (welcome to life with gordito.) I salute you.

Si, Rico, Gracias

These are the 3 most common words I say. Yes. Delicious. Thank you.

Maybe I shouldn't talk to boys. They might get the wrong idea. (or the right one if you know what I'm sayin'! just kidding!)

Went to an English church today and loved it, then spent the day with la familia de Papa. Abuela taught me how to cook some of the best fried shrimp I've tasted in my life. Tan RICO! Watch out USA, Tyler is coming home a chef!

Mama and I went to a fruit and vegetable vendor. I LOVE fruit. a LOT. And here, it's super cheap (also, super in spanish is super. its giving me a false sense of confidence because i can always understand at least that word!) Rasberries (2 pounds of them), only 2$. Pineapple-$1. We spent less than 15$ and came home with two huge bags full of produce. Casi cielo (almost heaven!).

On Sundays, the main street in front of my house is blocked off and bikers take over. Hundreds of them go up and down the street for hours every Sunday. And I will be one of them next week! Que chevere (cool)!

La Familia Real y El Palacio

2 posts in one day...am I overwhelming you? now you know mas o menos how i feel!

I live with "the royal family" aka the nicest couple in the entire world and my

15 month old brother, Donato. Donato loves Barney and we had a good time singing and dancing to the raindrop song and "i love you" in Spanish. Mama (Margarita) talks really really fast but she is patient with me and seems perfectly fine carrying the conversation while i nod along and try to understand. Papa (Juan Carlos) and I are besties already! He's an awesome cook--omelette and grilled cheese for almuerzo--and he took me with him to the supermercado.

He loves playing guitar (and has an extra for me) and playing basketball. Que perfecto!

I live in the palace, or the penthouse. Mama Susi (abuela) lives on the first two floors with a ton of other family (including many more kiddos and another student who should arrive any day!) and we live on the top two.

I get the entire top floor to myself--bedroom, bathroom, sitting area (complete with dead tree!), and balcony with roof access!

I live across the street from a gym (gratis--FREE!), basketball courts, and a park. El Parque Carolina is awesome! I spent an hour just exploring today.

Things I saw:

-horseback riding

-paddleboating

-middle school dance crews (not kidding)

-a martial arts group doing cartwheels

-cheerleaders practicing their stunts (one guy did a handstand on top of another hand to hand)

-more jungle gym equipment than you could ever imagine (the good kind that's not "safety approved" so it burns when its hot and pinches your fingers if you're not careful)

-a tightrope walker

-an AMERICAN! (we did the wave..ya know the one that says "you're tall and blonde and white and I am too so just for a second lets be friends". Then again maybe he was German--they're blonde and white too. No se!)