On a weekday in Quito, today for example, which was particularly packed with meetings:

0630 — Alarm goes off, I decide whether to “sleep-in” or go for 20 to 40-minute run
0730 — Shower and prep, a 30-minute process here because of a malfunctioning shower
0830 — Breakfast at home, or cut mangoes from the lady round the corner and bread from the bakery on my way to work, a 5-minute walk.
0900 — Grab coffee from the pantry, check personal emails and FB, reply emails and small tasks
0945 — Grant writing, website review, 2.5 hours of meetings today with 20-minute takeout lunch in between. Afternoon coffee! With milk and no sugar please.
1700 — Come home early, continue working.
1800 – Nap./Usually this is when I get home.
1930 — Cook a pasta dinner, chat with my 4 roommates
2030 — Check FB, read online news, blogs, etc
2115 — Work/Go out for a drink/Read a book
2300 — Stop working, surf the net once again/Head home
0000 — Sleep

On a weekday in Toronto, at my last job:

0730 — Wake-up, eat breakfast
0830 — Walk 20-30 minutes to work (depending on ice conditions), or take the TTC, which actually needs more time/In summer, bike.
0900 — Plain black tea ready, reply emails, work on my comparatively fewer communications projects
1300 — Eat a packed lunch at the office, or buy something outside. And/or spend 20 minutes at an indie cafe nearby with an awesome latte. And/or run errands.
1400 — Back to work.
1730 — Leave office, sometimes because we’re chased out, “It’s 5 o’clock! Go home!” Walk home, or spend an hour reading at cafe.
1830 — Reach home, cook dinner with A. Run if it’s warm enough outside./Occasional dinner date.
2000 — Couple time, news online, try to read.
2230 — Sleep.

I just moved into a new place with four friendly roommates and an awesome kitchen (with oven, blender and toaster!) in a more local type house. My last place was an apartment with its own laundry washer and dryer, security guards downstairs, and a good pressure shower as warm as you wanted. Here, the room requires as many as 3 (not so thick) blankets and the showers are barely lukewarm. But I wake to a view of the mountains at my window. On my way to work, I look out for the old senora selling cut unripe mangoes with salt for 50 centavos. I get to sleep in if I want to because work is a 5-minute walk away. And during the evenings, there is the small park in front of our house and a little patio to hang laundry or sun-bath, once it stops raining. From there, I can see an old church, and another house with its laundry hung out to dry.

Instead of marking time by the honking of cars at rush hour and the roar of planes descending right above our 10+ storey building, church bells ring out the hour. Where I used to say hello to the security guards, I now look out for the harmless homeless men and stray dogs who take up shelter in front of our main door. My other window looks out onto a hospital wing, where patients lie resting or watch television with their visitors.

Maybe it’s the location, or perhaps the new beginning after a week away from work. For whatever reason it feels like May 2011 all over again, like I just moved here. There is a sense of maladjustment, a degree of anxiety that wasn’t here a month before. No, no sadness, nor negativity, just a nagging sense of restlessness, of needing to be able to up and go. Truly, I still like Quito, and this is not about the space I inhabit. Something has changed. For better or worse.

It’s been an amazing past ten days. S visited me and we travelled around the country doing all sorts of fun things like zip-lining, waterfall canyoning and attempting to surf. I managed to show her the mountains at Quilotoa, the cloud forest of Mindo and the party beach town of Montanita, all of which I have never visited myself. After her departure, I also packed and moved and am ready for the new year. Feeling happy and content, but this is also a bittersweet beginning for 2012. I feel like I have grown immensely from all the rich and novel experiences of the past year, and made many beautiful memories in a completely new land. In 2011, I moved to Ecuador, learnt Spanish, travelled, established good things with work, made friends from everywhere and began a vastly different life. Looking forward to more new and amazing things in the coming year. Happy 2012.

I have a home which is incredibly beautiful and comforting for me. Big bay windows, wooden flooring and a green backyard in the summers. Not to mention precious people and a convenient lifestyle complete with favourite cafes, parks and hangouts – things that make you fond of a place and long for it when you’re away. And yet, I am choosing to leave this comfort zone for a more lonely life in a more alien place, where there are many wonderful things waiting for me but where I will be far away from so many lovely things, and more importantly, people.

Does it make sense? To leave a beautiful place you feel is home and is almost too perfect. There’s is so much out there to explore, and yet there is a price for that wanderlust, a price that is too dear for many who say they could never uproot suddenly like I did. I missed home and it feels great to be back, no matter how brief. In some ways, I wish I could keep staying here for a while, but I’m leaving again in a few days for new adventures.

Will still be blogging here, posting thoughts that have no place on the Tumblr platform which is designed for short vignettes rather than long-form posts. The Tumblr blog is also different in that it is my first truly public blog and I am also including details that would be relevant for a stranger looking for information about Quito. I am posting it on Facebook and freely spreading the word about it, as opposed to this piece of unpromoted cyber real estate. Hopefully, the audience will also serve as an extra motivation to write well and eloquently.

Enjoy!

Beach at Puerto Lopez

My second overnight trip and it was an 8-hour bus ride to Puerto Lopez on the southern coast of Ecuador, which is just below the Ecuador and back to sea level. We were really lucky and had warm sunshine on our first two days of a four day trip even in the rainy season. (It’s rainy season along the coast but in the Andes it’s summer) The last time I was on the beach was just over a year ago in Cuba and it brought back such good memories of the beach. But the highlight was the new terrain that we explored hiking in Machililla National Park, a dry forest park which used to cover much of South America before extreme human development. We made it to beautiful Isla de la Plata, known as “the poor man’s Galapagos” because of the similar bird and wildlife and saw some exotic birds real close. A nice relaxing trip. Other stories forthcoming, I just need to write them up.

The rodeo for bull sporting.

I saw my first bull sport yesterday at a fiesta, for a celebration to mark the independence of a small town adjacent to Quito. It was a game of tag with the bull, with men jumping into the fenced-in rodeo space trying to get the bull to chase them, then running away before it could catch them. There was also a special performance by two comedic characters who had their way with the bull rather grandly. Some parts of the sport were tough to watch, like when they were trying to subdue it with a lasso and pulling it back into the truck packed with a couple dozen bulls, but it was an interesting experience, followed by great street food.

November is the main month for bull sports here – specifically bull fighting at a stadium named for the sport, Plaza del Toro, which is also used for concerts all year round. Ecuador recently had a referendum in May for ten constitutional amendments, which resulted in a new law that any sport that threatens to kill bulls (or other animals) has been outlawed. Apparently this means that bull fighting will continue but in the Portuguese style, which never involves killing the bull. It was quite a surprise to hear that, as bull fighting is so popular in this continent.

What else happened? Finally made it to Guapulo for drinks over the weekend, which is famous for its beautiful view of the city, where I tried caneloza, a sweet warm alcoholic beverage made from sugar cane, after which we went dancing in a non-touristy salsa club. There was K’s going away house party on quite an eventful day, which also involved a break in at one friend’s office and being stuck in the lift while the electricity went out for a couple of minutes. Went out biking once again (yess!!!), saw what may well be the shortest concert ever hosted by the TV channel that broadcasts all the Copa America soccer matches during half-time of the Finals at Plaza Foch (where all the fancier bars are).

I feel extremely privileged to be living in an equivalent of a nice condominium, with modest facilities, security guards and a nice view from my window, at only a couple hundred a month. This is quite an expense in Quito, where lunch is $2 and is almost half my salary here.

In the morning, I usually see one or two fancy cars with chauffeurs and assistants waiting in tidy suits, on their feet, ready to open the doors. When I cross the intersection, where cars have right of way not pedestrians, I look both sides and no matter how stressed or grumpy I might be, the sight of mountains in the distance is always an awe-inspiring and calming sight.

It’s a five minute walk to the bus stop, which is very efficient and comes every few minutes, but is still packed to the gills during peak hour. Sometimes you’re pressed in on all sides. Got to watch your bag because robbers and pickpockets are very stealthy. And 15 minutes later, I am at work. If I’m the first one in, it takes 10 minutes to open all the locks to reach my third floor office – all 6 or 7 of them. Yes, tight security. For a good reason.

During lunch today, one driver of a lorry actually stopped at a cross-section for a minute to honk and make eyes at me while I was waiting to cross the road. Yes, his light was green, and cars were honking at him. Went off to my favourite lunch – encebollado, which actually means onions but is a red soup of fish or other seafood. Comes served with popcorn and banana fries. Popcorn is not an uncommon lunch time side dish here. Yummy!

This week I am lucky and get off work on time, home to a run at the gorgeous park nearby, before some R&R and time with friends online at night. I’ve been invited out and we are having a problem about booze. 21 people just died because of alcohol poisoning from drinking homemade alcohol (common here), so there is a 72 hour ban on drinking and selling all types of alcohol.

And that’s all for now, folks!