Liga Fútbol

Amy, Carolina, Joe at Liga game in Quito

 Amy Freyn lives in Ecuador now but used to be a professor at IU Southeast.  She came to Ecuador with Dr. Magdalena's Summer in Ecuador (SiE) study abroad experience quite a few times.

In 2009 I made my first time to Ecuador with SiE and Amy was on that trip.

She sent me an email yesterday afternoon and said “There’s a Liga game tonight, do you want to go?”

The crowd shot off some fireworks in the crazy section

The stadium is in North Quito so it takes about an hour to get there from Cumbayá. 

Here's some of the high scoring action!

Liga won 3 to 1 over El Nacional of Tumbaco, Ecuador.  










I was happy that it wasn’t a defensive struggle that ended 0-0, even though there were a few of the obligatory point-blank kicks that sailed over the goal.

Biking

I just have to find ways to get exercise and I just found out today that there are local swimming pools, but they might be private. 

My bike for the next 4 months

In the mean time, Cecilia says I can use a fat-tire bike that was left here by a former student.  I tried it today on the local rails-to-trails path, and it works just fine. 


On Thursday (when I'm in Quito again for visa registration) I’ll get a helmet ($14), some gloves, and a water bottle. 

Rails-to-Trails from Cumbayá to Puembo

The trail is just a couple of blocks from Cecilia’s house along with a local bike shop where I got the tires pumped.

I went 3 km (from left to right) and it was all down hill.  The climb back wasn’t too bad since this is a railroad grade.

Lunch on Sunday

Al Forno Pizzeria

I was going to go for a run when my host Cecilia came in and said come on and go to lunch with me and Kelsey (a USFQ student staying at Cecilia's).  I couldn’t turn that down.  

So the three of us went for pizza in Cumbayá.  $25 paid for all of us: a pizza, two appetizers, and three drinks.  I made sure that “Cecilia’s money wasn’t any good” in Cumbayá that day.

Two Trips to Quito Already

Fulbright Office - Director sits in corner office

I’ve already traveled to Quito twice; the first time was a dry run on Saturday (8/25), and then on Monday (8/27) for a meeting at the Fulbright office.  

At the Fulbright office we went over a checklist which included starting the process to register my visa.  I have to return on Thursday to continue the process.

Not to mention a Security Briefing at the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday (9/5).

$0.25 to ride to Quito from Cumbayá

I catch the bus along Via Interoceánica - One day I walked this half a mile stretch against the flow of the bus traffic, and counted 10 busses headed to Quito - all in less than 10 minutes time.  

It takes about an hour (and one bus transfer) to get to Fulbright from my host's house.

After the meeting I went to Plaza Foch (aka “Gringolandia” because tourists and resident foreigners frequent this place).  That day there was the “Quito Blues 2012” festival that included "Sugar Blue" and was sponsored by the U.S. Embassy.  

National Beer of Ecuador

While there I enjoyed an Ecuadorian cerveza.  It was two for one, but I only wanted one and gave the other away to the folks at the next table.

First Two Days

Hotel Sierra Madre - found it in guidebook

Wednesday Night Arrival (22 August)

I arranged for a hotel for my first night in Quito since I was arriving at about 11 p.m.  The immigration line was long and took 1 hour to pass through.

The hotel said they’d have a person at the airport entrance holding a sign with my name.  My eyes scanned the crowd and there he was!

Front of Cecilia's House

Thursday Morning Pickup (23 August)

My room while unpacking

On Thursday Cecilia (my host) said she’d come to the hotel to pick me up.  Luckily my Ecuador phone worked, and 45 minutes later she was there.  We rode back to her house and there I unpacked.

View out my bedroom window

My phone is a loaner from Ray, which takes SIM chips.  I’d bought the SIM (Movistar) when here in June and had some time left on it.  It still worked!

My desk in Fausto's office - Maxwell 218

After unpacking Cecilia drove me to campus - it's a 20 minute walk but she wanted to drive me that first day so I would not get lost.  There I wandered toward the building where I thought the department chair’s office (Profesor Fausto Pasmay) was and finally had to ask for help.  

My classroom - Einstein 401

I was then led to his office (Maxwell 218) and there he was.  He was busy but stopped what he was doing to get my laptop set up for WiFi, showed me my classroom.

Packing for Quito (21 August)

Partially packed

Trying to figure out what to take in two suitcases is tough.  The airlines charge extra for large suitcases and have a weight limit of 50 pounds.  I used two medium-sized suitcases with swivel rollers.  Those rollers came in handy. 

Fully packed after about 3 hours work

Someone told me to pack half of each item in one suitcase and half in the other.  That way if one happened to get lost you would have at least half your clothes.  So I did that.  I figured it ended up being some kind of inoculation against lost bags, because there they both sat at the Quito airport when I arrived.

Fulbright said that they would pay for a second bag, which costs $70.  I thought Fulbright prepaid it, but United claimed that it was not, so out came the credit card.  I’ll see if Fulbright will reimburse me when I get to Quito.

Short and long sleeve shirts, nice pants, chinos, and jeans, ties, dress coat, tees, pajamas, shoes (nice, informal, running, sandals), medicine (getting 120 days worth from the insurance company was a pain).  I ended up scanning a number of needed textbooks, the books are just too heavy and bulky to take.  Laptop, mouse, power cords, handhelds, phone.

You don’t need an adapter for power in Quito, they’re on 110 and the outlets are the same.  Also you don’t need to convert currency, they use the US dollar.