"Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans"

Happy New Year Everybody!!

Cheers to your health and all the best for the new year!...
and remember:
"Walk slowly through the doors of joy!"

posted by Nonni @ 11:11 e.h. 5 comments

Christmas in Ecuador

The holy night revisited

Christmas was kind of different this year. I went with Fredy,his mother and his nephew to visit his brother Danilo and family in Pasaje, just east of Machala (a 13 hour bus tour). Danilo runs a school or a foundation where less fortunate kids can receive education. The first night there was a Christmas gathering for the kids and their parents with entertainment from both the kids and the parents. Even me and Fredy sung I wish you a merry christmas! We were thinking of doing another song: Jingle Bells, but as Fredy always pronounced it as jingle balls, I thought it was a little inappropriate. On Christmas Eve we went out to eat at a very nice restaurant. We had a turkey with sauce, mached prunes, and a fruit salat, very nice. The first meal I have had in Ecuador that was served without rice! After the meal we bought a bottle of wiskey, went home and got hammerd. Not exactly the christmas eve tradition I`m jused to!

Christmas eve with the Garcia bros. Danilo, Fredy and Renato

The 25th. we went to a family gathering and on the eve of the 26 there was again time to get drunk,(or chupar as they call it) this time in my honor as I was leaving for Otavalo the next day.
I was told that the christmas tradition is a little differnt for each family but this family did not really have any gift tradition, maybe one gift on day and another the next and mostly for the kids. Many shops were also open on christmas day, which I found kind of odd.
In otavalo there is a tradition that relatives meet for about 2 hours every night nine days before Christmas. One night in one house the next in another and so forth. There is a reading of thee christmas story, a collective prayer and then everybody gets coke and cake afterwards. One night we even played bingo. It is a very nice tradition that gets all the family together. Which is just the way it should be.
Anyways...this was my christmas.
take care for now!
Nonni

posted by Nonni @ 5:47 e.h. 0 comments

Green ChristmasDay

Check this out....pure genious!
http://www.care2.com/ecards/build/1/5995

posted by Nonni @ 8:14 e.h. 5 comments

My Christmas Card is here!

Finally! My mastercard arrived from Denmark today so it looks like I´m going to the south part of Ecuador with Fredy tonight. I am returning to Otavalo on monday or tuesday because I still have not received my pin number. That will probably arrive on tuesday or wednesday next week and then I will be ready for my trip to the jungle:). Cool.
Hasta pronto Y Feliz Navidad a todos!
Juan

posted by Nonni @ 8:42 e.h. 0 comments

Merry Christmas

Season Greetings from Otavalo, Ecuador
Merry Christmas everyone
and a Happy New Year
Take care,
Jón
p.s.
more christmas photos here!

posted by Nonni @ 8:41 e.h. 4 comments

Status Quo

Yep, same old same old from Ecuador, not much to tell other then more boring money matters. Must be boring reading this blog! Anyways, I manage to take care og my stundent loan for now with good help from my brother(thanks Sve!). So I do not have that hanging over my at the moment(pheeew!). YESTERDAY,ALL MY TROUBLES SEEMED SO...eh...I mean: Yesterday, my bank told my that there had been a problem with sending my card and they had to start from scratch to order the card and send it when they received my signiture. Today they told me that my card was on the way and I just had to sign some papers and send back when I received it. They told me that hopefully it should arrive before christmas...I really don´t know what to believe anymore. At this moment I have no idea where I will be at christmas...we shall see.
Tomorrow is there is a christmasparty at the school. yeeih! "Jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way" and so forth.
Take care for now,
Juan

posted by Nonni @ 12:11 f.h. 3 comments

Lo Que Pasa, Pasa !

Down to my last $15! I was expecting my credid card to arrive this week but it didn´t. ¡AY CARAMBA!! If it does not arrive next week, I´m really up shit creek! If I get my card, my plan is to go to Cotopaxi next weekend and from there to a small town called Pasaje just south of Machala, near the coast not far from the Peruvian border. I have been invited to spend christmas there with my friend Fredy and his brother Danilo. After christmas, the plan is to go to the jungle to visit my danish "hermanas" Laerke and Ida (see picture) who are volunteering in a project near Misahuallí. They left Otavalo last thursday and are greatly missed already. (Los chickas locas sin zapatos);).
This week I also got the disturbing news that L.Í.N. (my student loan company) is breathing down my neck. In september they usually, automatically take money from my credid card account, and I assumed that they had done that already. Obviously not; and now they can´t do it because I closed my card in Costa Rica and have not got my new card yet. So they are threatening me with a lawsuit if I do not pay before the 15. December. Great!:( . So, basically I have to get my card next week, so that I can call L.I.N. and clean up this mess and also so that I can continue with my plans here in Ecuador.
I could be thinking: "What next!?" but instead I chose to apply here my new motto: Lo Que Pasa,Pasa! (what happens, happens).

to be continued...

posted by Nonni @ 9:09 e.h. 0 comments

this Blog is bugged!

We had a fun night friday at the kareoke place, where me, Laerke and Ida sang Barbie girl, by Agua (we are still laughing about it;)) Then we ended up at a Peña dancing until 3 in the morning. We took it slow the next day with a 3 & a half hour walk to the Peguchi waterfall and El Lechero. Sunday we had a fun horse-riding tour. One which I still can feel in my body...I could hardly walk yesterday...last time I went horseback riding was almost 4 years ago when I did well, ehh... the same tour actually. The tour was about three hours and we had a stop at a some hotsprings (that were not very hot)on the way. Monday, me Ida, and Laerke were planing to go to Quito (to the Quito festival) or actually they were planing to go to Quito and were going to drag me a long. After a hearing alot of lot of horror stories about what might happen to you, (you could get robbed,killed or worse, we decided not to go...later we heard that maybe it was not as bad as all that but ppl. had just been too dramatic so we would be careful...they just overdid it a bit! Today I went to the market with Julio Cesar, my teacher, where he tought me the names of various frutes and vegetables and then he bought a bag of fried bugs! which we ate in the school break ummmm!...well have to go to dinner now.
Later,
Juan


Cascada de Peguchi

El Lechero

Jòn Wayne

At the notsoveryhotsprings.
Some ppl. had more fun than others. :)

Me and Fredy tasting fried Catchos (fried bugs...jummy!)

posted by Nonni @ 11:33 e.h. 0 comments

Walk this way!

Now...where was I...Last week was very nice. Apart from studying I went to cafés, Played scrabble (crusigrama) with Laerke and Ida (the danish girls who are staying at "my" casa), and learned how to juggle. Last weekend we walked up to Fuya Fuya (4250m high volcano). I went with Laerke and Ida and a German couple from the school. It was a pretty steep walk up and we had to take a lot of breaks before reaching the top after 2 hours and 15 minutes. The view from the top was fantastic (picture,above), we could see 5 other volcanos. Imbaburra, Cayambe, Cotacachi, Cotopaxi and Antisana. The trip down was easier. Sunday, the same team went to Laguna de Cuicocha (picture,below). Second time for me but worth it ..a great walk. This time I walked around the whole crater for the first time and it took about 6 hours, with breaks. This time was also different because we saw three condors!!! Amazing!! Also about half way through the trip, two policemen passed us. We found out that two days earlier there had been an armed robbery on the trail. A guy with a gun had robbed some tourists walking the trail. The first thing I thought was..."and it was not me!!!" My luck must be turning ;). (7-9-13).
This week has been more or less with out adventure. Last night we had a big dinner at the school. Students from Holland made a special dutch meal that I can not for the love of god remember what was called even though they told us about one hundrad times. But it was good, I had two helpings and it took me about 5 hours to recover from this extream overeating. Some of us went to dance afterwards in a small bar/café close by. Hard to dance with your stomac full of....eh...whatsitsname. I went to bed around 1 in the morning. To night we are going to a kareoke bar (again) and ahead is another weekend of walking.

I have had some trobles uploading pictures on the net using the msn as I have been doing...if you know of a easy way, other then msn, then please let me know!!!
There are few new pictures from Cuba om my Travel Pictures link. But it just takes too long to opload them one by one like that. Entonces....no muchas fotos.

posted by Nonni @ 9:35 e.h. 2 comments