Friday, February 22, 2008

Mindo, Identidad Afro y Lluvia a catarnos!!!

So this weekend, I am probably going to go to Mindo, about two hours north of Quito away from any volcánes o inundaciones. Apparently there is a lot of nature stuff to do and it would be cheap as well....which is always good, especially when you´re planning a trip to Machu Picchu!!!!


So earlier this week Chisara gave me a invite to a lecture being held at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar(UASB). We took a bus from Cumbaya where USFQ(the school I go to) is located to Guápolo which is part of Quito, just another part. I had three midterms yesterday, one of which murdered me...my colonialism class. Anywho, I asked mi profe de Anthropología Andina donde está la UASB. She was kind enough to write me a map and showed me which bus to take and everything. She also asked me to contar( or tell about) the lecture to the class on tuesday, so much for sycophancy.

So, I liked the uinversity a lot better than USFQ because it was actually in the city of Quito while USFQ feels secluded from the rest of Quito in a nice safe rich bubble(UFSQ is the most expensive university in Ecuador with half of Ecuador´s Phds teaching there). Anywho, when my friend Kristina and I got out of the bus in Guapalo we walked about 7 cuadras(blocks) in the pouring rain, I had no paraaguas(umbrella, ella, ella, ella, haha). We finally got there a little after 6 soaking wet.

It was a book talk on a book called Identidad Afro by the main author and two other reaserchers. It focused on Afro-Choteños from la Valle de Chota, an area in the province of Imbabura that is notorious for the fuente(fountain, or source) of Black sport talent and afro-ecuatorianos in general. That is where Chisara is traveling every weekend to work with a community in Chota. It was really intersting for an African-American Studies major. The book focuses on four hitos(milestones): electricidad, una nueva carretera(highway), políticos democráticos, y reforma agraria.

I got the e-mail of the author and hopefully will be in contact with him!

Oh and it´s been constantly raining for the past 3 days straight...horrible!

gotta go, thanks for reading...

Teddy

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