Qué tan lejos.

Qué tan lejos.

I watched this movie last night. It's great. It's an Ecuadorian film about these two women who hitchhike during a road block in Ecuador and have realizations about love and life. Somewhat reminiscent of Before Sunrise.

It's a great movie, but it also shows so much of Ecuador. I feel like it's a great way to explain what my life here looks like.

Here is the youtube link to the trailer. You can look up the whole movie on Youtube too. Also, I will eventually post about the Galapagos and Chugchilan. Eventually...

Procrastination and consumerism.

I should be doing a lot of things, but I'm not. For example, I should be doing my taxes, my financial aid applications to the individual med schools I got into, writing accounts of my time in the Galapagos and Chugchilan, journaling, and overall improving myself through gaining knowledge. But I'm not because I'm a procrastinator. Not only am I a procrastinator, I'm a horrible American consumer. Yup, you can take the consumer out of America but you can't take the consumer out of the American. Maybe I need to move to a small town here in Ecuador and stay for a long time to beat it out of me.

But anyways, in my delirious oscillations between wanting to stay here forever and become a traveling gypsy and looking forward to the states and med school, I've thought about what things I'll buy when I get home. Yes, what I'll buy.
I've already decided I'm going to buy a mac. Yes. We all know that Kristine Elizabeth Gade is utterly and completely technology challenged. I believe I've killed all the computers I've owned. (This one is already on it's last leg). I'm like the Black widow of PCs. I figure a mac would be essentially Kristine-proof. And let's be honest, macs are just cool and emblematic of the hipster scene. I'm a wildebeest (a follower) and I want in. I want the new macbook. Isn't it pretty? I deserve it, right? I mean I did get into med school...

Well, ok. So that's essentially the only thing that I've lusted over. But I expect I'll probably go on a giant clothes and IKEA shopping spree when I get home (if I get home...). Yay, consumerism.

Being a bookworm. Or at least trying.

I thought I was going to have so much free time when I came to Ibarra. I thought I was going to read all these books and become so much more informed about the world and have a bank of useless information. Not so right on that. But I have been reading a little. Here´s what I´ve gotten to so far.

Read (Pitiful!):
Healthcare Meltdown
Me Talk Pretty One Day

In the works:
Long Walk to Freedom
Pathologies of Power
In the Land of God and Men
How Doctors Think
The Inheritence of Loss
(The last four have fallen by the wayside. I´m a quitter. But I´ll pick them back up again!)

Coming up:
The Glass Castle
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Cry, the Beloved Country

Haha. It´s ridiculous. I have this big bookcase of all these books I got from Amazon and I´ve really hardly touched any of them! I was hoping I was going to be deep and eloquent, but let´s admit, I´m a shallow teeny-bopper at heart. I want to read Twilight.

Musings.

I can't believe that it's already March. I can't believe I've spent 6 months here already and that I only have 4 more months left! It's really a short time period of time. When I first began, a year seemed to stretch out before me and go on forever. But now with 6 months under my belt and with only 4 months left here, I realize I don't have that much time left and I haven't been able to do everything that I wanted. When I think of it, I oscillate back and forth between panicking and wanting to stay here longer and desperately looking forward to going home. It's a weird sensation to one moment thinking, "I can't leave in July, I haven't done everything I wanted to, I haven't seen everything I need to" to "I can't wait to go home and see everyone and begin med school!".

Some moments I get that same gypsy urge that I've talked about before and I want to post-pone med school and just say, I'm going to move to a small small town here in Ecuador and work with the community and really get to know them. Or maybe I'll drift around Latin America, live in Argentina, Colombia, etc. I sometimes wonder if I'm wasting my youth in med school. If I should go out there and live crazy adventures before I commit myself to my dream (I know I want to do it, but when you're in you're in). But then I think maybe it's just too much wanderlust, and that I'll have a great time in med school and it won't be wasting my youth because it's what I want and I can still travel. But then again, it's not the same as living in a place and getting to know the community. I'm all mixed up. What do you think?

El Novillo - The post where I talk about running away from a bull. With his horns on fire.

This post has a VIDEO on the bottom!!!! - ok, it's not working. But I'm working on it.

I had heard about the Novillo in Mira from my family from nearly the beginning. It’s a young bull, whose horns they light on fire and then let him run around the stadium with long ropes as drunk men tempt him to chase them. After hearning that, I knew that I wanted to go and possibly run. Duh. But after the Caminata, I wasn’t so sure. When I got up, it was all I could do to limp down to the park where Grace and her friends were. We hung out there for a bit and as the day progressed I started to feel better. I even made it out see some of the Torros, the regular young bulls that the drunk towns people teased in the stadium to chase them.

Novillo Time:

When it was time for the Novillo, all the town gathered in the big stadium area. There were GIANT bonfires, a stage with scantily clad women to sing Cumbia later, the passing of Tardon (strong aguardiente with some naranjilla), and excitement. I went with one of Grace's friends to look into the truck that was holding the Novillo before they lit his horns on fire. I climbed over to see in and he was an angry bull. But he had short horns. Not good, as we would later find out.

Before the pyros came.

I was right there when they took the bull out and when they put a sack over his face, tied him down and lit his horns on fire. It took a while. He's got spirit that bull. I like to call him Charry. Like Charlander from Pokemon. Throwback! Anyways, when he was all lit up, they let him go! I was standing to the side at first with one of Grace's friends. (She would only let me run if I held onto one of her friend's hands the whole time - yeah, they think of me as a baby). And then as he ran away, we would get closer. But always, there were a good amount of people between me and Charry. I have a strategy. And it is this - let other people be my shield. Of course, brave as I am, I would run after him when he ran away. But as soon as he turned around in my direction, you better believe I booked it. You'll see from the video, I never let him get too close to me. A good strategy! Eventually, he stopped chasing people. A lot of people said that it was because his horns were too short and the fire was burning his head. He even sat down once. Poor Charry! So, what's a high-spirited, drunk Ecuadorian man to do? Of course, whistle at Charry, hit him, and do whatever you can to have him go after you. And that's what they did. But Charry had a good laugh at them, because he got some of them. YEAH CHARRY!

Lighting Charry's horns on fire.

After the Novillo, they put Charry's horns out. And then the Cumbia began and the dancing dancing dancing. Not too shabby for a girl who could barely walk that afternoon.

Oh, and guess who was there at the Novillo, presiding. La Virgen. Duh!