Days 39-45: Week 6- Back to Normal + Dolphin Watching!

Now that the "Estado de Excepcion" is over, everything went back to normal! Keke and I went to class regularly and I got to leave the house!

Internship

This was a great week at the internship and I learned a lot from Juan. During the state of exception, a man got hit on the head with a baton and needed 7 stitches, so Juan taught Keke and I how to remove them. We also learned about vital signs, how to properly do the Heimlich Maneuver, how to clean wounds, and how to prevent people on bed rest from getting ulcers. It was a very informative week!

Learning how to clean wounds
Observing stitches being taken out


 School

This was our last week of Spanish class and Ecuadorian Culture and Society Class. For Spanish, we took a cumulative final and for EC&S we did a final exam essay. I am happy I received an A in both classes and I am excited to start my biology courses in a few weeks. The program allows you to take intensive courses at Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano (ITB), where I also have my clinical internship. The courses are 3 hours a day for two weeks and we have English-speaking instructors.

 Other Things We Did:

On Saturday, I took Keke to Guayarte.



On Sunday, Primavera, her brother, and I all went to Puerto El Morro. The ride from Guayaquil to El Morro took a little more than 1 hour and we went by car. On the way there, we stopped at an ostrich farm, where they had live ostriches and also sold ostrich burgers.



We also stopped at a mall by the beach. From the mall we could see the beach and it was very tranquil. On the beach, they had shacks that sold food and served it to you while you relaxed on the beach. Also, there were little taxis called "Trisimotos." They call them Trisimotos because they are little cars that have three wheels.



El Morro was a very quiet and rustic town right outside of the beach. The town was very small and there were many dogs and pigs just roaming around the streets. At Puerto El Morro, we were able to take a boat ride along the channel El Morro and go dolphin watching! For 3 people, it was only $12 and we stayed on the boat for an hour watching beautiful dolphins up close.














Unfortunately, I took more videos of the dolphins than pictures, but here are few quick ones I snapped.



On Sunday, I also went to see a movie with my host family at a very nice theater. Not only was the theater huge, but they also served chocolate popcorn! We saw Malefica 2 (Maleficent 2) in Spanish! I was very pleased that I understood most of the movie without needing a translator.



After the movie, we also went to a local place called "The Food Garden." It was a very nice area that had different kinds of restaurants and music.


Food:

This week I tried a popular chain restaurant called "Empanadas de Nico" and it was amazing. They had all kinds of empanadas including cheese, pizza, pescado (fish), pollo (chicken), and my personal favorite, Filidelfia (Philly Cheese Steak).


I also tried a chain ice cream place called " Nice Lab" that makes nitrogen ice cream. It is very popular here and a nice treat.



My new favorite snack is patacones, mashed fried green plantains with cheese.





While at the beach on Sunday, we stopped at a local restaurant and I ordered Pescado Apanado (fried fish).

Other things I noticed:

Since this was my first time not riding in an Uber, I noticed that there are people that pump your gas for you at every gas station.

One thing that I have noticed is vending and soliciting is part of the culture here. No matter where you are, someone will try to sell you something like glasses, toys, food, etc. When driving, especially at tolls, people will often stand in the street and try to sell multiple things. Even when you are sitting down in a restaurant, it is not uncommon for someone to come up to your table and try to sell you something.


All of the elevators have mirrors! In every single elevator I have used, whether at an apartment complex, hotel, school, or store, they all have mirrors on the back wall! I did research and it says they do this to keep people distracted from the fear of falling!





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