Ecuador Ama La Vida, UCSD Global Seminar 2023

Blog turned Vlog SOCCER GAME + MOVIES ooooohhHHHHH. aaahhhhhh. The surge of excitement. The wave of disappointment. Ecuador’s team was dominating Cuba’s team in terms of possession and offensive power. You could feel the passion that the Ecuadorian aficionados had for their women’s team, where every time the team came close to scoring the stadium was filled with spirited energy; it exemplified the pride of being Ecuadorian. The next day we went to Supercines to watch Elementals in Spanish, and it was a good movie to watch, even with us being at least 15 years older than the rest of the audience. Next movie to we go we’re seeing the new Barbie movie. I love Ryan Gosling— I mean, Margot Robbie… Museo Del Alabado Welcome to my humble abode. This place used to be a house that families inhabited since 1671, and was converted into a museum to showcase the richness of culture and history embedded in the walls of this historical site. Inside the house we toured underground where we saw works o...

Casa Museo Guayasamin  The painting of “Los Niños Muertos.” Fatima: This week, my peers and I went to Casa Museo Guayasamin. The museum is the house of Oswaldo Guayasamin who painted thousands of paintings during his lifetime. The painting “Los Ninos Muertos” really caught my attention since it is one of Oswaldo Guayasamin’s first paintings."Los Ninos Muertos" is based on a real story about the Ecuadorian civil war of 1932, commonly known as the "Guerra de 4 dias." Many kids died in the 1932 civil war, including Guayasamin's best friend. Such a tragedy had a profound impact on Guayasamin, who later declared himself an atheist since he thought that if there was a God he wouldn't have allowed the killing of children. The painting caused a great impact on the community as well because it highlighted how innocent children were killed during the crossfire of the civil war.  San Clemente   The picture on the left is the Bizcochos that we had and on the right is a...

  Adventures in Quito & Mindo - Rachel & Ashley Family/ Daily Life Rachel: We’re all staying with different host families, which allows us to more fully experience the culture and learn about typical daily routines. I am staying with a mom and her two daughters, one who has just graduated high school and the other who is older and works full time. It is typical here for people to continue living with their parents for longer, compared to the US where people often move out in their 20s. Here, lunch is the biggest, most important meal, while dinner is often something small. Chicken seems to be very common here, as well as rice. Here, the water that comes out of the tap is not safe to drink, so my host has a jug of filtered water and also boils water each day to refill a pitcher. This also means it’s important to be careful with raw fruits and vegetables, since they may not have been washed using filtered water. I have really enjoyed staying with my host family so far, and it’...