The middle of the world and colonial quito!

Hola,
I had quite a weekend! On Saturday myself and some other students visited ¨la mitad del mundo¨or the middle of the world, where the equator cuts through Ecuador (in the photo below you can see me in both the N and S hemispheres). It was a pretty cool experience, and we were practically submerged in clouds it both felt and looked pretty cool. On Sunday we took to the old part of town, or colonial quito. Though it has a very European feel, it is a very unique, gorgeous part of Quito. We spent a lot of time simply wandering the narrow, hilly streets. The political center of town, the playa de independencia or plaza grande, where the president both lives and works, was blocked off for most of the afternoon because Ecuador had invited presidents from every nation of the world for today´s presidential inaugaration. Should be an interesting few months politically for Ecuador, they have had about 10 presidents in practically as many years - they seem to really enjoy running them from office. The best part of the day though was climbing La Basilica. La Basilica is a beautiful, European style church (though it was built in the 19th century) and offers visitors the opportunity to climb to the tip-top of two of its massive towers (I took a ton of pictures of the treachorous climb so check out the photos link). It was a pretty scary trek to the top at times, but well worth it as the view was breathtaking (as was the altitude). Today it was back to school, but with the campus being so beautiful and getting to meet so many new people that´s not such a bad thing. The weather here has been perfect (I hear it´s pretty nasty in Wisconsin, sorry!), around 75 everyday and cooler at night. We´re making plans to head out to Baños next weekend, which gets it name from its many natural volcanic springs/baths. Bout it for now, I´ll add the photos to the yahoo photo site soon.
Attentamente,
Brett






Atop one of the towers of La Basilica, across the way were the other clock towers we climbed!

photos

Hi,
Here´s a link to a page of my first set of pictures, mostly of the view from my porch here at our apartment.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/chettburn/

Please let me know if it doesn´t work for some reason!
Brett

¿Radiohead in Quito?

Hola,
No Radiohead (one of my favorite bands) didn´t come to Quito, but last night my brother, Fernando, offered to take me to a concernt and on the way there I asked of what type of music and he replied that it was a band that covered Radiohead songs. Needless to say it was a very fun time, we met a few other friends from Wisconsin as well. I got my first taste of la cerveza nacional: Pilsener. Afterwards we went to a really fun bar/club where we danced for a long time amongst native Ecuadorians and other students from around the U.S. and one from Bolivia, a great time indeed. Fernando and I ended the night by going to a small, quasi-underground salsa bar where I was absolutely amazed and bewildered about how well some of the people there could dance, I had truly never seen the human body move in such a graceful, rapid, and beautiful way - hopefully I can pick up a move or two while I´m here. La Mariscal, the center of Quito´s nightlife, proved to be a lot of fun and I´m excited to go back and grateful for Fernando´s willingness to act as both a guide, brother, and friend (sorry Aaron, guess you got some competition...kidding...kinda). I´m in the process of making a photo website, I´ll post it shortly. In the meantime, here´s a shot of my porch and my amazing view.
Attentamente,
Brett

It's all happening

Hola,
Today was my first full day in Ecuador and everything went really well. We had our orientation at the university for international students and it was really nice to see some familiar faces, I already knew two friends from Wisconsin, Hugo and Laura, so it was really nice to chat in English with some familiar faces and meet students from other states. The campus is amazing, so much more gorgeous than anything you'll find in the states - it's full of beautiful gardens, ponds, trees, lots of color (and of course the occasional ecuadorian muy bonita...). The bus ride there was quite an experience - the driver never stops, but that doesn't stop people from somehow getting on and off while it's moving and he flies around mountain curves as if there isn't a 500 foot drop a few feet away (don't worry though, they're good at what they do). But the ride is pretty beautiful and there's plenty to stare at out the window. Tomorrow's day 2 of orientation when we take a campus tour and sign up for classes, so far everything's been pretty stress-free and I feel a little less wiped out from the altitude, though I can still notice a difference. Just watched Ecuador play Argentina in futbol (soccer), they tied, but it was nice to sit around with the fam and watch it, they get pretty into it. I tried putting up some pictures but the internet here was not feeling that right now but I'm going to make a seperate photo website because I can only put so many here, so check back real soon - I have some great shots of the view from my porch of Quito. Any questions about my time here so far please holler, take care everyone.
Much love,
Brett

Estoy aqui...I made it!

Yo,
Well I made it to Quito and everything´s going great, I already can tell I´m gonna love it here. The city, at least what I have seen so far is gorgeous and my family seems perfect for me. My host mom, Ana, is very kind and my host brother, Fernando, is 19 and seems really chill and I can already tell we have a lot in common. He also goes to the same university as me so it´ll be really nice to have another familiar (and Ecuadorian) face there with me. Our apartment is at the top of its building and has access to a huge porch with a breathtaking view of the city and its largetst mountiain, Pinchincha. It´s mind blowing to be at almost eye level with the clouds! Well I´m pretty tired from the travelling and the altitude but I´ll try to update you all again soon. Take care, miss you all.
Mucho amor,
Brett

Adios America!

Hello,

Well it's my last day in Wisconsin and I feel it still hasn't quite hit me I'm leaving for another continent for almost 6 months. Neither can I explain or pinpoint the emotions I'm feeling right now, I suppose partially because like I said it hasn't really struck me I'll be gone so long. Regardless I am very excited, optimistic, hopeful, yet nervous for these next few days and I have truly no idea what to expect. I've never really flown alone so that's yet another new experience to kickstart this whole journey and I'm sure those several hours I spend in the Miami airport will be when I finally realize where I'm headed. Unfortunately it's my last night at home and I still got some packing to do, so I should probably be doing that instead of writing this...

Don't know when I'll have steady access to the internet next so please feel free to leave me comments or questions bout what I'm doing with myself, what it's like down there, how I'm feeling, etc... I'll be more than happy to communicate with you all! Thanks to everyone who's wished me a happy, safe trip, your taking interest in my life truly means a lot to me!

Hasta Luego,
Brett (Beto?)

Happy New Years!

Hello and Happy New Years! Countdown to Ecuador (The photo's of Quito!) is at about 5 days and I feel it still hasn't hit me yet I'm leaving... Rang in 2007 with some great friends and good times in Madison, though it was kind of a bummer knowing I wouldn't be back there or see any of them for almost 6 months. Haven't quite come up with a new year's resolution yet so I'd welcome any recommendations, but I think I want to try to be a little more outgoing in a new country where it may be more difficult to meet and make new friends, but I don't know if that can really count as a resolution. Regardless, I hope everyone has a very happy and healthy 2007, but don't have too much fun without me!

So, I found out about my living situation in Quito, and I'm really pretty excited about it. I'm living with a divorced mother and her 18-yr old son - so I feel I'll be able to reap the benefits of living with a family but won't bear to many responsibilities as may come with a larger group, if that makes any sense... My new last name will be Naranja (orange in English) and I'm thinking about adopting a new Spanish name for time down there (some Spanish accents struggle with pronouncing Brett) and I kinda like the sound of Beto, we'll see.

Looking forward to making the most of last few days here at home, hope to see or talk to as many friends and family before I leave so don't hesitate to contact me! Take care and Happy New Years!

Much love,
Brett