It had been four years since my last Christmas at home. In 2008 I spent xmas in New Zealand with my good friend Darren, bathing in the heat of the December sun in the beautiful Taupo. In 2009, I had just arrived into Quito a few weeks before when Christmas popped up again. It would be one of two consecutive Christmas days spent in Ecuador as in 2010, I was once more eating Christmas dinner with rice on the side. Now though it was 2011 and I was finally back home to spend it with my family. Although I had missed a Christmas or two I hadn't forgotten the routine, so, at 7am I was up with Maisa and my dad, my sister Amy and Jody too - as we all headed off into town. As tradition proceeds, we first stopped off at Abbey Road, to have our photo taken and write words of love and peace on the famous stretch of wall outside the Abbey Road Studios. We then headed to the Serpentine Lake. It has been a tradition for many a year - when on Christmas morning a bunch of absolute lunatics jump into freezing water for a swim. It's done for charity - so it does have some sense behind it and each year it's filmed for television. It has been my Christmas tradition to come and watch it every year for as far back as I can remember. Maisa found the whole thing interesting but at the same time must have been asking herself why she woke up at 7am on Christmas day to see hairy naked men jump into an icy lake. We continued our adventure by taking a little tour through London, showing Maisa some of the famous sights along the way. When we made it home it was about 10.30am and present opening time. We all sat in a big circle and took turns to open gifts. I think Maisa had more presents than everybody else.
Later on in the day and family started to arrive for Christmas dinner. It is without doubt my favourite meal in all the world and this year it didn't disappoint. I was so happy I even gobbled up some Brussel sprouts too. While we were eating, Maisa was enjoying opening the Christmas crackers with everyone. It is odd to think but in other countries they just don't have such things. Before Maisa had met me she didn't even know what a Christmas cracker was - I think when I first mentioned it she thought it was something edible. Later in the evening and more and more people started to flood into our house. Family and family friends started to come in their masses, so by the end of the night Maisa had met absolutely everyone in my family. There was more food which I'm still not sure how we all managed to fit into our already full bellies - but somehow it was achieved. Later on in the evening was the Christmas Quiz. Hosted by my father, it works by splitting the adults against the so called children - although no-one on either team was younger than 20 as far as I could work out. There were about 20 people or so on each team as a series of rounds see various questions answered. Some of the questions were even given (and had to be answered) in Spanish, which was advantageous to the kids team with Maisa and myself able to speak perfect Spanish......okay, so mine is a little less perfect. Naturally the kid's team won - thanks mainly to my knowledge, and by the end the adults were all coming up to me telling me to go back to Ecuador so it would be a little more fair next time. I can't remember exactly if all those events happened quite as I just described them but the kid's team definately did win - that is for sure.
After touring through most of London, seeing people jump into lakes, opening a million and one presents, eating the most delicious food (non-stop), drinking until our sober senses disappeared, gaining 3 stone and winning the world famous (well, Southgate famous) Christmas Quiz - xmas 2011 had finally come to an end. It was a great day enjoyed by everyone, but for me - it was just amazing to be back home with all my family. That - I won't forget in a long time. As we all collapsed at the end of the day I remember thinking to myself that I will never eat again in my entire life. Twelve hours later at Boxing day lunchtime and I was back on the turkey sandwiches...........I will never learn.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Christmas 2011 - Back Home With The Family
Saturday 25 February 2012
Arriving Back Home - London (England)
In the end, Maisa and I had so much stuff (mainly in souvenirs and presents) that our bags weighed approximately one small elephant each. It was amazing that we only had to take out a few items from each of our bags to get through. When I say take out - I mean transfer stuff from on bag to another bag. I would later learn on this trip how ridiculous these bag regulations really are. Most of the time it's just a case of reshuffling your items, putting something in one bag, taking them out of another, swapping clothes, wearing more clothes.......but in the end, the same result is accomplished - and that is that we would get onto the plane with exactly the same weight as we had before we walked into the airport. This whole game of baggage reshuffle therefore seems a little pointless to me. It's also odd that they don't weigh the people getting onto the plane - if they make such a fuss about a few suitcases. I mean someone weighing 15 stone is allowed the same baggage allowance as someone who is 9 stone - that is the weight equivalent to a fair few pairs of knickers if i'm not mistaken. My solution to this whole fiasco is thus simply to eat as much of your belongings before you travel and just hope they make it out okay at the other end - and when I mean the other end I don't mean your final destination. Well, it's and idea anyway.
I have two other quips about airport travel these days. The first is security. On this adventure Maisa and I had been interogated, drug tested, screened, had the dogs put on us and made to stand in a box that looks at your body in ways that only your partner should. By the end Maisa and I came out of the airport wondering if we had accidentally committed some criminal offence that we both weren't aware of. The other thing is immigration. Before Maisa and I headed to England, we first stopped off in Miami (USA). Just to be in transit these days you need to enter the country and that means going through immigration. There must have been 20 people in front of us and we were waiting in line for around an hour and a half. You realise why this process takes so long when it is your turn to go through. The man behind the desk asks so many questions that by the end of it all, if he had written everything that I said down on paper - he could have compiled my autobiography!!! At one point he was quizing me about what the longest erupting active volcano in the world was. It was exhausting.
As we had done the hard work in getting through immigration and the fact that we had about 6 hours before our flight to the UK, we thought we would step out into Miami for a wonder........but also to meet up with Maisa's godmother, who was eagerly waiting for us. We would be staying with Maisa's godmother in Miami on our return leg - when we would spend a couple of days in this gloriously sunny part of Florida. For now though, it was a flying visit. The three of us headed down to Bayside, where we stopped off along the harbour for some lunch. It was good for Maisa to catch up with her godmother, as the two of them hadn't seen each other for some time. It was also just nice to be out of an airport for a while. After a few hours though we headed back to Miami International and caught our flight on to Europe. Just 8 and a half hours later.........we landed in Heathrow.
It was strange being back home. Everything all looked familiar but somehow different at the same time. It would take me some days before I got used to it all. The first person we saw was my father, and just an hour later after driving through the streets of London, passing familiar places on the way, I would get the chance to see all my immediate family. It had been just over two years since I last saw them all so naturally I was extremely happy, excited and emotional all at the same time. It was fantastic to see everyone - all still looking as wonderful as ever and I was glad to be spending the next three weeks with them. The next few days, I took Maisa out into London and introduced her to many of my friends. The day after we arrived we went out to Harrods, to look around and to shop with my friend Darren and his girlfriend Jaqui. We also met up with Henry and Grace too, which was great for Maisa to be reunited with her sister after some months apart and which was also nice for me to see my old friend from Ecuador - Henry. We all had a lot to chat about. Grace had been in England for about 5 days already when we arrived so she was already settled in, but Maisa and I were still getting over all the time differences and travelling. We managed to last out the day though.
On the night of Christmas Eve, Maisa and I went to my local pub - The Waggon, with basically all of my friends. This was a tradition that had been taking place every year since the days that we could get into pubs, although I had missed the last four occasions due to travelling and working abroad. Everyone was there and again, naturally, it was fantastic to see everyone. It was great to catch up as best I could, although it was a bit overwhelming at the time, especially for Maisa - who was getting fed drinks all night and in the end conceded into just getting drunk. We stumbled home that night ready for the big day, which was now just a few hours away. It would be my first Christmas at home for four years - and I couldn't wait...................
Friday 10 February 2012
Planning A Trip Back Home
Since the time that Henry and Grace left Ecuador, the four of us had talked about all meeting up again in England during the Christmas and New Year period. Henry was already back in the UK and I had been talking about returning home for some time now - as it had been two years since my feet were last nestled in the mother-land. Then I thought, why doesn't Maisa come along with me - that way she could meet my family and friends and see London all at the same time. It then followed that Grace should head over from Canada also, so that she could see Henry and meet up with her sister (Maisa), who she wouldn't have seen for three months or so. It would be a perfect reunion......and so, we all started to plan our trip to England.
It was a busy time for me. Not only were we all planning a big trip but I had a lot of work on at that time. While I was playing with volcano data, I went out to the field to help install a seismic monitoring station and was asked to do a presentation at the end of November, on explosive activity at Tungurahua Volcano in the 2010 year. It was strange, because exactly a year earlier, similarly I was presenting - that time at a nationwide conference in front of 200 people. During that conference, Tungurahua started to go off for the third time since I had been there. Skip forward exactly one year and it felt like life was repeating itself. This time I presented at a conference held at the university where I work. It was a smaller affair, as about 50 people came to see me talk, but, once again Tungurahua started to erupt. It's funny how life goes round in cycles sometimes.
When Tungurahua started to erupt one more time, it really added to my work-load. Not only that but it was disrupting my holidays too. A planned trip to Banos was cut very short as we entered the town and found it to be unrecognisable. It was raining ash as we arrived and people were walking around with gas masks on like we had just entered some post nuclear war scene. It was a real mess.
With all these things going on - planning a trip back to England was taking some time and a lot of work. Normally when a Brit travels the world they are usually let into any country of their choosing with relative ease - especially as a tourist. For this reason, you often don't think about travel visas too often. For an Ecuadorian trying to get into England however - it's a whole different ball game. Just to visit the UK is a real nightmare and we found out just how bad it really was. So, to get a simple tourist visa for the UK, an Ecuadorian first has to go online and fill out a hefty application form. You pay for it ($125) and then book a biometric appointment. This involves heading down to the British Embassy where they take your photo and fingerprint details and a lot more of your money ($192 more). You then have to provide a ton of documents to show you have money to support yourself, that you have assets, flight details and accommodation in the UK, as well as a sponsor. Then all these details get sent to Colombia where they process your visa. In the end - it took about 3 weeks for the process and around ($360) just for Maisa to obtain a 6 month tourist visa. It was all approved in the end - so I guess it was worth it. Luckily for Maisa, she already had a visa for the U.S., because the only flights back to England from Ecuador go either through the U.S., Spain or the Netherlands which means you also need a visa for one of those countries too, just to be in transit. This world is an insane place sometimes!!!
So with Maisa's approved visa, the purchasing of flights and all plans put into action, we were almost ready to go. The last problem - was me. My visa for Ecuador was running out and I had to get it renewed before I left or I wouldn't be allowed back into the country on my return. In Ecuador, these things always get done last minute and this was no different. After a lot of paperwork, a lot of money and a lot of hair loss, I ended up getting my visa too. Grace also got her document to travel to the UK and with everyone ready, the excitement started to set in. So the plan was - Maisa and I would leave Ecuador for England, via Miami. We would spend 18 days in my home-town (London) - before we would head back to Miami for two more days and finally onto Quito for our return. It was all (finally) planned.
During the last week before our trip - we were basically ready to go. We did do some last minute shopping however. Maisa and her family (and myself of course), all headed up to Otavalo Market to buy clothes, souvenirs, and basically everything you can think of made from alpaca. Maisa even purchased a funny hat, that looked like she had some sort of beaver attached to her head. Nevertheless, before we knew what was going on - our time had come. With our bags packed, our passports finally in check and Maisa's animal hat...............we were off!!!
Thursday 9 February 2012
Trips, Trips, Trips!!!
Very shortly after my 28th Birthday - two very sad things happened. The first was that my good friend Henry had to leave Ecuador once and for all. He had extended his trip just to stay - not specifically for me (maybe 20% or so) - but mainly because he started to date my girlfriend's sister - Grace. They hit it off pretty well and as such, Henry stayed for as long as he possibly could - just to spend a bit more time with her. We were good mates - we had spent 4 months hanging out, went to Peru together and got through seasons 1-6 of Curb Your Enthusiasm. We ultimately had some last meals out, said some sad goodbyes and then - he was gone. The second sad thing that happened was that a few weeks later Grace left too - she went off to study English in Canada. It wasn't fully planned yet so at the time we didn't actually know it - but in just a few months - we would all be reunited again - so it wasn't all that bad in the end.
After Henry and Grace left - life continued as normal really. Work kept me busy during the week and Maisa kept me busy during the weekend. Towards the end of the year, between October and December Ecuador has its made rush of holidays and festivals. That meant two good things - time off work and trips away. Over the next three months I would head off to a number of exotic places for some very relaxing fun.
The first trip - Maisa and myself, Maisa's mum and little Domi all headed off to Papallacta. It's only an hour and a half drive and you're soon at the small town made famous for its geothermal hot pools. Naturally heated from nearby volcanoes - Papallacta is the perfect place for a Quiteno to escape the city and sit in hot water for the day. We spent our time relaxing in the morning and then eating in the afternoon - it doesn't get too much better than that.
For the founding of Quito festival, which takes place at the beginning of December - Maisa and the family, plus myself, all took a trip down to Tena. I had been to Tena before - a small town on the edge of the Amazon. It's a brilliant place to get away and take in the jungle vibe. We quickly found a perfect river, in a perfect climate - so that all we wanted to do was get straight into the cool water and go for a swim - which is exactly what we did - it was perfect. In the middle of the river was a huge rock - which Maisa and I swam to and clambered up on. We lay on that rock for about an hour - just talking about how amazing life was. The only downside wouldn't hit me until later however, when I would realise that my entire body had been fried to a crisp.
We later headed onto Banos too, which was a few hours drive from Tena - and where the Coello's have a family holiday home. Unfortunately we didn't stop there for too long, for reasons beyond our control - an erupting volcano emitting gas and ash all over the place. That's usually a holiday killer.
During those months Maisa and I also travelled south to Latacunga to see some of Maisa's family, we headed north to Otavalo - to check out the market and naturally to buy many of the things they sold, and we also spent some time in Quito - where we went to a big event, as Maisa's aunt and uncle renewed their vows and essentially had another wedding party.
All in all Maisa and I had done a number of great trips away, both near and far - and we did all that with my work as busy as ever as Tungurahua Volcano decided to go off one more time and also, while we were planning an even bigger trip away................
