Today we moved in. Archaeological artifacts, contrary to popular belief (are there such things as popular beliefs about archaeological artifacts?), are significantly heavier than furniture. That said, our furniture is pretty minimal (as Ross put it, "we're camping in a mansion") and there are years (centuries, actually) worth of artifacts.

the house itself is truly big. Not to belabour the point (I know I've mentioned at least twice already), but seriously, it's massive. There's a sunken livingroom with a fireplace and hardwood floors; a big dining area and kitchen; 3 levels; 6 bedrooms; 4 bathrooms; 2 patios; a storage room; and some absolutely great views of the three volcanoes (Chimborazo, Tungarahua, and El Altar) which surround Riobamba. We occupy the place with simple mattress thrown on the floor, plastic chairs, benches and tables made of raw 2x4s, and, as mentioned previously, tons (perhaps literally) of artifacts. Ross, José-Luis and I are currently sitting in our lastic chairs in front of the grateless, open fireplace, burning scraps of wood from the pile of tetanus in the backyard, drinking Ecuadorian beer (which is very similar to Molson Canadian, Budweiser, Hite, etc.). I feel a little bit like a squater in an abandoned home. I guess that's not that far from the truth - the house is generally unoccupied unless Ross brings down an expedition crew, although the fact that he pays rent kind of takes a bit away from the squatter similarities.

Riobamba itself is a smallish city which finds itself at the point in the country where the major highways through the highlands and down to the coast and the the Amazon meet. It's very dry here and there aren't very many trees on the surrounding hills. Ross says there's not much to do here after 10:00, and even the day isn't overly excting. Thus, in short, Riobamba is the Kamloops of Ecuador.

It seems as if I'm drawn to Kamloops like places. For one, I grew up in the real Kamloops and returned again later. Also, I would compare Miryang in Korea to Kamloops as well. Strange.

Anyway, I really have no idea what the plan is for tomorrow. I think we'll be setting the place up for work now that we've set the place up to live. We went grocery shopping. It was pretty fun, but I always enjoy a trip to the grocery store. Food really isn't too different here from at home. There are some strange fruit, but nothing I couldn't identify. We've decided that, as far as food organization goes, we'll take care of breakfast and lunch on our own from our grocery supplies, but dinner will follow a weekly schedule: Sundays and Wednesdays we will eat with Pepe and Elva; Tuesdays and Thursdays we'll go out to restaurants; Fridays and Saturdays will be the nights we're on our own as likely there will be weekend trips out of town, and Mondays, we'll take turns making dinner. I've already obtained most of the ingredients to make my lentil soup on the first Monday. We'll see how that goes.

Tonight we went out to the oldest standing house in Riobamba. It's from the mid 1800s (one would expect older down here, but the entire old city [where Ross has been excavating] and many others in the region, was destroyed in a massive earthquake in 1797) and apparently was once owned by Simón Bolívar. It's called Café Concért el Delerio, after the poem written by Bolívar. It's a really beatiful place and the food, while not earth-shatteringly good, was tasty (I had ceviche, spelled 'cebiche' here).

The fire is extremely warm right now. I think I need to move further away from it.