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Sports

Globe-trekking swimmer finds home in Houston

Hotel Management major and swim team member has big plans 
for life after college 

by LOURDES CASTILLO
The Daily Cougar

Alejandra Salazar has always been close to her family. She recalls spending time with her mother and her older sister as a child in Ecuador. It was that special bond she has with her family and friends that made it hard to attend school in the United States.

"To come here by myself was really tough," Salazar said. "I was used to doing everything with my mom and I was really close with my sister. I didn't think I was going to make it. I was like ‘I'm going to try, but if I don't like it I'm just going to go back.'"

The 21-year-old returned to Ecuador in the summer of 2004 after joining the UH swimming team in late January. She didn't want to come back to Houston but says the team helped her cope with the transition.

"The girls are like my family here," Salazar said. "We do everything together and I'm always with them so I don't feel lonely. If I didn't have the team and had to make friends on my own it would have been really hard."

Teammate Szintia Szanto also remembers the "old times" when she and Salazar first arrived at UH.

"It was so great having her because when she came in that year I think we had 12 freshmen come in and we were the only two left from the previous year," Szanto said. "It was so important to me to have her; to have someone who's been here at the same time I was. We've been through a lot together and we always remember the old times."

Salazar was born in Madrid, Spain and lived there until she was 3 years old. Her family later moved back to Ecuador, where she was raised. 

"My sister and I were born (in Madrid), but we were raised in Ecuador because all of my family is from Ecuador. I'm the only one that hasn't gone back (to Spain), but I really want to go back soon."

She began swimming at the age of 12 mainly because her now 22-year-old sister did. Salazar also played tennis, but her sister's influence brought her back to swimming, a sport she's been involved in for almost 10 years.

"We always did everything together," Salazar said.

Salazar was a successful swimmer at the national level in Ecuador, where she was a member of the national team nine times. She picked it up when she was only 13 years old. 

"It was really hard," she said. "We trained a lot. We had to go twice a day, everyday. But at the same time it was all really cool to get to travel, meet other swimmers and compete at that level."

Salazar is attached not only to her family, but also to her hometown of Quito, Ecuador.

"I love it. I love my country," Salazar said. "All my family and friends are over there. It's really different than Houston. In my city, Quito, we have a lot of mountains. It's smaller, so we can walk everywhere. It's not like here where you have to drive everywhere."

Having to drive everywhere is one of the things Salazar likes least about Houston. 

"I like the big roads," she said. "In my country the roads are really small and there is a lot of traffic. I don't like to have to drive everywhere. I would like to walk to places. (Houston is) too big for me and too flat. And the weather is too humid."

Salazar attended the Lycee Franco-Equatorien, a French school in Ecuador. She learned to write and read in French before she learned in Spanish. She was also given the opportunity to attend school in France for a month and travel with her swimming team.

The advantage of being trilingual is especially important to Salazar. She hopes her skills will help her succeed after she graduates in May 2008 with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management.

"It helps a lot because your guests are from everywhere and so the better you know them and can communicate with them the better you are," Salazar said.

Salazar is unsure what her future will hold after she graduates and her competitive swimming career ends. 

"I'm excited about being done in February because I want to do other stuff too," she said. "Of course I'm going to miss (swimming) but I'm ready to stop."

Salazar does not yet know if she will travel back to her hometown or stay in the United States.

"I also want to stay here, not in Houston, but in the U.S.," Salazar said. "I love New York, I would like to go there and work in a hotel. 

"I want to work for a big hotel chain so that if I'm tired of living here I can go work in Ecuador for the same company."

She said she would also like to own her own hotel in Ecuador. Her interest in hotel management, among other things, encouraged her to become a Cougar.

"I knew that I wanted to do hotel management and UH is in the top three schools for that in the country," she said. "My dad was also in town and he saw a thing in the newspaper about swimming and so he came to talk to my coach (Mark Taylor)."

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