birthday, baños, coming home to the USA!

Hey everyone. I wanted to try to squeeze in one more post before my time down here comes to an end. Sorry it has been so long – things have been busy… to say the very least. Tomorrow is going to be crazy: 3 essays to turn in, lit final, religion final presentation, goodbyes to be said and last memories to be made. Then I have to be at the airport at 5am on Friday morning. It’s crazy how time will fly by like it has.

My last few weeks down here have been wonderful. I’m not going to write too much about everything because I’ll see you all so soon and I really just don’t have the time to write right now. But if you want to know anything about what has been going on feel free to ask me when you see me! :-)

My 21st birthday was great. It was simple and fun. I went running in the morning and then over to IES to finish up some last minute things on my environmental final paper. Four of my closest friends down here came to my homestay for lunch (my host mom taught me how to cook Ecuadorian food!!) and then we went out into downtown and the Mariscal area of Quito to play for the afternoon and evening. Quito’s foundation day is Dec 6th … but they party here from Nov 28th until Dec 5th. Dec 5th is the biggest night (a great day for a 21st birthday!!) and then there is very little on the 6th itself. Anyway, it was a great day because the whole city way partying and even though I don’t drink I still had a ton of fun. I also called home - AND THERE WAS SNOW!! - so I didn't have any reason to feel homesick. I knew all was well.

[This was on my 21st birthday. My friends and I met these two artists/musicans in Mariscal. When they found out that it was my birthday and that I've had a little experience with art and music in the past they became my amigos very quickly. They even painted my face!]

The IES students and host families went on a chiva too. “Chiva” is pretty much the fancy word for a large drunk bus without walls/sides to it that drives all over the city celebrating the foundation. Drinking, alcohol, a band on top and flags are all involved. Again, no alcohol for me, but a great experience nevertheless. We had so much fun!

I went to Baños late last week with my religion class. Baños is a small town that is known for being environmentally friendly and perfect for outdoor adventure sports. We were supposed to come back on Saturday afternoon. I didn’t make it back to Quito until Monday afternoon ... about an hour before my environmental exam was scheduled to begin. I LOVED this town. It involved playing with a baby tigruillo (like a baby tiger, kind of), cable cars over 250-foot cliffs, hiking, endless taffy eating, watching an active volcano spew stuff, mountain biking and so much more. I have made one really close friend while being in Ecuador – Zita – and she came down for two days. I spent about half my time with my class and the rest with Zita. It was a weekend I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I wish I had more time to write about it.

Zita and I also made it back up to Otavalo. That's the indigenous market that we went to eariler this semester. And get this - we randomly met a girl there from Finland who has become another close friend. She's adorable. She speaks very little Spanish, but she is learning quickly. It's so funny how you randomly meet people and make friends here.

[Playing with Zita in Imbabura... as Helen said "way to be a grown up". Hahaha whatever! I have a reputation to protect and it isn't everyday you come across Tigger and Dino in Latin America.]


Anyway, I have essays to edit and a presentation to practice… studying to be done… packing to be started… things to do. I miss you all back at home but I know I’ll be seeing you soon! I hope all you girls at SBC are surviving finals okay!!!! I’ve been thinking about you.

Take care everyone!!

a weekend to remember

I think it is safe to say that after this past weekend I am going to need to reevaluate my definition of “adventure”. Thursday-Sunday kind of put my past adventures to shame… which was surprising to me and will be to my SBC friends, too… all the ones who regularly see me riding around campus with campus safety – my “friend” – and climbing out of 3rd story windows. Anyway, I’ve had some serious fun over these past few days. I’ve made some new friends, learned a ton about Ecuadorian life and culture, got a pretty impressive “tan” (which is currently appearing to be a burn… but I believe in the future of the tan) and had an experience that I will always remember when I look back on and think about my time in Ecuador.

So a bunch of us decided that since Thanksgiving is coming up at home and we’re going to miss it… sad!... we would go to the beach for the weekend and at least celebrate the fact that we’re not stuck in cold temperatures. We frequently travel on the weekends, we always have fun, and it’s really not that big of a deal. We decided on Canoa – it’s a beach in about the center of Ecuador and beautiful. One of our friends left on Wednesday night with her Ecuadorian friend, one other student was going to travel alone and meet us there, and the rest of us decided that we would leave on Thursday night and take a night bus. We bought tickets early in the week and went planned on leaving after our class on Thursday night.

We went from class (at about 7pm) to Mariscal to have supper and pass some time before going to the bus station near old town. The bus didn’t leave until 9, so we had some time. I was actually able to wander into an internet café and call my dad and step mom at home… that was pretty nice because they are always working during the hours when I could call them at home. We haven’t been able to talk much. I talked to them for a little while and then we took a taxi to old town.

We left Quito at 9ish and were ready to settle in for the 9 hour ride to the coast. The bus was packed and there were six (6!!) people up front to switch off for driving. It’s normal to have another person for such a long trip – even two more people – but six? We drove for almost 2 hours and got about 45 minutes outside of Quito because one on them kept having some crisis which required stopping. And of course every time we stopped not only would all six drivers pile off the bus, but all the men in general. It was a slow, slow process.

We started to get out of the city and onto the windy mountain roads and it was so foggy! We couldn’t see anything. The bus driver was driving kind of funny too … he kept shifting at really strange times. He was laughing a lot and it almost seemed like he was trying to show off to the other five. We got to a toll booth that (would normally be) about an hour out of the city and the bus overheated. It completely filled with smoke and then shut off. We were stuck there for two hours while we waited for another bus to come. By the time it came – and we transferred – and we left the toll station – it was 1:30am and we were only about an hour away from home. We all laughed about it and decided that a little bad luck is going to happen. We were glad to be on our way again.

Then at three the same bus driver drove over a huge pile of rocks and blew out the front right tire. That was another 2 hours – we watched the sun come up while the six drivers and every man on the bus watched as one man changed the tire. By the time we were finally on our way again the sun was up, music was blasting throughout the entire bus, two babies were crying (as they had been for hours at this point) and everyone on the bus was frozen. The four of us were still laughing about everything.

We made it to San Vicente at 10:30am. From there we still had to travel another 16km to Canoa. We traded buses and made the rest of our trip… around 11am we finally found the hostile where our other friend had already checked in. It was a long night!

But, it was also a beautiful day! So we changed into our suits and went out to find some food – breakfast or lunch or something. We ate and then went down to the beach. All of us put on tons of sunscreen (55spf!) and we all got sunburns. It was a sad situation. I actually went in earlier than everyone else did because I could tell that the Ecuadorian sun was kicking the butt of my sun block. I’m glad I did – my sunburn ended up being pretty bad and if I had stayed out too much longer I would have been a very unhappy kid.

We hung around Canoa for all of Friday and until Saturday night. We had so much fun! We played on the beach, went to happy hour at our hostile (which I didn’t have anything to drink during… like always… but still had fun), ate at different restaurants and explored new foods, talked with the locals, danced, laughed A LOT, slept very little…

It was a great time.

On Saturday night we planned to take the night bus again. I had to be back in Quito by 7am on Sunday morning (for a religion field trip with PUCE) and we were all praying and hoping that the bus ride back wouldn’t be as much of a disaster as the one there. First we had to make it back to San Vicente. We walked down to where “the busses pass every 10 to 30 minutes” and waited for over an hour. At this point we had the four girls who had traveled down together and one other student, Ben, who was going to travel back with us. Ben is fun… but a little overly outgoing at times. Before we knew it he had flagged down a pickup truck that was carrying an entire family and going in the direction of San Vicente. The father was driving, the grandparents were up front with him, and the mother and her 4 young children were in the back. Ben talked the guy into taking us to San Vicente if we would give him a dollar – and started yelling “come on!!” at the four girls who were just about thinking he had lost his mind.

So we took the risk… it was a mother and her four children (who were eating their supper) in the back… and grandparents. We rode the entire way back to San Vicente in the back of this pickup, talking to the mother and kids and learning about them. Culturally, this is where I am finding I learn the most. Not only about Ecuador but about life and the world in general. It was a valuable 20 minutes.

We got to San Vicente and had to find the bus station again. We got our tickets and then Ben convinced me to go walking with him so that he could find “meat on a stick” (meaning from one of the street vendors) before the bus left. We walked around the town a little – it was well lit and well populated and is known to be really safe.

When we got on the bus to leave for Quito we were looking out the window as we left the town. The exact intersection where the family had let us out of the pickup not an hour before was having issues… there was a man holding up a taxi driver at gun point. My friend Lanier and I saw what was going on – the man who was holding up the gun saw the bus and got rather upset. It was kind of a scary moment. A little intense. At the same time, it was just another thing to add to the list of unexpected things for the weekend. Once that was over we settled in a little. We stopped to let some people of and Lanier and I got some pan de yucca con queso … yucca bread with cheese … because we were hungry. It was really yum! We ate it and fell asleep. My sunburn hurt so, so much, so I had a hard time resting. But, compared to the bus ride to get to Canoa this was still wonderful… no overheating, no crazy six drivers, no tire problem, we didn’t freeze, only 8½ trip… I was impressed with the normality of it.

We made it back to Quito at about 5:30am – enough time for me to go home, take a shower, change, have breakfast and still make it in time to meet up with my class friends. So that’s what I did. It was kind of my mini-marathon of the day but I made it to the Rio Coca station on the ecovia (again, the other side of the city) by 7:15. There were three other students from the class. We took a bus to El Quinche. It’s a small town about an hour outside of Quito and they are currently celebrating religion holidays and “the virgin of Quinche” who is said to have established their town. It was cool. We went to the church and talked with some of the people. I learned a lot.

On the bus ride home I managed to get separated from everyone else and ended up traveling alone. I was actually completely okay with this. The bus was packed and I sat on the floor with a husband and wife who had just completed a traditional walk from their town to Quinche. They taught me a lot. Like the pickup truck the night before, these conditions were not the most favorable … sitting on the floor of a dirty and crowded bus, alone … but I had a really valuable experience.

I made it home to Quito around 2. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep but had a midterm to take yesterday that I needed to study for. I spent most of the afternoon nursing the sun burn and reading for the midterm. Thankfully I think I managed to send it running back to Hugo with its tail between its legs… it was long but not too hard. I passed out last night (watching Grey’s Anatomy reruns with my host sister) and slept – finally!

The weekend was wonderful though. I love times where I can drop my books and learn 10x more just from living life. How many people get the opportunity to do that? I’ve been lucky. Anyways… I am going to go to Católica and meet up with some friends for lunch. I realized this morning that I turn 21 two weeks from tomorrow and that I’ll be flying home 3 weeks from Friday. There is still soooo much to do between now and then… plus, more traveling!

Best to all!!!

Some Photos

How cool is that!?

The river that we stayed near ... two weeks before this photo the river was 4 meters higher! The land changes a ton from day to day.

Okay so this might just look like a tree... I'm about a foot shorter than that root at the bottom of the photo.

Quito Update and Galápagos Part II

Hey everyone! Sorry it has taken me so long to write and update. Time is really moving fast.

Quito has been okay since coming back from the Amazon. I loved our trip and wish we could have spent more time away. We're still having exams (just about every other day it feels like) and things have been busy since we have come back home. Hopefully they'll start to calm down soon, though I doubt it.

If Quito has taught me anything during these 4 months it is that I am not made for the city at all. I like it here, and I have learned a lot, but my heart belongs to the woods. I'm not a fan of the pollution and car alarms and constant robberies. It's just too busy. I've also found that I feel the same way about school life in a big university. It's nice some days to blend in with the crowd and hide away – but SBC is much better… where you know everyone and always have someone nearby to smile and laugh with.

A bunch of us are going to the beach tomorrow evening. We'll be coming back on Saturday night. It's only two days away but it will still be nice. We have been studying a lot lately and we all want a break. On Sunday I am going on a short trip with my religion class at PUCE and then studying for the rest of the day… we have another huge exam on Monday.

There has been a small change in when I will be coming back to the U.S. I'll now be flying home on December 14th rather than December 22nd. This is good… it means that I will get some time with my family before leaving for St. Louis and Wisconsin. I love Ecuador… but I am really looking forward to getting home and seeing friends and family again. I miss you guys!

The last few weeks are going to fly. I feel like I have something planned for almost every day over the next month… I’m going to Puerto Lopez for four days (and skipping class!! Totally unlike me… I’m kind of excited, can't lie! Tania's mom lives there and is a SBC alum. I can't be in Ecuador without going to visit her for at least a few days), Otavalo one more time, Baños for two days, Quinche, my birthday and independence day in Quito (during the same 48 hours, how sweet is that!?)… oh, and p.s., 11 papers and 2 more big exams and 3 finals. It's going to be a fun month. Actually, seriously, it probably will be and I know it will fly by.


Okay… so the rest of Galápagos real quick before I have to go to class... it's a shorter story than the first posting because we didn't do as much.

We went to the last island that we were going to visit on Sunday morning. We had a long time in the boat – 2½ hours for the first part … then we stopped for lunch on a tiny island and went snorkeling … and then another 2 hours and 24 minutes. Most of the day was spent traveling between the islands. By the time we got to Isabella the sun was already setting. We had about an hour to get settled into the new hotel and walk around a bit. Then we met up for supper and we talked for a little over an hour about the trip and went to bed.

I didn’t go snorkeling this day because it had taken me so long to warm up the day before. Jorge didn’t think it was a good idea. It ended up being okay because the other students didn’t see anything that we hadn’t seen the day before… and I didn’t freeze all over again. I also had a chance to talk with some of the other guides and learn more about the natural history of the islands.

One really cool thing did happen though while we were on the boat. It had been quite for about an hour and one of my friends jumped up in the back of the boat and started yelling for everyone to get up and come look. There were dolphins everywhere!! There must have been near 100 of them. They were jumping out of the water and so, so amazing to watch. We also saw a whale. We only saw it once and for a very brief moment. But this was cool too. It’s uncommon to see whales at this time of year.

Monday was adventure day on Isabella and by far my favorite day of the Galápagos trip. We woke up and had breakfast. Then we took a bus to an interior part of the island. Isabella is very volcanically active and we were going to go see the crater of the volcano. It’s the third largest active crater in the world… it was so cool! We actually traveled on horseback for about 2½-3 miles and looked down over the crater. It was really amazing. The horses were a little crazy, but it was okay. We all improved our skills. :-)

We did a little hiking around the volcano and we were able to explore a bit. It was really peaceful. I saw an amazing owl (I was walking alone and scrambling up some of the rocks). We rode the horses back down the same trail we had come up and then went to a restaurant for a late lunch. It was a simple day, but amazing all the same. After the late lunch we all had our first real opportunity to rest, so we took advantage of it. We did some beach exploring and were able to get more familiar with the island. It was so beautiful!!

The next morning we had breakfast and left Isabella early. We had a 1:30 flight and we had to make it back to Baltra. It was a boat ride there (long, again) and then we went straight to the airport. Not much of a Galápagos exploration day – more just traveling.

Overall the trip was a lot of fun. There was so much to see and learn and do! I would recommend it!


I’m bummed I don’t have more time to write… I need to get to class and get some studying done. I miss everyone back at home! I’ll try to be better about writing more often. Love!

Galapagos Part I

Well I made a promise to myself that I wasn’t going to go to the Amazon without posting at least part of the English Galapagos blog. Because things have been so busy lately I’m finding myself awake and finishing this thing at 4am the morning of the Amazon trip… but hey, it’s cool… at least it will finally be done!! Well, at least the first part, I’m not anticipating being able to post the whole thing.

So… Galapagos…

We left from Quito early on a Friday morning. We flew down to Guayaquil (a city on the southern coast of Ecuador – where Tania is from! – that is actually bigger than Quito). After a short layover in Guayaquil we left for the Galapagos!

We flew into the island of Baltra. It’s really, really small. Basically it’s only purpose is to house one of the two small airports that the Galapagos Islands has. Even yet, as soon as we landed it was very clear that we were in a very different environment than the one we are used to in Quito. It was so dry! Right now Galapagos is just about at the end of its dry season and it was very clear. There was a huge iguana sunbathing on the runway as we got off the plane. He was just kind of hanging there and lifted his head a little to look at the plane full of people, then went back to sunbathing.

We went through a baggage check to make sure that we were not bringing any restricted items with us to the islands. Galapagos is such a unique and preserved environment that many things are not allowed to be brought (mainly produce, nuts, seeds, things of this sort). From there we met up with our guide, Jorge, and our environmental professor from Quito, Hugo. We took a bus to the other end of the island and then a small boat to cross a short distance to the island of Santa Cruz.

The boat ride was really short but definitely exciting. We saw so many blue-footed boobies. These little birds are hardcore – they were flying in circles and then diving really fast into the water to try to catch some food. They would be under water for a little while and then come back up and start flying all over again. They were pretty cool.

Once we got to Santa Cruz we took another bus to cross the island. It was really cool to see how much the landscape and vegetation changes when you cross the island. The lowest part of the island, the coast all around, is very, very dry. But as you go up higher there is more vegetation, more life, and more greenness in general. We were going to stay the night in a hotel on Santa Cruz. We checked in there and went to have lunch and then walked over to the Charles Darwin Science and Research Center. The walk alone was really cool. We saw lots of crabs and iguanas and lizards all sunbathing by the shore. We also saw pelicans and sea lions. There are many plants that are endemic to the Galapagos Islands and Hugo and Jorge started to tell us a bit about some of them – my favorite was a cactus… that really looks like a tree and then you look up and oh, hey, that’s a huge cactus-of-a-tree up there.

We spent some time at the research center and learned about some of the environmental problems and concerns in the Galapagos. We also saw some of the giant tortoises and the famous “Solitary George” – a poor little (well not so little, more like 400 pounds) guy of a turtle who is the only one left of his kind. The turtles were cool. They were big, and kind of smelly, but definitely cool. They can live for over 250 years!

We stopped by a different part of the coast, an area more like a beach, on our way back to the hotel. By this time it was getting late and the sun was starting to set. It was so pretty! The beach was neat too because the “sand” was really all crushed volcanic rock (p.s. – the Galapagos Islands were formed by a huge hotspot and are still very volcanically active).

We had supper and then rested for the rest of the night. It was nice to have some free time to explore the island a little bit. One of my favorite things had to be how safe the islands are. Unlike Quito, you can walk around and not have to constantly be paranoid about getting robbed or messed with at any minute. This was good – it gave us more of an opportunity to relax and learn and take in the culture/environment without having to worry about getting into trouble. The stars were amazing!!!

Jorge was really great. He hung out with us the whole time and taught us so much! You are actually not allowed to visit the Galapagos Islands without a guide. This is because of all the environmental protection laws to make sure that the islands are well taken care of. Either way, we got lucky to have a really cool guide. He was a lot of fun, informative, and helpful with Spanish, too. Late on Friday he decided to ask us a question that he would proceed to torment us with for the following days – If giant turtles can’t swim for long distances and all of the Galapagos Islands are separated from each other by quite a bit of space, then way are there giant turtles on all of the islands and not just one or two? This question made me nuts because I wanted so badly to know the answer or to figure it out. At first I though it had something to do with the islands moving… then I realized that’s probably not it because of the hotspot and the way of volcanic formation for the area. Then I though maybe the islands had originally been bigger and erosion was a factor. I tried that one on Jorge. Not so much. He kind of laughed at me.

We got up early on Saturday morning and had breakfast – complete with tons of medicine to prevent motion sickness. We got our stuff together and went down to one of the docks of the island. We had to do another baggage check (to make sure we were not bringing anything restricted between the islands) and then we got on to two small boats. For real, small boats. 10 students were in my boat and the remaining 14 went in the other. This would be how we would travel between the islands. Our destination was the island of San Cristobal.

The boats are rough on you. They go fast and are constantly thrown around in the wind – it makes them hit pretty hard against the water. I was sore as a result for almost a week after we got back to Quito. They also make you seasick very quickly and very easily. But honestly, because of the uniqueness of the Galapagos and how important it is to properly preserve them, I’d rather travel in these boats than in one of the big tourist cruise ships. I saw those hanging around the dock too and it really just kind of made me angry. The little boats seemed like they were the lesser of two evils.

We traveled for about 45 minutes and stopped near the very small island of Santa Fe to go snorkeling. This was an amazing and awesome part of our trip that I will never forget. One of my overall highlights from Ecuador all together. It was cold… really, really, really cold, but totally worth it. We had our suits and some basic snorkel gear. We jumped off the sides of the boats and into the FREEZING water… swam a little bit… and ended up on a reef near Santa Fe. It was so cool! There were fish everywhere and sea lions all along the rocks on the coast of the island. I saw this really cool fish – it was huge and brilliant colors or reds and blues and yellows. At only point I put my face down into the water and found myself alone in the middle of a school of hundreds of fish. They swam all around me and were so pretty! I went over with the rest of the group – a little more towards the coast – and the sea lions started jumping into the water. Before we knew it they were swimming with us. They were so much fun – they would come up really close to you and play with you, and then go back to the rocks, climb up, jump back in, and do the whole thing over again. Really fun!

I don’t think I have ever been as cold as I was when I swam back to the boat. I don’t like the water too much but I am still a pretty strong swimmer. But it was so cold that my muscles were not wanting to work anymore and I really struggled just to make it back to the boat. When I got there one of the other guides lifted me out of the water and back into the boat because I didn’t have enough strength to climb up by myself. We were all cold – they gave us juice and pop and all kinds of foods and sugars to help us warm up. I was kind of bummed because it didn’t take the other students too long to warm up again but it took me a really long time. Jorge ended up wrapping me up in extra towels and his jacket and then sitting me in the warmest (sheltered) part of the boat. We still had almost 2 hours to go by boat before we would make it to San Cristobal. I eventually started to warm up a little. One of my friends lent me her ipod and I listened to that as we traveled. Another one fell asleep on top of me - good for warmth as well. The music served as a nice distraction and was actually really peaceful. I ended up being really at ease and relaxed, despite the cold, and haven’t felt that connected to the earth and life and God in a long time. Eventually I found myself not caring about the cold because I was so relaxed and so content with just being there and in that moment.

We made it to San Cristobal and checked in to the hotel where we were going to stay for the night. Then we went to another research center and saw more turtles and wildlife that is also native and endemic to the islands. We did some hiking – which I loved! – and then Jorge tormented us a little more with his question saying that whoever got the answer would win a guide t-shirt from the Galapagos. None of us could get it.

We went for another walk around the island. This one was longer and less formal – more just so that we could observe our surroundings and appreciate them. A lot of the students were chatting as they walked but I think the cold took a lot out of me and I wanted to be quiet and walk a little separated from everyone else. But during that time I got to thinking about Jorge’s question… and I figured it out!

I went to ask him about it… my theory was that because the islands are all formed by the same hotspot, and as a result the depth of the water between the islands is not as deep as it would be if you were out in the middle of the ocean… it’s actually more or less shallow. So, with that and given the fact that the earth naturally goes though hot and cold cycles, what would happed if there was an ice age? I though that maybe if there was an ice age and more water was to freeze at the poles of the earth, it would lower the overall sea level enough so that more land of the Galapagos was exposed. If that were to happen, maybe the islands would be connected to each other for a temporary time – allowing turtles to walk (not swim) between the different areas. At the end of the ice age when the water level rose again the turtles would remain on all the islands and not just one or two. I went to ask Jorge and he said I was right. I was excited. Not only did I win a t-shirt but the question was finally off of my mind!

We hung out on the island until evening and then went and had supper. It was suprising to me how developed the two islands we first went to were. Only 3% of the overall land of Galapagos is like this - the remaining 97% is protected - but still, I wasn't expecting the level of development and high population that we saw on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal. We did a little more exploring and then went to bed. We were going to move between islands again the next morning and we all wanted to rest. The next day was Isabella - less people, more environmental, and a very active island volcanically.

Okay… y’all have two of the five days we spent traveling (don’t worry, day five is pretty boring, so you have half the story here). I need to go shower and finish packing for this next adventure to the Amazon (I have to be at the airport in two hours!!!) but I will post the rest of this thing on Monday night. I love you all back in the States and I hope you’re doing well. Happy November! I miss all of you and can’t wait for some hugs and visits NEXT MONTH!!

p.s. Pat – getting on your knees like a little kid and begging for sweets on Halloween is pathetic!! But did it work!?!? You crack me up! I’ll bet you I could do better… if I dress up… most people think I’m 14 anyways (21 in a month!)! Next year it’s on! Let’s see who can do better. Your height hurts you. :-) Miss you!!!!

October Highlights!

WOW! It is the end of October! I woke up this morning… and took my sweet time taking a shower and getting ready to leave for IES… and then I took even more time wandering around Quito during my “direct” walk to the center – which really turned out to be more of a “hey, what’s going on down that street… I think I need to walk that way today” type walk. The end of October and the beginning of November marks many religious celebrations down here and pretty much the beginning of the to-be Christmas season. I was a little confused while I was walking because there are a ton of food stands up with special breads and juices… then I realized that it is Colada Morada … oh, and p.s., the end of October! Tomorrow is November!! (and I'm still wearing shorts!! haha!)

So yeah, I’m not quite sure where the time is going because I really feel like just yesterday it was still September. As of this Saturday I will only have 7 weeks left down here – how sad! Quito has come to feel less like a foreign city that always surprises me and more like a home that I really enjoy. (That’s not to say that I don’t miss the woods … because I do! So, so, so much!) But what I have really realized and noticed is that life down here has become a very natural routine to me. I am less stunned by crazy bus drivers and kids who try to rob you – cautious still, but no longer surprised but such occurrences – and I think as a result the days are moving faster and life in general is just flying by in this city. Then to top it all off I have something planned almost every single day. “Resting” on weekends… haha, right. Last weekend I did "rest" – I spent Saturday in Mindo with my environmental class (AWESOME day and town, by the way) and Sunday at a 3-hour church service and then tracking down and catching up with some friends from PUCE who I hadn’t been able to see in weeks. Compared to other weekends, it was quite a restful one.

But things are good. This week has been a bit crazy because of our upcoming trip to the Amazon. I have a literature midterm on Thursday – yeah, I know that’s actually tomorrow, but saying Thursday makes me feel like I still have more time! – and then we leave for the Amazon on Friday morning. We are going to spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday in the Amazon (I am SO, SO excited!!) and then return to Quito on Monday night. Tuesday, the first day back, I have my religion midterm. And that is where the serious uh oh in my life is right now… my religion class is the one at PUCE with the professor who mumbles in indigenous dialect. The exam is on over 200 pages of textbook that he hasn’t taught in class. The literature exam I am ready for and I feel comfortable with. This religion exam though… oh my, oh my. I have spent all of this week getting ready for it and I am going to take all my notes and such with me to the Amazon. Hopefully I’ll do well. The good news is that I really feel that I have mastered all of the material in the textbook. If I don’t do well on the exam it will be because of language barriers – not because I haven’t managed to get the content down. In the meantime I am going to enjoy the Amazon and not worry too much.

Yesterday was a really great day. When I was leaving home in the morning I met up with my cousin who just happened to be leaving at the same time and walking in the same direction (he lives upstairs from my family). He walked with me all the way to the IES center and we chatted the entire way. He’s really nice… of all my extended family members down here, I have been able to get to know him better than anyone else. In the evening my host mom had a meeting at IES. My class let out at about the same time her meeting ended. My aunt came with her and as I was leaving class I met up with them. We went home together (along with my brother, who also showed up). I talked to my aunt for a little while on the way home. I really like her a lot. She is a professor at another university for North American exchange students. Spending time with here is like getting one-on-one Spanish help but without any added stress or class or grades or whatever. It’s totally informal and so helpful. Plus, she’s just really nice in general and fun to be around. I had supper with my mom and she and I talk for almost an hour. She brought up something from the meeting – about someone down here who tends to be a little harsh with people and not be too nice – and I ended up completely venting for her about it for almost a half hour. In the end I felt a ton better about the situation (this has been going on for about a month in between all the students, and although I haven’t been directly involved, I think it has still had an effect on me) and I realized that I have officially reached the point of being able to talk about just about anything in Spanish. Between my cousin and my aunt and my mom (oh, and class, that too) it was a really fantastic Spanish day.

Overall this month has been really good to me. I have seen some amazing places (Galápagos, Mindo, etc.) and learned so much. I like Ecuador a lot and I’m really glad that I came. Time is going to keep flying by so I’m trying my best to just enjoy it while I can. Anyway, what's not to love about stuff down here...? Today I have my environmental class - that translates into Hugo standing at the front of the room talking to us about the flora and fauna of the Amazon and how snakes "strip tease" (in his words) when they shed their skin. Quite an entertaining class. :-)

I hope everyone back at home has a great Halloween! Have fun (be safe) and tell me stories!

What's going on in Quito

I'm still working on the translation of the Galápagos blog into English, but I'm getting there, I promise! Life has been great in Quito during this past week. It has definitely been busy and time is flying by. As of tomorrow I will only have 8 weeks left here -- really, I'm pretty sad about that!

Last Friday I went climbing with some friends. It was sooo nice! I feel like I am in withdrawal from the climbing life down here and it was nice to be back on the wall for a little while. We weren't there for too long, but enough time to make me a very happy person!

Saturday we went to el Jardín Botánico de Quito (the botanical garden), to el Vivarium (pretty much a reptile house with lots of snakes and turtles and frogs) and to the Quito zoo. It was such a fun day!! And we learned a ton, a ton, a ton about Ecuador and all the different ecosystems that it has. El Jardín Botánico is set up so that it can teach you about all the different places in Ecuador - the coast, the Galápagos, the highlands, the mountains, the Amazon, etc. - and there are plants from each place. Very cool. The zoo also was a great learning experience because it only has animals that are native to Ecuador. Our environmental professor came with us and was able to teach us a lot. It was a great day.

Sunday I went with Laura to one of the traditional craft markets. The market was right in Quito, so we didn't have to go too far (we actually were able to walk there). I had fun looking at everything, but I think more fun talking to all the people. Adventures like there really help me learn more than anywhere or anything else... I feel like I am completely thrown into the culture and it's a sink or swim type situation.

The week has been busy. I have been studying a lot (not "too much" Pat, no te preocupas) to try to get ready for a huge religion exam that is coming up. Hopefully I'll do well! I've also been talking with friends back at the Briar quite a bit and I've been able to catch up a little on what is going on at home, which has been nice. Overall things are great... time goes so fast though. It's hard to find an extra few minutes to write home or update here.

Tomorrow we are going to Mindo. It's a small town out of the city. We're going with our environmental professor again, so I'm sure we'll learn a lot and have a great time. He's so funny!

I'm working on uploading more photos to another website. I'll let y'all know the address as soon as I get them up!

¡Besitos amigos!

Galápagos (English version to come... :-) )

Viernes, el 05 de octubre, 2007:

Salimos del aeropuerto de Quito a las 7h30 para viajar a las islas Galápagos. Pasamos por una investigación de seguridad al aeropuerto antes de embarcamos en el avión. El vuelo pasó por la ciudad de Guayaquil antes de viajando a las islas Galápagos. Durante el segundo parte del vuelo (entre la cuidad de Guayaquil y la isla de Baltra en las islas Galápagos) escribimos los papeles de aduana. También escribimos en otros papeles para entrar a la providencia de las islas Galápagos del Ecuador. Al final del vuelo los auxiliares del vuelo abrieron todos los cubos del equipaje pasaron por el avión con un spray de aerosol. Este spray estaba muy importante antes del aterrizaje a las islas Galápagos porque ayudaba para controlar y/o eliminar alguno tipo de especie introducida. Las islas Galápagos tiene un hábitat muy diferente – es el único en el mundo de este tipo y con este nivel de protección y preservación. Por eso, es muy importante proteger las islas y evitar la entrada de más especies introducidas (especialmente con relación a la gente turística).
Cuando llegamos en la isla de Baltra bajamos del avión y caminamos por la pista. ¡Vimos una iguana en el centro de la pista! Estaba bronceando en los rayos del sol. Nos registramos al aeropuerto de la isla de Baltra (usamos los pasaportes y las tarjetas del censo). Los trabajadores del aeropuerto buscaron el todas las carteras y todo el equipaje. Estaban buscando por algo tipo de artículo restringido de las islas Galápagos – por ejemplo: algo tipo de fruta, verdura, planta, pepita, nuez, etc. Muy similar del spray en el avión, buscar por este tipo de artículo es muy importante para preservar el hábito de las islas Galápagos y evitar la entrada de nuevas especies que pueden dañar el ambiente de las islas.
Salimos del aeropuerto y encontramos con nuestra guía (Jorge) y el profesor de la clase de Diversidad ambiental del Ecuador (Hugo). Para visitar a las islas Galápagos es necesario obtener una guía. Hay una ley en las islas que dice es necesario para viajar y visitar solamente con una guía. Esta ley existe para proteger y preservar el medio ambiente de las islas – el turismo puede ser muy malo y dañar mucho el medio ambiente y el hábito de las islas.
Tomamos un bus con Jorge y Hugo al otro lado de la isla de Baltra. La isla de Baltra es una isla bastante pequeña – sólo tiene el aeropuerto. En el bus, Jorge me explicó que hay dos estaciones de las islas Galápagos – la estación seca y la estación lluviosa. Durante octubre las islas están en la estación seca. Para mí este fue muy claro – toda la vegetación estaba muy seca y sólo existieron las platas que
pudieron sobrevivir con muy poco agua. Las plantas también tuvieron adaptaciones para ayudar con los limitaciones del agua – adaptaciones como hojas muy pequeños (o sin hojas en general), raíces muy profundos para obtener más agua, etc.
Al otro lado de la isla encontramos el agua del mar. Podemos ver una isla nueva – la isla de Santa Cruz – a otro lado del agua. Embarcamos en un barco pequeño para cruzar entre las dos islas. El viaje en barco estaba muy corto (sólo diez minutos, no más) pero vimos un alcatraz patiazul. Estaba volando en el aire, y entonces, buceaba bajo el agua. ¡Qué increíble para ver esto!
En la isla de Santa Cruz fuimos otra vez en bus para cruza al otro lado de la isla. Durante nuestro tiempo en bus (casi 30 minutos) miramos a los cambios de la vegetación de la isla. A la costa de la isla la vegetación estaba muy seca y reseca – en el centro existía más vegetación verde y con agua. Al parte más alta de la isla estaba más vegetación. También, esta vegetación estaba más compacta, más verde y con más acceso al agua (todos los razones porque de la altura más alta).
Cuando llegamos al otro lado de la isla de Santa Cruz estábamos otra vez en la costa y estaba muy seca. Nos registramos al hotel en la isla de Santa Cruz, almorzamos y caminamos al Centro de Investigación de Charles Darwin. Vimos mucho durante el paseo – estaban muchas iguanas y muchos cangrejos cerca del restaurante donde almorzamos. Las iguanas estaba de tamaños diferentes – algunos muy pequeños y algunos muy granes. Estaban escalando la pared de un muelle de los barcos. Los cangrejos estaban del color rojo – un color de rojo muy fuerte y vivo. Estaban en las rocas cerca del agua del mar.
También durante el paseo vimos un pelícano. Pasamos por un mercado de pescado y vimos dos tipos del pescado muy populares comer. Un tipo estaba de los colores blanco, gris y negro. El otro estaba de los colores blanco, rosa, salmón y naranja. Los dos pescados estaban para comer y – según la gente de las islas Galápagos – están muy ricos. Yo no como el pescado, pero los otros estudiantes del viajo dijeron que el pescado de las islas Galápagos es muy rico. Les gustaba mucho.
Llegamos al Centro de Investigación de Charles Darwin para aprender sobre las islas Galápagos y ver las tortugas gigantes (y, por supuesto, el solitario Jorge, también). Fuera del Centro de Investigación hablemos un poco con Hugo. Vimos una especie de cactus – estaba endémico a las islas Galápagos y estaba muy grande (no sólo grande en comparación de las otras especies del cactus del mundo, también estaba más grande de casi todo otra tipa de planta). Vimos un lagarto muy pequeño. Hablemos más sobre las adaptaciones de las plantas durante la estación seca en las islas Galápagos y un poco sobre la competición entre las plantas para obtener agua.
Jorge nos preguntó una pregunta sobre la historia y la geografía de las islas Galápagos - ¿Si las tortugas gigantes no pueden nadar por tiempos muy largos, y todas las islas de las Galápagos están separadas, porque hay tortugas gigantes en todas las islas – y no sólo en una isla? Esta pregunta estaba bastante difícil y me pensé mucha durante el día para responder. Al primer, adiviné que la respuesta estaba sobre la geografía de las islas - ¿Las islas están más cercas en el pasado y movieron como resultado de los platos tectónicos? ¿Hace muchos años existió una isla más grande – y con muchos años había erosión entre la tierra para formar islas separadas? Quería responder con una respuesta correcta – hablé con Jorge, pregunté sobre mis sospechas y pensé mucha.
Entramos al Centro de Investigación de Charles Darwin y vimos una película muy corta sobre las islas Galápagos. La película habló de los peligros y las amenazas de la naturaleza de las islas Galápagos – específicamente habló sobre los impactos del turismo y de los seres humanos. Después de la película pasamos un poco de tiempo en el centro (había cosas leer y mirar) y entonces salimos del edifico del centro para caminar más – el centro también tuvo una exhibición bastante grade fuera. En este parte del centro vimos las tortugas gigantes. Aprendemos mucho sobre las – ¡pueden vivir por 250 años o más! También pueden pesar tan mucho como 400 libras. Por esta razón el nombre de ‘tortuga gigante’ es muy apropiado. A mí me gustan las tortugas gigantes mucho – estaban muy interesantes. También a mí me gusta el solitario Jorge pero me sentí triste sobre su historia.
Salimos del Centro de Investigación de Charles Darwin y caminamos otra vez. Queríamos regresar al hotel pero antes pasamos por la playa. Vistamos a la playa por un tiempo muy corto. La playa aquí estaba muy diferente de la playa de Esmeraldas y de las playas de otros lugares del Ecuador. Eso fue porque las islas Galápagos son islas volcánicas y toda la tierra es de roca – no existe mucha arena ni otras cosas “normales” de la playa. La “arena” en la playa de estaba de roca (de basalto) que estaba rota en trozos muy pequeños.
Regresamos al hotel y teníamos tiempo libre. Por dos horas caminé con amigos en la isla para explorar y aprender más. Vimos tres pescadores en el muelle a cerca del mar. Cenamos con el grupo en lo mismo restaurante del almuerzo y regresamos al hotel para hablar con Hugo sobre el día. Después nos dormimos porque estaba bastante tarde y necesitamos descansar para el día siguiente.


Sábado, el 06 de octubre, 2007:

Levantamos muy temprano para empezar el día. Durante el desayuno tomamos las pastillas para ayudar con el mareo. Estaba muy importante tomar las pastillas porque iremos a pasar muchas horas en barco para viajar entre las islas. Salimos del hotel de la isla de Santa Cruz y caminamos al muelle para embarcar en barco. Antes de podemos salir de la isla estaba necesario tomar otra investigación del equipaje otra vez. Los visitantes de las islas Galápagos no puedan viajar entre las islas sin una investigación del equipaje. Esta inspección, otra vez, es para evitar la transportación de especies introducidas o especies perjudiciales entre islas. Después de la investigación del equipaje embarcamos en barco para salir de la isla de Santa Cruz.
Los barcos para viajar entre las islas estaban muy pequeños. Usamos dos barcos – el primer con diez estudiantes y el segundo con catorce estudiantes – para viajar. Salimos de la isla de Santa Cruz. Estábamos viajando a la isla de San Cristóbal, pero pasamos por la isla Santa Fe para bucear con snorkel. Para un barco bastante pequeño, lo estaba muy rápido. Tenía un motor de gasolina. La gasolina es peligrosa por el medio ambiente y puede ser muy malo al agua y al mar a cerca de las islas Galápagos. Estos motores pequeños no estaban tan malos que los motores más grandes – como en los barcos del turismo. Vimos a estos barcos y a mí no me gustan nada porque estaban con motores muy grandes y muy sucios.
Después de 45 minutos en barco paramos a cerca de la isla pequeña de Santa Fe para bucear con snorkel. Ya tuvimos los trajes del baño, las aletas del pie y el equipo de snorkel. Nadamos en el agua – ¡estaba muy, muy, muy frío! – y usamos las caretas de snorkel para ver bajo del nivel del agua. La experiencia de snorkel estaba muy fantástica. Estábamos a cerca de un arrecife de la isla de Santa Fe y el agua estaba poco profundo. Vimos muchos peces del mar. Vi dos tipos de pez – el primer tenía los colores de blanco y negro y estaba pequeño. Había muchísimos de este tipo de pez. El otro tipo de pez estaba más grande que el primer y vi sólo uno. Tenía colores muy fuertes y brillantes – de azul, amarillo, blanco y rojo. Era muy bonito.
Había muchos leones del mar en el arrecife. Los nadaron con nosotros. Estaban muy juguetones. A mí me gustaban los leones del mar mucho. Nadaban muy rápidos. Otros estudiantes miraron a los pepinos del mar y a otras especies del pez. En general, no podíamos nadar por mucho tiempo porque el agua del mar estaba demasiado frío. Después de quince minutos regresé al barco porque tenía mucha fría. Cuando llegué al barco no podía escalar en barco porque los músculos estaban demasiado fríos y sin fuerza. Un hombre en barco me levantó del agua y me dio una toalla. Estuve muy fría. Cuando todos los estudiantes han regresado al barco, comimos mucha comida para ayudar con la energía y la fuerza a contra del frío – para calentarnos. Cambiamos la ropa (ropa más caliente) y salimos en barco para ir a la isla de San Cristóbal. Este parte del viaja fue una hora y cuarenta minutos – más largo que el parte anterior – y descansamos un poco durante el viaje.
Llegamos a la isla de San Cristóbal y fuimos al hotel. Almorzamos muy pronto porque teníamos mucha hambre. Después fuimos a un centro de educación de la isla de San Cristóbal – se llama Galapaguera Semi Natural de Cerro Colorado – para aprender más sobre las islas Galápagos. Específicamente querríamos aprender sobre la formación de las islas y la historia de las especies que están viviendo en las islas. Vimos más tortugas gigantes. Entonces fuimos a otro lugar en la isla – se llama Mirador Santo Tomás – y hablemos sobre la pregunta de Jorge (sobre la presencia de las tortuga gigantes en cada isla, y no sólo una). Quería mucho saber la repuesta de la pregunta y otra vez pensé mucha. A este centro de la isla pasamos por una hora y vimos otra vez a las tortugas gigantes. También vimos tortugas juvenales de la especie tortuga gigante. Porque estaban muy jóvenes estaban también muy pequeños. En este centro existe un programa de la protección de las tortugas gigantes para aumentar la populación.
Salimos del centro para regresar al hotel en bus. Durante el viaje del bus pensé más sobre la pregunta de Jorge y tuve una idea nueva. Hablé con Jorge y finalmente realicé la respuesta: hay tortugas gigantes en cada isla de las islas Galápagos y no sólo una porque de los ciclos del mundo natural y de la Tierra. Es normal que la Tierra tiene edades del hielo y edades muy calientes. Las islas Galápagos no están contactadas, pero todos estuvieron formados por acciones volcánicas y un área de “hotspot”. Por esta razón la profundidad del mar entre las islas no es muy profunda. Durante una época natural de la Tierra cuanto había mucha hielo y la temperatura global estaba más bajo, la profundidad del mar también estaba más bajo. Como consecuencia, las islas Galápagos estaban consentidas porque estaba menos agua del mar y más hielo en el norte y el sur de la plantea. Durante esta época las tortugas gigantes pudieron migrar entre las zonas diferentes de las islas Galápagos. Al fin de la época el agua del mar regresar a un nivel normal y las islas estuvieron separadas otra vez – pero estuvieron tortugas gigantes en cada isla y no sólo una. Hablé con Jorge y le expliqué mi idea nueva. ¡Él dije que tuve la respuesta correcta y me gané una camiseta de las islas Galápagos!
Regresamos al hotel y teníamos tiempo libre antes de la cena. Caminé con una amiga por una hora porque quería explorar la isla y hablar con la gente de la isla. Para mí, estaba una sorpresa el nivel de desarrollo de la isla (y también el desarrollo de la isla de Santa Cruz). Estaba feliz que solamente 3% de las islas Galápagos tuvo este nivel del desarrollo – creo que las islas Galápagos son un lugar muy especial del mundo y es muy importante protegerlas. Vi muchos leones del mar en la playa – estuvieron durmiendo.
Fuimos al restaurante para cenar. Después de la cena hablemos con Hugo sobre el día. Hablemos sobre la aventura de snorkel y todos los animales nuevos. Regresamos al hotel para dormir.


Domingo, el 07 de octubre, 2007:

Desayunamos a cerca de la playa y tomamos el equipaje para una inspección. Necesitamos viajar otra vez entre islas. Antes de embarcamos otra vez en barco fuimos al Centro de Interpretación de la isla de San Cristóbal. Este centro era el favorito de mío durante el viaje a las islas Galápagos porque podía aprender mucho. Tomé muchos apuntes para recordar todo y pasé mucho tiempo en el centro – leí todo y hablé con los trabajadores del centro. Aprendí mucho sobre la conservación de las islas Galápagos, los impactos del turismo y los seres humanos y sobre la historia de las islas. Era muy interesante y a mí me gustaba el centro mucho.
También en el Centro de Interpretación Jorge nos enseñó más sobre la historia de las islas Galápagos y los impactos de los seres humanos. Podemos preguntar sobre otras cosas de interés.
Después del Centro de Interpretación regresamos a la playa y el muelle para salir de la isla de San Cristóbal. Embaucamos otra vez en barco para ir a la isla de Floreana. Floreana es una isla muy pequeña entre la isla de San Cristóbal y la isla de Isabela. Hay gente que vive en Floreana, pero el la isla con lo menos de populación de todas las islas de Galápagos. Hay menos de cien habitantes.
El viaje entre la isla de San Cristóbal y la isla de Floreana fue más largo – acerca de dos horas. Durante el viaje vimos muchos delfines (estaban nadado en el mar y saltaban) y también un una ballena. ¡Qué increíble! Llegamos a la isla de Floreana y buceamos con snorkel otra vez. No pude ir esta vez porque el día anterior era muy difícil calentar (porque tengo tensión arterial muy baja). Permanecí en barco para mirar a los otros estudiantes. Nadaron por casi veinte minutos y vieron muchos peces, pepinos del mar y pastinacas. Bucearon son snorkel por bastante tiempo y regresaron para calentar.
Entramos a la isla de Floreana para almorzar. El agua cerca de Floreana es poco profunda y no estaba posible tomar el barco al muelle. Esperamos por un barco más pequeño y viajamos a la isla. Almorcemos en un restaurante muy pequeño. La isla de Floreana estaba muy diferente de las islas de San Cristóbal y Santa Cruz – no había mucha gente y había menos calles y edificios.
Salimos de la isla de Floreana muy pronto porque teníamos un viaja larga a la isla de Isabela. Estaba necesario terminar el viaje antes de atardecer. Llegamos a Isabela después de dos horas y media más en barco. Registramos en el hotel. No me sentí muy buena y decidí descasar por la hora libre antes de la cena. Cenamos en un restaurante de la gente de la isla de Floreana. Después de la cena hablemos con Jorge y Hugo sobre el día y sobre los problemas económicos y turísticos de las islas Galápagos. Estaba muy cansada y me sentí mal – después de la reunión con Jorge y Hugo regresé al hotel y dormí temprano.


Lunes, el 08 de octubre, 2007:

Desgrasadamente, me desperté el día de lunes con mucho dolor del estómago – ¡estaba enferma… y qué pena! Fui al desayuno con los otros estudiantes pero no podría comer mucho. Quería mucho ir con el grupo a las actividades del día.
Tomamos un bus por treinta minutos a otra parte de la isla de Isabela (el hotel y el restaurante estaba cerca de la playa y el mar – este lugar estaba en un parte más interior de la isla). Cuando llegamos, montamos en caballo por casi una hora. Subimos en el lado de un volcán activo de Isabela – era muy maravilloso y muy bonito. Vimos el cráter del volcán. Estaba muy grande – este cráter es el tercer más grande activo del mundo. Después de montamos en caballo paseamos para ver más del volcán. Paseé por poco tiempo pero tuve mucho vértigo y no pude caminar mucho. Entonces, descansé un poco y esperé el grupo. Cuando estaba descansado vi un búho muy bonito. Era un ave grande con colores de marrón y blanco. Estaba muy feliz ver el búho – fui el último estudiante tener esta experiencia.
Regresamos a los caballos y montamos otra vez para regresar al bus. Los caballos corrieron mucho durante el viaje al bus. Cuando llegamos al bus salimos del lugar de los caballos y fuimos a un restaurante para almorzar. Orta vez no podría comer mucho.
Regresamos al hotel para duchar y preparar salir otra vez. No pude ir porque tuve mucho dolor del estómago y me sentí muy mal. Me dormí a las cuadro de la tarde y no me desperté hasta la semana siguiente. :-(


Martes, el 09 de octubre, 2007:

El martes fue nuestro último día para visitar las islas Galápagos. He dormido por quince horas pero todavía estaba enferma. Además y desgraciadamente, no teníamos mucho tiempo en la isla de Isabela porque necesitábamos viajar a la isla de Baltra (al aeropuerto). También, el dolor del estómago estaba muy malo y por la mayoría del viaje en barco y en avión me dormí.
Salimos de la isla de Isabela por un barco muy pequeño – el agua a cerca de la isla estaba poco profundo y estaba necesario otra vez viajar por un barco especial. Llegamos a nuestro barco y salimos de la isla de Isabela para ir a la isla de Baltra. Me dormí por casi total tiempo del viaje del barco. Me desperté al fin del viaje. Recibimos los billetes del vuelo al aeropuerto de Baltra. Regresamos a Quito. También, por casi el total del vuelo me dormí. Durante el vuelo escribimos una encuesta del viaje a las islas Galápagos. Estuvimos en Quito a las 17h00.

Back in Quito

Since I am taking forever with this Galapagos posting (I’m sorry!! I’ll explain why below) I decided to update about what has been going on since getting back to Quito. It’s already been a week and it has gone by really, really quickly.

The 6-week, 6-credit Spanish class at PUCE is over. I’m not going to lie… I’m really not all that bummed out about this. I now have 3½ hours added to each day that I can either spend at home with my family, use for other classes (which are getting harder and harder), or go out around Quito and see and learn more about the culture. I learned quite a bit during the Spanish PUCE class, but I’m glad it’s over.

My other classes are going well. The environmental one is my favorite - by far - but the other two also have a lot to offer. The reason that I have been taking so long to write about the Galapagos trip has to do with a massive paper and homework assignment. We had to journal the entire Galapagos trip. Now that we’re back in Quito we have to turn it more into a formal-type paper… that is still like a journal, too… figure that one out (and let me know if you do because I'm still trying a week later). Regardless, it has taken up a ton of my time and I’m still not done with it. But I’m getting there. Once it’s finished I’ll post it (sorry, it’s going to be in Spanish) and then I will rewrite an English version as quickly as I can. That part shouldn't take too long.

Yesterday we had an exam in the literature class. I’m doing really well so far... I just hope I can keep it up. It’s a great class, but definitely intense. We’re on to our 3rd novel – of seven – and our professor is keeping us busy. Honestly though the only complaint that I have about literature is that it meets at 6pm. My brain is academically done by that time of day so sitting though class and understanding everything is kind of tough.

Religion is good too but so, so, so hard. This class is at PUCE with the mumbling professor who the Ecuadorians have a hard time getting a good grade from. Not to mention that he still spends a good part of his time talking in Quichua. It makes me so confused! I’m just going to do the best that I can and hope that I end up getting credit for the class. If I don’t I guess it’s not the end of the world – I’m still learning a lot.

I’ve wondered over the past two years if I should have gone to a bigger school than SBC… or if I should have stayed closer to the city. I’ve gotten a good does of both atmospheres this semester and I now know – without any doubt in my mind – that SBC is the right place for me. I feel so suffocated in the city (I miss the woods a ton!). And, after getting used to an environment like the Briar, it is strange to not know (or at least be an acquaintance with) all of the other students. PUCE and Quito have both been - and are - great experiences that I wouldn’t trade away for anything… but I’m glad to be in southern VA,away from the city, and at a small school.

But none of this is to say that I am unhappy down here. I feel like I am finally completely settled into this new life and environment. And I am doing well with it. Classes and school feel more natural to me than they did before… and home feels like home, not just a temporary homestay. Next Monday will mark the half way point for my time down here. I can’t believe the time has gone so fast. The scary part is that I know that the second half will fly by even faster now that I'm settled.

Homesickness has also gotten to be much better. I’m glad because for a little while I was having a hard time with it. I still miss home – especially my orange bedroom that is environmentalist paradise … and comes complete with an adorable 13-pound sheltie – but the homesickness is not as much of an intense feeling as it was before. I think a combination of time passing, getting settled, getting more into the intense parts of the semester… stuff like this, has all really helped. And, like I already said and know, the remaining two months down here are going to fly. I do miss peanut butter. That’s my big drama of missing the U.S. right now. And, if I would just make some effort and go to the store I’m sure I could find some peanut butter down here. Still, there’s just something better about it when it comes out of my dad’s fridge at home and Pat and his friends have hit it up hardcore while I wasn’t home.

The rainy season in Ecuador doesn’t technically start until December. However, Quito is a little different. For the past 10 days or so it has been raining almost everyday. It doesn’t rain all day, but when it does there is A LOT of it. It’s frequently accompanied by lots of thunder and lightning, too. It makes the city seem very different. I’ve noticed some other things too over the past few weeks, mostly just by observation and getting more used to the city/culture. Simple things… but still, worth knowing…
1. Due to high altitudes and pressure changes, it’s a bad idea to try to open something that has been sealed air-tight anywhere in the near proximity of your mouth. I’d tell you the whole story but a mouthful of face lotion should be enough said - make up the rest, you’re probably right.
2. Walking into poles on the street won’t bring anything positive to your day. In fact, you’re likely to have 4 nosebleeds over the next week as a result. Ecuadorians will also look at you funny. And to top it all off, it really kind of hurts.
3. The word for ‘single’ is “soltera”. The word for ‘married’ is “casada”. When traveling with a cab driver, if the word ‘soltera’ is to come up, the answer is always“no”. On the other hand, if the word ‘casada’ is to come up the answer is always “sí”. Furthermore, if the question ¿A quién? happens to follow the ‘casada’ conversation the answer is always “El es un ecuatoriano y trabaja con el gobierno y la policía”. They stop with the questions pretty quickly after that and you can enjoy the cab ride in peace.
4. The U.S. isn?t the only country that has a huge problem with putting Christmas decorations out too early. September 29th was the first day I saw decorations - it’s been all downhill from there. Yesterday I saw a full out billboard. No bueno.
5. There is no cure to dry skin down here. I’m convinced.

I’m going to go do some reading for religion and get ready for class this afternoon. I miss everyone back home and I hope you’re all doing well. I’ll get the Galapagos stuff up soon (complete with more photos).

¡Abrazos! Lizzie

p.s. I got an adorable card from Emma today -- ¡¡muchas gracias¡¡
p.p.s. Someone asked in an e-mail or message or something when my birthday is (sorry, I don't remember who). It's December 5th... I'll still be down here.
p.p.p.s. Helen - I LOVE YOU!!! :-)

A few Galápagos photos

Some photos from the Galápagos trip ... I promise to write about it soon ...

on the boat between islands. ¡mucho viento!

sólo diez estudiantes en este barco, catorce en el otro
(¡este barco fue lo mejor!)

after our 3-hour-horse-back-adventure-over-a-volcano:

it was amazing!!
but we were just a little dirty. that's my envr professor... he's a cool guy

another short boat trip to get to isla isabela.

you can't see them here, but the sea lions were swimming next to us.

back and safe in quito

hello people!
i am home and safe in quito, but pretty tired from my trip. i promise to post something tomorrow... there is lots to write about and tell you! Galapagos is amazing - something i think everyone should see if they get a chance.
anyways, i've been working all day (the spanish class at PUCE is over!!! can't say i'm too bummed about it either...) and i need to go home and visit with my host family. i haven't seen them in almost a week now.
i miss all of you back home! i'll have photos and some of the Galapagos posting for you tomorrow. lots of love!
lizzie

some randomness

I think everyone has a few random memories from when they were young… the kind that have absolutely no significance and you don’t have any reason to remember, but you’ve held onto them anyway for some reason or another. One of mine is from my eighth grade year with my sister and my step dad. We were walking home and had to cross Colombia Pike. I remember standing there (cold, in a Jefferson Jackets cheerleading uniform) with Veronica as we watched cars speed by us. We both wanted to walk to the crosswalk – if you know Arlington and Colombia Pike, you know why we wanted this – but my step dad held our arms in his hands and ran with us across the street. He crossed more or less in a safe way, but we were still pretty mad and we complained to him the rest of the way home. All he kept saying was “If you saw how you have to cross the roads where I come from…”

I don’t know why I remember that afternoon, but I do. The only reason I bring it up now is because I can totally see what my step dad met about crossing roads “where he comes from”. Granted, El Salvador and Ecuador are two very different countries. But the traffic here (even on the smaller roads), makes Colombia Pike look like nothing. The scary part is that I am getting completely comfortable with having to cross in some pretty dangerous areas – and I think if my step dad and I had a Frogger-type competition when I get back to the States in December, I might be able to show him a few things.

The week so far has been pretty tough… by far the worst academically since getting here. I had a literature exam last night and I have my final for the 6-credit Spanish class in the morning. We have to take the final 6 days early because of our Galapagos trip. I also have to give a final presentation (on public education in Ecuador) tomorrow. It wouldn’t have been so bad … but we didn’t know about the final exam or the presentation until Monday. They decided to change the date (it was originally scheduled for Oct. 10). So the change has made for a bit of a stressful week. I guess the good part is that everything will be done before we leave for the Galapagos on Friday morning. I’d much rather enjoy all my time while we’re gone and not have to worry about a final exam the day after we get back.

I’ve noticed over the past few days how much my Spanish is improving. It’s easier to do just about everything. This change is nice. That’s not to say that there aren’t thing making me crazy – like llama vs. llama (yeah, I know they’re the same thing, except that one is referring to the 3rd person singular form of the verb ‘llamar’, “to call”, and the other is referring to the small animal in my friend’s backyard. And then cola vs. cola vs. cola… tail of an animal vs. soft drink vs. line (and of course, this isn’t the preferred word to use when you’re discussing a line, because that would be all too convenient). I find myself running into these situations more and more as my vocabulary increases each week. Knowing synonyms and antonyms is helpful… as is know multiple definitions for each word… or the different definitions for words that are completely different but are nevertheless spelled the same. It all comes at a cost though. My brain hurts at the end of each day. A lot.

I’m looking forward to the Galapagos so much!!! I can hardly sit still and wait – I want Friday morning to be here. Tomorrow is going to be another crazy day (3½ hour class, final exam, lunch, 2 hour religion class, 2 hour lit class, packing… 8:30am – 8:00pm without a break… so I won’t be able to update the blog again. I promise to take tons of photos and share them all when I get back. I won’t be able to post again until next Wednesday (at the earliest) ... so no worries because I'll be fine during the next week. I hope everything is going well at home and that everyone is great! I miss you all! Seriosuly, a ton.

Haha, I just realized that this post was completely random. That’s about how I’ve been feeling.

:-)

p.s. The rainy season here won't begin until early December. For some reason it is storming right now - hardcore storming. The thunder is so loud! And the rain is coming down really fast. I don't remember the last time there was a storm or rain like this... never here, and a long time back in the States. I hope it stops soon. I need to walk home. :-(

I decided to take a break from my paper outline and write to y’all back at home – it is Friday afternoon after all. I don’t feel much like working on a paper!

All is still well in Ecuador. We leave for the Galapagos Islands a week from today!! I am so, so excited (environmental concerns in the Galapagos – specifically with tourism – is actually the paper that I’m working on right now… it’s pretty interesting, and making the tree hugger in me a little angry). Anyway, we leave next Friday morning and we’re going to be traveling between the different islands for five days. It’s going to be so great! I’m really looking forward to the trip, I’m sure when I get back home it will be one of the highlights from my time in Ecuador.

I feel like this past week has been really good for me in the way of learning about the lifestyle and culture of Ecuadorians. There is a lot going on in the country right now (socially and politically) and my time in the classroom over these past few days was also really helpful in understanding life down here.

Elections for the National Assembly are on Sunday. My entire time in Ecuador so far has been filled with observations about the upcoming elections. In the past couple of weeks it has gotten to be pretty intense. There are soooo many candidates!! Ecuador is going to elect 130 representatives to this assembly from all over the country; 24 of the members will be national representatives, 6 will be from outside the country (two who are currently living in Europe, two from North America, and two from other countries in South/Central America), and the remaining 100 will be from the different providences of Ecuador. There are 22 providences in Ecuador and each one will have the correct number of representatives to equally represent the population living within the providence – so, Quito is in the providence of Pichincha, which will elect 14 representatives. This part is pretty similar to the U.S. The crazy part is looking at the newspapers and all the representatives that there are to choose from. There isn’t so much of a primary process down here – Sunday is the big (and only) day. Quito has been very alive with political campaigns and demonstrations. I’m sure Sunday will be interesting.

It’s a law in Ecuador that you cannot consume anything alcoholic for two days before or two days after elections. So from this morning until Tuesday at midnight it is illegal to drink. This isn’t anything that matters at all to me (I didn’t even know about the law until I overheard a bunch of people upset about it) but it has also been kind of interesting to watch – in a very different way. If I had to pick the thing that I like least about being in Ecuador it would be all the drinking. I don’t really fit into this aspect of lifestyle down here and it can make it tough at times (or lonely, really) when everyone goes out and parities and drinks all the time. I’ve been out to events with some of the other students, but I find myself getting tired of always being the sober one and always being asked over and over why I don’t drink. So I just stay home a lot. But, because of the elections this weekend, no one can party. I kind of think its funny because no one knows what to do. I do have a few friends that I have made who also don’t drink and we spend a lot of time together. Tonight we’re going out – accompanied by a bunch of unhappy people who have to remain sober. Maybe they can see that there is more to life in Quito than only partying…? They’re all great people and I like them a lot, we just have different lifestyles. Anyway, all of Ecuador is prohibited to drink for the next few days. A lot of places that are usually loud and partying by this time on Friday afternoons are dead quiet right now.

Yesterday in my Andean Religion class we ended up on the topic of modern-day (and recent historical, within the last 100 years) Catholicism in Ecuador – how in many places if you’re not Catholic when you pass away you’ll have to go though tons of trouble just to get a burial plot in a cemetery… stuff like that. This is a topic that I’ve had some trouble with since my arrival in Quito. My host mom is Catholic… along with the rest of my host family, although my host mom is the only one who goes to mass on a regular basis. One of the first things she asked me about when I got here was if I was Catholic. I told her no, I’m Episcopalian… which is similar but a different denomination with some different practices. She didn’t know what the denomination was at all so I tried my best to explain it to her (it’s a little tough in Spanish) but she almost seemed disappointed in me. The topic has come up more than once since then and every time the conversation goes about the same way as the first time. It seems like she thinks I’ll convert to Catholicism while I’m here if we keep talking about it and I keep experiencing things in Ecuador. The thing is, I’m really happy with my faith and I don’t want anything to change. So nothing will. I just think it’s funny that so many people down here declare themselves to be Catholic – but never attend mass and then behave in ways that they later turn around and criticize – and then also turn around and criticize my faith and me just because I don’t declare myself to be Catholic. It kind of bothers me sometimes. But then in class yesterday our professor (who is Catholic) was talking about this aspect of Catholicism and life in Ecuador. It helped to have him acknowledge it and explain it to us. I understand better now that it’s more a way of life and practice… and just something to observe while I’m here more than anything else.

This weekend my other host sister is coming home. She has been studying in Chicago for the past year. My host mom is so excited! It’s really sweet to see her getting everything ready. On Sunday (after they all go and vote) we’re having a birthday party for my host cousin. That should be fun too.

Tonight we’re going to a concert – it’s supposed to be something like movie music and soundtracks by this brass ensemble or something like that. I’m excited. There are a bunch of people coming with us and we’re going to have supper before the concert. It’s going to be a nice break from work because it was a pretty intense week academically (and there is another one to come). I like spending nights out because it really helps me with my Spanish. I can tell that I’ve really improved a lot (with speaking and comprehension) since I got here. I’m also getting to know the city fairly well. That’s nice, too.

I need to walk home and see my family before tonight. Have fun on reading days SBC!!!

the beach and spring 2008

Hi everyone!

We’ve been back from the beach since Sunday evening and I have to say that I’m a little bummed. This kind of surprises me because normally I don’t like the beach or the water... especially the water – but the beach down in Ecuador is quite different from any beach that I’ve ever been to in the U.S. I still didn’t swim much (pretty much just long enough to say that I had done it) but I had an awesome time.

The trip was with PUCE. IES went, along with three or four other study abroad and exchange programs. All together there were about 45 students. We left Quito on Thursday morning and had a seven hour drive to get to the coast. I don’t remember much from the drive… I spent the first two hours reading and then proceeded to fall asleep for almost five hours! One of my friends woke me up when we were almost to the coast because she was worried I was sick or something (really, I was just exhausted from a midterm on Wednesday). She has so pictures from the bus ride that I’m sure will haunt me for years to come – I have no idea how I managed to sleep in some of the positions that she got pictures of (or considering the fact that most of the roads we were traveling over were twisty and in the mountains)… I guess I really must have needed the sleep. By the way, Megan, Harlem J. Sac looks fabulous in these photos. :-) Me, not so much. You’ll laugh. Hard.

We stayed on the shore of Esmeraldas on some property that is owned by PUCE. The main university campus is in Quito but there are two other campuses in Ecuador – Esmeraldas is one of the cities. It was so nice! We could walk down to the shoreline easily from where we were staying… and if we walked about ¼ of a mile in either direction there were “boardwalks” and restaurants. We spent a ton of time going up and down the shoreline and talking to natives from the coast.

Debbie will be so proud of me. Everyone came back with either really bad sunburn or with a ton of bug bites. I didn’t have either. I was really careful to use strong sun block (which they all teased me for during the first few days!!) and I was lucky enough to come home without a burn… but with a tan. Most of the other students weren’t so lucky. A lot of them got stung by jelly fish too. It pays to be afraid of the water!!

On Saturday night we went to a traditional market in Esmeraldas. It was pretty neat – very different than Otavalo was. We had supper out and then went dancing. One of the directors (from Ecuador) told us, “We Latin Americans exist only to eat, talk and dance… go do that until 1a.m. and learn some stuff”. And that’s what we did. I think we are finally starting to blend in with the natives a little more – our Spanish is improving, we aren’t so white anymore, and we’re finally getting this dancing business down. It was tough to spot the gringos when I was walking around. I’m not used to that. Normally we stick out.

My step dad’s family at home tells me (especially during the late summer months) that I look like I could be from a Latin American country. They say this mostly because my eyes are so dark. I was wondering how long it would take until I could fool someone down here about being from the States… it turns out all I needed was a tan to go along with my eyes. I met this guy on Saturday night on the beach and he eventually asked me where I was from. I said the U.S., but then he told me that my eyes looked like I could be from here (or somewhere else in LA) and that my Spanish was really good for an exchange student. I told him my step dad was from El Salvador and that I had grown up hearing quite a bit of the language at home… he took this to mean that I was from El Salvador and he didn’t quite understand the word for 'step father' or even the literal expression ‘the husband of my mother’. Despite explaining to him that I’m from D.C. and that I'm actually IRISH (I did this numerous times), he still called me ‘Salvador’ for the rest of the night and continuously asked me how I managed to get a green card. Geez… Although, it was pretty funny.

It was a great weekend. It was nice to get out of Quito for a few days. I found a really awesome sand dollar – that I hope will get home to the U.S. safely – and went for super long walks on the beach three or four times each day. Some other students are trying to arrange another trip to a different beach one weekend sometime soon. I don’t like to swim, but I think I’ll go anyway.

Things are going well back in Quito. Classes are still the same and the professors are keeping us working hard. I read the first Latin American novel (of seven) and I understood it. My brain hurt afterwards though, a lot. Today we went to a museum with the Spanish PUCE class and were able to learn a lot about the history of Ecuador. It was really neat and I think I’m going to go back sometime on my own. It was also right near the historic center. I’m sure if I go back I’ll be able to find plenty of other things to do, too.

So for the past couple of weeks I have been trying to work some stuff out with my schedule for next semester. It turns out that there is some confusion about return dates for the spring (that I can’t get back here for) if I want to take only Ecuadorian classes – it’s the difference of almost 3 weeks!! I’ll have to take another Spanish class and another core course with my host program if I don’t transfer to another university in Quito. That wouldn’t be so bad, except that it means that nine credits won’t transfer back to SBC and I really can’t afford to not receive that many credits. I would also be 100% separated from the other exchange students. I don't want that either. So then I was looking at the classes that are offered at the Briar for spring 2008 and my schedule will work perfectly (for the first time ever) if I come back. Earlier today I finalized the decision and paperwork to be here only for this semester, so it’s official. Coming back means less stress for senior year – since I’m going to have Spanish senior seminar and senior environmental research to do. I can take care of some classes this spring. Plus I get to see everyone at home again, which is a nice bonus. I’m a little bummed to be leaving Ecuador earlier than I had planned, but I’m just trying to remind myself that I’m lucky to have had a semester here and also lucky to be able to spend part of my junior year at home.

I need to get some more reading done before class this evening. I hope things are well at home for everyone – I miss you guys as always.