Salida de Campo

I don't really think anyone reads this. Oh well. It's a good way for me to journal what I've been doing.

This weekend I went with my Areas Protegidas class on a field trip for 4 days. I kind of wasn't too excited because it's not my favorite class, but went anyway. We had to be at school at 7am Friday morning to leave. Hopped on our private Jaguayana bus and headed for Jerusalem. The class is about protected areas of Ecuador/the world and all the organizations that protect them/why to protect them because of the species they have and whatever else. Kind of interesting, makes me appreciate special areas of the world but it's just kind of boring to learn about and hard in Spanish.

Jerusalem is kind of deserty, it's a dry forest. Not exactly my thing. I felt like I was in Utah or somewhere. We walked around in the heat for a while on trails. There were signs everywhere with braille on them. Not exactly sure how a blind person would be able to enjoy them as they're hilly trails with things to trip over but oh well.

Next stop was Cotocachi Cayapas, a huge protected area with a volcanic lake called Cuicocha within. It was beautiful although a bit cold. The lake was cool- there's these little mountains in the middle of it. It's a sacred site for indigenous groups to do ceremonies to worship the earth, etc. Jessie and Meaghan had already climbed around the whole thing and none of us were really feeling the trip so we just sat around, staring at the lake. Probably wasn't the right mentality to be always wanting to go to the next place, see the next thing, but that's how we all were all weekend.

We went to an indigenous village, not really sure what tribe it was, and stayed in a really nice hostel there. The men of the tribe played some traditional songs on their drum, pan flutes, recorder-type instrument and guitar. Reinforced that I want pan flutes to be obnoxious with. Also learned how all the fabric for everything in Otavalo is made- with oldschool weaving machines that seem to take forever to use. So much respect for them now. And all the designs have meanings about how the people work and use the land and worship it, they're not just random people or houses.

Next day we went to Golondrinas, one of the areas I'm studying. We went on this hike that we were told was one hour. Kept walking. I figured it was a loop but I also didn't know what the destination was. Just kept walking. Walked through a cow pasture. Walked to a waterfall that was pretty big. Then I was told we had to turn around and go back the same way we came. Started at 12. Got back at 5. Hadn't eaten lunch and everyone felt so weak and hungry. Totally not cool. But they did let us go to this resort thing and swim/shower so that was very nice.

Next day we hopped back on Fernando (the bus) and headed to a town near the coast called San Lorenzo. Walked down a boardwalk and got stopped to take photos with people merely because we were white and everyone in the town is black. The park was Cayapas Mataje Manglares. Took a boat ride through the estuaries. Ate some ceviche (cold soup with shrimp that isn't cooked but somehow lemons and other things cook the shrimp) and then went for a little hike through the mangroves that are there. The biggest, tallest mangroves in the world. But the thing was, the river was too high and not everyone had rubber boots so we had to get a little canoe. This man set fire to the brush near the river edge that burned for like 2 hours. It was crazy. Not cool at all but no one really stopped him. But the mangroves were pretty cool and worth the hike.

Slept in this little village that was so poor and unproductive. It was kind of sad, actually. Lots of children just running around in tattered clothes without any supervision, bound to just work in the town and have lots of babies and try to survive.

Stopped in Otavalo on the ride home and ate at my favorite restaurant- pesto chicken, potatoes and salad.

Last night I wasn't doing well so Jessie came over and we watched time traveler's wife and ate junk food and talked about life. So nice.

Overall a fair weekend.

La Casa de Rafa

I went to lunch at this really awesome restaurant called La Casa de Rafa which was in Tumbaco, a town about an hour away, just past Cumbaya where my school is. We went way into the mountains/country to this random awesome house where the restaurant was. It has a normal restaurant with brunch and lunch and maybe dinner? The house itself was really cool. But we decided to take it to the next level- eat in a cave. In complete darkness. To get the complete sensory experience. With waiters who were blind. And it was awesome.

It was definitely hard to eat in the dark. I had to feel around the table to find my fork, knife, plate. Find my glass, guide my face to it, take a drink, make sure nothing was beneath it and put it down. Had to use my hands to eat even though I ordered meat with rice and a weird cauliflower sou-flee.

I have so much respect for blind people now. Not that I didn't before, but they have such a hard life. I think I realized before that I'd rather be deaf than blind. You could at least get around and read and know what family and friends look like, but not hear music and voices and waves crashing and birds singing.

But anyway, living like a blind person for 2 hours was a great experience.

Otavalo

This weekend I went to Otavalo which is a town in the north where the indigenous community makes and sells SO MANY different types of items. I mean, everything.
Llamas
Half ton sized pigs
Live rabbits, dogs, and kittens in bags
Chickens
Purses
Hammocks
Clothes
Scarves
Alpaca anything you can imagine
Trinkets
Tribal masks
Hats
EVERYTHING
... so I spent a lot of money on souvenirs. But that's okay. My family and friends will enjoy the stuff hopefully.

Banos

Oh my starry eyed surprise. I'm so great at keeping up with everything. I guess that's a good thing, means I'm busy. But not entirely.

Hmm last weekend I went to Banos which has so much to do! Got there at night, I thought I would have thrown up on the bus ride there but score! I didn't. The next day we got up and ready and went mountain biking. By mountain biking it meant biking through the mountains on the back country-ish roads. It was beautiful scenery. We took forever to bike about 10 miles because everyone kept stopping to look at the waterfalls, take this little thing over to one of them and to take lots of photos. We then continued and got to this bridge where people were jumping off. They had harnesses and all, and the ropes looked pretty secure. Wasn't as high as I thought it would be but Michael, Ben, Jeff and I jumped off. It was definitely a thrilling experience. The first part was the most terrifying when I was actually flying unconnected to anything, or so it felt. But it wasn't as crazily terrifying as I thought. Then we continued on our bikes to a huge waterfall, it's name had something to do with being the devil's waterfall. We climbed down to it, looked around, then climbed up right next to it through these tunnels and could go behind it. So cool. So wet, though. Then we rode back in the back of a truck to the hotel, my butt hurt so much from the bike riding and I was so tired so napped. We ate some delicious pizza, and by delicious it was like the best thing I've ever eaten. Went on a chiva that night which is basically this open bus that took us up a mountain in the fog to this weird little place with lots of other chivas so we could drink this weird cinnamon drink and then head back down the mountain to go out at an irish bar called the Leprechaun.

The next day some people wanted to hike, some wanted to go home. But me, Valerie, Meaghan and Jeff decided to go to the hot springs, what Banos is famous for. Big mistake, strange use of $2 but a cultural experience. We walked around trying to find the pools near a waterfall, found them, the guy told us they were really full and we might have to wait but we were dumb and went in anyway. Walked in. Looked around. Saw that the water was brown. Lukewarm-warm, like body temperature. Absolutely packed so there would be no room for us. Therefore, we made a group consensus to turn around and head home. Best decision. Who knew what diseases we could have gotten if we had gone in.

Violencia Domestica

Today in Gender and Society we talked about domestic violence/gender violence/violence against women. Lots of names, none of them are completely accurate. For some reason this topic was pretty interesting and captivating to me, even though I didn't voice my opinion in class. I didn't realize how prevalent it is. 500 women died in Spain between 1999 and 2004 because of it, but many more didn't die but still were abused. It's not just physical, can be verbal as well. We then read a story by a girl who had genital mutilation surgery as a child and how it affected her. I'm more thankful that I don't live in an area where that is culturally accepted. It makes me feel bad for all the people who have this happen to them, though.

It also makes me think that many people are not treated how they should be. Everyone is different, yes. But so many people don't have legs or arms or are psychologically affected by all of this.

Just something to think about :)

Esmeraldas

This weekend I went to my friend Brian's host family's resort north of Esmeraldas. It was very nice and secluded. We had 12 students who went and it was a fun group. We spent most of the time just relaxing, riding the waves, sea kayaking, found a donkey or horse skull and tried to break the teeth out for souvenirs, etc. The difference between high tide and low tide was crazy. Normally it's a few feet or like 20 feet, no this was about 300 at least. Crazy! We also had a bonfire that took a bottle of gasoline and a bunch of effort to start, but once it started it lasted for a long time.

I got my first F written on an exam. I don't remember the last time that happened. So that's a feat. Luckily the teacher is letting me retake the exam Monday so I'll have to study. It's just so hard to be motivated to study here, especially after getting a grade like that.

I just got an email saying that the state of emergency has been extended for 60 more days only in Quito, not the rest of the country. It's rated Critical in the warning scale. Good thing I live in Quito... Just have to be extra careful, especially after dark it says. But nothing seems different from before the whole Coup thing happened. I'll still be careful- don't want to get robbed or kidnapped!

I'm in a really weird mood lately and I can't shake it. I feel like I'm just tired, which I probably am, but it seems more than that. Hopefully it will pass soon.

keep truckin' life keeps goin. dont forget to fasten your seatbelt.

Strange week.

Well, after the whole Coup thing happened, everything pretty much went back to normal. The next day I didn't have school but I was so glad about that because I had a history test I hadn't really studied for.

Friday my host uncle called me and asked if I wanted to go to the cloud forest with him and Valerie. We said yes, went there and stayed at my dream house. Literally this house was adorable. So many little details that just made it homey and awesome. Like the sink had painted flowers in it, it had an old bathtub for the shower, lots of antiques and little cool trinkets, hammocks, wraparound porch, great view, in the middle of nowhere. Perfect. We went to the town of Nanegalito to try to find fritado (fried pork, I think) but they were out. So we went to a discoteca, meaning a little hut in the middle of nowhere off the side of the road with a bar, colored lights, a DJ, the whole works. Stayed there for a while and we probably looked kind of sketchy- an old guy with two younger girls next to him? Haha. Oh well. Still was fun. Next day we woke up, had a great breakfast on the porch and then went to the Teleferico. Now, the teleferico is basically a ski lift going up the mountain and they're pretty common in Ecuador. This one, however, was made out of plastic lawn chairs and old seatbelts. Had some metal parts, too, but it was definitely not the most legit thing in the world. Had some good views and climbed a tower without being completely scared (getting over my fear a bit!) and then walked around the fish pond to look at the pretty flowers. We then went back to the house for some lunch and then went across the street to have these two kids, Natalie and David show us around the property. There were a bunch of cabanas that were awesome- some had 3 story bunk beds! Then we went to go bowling. In the forest. Near a river. On a wooden bowling alley. So legit! So fun! Then we left and came back to Quito.

Sunday I was home alone because someone died in the family. I love being home alone here. So much. But I was pretty productive and found internet in my room again! Score.

Monday I took the worst exam in a while. But the thing was, it wasn't fair at all. It was over material that we didn't focus on, didn't really explain in class and wasn't covered in the reading she gave us. Instead, it was obscure events that I had to research on Wikipedia the night before. NOT COOL. I still don't know the outcome of this. We shall see.

The rest of the week I've been pretty lazy but I haven't had much homework since my classes all had exams recently. So I've been watching movies, going out on Tuesday to quiz night at an irish bar called Finn Mccools- my friend's favorite bar. Never knew I knew so much about Canada or inventors. But I do. It was really fun.

I feel like everyone else is busy which makes me feel even more like a bum. Oh well. I'll get busy sometime.

This weekend I'm going to my friend Brian's host family's resort on the beach near Esmeraldas but it's near a reserve of some kind so that should be fun. Nice and relaxing since I need more relaxation. But I like most everyone going. Should be great.