Not sure if anyone checks this anymore (I'm a very busy gringa) but here are some last pictures:

Visitors and some Fiestas de Quito...
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Cuenca

Two take-home finals, one research paper, two days of freedom, CT.

Full Cansada...chuuuuta

Oh hey, remember me? Cálmense, two weeks of visitors isn't as easy as it sounds.

The weekend before 860 invaded Quito my friends and I went to Cuenca for a few days. It's a smaller historical city 9 hours south. We actually spent the majority of the weekend on buses, literally one of my favorite activities in this country. We went to a little town outside Cuenca called Chordeleg - the most dangerous place I've been so far. Why? The place is a silver jewelry jackpot. The main square is lined with shops selling jewelry, and we visited almost every single one and contributed generously to Chordeleg's economic activity. Another day we visited the Incan ruins of Ingapirca about an hour from Cuenca (although we missed the direct tourist bus and traveled like locals making it over two hours. Totally worth it for the entertaining conversations with Ecuadorians.) The ruins were really cool, especially this big temple in the center. The landscape around Cuenca is beautiful, hilly and green with little farms and cows on the side of the road.

Tim, Kelc and Ty rolled into Ecua Friday night. Kelc wasn't feeling good on Saturday so I took the boys to Otavalo. They experienced a standard-issue harrowing Ecua bus ride - accelerating around corners that wind through the mountains, passing uphill, etc.Ty bought every hideously obnoxious item he could find, I bought excessive amounts of jewelry and finally got myself a poncho, and we all worked on our bargaining skills. Being exposed to U.S. culture again made me realize how cheap this place has made me, like when I thought our delicious 4 course lunch was a tourist rip off at 7 dollars.
We wandered around the historical district with Ibis on Sunday and got to tour the Presidential Palace. Ty started doing his Ty tricks like handstands and Ibis said, "No wonder his mother worries!"
The rest of their visit was less than successful because everyone got sick. We headed to the coast for a few days but didn't have much fun other than hanging in our beautiful little hostel next to the beach. Apparently I'm full Ecuatoriana now because I felt fine the whole week, other than being sad that my friends couldn't enjoy their vacation! Back in Quito we had one fun night out on the town with some of my friends here, and didn't do much besides shop more at the artisan market. Unfortunately the cable car up to Pichincha was closed because of scheduled blackouts when we tried to go the last day (yep, three hours a day in every neighborhood). I was sad to see them go without knowing what Ecuador is really like besides being sick.

Avi and Jess's visit was a different story. We had a great time hanging around Quito, and they did lots of exploring on their own while I was in class. We went to Mindo for a few days with my friend Barb and her sisters who were also visiting. We spent the day ziplining then swimming and jumping off a 40-foot waterfall. There was also a stone waterslide into the river that was way faster than it looked, and terrifying. Don't worry Mrs. Long, NO BUNGEE JUMPING!
I talked to our guide for a while when we were hiking and he told me that twenty years ago, Mindo was an agricultural town based on farming, hunting and forestry. Some foreign students came in and lobbied the locals to focus on conservation and turn to tourism as an industry or the cloud forest would be destroyed. He said that at first they thought they were either crazy or on drugs, but within a few years they were successful, replanted most of the forest, and created trails and tourist infrastructure. Now there's a three year prison sentence for cutting down trees. I thought it was the coolest success story for conservation, especially since the guide himself used to hunt monkeys and birds and think nothing of it.
I don't care what the calendar says, I can't believe Thanksgiving really happened. Mainly because it was 70 and sunny Thursday! [I might go into shock when I get off the plane in Hartford. Actually, maybe I'll just stay here.] We had some delicious hamburgers for lunch, doesn't get more Amerrrrrrcan than that. Last night IES got a chiva for everyone in my group and it sadly started much too late for Jess and Avi to enjoy before their midnight flight. I had a great time though - man do I love those chivas. I spent the day in Otavalo buying an entire flock of sheep in wool products and now I'm resting for the first time in two weeks. AY. This week is the Fiestas de Quito, a celebration of the city's founding (I think) but I still have a lot of papers to write and some pesky grad apps to finish.

It can't possibly be November, I just got here. Now I'm going to attempt to get some sleep, but the neighbors are farreando like it's 1999 and taunting me for staying in on a Saturday night.

P.S. If hypothetically I were ever to come back to the states in a few weeks, anyone have a job for me? Se habla Español:)

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CLICK HERE FOR GALAPAGOS PICTURES

A ride that floats, and don't grab your coats, you won't need 'em where we are going

I have to hurry and write this before my computer battery dies – apparently the severe lack of rain this rainy season means the major cities have to ration electricity, so I’m out from 5 pm until 8 tonight. I wish I had known before 5 pm so I could have gotten some stuff done first! They’re going to turn off neighborhoods a few at a time every day until it rains. Ay.

Galapagos Islands: a volcanic archipelago sitting on the equator around 500 miles off the coast of Ecuador, three of the islands populated, 97% of the territory uninhabited by humans.

I didn’t know what to expect from the Galapagos. I knew about the giant tortoises and blue-footed boobies and other animals from random documentaries, and I read a book called Plundering Paradise that I found in my bedroom in Quito profiling different people living on the islands, their connections to Galapagueño history and the impact of humans on the animals and ecosystems.

I was surprised at the diversity of terrain throughout the islands. The water is bright clear blue against volcanic rocks all along the shore. There are some stretches of the typical tropical beach image, but most of the land is arid and rocky, with cacti and other scrubby plants. The highlands surrounding the volcanoes are lush forests that completely contrast the desert-like areas by the beaches.

We landed at Baltra, a small island whose airport was built by the U.S. military as a base to protect the Panama Canal after Pearl Harbor (I have listening issues when it comes to tour guides, but I absorbed that book.) We took a boat to Puerto Ayora, a town on Santa Cruz. From there, we met our guides and went first to Los Gemelos (Twins), two huge craters that form when gas implodes from under the earth or something like that. We saw some finches (Darwin-style!) and different plants, some endemic and others introduced.

Next was our first view of the COOLEST animals ever: giant tortoises. I could have sat and watched those turtles eat grass for hours, they’re hilarious! They look like dinosaurs, live to 150 years and I’m not sure how heavy they are, but the bigger ones would have totaled my Cabrio. There are I think 13 species of giant tortoise, each unique to a different island and several of them extinct. Illegal fishermen in the past have taken tortoises hostage and killed them for leverage in protest against various fishing laws. After a short hike through an underground lava tunnel we went to an animal refuge that’s home to Solitario (Lonesome) George, the last surviving tortoise of his saddleback species and a famous name in the Galapagos.

Saturday brought an early wake up call and a two-hour boat ride to Isabela, the biggest island. The boat ride was perfect and sunny through the blue Pacific water. There were marine iguanas crawling around the rocks by the dock and big fat ones sunning themselves on the road. The big ones are bigger than your average cat, black and creepy. There were also some sea lions lounging around and bright red crabs.

After lunch we got to see even more tortoises at a research center. These were in pens and even more hilarious because they interacted with one another instead of just sitting and eating grass. Then we went snorkeling in a small bay, only it was four pm by this time, so the water was cold and less visibility. We still saw some cool fish, sea urchins and either a manta or sting ray almost a yard across. It was Halloween but my friends and I couldn’t bring ourselves to go out. After watching an amazing sunset over the water and having a drink at a beachside bar, we were exhausted and asleep by 8:30.

Sunday morning we woke up early yet again for a six-hour volcano hike. We climbed Sierra Negra on Isabela which has the second largest crater in diameter in the world. It was massive, but the hike itself was pretty boring until the end when we reached real volcano terrain. It reminded me of the badlands in Lion King or Land Before Time or something, black and brown hills and craters as far as you could see, intense lava formations made by gases and heat. The lava rocks were cool because they’re really light and porous, but tough to walk on. We finally reached the peak of a smaller volcano, sat for a few minutes then turned back. Everyone was cranky by the end because it took much longer than expected and we didn’t eat from 6:30 am until almost 3 pm! That afternoon was our only free time to hit the beautiful Isabela beaches, but unfortunately it was cloudy and unwelcoming outside so we opted to lounge instead.

The next morning we got back on our boats to go to another inhabited island, Floreana. We saw some penguins from the dock swimming around, and occasionally they would launch themselves out of the water after fish. About half an hour into our trip, a pod of dolphins started swimming alongside us. I haven’t seen them from a boat since I was probably about ten, so it was really exciting. There were at least ten and they were huge! The captain slowed down so we could sit on the bow and watch them right below us racing the boat. A few people went swimming but I was content with the view from the bow. At one point one of the dolphins did a Sea World-worthy jump over the wake. It was even bright sun at this point for the first time all day and it made my Galapagos trip.

Floreana is home to only about 150 people, and very arid in the lowlands. We drove up to the highlands for some hiking, visited the Galapagos’ only freshwater spring, and then saw some pirate caves. Floreana was a failure for development several times. A crazy German family settled there in the 1930s, followed by a baroness and her three lovers, and there was a big murder mystery and scandal surrounding them. The Ecuadorian government also sent prisoners there to work in concentration-camp conditions. The people who live there now survive off tourism, like almost all the islands.

Floreana is also known for its feral goats and cattle, introduced by early settlers, which are dangerous like all the introduced plants and animals. The goats especially pose a threat to tortoises because they eat all the vegetation, and tortoises are extinct on Floreana. There are organized slaughters of the feral goats to eliminate the population. The best method involves tagging a single goat, then tracking it until it’s surrounded by its goat friends, then killing all of them. The name of this method? Judas.

After our little hike and some delicious ceviche (cold cooked shrimp and fish with lime juice) we boated to a snorkeling site a few miles away. Monday wasn’t very nice weather and at this point it was cloudy and windy. I was not excited by the idea of snorkeling in cold, dark water then getting on the boat for two hours in my wet bathing suit, and some of us stayed on the boat. I didn’t regret it at all, especially since the captain brought us snacks while we watched the snorkelers, and when they saw a sea turtle he drove us over to look at it from the boat. We also got great views of blue-footed boobies on the cliffs; they really do have bright blue feet! The boat ride from there to the next island was rough and kind of scary when it got dark, but we made it to San Cristóbal.

San Cristóbal is the most populated island, and hosts a typical beach town and board walk lined with souvenir stores and restaurants. There weren’t many people out and about but it was nice to relax on a bench after dinner and eat ice cream with my friends. Our last morning after breakfast we had time to browse the shops, where I bought some fun souvenirs (at regular, U.S. prices, no Ecua-deals here.) The best part was watching sea lions lounging around, on boats, docks, the sidewalk, everywhere.

Our last stop was the Interpretation Center, a museum with info on the history of humans on the islands and the attempts at conservation. Tourism is huge on the islands, but most of the money stays on cruise ships rather than going to the actual population. There are problems with illegal fishing practices, unregulated tour operations, stress on the environment and limited resources. Not to mention everything down to bottled water is much more expensive because it’s all imported. An 80-cent large beer in Quito was 3 dollars on the islands. It was almost like being home for a few days. Except warm. And full of sea lions, marine iguanas, finches, dolphins, giant tortoises, boobies, frigates, penguins, sharks, sea turtles…

Leaving the Galapagos was sad for all of us. I wish we had more down time to enjoy the beach rather than running to so many activities, and maybe some more sunshine! Still it was nice to come home to Quito, and to realize how much English I spoke all weekend when Ibis was talking to me at dinner and I couldn’t form a proper sentence.

Tonight I’m going to Cuenca with Barbara, Amelia, and Katie. It’s a colonial town in the south that’s supposed to be very pretty and have good jewelry. Now I just have to wait for some lights to come on so I can pack, and post this. I tried unsuccessfully to upload my pictures, you’ll have to wait until next week, sorry, they're really awesome ones too! I have a lot of work and grad school applications to get done before Friday when my favorite big brother and oldest friends come visit!!! Not that we will be having any fun at all, Mrs. Johnson =)

AMAZON PICTURES!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2343695&id=9031237&l=94a6b9f160

Warning: they're on Facebook, so if my captions or friends' comments are inappropriate I apologize. Will not change them however.

Back to business.

Officially past the halfway mark.

Various things I miss: my car, real milk, walking around without getting stared at, my UConn library, a real cell phone plan versus having to buy credit that gets used up unbelievably fast, and good reliable internet.

Things I love about Quito and Ecuador in general:

- Buses. The buses are hilarious. There are three lines that go North-South, have set stops and separate lanes like trolleys. These can be convenient when the city is gridlocked from 5-7 p.m., but they are usually really crowded and harbor more pickpockets. The other buses have set routes but they only stop if you flag them down like a taxi, and you have to yell to the driver when you want to get off and hope they feel like stopping. People are always hopping on and off selling snacks, lottery tickets, candy, CDs, etc. I love the bus.

- Parque Metropolitano. This park used to be an hacienda (ranch) in northeast Quito, on a hill a few blocks from my house. It reminds me of Mansfield Hollow without the water. It's bigger than Central Park, with hundreds of paths crisscrossing through a eucalyptus forest and great views of the city. My friend Amelia and I "run" there on the weekends, usually get our butts kicked by the altitude and end up walking instead. It's easy to forget you're in a huge capital city. There are even people who live in a small community there because they lived on the hacienda, so it's not weird to see a herd of alpacas walking around.

- Talking to cab drivers. Most of them think I'm hilarious =)

- Chifles (plantain chips), 10 cent BonIce (similar to Flavor Ice pops), tostado (roasted corn snack), avocados with everything, popcorn in soup (instead of crackers..try it, it's good!), fresh fruit and juice, plantains in every form possible, $3 lunches that include soup, a main dish, juice, and dessert, shwarma, colada morada and guaguas de pan: a delicious thick cider-type drink made with pineapple, blackberries, and a bunch of other fruit made during October, especially for Día de Difuntos on November 2nd. Guaguas de pan are sweet doll-shaped bread.

- Night Life. Trying to explain our U.S./CT nightlife is always funny..because here when they go out, they go to discotecas or salsa bars to DANCE. Trying to explain what we do at home.
"Well we usually just go to parties at peoples houses..and kind of hang around and play drinking games..I swear it's not as boring as it sounds...sometimes we dance..but to hip hop..."
**Confused look** "How do you dance to THAT?!"
I love going out here although I miss a good house party now and then. It is a lot of fun to go out dancing because everyone has a good time. If I had a dollar for every time a guy told me he could teach me to dance salsa..let's just say I'd be riding the bus for free for a very long time. And no, I can't do it. Always fun to try however, and to watch the crazy Latinos doing what they do best.

- Seeing someone in the street or at the bar who I know - gringo or ecua, I get so excited!

- Picking up slang & dialect words

- Learning random things in class then observing them in action in the streets

- Having five dollars in my pocket and knowi ng I can eat and get where I need to go without a problem. It's funny how cheap we've all gotten here, like "Hey, do you have that quarter you owe me?" This is why I haven't sent any post cards - $2 goes a long way. Unless of course you're buying technology or clothing. If it's not alpaca, it's imported.


I got reproached by a few readers since it's been a week or two but like I've said before, I got STUFF to do! We stayed in Quito the past two weekends, went out a lot, shopped, did some homework...nothing too crazy. One day a few friends and I went to Cotopaxi National Park, about an hour away (or three if you don't ask the driver to stop at the right place and have to take a bus back to where you're supposed to go..oops!) home to the biggest active volcano in the world. We hired a guide to take us through the surrounding park to Cotopaxi then hiked up to the refuge at 4800 meters, almost 16,000 feet. The weather was changing like crazy, from rain and hail as we were driving, to clouds then sun as we climbed up. When the clouds cleared the view of the summit was really, really cool. If you want to summit, you have to spend part of the night in the refuge, leave at midnight and climb with ice picks and other crazy gear. It was nice to get out of the city for a day and wear my $2.50 wool hat from the artisan market in Quito =)

This week: Amelia (also repping CT) turns 21, followed by a trip to the Galapagos. I'm a tiny bit disappointed to be missing an overnight field trip with my Andean culture class to a shaman ceremony..but Galapagos trumps all.

Amazon Trail

Back from the Oriente..alive!

Friday morning we hopped on a 30 minute flight to Coca, which is a gateway town to the Amazon region. From the window of the plane I got my first view of the rain forest. It was incredible; I've never seen such a vast stretch of untouched land before.

The climate was drastically different as soon as we landed in Coca - around 80 degrees and extremely humid. My friend from Alabama felt right at home. We took a 10 minute bus ride to a hotel on the Napo River where our first boat was taking off. As we were loading up into our narrow, open-sided motorboat with two rows of chairs, I got a glimpse of a river dolphin! It wasn't pink sadly but it was really cool. We were on that boat for two hours heading down the Napo, which feeds from the Amazon River. It was a relaxing, breezy ride with jungle on both sides and the occasional canoe or group of people on shore who would wave.

We arrived at the entrance to Block 16, controlled by the Repsol petroleum company. Here we had to pass through a security check then board a chiva bus (not the discoteca kind) for two more hours. From there, we got into a second boat on the Tiputini river, which is about the size of the Shetucket or Willimantic River but murky brown and with a much faster current. Two hours downstream, and we arrived at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station run by Universidad de San Francisco de Quito, with which IES is associated.

The station is very basic. The dock leads up the riverbank to a kitchen attached to an open dining area, and a series of paths from there lead to an air-conditioned library/lab building and further to the little cabins we stayed in. The electricity is run by a gas generator so they only use it for two 3-hour periods each day, except the library which always has power. The water comes from the river and goes through a purification system so it's all potable.

We got to Tiputini in time for dinner then listened to a presentation about wildlife in Yasuni reserve. The station has a series of cameras throughout the jungle that are activated by heat and motion sensors, so the researchers can track different animals. It was really cool to see the wildlife that was surrounding the station, especially the really evasive animals like deer species and wild dog. Out of 20,000 photos some species were only caught once or twice. We were all exhausted and ready for bed at 9:30 when the electricity turned off. We were 6 hours deep into the jungle, and it was awesome.

Saturday breakfast was at 6:30 am. Then we put on our big rubber jungle boots and grouped up with guides to head out. My group hiked with our guide, Ramiro, to bridges way up above the canopy. We had to wear harnesses because the bridges were pretty rickety (built by BU researchers, so we trusted them anyway!) As soon as we got to the top, we saw two scarlet macaws fly by. That was when I realized I was IN the Amazon. They're bright red parrots with colorful tails and always travel in pairs, and are really amazing to see next to all the green. One of the platforms connecting the bridges had an aluminum ladder up to a higher platform. This was a scary climb, especially in clumsy boots when the ladder got shaky near the top. It was worth it though, especially because some yellow parrots camped out on top for a while. This was precisely the moment when my camera stopped working! I was so mad - really, you break now??? It ended up being nice to not have to worry about taking pictures all day and just enjoy looking around, but I'm disappointed I have to steal my friends' photos instead. Anyway, the canopy was awesome aside from the vicious little ants that kept biting us.

After that we hiked further with Ramiro, and saw another pair of macaws much closer. They were definitely my favorite animal of the trip. Ramiro was so smart, and kept coming out with crazy animal sounds. We saw three species of monkeys, and got to watch them climb around the trees. It's WAY cool to see them doing their thing in the wild. We saw peccary and tapir tracks, and some intense insects like military ants that followed one another in a perfect line, a huge centipede, and these nasty flies that bite you and lay their eggs under your skin..seriously.

After four hours of hiking we were sweaty and exhausted. The humidity was much worse than the hottest day in CT in summer, and there isn't too much breeze to be found. I passed out on the tile floor of the library until our second hike. This time Ramiro took us on another path that led to a small lake. At one point he stopped and started poking at a leaf that was folded over on itself, and a big fuzzy tarantula crawled out. At the lake, we climbed into a very narrow canoe meant for 5 people - and there were seven of us. Gloria and I could not stop laughing at the situation, because we were clearly much lower in the muddy water than we should have been and any shift of weight sent the canoe listing to one side or the other. Of course laughing just made it more unsteady, especially at one point when we got caught on a log under the water. This was while Ramiro was paddling around and telling us about the piranhas and anacondas living there. I think that was the most terrified I've been in Ecuador so far - really! Murky jungle water scares me like no other.

There was a group of film students from USFQ who came to the station with us to make a documentary about Tiputini. They were friendly and very excited about their film but they got really pushy and annoying on the hikes. Every time there was an animal or something interesting the camera guy had to shove ahead and get the best shot - we were all ready to knock them off the canopy by the end.

We survived the canoe ride, a strenuous stair climb into a wooden observation tower over the canopy, and a (larger) canoe ride back to the station. Ecuador was playing Uruguay that night so they dragged the TV out to the dining room so everyone could watch. It was so funny because we were basically watching TV outside, with bats swooping in and out of the roof. Ecuador totally blew it. They scored and everyone went nuts, until Uruguay scored less than a minute later. Shameful. Uruguay ended up winning on a penalty kick right at the end. Later that night we went on a boat ride to look for caimans, a small type of alligator/crocodile. We saw a few but again the film crew was incredibly annoying. They got mad at us for talking too loudly when we sat for 10 minutes so they could film one caiman that wasn't even moving or anything, when we could have been going further up the river to look for more.

After breakfast Sunday we went out on another early morning hike where we saw a lot of Wooly Monkeys gallivanting through the trees, some kind of snake, some frogs including one called a BUFO!!!, and more bugs (not to mention the ones constantly buzzing around our heads.) Ramiro showed us some crazy trees too. One of them starts its roots at the top of another tree carried by birds or the wind, grows down and plants into the ground, then slowly grows up around the original tree until it takes over and the tree dies. Another one sheds its bark every few months so any threatening vines or other life forms can't harm it. Another called the Walking Palm constantly grows new roots to one side so it appears to be moving. We climbed the highest observation tower (140 feet or so) which was like the most B.A. tree house ever. On our way back to the station we ate some ants that taste like lemon.

That afternoon everyone got into the boat to head down the river, where they let the crazy American students jump out to float down the Tiputini in life jackets. This water is so brown and muddy you can't see six inches, hiding a myriad of creatures I don't even want to know about. I obviously wasn't about to stay on the boat so I went overboard. The current was very strong under the surface so even if you swam hard upstream you barely made any progress. We floated for an hour or so, luckily from my fetal position I didn't brush against anything unknown like some friends did. I was talking to one of the guides after we got back on the boat and he said we definitely passed over several anacondas...eek.

I was sad to leave Tiputini the next day. I woke up early every day and sat by the river before breakfast to look at the water and listen to the rain forest sounds. I wish I could have camped out in the canopy for an entire day to see what animals would show up. I told the cooks I didn't want to leave and they promised I could come back and wash dishes to earn my stay. I loved being so immersed in the jungle far away from civilization, even the bugs and humidity didn't bother me after the first day. It was genuinely upsetting to see the oil companies on our way back and evidence of the forest being cleared for farming or building. The situation in Ecuador looks hopeless. The country depends on petroleum as a primary export, and they can't afford to just stop exploiting it for rainforest conservation. The remaining oil reserves will only last another decade, so either way Ecua is pretty much screwed until they figure out some way to re-figure the export economy and develop industry. It sucks that the rainforest is going to deal with the consequences.

I'll put up some pictures as soon as I can get them from my friends. My camera appears to be working now so I think it was just the humidity...either way I hope it doesn't act up for the rest of my trip. Even camera-less the Amazon was an amazing experience and I need to go back!

Blame it on the a-a-a-a-altitude

Two months down? Insane. I have two and a half to go but there are so many places I want to travel still - and I love my weekends spent in Quito also. Classes are really inconvenient, especially since I need to save my absences for my November visitors: Tim, Ty, and Kelc first, then Jess!!

Last week my friend Andrea in my Católica class invited me to a novatada on Friday. Having no idea what that was, I obviously said yes. She tried to explain it but only came up with an all day party with lots of people and lots of tragos (drinks.) Sold.

I looked up "novatada" and it means "hazing." Basically, the academic departments at Católica are like social groups in themselves, everyone is friends and has class together all the time. Thus, they have to initiate the new people into the program each year. This novatada was for Sociology, and I take an anthro class, so I was just in it for the fun.

I got my IES friend Samantha to come too, more or less by saying "I don't know where or what it is, just meet at 10 and bring seven dollars." Who wouldn't agree to that? We met up with a group of at least 50 other people then loaded onto 2 buses. Everyone was going nuts on the drive there, so we knew we were in for something good.