last post!

Quick sum up of my last few weeks in Ecuador!

            Its about 4 in the morning, and Im sitting in a corner of the Quito airport waiting for my flight looking…possibly sticking out a bit… being rubia and all and eating bananas and peanut butter, oh and I made myself a fruitloop necklace and am munching on that lol…but story of my life here.  Anyway, the last few weeks have flown by, but have been fan flippin fantastic! The weekend after school I spent with my family in Cuenca.  My sisters and I went to Cajas National Park, which is a whole new world when its sunny.  I had been once before, but on a cloudy rainy day (still awesome!).  We chilled and explored, and I went in the freezing lake and they thought I was crazy of course.  The páramo is the ecosystem of agua, and the grounds are delightfully soaked, so I took off my shoes and hopped and squished around.  We also ate some of an edible quinoa tree, and saw a hummingbird.  We returned to a table full of an enormous pot of crabs, along with crab soup.  Quite a fun lunch…hammering crabs, meat flying everywhere…crabs are fricken tasty too.  Sunday we all went to the biopark zoo I have talked about, so my family could meet my best animal friends here, and I could say some last goodbyes.  We saw a lion feeding, the escapy monkeys are followed us around (those guys are still running the place I tell ya), the new chiquito black monkeys, the bears, the cocrodile taking a sun bath, and all the others.  We returned to a delicious stuffed rosemary chicken, napped and watched movies, and then I took my fam out for a last dinner…lots of fun.  Monday I left with Katy and Lindsey to meet the others on the coast.  We spent a week relaxing, soaking up the sun, reading, eating seafood and drinking beer, reading (read hunger games finally…so good!), and getting our asses whooped by the waves (meant for surfing). Oh, and I of course got pretty obsessed with shell hunting, and ended up making a pretty awesome mobile with beach wood, colorful string, and a ton of different shells for my family.  Which I of course proceeded to break, because I always seem to do that (but my mom’s a museum art restorer so that’s okay I guess)  Friday (4/20) we decided to go out with a bang in Montenita (the las vegas of Ecuador), and that we did.  Montenita is unbelievable…truly a non-stop party on the beach.  $250 coctail stands and ceviche stands line the beach, and the town is basically composed of bars and restaurants.  We started our nights with coctails on the beach watching the sunset (well for me a few shots of tequila inside a beer), later stumbled upon dollar tequila shots, and later stumbled upon a bar with a sand dance floor pouring tequila straight in your mouth all night long for free…the night followed beach and rock adventures, headlamps (the cities lights went out), dancing, a troll hat, hot dogs, and more.  One night was sufficient in there to say the least, and the next day we all headed our ways, Goldann and I to Cuenca.  I went for a last few beers at the beer house with my sisters, and a last few hotdogs.  I don’t think I have yet mentioned that I have become a bit of a hotdog hamburger fiend here.  They really know how to do them…4-5 sauces, onions, eggs, ham on top, sometimes hotdog on top of hotdog, sometimes fried egg on top, chifles on top. Peaches, pineapples, almost anything you can imagine.  The next day my sisters and I went to baños is Cuenca, which is steam saunas, and hot pools and such…really relaxing.  And later, my sisters and my brother and Goldann and I went to see hunger games!  I spent the final day in Cuenca with Goldann visiting our teachers, and wondering around and what not, had dinner and watched Simpsons with my fam, and then they surprised me with an amazing book of pics and messages from all of them.  I really have been blessed with my family here.  I have been so comfortable and so happy, and they have truly accepted me into the family.  They are truly good people, with good hearts, and a genuine care and interest in life and people. We have spent so many fun times, and have had so many interesting convos, and learned so from about and from each family member.  I have gotten to know them all really well in my time here, and it will be a pretty hard shock not seeing them everyday.  However, I’m confident that we will have more time and adventures together in the future.  There are people in your life that you meet, that you know will be in your life forever, and they are those people.  Yesterday, I flew from Cuenca to Quito, and today I fly from Quito home to the US.  Again, my family being awesome and all, my mom and my sister planned some work they had to do in Quito around my plans and came with me!  So yesterday we spent the day at my aunts house and in the city.  My sister and I went to the museum of water, which is pretty sweet….equipped with a huge bubble exhibit, and a number of rain and gas and storm exhibits.  We wandered around the center, the squares, and a few churches…which was especially fun, because she is an architect, and has worked a lot of Quito, and could tell me all about the buildings and churches, and history.  We went for a last meal of delicious garlic camarones (before I return to the feo shrimps of the US) and a last few pilsners (the kind of horrible beer I have grown to love here in Ecuador).  We went back to my aunts, and spent the night chatting and laughing.  I napped for a few hours, and that brings me here to the airport, sitting in my corner and attracting stares per usual.  Adios Ecuador, con much gusto!  By the way, I am dreading returning to English…its kind of a feo language, and I love speaking Spanish…also I have been constantly thinking and dreaming in Spanish, and I’m worried how fast I might loose it!  Choa!

Fun stuff

            The last few weeks have been finishing up with final projects and exams, but also packed with adventures and fun somehow.  Projects and tests tend to be a lot more fun and relaxed here, which actually encourages me to do better, and helps the information stick better.  It’s refreshing.  Our biodiversity final was a presentation and party at the zoo.  We made each created posters about the different ecosystems in Ecuador…general info, species, interactions, threats, conservation, indigenous people living in the ecosystems, and more, with awesome pictures that we took while visiting all the ecosystems… they were pretty bomb, and will stay posted in the zoo…5 posters for each 6 ecosystems:  Tropical Rainforest, dry forest, mountain forest, cloud forest, the páramo, and the Galapagos.  So we each presented our ecosystems, and then had a little party with wine and crabcakes and cookies and such.  The next day we had our final Spanish project presentations.  Ours was about Carnaval.  First we presented, and then we did plays on the roof our school involving foam and water balloons, masks and pigtails… lots of fun.  And then we ate the delicious soup of carnaval Mote Pata (prepared by yours truly) and Carnelazo (zhumir, oranges, and vanilla) also prepared by me. 

            Two weekends ago was a pretty grand weekend.  Saturday night we had a barbeque/adventure night at our professors house/at the zoo (our professor is like a kid than a professor by the way, and is currently building a house at the zoo).  We grilled, and drank turvo vielos, beers, and zhumir, and then wandered around the zoo drunkingly visiting our favorite animals…the squirrel monkeys, bears, crocodiles, turtles, puma, and more.  We bought chickens and made a kind of lever chicken piñata for the lions and lowered and raised until they pounced and devoured.  The next day Katy and I adventured to Guirón, and fell in love with the magical world there.  It is a small town an hour or so away from Cuenca surrounded by beautiful rolling hills, waterfalls, lush forests, birds, awesome moss, crazy plants, and a few llamas and crazy dogs.  We climbed around the rocks and forests, had a picnic in the sun and napped and wove bracelets out of grasses, and got soaked by the powerful waterfalls.  It was seriously a peaceful magical world out of a fairy tail, and im pretty convinced gnomes, trolls, and fire nymphs live there.

                        Last Thursday Claire and I took off Baños, right bye Ambato close to Quito right after class.  We planned to head straight baños, but arrived in Ambato to discover that the roads were closed because of an all night Semana Santa march.  So, on Thursday holy night (the night that many Ecuadorians visit seven churches, with processions and music), we hit up some Chinese food, bought beers, and explored the city, making friends with a crew of chatty corner guys who were also celebrating Semana Santa with beers and zhumir.  The next morning we headed to Baños early, and it quick became one of my favorite places in Ecuador.  It is a small tourist town surrounded by mountains, volcanoes, forests, waterfalls, and Sangay National Park.  It is full of activities such as hang gliding, bungy jumping, mountain biking, rafting, canyoneering, jungle trips, etc.  We went on a long hike in the mountains, climbing a pretty incredible altitude, and overlooking the city and surroundings.  It was windy, sunny, rainy, stormy, calm, and beautiful haha.  Near the top, we stopped for a coffee, and the volcano came out for us as we drank our coffee in hammocks.  Maybe 6 hours later we finally found our way back down to the city, and met up with Alexa, Goldanne, and Katy who joined us that day.  We went out for dinner and stray dog beer, and headed out for a midnight volcano adventure, having no idea what we were in for.  On our way we of course stumbled upon an awesome park with kids spinning and rolling around in hamster ball bubble things…As it turns out, volcano adventure was a party bus with blasting music and flashy lights.  It took us and about 300 others to the volcano (which you couldn’t see), and then everyone hung out there drinking beer and eating grill food, and then we party bussed back.  Pretty funny.  I heard rumor of a leprichan bar, and knew it what had to be done for the night.  We hunted it down, and it had a huge awesome bonfire, and bartenders dressed like leprichans...I need nothing else in life.  Saturday, we got up early to try to stuff in a full day of adventures.  We rented bikes, and went on a waterfall route bike ride…so neat!  We stopped at a number of waterfalls, and climbed around, and waded in the fresh streams.  Katy and I ended up hiking up the slippery rocks to the top of one waterfall, and I almost peed my pants and burst into tears when I realized I had to climb down…very precarious.  I froze for a while, but made it down in the end.  When we got down, we ran into a group of people with full on equipment, suits, and ropes, canyoneering, about to climb the same waterfall with trained guides…oops.  Another waterfall had caves, and you could climb along the sides and underneath the waterfall, also awesome.  Oh, and we stopped to fly across another waterfall…(hangliding?)  It was a beautiful hot and windy day, and there is just so much incredible nature surrounding baños…We returned to sign up for cheap massages.  This was also pretty funny, and probably the most wasted $20 I have spent on this trip.   Apparently, I am still uncontrollable tickleish, so a full body massage didn’t work out so well for me.  I spent the whole time jerking, clenching my teeth, and trying my hardest not to squeal and burst into laughter.  Not the most relaxing experience of my life hah, and Im pretty sure my masseuse thought I had serious problems…The next morning we left at 5 to study all day for exams, and to beat the crowds returning.  We met quite an interesting friend in the morning that felt that it was his mission/meant to be for him to join us.  He escorted us to the bus stop, running through the streets, jumping up and down, playing his guitar and singing songs about his friend who killed his true long….we also stopped at a bread store because he felt it was right for him to buy $20 of bread (bread is like 10 cents a bun here…so do the math….) and then passed it out to everyone he saw and gave us the rest of the heaping bags…we sat in a circle at the bus stop with him while he played the guitar and chattered about destiny and money and travels and space and the universe and forces and such. 

            We had a really tough essay exam Monday, like 15 pages of writing for 4 hours…but Tuesday was the biodiversity exam…not too hard because our main focus was our projects.  So a few friends came over to study, but when my sister came home just having finished her thesis for good and a new student joined us from Washington, it turned into a bit of party in the basement, and turned into an electronic after party with my brother and I.  The next day was buckle down day for Spanish which went well…and now…as of today...I am done and free.  We celebrated with drinks in the sun on the roof of our school of course.  And then, we had a really fancy dinner with all of the school, and our teachers, and our families, followed by an open bar and dancing…lots of fun (got to dance with my kick ass dancer Spanish teachers, and make a grand fool of myself).

            The next few days and weeks I have a lot to look forward to!!  Tomorrow is the foundation of Cuenca festival of arts and music and dancing and food and such.  Later is the graduation of my sister, and she is giving the speech because she is so awesome…and then we will go out with the whole family.  Friday she is having the grad party with a full double decker party bus, followed by clubs and what now!  Also Friday is another futból game, and Cuenca is currently ranked 2^nd!  Also Friday is a Shuar festival at our zoo, and the Shuar community we stayed with is making the long journey! Then Saturday, maybe recovering a bit, or hitting up Saturday electronic night for the first time, and then off to the coast with friends!

A few adventure updates

(There are some corresponding pics on facebook if you want to check them out :) )          

  Dia de Campo- Last Saturday was the big celebration of Amauta (the school we go to here) in the campo.  All of our group and our families got together to have a huge game fiesta basically…which for those of you who know me well is really a dream come true.  Funny side note…again about Ecuadorian time…the day supposedly started at 10:00, but the first family arrived at 11:00 I think, my family at 11:30 maybe, and it wasn’t until 12:00 that everyone arrived.  We balanced limes on spoons and ran, danced musical chairs, jumped roped, Sam and I kicked some ass in a three legged, my brother and I danced with tomatoes,  my mom and I raced in hay stacks…and lots more.

            Manu Chao/Calle 13 concert: Last week a few of us went to the concert Manu Choa and Calle 13, two pretty popular and very different bands.  Manu Choa is currently working with indigenous groups against the the plan to drill Yasuni for oil that I talked about earlier.  Calle Tres is kind of a rebellious underground hip hop band. It was a ton of fun, and people from all over Ecuador and South America came.  The streets were full of hippies from the coast, brownies, rebels, etc…very different from your typical Cuenca.  We also ran into a friend that works at our school, and she and her friends happened to bring 5 bottles of zhumir, and I happened to have a Spanish exam the next day, which turned out to be a deadly but enjoyable combination.

            Soccer Game: Last night a bunch of us went to another soccer game…and Cuenca won again!!! (apparently…not that any of us had any idea after the game itself).  I found out after the game when a guy with three tape recorders came and what I thought of the victory…I froze up of course and I think I told him I was from Minnesota… (as Katy was behind the interviewer trying to tell me what he had actually asked…)  We then somehow managed to get a bunch of signatures from the Cuencan soccer hotties….

            Agua Rongo: The other day we went to a really neat mountain forest an hour or so from Cuenca, which is named after the plant Agua Rongo, an epiphyte that is pretty sweet….it gets huge and becomes a microhabitat for little lizards, bugs, spiders, etc., it stores water for the ecosystem during the dry season, and people make tequila out of it.  Agua Rongo is small, but it one of the best protected and least changed forests in Ecuador.  What’s really neat is that it’s not government or state protected…its surrounded by 5 communities who all work together to protect it, and they have done an excellent job.  It remains a pertinent water source for the country. 

            Flooding:  There has been some serious flooding all over Ecuador, including in Cuenca…on the Coast people were literally boating through the streets.  Crops everywhere are dying, and staple produce items have doubled in size.  Apparently, in Cuenca, in two hours, it rained more than it did all last year…wow.  When I got off the bus, the driver wished me “Buena Suerte” , as I jumped into a calf deep pool of water.  When I walked home from the bus stop, I literally crossed a rushing river in the street to my house.  A mile or so away from my house, a few people drowned in their house. 

            So we were going to have class and go to a museum but… then we ended up saving (well mostly our professor and his friends) a sea turtle. The sea turtle was taken from his home on the Ecuadorian coast and brought to a market in Cuenca to be sold.  Sea turtles are desired as a delicacy food, for their beautiful shells, and for their blood which is thought to have a number of special powers.  A number of sea turtle species, including the one we found, are now extinct.  Illegal trafficking is a huge problem all through out Ecuador and South America.  Many animals that arrive at Amaru (the zoo we volunteer at and have class at), have been rescued from the black market, and now have to live outside of their natural habitat because they no longer can survive in the wild.   Most of them aren’t so lucky, and many species are endangered because of illegal trafficking.  Luckily, this turtle is now on its way back to the coast to be released.

weekend of adventures

            Last weekend….was full of excitement, oddities, and sillyness, as life often seems to be here.  We started out Friday at the zoo, as usual, doing our “volunteers”.  We all of course arrived promptly, and then proceeded to for about an hour (like usual), for our awesome biodiversity professor (owner of the zoo) to show up.  We were waiting on a busy corner, and of course being a group of 8 gringos, attracted countless stares and questions.  We first worked at the reptile, snake, iguana, amphibian, and fish zoo, filling up tanks and feeding turtles and what not.  Then we all piled into the back of our professor’s truck to head to feed the mammals at the bigger, newer zoo outside the city.  Before continuing to the zoo, my professor of course took us to his favorite panaderia, and we chilled in the sun for a half hour eating pan.  We then went to a produce and meat store, and he piled avacados, apples, cabbage, chicken feet, watermelon, corn, and such on top of us, and we continued on the way to feed the animals.  We made colorful fruit salads for the birds, threw apples and aguacuates at the bears, and watched Ernesto feed chicken feet to the beautiful new Puma.  Oh, and of course I spent a good time throwing bananas and peanuts at the monkeys.  Lindsey fed her Galapagos turtle love, who is partially blind and quite deformed, and requires a lot of help and time eating. 

            That afternoon we went to Cajas National Park, which is a whole different world only about a half hour away from Cuenca, and wow, wow, wow.  It part of the Ecuadorian Paramo, at a 9,000-13,000 feet elevation.  The paramo is the water ecosystem, in charge of collecting and dispersing water to the other ecosystems.  This was clear from the moment we stepped off the bus and sunk into the grass on the climb down to the lake.  We bounced and pranced around on the delightfully squishy, mossy grass and mud.  Cajas is typically pretty chilly, rainy and foggy, and is full of lakes, mountains, and strange vegetation that has adapted to live at its high altitudes.  It is also home to llamas and alpaca, hummingbirds, and false scorpians, and many endemic bird species.  Sadly, it used to be teaming with frogs…and I mean truly frog-fantastic, as in a frog every square foot.  But now many frogs in the paramo have become extinct, or are now endangered, and we didn’t see a single frog the whole time.  Ernesto, our professor at the zoo, is a frog finatic and expert.  He is currently running a number of frog conservation projects, which we have had the opportunity to observe a bit.  However, frogs are a species that haven’t been studied much, and conservation projects are difficult to figure out.

            We traveled to Cajas equipped with tents, hotdogs, marshmellows, and such, ready to camp, but Im embarrassed to say that we wimped out (especially after bragging how we are all accustomed to the cold, and camping would be no big deal for us).  After a few hours in the rain, fog, and cold, we weren’t really feeling the whole camping thing.  So instead, we went to an old restaurant/bar with our professor.  We warmed up with large pitchers of canalesa, which is warm zhumir (the hard liquor of Ecuador), and cinnamon, and large stacks of fried pork and beef and dirty mote.  A few of us then proceeded to camp in my basement and watch harry potter in Spanish. Later that night, while waiting with Julia outside for her to catch a taxi, we were joined by a very drunk man who drove up on the curb and almost ran her down.  He was soon joined by his employee who was attempting and failing to chase his drunken self down and control him.  The next morning, my plans of sleeping in quickly disappeared by the appearance of 5-6 men surrounding my room and in my roof, banging away and reconstructing on all sides of me at 630 AM.  I think I forgot to mention how strange the weather has been lately…tons of crazy rain, hail, and wind-storms.  Anyhow, our house, well mostly just my room, flooded…meaning a good few cms of water on the ground, which is pretty comical because I keep most of my stuff on my ground.

            Saturday, I spent nearly the entire day watching movies and TV with my family. Sunday, a few friends and I and my mom went to two nearby small cities: Gualaseo and Chordeleh with my mom, who does a lot of museum and church restoration work there. Gualaseo is a beautiful, tranquil, small town.  We were there on a Sunday, and wondering around the parks and rivers.  We were joined by a few friendly dogs on our adventure (so unlike any of the dogs I have met in Cuenca haha). We climbed trees by the river, and I chilled with a beautifully fluffy baby bird for a while.  Climbing the trees literally puts you over the rushing rivers due to the recent copious amounts of rain.  There are small playgrounds, parks, and gazebos lining the river, that slowly filled as Sunday church ended in the town.  Couples, families, and children gathered to play games, have grill outs, and relax for the beautiful day.  Alexa, Katy, and I proceeded to draw attention and make fools of ourselves, playing on the slides, swings, balance beams, and bars….the only gringos in sight.  Perhaps I haven’t mentioned…but making a fool of myself in every way possible has become a game I really enjoy playing here…given that I do so naturally, and I stick out regardless of if I am trying to draw attention to myself or not.  Anyway, we continued to walk, and stop to watch sugar making in process for a while….a man leading a horse round-and round with a grinder in the middle…about a block away more sugar cane was being made….but at a much faster rate with a mechanical machine…curious.

            We then stumbled upon an awesome small carnival amusement park type thing with a great ferris wheel, merry-go-rounds, tiny boat and plane rides, a giant dragon ship, and more…we played around the closed park for a while, joined by some local children, and then were told that the park opens at 11:00 and all rides were a dollar or less…you can imagine our excitement!  All of the rides looked pretty old and sketchy, and felt on the verge of breaking…however we had our mind set on returning.  We wondered around for a while, exploring a few Sunday markets, eating delicious fresh fruit as always, and visited a lovely and lively church service.  We met up with my mom, after she finished her work, and headed back to the carnival.  It was open now, full of kids, and blasting 80’s music.  We ran like little children to the ferris wheel ride, and boarded (while it was moving), and without being asked to buckle in anything.  My mom watched with a huge smile, giggling non-stop.  This ferris wheel was double trouble…while it spun in big circles, each cart spun in little circles as well.  The first few rounds were awesome, and I think we were all in childish glee, and enjoying the incredible view from the top of the city.  However, a few more rounds of spinning and I wasn’t so happy…luckily I got off in time to loose all my delicious fruit…ah back to childhood.  Katie, Alexa, and Lindsey proceeded to ride the giant swaying dragon, where they sat unbuckled in cages being shook around mercilessly as the ship swayed faster and faster.  My mom and I watched, and danced and sang to the 80’s music.  We all wondered together for while, and then head to the next town Chordeleh . This town is an even smaller artesan town, known for beautiful art, woodwork, silver, alpaca, and more.  On the drives there and back, my mom filled me in with a lot of cultural and environmental history of the towns and the rivers and mountains surrounding the towns.  My mom is some kind of combination of a museum/church/art restorer, an anthropologist, and a historian, and seems to have an endless depth of knowledge.  As we approached the towns, she told me about a mountain slide that occurred about 22 years ago.  It blocked the river and caused a major flood wiping out the towns and causing a number of deaths.  She also gave me a brief history about the Incans coming in and invading the Canari land.  This weekend we head to Canar and Ingapirca to learn more, and see the ruins.

Recent Political Action

            There has been a lot of recent political action in Ecuador…which has me realize what a radical indigenous population Ecuador has.  President Correa recently signed a contract agreeing to mine Yasuni National Park.  Yasuni National Park is one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Here, diversity of amphibians, birds, mammals, and vascular plants are at their greatest in all of the Western Hemisphere.  It also holds the world record for “local-scale” tree, amphibian and bat richness. .  In only 2.5 acres of land, more tree species can be found than in all of the U.S. and Canada.  In response, a large group of farmers, indigenous communities, women, workers, professors, students, etc. is protesting and marching for the defense of water, nature, labor rights, and the life and dignity of communities.  Open pit mining does irreversible damage to the forests, biodiversity, and species diversity.  It causes land erosion and air pollution.  It makes for serious health issues to the people living in the forests and nearby communities.  People are also concerned about the famous “Dutch Disease” that turn countries into importers, destroying local development.  Water, and the health of nature and people should be prioritized over the need for gold, copper, and uranium.   A few days ago the large march/protest passed through Cuenca, on their way to Quito in hopes of arriving there by March 22, which is International water day (Quito is about 10 hours by car from Cuenca).  The march was full of passion and excitement, in attempt of spreading awareness and opposing the governmental decisions.  In the main park of Cuenca, the government paid for pro-Correa speakers trying to convince and educate the public of the necessity to drill Yasuni.  They played cheerful indigenous music, and provided an upbeat environment.  It was fascinating to see groups side-by-side.

            Also, a week or so ago was “el dia de la mujer” or International woman’s day.  I had never heard of this day until I came here…I don’t know how well it is celebrated in other places.  In Cuenca, it is a huge event.  There are signs and banners all around the city.  Everyone gives the women in their lives flowers.  Groups of moms finally take the night off to go out to eat with each other.  Groups of young women go out for a bite to eat and then celebrate at the clubs.  The feeling in the city, and among women, was of great excitement, pride, and celebration.  It was a really neat day and holiday, however I found it a bit contradictory.  It’s kind of sad that it takes a holiday for women to finally relax, enjoy, and celebrate themselves. For many, only on this day, are they fully celebrated, respected, and served.  Couldn’t men cook and clean and celebrate women a few more days of the year…?

coast trip/ayampe

         Our next trip was during our week of vacation, during Carnaval, to a small beach town called Ayampe.  The beach town was so relaxed, and slow moving, and very different from everywhere else I have been in Ecuador.  It was like life was on a constant pause…with no worries.  For example, there was one store in the whole town, and everyday the same men were chilling outside the store with piles of beers and games from 9am-to bed, and children are running around them playing their own games.  The beach was magnificent.  The current was one of the strongest I have ever experienced, and there were a lot of talented surfers to watch.  We had to constantly be swimming as fast as we could in order to stay in one place…so much fun.  One wave smashed me so hard to the sand that it chopped some of my hair right off.  There were so many neat tidal pools full of little fish, many-pointed starfish, and funny sluggy snail things!  Apart from swimming, we basically laid in the sun, napped, read, and played lots games.  We watched the sunset every night.  I think it was the most any of us have relaxed in a long time.  I also read the first harry potter in Spanish ;) (maybe cheating because I pretty much have it memorized…)  Our hostel was pretty great too…equipped with hammocks everywhere, an outdoor kitchen and chill area, a group of dogs that joined us everywhere, peacocks chilling in the yard, iguanas chilling on the roof, and frogs and crabs everywhere.  The people at the hostel switched every night, and we met a lot of fun people, with interesting stories from all around the world.  We attempted to play some crazy, fun instruments, attempted to understand long complex jokes, and failed at both. Every night we went out for the cheapest and most delicious seafood I have had in my life…(this is coming from someone who has always hated seafood with a passion)…shrimp, fish, squid, octopus, ceviche...We also went to a market in a nearby town one day, bought fresh seafood, and had a magnificent seafood grill party at our hostel.  We had fires on the beach most nights, my favorite, and were joined by a number of coastal friends and dogs.

         We took a few awesome day trips…first to la playa de frailes…which is a white sand, white water, incredibly beautiful beach pretty close to Ayampe.  There we found an awesome cave, and a few of us got a little too excited about the incredible shells inside, and almost got trapped by the incoming tides.  The cave and rocks were covered with more crabs than I have ever seen in my life…such funny creatures to watch scuttle about, especially with the rough, crashing waves.  We took a boat ride to isla de plata, which is an island that hosts a few of the same creatures found in the Galapagos.  We saw blue-footed boobies, and a baby booby (which incidentally is bigger than the mama booby and covered in white fluffy feathers.  We also snorkled a bit, but it was too rough to see much.  However, our boat was circled by sea turtles and manarays at one point.

Amazon/Oriente

         So I seem to be a bit behind….but a few weeks ago we traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon/Oriente for a week…the Southern part.  The trip was incredible, there is no way I will be able to do it justice in words or pictures. (I did put an album up on facebook you should check out...it takes hours to load pics on this blog so no more pics here unfortunately)  Anyway, before I give a recap of the trip I am going to nerd out a bit about Ecuador and how awesome the biodiversity is in Ecuador…so feel free to skip to our adventures…but I know some of my bio and science friends will appreciate lol.

         Ecuador is a biodiversity hot spot, one of the most diverse places in the world, and the Andes are the main contributing factor.  Vicariancia is diversity by the development of mountains.  More than 70% of the species are endemic (meaning they are unique only to the Andes…having very specific conditions and a very small range of distribution).  The Andes have many very different and extreme climates and microclimates, with many natural barriers such as the Amazon River.  On our trip, we set out to explore the differences and extremes.  The Andes of Ecuador hosts five main, distinct ecosystems, each located at different altitude…and each with very unique climates, vegetation, species, etc.  Starting at the lowest altitude is the Tropical humid rainforest, then follows the dry forest, next the mountain forests, next the cloud forests, and finally at the highest altitudes the paramo.  In our week-long trip, we hiked around and learned about each ecosystem, feeling the climates and studying the various species of trees, plants, and animals...pretty awesome.  The different ecosystems occupy an altitude range of about 4,000 meters…and the changes in altitude cause massive changes in the ecosystems…traveling just an hour on the road can take you to a seemingly whole new world.  The more gradients of altitude you have, the more types of ecosystems.  An altitudinal change of 600 M is equivalent to a latitudinal change of 1000 KM wow! These patterns hold true because Ecuador is smack dab on the Equator. So this helps explain the biodiversity in Ecuador…and the lack of biodiversity in places like hmmm flatland, sea level Minnesota.  Another interesting thing about climbing altitude is…in the lower altitudes the Density of species is greatest…in the mid altitudes the Diversity/richness is the greatest, and in the higher altitudes the number of endemic species is the greatest.

         Anyway, the trip…

         The first day we went to Susudel, which is a small very small town in a mountain forest.  We went for an awesome hike with an extremely knowledgeable man Fernando.  During the hike, he told us all about the native plants, their awesome adaptations, and their medicinal uses.  We stayed overnight on his organic farm, full of cats, dogs, chickens, and 3-week old kittens.  We ate deliciously fresh farm food…including their famous duck and chicken egg and bacon scramble with choclo and other beans.  The farm also makes its own jerkeys, salsas, jams, dried fruits, pickles, relishes, and hot sauces.  The farm and the small town had me thinking a lot about both the simplicity and challenges of farm life.

         The second day we switched ecosystems to hike in the dry forest.  We hiked under circling condors, encountered one of the most venomous spiders in the world, and possibly discovered a new species of crab.  We then moved on to a hike in a conserved mountain forest…completely different! So fresh, green, wet, lush, and full of life.  It is preserved by a nearby indigenous community that we also visited, called Saraguro.  The people living there still speak Quitchua, but also learn Spanish.  They have strictly defined traditions…everyone attends school, and then university to specialize, and then works for the community in their specific pplacements.  The town was beautiful and clean, with little parks and markets.  That night we traveled to Loja city, which is another of the largest cities in Ecuador.  We wandered around, exploring a few of Loja’s parks, churches, and bars and what not, and then back to the hotel for another game night.

         Day three we hiked in another dry forest, and learned about a lot of the awesome adaptations plants and animals have developed in order to live in such a challenging environment.  Lots of species are venomous and/or nocturnal.  We then traveled to our next hostel, which happened to have a waterslide, pool, and bar…so needless to say pool party time!  That night we went for an awesome night hike.  Standing on a small mountain, on one side we could see the sun setting (Incas), and on the other side we could see the moon rising (Canaris).  Due to some dirt slides, a few of us almost fell off the mountain, but (luckily?) I caught myself in a cactus.

         Day four, I went for a run near the hostel, and happened upon a big fire in the field with 20 or so firefighters at work…We then ventured to Podocorpus National Park, which is a national protected biosphere park, and a mix of a cloud forest and tropical forest.  There is something so cool about hiking literally in the clouds.  The park was so fresh, mossy, and green, with so many cool, diverse plant and animal species, many of which are endemic.  I really enjoyed the “Pajaro reloj” (clock bird).  The park is also full of waterfalls…the most powerful waterfalls I have ever experienced in my life.  Standing twenty feet away from one waterfall, we were all soaked within minutes, our boots filled to the brim.  Of course, puddle jumping and a mud fight followed.  There is something so powerful about waterfalls…cleansing for your mind, body and soul, a fresh start wherever you need it.  That night we were another hostel with a pool and waterslide (the waterslide without water) and took pool party to a whole new level.  We played “cheesestick”, and the losers had to run down the waterslide into the pool.  It was a rather cold night by the way.  Henry and I lost, and proceeded to begin the pool party…we all ended up “sliding” down the waterslide, playing water polo etc. We also attempted to teach our Spanish biodiversity professor some English drinking games which was a riot.

         Day five, I woke up early for a peaceful beautiful run around the hostel…the bird calls are unbelievable in the tropical rainforests in the morning when everything is quiet…but my peace was disturbed a clan of very angry dogs, and I had to sprint down the mountain like there was no tomorrow.  This was the start to quite an adventure day…the plan was to drive a few hours to a river, and take a river boat down the Amazon to a Shuar village and to an area abundant in fossils.  However, there was a mudslide that got in the way bit…when we arrived, there were 20 or so busses and cars, and more and more joined the hold up.  Some had been waiting over night for upwards of 10 hours!  We stopped, watched, and played in the mud while tractor upon tractor arrived and attempted to take care of the mess.  Most failed, and simply pushed the mud up and down and back and forth, only for it to fall in to the street again.  After about three hours, we were on our way again.  Next, we tried to cross a river with our van, but our van got stuck and broke the crossing plank thing.  So we were stuck there for a while too…we proceeded to pile the 13 or so of us in the back of a random pickup truck and drive the rest of the way.  We finally made it to our boat, and it began to downpour, like really downpour.  This meant none of the river animals would be out unfortunately.  Also, at this point we were so behind, that we didn’t have time to make it to our original destinations. So, we road the river boat for a while, filling our boots and boat with rain, explored a Shuar community for a few minutes, and turned right around.  The river was awesome though, so full and rushing, with waterfalls and towering trees lining the walls.  We also acquired a locally made alcohol in the small river town, called canto claro, which is one of the worst alcohols on this planet probably, but proceeded to drink it the whole way back.  When we got back, completely soaked to the bone, we were locked out of our rooms because the hostel had decided to make copies of the keys.  Then, for dinner, Narcissa ordered us 5 courses of meat…chicken, pork, tongue, ribs, and liver.  What a funny day.

         Day six…we woke up at 5 for bird watching and listening, and a hike in the rainforest!  It was so peaceful in the morning and we heard the bird calls of 20+ species.  My favorite bird was the orpendula bird, which makes beautiful nests in which the entrance is from the bottom to prevent hungry predators from stealing their babies.  Stepping into the tropical rainforest is a whole new world….it is so dense and layered with plants.  Everything has adapted to climb up, into the canopy, which hosts 90% of rainforest life.  We swang on the vines, and ate live termites straight from a palm tree (they taste kind of like moving almonds…)  When we got back from the hostel, Amy and I stumbled upon a few cows, and fulfilled Amy’s dream of milking a cow before leaving.  I went for a run, and got myself into another pickle like always…I encountered the same angry dogs, but this time was surrounded by an angry cow on the other side…I ended up jumping into a muddy swamp/lake to escape…(I could probably write an entire blog about running and dog encounters at this point…)  That night we traveled to a town called Gualaquiza (spelling?), which has been probably one of my favorite towns in Ecuador.  It was simply full of life and good energy.  Everyone on the streets greeted us with smiles and welcomes, and everyone seemed to be enjoying life.  The town was also decorated with great murals painted by the town’s children.  It also had this magical somewhat hidden Narnia park that ran along the river, full of incredible trees and so peaceful.

         Day seven…we traveled to the Shuar community.  We drove along windy, dirt roads for a while, until the ended at a bridge.  Herman, his wife, his son, and his donkeys met us at the bridge, and we hiked with them through the Amazon to their community.  The Shuar, who used to be a semi-nomadic tribe, have now settled in communities around the Amazon.  The community had a number of houses, separate round style kitchens with center fireplaces, a few classrooms, and large farms.  We sat in the kitchen with them in the kitchen for a few snacks and meals of fresh pineapple, cooked bananas (pan de bosque/bread of the forest), plantain chips, yucca, and rice, all staples in the Shuar diet.  We also brought and cooked spagetti, which was a very peculiar concept for them, that they had never encountered.  The foods they eat come mostly straight from the land.  We learned about past traditions, and how things have changed, and what have been preserved.  They also had never seen a person from Asia (Amy), or a blonde person (me).  We next went for an incredible day and night hike lead by Herman.  We explored another part of the tropical Amazon rainforest, full of life and diversity, layered and packed with plants and trees..also bullet ants more poisenous than snakes and spiders.  We swam and cooled off in a small but powerful and refreshing waterfall.  In our night hike, we searched with our headlights, and found a number of awesome frogs, snakes, and a spider.  We heard the sounds of many more animals, that probably saw us, even if we didn’t find them.  The next day we made the long journey back to Cuenca.