Viaje a la costa y otras cosas :)



The place where we stayed was an ecological station.

 October 8th:

What’s better than having to wake up at 5:45 am on Friday after a late night out ? Nothing. We had to wake up nice and early to go to the coast, which was about an 8 hour bus ride (I slept through most of it). We stopped in Atacames to eat some food, which was… well it was sorta a bad experience for me (and my friend Dita). We thought we would share our food, I was going to get pasta with mariscos and she was going to get ceviche because we both hadn’t eaten it yet. The ceviche was good, but we had no idea that the pasta with fish was going to be so massive! And that it was going to have soo many baby squids!! We both sorta lost our apitite after we saw them…and did I mention that there were not one, not two, but three HUGE shrimps. Well I love seafood, but this…this was something that I had never experienced in my life and has made me think twice about seafood. Well after this interesting lunch Dita and I felt a little down, so we went on a hunt for ice cream, which we were able to find, praise the lord. We arrived at our site and the first thing we saw was mud, and more mud and then muddddddd. We were then told that we needed rubber boots because of all the mud we would be walking through...oh yeaa we came during wet season is what we were told, a fact that would have been good to know BEFORE we got there. About 45 minutes later we changed into our shorts, and boots ( they had to lend me some) and off we were to go see the near by town called Bunche. The town is pretty small and pretty poor, most people there live from what they farm and our guide, Andres, explained that this was due to the shrimp bust that really hit the people there and in the surrounding areas. After that pleasant walk we went to the beach, got in, threw mud all over the place, and then headed back to the site. We shower, had dinner with all these German volunteers that were also staying at the biological site, and then headed off to see the very anticipated Ecuador vs. Colombia partido. In case you didn’t know Ecuadorians (I am generalizing) don’t really like Colombians, because the thought is that they bring a lot of the violence over to Ecuador. Well we saw some of the first half and then the Germans came over and invited us to their bonfire, and so we left the game and went to chill by the beach with Germans around a bonfire and then went to sleep.

On our way to the monkeys.

October 9^th:
Once again we had to wake up at 5:45 am, but we were all soo excited to go see monkeys!! We got into a motorboat and went to go see monkey, mangroves, and learn about king tides, the life cycle of shrimps, mangroves and other interesting things about the shrimp farm industry and how the 1989 shrimp bust gravely effected Ecuador’s economy and the lives of the people in these areas. Then we came back to the bus, changed into our bathing suits, had trouble getting the bus driver to leave so we could change (he ended up staying in…) and then got into another boat and went to the island of Muisne. We had dinner and then got into the water and although there was no sun, we had a great time at the beach and some people played soccer with the locals. After words we went to this bar/marimba presentation which was fine, they even asked some of us to dance with them, and then they went to change for the second dance. And this is when things got interesting. The girls came out with short skirts and little tops, and when they started dancing it was pretty sexual and of course I would get picked to dance this one and not the first one. Well it actually wasn’t too bad, we were all laughing until the little 7-year-old boy tells me to get down and lay there. All the girls sort of just looked at each other, and then slowly went down. Once I saw the little boy get down and crawl towards me I laid down and covered my eyes, because I had seen what was going to do down (he was directly on top of me doing a thrusting movement). We all experienced a little cultural shock that night. However, Andres had told us that the number of teenage pregnancy was high here because of the lack of education, but he also pointed out that education was free but most of the people there didn’t really see it’s value. Yeah they could go to school, but then if they wanted to go to college they would have to leave and go to a big city, but how could they pay for that? They couldn’t. So why waste time learning, when they could be helping around the house, get a job, and wait until they meet a guy and reproduce. It was a different side of Ecuador that I value because up till this point we have been in the big city.

MONKEYS!! They actually started to throw their fisis at us...that's when we
decided that we should leave.



These were some of the illegal shrimp farms that we had to walk through to go see the monkeys.

Jameson and I after we had some more breakfast on some beach.

Jamie and Scott on a triciolo in Muisne.



The first presentation of Marimba was really cool.




This girl was the best, she knew how to dance sooo well...I was a tade jealous.

 October 10^th :

One of many pictures we took.

Woke up, ate, and then got on the bus. Now I know it took us about 8 hours to get to Esmeraldas (the region) but it took us about 12 hours to get back to Quito, no joke. In part if was because we kept stopping to get snacks, buy souvenirs in Atacames, food, and bathroom breaks. About 2/3 of the way back we sorta went wild on the bus, and started taking pictures, playing games, and sticking our heads out of the windows. This is more or less around the time that we decided we were close like a family but cooler, hence we became a band! Oh yea, we are tight like una familia but we rock like a band ;) I tried to do some reading, and I was half successful. Anywho once I got home I skyped with my parents, showered, and then hit the sack.

October 13^th:

Elizabeth and Malcolm blowing thier candle!



Well this was Malcolm and Elizabeth’s 21^st cumpleanos!! We decided to go to a Mexican restaurant in El mariscal aka Plaza fosh then went out to dance. We went to El Bungalow and the bouncers were like, “its ladies night” which apparently meant we got in for free, drink were free until 10pm, and we could go to the dance floor. The guys on the other hand, had to go in threw another door, and wait upstiars until 10pm when they were allowed to join the ladies on the dance floor. This was a good night, and the birthday people seemed to have had a great time J

Ummm foood and friends!!



Oh I forgot to mention that I cut my hair!!!!

Me and the birthday boy!!

October 14^th:



I went to go see the office of an organization where I think I am going to do my Integrative Cultural Research Project (ICRP) called Asamblea permanente de derechos humanos (APDH) and the people there were super excited to have me, it also helped that they had a Geneva (a girl from kalamazoo) volunteer there and she did a lot for the organization. I had talked to Geneva and when I told them about that they were like “ you know her? Ahhh that’s good to know” and so I think I definitely have an “in”. I then went to classes until 5pm and then came home ate, and slept until 6am the next day.

October 15^th:



I went to go visit another organization called Fundacion regional de asesoria en derechos humanos, but the people there weren’t as thrilled to see me, and we tried to see if there was enough work for me there and she said she was going to e-mail me and let me know. The next day I check my e-mail and she sent an e-mail saying she didn’t think she had enough time to “train” me and that she would need me to help out with more hours starting this month, but seeing as I still have classes to do I don’t think its going to work out with them. This was another chill night, we went to el mariscal but just chilled at a swarma place and then went home.

Coup d’état? Concert, soccer game, and Papallacta…all in one week!

September 30th:

On Thursday I woke up, went to class but then round 11am we were told that classes had been canceled due to protests that were gong on in Quito. At first I thought I sort of thought it was a joke, but once I saw students running out of their classrooms I got my things and began to worry a little. I found my friend Sarvie and we went to go talk to the director of our program (Tania). Here is what she told us:

a) the police and military (except the air force) were protesting

b) the reason they were mad was because of a new law that went into effect last night that said that the police and military were no longer gong to get bonuses when they got promoted

c) that Quito could be in a state of chaos

d) that we should go home in Group asap

So here we are in a group ready to go to Quito when another director told us that ALL international students were NOT allowed to leave campus. We were told that riots were breaking out, stores being broken into, and that the police was demanding that the president void the law. As we had lunch on campus we were also looking at the news and I admit that when I saw President Correa being hit by tear gas and being pushed and shoved I was definitely concerned. Well we were told that we could go home around 3ish. On my way home I stopped by Sarvie's house, her host mom informed me that a state of emergency had just been declared and that I should probably go home sooner rather than later. Once I got home I sat by the TV with my host sister and it seemed like things were a lot worse in Guayaquil. I remember watching a news channel and then the news caster telling us that police men ontop of Pichincha and trying to cut the signal of the station, which they were successful at doing. (Late the police said that they did this because only one side of the story was being reported).Things got tense at night while the military (about 700 soldiers) was trying to rescue the president (the police say that they never had him as a hostage) because it was during this mission that bullets started to go off like fireworks on the 4th of July. No joke. I remember my host brother telling me we could hear the fireworks and I gave him a "don’t exaggerate" face and we muted the TV and sure enough we could hear the gunshots! Well we could see the police firing at the military and vise versa, it was so surreal for me. And then, we see a person go down, and we were all like, "ummm is he ducking? wait...he isn't moving...oh crap is he ok?!" and then police surrounding him and carrying him away. Well as of today (Oct. 3, 2010) there are 8 reported deaths and about 100 were wounded. The president was then taken to the palacio de corondelet (presidential palace)  where he gave a speech condemned the police and military (some were with him, and some were against him) for acting the way they did. He said that it was a sad day, and that those behind this failed coup are going to be punished.  So here is what I know now:

a) that the bonus cuts were happening in order to fund other civil services

b) instead of the police getting a bonus for Christmas, having a child (host dad told me this one), being in serves for x amount of time, etc. they were going to get a higher salary instead of getting a bonus  

c) the country is divided, some think that President Correa had no business going into the protest on Thursday while others think that this is the only government that has done a lot to get the country into shape

d) there are people who believe that this was NOT an attempted coup, that the police were just showing their dislike of the new law vs. those (Correa believes this one) that think that this was an attempted coup orchestrated by  ex president Lucio Guttierez  

e) in the new constitution that was voted by Ecuadorians in 2000 the president has the power of dismantaling the Asamblea nacional (their congress) which would give him control of the country, and then have reelections for the asamblea and he is saying he doesn't want to do this but that if he has to, in order to get the country back into control, he will....

President being rescued/taken from el hospital de la policia

Well tomorrow is another day in Quito, classes are going to resume and I can't wait to hear what people think of this situation at school (most people there dislike Correa). Oh, I almost forgot about the other stuff that I did this week, here is a quick summary:

September 25th:



Glow sticks? check, tickets? Check :)



Well we decided to go to this techno concert, the headliner was Paul Oakenfold! I am not going to lie...I didn't know who he was, but he was amazing!! On top of that we were pretty close, the lighting, the people, and of course the music was great, I danced the WhoLe time. However, we couldn't buy drinks...okay they were selling small cups of water for 50 cents but that’s a rip off, a whole bottle is like 30 cents here. But, I can't complain too much...

September 29th:

I decided that I HAD to go see a soccer game, so I grabbed my host brother and called a couple friends and went to go see La liga (Quito's team, like the Chicago's Chicago fire) vs barcelona. I knew we were in the fan section, but I did not know it was going to get intense, there were random mosh pitchs that were started, fireworks exploding over our heads, some beer thrown into the air, drums, and of course the chanting that went on throughout the whooooole game. However, Quito won 4-0 and we were all super happy.



Grant, me and Jameson in the fan section :)





My host brother Cristian and host cousin.



October 1st:

SOo we were advised to stay in and cancel all travels on Thursday, but after the president was rescued and the military and police seemed to go back to work we thought we might wait until the next day and decide whether to go though with our plans or not. Once I woke up my host mom told me that all the stores were reopened and that the police was back to work, and that she thought it was safe for me to go travel. Calls were made (including our program director) and it was decided that we would go, but with the condition of paying for a private buseta to take us there and bring us back (total of $10). So by 3:30pm we were in Cumbaya and on our way to Papallacta. Once we got there we relaxed, got into the termal water and then had dinner, and hit the termal water again....it was great!! After experiencing a possible coup, Papallacta was exactly what we all needed. Here are a couple pics of our relaxing weekend:  



Dinner was great, expensivish...but worth it.



Ahhhh my girls...

New law in Quito: Pico y placa

So I thought I should write a little about this new law in Quito called pico y placa, which is a new law that is trying to reduce traffic. Pico refers to the times of day that there is the most traffic (aka rush hour) and placa is a reference to the last number of your license plate, which according to that number you know what day of the week you are NOT allowed to drive. This is only applicable in most of Quito, and has only been in place for about four months. Now you can try and be slick, or forget (like my host dad), but you better believe that the police is going to stop you and give you a nice ticket. First ticket is $80, second is $120, and by the third it’s a $240 fine...yupp, and I have no idea what happens if you get pulled over a fourth time...license revoked? $380 fine? I have no idea. Anywho this also means buses can't run on thier given day, my bus driver tried to be slick and got pulled over, he was not a happy camper after that. Here is a link (in espanol) if you want to read more about this. http://www.eluniverso.com/2010/05/03/1/1447/desde-hoy-rige-pico-placa-vias-quitenas.html

Valle de los Chillos, Otavalo, y Mindo!

Lots to write about, I don’t know where to start! First of all I feel like I have to start off by saying that I have been unable to blog becuase of the fact that I not only forgot my password to get on and write, but when I asked to reset it I was sent a link to my e-mail, which would have helped BUT I had been having problems getting into that...long shorty short I had to reset both passwords. I know, I know, I will try and remember both from now on. Anywho here is a quick summary of what I have been up to:

September 5^th :



Balneario de termas en La merced



My friend Alex invited me to go to her host family’s house in the country (valley). We had a great time there, and ate A LOT, but it was soo good. Her host dad’s father apparently helped found the whole village, which is located in El valle de los Chillos. The valley is next to Volcan ilalo which is so cool because there are hot springs that people are able to go to. In fact, there are some houses that have a direct pipe line to the springs so that their pools can be filled with the aguas termales and of course Alex’s host dad got this perk. We spent the day in the pool and then went on a tour to the public pools that is filled with the thermal water.

September 10^th:



Rest stop with an amazing view of the lake and mountains



We left USFQ around 1:30pm and headed to Otavalo which was a drive, but not too bad (about 2 ½ hours). On the way there we did a couple stops. The first was a rest stop with a great view a lake ? We took pictures, bought snacks, and I paid 25 cents to use the bathroom. Now I don’t think this is TMI (too much information), the reason I tell you this is because there I was doing my deed when in comes a spider into my stall! I got up and left, but once I collected myself I decided to go back for a picture of the perpetrator and here it is:



Yup, thats him all right.

Next on the agenda was a visit a Nanda Manachi who demonstrated how to make flute ?, and played a variety of instruments for us. We then went to the hotel and had a big dinner (we each had a whole fish!). Then we got to go see a curandera (kind of like a healer) which was amazing to watch, it involved some of the same things that a curandera might to in mexico, but there were also differences. The similarities involved the use of a candle that was rubbed all over the person and then burned to see what was wrong with the person, in this case Nicole, and in both cases you get to be “hit“ with flowers & plants, you can‘t take a bath for about 2 days. Now a difference was that Nicole had to take her clothes off, except for her bra and underwear, but now that I really think about it I think this does happen in Mexico but its for like really intense cleansings. In both cases there is the use of an egg (however they used 4 and never broke them), the put alcohol into their mouths and spat it at the person getting cured, but the difference would be that the women also used a candle while she spat, which created flames that were shot at the direction of the person getting cured.

Yup all this was just for me.

It took the man about 8 minutes to make this instrument.

September 11^th:

This was a very busy day, we started off by going to el Mercado de animales where we saw everything from dogs, cuys, sheep, etc. I also got scammed, a man was there asking for coins, which he was going to “give back” after he “cured” you. He warned me to be careful because he saw that I had given a man a picture of me, and he had done something to it (I think he said this man had buried it in a cemetery). Our guide, Ceasar, later told us that the man, unlike the curandera was not trained in the field of healing, which is why he was not legit. We then hit el Mercado de frutas where I bought a nice jucy watermelon, ummm was it good….We then walked down to the town square on our way to the Mercado de aresanias where I sorta went crazy buying things. We then headed to eat at ? Which is a place that Cesar and his family run, his father demonstrated to us how they make scarfs, and gave us a lot of insight as to how the indigenous people are always trying to find a way to assert themselves politically, musically, culturally, etc. into this world of globalization. However, there was one thing that he said that made me really think about what globalization and the cons that come with the pros. Cesar explained to us that there was a period of time when traditional music was captivating a lot of interest and indigenous people were able to make a profit from selling their music, but he said this changed, and in an attempt to keep up with the new trends there are indigenous people that have decided to use traditional instruments to make reggeton, beatles songs, pop, etc. He said that this seems to work, and I guess its good, but at the same time I can’t feel like its wrong. I mean its not wrong that they make a living from their trade, I just feel like its one of those sad truths that in order for them to be able to continue making a living they have to now look to main stream music. I asked him if this brought tension between different indigenous groups, and he said of course, but that at the end of the day it comes down to individual indigenous groups decided to try and build a bridge with the outside world and evolve OR decide that they want nothing to do with the outside world and live in the Amazons (which do exist). Next was Parque Condor, where we got to see all these cool animals up close. However, I think we all felt a little guilty because some of the birds had strings and would try and fly but they would only get so far. However, we were told that all these birds were brought in, and most were brought up with humans (even though its illegal to have them as pets) and hence they would die if left on their own. Then we were on the road again, and off to see this sacred tree, el arbor sagrado de Pinllu, and the story goes that the tree is the novio that asked to be struck by lightning after his novia was struck by lightning and turned into the lake.

This was the scammer that said he was "healing" me.

Me, Hannah, and Dita at the mercado de artesanias in Otavalo

This is the arbol sagrado Pinllu that is said to be this man that was struck by lightning and then made into a tree, but only after his novia had been transformed into the lake.

September 12^th:

La cascada de Peguche

Once again we were up and at dinner around 7:20ish am and soon enough we were on our way to la cascada de Peguche (waterfall of Peguche) which was beautiful. Then we headed to la laguna de Cuicocha, which is a lake that is on Cotacachi, a volcano. The story is that the tip of the volcano sunk in and then after a period of time water accumulated and made the lake. Then the volcano erupted the lava created two small islands on the top of the creator, the water was calm and clean and we got to go on a paseo de lancha (boat ride). Once again we got on the bus and headed to a place to eat in Cotacachi, and after words we were able to go to another market and a strip where there was a lot of leather being sold, and I decided to restrain myself from buying things that were for me, which made me feel good because I had a significant amount of money at the other markets…not sure how it happened.

 creator, islands, lancha,

I had to get closer, which meant getting really wet but it was so worth it.

This is the laguna de Cuicocha which is on the creator of a volcano...que paisaje!

We got on a lancha and went around the two islands that are in the lake.

September 18:

Well this was another fun filled weekend, however due to serveral reasons (chuchaqui? lol) some people didn't make it to this trip but no worries...we are going to go back soon. Mindo is about a 2 1/2 hours bus ride, which cost us $4 roundtrip, and the hostal that we stayed at was GREAT (Casa de cecilia) the lady there was so kind and helpful to us, and the rooms were $6/night. The lady there arranged for a taxi to take us tubing and then ziplining for a total of $16! Tubing was fun, but the best part was definetly ziplinging. There were 13 lines we went through, and we were able to do a tricks, the options were superman or mariposa and both involved going down the line with a guide, which is why we were only allowed one trick per person. The views were incredible, and although I got a bruse from my harnest, I definetly want to do it again. I am embaressed to say that I did break the first and most important rule...they said never, to ever put your hand infront of the line because of the fact that it would get caught by the pulley. That said, I started to spin and put my hand infront, the glove that I was wearing got caught in the pulley, I stopped, glove fell, I was pulled in, and then the guides had to try and find my glove, and once they found it there was a pretty big hole on the thumb of it, so if my fingers were longer (even just by a little bit) I probably would have gotten really hurt. But other than that it was a very successful activity.

September 19:

Once we got up we decided that due to time, and money, we would only do one activity: waterfalls. The place we went was about a 20 minute taxi (it was actually a truck) ride from our hostal, and we had to take a teleferico to get to the otherside. It was pretty great to get into the cold water after we had hiked so much, Sarvie and I didn't bring bathing suits because we thought we weren't going to want to getin, but we decided to get into the water at the last cascada that we went to while we watched some of our friends jump off a cliff. Anywho here are some pictures of that weekend.



The lift that took us to the waterfalls.



Me doing the mariposa.

La cascada,  you can sorta see the ledge that people jumped from.

Transportation in Quito is always an adventure

View of Quito from a super busy roundabout that I have
to cross everyday...twice a day.

Well believe it or not this is my fourth week here!! Okay this means I think I am allowed to say some of the pros...and cons of this lovely city. For starters I like that there is sooo much to do, theres always new places to go explore. However,just like any big city you have to be careful of pick-picketer's, express kidnappings (an agent for the U.S embassy came to talk to the international students and brought this to our attention), and the food. Transportation is everywhere, there are buses, the metrobuses called the ecovia, and the trolleys, but these drivers are not always the most considering type of people, they have a mission: get to all the stops in the least amount of time. This is great for those of us in a hurry, but it also means that you have to hold on for dear life, while holding onto your belongings because at any point you might get robbed. I have to take a bus to "el ecovia" and then go to the end of the station called "rio coca" and then cross then walk half a block (its actually less) and get on a bus that takes me to Cumbaya, which is the valley next to Quito and where USFQ is located. This usually takes about 45 minutes, give or take, and I usually enjoy the ride...gives me time to think and soak the city and soak in the fact that I am in a different country, but when you get shoved into "el ecovia" and can't find a place to hold onto, and the driver doesn't care if you fall or not, and you are sure someone just grabbed your butt...well you start to miss the campus life, when no bus (or trolley) was needed, and all you had to do was walk down (Academy St.) and get to class.  The rule of thumb as far as transportation goes for getting around after dark, which is 6:30ish, is to always take a taxi. Now, if its not too late then the taxi will use the speedometer, but if he doesn't then you have to negotiate with them. I had a hard time understanding why I would want to bargin when the total was $6, in chicago it would cost maybe $10 for the same distance, however once I saw my host sister get the price down to $4 I learned the ecua way to bargin...and it also helped to think that a bus would cost 25 cents, therefore $6 to get to the same place is expensive. After listening to a few presentations during orientation I feel like I am a pro at scouting the good taxis vs the bad ones that would kidnap you, make you give them money, and maybe hurt you (this is the express kidnapping that the agent guy was talking about). To avoid this we have been given taxi numbers to call, some even text you the make and model of taxi, the color, thier number, and how long it might take. Problem? Yes. There are times when you call them and nobody answers, or they do and they tell you that there are no taxis available, which then leaves only one choice...go find a taxi at the nearest busy street. However, this should be done in a group, and as long as the taxi has a orange liscense plate, company sign at the side, and a number you should be good. Well thats as much safety tips you probably wanted to know but I felt like I had to share the knowledge :)

The stop on the Ecovia that I get on (and off) is called "Naciones Unidas"