Well, to begin this entry, I'd like to say that I am now back, safely on U.S. Soil... and I don't think I've ever really felt this disappointed to be here.
I loved studying abroad ... especially in Ecuador and this next year is going to be pretty tough for me.
I am really considering heading back there as soon as possible... hopefully next summer and maybe stay there for a year to work.
My last 2 weeks there was spent working endlessly on three different essays and taking my final for advanced Spanish. My end results were not bad, I received 3.0's in both... but I am trying to fight one, because I can't figure out how one can get almost 100% on everything and still get a B... but we shall see how that turns out.
I ended up spending the last few days mostly in Quito, visiting the places I liked the most -- Quito Antiguo, going on TeleferiQo again and then visiting the Guayasamim museums.
To check out some of his stuff, go to: http://www.capilladelhombre.com/
I was going to go to Banos and then to Mindo with one of the other girls on the trip, but out of nowhere she backed out and it's "unsafe to travel alone."
But I did end up going to Mindo and that was a blast!!! I swam underneath waterfalls, played with butterflies in the mariposaria and then went tubing down the Rio Mindo.
And my hostal for the one night only cost me $5! A-Mazing.
THe last two nights in Quito a bunch of us went down to the Mariscal and danced and of course we had to go to Bungalow 6. I talked to the owner there and thanked him. And asked him who the picture of the man on the door was -- he couldn't remember, so when I asked if it was Franz Kafka, he was like OMG YES THAT's who it is!!! And then he explained the reasoning that he put it on there because Kafka's work was very out there and that he has osme very out there experiences here at the bar because of all the GRINGOS!
Wednesday night we went to the Plaza Fosch and listened to this ska/reggae band, ate Ecuadorian food ( I MISS EMPANADAS de Morocho!)
And basically I didn't sleep at all... I was at the airport at 4 a.m. on Thursday and was first in line. $37.90 to leave Ecuador... and well... let's just say between flight delays in Houston, I didn't get home until midnight!
I'm going to miss writing in this journal, but maybe one day in the future I'll be able to write again... on my second trip to Ecuador!
Ciao mi amores!
Ecuador, Mi Pais! Si se puede!
Sunday 29 July 2007
Thursday 12 July 2007
Tiputini -- The Rain Forest!
So it's been a few days since I've gotten back from Tiputini Biodiversity Station (aka THE RAIN FOREST or La SELVA)!!!!
I have to say that when I first found out that I was going to la selva, I was quite excited because I remember back in 4th grade, we had this whole unit on the rainforest and did different projects where we recreated the rainforest in our classroom, covering the entire place up with construction paper and other sorts of paper to make it look like the rain forest. We did different reports on animals, climate, insects, etc. that involved the rain forest and ever since then I knew I wanted to visit there (but never did I think it was going to be possible).
So here's what went down, Thursday night Sarina and La Cris (one of our Ecuadorian friends) hung out with Jessica and La Vero (another one of our Ecuadorian friends), afterwards Sarina and Cris slept over ... or more or less, just talked until we had to be up at 6 a.m.to make it to the airport by 7am. There we took an Icaro plane from Quito to Coca, then took a Chiva (a type of truck) to this hotel where we waited around until we got our boat... in the meantime, we hung out with some monkeys and random birds (oh yea and a turtle) until then. The boat ride there wasn't bad, but it started to rain a little... I slept on the boat until we got to the Repsol Petrol station where we had to go through security (and weren't allowed to take pictures at this point for security purposes)... from there we took another Chiva for about 2 hours to another boat, where that was another 2 hours or so until we got to Tiputini Station. On the way in these rare dolphins that are pink came up and poked their heads out. Renee (the manager of Tiputini) was saying it was good luck because they haven't seen those dolphins in over a month until we came. After that we got our bunks (I bunked with Emily, Sarina and Megan O)... and we headed off to dinner. I must say the food there was AMAZING!!!!!!
Afterwards, we split off into our guide groups and found out that we had this cute, old guide named Mayer (who used to be a hunter with his father in the jungle). Three of the five groups took a boat around the Tiputini River and saw Caymans (a type of alligator) and saw a few large spiders (on the boat). I was ready to zoink out at that point, so I went to bed afterwards and slept until 5:30am the next day when we had to get up and begin our walking trail.
So Saturday we took a boat to where we were going to start our walking trail and walked up to this canopy tower... which was extremely high (I am surprised I didn't freak out a little... especially since it was attached to a tree that was swaying the entire time). We saw a bunch of different birds and a sloth... that was pretty fun.
Afterwards we headed over to a lagoon and got into an EXTREMELY SMALL canoe and canoed around the lagoon... that's when my camera died ... it was pretty upsetting.
There we saw some turtles and these HUGE turkey-like birds in the trees. Afterwards we walked all the way back to Tiputini Station for lunch. On the way we saw some lizards and some more insects and Mayer showed us different types of trees and plants. Trees that kill other trees, walking trees, trees whose sap can kill you... plants that cure different types of cancers, flowers that prevent women from getting pregnant, flowers that help cramps during menstruation and a plant that you cut open for a liquid that helps with contact lenses. Quite interesting I must say.
After lunch, we went and took a boat ride to Las aguas negras (black waters) and fished for phiranas (spelling?)... our group caught about 6 total ... they are really pretty fish, minus their red eyes... but they are all sparkly -- one of the girls on the boat said they are like "drag queens" ... who knows what she meant by that.
Anyways, after that the group went floating down the river back to the station. Once we got back we just hung out until dinner. Dinner was FABULOUS, again! Afterwards, our group got together and we did a night walk where we were able to see two HUGE tarantulas and a bunch of other random bugs that only come out at night. Including the biggest cricket I have ever seen in my life. And surprisingly, Shannon (from Virginia Tech) picked it right up and was just letitng it walk all over her. I will continue to upload photos but it takes forever to get all of them on flickr.
I ended up slipping and falling though and ripped a pair of pants in the crotch... so there went one pair of pants. I changed and ended up playing some Cuarenta with Panchito and Sarina and just talking until 1 a.m.
On the way out of the library where we were playing, we were swarmed by smaller crickets, but quickly got back to our bunks safely.
The next day, we ended up doing this rediculously long trail -- saw some howler monkeys, some spider monkeys and some wooly monkeys (spelling?)... that was pretty interesting. But other than that, we just saw some random insects and Mayer kept stopping at random plants to tell us stories about how these plants/trees/flowers have cured people he knows of something or other.
I ended up falling again on this trip and broke another pair of pants in the crotch (and this pair was BRAND NEW for this trip to Ecuador)... so now I'm down by 2 pants. I was getting really frustrated because this walk was pretty difficult and there was a lot of mud... and after falling 7 times, I had had enough. Just before we got back to the station, there was another bridge of muddy logs that I had to cross over but there was nothing to hold onto. Now understand at this point I was extremely frustrated. I start to cross the bridge and almost slip again... and that's when I just broke down and started crying. It was pretty pathetic... and one of the girls who had already crossed came back and grabbed my hand and helped me across. TEAMWORK.
After that I was just exhausted and could not wait for lunch... after lunch sarina and I decided to just relax and ended up going out on the boat again with the other group instead of doing another walk. I love the boat, it's very peaceful and I just sat up at the tip and listened to the birds and watched the little fishies in the river stear clear of us.
That was pretty much it, we had a presentation by Renee (the manager of the station) that evening and he showed us pictures of this project they are working on in conjunction with National Geographic. They have some great photos of jaguars, pumas, leopards... etc. I think he said something like they've counted 7 different leopards in the area... which is the most counted in a dense area like this around the world.
All in all, I had this amazing time and I really would love to go again...it's so beautiful and peaceful and you don't have to worry about stupid things like papers (which I've been working on ever since I got back to Quito).
I have to say that when I first found out that I was going to la selva, I was quite excited because I remember back in 4th grade, we had this whole unit on the rainforest and did different projects where we recreated the rainforest in our classroom, covering the entire place up with construction paper and other sorts of paper to make it look like the rain forest. We did different reports on animals, climate, insects, etc. that involved the rain forest and ever since then I knew I wanted to visit there (but never did I think it was going to be possible).
So here's what went down, Thursday night Sarina and La Cris (one of our Ecuadorian friends) hung out with Jessica and La Vero (another one of our Ecuadorian friends), afterwards Sarina and Cris slept over ... or more or less, just talked until we had to be up at 6 a.m.to make it to the airport by 7am. There we took an Icaro plane from Quito to Coca, then took a Chiva (a type of truck) to this hotel where we waited around until we got our boat... in the meantime, we hung out with some monkeys and random birds (oh yea and a turtle) until then. The boat ride there wasn't bad, but it started to rain a little... I slept on the boat until we got to the Repsol Petrol station where we had to go through security (and weren't allowed to take pictures at this point for security purposes)... from there we took another Chiva for about 2 hours to another boat, where that was another 2 hours or so until we got to Tiputini Station. On the way in these rare dolphins that are pink came up and poked their heads out. Renee (the manager of Tiputini) was saying it was good luck because they haven't seen those dolphins in over a month until we came. After that we got our bunks (I bunked with Emily, Sarina and Megan O)... and we headed off to dinner. I must say the food there was AMAZING!!!!!!
Afterwards, we split off into our guide groups and found out that we had this cute, old guide named Mayer (who used to be a hunter with his father in the jungle). Three of the five groups took a boat around the Tiputini River and saw Caymans (a type of alligator) and saw a few large spiders (on the boat). I was ready to zoink out at that point, so I went to bed afterwards and slept until 5:30am the next day when we had to get up and begin our walking trail.
So Saturday we took a boat to where we were going to start our walking trail and walked up to this canopy tower... which was extremely high (I am surprised I didn't freak out a little... especially since it was attached to a tree that was swaying the entire time). We saw a bunch of different birds and a sloth... that was pretty fun.
Afterwards we headed over to a lagoon and got into an EXTREMELY SMALL canoe and canoed around the lagoon... that's when my camera died ... it was pretty upsetting.
There we saw some turtles and these HUGE turkey-like birds in the trees. Afterwards we walked all the way back to Tiputini Station for lunch. On the way we saw some lizards and some more insects and Mayer showed us different types of trees and plants. Trees that kill other trees, walking trees, trees whose sap can kill you... plants that cure different types of cancers, flowers that prevent women from getting pregnant, flowers that help cramps during menstruation and a plant that you cut open for a liquid that helps with contact lenses. Quite interesting I must say.
After lunch, we went and took a boat ride to Las aguas negras (black waters) and fished for phiranas (spelling?)... our group caught about 6 total ... they are really pretty fish, minus their red eyes... but they are all sparkly -- one of the girls on the boat said they are like "drag queens" ... who knows what she meant by that.
Anyways, after that the group went floating down the river back to the station. Once we got back we just hung out until dinner. Dinner was FABULOUS, again! Afterwards, our group got together and we did a night walk where we were able to see two HUGE tarantulas and a bunch of other random bugs that only come out at night. Including the biggest cricket I have ever seen in my life. And surprisingly, Shannon (from Virginia Tech) picked it right up and was just letitng it walk all over her. I will continue to upload photos but it takes forever to get all of them on flickr.
I ended up slipping and falling though and ripped a pair of pants in the crotch... so there went one pair of pants. I changed and ended up playing some Cuarenta with Panchito and Sarina and just talking until 1 a.m.
On the way out of the library where we were playing, we were swarmed by smaller crickets, but quickly got back to our bunks safely.
The next day, we ended up doing this rediculously long trail -- saw some howler monkeys, some spider monkeys and some wooly monkeys (spelling?)... that was pretty interesting. But other than that, we just saw some random insects and Mayer kept stopping at random plants to tell us stories about how these plants/trees/flowers have cured people he knows of something or other.
I ended up falling again on this trip and broke another pair of pants in the crotch (and this pair was BRAND NEW for this trip to Ecuador)... so now I'm down by 2 pants. I was getting really frustrated because this walk was pretty difficult and there was a lot of mud... and after falling 7 times, I had had enough. Just before we got back to the station, there was another bridge of muddy logs that I had to cross over but there was nothing to hold onto. Now understand at this point I was extremely frustrated. I start to cross the bridge and almost slip again... and that's when I just broke down and started crying. It was pretty pathetic... and one of the girls who had already crossed came back and grabbed my hand and helped me across. TEAMWORK.
After that I was just exhausted and could not wait for lunch... after lunch sarina and I decided to just relax and ended up going out on the boat again with the other group instead of doing another walk. I love the boat, it's very peaceful and I just sat up at the tip and listened to the birds and watched the little fishies in the river stear clear of us.
That was pretty much it, we had a presentation by Renee (the manager of the station) that evening and he showed us pictures of this project they are working on in conjunction with National Geographic. They have some great photos of jaguars, pumas, leopards... etc. I think he said something like they've counted 7 different leopards in the area... which is the most counted in a dense area like this around the world.
All in all, I had this amazing time and I really would love to go again...it's so beautiful and peaceful and you don't have to worry about stupid things like papers (which I've been working on ever since I got back to Quito).
Wednesday 4 July 2007
I added some more pictures on flickr, so check them out... http://www.flickr.com/photos/8664843@N07/
Happy 4th of July Everyone!!!!
I kind of wish I was home today, just so I could go watch the fireworks with my family... I miss laying out on blankies and watching the "booms." haha... But then I realized that even if I was home in Michigan, my mom wouldn't be there since she's partying in California with my Aunt and my brother is off being a camp counselor at Tamarack!
Anyways, lots of amor from Ecuador!
Happy 4th of July Everyone!!!!
I kind of wish I was home today, just so I could go watch the fireworks with my family... I miss laying out on blankies and watching the "booms." haha... But then I realized that even if I was home in Michigan, my mom wouldn't be there since she's partying in California with my Aunt and my brother is off being a camp counselor at Tamarack!
Anyways, lots of amor from Ecuador!
Tuesday 3 July 2007
Workin' on week 6...
Hola Todos... I thought that I'd write in this more often, but apparently this'll be numero seis... que lastima! (WHAT A SHAME!)
Nothing much has really been going on, last weekend I spent half the time in Quito and the other half in Papallata, about an hour away from Cumbaya (where my school is located). Apparently there is a volcano somewhere close by that heats up hot springs, so I just went with one of my Ecuadorian friends there and we just relaxed in the hot springs this past Saturday.
We got back that evening (since it was rainy and gross out, we couldn't ride horses there) and we just hung out in Quito... watched movies and Sunday I spent the day writing out an oral presentation and then a paper on San Ignacio de Loyola and San Francisco Javier for my Arte Colonial de Quito clase. I turned that in yesterday and presented and everything went well. At first I was pretty worried about this class, but I got my first test back and although I didn't do that great, I did A LOT better than I thought I did.
It's hard to think that I am working on my 6th week here... this Saturday marks the fact that we only have 3 weeks left here!
I was considering changing my flight to come home around August 5th, but it costs over $200 and, really, what I am going to do here for a week alone... my friends here all work during the day.
This Friday I leave for Tiputini (the rain forest) and I'll be gone through Monday night -- this has been a dream of mine since I was in 4th grade and we decorated the room as if it was a rainforest and did all these book reports on rain forests and animals.
Hope all is going well with everyone back in the states!!! And leave me comments! I'd love to hear from all of you!
Nothing much has really been going on, last weekend I spent half the time in Quito and the other half in Papallata, about an hour away from Cumbaya (where my school is located). Apparently there is a volcano somewhere close by that heats up hot springs, so I just went with one of my Ecuadorian friends there and we just relaxed in the hot springs this past Saturday.
We got back that evening (since it was rainy and gross out, we couldn't ride horses there) and we just hung out in Quito... watched movies and Sunday I spent the day writing out an oral presentation and then a paper on San Ignacio de Loyola and San Francisco Javier for my Arte Colonial de Quito clase. I turned that in yesterday and presented and everything went well. At first I was pretty worried about this class, but I got my first test back and although I didn't do that great, I did A LOT better than I thought I did.
It's hard to think that I am working on my 6th week here... this Saturday marks the fact that we only have 3 weeks left here!
I was considering changing my flight to come home around August 5th, but it costs over $200 and, really, what I am going to do here for a week alone... my friends here all work during the day.
This Friday I leave for Tiputini (the rain forest) and I'll be gone through Monday night -- this has been a dream of mine since I was in 4th grade and we decorated the room as if it was a rainforest and did all these book reports on rain forests and animals.
Hope all is going well with everyone back in the states!!! And leave me comments! I'd love to hear from all of you!
Thursday 21 June 2007
It's been awhile...
For the past two weeks, since the beach, I've mostly been spending my time at the Universidad dealing with my studies and the like. I definitely have felt the "W curve" ... where around the third week you get home sick and I called my parents on Monday because of that. It was a rough day though because I started off by slipping and falling in the shower, landing pretty hard on my right wrist and smacking my right shoulder blade against the wall...Then on top of that, my art class isn't going so well and I was (still am) worried about it... I had the midterm this morning but who knows how that went.
This past weekend, I chose to stay in Quito and run around the city -- it's basically a city that never ends... Friday I went to central Quito (to the Old Town) and saw el Convento de San Diego with my art history class. Afterwards my friends and I walked around and went into the San Francisco church as well. Like I probably said before, these convents and churches are GORGEOUS! They're all built sometime between the 15th and 18th centuries, and they are just remarkable -- all of the barroque decorations and the paintings are just magnificent.
After spending the day downtown, I came back and took a nap and went out with two of my new Ecuadorian friends to La Mariscal -- we ate dinner at a restaurant called the ChaCha and had pizza and Pilseners (Ecuadorian beer)... and then went to a discoteque to dance the night away.
Most of the others decided to head back to Otavalo Saturday morning around 6am, and I missed my alarm, so I wasn't able to go... so I ended up going to El Mercado Mayorista in South Quito (an area which my university here tells me not to go because it's "so dangerous," but it's really not that bad). I went with my host mom and her brother and we walked around and bargained for better prices on fruits and vegetables. I also got to see a lot of dead pigs heads and cows hoofs... which made me think about becoming a vegetarian haha.
There, I got to meet my host mom's maid, Jessica and her family and we drove them back to their house in the South. And then I went to Panecillo, which is one of the mountains in Quito that has the statue of the Virgen de Panecillo. The Virgen sits on top of a serpiente, which signifies something like crushing of the demons. It's said that the Virgen looks over all of Quito and protects the Quitenos from evil.
After Panecillo, we ended up back at the house and had lunch and then my host mom's brother, Julio, took me to TeleferiQo where I went up to the top of Mt. Pinchincha and got to see an amazing view of the ENTIRE city of Quito. We go up on the TeleferiQo, in little cable cars that are suspended from heavy wires.... so yea... let's just say I got over my fear of heights quickly.
Anyways, I don't know what else to say... I've just been running around Quito, going to school and spending time with friends ... oh yea and making some Ecuadorian friends as well.
I hope all is well back in the States! Tomorrow I leave for Riobamba in the Sierra... also known as Friobamba, because it's so cold... We're going to check out the other campus of USFQ and possibly take a train around the Nariz del Diablo... which is a volcano, I believe.
I am currently updating my flickr with pictures, so check it out when you can... the link is in previous posts!
Ciao mis amores!
This past weekend, I chose to stay in Quito and run around the city -- it's basically a city that never ends... Friday I went to central Quito (to the Old Town) and saw el Convento de San Diego with my art history class. Afterwards my friends and I walked around and went into the San Francisco church as well. Like I probably said before, these convents and churches are GORGEOUS! They're all built sometime between the 15th and 18th centuries, and they are just remarkable -- all of the barroque decorations and the paintings are just magnificent.
After spending the day downtown, I came back and took a nap and went out with two of my new Ecuadorian friends to La Mariscal -- we ate dinner at a restaurant called the ChaCha and had pizza and Pilseners (Ecuadorian beer)... and then went to a discoteque to dance the night away.
Most of the others decided to head back to Otavalo Saturday morning around 6am, and I missed my alarm, so I wasn't able to go... so I ended up going to El Mercado Mayorista in South Quito (an area which my university here tells me not to go because it's "so dangerous," but it's really not that bad). I went with my host mom and her brother and we walked around and bargained for better prices on fruits and vegetables. I also got to see a lot of dead pigs heads and cows hoofs... which made me think about becoming a vegetarian haha.
There, I got to meet my host mom's maid, Jessica and her family and we drove them back to their house in the South. And then I went to Panecillo, which is one of the mountains in Quito that has the statue of the Virgen de Panecillo. The Virgen sits on top of a serpiente, which signifies something like crushing of the demons. It's said that the Virgen looks over all of Quito and protects the Quitenos from evil.
After Panecillo, we ended up back at the house and had lunch and then my host mom's brother, Julio, took me to TeleferiQo where I went up to the top of Mt. Pinchincha and got to see an amazing view of the ENTIRE city of Quito. We go up on the TeleferiQo, in little cable cars that are suspended from heavy wires.... so yea... let's just say I got over my fear of heights quickly.
Anyways, I don't know what else to say... I've just been running around Quito, going to school and spending time with friends ... oh yea and making some Ecuadorian friends as well.
I hope all is well back in the States! Tomorrow I leave for Riobamba in the Sierra... also known as Friobamba, because it's so cold... We're going to check out the other campus of USFQ and possibly take a train around the Nariz del Diablo... which is a volcano, I believe.
I am currently updating my flickr with pictures, so check it out when you can... the link is in previous posts!
Ciao mis amores!
Tuesday 12 June 2007
La Playa Esmereldas...
So we went on our first paseo this past weekend. We left Thursday around 3pm (after I did Sarina, Aaron and I did our subjunctive dialogue in SPN class). That, I thought, went over well for the most part.
On the bus, thankfully, I got my own space, so I didn't have to cramp up with anyone... especially on the long ride... which probably took us about 8 hours if not more, because we kept having to stop either because people needed a restroom or the bus' windshield wipers weren't working properly. We arrived probably around 10:30 - 11pm at La Casablanca (the hotel we were staying at) and we ate dinner right away which was fish ceviche (cold soup) and spaghetti with jamon (ham).. yep... I didn't eat much but it wasn't bad nonetheless.
We picked out our rooms and I bunked up with Nidhi and Shannon (from VT). It wasn't bad... we were in the largest room in comparison to the rest of the group. We had 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a dining room area and a kitchen. Now... you must realize that at night time, well more like midnight, this place is a little scary. There was random shit on all of the sheets... some of which smelled... then we noticed the cieling fans were all dirty with something and then around the bedrooms, splattered red-something was all over... so Nidhi thought that maybe someone got their head chopped off from the cieling fan and the red stuff on the walls was the blood. Who knows?!!?! On top of this, I cut my fingers on one of the floor fans AND both of our doors into our cabana didn't exactly lock... so anyone could just walk right in whenever they wanted to.
All I know, is that Nidhi, Shannon and I shared the big bed together that night and I kept a knife at the head of my bed.
Friday morning we were up early eating breakfast and then off on the boats to go humpback whale watching. The sun poked out a few times but it really wasn't that sunny out unfortunately, but at least it wasn't raining and the waves were good. Only a few people got seasick.
I did get to see some whales AND hear them -- that is definitely an experience I won't ever forget.
Afterwards they dropped us off at a different beach and we swam around and played soccer on the shore. I got stung by a jelly fish, but it was no big deal. We ate lunch at the little restaurant on this beach and since I am not a fan of seafood, I was able to eat pollo en la plancha (grilled chicken).
Afterwards we headed back to our hotel, but stopped at a store to buy snacks and biellas (booze)... I bought a Japa for $10 -- that means 12, 40 oz. Pilseners... amazing!
When we got back everyone showered and got all cute to go eat pizza at this restaurant off the beach (but not at the hotel). And then afterwards we headed back to the hotel and drank and talked the night away.
Saturday we spent the day at the beach near our hotel and played voleibol... but it was raining (from what I understand the UNCW students who went whalewatching on Saturday all got sick from the boatride and didn't even get to see any whales... que lastima!).
After lunch we ended up going to la playa escondido and did some exploring --- found some crabs and some pretty seashells too.... and we ate dinner at a restaurant there... I had more chicken and it was DELISH!!!!!!
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and I had some strawberry daquiris which were amazing and we made one of the bartenders clear off the chairs from the patio by the shore so we could dance.
Others decided to go swimming and eventually skinny dip and run around naked for the rest of the night. Que chevere.. ha
And that was that.... We left early Sunday morning back to Quito and stopped at a lodge that was located somewhat in a forest of some sort. I got to see a Toucan and some hummingbirds really close ... I am getting more and more excited to go to Tiputini in 4 weeks!!! I've always wanted to go to a rain forest.
Anyways, I'm just sitting here waiting for my next class to start at 1pm... I'm still working on making some more Ecuatorian friends... I've made a few so far, but it's hard to make them at the school, since only 1 of my classes has Ecuadorians and there's only like 8 of them... and most keep to themselves.
I think I might go to a liga soccer game tomorrow... we shall see.
Friday I am going to el Convento de San Diego with my art class and I think I'm just going to travel around Quito for the weekend and see what I haven't seen thus far -- like el mitad de mundo, teleferiqo and el museo de Gauyasamim.
I uploaded pictures from this weekend, so enjoy --> http://www.flickr.com/photos/8664843@N07/
On the bus, thankfully, I got my own space, so I didn't have to cramp up with anyone... especially on the long ride... which probably took us about 8 hours if not more, because we kept having to stop either because people needed a restroom or the bus' windshield wipers weren't working properly. We arrived probably around 10:30 - 11pm at La Casablanca (the hotel we were staying at) and we ate dinner right away which was fish ceviche (cold soup) and spaghetti with jamon (ham).. yep... I didn't eat much but it wasn't bad nonetheless.
We picked out our rooms and I bunked up with Nidhi and Shannon (from VT). It wasn't bad... we were in the largest room in comparison to the rest of the group. We had 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a dining room area and a kitchen. Now... you must realize that at night time, well more like midnight, this place is a little scary. There was random shit on all of the sheets... some of which smelled... then we noticed the cieling fans were all dirty with something and then around the bedrooms, splattered red-something was all over... so Nidhi thought that maybe someone got their head chopped off from the cieling fan and the red stuff on the walls was the blood. Who knows?!!?! On top of this, I cut my fingers on one of the floor fans AND both of our doors into our cabana didn't exactly lock... so anyone could just walk right in whenever they wanted to.
All I know, is that Nidhi, Shannon and I shared the big bed together that night and I kept a knife at the head of my bed.
Friday morning we were up early eating breakfast and then off on the boats to go humpback whale watching. The sun poked out a few times but it really wasn't that sunny out unfortunately, but at least it wasn't raining and the waves were good. Only a few people got seasick.
I did get to see some whales AND hear them -- that is definitely an experience I won't ever forget.
Afterwards they dropped us off at a different beach and we swam around and played soccer on the shore. I got stung by a jelly fish, but it was no big deal. We ate lunch at the little restaurant on this beach and since I am not a fan of seafood, I was able to eat pollo en la plancha (grilled chicken).
Afterwards we headed back to our hotel, but stopped at a store to buy snacks and biellas (booze)... I bought a Japa for $10 -- that means 12, 40 oz. Pilseners... amazing!
When we got back everyone showered and got all cute to go eat pizza at this restaurant off the beach (but not at the hotel). And then afterwards we headed back to the hotel and drank and talked the night away.
Saturday we spent the day at the beach near our hotel and played voleibol... but it was raining (from what I understand the UNCW students who went whalewatching on Saturday all got sick from the boatride and didn't even get to see any whales... que lastima!).
After lunch we ended up going to la playa escondido and did some exploring --- found some crabs and some pretty seashells too.... and we ate dinner at a restaurant there... I had more chicken and it was DELISH!!!!!!
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and I had some strawberry daquiris which were amazing and we made one of the bartenders clear off the chairs from the patio by the shore so we could dance.
Others decided to go swimming and eventually skinny dip and run around naked for the rest of the night. Que chevere.. ha
And that was that.... We left early Sunday morning back to Quito and stopped at a lodge that was located somewhat in a forest of some sort. I got to see a Toucan and some hummingbirds really close ... I am getting more and more excited to go to Tiputini in 4 weeks!!! I've always wanted to go to a rain forest.
Anyways, I'm just sitting here waiting for my next class to start at 1pm... I'm still working on making some more Ecuatorian friends... I've made a few so far, but it's hard to make them at the school, since only 1 of my classes has Ecuadorians and there's only like 8 of them... and most keep to themselves.
I think I might go to a liga soccer game tomorrow... we shall see.
Friday I am going to el Convento de San Diego with my art class and I think I'm just going to travel around Quito for the weekend and see what I haven't seen thus far -- like el mitad de mundo, teleferiqo and el museo de Gauyasamim.
I uploaded pictures from this weekend, so enjoy --> http://www.flickr.com/photos/8664843@N07/
Monday 4 June 2007
Moving on to the second week....
So there's a lot to talk about I guess... I am now only taking two classes -- the Art History of Arquitectural Quito and then an Advanced Spanish class (woo haha -- go SUBJUNCTIVE forms)!
Classes seem to be going well, the homework is hard because everything is in Spanish and it takes me longer to read it... but, hopefully I will get better as we go along here.
Thursday night about 10 of us went to La Mariscal and went to a club called El Bungalow (or La Bung) and danced -- they played a lot of 80s and 90s American music intermingled with Salsa and some Techno. It was really fun and I tried a Mojito, but I didn't like it much.
Friday and Saturday I spent in Otavalo with about 12 other of the MSU students and some randoms from Virginia Tech and a school in Montreal. It was really fun -- we arrived around 6pm, so it was already dark and we started roaming the streets to find a hostal. We found one that was written up in all of the travel guides called Hostal de Almanacer and that's where we stayed for $8 and it included breakfast the next morning. Once we were checked in, we wandered around Otavalo, had some Hummus and Falafel and some Pilsners (la cerveza de Ecuador) and basically stayed up until 2:30 a.m.
We all woke up at 7:30 a.m. and had breakfast which was good -- an omellete con verduras (vegetables).
Afterwards we headed to the indigenous market and I bargained with the vendors... I ended up getting 2 purses, 3 indigenous instruments, a bunch of bracelets, a paintining and a keychain for about $20.
We had to check out at noon... and then everyone was like "let's just go home." So we did... I ended up at La Mariscal Saturday night again with Nidhi and we met up with two other MSU kids, but Nidhi wasn't feelin' so hot and I was tired so went home by midnight.
Sunday I spent doing homework and then went to El Jardin mall with my host mom, Elena and her brother Juli, ate some Chinese food and then we went to Itchimbia, which is this area where you can see an amazing view of the three sections of the city.
I've posted pictures on flickr ---> http://www.flickr.com/photos/8664843@N07/
I am trying to find a good place to post pictures, but I don't know how much I like flickr or photobucket so far. Anyone have any suggestions!?!
Ciao 4 now, because I need to head to class soon. I miss all of you, A LOT!
Oh and I saw Trainspotting last night, very interesting. DVDs here are like $1.50 ... so I'm going to hit up the store soon and buy some --- They already have Shrek 3 out ha.
Ciao.
Classes seem to be going well, the homework is hard because everything is in Spanish and it takes me longer to read it... but, hopefully I will get better as we go along here.
Thursday night about 10 of us went to La Mariscal and went to a club called El Bungalow (or La Bung) and danced -- they played a lot of 80s and 90s American music intermingled with Salsa and some Techno. It was really fun and I tried a Mojito, but I didn't like it much.
Friday and Saturday I spent in Otavalo with about 12 other of the MSU students and some randoms from Virginia Tech and a school in Montreal. It was really fun -- we arrived around 6pm, so it was already dark and we started roaming the streets to find a hostal. We found one that was written up in all of the travel guides called Hostal de Almanacer and that's where we stayed for $8 and it included breakfast the next morning. Once we were checked in, we wandered around Otavalo, had some Hummus and Falafel and some Pilsners (la cerveza de Ecuador) and basically stayed up until 2:30 a.m.
We all woke up at 7:30 a.m. and had breakfast which was good -- an omellete con verduras (vegetables).
Afterwards we headed to the indigenous market and I bargained with the vendors... I ended up getting 2 purses, 3 indigenous instruments, a bunch of bracelets, a paintining and a keychain for about $20.
We had to check out at noon... and then everyone was like "let's just go home." So we did... I ended up at La Mariscal Saturday night again with Nidhi and we met up with two other MSU kids, but Nidhi wasn't feelin' so hot and I was tired so went home by midnight.
Sunday I spent doing homework and then went to El Jardin mall with my host mom, Elena and her brother Juli, ate some Chinese food and then we went to Itchimbia, which is this area where you can see an amazing view of the three sections of the city.
I've posted pictures on flickr ---> http://www.flickr.com/photos/8664843@N07/
I am trying to find a good place to post pictures, but I don't know how much I like flickr or photobucket so far. Anyone have any suggestions!?!
Ciao 4 now, because I need to head to class soon. I miss all of you, A LOT!
Oh and I saw Trainspotting last night, very interesting. DVDs here are like $1.50 ... so I'm going to hit up the store soon and buy some --- They already have Shrek 3 out ha.
Ciao.
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