I have Died and Entered Ecologists’ Heaven

Tor and I, super excited to be here

I have arrived in the Galapagos and oh my god, I am happy beyond all reason. This place is amazing. One of the things that I think is making me happiest is also that San Cristobal where we are now really reminds me of home. Maui, especially. There is a small town with a very touristy boardwalk area around the port, where our “school” is located. We have class for a few hours every day at the GAIAS (Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences), which is conveniently directly across the street from one of the best beaches on the island. We are staying in a hotel on the other side of town from Gaias, which means a 15 min walk if we take the long way by the ocean. It’s really hot, but not humid like the jungle, which is nice. What they say about the wildlife here is true! The birds don’t fly away, no matter how loud you are, you have to be careful to not step on the lizards everywhere, and I already have over 50 pictures of sea lions after only being here for 12 hours. I should also mention that sea lion pups are ADORABLE and EVERYWHERE. I may die of cuteness at any moment; it is quite the precarious situation. Basically, life is good. Reeeeal good. My desire to wear shoes has disappeared and I am delighted to be barefoot, covered in sand and coated in salt once again.

TIPUTINI: aka The Jungle Book has a new protagonist and her name is Katie OR There’s cool stuff everywhere!

Katie has returned from the inner depths of the rainforest back to civilization, however, with much sadness. Tiputini was beyond amazing. I can’t even describe it, but definitely some of the best 2 weeks of my life. I am so lucky that I had the opportunity to go to such an amazing place. It’s funny, because lots of other people say Tiputini is a dream come true, and for me it literally was! I have wanted to go to the Amazon since I learned what it was when I was 5 and in kindergarten! I finally fulfilled my dream to live in the jungle and see all the animals I’ve always wanted to see in the wild! Needless to say, I was in heaven for two weeks.
I was surrounded, rather, engulfed by nature and it was fabulous. Our cabins had no walls, but screens instead. Thank god for that, because wearing clothes in itself was undesirable most times (waaay too humid for clothes) although covering up as much as possible was our field strategy for avoiding all the bugs everywhere. It didn’t always work, as I still emerged 2 weeks later looking like an infected Chicken-pox victim of come sort.


Jungle Revelation: Nature is LOUD.
What does it say about our society today when we arrive in a pristine jungle environment and one of the first things we notice is the sound? I never realized nature could get so loud! The constant calls of birds, frogs, the buzzing of insects everywhere, monkeys howling, wind blowing, and all the sound waves carrying for miles through the dense vegetation. It was also interesting for me to get used to the sound of bugs flying around and realizing that they were not all coming to me, but sometimes just passing through (although those insects also had the uncanny ability to crash into my face constantly). I realized that I associate the sound of a large buzzing insect or simply a loud buzzing sound as “bad! gross! watch out!” when in reality, sometimes there really were just big bugs flying a few meters away and couldn’t care less about me.
The sounds of the forest also change, depending on the climate, as I noticed when things got hot and dry versus immediately before and during a rainstorm. The dominance levels, as in more birds versus more frogs, vary constantly, oscillating as much as the calls themselves.
Upon returning to Quito, I noticed how very quiet our cities are in comparison. Even Quito, where there are always cars honking, busses going, and discoteques blaring, seemed so much less alive than when I was lying in my bed, hoping to god the smokey jungle frogs (aka South American Bullfrogs?) would shut up so I could sleep, but enjoying it all the same.


Favorite Spot #1: Tiputini has a canopy tower, a tall metal structure that ascends through the vertical levels of the forest and gives you the opportunity to do observations from a platform embedded in a tree, to see the jungle from the perspective of most creatures instead of the floor where humans are usually restricted to. I have realized that I really like big wide open spaces (cue Dixie Chicks) and as much as I love being in the forest, to go up and see for miles and miles just felt so releasing for me. From here, we could also lots of the birds and creatures we usually had to strain our necks just to glimpse. I went up to the tower at sunrise on two different days and it was so great to watch the jungle come to life, slowly waking with the sun. I have always loved dawn hiking, and this time it was cool to observe the changes in sound and activity as the birds and bugs woke up and became more audible and visible as time passed.

Animals Everywhere! (Common things I saw on numerous occasions)

• caimans
• snakes
• monkeys (saki, wooley, spider, howler, squirrel)
• frogs (incl. poison dart variety dendrobatidae, this picture is of Dendrobatidae bilingus)
  
• fish
• parrots
• flycatchers
• vultures
• ani birds
• hoatzins

Cool stuff I saw that were really special:

• Tapir (super rare)
  
• baby coati (cuchucho! ohmygodsocute)
• scarlet macaws
• cicadas that are huge and eat lizards/frogs

Favorite Spot #2: Sitting on the dock after a long day in the field, sipping tea of manzanilla con miel (chamomile and honey), watching the sun set over the trees and a light fog begin to form above the trees and slowly engulf the distant parts of the river. The aging rays of sun would reflect off the river, shining silver and gold and sending the gentle afternoon sunlight en todos partes. Dusk is also prime bird watching time, and the flycatchers are out in full representation, accompanied by ani birds, vultures and numerous other species I can never remember the names of. As the hour progresses, the birds retreat with the sun and the bats begin to emerge, swooping with their amazing wings, chasing the lingering insects the fill the air. Neither birds nor bats ever hit anything, despite their amazing aerial acrobatics. The combination of the sunset, open area, and especially the river made sitting on the dock almost a daily visit for me while we waited on dinner, soaking in all the glorious beauty of the Tiputini River and the jungle.

Pre-Tiputini

Side note: I uploaded some pictures from our trip to Mindo and the Centro Historico, plus all our Peru adventures. Scroll down to check um out!

I´m off again tomorrow! This time to the jungle to go to the Tiputini Biodiversity Research Station, owned by USFQ out in the rainforest. It´s located in the Napo region, which is considered to be one of the most biodiverse regions IN THE WORLD. Needless to say I am SO EXCITED. Us Ecology kids will be there for two weeks, each of us conducting our own field experiments. I´m studying the dispersion of seeds in relation to the distance from "the mother tree". In theory, if the seeds are too close to the mother tree, they will experience intraspecial competition, though if they´re too far away, they won´t receive the benefits of nearby protection. So basically I´m trying to see if there´s an optimal distance that seeds from the palm iriartea experience. Pretty simply study, but should be good. Everyone´s got some really cool things they´re studying, so it´ll be fun to just run around being supergeeks in the rainforest for a while.
I get back to Quito on the 19th, hopefully with tons of pictures in hand, so that´ll prolly be my next post. I´ll be back for two days before I head out to the Galapagos!! Which I am equally excited for.
Tons of exciting ecology adventures coming up! I can´t wait!!

One last update before I leave…

We’re off to Peru today! So exciting! We don’t even know the airlines we’re flying on, but we’re headed to an internet café to go check, so hopefully we’ll get out of Ecuador without any hassle. We’ll be back on the 30th after our whirlwind adventure to Lima, Cozco, Machu Picchu and back. Should be an awesome time! I’m finally done with school so hooray adventure time!!!
Nene, Tor and I went to Mindo on Thursday morning and that was a blast. We had some fun bus adventures such as taking the most roundabout route possible to get to the terminal we actually wanted to go to in order to get to Mindo. Though we got there and it was great. We stayed in a much less sketchy hostel this time around (highly recommend La Casa de Cecilia) and had a good time. Tor’s room was completely open (as in it was just a bed under the roof, with a door, but no walls whatsoever) and I decided to sleep upstairs in the loft which was also only partially enclosed. We had a good time being nature nerds. It was cloudy and drizzly the entire time we were there, but what else can you expect from a cloud forest?
We got there late in the afternoon on Thursday so we just kinda cruised around, chilled in the hammocks, and ate dinner. Friday morning we were up early, and after breakfast went to an orchid garden and then a hummingbird/butterfly/plant garden. We all appreciated the mutual geekiness as we saw teeeeensy orchids smaller than my pinky nail. After that we went to the main event: ziplining! Luckily there’s 2 zip courses in Mindo so I got to do a different one than last time. It was a blast! Seriously the best way to see the canopy.


Ok all, off to adventures! merry Christmas to wherever you are in the world! Lots of love coming to you all from South America!!!

Amigas y Otavalo

Michelle is here so I am excited!!! I’m still finishing up a bunch of school work and exams, but she got here Thursday and we’ve been having a good time since then. I’m almost done though, and then we can start our grand adventure to Macchu Pichu! We leave Saturday until December 30th to go exploring around Peru. It should be awesome!
Today we got the chance to go to Otavalo with my host-cousin who had to go up there for some work so we just tagged along in the car for funsies with him and his co-worker. We had a good time just seeing the Northern part of the Sierra and such. It was also lucky because I had an exam yesterday, so I thought we wouldn’t get a chance to go to Otavalo, but que suerte, Hanvel invited us to come along. We didn’t have much time since Hanvel (cousin) had to be back by 5 so it was just short stops everywhere, but good adventure nonetheless.
We ate biscoches de cayambe (this biscuit cookie thing that’s a specialty of the region) with manjar (aka dulce de leche; a caramel dairy thing) for snack and had fritada (fried pork), choclo (a starchy corn thing), tostadas (basically corn nuts), potatoes, and avocado for lunch. So Ecua. We walked around the market for a short bit, but it’s a lot smaller on non-Saturdays, and did a little shopping.
Last night we had cafecito at Quicentro, the big mall by my house. We walked down there with Tor and Lolo, hung out there for a few hours, then came back to my house and we all watched Robin Hood and ate cheese and crackers. It was pretty much the best thing ever.
Tomorrow we’ve got plans to go the Centro Historico, which should also be fun. In all, it’s just nice having a little bit of home here in Ecuador with me staying at my house. : )

Fiestas de Quito

So it's 11:30pm and I'm working on a paper due in about 15 hours (don't ask how far along I am) so there is clearly no better time to update my blog.

This weekend we celebrated the founding of Ecuador's capital with basically, the entire city.  The celebrations started last Friday (Nov 28th) and went all week and finished on Sunday December 6th.  It was really cool, everything was kind of thrown off for the fiestas, very fun.  Class attendance by the Ecuadorians, needless to say, was quite low and very sketchy all week. 
There were bull fights all week, although I didn't go to any.  I figured, knowing myself and my beliefs, although it'd be a cool cultural experience, I think it'd make me really uncomfortable, so I decided to opt out of that one.
Lots of partying going on all week, every day.  Ecuadorians really like to party, and it's not nearly as taboo here as it is there.  "Chivas" (which translates to goat, but don't get confused) are a favorite of everyone, and while you can see them year-round, during the fiestas, they are EVERYWHERE.  Basically, it's a big bus/truck thing with a live band on top that slowly drives around the city, filled with people dancing, drinking, singing, blowing whistles, and basically just having the time of their lives.  Between 1-4 chivas/night passed my house every day last week.  I should mention that while I live by a busy road, it's nowhere near a party district.  The chivas just go everywhere.
All week there's been partying and celebration, and it all culminated this weekend.  By Saturday, almost all the buildings had both the Ecuador and Quito flags flying.  We gringos went out on Saturday night to celebrate too,  (I partied in my yellow Ecuador jersey; I was proud).  We went down to the Mariscal (the gringo-land area filled with lots of clubs, bars, people, etc; we usually go out there, as much as it pains me) and it was FILLED with people (Lolo and I were squished on the bus on the way down there, full of drunk futbolistas coming from the game going out to celebrate; they sang the entire way and would break out into "Mi Lindo Quito" about every 3rd song).  More people than I've ever seen there.  All the bars and clubs also upped their prices for the weekend, which wasn't cool, but wasn't too bad since we just partied in the streets with all the Ecuadorians instead.  The police/army were everywhere (and enforcing stupid rules in my opinion, but i won't get into that) but it was still kinda sketchy, both despite and because of the police.
Us gringos tried to get a Chiva with some of the other USFQ gringos, but there was drama and too many people so us Kalamazoo kids decided to get off and hang out together instead (also will not get into the issues I have with the other gringos).  Although we had a chiva fail, it was still a fun night.  Coincidentally (or not???  haha) Quito and the Berg twins (Tor and Tova) share a birthday, so we spent the night celebrating with them too, culminating with both twins being hoisted into the air on Nic and Nathan's shoulders while we danced around singing happy birthday at midnight.  All in all, a fun night.  It's cool to be part of something bigger than yourself that everyone is a part of, with everyone out and having a good time all for the same reason.

Dia De Gracias

Yesterday we finally got our chance to celebrate Thanksgiving here in Ecuador. Last Thursday was a pretty homesick day for probably every gringo at USFQ that I encountered, but last night definitely made up for it. All 30 of us K kids organized and put on one heck of a feast for each other. We had the party at Sari's house, which is huge and is kind of like hogwarts with lots of hidden rooms, stairways, and an indoor pool and spa which a few of us enjoyed before dinner (reminded me of swimming at grandma's house in Maui).
Each person/pair brought something to share, and god we had tons of food. Lolo and Sari spent Saturday cooking the beast (which was awesome, I must say) and everyone else brought everything. With 30 people, we had tons of food and just as much dessert. We had turkey, gravy, jalapeno cornbread, mashed potatoes, stuffing, meatloaf, veggies, pumpkin pie, apple pie and crisp, tres leches, and so much more. I brought haupia for everyone, and apparently it was well appreciated :) We all were stuffed, to say the least. My madre (and apparently others' too) teased me about how I ate a tiny lunch to "prepare myself" for dinner. Here, lunch is such a huge deal that a giant dinner is rare. I definitely followed that Ancog saying "If you stop you get full" and just powered my way through dinner. Needless to say I am still not that hungry today.
All in all, although we all missed our families, it was a great time to sit and enjoy the company of our own little Kalamazoo-Ecuador family with good food and friends. With so much love going around the room, it definitely felt like the real deal.

All of us after our great Thanksgiving dinner

LIGA CAMPEON!

So went to my first Ecuadorian futbol game yesterday. Oh my god. Crazy. Insane. This picture gives you a little taste of it. It was the semifinals to the Copa Sudamerica (South American Cup) so clearly, a big deal. It was also Liga, one of the biggest and best teams in Quito/Ecuador/South America, who has diehard fans (liguistas). The entire stadium was wearing Liga jerseys (we all bought some for $5 outside the stadium) and it was just crazy. You know how like when an American Football team wins, they have balloons and shreaded paper and toilet paper everywhere? The Ecuadorians did that when the team walked on the field. Yeah... We also destroyed the Brasilian team 5-1. It was great. Every time there was a goal, the entire stadium went nuts and because we were standing right behind the goal we would jump up onto the chain link fence in front of us and go nuts.
The chants the fans sang were awesome. Super offensive. Much singing about the other team's mothers, sexual orientation/virility, etc. Although it took over an hour in the line to just get INTO the stadium (as well as riot police and scary dogs to keep people from cutting in line), we still had great seats and an awesome time. Made me miss UH football alot (the one sport I will go absolutely loca for), but oh man, SO GOOD.
SOY DE LA U!! OLE OLE OLE VIVA LA LIGA!!

Dia 100!!

Yet another landmark in my life. I'm a landmark person, what can I say. I remember being in 1st grade and celebrating the 100th day and everyone brought in 100 things of food like cheerios, goldfish, mochi crunch, or something like that. It was good. Alas, I did not have any fun trail mix today, although Lolo and I did manage to create a pretty kick-ass trail mix a few weeks ago, if I do say so myself.

It's started raining again, which is good, except that it only rains on days when I look at my raincoat and decide to leave it at home. Today I got lucky and stayed dry, last week I looked like I had decided to take a shower with my clothes on. Oh goody. But things are still dry and still lacking luz. I saw on the news tonight that apparently Hugo Chavez just told the people of Venezuela that 3 min is sufficient time to bathe (1 min for soap, 1 min for shampoo, 1 min for rinse). I'm sure he's very popular right now.

Only 3 weeks of classes left and Nene comes in 2.5!! Very excited, although I have tons of work to do between now and then. Certainly the next half of this study abroad adventure is going to go SUPER fast since I'll be traveling during most of it. Still, 100 cheerios might be nice too :)

La Costa #2

Undeniable. I love the coast. I have an undying complete and total love for the ocean.
Costa Trip #2 was very different, but still awesome. Our Volcanology class went to Crucita, a small town on the Coast of Ecuador. Usually, I don’t enjoy the volcanology trips very much, but this one was actually really awesome. Instead of the 3 full busses, we took just one bus, about half Ecuas half gringos. It was really nice and a lot more chill than all the previous ones we’ve done.

The trip to the coast is between 6-10 hrs, depending where you go. We left Quito at 6pm on Friday and finally got to the hostel-thing at 3am. Yeah… long bus ride. But totally worth it. I also watch more movies on these volc trips than any other time in Ecuador (9 movies this entire weekend? más o menos?) Got back on Sunday around 730 pm, another very long bus ride (left at 1030 am, stopped only for 30 min for lunch all day). But still, totalmente vale la pena.

On Saturday we went inland to some nearby regions and learned rock things. Went to some quarries and other random stops all over the place, including a cute little beach. The beach was fun, although it was way too windy, cloudy, and cold to go swimming. We saw an exposed area of the Carnegie Ridge and other plate things used in the creation of the Galapagos. Was cool. Also got to see a raided sea turtle nest and another dead honu. That part was sorta sad, but also cool.

We got back to Crucita around 5 and all went to the beach. Our hostel was directly across the road from the water, which was awesome. I had an “oh man… we’re in Ecuador… this is so amazing” moment when we were in the ocean. Standing in the waves, bracing myself in the sand (had a surprisingly strong current for the relatively small waves), bathed in sunset, watching pelicans glide above the ocean… It was amazing.

The rest of the night was really chill and fun. We all just kinda sat around, drank some coconuts and beers, swam in the pool, played Kings with the Ecuadorians, and just kind of hung out. The Ecuadorians were really cool and fun (no screaming girlfriends this time, thank god). Add hammocks, the sound of waves crashing, and great weather to the mix and you can get a sense of the chillness of the night.

All in all, a good weekend. Sitting on the beach and seeing all the plants of the region actually made me somewhat homesick for Hawaii. If I had taken a picture and seen it without knowing, I easily could’ve mistaken it for the Leeward side of Oahu or something. It’s nice to be in such a familiar environment. I felt so at home in the water, jumping under waves and everything, it was definitely a (unexpectedly) good weekend.

La Costa #1

The Ecology kids went to the coast during this long weekend and it was really awesome. We took the 8 hour drive to Muisne on Friday, not a very pleasant experience (very twisty roads made us all feel unwell) but was totally worth it when we got there.

Muisne is in the province of Esmeraldas, close to Atacames. Muisne town itself is an island, though we stayed on the mainland in Nuevo Muisne. It used to be a huge shrimp town, as was most of the Ecuadorian coast, but has since lost its main economic source. During the 90's,

Ecuador was one of the top producers of shrimp, worldwide. It was crazy with people moving to the coast to make their fortune. Think: California Gold Rush style. Yeah, it was the time of plenty. Unfortunately, there was a huge virus that swept through the area, destroying the market. The sickness is still around, and this has prevented any large-scale shrimp farming from coming back. Because of this, the coastal region of Ecuador has remained pretty poor over the years.

One of the main reasons we went to Muisne was to see the mangroves. For me, this was not as exciting, given we have mangroves everywhere in Hawaii and that I have a dislike for these invasive species back home. But it was still fun and cool to be here in Ecuador doing ecology

things. On Sunday morning we all got up early to go through the man

groves to go see howler monkeys! It was really exciting since I've wanted to see monkeys in the jungle since I was in kindergarden.

One of the fun things about the mangroves is that it's super muddy. We also left in the middle of low tide, so at one pt we all had to get out of the boat and push so it could float to where we were going. Needless to say it was a dirty day. The picture up top is of the 8 of us after the monkey walk, waiting for the tide to come back up so we could leave.

That afternoon we got to the beach and it was glorious. I absolutely love the ocean. More than oxygen, probably. It does something to me that I can't explain, but I love being in and around the ocean more than anything. We all hung out, had some ceviche, played frisbee, jumped in the waves, it was great. We got to go to another beach (Mompiche) on Monday, which was also great. Took a walk and did some actual learning (looked in the tidepools, went to a cemetary and talked to some locals about Dia de los Muertos). But all in all just kind of hung out. That afternoon, we got a show by an Afro-Ecuadorian marimba group. (There's a very high population of blacks on the Coast, mostly from slave-trade days). It was fun to watch them dance and sing, getting even us up with them. We fooled around with the adorable kids for a while before heading back on the boat to Nuevo Muisne.

All in all, a great weekend comprised of beach, hammocks, no shoes, mangroves, and good people. It was hard for me to come back to Quito on Tuesday, but I'll be heading back to the coast this weekend for volcanology, so I won't be away from the sea too much this week :)

Happy Halloween, sorta

Ok, so Ross has called me out on my incorrect statement. Mauna Loa is in fact, the LARGEST volcano (in terms of area covered), not the highest, that belongs to Ojos de Salado in Chile. Cotopaxi, turns out, is the second highest volcano on earth. (Thank you Wikipedia) They still make the claim that it's the tallest, and that's still wrong.

Also, I did some weird blogging, but I have another post about my trip to the jungle a few weeks ago (Oct 18th) in case that was not-apparent. It has a cool picture of a frog.

This weekend is Halloween, and I'm kind of bummed that Ecuador doesn't do it like the US, but they've got parties going all weekend (starting today) for Dia de Los Muertos [Day of the Dead] so it's ok. Por ejemplo, At the moment I'm listening to a marching band that's at the school across the street. They also have awesome traditions like colada morada which is this warm thick fruity drink thing with pieces of fruit inside and it's delicious. They also have guaguas de pan [bread babies, yes, I know, I eat babies] which are sweet bread (sometimes filled with yumminess) in the shape of small children with colorful frosting decorations. They're delicious. Om nom nom.

The K program is taking a trip this weekend, and us ecology kids are headed to the coast, which should be awesome. We're bummed we can't have a Halloween party, so the 8 of us are going to have a party with ourselves. Hopefully dressing up in ridiculously resourceful costumes. I bought some chocolate coins, so at least we can be mildly festive.

I also made mochi on Wednesday, which was adventurous as I don't know how to bake well, and this was my first time in altitude and my oven is sketchy to say the least (my madre doesn't really know how to use it) but I managed it! It's not as good as usual, but it's a definite personal victory for me :)

Cotopaxi

Got conquered by the mountain, but not defeated!

Volcanology class went to Cotopaxi yesterday to see Ecuador’s tallest volcano and learn about rock-things. Ecuadorians also like to claim that it is the tallest volcano on earth, since technically, from the center of the earth to the top of Cotopaxi, it’s the farthest distance (the earth is not actually a perfect sphere, but a weird oval-ish shape instead). However, this is just wrong as we all know that Hawaii in fact has the highest volcano with Mauna Loa. They like to pretend though. I´ll let them dream.

We arrived at Cotopaxi after several hours of bus (which once again left at 630 am on a Saturday, yay), watching the mountain grow larger and clearer all the way from Quito (I can see this mountain on my morning busride). Someone got left in the bathroom at one of our stops, so we got delayed, and thus Theo was pissed at us, but whatever, I thought it was pretty entertaining. When we finally got to the base the mountain was even more impressive, as we stood looking up at this huge, snow-capped volcano.

We took some time and got some lessons about the area. Theo, being crazy, made all 107 of us run down this ridiculously steep hill that was basically the consistency of really loose and deep sand. I was glad I had my botas de gaucho [rubber boots] because it prevented any rocks from getting in my socks. We saw some cool rock stuff, then, of course, had to get back up the hill. Again, crazy man. Imagine running in sand. Now imagine running in sand up a super steep hill. NOW imagine running up a super steep hill made of sand, 14,000 ft up with altitude slamming you with every breath. Yeah, crazy.

In any case, once back at the parking lot, we had 90 minutes to climb the mountain on our own to go see the glacier if we wanted. I really wanted to get up there, so we started trekking upwards. If I thought the first part about the sand hill was hard, this was even harder. The higher we got, the harder it became. The altitude really started to get to me and me and the other girls I was with had to stop frequently. We're not in the tip-toppest of shape, but we're all pretty active, but that hike just destroyed us. There were several points where I had to just stop because I was so dizzy and light-headed I was afraid if I kept going I'd pass out. I've never really had a problem with altitude before, but this time it definitely got me. The girls and I commented that it felt like we'd been drinking, but we were all completely sober. Unfortunately, due to the altitude, we didn't get all the way up to the glacier, though we did make it to our goal: the snow line. Silly Michigan girls getting excited about Ecuadorian snow. :)

We came back down and made some more stops learning about rocks on our way south towards Baños. However, I think the altitude and strenuous hike really got to me because I felt pretty sick the rest of the afternoon. I decided that instead of going all the way to Banos with the rest of the class I'd come back to Quito with some friends that night instead. Three traveling weekends plus mountain climbing has taken a toll on my body and I felt like I needed the rest.

We took a 2.5 hr bus back to Quito ($1.50 oh yes) then ended up in a terminal waaaay far south in the city. It took some figuring out and impulsive decisions but we finally made it back to Tova's house (another K student) by about 8ish. It was a bit nervous but kind of exciting to sort of know where you're going but just going ahead anyways. Was exhausted when I finally got home, but it was definitely an awesome experience. Just you wait, Cotopaxi... I may be back for round two!

Dia Cincuenta, 1/4!!!!

So today is officially Day 50 for me here in Ecuador. I’ve been here for about a month and a half, a fourth of my time here in Ecuador, and over that time I’ve gone through the expected phases explained to us by the CIP before leaving Kalamazoo last spring (honeymoon phase, homesick/irritated phase, hate-this-country-why-did-I-do-this-to-myself phase, maybe-it’s-not-so-bad-after-all phase, etc). I’ve found myself settled into a pretty comfortable state of being where I still don’t get Ecuador a lot of the time, but I’m very much enjoying myself and enjoying living somewhere different like this. The language barrier, as I’ve said before, has gotten significantly easier and more rewarding. Although it still has its problems, (i.e. I almost always refuse to talk on the phone in Spanish because I simply can’t understand), I very rarely have problems with it anymore (I can usually almost always understand, more or less, what’s going on in class).
I find myself excited for the next few months, the next 3/4 of the program, knowing that it's going to pass incredibly quickly. I’m actually traveling for the next 5 weekends in a row, so those will be fun times. However, midterms have started up so I’ve got a bunch more homework coming as well, so that’s not exciting.
I am pretty proficient at finding my way around the Northern part of Quito and relatively mobile. I’m slowly discovering more freedom as I visit other friends around the city and learn how to take the busses in addition to having a greater appreciation for walking across the city.
There are still things that get me about Quito (pollution, rubbish, bureaucracy, crime and insecurity) but I’m coming to really appreciate the city. I am also really liking Ecuador and South America and all the differences and unique culture it has to it. It really is a continent with personality and history and I love its distinct character.
Last night a bunch of us K kids went to Dahlia’s (one of my roommates for the past 2 years) house to hang out and have a chill Saturday night. We baked a chocolate cake, hung out with an adorable 6 year old, and watched movies. After we finished our movie, I came to the realization, “wait, whoa, we’re in Ecuador!” Sometimes we just can’t believe we’re here, other times we just forget. It really just felt like another night at the dorms or something. I am having a great time in Ecuador, but every once in a while it’s nice to just escape and relax for a little bit.
To celebrate this auspicious day and making it through 25% of SA so far, I am sitting in my apartment doing homework as midterm season has started up and, of course, Kt is behind on her readings (surprise surprise). Some things may change over time, other things not so much. :-P