Soccer and Crucita

I went to a Liga game on Tuesday. Liga, officially Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito is the most popular soccer team in Quito. We're also the best. Anyway, the game I went to was the round of sixteen of the Copa Sudamericana which is the equivalent of the UEFA cup in Europe. Its just one step below the Champions League, and Liga is the defending champion. We had lost the first leg of the round of sixteen 4-2 so we had to win 2-0 or 3-1 or better. We had purchased tickets for the top section of the stadium so we could observe La Muerte Blanca (literally White Death, its the nickname of the crazy Liga fans). However the stairs were closed off and we were informed that we had to sit in the lower section. So we ended up sitting right next to La Muerte Blanca. It ended up being awesome. They were singing the whole game and before it started some climbed the fence in front of the field and emptied maybe twenty fire extinguishers into the air. We ended up winning 6-1 so there were six goals to celebrate. After goals some people would just chuck their cups of beer into the air regardless of whether it was full or not. I only got sprayed with beer twice though. All in all it was amazing though.

This weekend I went to the coast with my Volcanology class. We went to a small town called Crucita. The hostel cost ten dollars a night and was directly in front of the ocean. I thought it was funny thinking about how expensive that location would be in the USA. The water was not cold at all so that was pretty sweet. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to lounge about on the beach though. We went in the bus around and looked at rocks. We did stop at a very secluded part of the beach with huge waves where we stayed for a little bit. The food was very good as well. Although everyone warned us about not eating at sketchy restaurants, I ended up eating at one for breakfast. The breakfast they served me was fried fish and fried bananas. It was very good but not what I would typically think of as breakfast food. We had been promised to go paragliding on Sunday, but there wasn't enough wind, so I was really disappointed. The bus ride there and back was incredibly long. It was around eight hours. The scenery was pretty awesome though. The bus ride really let me appreciate what everyone said during orientation about Ecuador's biodiversity. We started out at the coast and made our way through jungles until we climbed up high into the mountains.

Our isolated beach with cool rocks

A side alley in Crucita

The beach across from our hostel

Banos

So I had a pretty action filled weekend. On Thursday I went to a Capoeria show at a club. Capoeria is a kind of martial arts/dance thing. For anyone who has played Tekken, its what Eddy Gordo does. To be honest, that's the only reason I went. The performers came from around the world, most of them were from Brazil though. The performance was very impressive with the exception of one guy who was dressed as a farmer and rapped terribly for 45 minutes.

On Friday my day started out in Andinismo where they had attached a rope from the top of the gym. Class consisted of us tying the correct knots and then climbing the rope to the top by using these knots to support us. It was pretty awesome. I decided to go to the town of Banos (Banos is spelled with a ~ over the n, but I don't know how to type that) with several of my friends that afternoon. We left our bus station close to our homes at 3. Unfortunately our bus passed through a pro-Correa demonstration, so we were considerably delayed. The bus had to go a different route, and we arrived at the Quito bus station almost 3 hours later. The actual bus to Banos was surprisingly very comfortable. It was the first time I actually had leg room in a bus in Ecuador. We arrived in Banos pretty late and found our hostel and ate dinner. The hostel was very nice, but not really secure. There were several times when nobody was inside to open the locked door for us, so on several occasions one of us jumped the fence to open the door.

On Saturday we rented bikes to go down "La Ruta de Cascadas" (Waterfall route) It went along an actual street but the scenery was amazing. True to its name, there were tons of waterfalls that you could see. There was a cable car that some of us took to get up close to one huge waterfall. From there we could climb on the rocks next to it, so that was a lot of fun. There was also a five year old girl operating the cable car on one side so that was kind of funny. After that excursion we continued biking until we got to a bridge. This bridge was the site of "puenting" (literally bridging). What puenting is though, is bungie jumping without a bounce and off of a bridge. You pretty much swing around after you jump off. Naturally I decided to do this. After I had my harness on and stood on top of the bridge and looked down, I figured it wasn't the best decision I could have made. The guy in charge was just saying "tranquilo, tranquilo" but I was terrified. Eventually I made the leap down. It was probably the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. It was awesome though. Apparently there was another place that is much higher but we didn't make it there. A couple of my friends also went puenting, so I now finally have a good response when someone asks me if I would jump off a bridge if my friends did.

After that adrenaline rush, we continued on to another waterfall called "Paillon del Diablo" or something like that. It was a huge waterfall and we were allowed to climb behind it in tiny passages. It was an incredible experience. After the waterfall, we took a bus back to Banos. We ate lunch really late and then I went dune buggying with some other people. We took these dune buggies down a road and went past the zoo. The zoo was labeled "animal prison" on the map so I thought that was pretty funny. We went through a tiny little town where we were chased by dogs so that was fairly exciting. We then went down another trail where we had great views of the river. When we got back to Banos, we got a little lost so we were just driving through traffic in these little dune buggies. We got back eventually though. Our dune buggy was pretty old and beat up though. They were literally fixing it right before we got to ride it.

That night we rented a bus to get a good view of the volcano. Unfortunately there was clouds so all we saw were clouds and fog. We did get canelazo which is a type of really good tea. It was possible to put in aguardiente, which is a really strong sugar cane alcohol. It literally means fire water. Somehow one of my friends ended up with a full cup of that, and it was not drinkable at all. On Sunday we went hiking. The mountain we climbed was really steep and the trail was slippery. The view at the top was great though. We then took the bus back to Quito.

Our group that hiked on Sunday

Our dune buggy

Swinging after puenting

Scariest moment of my life

Santo Domingo

On Saturday I went to a small indigenous village close to the Ecuadorian city of Santo Domingo. The tribe was called Tsachila. There are only about 2500 of them left and they're trying to preserve their culture. The village leader gave us a tour of the main sights there. He was dressed in a blue skirt and had black stripes painted all over him. He also had his hair partially dyed red. The plant they use to do this is the same plant that we gave ourselves war paint with in the jungle. Anyway, the village was pretty interesting. They gave us a musical demonstration where they had a xylophone and drums and rain sticks. Then they danced for us too. We then got a spear throwing demonstration where we were allowed to throw it as well. Then another villager gave us a talk on the politics of the community and cultural customs such as weddings and funerals. After all that, we got to be "healed" by the village leader. The healing consisted of us going down five at a time in a dug out hole with a thatched roof. There was some kind of incense burning that smelled really good. Then the shaman guy started whistling this tune and shaking leaves over us. He then rubbed wet rocks on our faces and necks all while whistling this tune. I thought it was hilarious. I didn't want to be disrespectful, but I was struggling not to laugh. I nearly lost it when he started spitting water all over us. I managed to hold my laughter in, but it was hard. Anyway, after being healed we left the town to go have lunch.

Lunch was in a property that was started 60 years ago by some rich crazy Russian woman who wanted to live in the jungle. She built a hostel and golf course in the middle of Ecuador. The place is still owned by her son, Sergei. After eating, he gave us a tour of the area. Apparently its a mecca for bird watchers. The grounds were pretty cool, and Sergei was pretty passionate about his work there. He was a pretty cool guy who was in the Ecuadorian special forces for a while. Apparently part of his training was being able to survive in the jungle for several months with minimal equipment. He had a pet dog, Rodolfo who absolutely loved me. He would follow me around the whole time and whine every time I didn't pet him. In the tour of the grounds we got to eat fresh tangerines which were very good as well.

We then went back to Quito. The bus rides we take to and from these places are really amazing. The views are awesome, I really didn't realize what a beautiful country Ecuador was before I came. We took the bus through mountains and there were picturesquely placed houses really in the middle of nowhere along the roads. There were also tons of waterfalls along the road. The one thing that bothered me though, is that outside of Quito it seems that everyone is living in poverty. The little that I saw of Santo Domingo was poor and rundown. Going to Tiputini, the city of Coca was the same way. Most of these other cities seem to be slumtowns. When I went to Mindo, I had talked to a guy from Santo Domingo and when I mentioned I went to USFQ, he made some remark about me being a rich kid. That really struck home when I was looking at the surrounding areas. I feel like the university is really way too decadent comparatively to the poverty in Ecuador. Having a lagoon and waterfall that goes off every 30 minutes is really unnecessary when the rest of the country is full of poverty.

Rodolfo

Lizard chilling in the bathroom

Monkey in the village

Tsachila performing

Papallacta and Cuicocha

So this weekend I had two field trips for Volcanology. On Saturday we left for Papallacta at 6:30 in the morning. The highlight of Papallacta is that it has hot springs which are naturally heated by the nearby volcano. But before we were allowed to relax there we made several stops to collect rocks. Our professor, Theo seemed to delight in forcing us to climb ridiculous slopes for no real reason. We had to scramble down one hill to get to a river where we had to find some green rocks. It turned out that they were all at the top anyway. I enjoyed it though. We made one stop where we climbed up a nearly horizontal slope which was really muddy and slippery. We ended up having to use vines and brushes to climb up. After we got to the top of this slope, we then proceeded to go down another. A problem was that there were over 50 people there, so there was a lot of waiting for people to get down. It would have been a lot more fun with about ten. Anyway, while we were waiting for people to get down, Theo would shove us into each other in an effort to speed things up. This only resulted in people getting mad. After we finally got down, it turned out that we had just gone around in a circle for no apparent reason.

To get to the muddy slopes we had to cross a bridge. We had the option of crossing a fairly new and stable one, or running across a wooden one with missing planks. Naturally I decided to cross the sketchy one. At one point I heard a board break as I stepped on it, but I managed to get to the other side alive. For lunch we stopped in a small town where we had almuerzos. The soup that they brought ended up having chicken feet in it. I wasn't sure whether you were supposed to eat them or not, so I took a bite out of one. It did not taste very good. The main course was trout which wasn't too bad.

After collecting a few more rocks we went to the hot springs. They were pretty awesome. I had kind of envisioned them to be carved out of the volcano, but they were more like swimming pools, so that was a bit disappointing. Supposedly to get the full healthy experience out of them, you're supposed to lie down in a freezing river next to them and then jump back into the hot springs. Seven times. The river was really really cold. But I decided to get the full experience so I ended up doing it all seven times. Theo mentioned that they usually had competitions on who could stay in the river the longest, and claimed that girls always won. After hearing this, we ended up having a competition. I was the only guy willing to try it, and then there were three other girls who joined me. Two left fairly early, and then I was stuck in this freezing cold river with the other one who was just as stubborn as me. After fifteen minutes of torture, Theo insisted that we leave as a tie. Apparently the previous record had been two and a half minutes. It was a nice excuse to leave, and the hot baths felt amazing afterwards.

On Sunday we went to Cuicocha. I had already been there with the Boston group so it wasn't all that exciting. We had to draw faults and folds at various stops. We ate at a road side restaurant thing that was terrible. I ordered empanadas and got some tiny cold ones in a container so that was abysmal. I would have preferred chicken feet. One exciting thing I did see was in a remote little village we drove by was an Ecuadorian with a Bayer Leverkusen jersey so that was pretty cool for me. I had thought that I was the only fan outside of Leverkusen, but apparently there's at least one in a small Ecuadorian town.




One of many slopes we had to climb

Most awesome bridge in the world

Lunch

A volcano whose name starts with A. I don't remember the rest.

Unrest in Quito

I know I just posted the other day, but seeing as the police rioted and took the president hostage, I figured I might as well post again. The day started out pretty normally, but at 11 a guy came into my class and said that classes were suspended for the day. Then through various sources of information I gathered that apparently Correa (the president of Ecuador) had recently passed a law that the police didn't like. They then scheduled a strike for today that kinda got out of hand. They tear gassed the president and held him hostage in a hospital. Apparently the police are mad because a law was passed that eliminated certain medals they could give out, at least that's what I understood from my host father.

The college I go to here is USFQ and is located in a small town called Cumbaya and is about ten miles outside of Quito. The international kids weren't allowed to leave campus for a while. Apparently the bank across the street got robbed and some students were robbed while trying to get a taxi as well. Since all the police are striking, there's no law enforcement. Thus looting is going on in the city as well. We were warned not to join any riots, so I assume that means I shouldn't loot either.

So while all this excitement was going on, several other students and I decided to play ultimate frisbee on campus. We were told that the campus was the safest place to be, but later they told us to go home while negotiations were going on. Walking home from my bus stop was pretty exciting. Like I've mentioned before, I stick out a tiny bit here so I would have been a prime target for a mugging in the lawlessness going on right now. I did make it home all right though. It's still kind of ambiguous whether or not we're going to have class tomorrow, and since I have a test, it would be nice to have it canceled. The test has already been postponed two and a half weeks, so I figure an uprising would be a good enough reason to delay it some more. I had a volcanology field trip planned this weekend as well, but that's liable to be canceled as well. I'll keep you guys updated on any more craziness and revolutions going on here.

Tiputini

I meant to post this earlier, but my internet here decided to take a break for the past couple of days. Anyway, this past weekend I was in the Ecuadorian rainforest at a research station. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. The trip there itself was a pretty sweet adventure as well. On Friday morning we took a plane from Quito to an oil town called Coca. From Coca we took a five minute bus ride to a dock. At the dock we took a boat down a huge river where we got a nice view of the amazon. It was kinda like being in an episode of Planet Earth. After 2 to 3 hours on the boat, we got out at an oil checkpoint where we got into an incredibly uncomfortable bus. After a one and a half hour drive, we got onto yet another boat. This was on the river Tiputini which is what the research station is called as well. This river was much smaller and there were chances to see wildlife. I saw turtles. There were also tons of butterflies. After about two hours we got to the station. At this point it was 6 at night. Dinner was at 7 so we got our rooms and explored a little bit. There was a hammock house with a water tower so I climbed the water tower with some other guys. After about five minutes we saw a woolly monkey slowly climbing across the trees. Next thing we knew, there was a group of maybe 20-30 squirrel monkeys climbing all around us. It was incredibly exciting. We then had dinner at 7 and I played a couple of hands of Euchre with some people and went to bed.

Breakfast was at 630, and then we got split into smaller groups to walk through the rainforest with a guide. My guide was a pretty cool guy named Jose, whose first language was Quechua. We saw some crested owls which were really cool. He also found a plant whose seeds have a red dye, so we all gave ourselves war paint. We proceeded to walk until 1130. We saw lots of toads, spiders, birds and monkeys. We also got to a lake where we took a boat around and saw a cayman. I also climbed a tree which was fun. Jose found a vine and let us swing around on it, so that was awesome as well. We ate at twelve and afterwards we swam in the Tiputini river with piranhas and caymans. Caymans are similar to alligators for those who don't know. I swam to the other side with a friend of mine to Yasuni national park. There may or may not be indigenous people who spear intruders on that side, but I'm not completely sure. Around three we went for another walk. The most exciting thing we did on this walk was eat ants that tasted just like lemons. They were really good. Speaking of eating insects, our guide had found a huge beetle and asked who wanted to eat it. When I volunteered, he ended up saying it wasn't possible. I guess he didn't think anyone would actually volunteer. That evening we took a boat along the river at night to look for caymans. It wasn't as exciting as I had hoped. We saw a couple, but it was difficult to see much. The one that we got the best view of was relatively small and missing part of its tail.

The next day I saw a sloth right after breakfast. After that we went on a canopy tour. They had built a huge tower which was about 45 meters high with 144 steps. It was really cool and we got to see a group of three scarlet macaws flying around the canopy. Afterwards Jose asked us if we were tired. He had a plant which was supposed to help. The whole group wanted to try it out, so he ended up smacking us on the arm with these huge leafs. Pretty much they felt like stinging nettles. And then our arms got real tingly. Then we got little white bumps all over our arms. Then the next day the bumps turned red and really itchy. In fact, I still have red spots all over my arm two days later. And I didn't feel any more energy after being smacked with it. Anyway, after that we went to another canopy tower with really shaky wooden bridges above the canopy. It was incredible. There was an aluminum ladder which went higher up to a tiny little platform without rails. I was wearing a harness and I'm not really scared of heights, but climbing up there was terrifying. It was well worth it and awesome though. The bugs were kind of annoying up there though. On our way back to camp Jose gave us some leaves to chew on and then we would get a surprise. The surprise ended up being that our tongues and spit turned blue so that was pretty cool.

After lunch we took a boat further downstream and then we got out of the boat and floated downstream for about two hours. It was incredibly fun. I wished we had more time, but it was great nonetheless. At night I went down to the river with a couple of my friends and we saw a cayman. On the way back to our rooms we saw an army of leafcutter ants at work. They were pretty cool. Much cooler than I thought leafcutter ants could be actually.

We left in the morning in the same fashion as we came only everything backwards obviously. The first boat ride back was much more eventful than the way there. We saw a tapir, capybara, and some mammal that I think was a peccary. I also saw a lot more turtles. When we got back to the dock at Coca there was a type of zoo with free ranging and illegal jungle animals. There was a parrot, toucan, peacocks, guinea pigs, turtles, and monkeys. These squirrel monkeys were somewhat tame and would climb all over you if you stuck your hand out. Naturally I did this. It was really cool. I really want a pet squirrel monkey now. The highlight of getting home was taking a shower. I hadn't showered at all in the jungle. This was mostly because it would have been pointless. It was so hot and humid that five minutes after a shower I would have been soaked in sweat and disgusting again. The air was awesome though. There was so much oxygen, compared to Quito. I felt 100 percent healthy for the first time since I've been in Ecuador. My only real complaint about the rainforest was that I was only there for two whole days.

I'll post pictures later I think, my internet has been off and on (mostly off) since I've been back so I'll wait until its a bit more reliable.

Otavalo

This weekend we went to an indigenous market in the city of Otavalo. We also visited a volcanic crater with a lake called Cuicocha and a town specializing in leather goods called Cotacachi. It was about a two hour bus ride there. I really enjoyed the ride because we were traveling down windy roads through the Andes. Plus we got a really good view of Puntas, so it was cool to know that the mountain I almost got to the top is very visible in the surrounding areas.

Cuicocha was really cool. We ended up taking a boat around the lake. I was not all too impressed with Cotacachi. There was a street where there were a million stores selling leather goods. Unfortunately I was not in need of a purse, leather jacket, or saddle and thus couldn't take advantage of the shopping opportunities. I ended up breaking away from the group with a friend of mine named Brian and we wandered to the main plaza where there was a convent. The center was fairly nice and then we wandered along some sketchy streets to the edge of the town where there was a forest.

After Cuicocha we went to the city of Otavalo. I didn't think I liked haggling going into the market, but it turns out that I'm a big fan. I really enjoyed the mini-battles with the vendors trying to get a cheaper price. Unfortunately I didn't really know what anything was worth so I probably overpaid anyway. I ended up buying some stuff just because I wanted to haggle. Because of this, I ended up with more stuff than I originally intended, but I convinced myself that its ok, because they're mostly gifts anyway. I did end up with a lot of ponchos though... The market itself was awesome just for how big it was. It took up several main streets, plazas and side streets. An interesting aspect was that in the sections where mostly Ecuadorians shopped, the vendors charged me more because I stood out a lot more and I figure they thought I had no idea what I was doing. My least favorite part about Otavalo was that there were tons of beggars. Apparently there is a law that beggars aren't allowed in Quito so all people living in poverty in Quito are given clothes and food. This is unique to Quito however so there were plenty of beggars who would follow me around in Otavalo.

After visiting the indigenous market of Otavalo, we went to "Parque Condor" As you have probably guessed, this was a park with birds. The condors were super impressive. They were much bigger than I imagined. We saw other birds and went to a show where they had a variety of birds who flew around for us. Afterwards we headed back to Quito.

I've started playing ultimate frisbee two days a week in a local park in Quito. Its a lot of fun and very nice to be doing some kind of exercise, but you really notice the thin air. The first time I played, I was still trying to breathe normally for about an hour or two afterwards. Its mostly American students and some expats who play because frisbee is not a popular sport in Ecuador. When I told my family I was going to play, I had to explain the rules because they thought I was just going to the park to throw a frisbee back and forth and they didn't see how that could be tiring/fun.

As far as bad news here, I've started developing a phobia for black dogs, especially the one that lives on my street that bit me. Pretty much every other time I pass he gets a bit angry and either barks at me or follows me threateningly. It wasn't too bad until Friday when he attempted to bite me again. I was carrying a tent for my andinismo class and fended him off with it. He ended up biting the tent and ripping off the handle of the case. I've nicknamed the dog Cerberos, because I'm convinced he was spawned in Hell. Its pretty much the only thing I'm scared of in this whole country. But I'm pretty terrified of it. I get along with most other dogs though. I feel like its a sign of a third world country to have stray dogs.

Speaking of dogs, I went with my host sister and host brother-in-law for a walk with their dog, Rigo. We went to a different park that I hadn't heard of. Its a huge park that is partially in a forest so it was pretty awesome. It's also very close to my home so I feel like I'm going to spend a lot more time there.

Condor flying around in its cage

Bird cage with Volcano Imbabura in background

Some stands in Otavalo

The main market plaza

Cuicocha