Great Frigate Bird
Baby sea lion chasing a land iguana
If you don't like this picture, you have no soul.
Island of Floreana
Obligatory Blue Footed Booby Picture
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Galapagos Pictures
Great Frigate Bird
Baby sea lion chasing a land iguana
If you don't like this picture, you have no soul.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Mama Negra
On Saturday I went to a small town a hour and a half South of Quito called Latacunga. The reason I went was because on Saturday they have their biggest celebration called Mama Negra. Mama Negra is pretty much a mash up of everything they can possibly celebrate with Catholic and Indigenous elements. From what I gathered, the main point is celebrating a virgin, (I assume the Virgin Mary but I'm not completely sure) who protects the city from Cotopaxi's (the most famous volcano in Ecuador) wrath. They ignore all the times that it was destroyed and celebrate the times it wasn't. Anyway, somehow Mama Negra comes in who is a guy dressed up as a black woman. But my guide book assures me that this isn't racist at all.
Anyway I left Friday afternoon with a friend of mine, whose host family was going. He has a host brother who owns an apartment there so we could crash there. We spent Friday evening walking around Latacunga exploring a little. We then went to a restaurant where I finally had cuy. Cuy is guinea pig, which I had been looking forward to eating ever since I knew I was going to Ecuador. I actually went on a cuy eating binge this week. Thursday night was the first time I had it, but it was only a quarter of one, and the head was not there. On Friday though, we made sure to order the entire thing. It was amazing. We had the whole thing on a plate, teeth and all. We took the obligatory pictures (I didn't have my camera, but when I get his pictures, I'll be sure to post them). Then we had it cut in pieces and ate it. It's impossible to use a fork and knife so we had to use our hands and barbarically devoured it. The meat was very similar to duck, just a thousand times better because it was a guinea pig. After eating nearly everything, we only had the head left. Naturally we had to finish it off. I ended up eating the tongue and eyes as well, although Thomas, my friend didn't want to eat those in front of his host mother. The Ecuadorians at the restaurant watching us were amused with our enjoyment of the guinea pig.
We went to the Mama Negra festival the next day shortly before 11. It was a parade, but it was pretty much the best parade I've ever been to. People were dressed in different costumes, mostly indigenous and they would dance around the whole time. Thomas's host mom had friends who had a house right next to the street where the parade was taking place so we had a good view. The parading people would just give alcohol to everyone and it was pretty sketchy, but fun. Also the friends of the host mom would give us plenty to drink. The favorite drink there was watered down whiskey which was kind of disgusting. The paraders had several multicolored drinks which were bright green, purple, red, and blue. They tasted pretty nasty actually. Towards the beginning of the parade, I was looking in one direction, and all of a sudden got dragged into the middle of the parade. I was surrounded by "huacas". Huacas are witches who are all dressed in white. They proceeded to poke me with deer antlers, blow smoke onto me, shake leaves all over me, and chant. When I thought they were finished, I got aguardiente (really strong sugarcane alcohol) spit all over me. Then I had to drink from a bottle of some type of alcohol and gave them 50 cents. So now apparently I'm healed and will have good luck. It was pretty cool. Besides the huacas, another cool thing of the parade were the cuy wagons. Cuy wagons had some poor guy who was carrying a whole roasted pig on his back along with roasted guinea pigs, chickens, and rabbits. There were also bottles of alcohol attached to the roasted animals. Other cool paraders included people who painted their faces black and would go up to people in the crowds and yell what I think were Spanish jokes at them and then have them drink from their alcohol. Some paraders also gave us chicha, which was the best tasting thing they served us. Chicha is a traditional fermented drink in the Andes. By the end of the parade I had made a lot of friends with several different people there including a policeman named Martinez who was trying to keep order. He was doing pretty good with his duty, although another police officer was forced to drink some of the watered down whiskey by some persistent Ecuadorians. All in all it was a pretty cool experience.
Anyway I left Friday afternoon with a friend of mine, whose host family was going. He has a host brother who owns an apartment there so we could crash there. We spent Friday evening walking around Latacunga exploring a little. We then went to a restaurant where I finally had cuy. Cuy is guinea pig, which I had been looking forward to eating ever since I knew I was going to Ecuador. I actually went on a cuy eating binge this week. Thursday night was the first time I had it, but it was only a quarter of one, and the head was not there. On Friday though, we made sure to order the entire thing. It was amazing. We had the whole thing on a plate, teeth and all. We took the obligatory pictures (I didn't have my camera, but when I get his pictures, I'll be sure to post them). Then we had it cut in pieces and ate it. It's impossible to use a fork and knife so we had to use our hands and barbarically devoured it. The meat was very similar to duck, just a thousand times better because it was a guinea pig. After eating nearly everything, we only had the head left. Naturally we had to finish it off. I ended up eating the tongue and eyes as well, although Thomas, my friend didn't want to eat those in front of his host mother. The Ecuadorians at the restaurant watching us were amused with our enjoyment of the guinea pig.
We went to the Mama Negra festival the next day shortly before 11. It was a parade, but it was pretty much the best parade I've ever been to. People were dressed in different costumes, mostly indigenous and they would dance around the whole time. Thomas's host mom had friends who had a house right next to the street where the parade was taking place so we had a good view. The parading people would just give alcohol to everyone and it was pretty sketchy, but fun. Also the friends of the host mom would give us plenty to drink. The favorite drink there was watered down whiskey which was kind of disgusting. The paraders had several multicolored drinks which were bright green, purple, red, and blue. They tasted pretty nasty actually. Towards the beginning of the parade, I was looking in one direction, and all of a sudden got dragged into the middle of the parade. I was surrounded by "huacas". Huacas are witches who are all dressed in white. They proceeded to poke me with deer antlers, blow smoke onto me, shake leaves all over me, and chant. When I thought they were finished, I got aguardiente (really strong sugarcane alcohol) spit all over me. Then I had to drink from a bottle of some type of alcohol and gave them 50 cents. So now apparently I'm healed and will have good luck. It was pretty cool. Besides the huacas, another cool thing of the parade were the cuy wagons. Cuy wagons had some poor guy who was carrying a whole roasted pig on his back along with roasted guinea pigs, chickens, and rabbits. There were also bottles of alcohol attached to the roasted animals. Other cool paraders included people who painted their faces black and would go up to people in the crowds and yell what I think were Spanish jokes at them and then have them drink from their alcohol. Some paraders also gave us chicha, which was the best tasting thing they served us. Chicha is a traditional fermented drink in the Andes. By the end of the parade I had made a lot of friends with several different people there including a policeman named Martinez who was trying to keep order. He was doing pretty good with his duty, although another police officer was forced to drink some of the watered down whiskey by some persistent Ecuadorians. All in all it was a pretty cool experience.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Galapagos
I just came back from the Galapagos Islands. It was really one of the most amazing places I've ever visited. We left Sunday morning and flew to Guayaquil. After a layover there we flew another 2 hours over the Pacific to the Galapagos. When I got off the plane I saw a guy chasing an iguana off the runway. That was a pretty cool welcome. Then we got in a bus and drove across the island. The airport is on an island called Baltra which is pretty much a boring version of Arizona. It was really not what I expected. However, we drove to a crossing where the water was incredibly blue. It was like I was in the middle of one of those fancy beach screen savers. We took a ferry across where I saw a brown pelican flying around. The tour group gave us a really cheesy booklet with a checklist of animals to cross off. Naturally I decided that it would be a great idea to fill it out. We then took a bus on to a Galapagos tortoise reserve. There were tons of tortoises because it was mating season, so they were walking along slowly. They were really impressively big. It was super cool because I had remembered watching videos of them in school but I had thought at the time that I would never actually see them. We then went to a research station named after Darwin with more tortoises. I thought it was ironic that they named a tortoise breeding station after Darwin, because Darwin spent his time on the island eating tortoises. Anyway, it wasn't as exciting as seeing them in the wild, but we did see Lonesome George, who is the last of his specific species of tortoise. We also walked through a lava tunnel which was pretty much the same as any tunnel.
After all the tortoises we walked through the town where we could buy overpriced tourist stuff. Then we took a dinghy to our cruise ship, the Coral I. The cruise ship was amazing. We had a jacuzzi (although it was never on), a bar, and the rooms were pretty nice as well. Unfortunately I kinda got seasick so I took probably an unhealthy amount of motion sickness pills and felt a bit better. There were some Germans on the boat as well so I spent some time talking to them. It was really embarrassing how much Spanish got mixed up in my German, but I got it under control. The boat rocking was nice for sleeping though, so I slept really well.
We had to get up at seven on Monday and had breakfast. We disembarked at Isla Espanola. There were tons of crabs on the rocks. Then we saw some sea lions which are a lot cooler in person than anywhere else. When we kept walking we noticed that sea lions were absolutely everywhere. Since they don't have any natural predators on the islands, they don't have a fear mechanism, so you can walk really really close to them and they don't care. Watching them walk was hilarious as well. There were also tons of marine iguanas there, which were fairly big and very colorful. There were also lava lizards. I also saw my first blue footed booby there which was super exciting. Then there were also albatrosses and frigate birds. There were also some Nazca boobies, which weren't nearly as exciting as the blue footed boobies. We then returned to our boat and had lunch. We got snorkeling gear and then returned to a different beach where we went snorkeling. Unfortunately there wasn't a very good view where we were, but since I didn't really know what I was doing, it was good to practice a bit. There were sea turtles swimming around though so I could see them without snorkeling. The beach was also full of sea lions. At night there weren't any clouds, so I spent about an hour and a half star gazing. There was an amazing view because there aren't many light distractions in the middle of the Pacific.
During the night we sailed on to Isla Floreana. We walked around and saw lots more sea lions and crabs. We got to a lagoon but none of the flamingos were there. We got to a different beach where there were sting rays. We got to see them and one actually touched me. It only stings you if you step on it, so I was ok. There were hundreds of them floating close to the beach. Then we got to go snorkeling again. I knew what I was doing this time so I got to see a lot more. There were tons of tropical fish swimming around. I also saw a sea urchin. The highlight though, was that I got to see an absolutely gigantic sea turtle feeding really close. Then a sea lion started playing with us, so it swam all around us. It was really awesome. We then returned to the boat and had lunch, and then we had the option of going on a dinghy around this island or to go deep sea snorkeling. I went snorkeling again, and it was absolutely worth it. Apparently there was a shark right beneath me, but I didn't see it. Everyone else did though, so I have witnesses that I swam with sharks. My toe was bleeding at the time as well, so I'm pretty hardcore. There were lots of tropical fish again, including a really green parrot fish. I saw an octopus. Everyone was freezing, but I had rented a wetsuit, so I was really warm. It was a really good investment.
After that snorkeling adventure we had a short break and then headed to another part of the island where there's a mailbox. The mailbox is actually a barrel and stems from a pirate tradition, where sailors would drop letters in it and hope that someone who is heading back close to their home delivers the letter for them. Now it's a tourist attraction where tourists do the same thing. There was a soccer field close by where our crew was playing soccer. So we watched them for a bit and then headed back to the boat. I had befriended the waiter on the boat so I talked to him for a bit to practice Spanish. I then spent some more time stargazing.
That took us to Wednesday which was also our last day in the Galapagos. We came to Isla Seymour. There were tons of birds here. And sea lions, which are still awesome but everywhere. There were also huge land iguanas. The main attraction here were the frigate birds. There were two types, the great frigate bird, and the magnificent frigate bird. Frigate birds are the ones with the big red pouches for those who don't know. They were nesting and flying around so that was super cool. There were also loads of blue footed boobies. We then returned to the boat and took a short ride to the island of Baltra to return home. I spent the last trip on the top deck and there were frigate birds flying right over top of me. One was literally close enough that I could have grabbed it had I stood up. Unfortunately my camera died at this point so I couldn't take any pictures, but it was awesome.
We got to the airport at 11 and we were all sad that we had to leave. However, they told us that the plane was delayed about a half hour. Next thing we knew it was delayed until 3. Then until 4. I got sick of waiting at the airport so I went for a walk. Unfortunately they built the airport on the most boring island in all of the Galapagos. Like I said earlier, it's just a really boring version of Arizona. There was nothing at all except cacti. We finally ended up leaving at 4:15. I didn't think I'd be glad to leave the Galapagos, but after five hours of waiting in Baltra, I was pretty glad to get on a plane. I'll post pictures later, I don't have time to upload them right now.
After all the tortoises we walked through the town where we could buy overpriced tourist stuff. Then we took a dinghy to our cruise ship, the Coral I. The cruise ship was amazing. We had a jacuzzi (although it was never on), a bar, and the rooms were pretty nice as well. Unfortunately I kinda got seasick so I took probably an unhealthy amount of motion sickness pills and felt a bit better. There were some Germans on the boat as well so I spent some time talking to them. It was really embarrassing how much Spanish got mixed up in my German, but I got it under control. The boat rocking was nice for sleeping though, so I slept really well.
We had to get up at seven on Monday and had breakfast. We disembarked at Isla Espanola. There were tons of crabs on the rocks. Then we saw some sea lions which are a lot cooler in person than anywhere else. When we kept walking we noticed that sea lions were absolutely everywhere. Since they don't have any natural predators on the islands, they don't have a fear mechanism, so you can walk really really close to them and they don't care. Watching them walk was hilarious as well. There were also tons of marine iguanas there, which were fairly big and very colorful. There were also lava lizards. I also saw my first blue footed booby there which was super exciting. Then there were also albatrosses and frigate birds. There were also some Nazca boobies, which weren't nearly as exciting as the blue footed boobies. We then returned to our boat and had lunch. We got snorkeling gear and then returned to a different beach where we went snorkeling. Unfortunately there wasn't a very good view where we were, but since I didn't really know what I was doing, it was good to practice a bit. There were sea turtles swimming around though so I could see them without snorkeling. The beach was also full of sea lions. At night there weren't any clouds, so I spent about an hour and a half star gazing. There was an amazing view because there aren't many light distractions in the middle of the Pacific.
During the night we sailed on to Isla Floreana. We walked around and saw lots more sea lions and crabs. We got to a lagoon but none of the flamingos were there. We got to a different beach where there were sting rays. We got to see them and one actually touched me. It only stings you if you step on it, so I was ok. There were hundreds of them floating close to the beach. Then we got to go snorkeling again. I knew what I was doing this time so I got to see a lot more. There were tons of tropical fish swimming around. I also saw a sea urchin. The highlight though, was that I got to see an absolutely gigantic sea turtle feeding really close. Then a sea lion started playing with us, so it swam all around us. It was really awesome. We then returned to the boat and had lunch, and then we had the option of going on a dinghy around this island or to go deep sea snorkeling. I went snorkeling again, and it was absolutely worth it. Apparently there was a shark right beneath me, but I didn't see it. Everyone else did though, so I have witnesses that I swam with sharks. My toe was bleeding at the time as well, so I'm pretty hardcore. There were lots of tropical fish again, including a really green parrot fish. I saw an octopus. Everyone was freezing, but I had rented a wetsuit, so I was really warm. It was a really good investment.
After that snorkeling adventure we had a short break and then headed to another part of the island where there's a mailbox. The mailbox is actually a barrel and stems from a pirate tradition, where sailors would drop letters in it and hope that someone who is heading back close to their home delivers the letter for them. Now it's a tourist attraction where tourists do the same thing. There was a soccer field close by where our crew was playing soccer. So we watched them for a bit and then headed back to the boat. I had befriended the waiter on the boat so I talked to him for a bit to practice Spanish. I then spent some more time stargazing.
That took us to Wednesday which was also our last day in the Galapagos. We came to Isla Seymour. There were tons of birds here. And sea lions, which are still awesome but everywhere. There were also huge land iguanas. The main attraction here were the frigate birds. There were two types, the great frigate bird, and the magnificent frigate bird. Frigate birds are the ones with the big red pouches for those who don't know. They were nesting and flying around so that was super cool. There were also loads of blue footed boobies. We then returned to the boat and took a short ride to the island of Baltra to return home. I spent the last trip on the top deck and there were frigate birds flying right over top of me. One was literally close enough that I could have grabbed it had I stood up. Unfortunately my camera died at this point so I couldn't take any pictures, but it was awesome.
We got to the airport at 11 and we were all sad that we had to leave. However, they told us that the plane was delayed about a half hour. Next thing we knew it was delayed until 3. Then until 4. I got sick of waiting at the airport so I went for a walk. Unfortunately they built the airport on the most boring island in all of the Galapagos. Like I said earlier, it's just a really boring version of Arizona. There was nothing at all except cacti. We finally ended up leaving at 4:15. I didn't think I'd be glad to leave the Galapagos, but after five hours of waiting in Baltra, I was pretty glad to get on a plane. I'll post pictures later, I don't have time to upload them right now.
Monday, October 25, 2010
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.
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
Monday, October 18, 2010
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.
Scariest moment of my life
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
Sunday, October 10, 2010
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
Monkey in the village
Tsachila performing
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
Monday, October 4, 2010
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.
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.
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