7/15/2011
11:30 Pm- Going to the bus station to get on our bus to the beach, it will be a total of 9 hours (6 + 3).
7/16/2011
6:30am- Was the worst bus ride of my life. I have a sore throat, the bus was hot and humid. I couldn't sleep also because I was worried we were going to get robbed. (it happens frequently on night buses around Guayaquil). But we made it safe to the bus station and now we board our bus to the Beach in a couple hours! I had McDonalds!!! Chicken nuggets, fries and a coke for breakfast....mmm....delicious!
9:30am- Bus left for beach!
12:30pm-BEACH!!!! SUN!!!! GRINGOS!!!! CERVEZA!!!!!
It was amazing to be at the beach and feel the sun on my skin for longer than 20 minutes at a time between passing clouds! The music was awesome and blaring all up and down the beach with little coctele stands and cerveza being served! I got a little red but not too bad, spent about 2 hours out in the ocean and swallowed a bunch of water. We walked around at night and explored the little touristy town with all the extranjeros. I met a couple from Savanna, GA the guy was an aircraft repairman for the best army in the world for 6 years and the couple both attended GSU (georgia southern univ.) and had just finished a 4-week long anthropology program and had decided to go to the beach like us. They were nice to chat with, we spoke to them for about 2 hours. Then when we were eating dinner we met this guy from Boston who was studying Business in Cuenca, he had two black eyes and we never had enough courage to bring up the topic haha. But he was nice and cool to talk to, he knew that Idaho was the potato state! Wooo ID! We went out for a little bit and drank some beers and then walked along the beach and caught sand dollars!!! That was pretty awesome haha!
7/17/2011
We slept in a little bit it was nice to sleep with the sound of the ocean in the background and not car alarms or buses honking for once!! We went and ate at this little restaurant and had pancakes, eggs, and toast for breakfast. It was delicious the pancakes were more like crepes but hey they were good! They had jelly with them. Today was a fairly overcast day but atleast we had the sun the day before! We lounged on the beach just to be at the beach and played in the ocean a little more because the water is really warm here even without the sun, I mean it is the equator! We are actually spending another night in the hostel because it´s cheap, on the ocean and we can leave for our "poor man galapagos" tour from here in the morning! We enjoyed more sun and skipped dinner with some ice cream and eventually ended up getting a pizza later. It has been fun here in Montañita doing kind of the touristy thing can´t wait for the tour tomorrow!
7/18/2011
Woke up early and had my bag packed so I walked downtown to try and find a breakfast place that was open at 7:30am in paradise! haha there wasn´t anyplace opens the streets had a few people starting to open tour shops and little tiendas with the basics. I finally stumbled across a group of ecuadoreans sitting at a couple plastic tables eating and asked if they had desayuno (breakfast) and they were delighted to share their delicacies with me they had this delicious fish soup with yuca in it (the fish was albacoa?? not really sure) and chifles (banana chips with seasoning) and you put them in the soup like saltines. I must say it doesnt sound too appetizing for breakfast but man was it delicous. So after that I went back to the hostel met up with the others and we headed for our tour. About 40 minutes later we arrived in Puerto Lopez and began walking down the beach to the boats. All the boats were on the beach!?!? they don´t believe in docks here i guess. So our boat was actually already in the water and they kind of pushed it to the shore and we waded through a little bit of water and boarded. There were 15 of us plus 3 crew members on this little 20-25ft boat. Not much room to move around they had us lined up on the bench along either side of the boat and we were ready to take off!
So I sat next to Eric on one side and this british guy on the other he was quite interesting. Used to be a Software analyst for some well known bank in England that merged with one in the U.S. (Lloyd banks??) anyways he was quite the character and a blast to sit next to and talk with on the way out. He had been travelling all of Sur America and had 6 weeks left before going back to Europe. He´d make small british jokes and laugh and I would more or less laugh at him or the craziness of the sound of the jokes haha. Also there was a Swedish family, a Finnish couple?? (i think they were finnish), and a spanish speaking family. I later talked to the father of the Swedish family and he is a professor at a university in some sort of engineering I didn´t quite catch it because of his accent but he´s got a Doctorate student working for google in California and that is where they had just come from! Also I told him I was from Idaho and he said that he´s actually been to Boyss (Boise) haha and took a rafting trip on the snake river! I thought that was pretty cool!! He said he really loved the area and the trip, it was all beautiful. The only thing he said was that he got on this little tinker of an airplane form Boise to the trip and it had TWO WHEELS IN FRONT AND ONE BEHIND!!! haha it astonished him, he thought it was from the 40´s or 50´s, it cracked me up!
Back to the trip, on our way out to the island which is 42km off the coast we got to do some whale watching! we came across a....heard?...of 3 whales all flipping their tails out of the water and what not it was pretty cool! Then it was onto the island, we got there and saw tonsss of birds immediately pulling up it was crazy! We got out and started the "long" 600m walk to the beginning of the trail.
Stop. Think of the galapagos or a tropical island what do you see. Green trees. Birds. Ocean. Cliffs. Tom Hanks. Wilson. Swiss family robinson. Anyways wrong this is a tropical dry forest here at Isla de la Plata meaning there is very little green but it was still enough to make it beautiful! We saw tiny blue flowers in the lower shrubbery and the trees grew over the trail giving us some shade because this far out from the mainland there weren´t many clouds! My feet even got burnt i found out later that night and i even put sunscreen on them!! We got to the point to decide where the trail split into 2 different tours and there was a Piquero pato azules (Blue footed boobies) pair right there!! Holy cow it was incredible!!! The male was doing a little dance and making this whistling sound and the female was "grunting" back. Quite an incredible experience to physically watch!! We took pictures and moved on to let them be and about 50m down the trail there was another pair!!! WOW! they´re everywhere! It kept going like this until we got too a different part of the island a couple hundred meters down the trail. THEN we got to see these huge beautiful birds called Fragata and the males are the ones with the red "balloons" on their chest that they puff up and make this gargling noise to impress the females! and there´s just tons and ton´s of them in one tree all doing this i will post pictures soon!!
Next we got to head back out onto the boat for lunch, sea turtles and snorkeling! and during lunch we got 2 of those things done at once! We were sitting there and all of a sudden TWO sea turtles surfaced around the boat just checking us out to see what we were and then after that a Third one showed up! they were pretty big too! So after that we got to jump into the water and go snorkeling, now I may be spoiled because I got to go snorkeling in Hawaii (thanks mom and dad!) but the "reefs" here were a little different it´s actually brinestone rock. I saw a huge group of Parrott fish and followed them around for a bit, also saw some clown fish, an unidentified that looked like a tiny shark, some starfish, and other little fish! It was nice to be out in the ocean swimming with the sun on my back. After a while I got out and went back on board the boat and did a little tanning and just took it all in thinking about how lucky I was to see these rare species and have this experience! It´s quite amazing indeed!
After snorkeling we headed back to Puerto Lopez and attempted to do a little more whale watching but the whales weren´t as friendly we came across about another 4-5 more but as soon as we got close they just dived off. Oh well we had the one good show with three of them so I was satisfied and it felt good to have a little ocean spray in the face!
Well I feel like this is a really long one so im going to write a second article to break it up! Sorry for the long windedness and detail I´m also using this to help me remember everything or as much as possible anyways! Will post pictures soon!!!!!!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Update
UPDATE! (7/22/2011)
So we´re in our hostal in Quito (the capital of ecuador) and will be flying out tomorrow night! I haven´t had much internet access these last few days and have quite a bit to post so don´t get discouraged i will keep posting articles as I get time to write them. hopefully I will be able to soon so I don´t forget them!! Anyways I also plan on continuing my blog throughout the school year with progress of my report and will post findings/results as I analyze my results for those of you interested!!
So we´re in our hostal in Quito (the capital of ecuador) and will be flying out tomorrow night! I haven´t had much internet access these last few days and have quite a bit to post so don´t get discouraged i will keep posting articles as I get time to write them. hopefully I will be able to soon so I don´t forget them!! Anyways I also plan on continuing my blog throughout the school year with progress of my report and will post findings/results as I analyze my results for those of you interested!!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Ecuador
So tonight we went to play/watch soccer again (eric and I) and when we got there realized it was an actual intramural game against another department. So I didn't play and eric played for a couple minutes to give one of the guys a break! This was quite different than when we had played solely with the Biology department folks because there was an out of bounds! Imagine playing soccer on a basketball court with 7 vs. 7 it was quite packed and the foot work was amazing! Area Biologica won the game 6-4 against a team that was very good!
I'm going to be doing a little bit of reflecting now upon the times that I have had here in Ecuador as the last work week comes to a close. It has been a great time and have had tons of fun I have met so many amazing people here! Those that are native Ecuadorean's and the casual encounter with those that have made there way here from other locations (mostly U.S. and Europe) This reminds me today we went to eat at this "Health nut" restaurant I had a chicken quesadilla (which was excellent!) and as we were getting up to pay a gentleman at the table next to us started saying "Daniel" "Daniel" and I looked towards him with an awkward look and he said "Oh sorry you're not Daniel are you?" I responded with a polite "no" and struck up a short conversation to help ease the awkwardness
Me: "So where are you from?"
Stranger: "Vilcabamba"
Me: and before that?
Stranger: Oh from Canada and California and you all?
Me: From Idaho, Washington, New Mexico all over
Stranger: Very nice have a good time here!
This is a common occurence with the recognition of fellow "extranjeros" (foreigners) especially those that speak english! It has been nice to speak with them and to figure out what brings them to this wonderful country (especially the less popular than Galapagos southern Ecuador). Usually just touring S. America with the occasional ex-pat that has moved down here with their spouse or family. Which brings me to my next thought. Being down here and speaking the language (or trying to anyways) has probably been my favorite part about the experience. Before I always thought it would be interesting to learn another language but actually doing so and using it in an application such as research and communication for travel has made me appreciate it so much more! I want to try and take it upon myself to learn more spanish however it may happen so that I can continue my travels and possibly even starting to pick up on a third language. Not really sure what that would be but definitely would be quite awesome to do! This whole experience has fueled my interest in research and continuing my education both in the field of Ecology/Biology/Social-sciences as well as in other experiences such as broadening my knowledge in general. Well I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get all this stuff back to the U.S. will post more later this week!
P.S. It has been raining since after lunch today and most all of the streets are flooded! On my way back from lunch I was walking and got splashed by a car driving through a giant puddle. It made me a little angry. The clay-ey soil causes the rain to run off and collect but it seems like it has been raining inches and inches all day. It is currently raining right now too.
I'm going to be doing a little bit of reflecting now upon the times that I have had here in Ecuador as the last work week comes to a close. It has been a great time and have had tons of fun I have met so many amazing people here! Those that are native Ecuadorean's and the casual encounter with those that have made there way here from other locations (mostly U.S. and Europe) This reminds me today we went to eat at this "Health nut" restaurant I had a chicken quesadilla (which was excellent!) and as we were getting up to pay a gentleman at the table next to us started saying "Daniel" "Daniel" and I looked towards him with an awkward look and he said "Oh sorry you're not Daniel are you?" I responded with a polite "no" and struck up a short conversation to help ease the awkwardness
Me: "So where are you from?"
Stranger: "Vilcabamba"
Me: and before that?
Stranger: Oh from Canada and California and you all?
Me: From Idaho, Washington, New Mexico all over
Stranger: Very nice have a good time here!
This is a common occurence with the recognition of fellow "extranjeros" (foreigners) especially those that speak english! It has been nice to speak with them and to figure out what brings them to this wonderful country (especially the less popular than Galapagos southern Ecuador). Usually just touring S. America with the occasional ex-pat that has moved down here with their spouse or family. Which brings me to my next thought. Being down here and speaking the language (or trying to anyways) has probably been my favorite part about the experience. Before I always thought it would be interesting to learn another language but actually doing so and using it in an application such as research and communication for travel has made me appreciate it so much more! I want to try and take it upon myself to learn more spanish however it may happen so that I can continue my travels and possibly even starting to pick up on a third language. Not really sure what that would be but definitely would be quite awesome to do! This whole experience has fueled my interest in research and continuing my education both in the field of Ecology/Biology/Social-sciences as well as in other experiences such as broadening my knowledge in general. Well I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get all this stuff back to the U.S. will post more later this week!
P.S. It has been raining since after lunch today and most all of the streets are flooded! On my way back from lunch I was walking and got splashed by a car driving through a giant puddle. It made me a little angry. The clay-ey soil causes the rain to run off and collect but it seems like it has been raining inches and inches all day. It is currently raining right now too.
Last week! (of work)
7/11/2011
Well just re-doing a bunch of my surveys and putting the "Animal" data into excel for analysis. It's been pretty exciting we've been able to do some preliminary analysis of demographic data and the first few questions! I'm excited to be back in less than 13 days!! There were a 101 different plant species named by people in my surveys ranging for uses from food and drink to religious and medicinal purposes! As well there were 65 animal species named by people that had the same range of uses!
Not a whole lot of new happenings we went back to Vilcabamba this last weekend for a birthday party and played volleyball and had a BBQ. It was really good food. But I can't wait to have the wide variety of food available again in the good ol U.S. We also met a guy from New Jersey this past week that runs a 'Street food' restaurant he's got like steak sandwiches and what not with fries. It's really good he made us feel pretty at home except that we're not from New Jersey haha.
Some little things I haven't really mentioned before (i don't think) is that they use the Sacajawea Dollar here instead of dollar bills. Their money is all from the U.S. with the exception that they have printed some of their own .05, .10, .25, and .50 cent pieces! It's pretty cool a couple of the places we go they constantly ask us if we have American .50 pieces to trade for but those are pretty rare to come by even in the states (unless your in Vegas Thanks again for that Dad that was a blast!). I'm looking forward to my pack schedule once I get back into the U.S. all the way up until school starts I've got just about every day planned out!
We leave this friday night to take the midnight bus for 12 hours to the beach so we'll get there saturday morning just in time to hang out and sleep on the beach! Then we're touring poor man Galapagos' and Tuesday night catching the midnight train back to Guayaquil. Spend our last day in Loja wednesday saying goodbyes and finishing up packing then Thursday it's back to Quito where we will climb the towers in one of the churches and then Friday tour the city and Saturday pack up and get ready to head back home!
It has been an awesome trip there's not a thing different I would do...okay that's a lie. I wouldn't have drank the stream water!!! I've lost like 5lbs this last week and am down to my last notch on my belt and about ready to cut another notch. I can now understand why back in the old days doctors would sell parasites for weight loss, it's worked pretty good for me. haha Just kidding. I've got a couple "home remedy" ideas given to me and will be trying those to see if I can kick this. And for all of you who were hoping to see me come back with a Bot fly, I haven't been so lucky sorry to disappoint you!
Hope all is well with everyone I have added more pictures to my photobucket of the zoo and what not! Also there's a construction picture in there I would like to dedicate to my Dad. I'd imagine it was the same kind of work he was doing back when he first started construction using sticks for framing! Haha hope you enjoy it here's the link http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/raus2120/More%20Ecuador/?action=view¤t=DSCN0731.jpg#!oZZ11QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1085.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj422%2Fraus2120%2FMore%2520Ecuador%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSCN0731.jpg > Be sure to click "Next" to see the second picture.
Well just re-doing a bunch of my surveys and putting the "Animal" data into excel for analysis. It's been pretty exciting we've been able to do some preliminary analysis of demographic data and the first few questions! I'm excited to be back in less than 13 days!! There were a 101 different plant species named by people in my surveys ranging for uses from food and drink to religious and medicinal purposes! As well there were 65 animal species named by people that had the same range of uses!
Not a whole lot of new happenings we went back to Vilcabamba this last weekend for a birthday party and played volleyball and had a BBQ. It was really good food. But I can't wait to have the wide variety of food available again in the good ol U.S. We also met a guy from New Jersey this past week that runs a 'Street food' restaurant he's got like steak sandwiches and what not with fries. It's really good he made us feel pretty at home except that we're not from New Jersey haha.
Some little things I haven't really mentioned before (i don't think) is that they use the Sacajawea Dollar here instead of dollar bills. Their money is all from the U.S. with the exception that they have printed some of their own .05, .10, .25, and .50 cent pieces! It's pretty cool a couple of the places we go they constantly ask us if we have American .50 pieces to trade for but those are pretty rare to come by even in the states (unless your in Vegas Thanks again for that Dad that was a blast!). I'm looking forward to my pack schedule once I get back into the U.S. all the way up until school starts I've got just about every day planned out!
We leave this friday night to take the midnight bus for 12 hours to the beach so we'll get there saturday morning just in time to hang out and sleep on the beach! Then we're touring poor man Galapagos' and Tuesday night catching the midnight train back to Guayaquil. Spend our last day in Loja wednesday saying goodbyes and finishing up packing then Thursday it's back to Quito where we will climb the towers in one of the churches and then Friday tour the city and Saturday pack up and get ready to head back home!
It has been an awesome trip there's not a thing different I would do...okay that's a lie. I wouldn't have drank the stream water!!! I've lost like 5lbs this last week and am down to my last notch on my belt and about ready to cut another notch. I can now understand why back in the old days doctors would sell parasites for weight loss, it's worked pretty good for me. haha Just kidding. I've got a couple "home remedy" ideas given to me and will be trying those to see if I can kick this. And for all of you who were hoping to see me come back with a Bot fly, I haven't been so lucky sorry to disappoint you!
Hope all is well with everyone I have added more pictures to my photobucket of the zoo and what not! Also there's a construction picture in there I would like to dedicate to my Dad. I'd imagine it was the same kind of work he was doing back when he first started construction using sticks for framing! Haha hope you enjoy it here's the link http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j422/raus2120/More%20Ecuador/?action=view¤t=DSCN0731.jpg#!oZZ11QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1085.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj422%2Fraus2120%2FMore%2520Ecuador%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3DDSCN0731.jpg > Be sure to click "Next" to see the second picture.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
4th of July Weekend
Hello everyone! So I'm posting this after my day of recovery from the 4th of July! It was a great one, we had a party on the rooftop of Eric & I's apartment building. I made some potato salad from scratch and we had hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, pineapple salsa, baked beans, and some fruit. It was quite fun it started off kind of slow with just 3 of us but quickly after 830 more people started showing up and the fun began! The food was a hit and the pineapple salsa was a hit. I was able to find some Budweiser (the only american drink that I could afford because a bottle of Jack D. was $53.00!!!) and the only thing we were missing last night was fireworks! I might just have to go up to the reservation when I get back to school and buy some fireworks to light off! haha I hope everyone elses 4th of July was great! I was pretty "chuchaki" the next day, but it was a pretty good fourth. Also my land lady who I invited to join the party (actually invited everyone in the building) never came up and actually turned off power to my part of the building and I was escorted to bed after trying to get some water out of her apartment (because I'm supposed to have full 24/7 access to her kitchen which she locks it on weekends and after 10pm usually). I'm quite disturbed by her recent change in attitude she seems to be annoyed, and I even make her a pancake every morning I go in there to use her kitchen. It just seems like she has been slacking on her duties as a landlord in our agreement and its kind of frustrating. Well I got a week and a half left her in Loja then we're headed to the coast to enjoy the beach!
On a side note I figured out what I had last weekend (not this past weekend but the one before). Remember the story about hiking through the jungle and how we ran out of water when I was doing my surveying. We ended up not getting out until 2.5 hours after dark. Well I must've picked up a little parasite called Giardia. Atleast thats what the group consensus seems to be, and I've definitely had some of the symptoms. I guess I'll have to go see a doctor when I get back into the U.S. but until then I will keep drinking lots of water to hydrate and a little bit of beer to try and kill the parasite!! It's nothing to serious but sometimes the body can't kill it and you can get stuck with it for the rest of your life in your lower intestine and you can show the symptoms.
Oh and how could I forget on Saturday we went to the Zoo here and were able to see a lot of the animals that get mentioned in my survey! We saw monos (monkeys), tapirs, oso de anteojos (Spectacled/Andean Bear), Guatusa (most mentioned animal in my surveys and is despised by locals because it eats maiz and yuca), tucans, pava de monte (its kind of like a south american turkey), tigrillo (Ocelote aka tiny little kitty), puma (aka big kitty! haha), and a few birds and snakes. It was fun to go to the zoo it took us like an hour to walk through it and that was with watching the monkeys swing around for a good chunk of time. My camera died halfway through it but I will post the pictures soon! Probably tonight actually! www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo
Sunday we went to a waterpark that is a 45 minute bus ride and 15 minute taxi ride away from Loja. It's in a neighboring valley over a mountain and the climate there is completely different! There was sun (for a little bit) but it was kind of overcast and windy. I do think that I got a little bit of color and definitely acquired more bug bites! There are a lot more bugs in this valley because of the warmer climate than Loja. Anyways the waterpark was really fun they had this slide there that was awesome! I will post the video of myself going down it....spoiler I kind of get a little bit of air! Anyways I'm looking forward to the beach and coming back to the states I've got 18 more days!
Chau!
Jeremy
On a side note I figured out what I had last weekend (not this past weekend but the one before). Remember the story about hiking through the jungle and how we ran out of water when I was doing my surveying. We ended up not getting out until 2.5 hours after dark. Well I must've picked up a little parasite called Giardia. Atleast thats what the group consensus seems to be, and I've definitely had some of the symptoms. I guess I'll have to go see a doctor when I get back into the U.S. but until then I will keep drinking lots of water to hydrate and a little bit of beer to try and kill the parasite!! It's nothing to serious but sometimes the body can't kill it and you can get stuck with it for the rest of your life in your lower intestine and you can show the symptoms.
Oh and how could I forget on Saturday we went to the Zoo here and were able to see a lot of the animals that get mentioned in my survey! We saw monos (monkeys), tapirs, oso de anteojos (Spectacled/Andean Bear), Guatusa (most mentioned animal in my surveys and is despised by locals because it eats maiz and yuca), tucans, pava de monte (its kind of like a south american turkey), tigrillo (Ocelote aka tiny little kitty), puma (aka big kitty! haha), and a few birds and snakes. It was fun to go to the zoo it took us like an hour to walk through it and that was with watching the monkeys swing around for a good chunk of time. My camera died halfway through it but I will post the pictures soon! Probably tonight actually! www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo
Sunday we went to a waterpark that is a 45 minute bus ride and 15 minute taxi ride away from Loja. It's in a neighboring valley over a mountain and the climate there is completely different! There was sun (for a little bit) but it was kind of overcast and windy. I do think that I got a little bit of color and definitely acquired more bug bites! There are a lot more bugs in this valley because of the warmer climate than Loja. Anyways the waterpark was really fun they had this slide there that was awesome! I will post the video of myself going down it....spoiler I kind of get a little bit of air! Anyways I'm looking forward to the beach and coming back to the states I've got 18 more days!
Chau!
Jeremy
Friday, July 1, 2011
Quick note
Well I officially finished entering my data into the computer! I have a basketball game tonight with the Biology department team and am pretty excited for it! Let the 4th of July weekend begin!!! Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend and make sure to light off plenty of fireworks for me! We are planning on going to the zoo tomorrow and to Casa Tinku to watch our British friend play (he's in a band called Laguna Mental) he's kind of a local celebrity Kenny is! Then we will be figuring out the bus schedule on sunday and cooking food to prepare for our 4th of July part we are going to have here with the professors and people in my apartment building on my roof! Hasta luego! Chau chau!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
25 days!
Well it's official there are 25 days left until I head home back to the U.S. and see everyone! I'm getting kind of excited especially since just yesterday (6/29/2011) I am done conducting my surveys. The rest of my time here in Ecuador will be committed to coding everything and starting some preliminary analysis.
6/23/2011
Today Romiro and I went to Tutupali. Romiro is a professor here at UTPL and he doesn't speak very much english so it was an awesome opportunity for both of us to practice. We spent the whole day surveying and chatting in spanish and english correcting each other and expanding our vocabularies. We completed 10 more surveys, the people of Tutupali seem to be getting scarcer. It's most likely due to the fact that they are working in the fields and won't return until after we have left. It was a good day, a couple interesting things to mention we walked by a construction site (a 3 story apartment complex) in this tiny town and there were some construction workers hanging out at one of the guys' house across the "road" and they were all already drunk. One thing I've learned here and have been told many many times never talk to or mess with a drunk local. They get really upset with people interrupting their time off from work and will get agressive! So Romiro and I took a truck back on the sketchy dirt road to the main town of 28 de Mayo and got there at about 7pm and met up with the other social sciences group and Fausto (the other guy professor) had some dinner and walked around the plaza. They were having a special mass so we went to visit the church and afterwards they had empanadas with cheese and sugar (delicious by the way, they're these fried pieces of bread for those that don't know). Then finally at about 10pm Romiro and I began our 4 hour public bus ride back to Loja! I wasn't able to sleep much but did finish my third book of the summer (1st was DaVinci Code and 2nd was Angels and Demons i've been reading these since my Grandma lent me The Lost Symbol and was able to finish it this last school year Thanks Grandma!) Deception Point which is also by Dan Brown. I was a little too worried about having someone run off the bus with my stuff to sleep. Finally we made it back to Loja at about 2am and was able to go to bed!
6/24/2011
Went to the office didn't accomplish a whole lot updated some codes but a few of the surveys in. Went out to dinner with a couple people from the office for their birthdays to this place called Tapas (appetizers). Eric and I split this giant platter that had bacon wrapped fruit, meatballs, papas de espanola (like a piece of potatoe cake it was good), and a shot of this really good wine. I spent friday night at home talking on skype to Jordan and sleeping so I could rest before our big day of a swimming intramural competition for UTPL and horseback riding in Vilcabamba.
6/25/2011
Death has its grips on me....I've been in the bathroom for 2 hours this morning. Tapas has attempted to poison me and at this point it seemed they succeeded. Needless to say I didn't do anything plan and laid in bed all day with the occasional trip to the bathroom. My stomach hurt so badly! Been trying to drink water but can't take more than a couple sips without my stomach hurting.
6/26/2011
Able to drink some more water, I'm pretty dehydrated and trying to kick this sickness. I'm able to get down a couple ritz crackers in the morning and am starting to feel better by the afternoon. Or so it seems. I eat dinner with everyone we have a "family style" dinner. They were so kind as to make ME vegetarian soup, but I think I'm getting my appetite back and order a pizza too. I didn't want to chance the strange vegetables they put into this soup. 9pm rolls around and my stomach is hurting again, I wait in hour watching How I Met Your Mother (TV Series we watch when we're bored) willing my stomach to settle down. Finally I leave and am home at about 10pm and it seems I'm right back where I was at that morning. I keep drinking water in between sessions trying to stay hydrated I have to go to the field tomorrow!
6/27/2011
Wake up and I'm feeling "okay" not the best but I will my self to go to the field because we're taking Veronica's personal car instead of the bus. So we take off for the field with Veronica, Amy, Yesenia, and I in the car ready for 2 days of field work. We get to Tutupali around 3:30 and meet with the president of the parroquail and he says that nobody is in the village San Vicente that we were supposed to visit to get my last surveys. We decide at this point to finish out all the surveys in tutupali for the sake of time and money purposes and Yesenia and I got 15 of 17 surveys done that we needed for my initial plan. The next morning everyones spirits are high and we get the last 2 surveys by 9:30. Amy was also able to get all her work done that we needed too in Tutupali we will not have to return to this place! The road out was a treacherous one and reminds me of the road to the cabin with the exception that there are giant dump trucks going up and down this road tearing it to bits and it had been raining for the past 3 days there. The road was a mess so us in Veronicas dads' Ford Escape attempted to make our way out, we passed through many mud pits in the road tore up by the giant trucks, we passed by many rockfalls thankful that they weren't falling on us, and past a few sketchy parts where the road had partially washed out and probably would in the next couple days if the heavy truck traffic and rain didn't let up. Finally we were safely back in 28 de Mayo and thankful that we were safe. We decided to continue back through La Paz and we would stop so that Yesenia could finish her senior thesis surveys and so that Amy and I could possibly also get some work done. She was able to finish her 4 survey/interviews for her thesis on "Organic Production" that she needed and so we began the final 20 extra surveys that Veronica needed (and I also can use for analysis) it took us but 3 short hours in the town of La Paz and after searching every last corner of the town we found enough people to survey. It has been a successful trip and I feel like I have accomplished a lot thanks to the helpful people of Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja! I can now begin the final stages of my field research and begin data entry!
6/29/2011
It is a great feeling sitting here in the office with my stack of 90 surveys that I set out to get only 6 weeks ago. In the beginning it started slow with nothing happening the first 2 weeks really and it seemed each week the field time got shorter and shorter with not as much getting done as needed. But here I am triumphant with my stack of papers and we even got 30 extra surveys to bring the total to 120! That will give me great statistics!!!! Now the final data entry begins and will keep you updated on my adventures as I try to relax and enjoy my final 3 weeks here! I will post more pictures on my photobucket also today or tomorrow so make sure to check those out too, and maybe I will even go through and title the ones I haven't yet had time to title!
All is well!
6/23/2011
Today Romiro and I went to Tutupali. Romiro is a professor here at UTPL and he doesn't speak very much english so it was an awesome opportunity for both of us to practice. We spent the whole day surveying and chatting in spanish and english correcting each other and expanding our vocabularies. We completed 10 more surveys, the people of Tutupali seem to be getting scarcer. It's most likely due to the fact that they are working in the fields and won't return until after we have left. It was a good day, a couple interesting things to mention we walked by a construction site (a 3 story apartment complex) in this tiny town and there were some construction workers hanging out at one of the guys' house across the "road" and they were all already drunk. One thing I've learned here and have been told many many times never talk to or mess with a drunk local. They get really upset with people interrupting their time off from work and will get agressive! So Romiro and I took a truck back on the sketchy dirt road to the main town of 28 de Mayo and got there at about 7pm and met up with the other social sciences group and Fausto (the other guy professor) had some dinner and walked around the plaza. They were having a special mass so we went to visit the church and afterwards they had empanadas with cheese and sugar (delicious by the way, they're these fried pieces of bread for those that don't know). Then finally at about 10pm Romiro and I began our 4 hour public bus ride back to Loja! I wasn't able to sleep much but did finish my third book of the summer (1st was DaVinci Code and 2nd was Angels and Demons i've been reading these since my Grandma lent me The Lost Symbol and was able to finish it this last school year Thanks Grandma!) Deception Point which is also by Dan Brown. I was a little too worried about having someone run off the bus with my stuff to sleep. Finally we made it back to Loja at about 2am and was able to go to bed!
6/24/2011
Went to the office didn't accomplish a whole lot updated some codes but a few of the surveys in. Went out to dinner with a couple people from the office for their birthdays to this place called Tapas (appetizers). Eric and I split this giant platter that had bacon wrapped fruit, meatballs, papas de espanola (like a piece of potatoe cake it was good), and a shot of this really good wine. I spent friday night at home talking on skype to Jordan and sleeping so I could rest before our big day of a swimming intramural competition for UTPL and horseback riding in Vilcabamba.
6/25/2011
Death has its grips on me....I've been in the bathroom for 2 hours this morning. Tapas has attempted to poison me and at this point it seemed they succeeded. Needless to say I didn't do anything plan and laid in bed all day with the occasional trip to the bathroom. My stomach hurt so badly! Been trying to drink water but can't take more than a couple sips without my stomach hurting.
6/26/2011
Able to drink some more water, I'm pretty dehydrated and trying to kick this sickness. I'm able to get down a couple ritz crackers in the morning and am starting to feel better by the afternoon. Or so it seems. I eat dinner with everyone we have a "family style" dinner. They were so kind as to make ME vegetarian soup, but I think I'm getting my appetite back and order a pizza too. I didn't want to chance the strange vegetables they put into this soup. 9pm rolls around and my stomach is hurting again, I wait in hour watching How I Met Your Mother (TV Series we watch when we're bored) willing my stomach to settle down. Finally I leave and am home at about 10pm and it seems I'm right back where I was at that morning. I keep drinking water in between sessions trying to stay hydrated I have to go to the field tomorrow!
6/27/2011
Wake up and I'm feeling "okay" not the best but I will my self to go to the field because we're taking Veronica's personal car instead of the bus. So we take off for the field with Veronica, Amy, Yesenia, and I in the car ready for 2 days of field work. We get to Tutupali around 3:30 and meet with the president of the parroquail and he says that nobody is in the village San Vicente that we were supposed to visit to get my last surveys. We decide at this point to finish out all the surveys in tutupali for the sake of time and money purposes and Yesenia and I got 15 of 17 surveys done that we needed for my initial plan. The next morning everyones spirits are high and we get the last 2 surveys by 9:30. Amy was also able to get all her work done that we needed too in Tutupali we will not have to return to this place! The road out was a treacherous one and reminds me of the road to the cabin with the exception that there are giant dump trucks going up and down this road tearing it to bits and it had been raining for the past 3 days there. The road was a mess so us in Veronicas dads' Ford Escape attempted to make our way out, we passed through many mud pits in the road tore up by the giant trucks, we passed by many rockfalls thankful that they weren't falling on us, and past a few sketchy parts where the road had partially washed out and probably would in the next couple days if the heavy truck traffic and rain didn't let up. Finally we were safely back in 28 de Mayo and thankful that we were safe. We decided to continue back through La Paz and we would stop so that Yesenia could finish her senior thesis surveys and so that Amy and I could possibly also get some work done. She was able to finish her 4 survey/interviews for her thesis on "Organic Production" that she needed and so we began the final 20 extra surveys that Veronica needed (and I also can use for analysis) it took us but 3 short hours in the town of La Paz and after searching every last corner of the town we found enough people to survey. It has been a successful trip and I feel like I have accomplished a lot thanks to the helpful people of Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja! I can now begin the final stages of my field research and begin data entry!
6/29/2011
It is a great feeling sitting here in the office with my stack of 90 surveys that I set out to get only 6 weeks ago. In the beginning it started slow with nothing happening the first 2 weeks really and it seemed each week the field time got shorter and shorter with not as much getting done as needed. But here I am triumphant with my stack of papers and we even got 30 extra surveys to bring the total to 120! That will give me great statistics!!!! Now the final data entry begins and will keep you updated on my adventures as I try to relax and enjoy my final 3 weeks here! I will post more pictures on my photobucket also today or tomorrow so make sure to check those out too, and maybe I will even go through and title the ones I haven't yet had time to title!
All is well!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Trees, Valleys, Heights, Flying through the air, ruins, muggers, and crafts oh my!!!!
6/20/2011
Cuenca
So we visited Cuenca this weekend we left Loja at approximately 6am and were there by 9! We checked into our hostel, had some lunch and headed out to go ziplining! It was amazing! There were a total of 7 different lines that we went on and we had 3 other gentlemen join us (one from texas, one from puerto rico, and one from florida) and I'm pretty sure all 3 of them were former marines I know for sure the guy from Texas was. They were really cool and had some awesome stories they had been in Ecuador for 6 weeks and had just been touring the country doing amazing things! They told us about this 90m rappel North of the capital (Quito) it's in the MIDDLE OF A WATERFALL, they said it was pretty cool having the water just pour all around you like that. I would really like to go do that but don't think we'll have the time, it's getting near the end now and all our weekends are fairly well planned out! Anyways back to Cuenca, so we did the ziplining deal and you should check out the photos at www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo Then we returned to Cuenca and continued to shop at the little tiny tiendas (stores) in search of local trinkets and souvenirs! I found many and am excited to bring them back! We went to dinner at this place called Zoe it was a restaurant, bar, cafe, and salsa dance floor...it's amazing salsa how quickly the dance is. It was nice to watch but there's no way I could do what they do the dance is so quick! We toured the city a little bit more at night enjoying the colonial architecture and the lit churches, it was beautiful.
Sunday morning we headed to the ancient Incan ruins of Ingapirca it was an hour and a half cab ride and was well worth the $12 cab ride and $6 park entrance fee! While the ruins were not quite that of the Mayan ruins I saw junior year in high school down in Mexico it was amazing the precision that they could cut the blocks to build the Sun Temple. They didn't need mortar and was almost perfectly intact when it was found in 770 and not much has changed since then! The blocks are so tightly placed together that you can't even slide a piece of paper in between them?! It's amazing that so long ago they could have such precision in their work! We viewed the temple and other parts of the ruins and also had a nice chat with our friends from the University of Illinois and Augustina University...we had a slight argument of who was THE "U of I" and we definitely won. It was nice to see some other "extranjeros" or "foreigners" who knew some english! So we returned back to Cuenca had a run in with an "attempted" mugger who was obviously not afraid of all 8 of us even though we had 2 nice strong buff men. So we just waited in the restaurant until the guy got bored/nervous and left. I must say my alert level and heart beat were up and stayed up until we got back to the hostal and were on our way back to Loja. It was quite the experience. I can truely say I enjoyed being in Cuenca looking at all the churches but that the people and city of Loja is still my favorite in Ecuador. Also at the ruins I got a little bit red on the arms! It was SO nice to have some sun for the first time in a couple weeks!
Well Eric and I got to play some more soccer again tonight it was another great game and I think my hydrating all day left me in a bit better shape! It was another good game, they split Eric and I up and put us on different teams. I'm proud to say that my team won 18 to 15! Afterwards we went and watched the intramural basketball games it was the Biology Department versus some other department and the Biology department kicked butt!! It is a lot different style of basketball here than it is back in the states. the way they shoot is like straight at the rim without any arch to it. It's quite rudiculous actually and very entertaining to watch.
Another thing I really like about the culture here is that they play sports no matter what kind of shape the people are in...you don't even have to be good at the sport as long as your trying and having fun everyone is having fun it's pretty awesome!
Don't forget to check out the pictures at www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo
Cuenca
So we visited Cuenca this weekend we left Loja at approximately 6am and were there by 9! We checked into our hostel, had some lunch and headed out to go ziplining! It was amazing! There were a total of 7 different lines that we went on and we had 3 other gentlemen join us (one from texas, one from puerto rico, and one from florida) and I'm pretty sure all 3 of them were former marines I know for sure the guy from Texas was. They were really cool and had some awesome stories they had been in Ecuador for 6 weeks and had just been touring the country doing amazing things! They told us about this 90m rappel North of the capital (Quito) it's in the MIDDLE OF A WATERFALL, they said it was pretty cool having the water just pour all around you like that. I would really like to go do that but don't think we'll have the time, it's getting near the end now and all our weekends are fairly well planned out! Anyways back to Cuenca, so we did the ziplining deal and you should check out the photos at www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo Then we returned to Cuenca and continued to shop at the little tiny tiendas (stores) in search of local trinkets and souvenirs! I found many and am excited to bring them back! We went to dinner at this place called Zoe it was a restaurant, bar, cafe, and salsa dance floor...it's amazing salsa how quickly the dance is. It was nice to watch but there's no way I could do what they do the dance is so quick! We toured the city a little bit more at night enjoying the colonial architecture and the lit churches, it was beautiful.
Sunday morning we headed to the ancient Incan ruins of Ingapirca it was an hour and a half cab ride and was well worth the $12 cab ride and $6 park entrance fee! While the ruins were not quite that of the Mayan ruins I saw junior year in high school down in Mexico it was amazing the precision that they could cut the blocks to build the Sun Temple. They didn't need mortar and was almost perfectly intact when it was found in 770 and not much has changed since then! The blocks are so tightly placed together that you can't even slide a piece of paper in between them?! It's amazing that so long ago they could have such precision in their work! We viewed the temple and other parts of the ruins and also had a nice chat with our friends from the University of Illinois and Augustina University...we had a slight argument of who was THE "U of I" and we definitely won. It was nice to see some other "extranjeros" or "foreigners" who knew some english! So we returned back to Cuenca had a run in with an "attempted" mugger who was obviously not afraid of all 8 of us even though we had 2 nice strong buff men. So we just waited in the restaurant until the guy got bored/nervous and left. I must say my alert level and heart beat were up and stayed up until we got back to the hostal and were on our way back to Loja. It was quite the experience. I can truely say I enjoyed being in Cuenca looking at all the churches but that the people and city of Loja is still my favorite in Ecuador. Also at the ruins I got a little bit red on the arms! It was SO nice to have some sun for the first time in a couple weeks!
Well Eric and I got to play some more soccer again tonight it was another great game and I think my hydrating all day left me in a bit better shape! It was another good game, they split Eric and I up and put us on different teams. I'm proud to say that my team won 18 to 15! Afterwards we went and watched the intramural basketball games it was the Biology Department versus some other department and the Biology department kicked butt!! It is a lot different style of basketball here than it is back in the states. the way they shoot is like straight at the rim without any arch to it. It's quite rudiculous actually and very entertaining to watch.
Another thing I really like about the culture here is that they play sports no matter what kind of shape the people are in...you don't even have to be good at the sport as long as your trying and having fun everyone is having fun it's pretty awesome!
Don't forget to check out the pictures at www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo
Friday, June 17, 2011
Long nights and short days
Well the days are short the nights longer (meaning it's really dark out really early). I miss the sun I don't think I've seen it for 2 weeks now it has been raining constantly. It's quite rudiculous actually, the river we cross everyday to get to the university is running so high and fast you probably couldn't even stand in it. The food here, although delicious can get quite repetitive after a month, I will be grateful for variety in styles of cuisine upon returning but until then I will continue to enjoy meat flavored meat with rice and soups. I guess you could say I was homesick I'm missing the routine of everyday life and knowing what people were saying. But I have taken full advantage of saying/speaking to other people in english and having them not understand it's quite entertaining actually and have made a game out of it when we go shopping and have annoying sales "people" trying to sell me something! They just stare back at me just as confused as I do them when they ask me questions haha!
Oh almost forgot, myself and eric were able to play soccer with a bunch of the professors from the university on monday night (6/13/2011) and man was it rough!! haha! It was an indoor game on the other side of town and we got a ride there from a couple of the professors and a few of the girls came to watch. It was quite intense, I was a little tired after the first 15 minutes, not going to lie. But then after that I realized I didn't have to be constantly running up and down the tiny indoor field we were playing on! Our team always held the lead except for at one point when we were tied at 15-15...yeah it was a high scoring game but what can you expect out of a bunch of semi-pro professors and 2 white kids from the states who they put on the same team! haha. So a little about our performances Eric did amazing and scored like 3 goals or more and had a couple assists. His footwork was amazing and he definitely was in a little better shape than I was, or atleast he wasn't running as much ahaha. I scored 1 goal and was so tired by the end of the game it was ri-donk-u-lus! ridonkulous! But it was a blast and after the game we hung around and had a couple beers with the guys to help "rehydrate" haha, it was good that the soccer crossed the language barrier and we were all able to have something in common for a little while out of the day. Now when I see those guys in the office we greet each other like old friends from years ago, it's amazing how well they treat each other here. The only thing is they won't let "girls/women" play in their games. A mans game is a mans game so the girls are a little bummed that they won't get to play so I'm hoping we can maybe find a park to play at on saturdays, that would be kind of fun...anyways that leads my to the next topic weekends.
So this weekend we are going to Cuenca this weekend which is a UNESCO city...not sure what that exactly means but it's pretty exciting and will let you know in a blog after this...also I am hoping to go to Montanita so that I can actually get some sun! It's a beach on the west coast...it has been so rainy/cloudy here for the past 2 weeks all I want is some sun and long summer days instead of it getting dark at 630...Well I'm headed to bed now gotta get up early. Talk to yall later. ask questions if you got them!
Oh almost forgot, myself and eric were able to play soccer with a bunch of the professors from the university on monday night (6/13/2011) and man was it rough!! haha! It was an indoor game on the other side of town and we got a ride there from a couple of the professors and a few of the girls came to watch. It was quite intense, I was a little tired after the first 15 minutes, not going to lie. But then after that I realized I didn't have to be constantly running up and down the tiny indoor field we were playing on! Our team always held the lead except for at one point when we were tied at 15-15...yeah it was a high scoring game but what can you expect out of a bunch of semi-pro professors and 2 white kids from the states who they put on the same team! haha. So a little about our performances Eric did amazing and scored like 3 goals or more and had a couple assists. His footwork was amazing and he definitely was in a little better shape than I was, or atleast he wasn't running as much ahaha. I scored 1 goal and was so tired by the end of the game it was ri-donk-u-lus! ridonkulous! But it was a blast and after the game we hung around and had a couple beers with the guys to help "rehydrate" haha, it was good that the soccer crossed the language barrier and we were all able to have something in common for a little while out of the day. Now when I see those guys in the office we greet each other like old friends from years ago, it's amazing how well they treat each other here. The only thing is they won't let "girls/women" play in their games. A mans game is a mans game so the girls are a little bummed that they won't get to play so I'm hoping we can maybe find a park to play at on saturdays, that would be kind of fun...anyways that leads my to the next topic weekends.
So this weekend we are going to Cuenca this weekend which is a UNESCO city...not sure what that exactly means but it's pretty exciting and will let you know in a blog after this...also I am hoping to go to Montanita so that I can actually get some sun! It's a beach on the west coast...it has been so rainy/cloudy here for the past 2 weeks all I want is some sun and long summer days instead of it getting dark at 630...Well I'm headed to bed now gotta get up early. Talk to yall later. ask questions if you got them!
10 million fireflies...lit up the skies. lol
6/8/2011
Well we made it safely to Tutupali after passing one of the many bright orange dump trucks that run this road (either for road construction or mining, haven't quite been able to figure it out) and it was in the uhh "ditch." It was quite the sight as we came whipping around one of the corners there's this massive machine sitting just off the road in the jungle. We picked up the passenger in the vehicle who was drunk and I had actually seen earlier when we were waiting in town for our ride driving by drinking a Club Cerveza. So when we picked him up it wasn't surprising he was drunk and very upset. I don't think the driver had been drinking because they have very strict DUI laws here but just not open container laws, or so I am told. It was quite the scene and we continued on our way to Tutupali to conduct our surveys the whole rest of the ride out I was nervous holding onto the truck frame extra tight half expecting to see another orange dump truck come hauling around one of the corners and smashing into us or sending us off the side of the road. But it never came, we made it safely. The drunk man continued on with the driver just up the road to the next little village where I'm assuming his boss was. Anyways we had dinner there of Yuca, Queso, and rice with some strange yellow tea. It was actually pretty okay, afterwards we went out into the plaza and watched the soccer games that had started on the little basketball court. We started approaching people around watching the games who were chatting amongst each other and got 9 surveys tonight! Off to bed at about 2330 (1130) the plaza still had lots of activity but we were tired.
6/9/2011
This morning we woke up at about 8 had breakfast and I packed my backpack to head into a couple of the neighborhoods to conduct surveys. So their definition of a "neighborhood" are like these little villages that are only accessible by walking these rudiculous mountain trails with the exception of a few that are along the road. Our destinations though are an alleged 2 hour hike to the first place another 2 hour hike to the second and an hour hike after that we should be out of the jungle and our ride picking us up. We started hiking at 9:30 and reached the first location at 12:00 where we had lunch and got 15 surveys and man it was gruesome the straight-uped-ness of the trail was amazing. It beat the crap out of us and not to mention it was raining, it was quite invigorating and got to see some Toucans!! We were back on the road by 1400 (2:00pm) walking to the next place. We enjoyed the semi-easy trail we had dropped to this small valley floor crossed a river and hiked up the other mountain side, contouring across going fairly easy. (1500) Then we came across some people on the trail and they told us we needed to drop back down and get to the other side of the valley on the other mountain side and pointed to a faint white square that was the school where we had more people waiting for us to survey them. Well we hiked back down, crossed the river again on another bridge and started back up the other side, man are these mountains steep, the humidity, and the altitude. It was all a lot! After many breaks, running out of clean water, and drinking "pure" spring water we kept hiking to our destinate and made it around 1730(5:30pm)! We were met with open arms and some stern talking-to's. Apparently everyone had been waiting at the school house for us at 1100 that morning ready to feed us lunch and do the surveys, we showed up a few hours late and with hungry stomachs but the food had already been eaten. There weren't many people left many had gone home thinking we weren't coming so we got 8 surveys out of the village and began our voyage to where our ride was waiting an alleged hour walk away. We set off with less than an hour left of light my headlamp securely locked behind my door back in Loja. Energy was wearing thin and no amount of sugar cane was going to help us now, we had to hike back down the mountain side and back across the river to the other side and about 3 miles out after that! One Moment. While that may not sound too bad, remember you've been hiking through the Andes, up-down-up-down-up-down, back and forth across a river twice already and been through a pass. We didn't have much water and we hadn't had a proper meal except for beans and peanuts that was our lunch. We made it down to the bridge and were making our way up the other side of the mountain when darkness set in. And man was it dark! All we could see was the occassional light of a house on various locations across the valley from us where there were small homes with lights. Then flash.....what was that....flash.....am I seeing things?....flash....flash...just keep walking ignore it your dehydrated focus on walking....flash. Finally I stop and turn to Veronica the UTPL professor that is there and ask her what the lights are and if they're real or just my mind playing tricks on me. Nope those little green flashes were some kind of Ecuadorian firefly except a lot bigger haha. I'm not crazy, but probably dehydrated haha! So we keep walking more and more green flashed appearing randomly some flying nearby others in the jungle off in the distance a little but still visible. So knowing I wasn't crazy we finally came onto the main trail/road it was wet and slippery, so we pushed on. Trying to pass the time I worked on my spanish with our guide, the other student, and Veronica. Learning new words and teaching them such words as "slippery" it made the time go by a little easier. We later found out that sometime while me trying to learn more spanish we were hiking on a cliff and that many animals had fallen off of and a couple people. Anyways it was a great experience and am quite sore from it! I hope that this doesn't happen and will hopefully remember to pack the headlight I got from my parents! Missing my friends, family, and girlfriend and can't wait to see you all when I get back!
Well we made it safely to Tutupali after passing one of the many bright orange dump trucks that run this road (either for road construction or mining, haven't quite been able to figure it out) and it was in the uhh "ditch." It was quite the sight as we came whipping around one of the corners there's this massive machine sitting just off the road in the jungle. We picked up the passenger in the vehicle who was drunk and I had actually seen earlier when we were waiting in town for our ride driving by drinking a Club Cerveza. So when we picked him up it wasn't surprising he was drunk and very upset. I don't think the driver had been drinking because they have very strict DUI laws here but just not open container laws, or so I am told. It was quite the scene and we continued on our way to Tutupali to conduct our surveys the whole rest of the ride out I was nervous holding onto the truck frame extra tight half expecting to see another orange dump truck come hauling around one of the corners and smashing into us or sending us off the side of the road. But it never came, we made it safely. The drunk man continued on with the driver just up the road to the next little village where I'm assuming his boss was. Anyways we had dinner there of Yuca, Queso, and rice with some strange yellow tea. It was actually pretty okay, afterwards we went out into the plaza and watched the soccer games that had started on the little basketball court. We started approaching people around watching the games who were chatting amongst each other and got 9 surveys tonight! Off to bed at about 2330 (1130) the plaza still had lots of activity but we were tired.
6/9/2011
This morning we woke up at about 8 had breakfast and I packed my backpack to head into a couple of the neighborhoods to conduct surveys. So their definition of a "neighborhood" are like these little villages that are only accessible by walking these rudiculous mountain trails with the exception of a few that are along the road. Our destinations though are an alleged 2 hour hike to the first place another 2 hour hike to the second and an hour hike after that we should be out of the jungle and our ride picking us up. We started hiking at 9:30 and reached the first location at 12:00 where we had lunch and got 15 surveys and man it was gruesome the straight-uped-ness of the trail was amazing. It beat the crap out of us and not to mention it was raining, it was quite invigorating and got to see some Toucans!! We were back on the road by 1400 (2:00pm) walking to the next place. We enjoyed the semi-easy trail we had dropped to this small valley floor crossed a river and hiked up the other mountain side, contouring across going fairly easy. (1500) Then we came across some people on the trail and they told us we needed to drop back down and get to the other side of the valley on the other mountain side and pointed to a faint white square that was the school where we had more people waiting for us to survey them. Well we hiked back down, crossed the river again on another bridge and started back up the other side, man are these mountains steep, the humidity, and the altitude. It was all a lot! After many breaks, running out of clean water, and drinking "pure" spring water we kept hiking to our destinate and made it around 1730(5:30pm)! We were met with open arms and some stern talking-to's. Apparently everyone had been waiting at the school house for us at 1100 that morning ready to feed us lunch and do the surveys, we showed up a few hours late and with hungry stomachs but the food had already been eaten. There weren't many people left many had gone home thinking we weren't coming so we got 8 surveys out of the village and began our voyage to where our ride was waiting an alleged hour walk away. We set off with less than an hour left of light my headlamp securely locked behind my door back in Loja. Energy was wearing thin and no amount of sugar cane was going to help us now, we had to hike back down the mountain side and back across the river to the other side and about 3 miles out after that! One Moment. While that may not sound too bad, remember you've been hiking through the Andes, up-down-up-down-up-down, back and forth across a river twice already and been through a pass. We didn't have much water and we hadn't had a proper meal except for beans and peanuts that was our lunch. We made it down to the bridge and were making our way up the other side of the mountain when darkness set in. And man was it dark! All we could see was the occassional light of a house on various locations across the valley from us where there were small homes with lights. Then flash.....what was that....flash.....am I seeing things?....flash....flash...just keep walking ignore it your dehydrated focus on walking....flash. Finally I stop and turn to Veronica the UTPL professor that is there and ask her what the lights are and if they're real or just my mind playing tricks on me. Nope those little green flashes were some kind of Ecuadorian firefly except a lot bigger haha. I'm not crazy, but probably dehydrated haha! So we keep walking more and more green flashed appearing randomly some flying nearby others in the jungle off in the distance a little but still visible. So knowing I wasn't crazy we finally came onto the main trail/road it was wet and slippery, so we pushed on. Trying to pass the time I worked on my spanish with our guide, the other student, and Veronica. Learning new words and teaching them such words as "slippery" it made the time go by a little easier. We later found out that sometime while me trying to learn more spanish we were hiking on a cliff and that many animals had fallen off of and a couple people. Anyways it was a great experience and am quite sore from it! I hope that this doesn't happen and will hopefully remember to pack the headlight I got from my parents! Missing my friends, family, and girlfriend and can't wait to see you all when I get back!
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
I have the: A)"Bottle flu" B) Aqua flu C) Comida flu D) Some strange south american disease
So I am posting this minutes before we are supposed to be heading out on our next field excursion I will give you a quick synopsis of how the past week went!
6*/03/2011
Friday night we went out to this bar called "Casa Tinku" a concert house/bar. It was quite fun the band was good the drinks cheap and the Canelosa warm!
6*/04/2011
The Canelosa takes it's toll. I am out all day feeling "chuchaki" (hungover) it was this very potent alcoholic beverage that is bright yellow and hot. Not exactly sure but what was in it but this day I spend doing nothing but in the bathroom or on the couch curled up! We all called it an early night from being too hungover from the night before, it was quite pathetic we went to this little more mellow place and tried to just have drinks (everyone else did, I had a sprite) and it took us like an hour to finish our drinks. Needless to say we called it a night and said our goodbyes to each other.
*6/05/2011
We went to this farmers market, it really reminded me of 8th St. Market in downtown Boise and my Mom and Aunt Carmen. It was filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, candies and sweets, breads, cloths, flowers, herbs/spices, it was incredible how packed it was. We bought some vegetables for fajitas and returned back to one of the houses to watch some TV and relax on our day off to regain our energy! We had fajitas for dinner and called it another early night!
*6/06/2011
Woke up not feeling too good, just laid around in bed all morning reading "The DaVinci Code" that I bought on iBooks. Tried to to go lunch at the pizza place just down the street from my place I ordered a personal cheese pizza and ate 1 slice of it and was done. I felt so sick again my stomach felt so bad like someone was squeezing it so tightly! I returned to my house and slept for a couple hours instead of going into work. I awoke at about 7pm and felt a little sweaty and cold, a little hungry too. I decided to try some emergency food my Aunt Carmen gave me, it was trail mix with nuts, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, raisins, m&m's, etc....it was delicious. I talked for a while to Jordan on Skype which was nice and felt a little more at home! (THANKS TO CARMEN FOR THE AWESOME SAVIOR FOOD)
*6/07/2011
Went to the office, talked about going to tutupali this week went to lunch did okay had a ham and cheese sandwich. Then we went to dinner that night with some of the professors and our professor from UI since he's leaving on friday. We sat down at this really really really nice restaurant called La Casa Lojana ordered our 3 course meal of tomato soup, pork chops, and chocolate cake, with cup of wine. I had my tomato soup and that was all I could get down with a little water. I felt so drained and sick again. I went home and visited the bathroom for a little bit and felt a little better about an hour later. So I had some more of that amazing trail mix!
6*/08/2011
Headed to the field. Chau!
6*/03/2011
Friday night we went out to this bar called "Casa Tinku" a concert house/bar. It was quite fun the band was good the drinks cheap and the Canelosa warm!
6*/04/2011
The Canelosa takes it's toll. I am out all day feeling "chuchaki" (hungover) it was this very potent alcoholic beverage that is bright yellow and hot. Not exactly sure but what was in it but this day I spend doing nothing but in the bathroom or on the couch curled up! We all called it an early night from being too hungover from the night before, it was quite pathetic we went to this little more mellow place and tried to just have drinks (everyone else did, I had a sprite) and it took us like an hour to finish our drinks. Needless to say we called it a night and said our goodbyes to each other.
*6/05/2011
We went to this farmers market, it really reminded me of 8th St. Market in downtown Boise and my Mom and Aunt Carmen. It was filled with fresh fruits and vegetables, candies and sweets, breads, cloths, flowers, herbs/spices, it was incredible how packed it was. We bought some vegetables for fajitas and returned back to one of the houses to watch some TV and relax on our day off to regain our energy! We had fajitas for dinner and called it another early night!
*6/06/2011
Woke up not feeling too good, just laid around in bed all morning reading "The DaVinci Code" that I bought on iBooks. Tried to to go lunch at the pizza place just down the street from my place I ordered a personal cheese pizza and ate 1 slice of it and was done. I felt so sick again my stomach felt so bad like someone was squeezing it so tightly! I returned to my house and slept for a couple hours instead of going into work. I awoke at about 7pm and felt a little sweaty and cold, a little hungry too. I decided to try some emergency food my Aunt Carmen gave me, it was trail mix with nuts, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, raisins, m&m's, etc....it was delicious. I talked for a while to Jordan on Skype which was nice and felt a little more at home! (THANKS TO CARMEN FOR THE AWESOME SAVIOR FOOD)
*6/07/2011
Went to the office, talked about going to tutupali this week went to lunch did okay had a ham and cheese sandwich. Then we went to dinner that night with some of the professors and our professor from UI since he's leaving on friday. We sat down at this really really really nice restaurant called La Casa Lojana ordered our 3 course meal of tomato soup, pork chops, and chocolate cake, with cup of wine. I had my tomato soup and that was all I could get down with a little water. I felt so drained and sick again. I went home and visited the bathroom for a little bit and felt a little better about an hour later. So I had some more of that amazing trail mix!
6*/08/2011
Headed to the field. Chau!
Shots & A truck full of Ecuadorians and a white boy.
5/02/2011
So today was our first day of actual surveying! It took us 3 hours to get there and I rode in the bed of the truck for about an hour and a half of it. It was a beautiful day out the sun shining and you could smell the forest! We got to tutupali and there were federal government agents from Quito there actually conducting archaeological assesments of some rocks in the area. These rocks had half moon shaped "bowls" carved into them and the archaeologist was saying how they were probably pre-incan incan....aka really really old! It was pretty awesome to be so close to something like that and not have it behind a glass window in a museum but right there in front of you to look at enjoy in the JUNGLE!
So after the officials and archaeologists we got to survey some people of the town and then about partway through the president invited us for some flore de begona (or something like that) its this juice/tea they make by boiling these flowers that taste like lemons and then mixing it with sugar cane alcohol, and gave us shots of it! Man it was strong at first and they all laughed at us as we took the shots and made some interesting faces trying to respect their culture! It was actually quite delicious after the first one, and very strong!! haha After we finished conducting our surveys for the day they invited us for cafe (coffee and sandwiches) before we left since it was 3:00 and we hadn't eaten yet that day!
Well on the way back we had a couple people join me in the back of the pick up 3 people to be exact...or atleast it started out that way! I attempted to speak spanish with them and told them about what we were doing in Loja these 3 white people haha. It went fairly well, but couldn't understand most of what they said but got the gist of what they were talking about. So we dropped off the first person in a little village and as soon as he got out 3 more came jumping into the back of our truck! it was quite the scene one of the guys almost went through the back windshield of the truck but luckily my knee caught this big old guy haha! And then we got to the next village to drop off another guy and 2 more people got into the truck! so now we got like 8 people in the back of this truck and its an awkward silence as they all steal glances of me but try not to stare! So i said hi to the guy next to me and after that they relaxed a little bit. It was just quite the scene rolling through these towns not even stopping and people jumping in and out of it like their life depended on it!
So we made it to 28 de Mayo and everyone unloaded except for a man that became known as "el professor" (the professor) he taught in Tutupali and was riding in the back of the truck with me all the way to Loja! So we spoke some spanish the kilometers passed and it was getting really dark outside, it was only 7 but the sun goes down at 6-630ish here. We were making our way back up the mountain/jungle pass when we started slowing down, and stopped! What the heck are we doing stopping on the highway I thought! Then you could here it faintly over the sound of our 4 cylinder diesel pickup a crashing sound almost like a stream but when we went to investigate what was in front of us it was a rockslide that was sliding!!! It was quite a frightening sound seeing about every 10th rock that came down shooting across the road...and then it stopped for a minute....and then went again...and stopped. It seemed to be slowing down so after about 15 minutes of watching this rock slide everyone that was stopped in the line up of cars hurried back to their cars and jumped in ready to take their chances of shooting across this dangerous rock & car bowling range! Might I add too that at this point it is very foggy and we could barely see the rocks falling down from where we were watching but could instead hear them way better! This was quite a dangerous move but we decided that at some point during the night we had to get back! So we waited our turn, we pulled up to the line waited for the crashing sound to slow and gunned it across the rock slide area! With the engine roaring and the tail end sliding as we accelerated quickly we shot through the rock slide in a matter of seconds! Man that was exhilirating me and the professor were both relieved to make it across in the open bed of the pickup we both looked at each other and he gave me the thumbs up sign shaking his head like good we made it and i returned smiling and laughing! I will have to post pictures of the rock slide next time we go through that way and will show you how sketchy it really was!
So today was our first day of actual surveying! It took us 3 hours to get there and I rode in the bed of the truck for about an hour and a half of it. It was a beautiful day out the sun shining and you could smell the forest! We got to tutupali and there were federal government agents from Quito there actually conducting archaeological assesments of some rocks in the area. These rocks had half moon shaped "bowls" carved into them and the archaeologist was saying how they were probably pre-incan incan....aka really really old! It was pretty awesome to be so close to something like that and not have it behind a glass window in a museum but right there in front of you to look at enjoy in the JUNGLE!
So after the officials and archaeologists we got to survey some people of the town and then about partway through the president invited us for some flore de begona (or something like that) its this juice/tea they make by boiling these flowers that taste like lemons and then mixing it with sugar cane alcohol, and gave us shots of it! Man it was strong at first and they all laughed at us as we took the shots and made some interesting faces trying to respect their culture! It was actually quite delicious after the first one, and very strong!! haha After we finished conducting our surveys for the day they invited us for cafe (coffee and sandwiches) before we left since it was 3:00 and we hadn't eaten yet that day!
Well on the way back we had a couple people join me in the back of the pick up 3 people to be exact...or atleast it started out that way! I attempted to speak spanish with them and told them about what we were doing in Loja these 3 white people haha. It went fairly well, but couldn't understand most of what they said but got the gist of what they were talking about. So we dropped off the first person in a little village and as soon as he got out 3 more came jumping into the back of our truck! it was quite the scene one of the guys almost went through the back windshield of the truck but luckily my knee caught this big old guy haha! And then we got to the next village to drop off another guy and 2 more people got into the truck! so now we got like 8 people in the back of this truck and its an awkward silence as they all steal glances of me but try not to stare! So i said hi to the guy next to me and after that they relaxed a little bit. It was just quite the scene rolling through these towns not even stopping and people jumping in and out of it like their life depended on it!
So we made it to 28 de Mayo and everyone unloaded except for a man that became known as "el professor" (the professor) he taught in Tutupali and was riding in the back of the truck with me all the way to Loja! So we spoke some spanish the kilometers passed and it was getting really dark outside, it was only 7 but the sun goes down at 6-630ish here. We were making our way back up the mountain/jungle pass when we started slowing down, and stopped! What the heck are we doing stopping on the highway I thought! Then you could here it faintly over the sound of our 4 cylinder diesel pickup a crashing sound almost like a stream but when we went to investigate what was in front of us it was a rockslide that was sliding!!! It was quite a frightening sound seeing about every 10th rock that came down shooting across the road...and then it stopped for a minute....and then went again...and stopped. It seemed to be slowing down so after about 15 minutes of watching this rock slide everyone that was stopped in the line up of cars hurried back to their cars and jumped in ready to take their chances of shooting across this dangerous rock & car bowling range! Might I add too that at this point it is very foggy and we could barely see the rocks falling down from where we were watching but could instead hear them way better! This was quite a dangerous move but we decided that at some point during the night we had to get back! So we waited our turn, we pulled up to the line waited for the crashing sound to slow and gunned it across the rock slide area! With the engine roaring and the tail end sliding as we accelerated quickly we shot through the rock slide in a matter of seconds! Man that was exhilirating me and the professor were both relieved to make it across in the open bed of the pickup we both looked at each other and he gave me the thumbs up sign shaking his head like good we made it and i returned smiling and laughing! I will have to post pictures of the rock slide next time we go through that way and will show you how sketchy it really was!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Fountain of Youth! & Other exciting things!
5/28/2011
So on saturday we went to Vilcabamba which is just an hour south of Loja by bus. It was gorgeous there, all the homes on the way there were quite nice looking even from the outside! Due to the fountain of youth allegedly being in Vilcabamba and the very old age of many of its inhabitants it has become quite the hotspot for retiree's. There were so many people from Europe and the U.S. as well as hippies selling stuff there it was quite different from the quick pace of the city and was nice to kind of relax outside the city! We wanted to go horseback riding but that seemed out of the question since we didn't get there until 2 o'clock during the siesta time and they really only had full day trips. So we decided we'll just have to come back for a weekend when everyones done with their project to relax and celebrate! After a sick night the night before (on friday) and staying in I decided to go out for a little bit with everyone to a bar called Viejo Minero (old miner) it was actually a cool little bar. We went with one of the students here that's helping with our project and a couple of her friends. It was pretty funny we were sitting around chatting when a Village people song came on and the bartender/waiter came out in a yellow hard hat haha, it was pretty awesome!
5/29/2011
Didn't do much today, everything was basically closed so we went to one of the only stores that was opened and bought some groceries for our up and coming field days. I got some stuff for PB&J's, peanuts, and these awesome chocolates they have here! OH I've totally forgot to mention the chocolate this whole time! It's delicious, some of the finest chocolate comes from here; it is one of the main exports of the country besides bananas. Anyways hopefully I can bring back enough for everyone to try!
5/30/2011
Translated my survey today. Ate at Mar Rojo (Red Sea) and had these wing like things (Atlitas BBQ) and they were delicious. They were in like this pineapple bbq sauce that tasted amazing and was served with papas (potatoes). That sure is one thing that's nice about Ecuador there seems to be potatoes or rice or beans or yuca with everything. Yuca is this woody shrub type thing and has similar texture too mashed potatoes. I've been hoping for an opportunity to go out and go fishing but hasn't happened yet, hopefully one of these days when we're staying in one of the towns I will get to go! They have some awesome trout fishing here I guess and I would really like to go do some marlin fishing off the coast but those are usually 8 day long trips and don't know if I will have that kind of time! Also the pirahnna fishining in the jungle rivers is pretty awesome, we're gonna go on a 2 day boat trip and hopefully will have the opportunity to do some fishing then for pirahnna!
So on saturday we went to Vilcabamba which is just an hour south of Loja by bus. It was gorgeous there, all the homes on the way there were quite nice looking even from the outside! Due to the fountain of youth allegedly being in Vilcabamba and the very old age of many of its inhabitants it has become quite the hotspot for retiree's. There were so many people from Europe and the U.S. as well as hippies selling stuff there it was quite different from the quick pace of the city and was nice to kind of relax outside the city! We wanted to go horseback riding but that seemed out of the question since we didn't get there until 2 o'clock during the siesta time and they really only had full day trips. So we decided we'll just have to come back for a weekend when everyones done with their project to relax and celebrate! After a sick night the night before (on friday) and staying in I decided to go out for a little bit with everyone to a bar called Viejo Minero (old miner) it was actually a cool little bar. We went with one of the students here that's helping with our project and a couple of her friends. It was pretty funny we were sitting around chatting when a Village people song came on and the bartender/waiter came out in a yellow hard hat haha, it was pretty awesome!
5/29/2011
Didn't do much today, everything was basically closed so we went to one of the only stores that was opened and bought some groceries for our up and coming field days. I got some stuff for PB&J's, peanuts, and these awesome chocolates they have here! OH I've totally forgot to mention the chocolate this whole time! It's delicious, some of the finest chocolate comes from here; it is one of the main exports of the country besides bananas. Anyways hopefully I can bring back enough for everyone to try!
5/30/2011
Translated my survey today. Ate at Mar Rojo (Red Sea) and had these wing like things (Atlitas BBQ) and they were delicious. They were in like this pineapple bbq sauce that tasted amazing and was served with papas (potatoes). That sure is one thing that's nice about Ecuador there seems to be potatoes or rice or beans or yuca with everything. Yuca is this woody shrub type thing and has similar texture too mashed potatoes. I've been hoping for an opportunity to go out and go fishing but hasn't happened yet, hopefully one of these days when we're staying in one of the towns I will get to go! They have some awesome trout fishing here I guess and I would really like to go do some marlin fishing off the coast but those are usually 8 day long trips and don't know if I will have that kind of time! Also the pirahnna fishining in the jungle rivers is pretty awesome, we're gonna go on a 2 day boat trip and hopefully will have the opportunity to do some fishing then for pirahnna!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Engrish
5/25/2011
So today has been a very productive day, the social sciences crew had our first official meeting today to get on the same page and then we skyped with Chad back in Idaho and got my survey almost completely figured out now I just have to organize it and translate it into spanish! Also I feel like the longer I stay here the worse my "pause" gets when I ask questions for those you who know what I'm talking about! It's horrible, as well my english are getting bad too. I have to re-read things when i type them a couple times in english to make sure it sounds right! It's pretty bad and I've only been here a week and still have 8 more left haha! I'm excited to re-read everything when I get back and see how it progressively gets worse! Thank goodness I don't have anymore english classes left to take in college either!
Now I'm going to take some time to reflect on the past week since I feel like I've missed a lot of little things...
1. First off it's really beautiful here forest and mountains surround us...Loja is in a high mountain valley with 2 rivers.
2. Apparently your not supposed to flush toilet paper either because it can clog the pipes in most places, I believe this but am worried about what I have to do with the left overs after....ummm...well you know AFTER! haha
3. Drivers here crazier than a monkey on caffeine pills!
4. They do actually have like pizza places and the 2 we've eaten at are dericious!! They also have a chinese restaurant, but I don't really want to eat there because for some reason there's always dogs hanging around that place and i'm worried they might use them in the meat haha...
So today has been a very productive day, the social sciences crew had our first official meeting today to get on the same page and then we skyped with Chad back in Idaho and got my survey almost completely figured out now I just have to organize it and translate it into spanish! Also I feel like the longer I stay here the worse my "pause" gets when I ask questions for those you who know what I'm talking about! It's horrible, as well my english are getting bad too. I have to re-read things when i type them a couple times in english to make sure it sounds right! It's pretty bad and I've only been here a week and still have 8 more left haha! I'm excited to re-read everything when I get back and see how it progressively gets worse! Thank goodness I don't have anymore english classes left to take in college either!
Now I'm going to take some time to reflect on the past week since I feel like I've missed a lot of little things...
1. First off it's really beautiful here forest and mountains surround us...Loja is in a high mountain valley with 2 rivers.
2. Apparently your not supposed to flush toilet paper either because it can clog the pipes in most places, I believe this but am worried about what I have to do with the left overs after....ummm...well you know AFTER! haha
3. Drivers here crazier than a monkey on caffeine pills!
4. They do actually have like pizza places and the 2 we've eaten at are dericious!! They also have a chinese restaurant, but I don't really want to eat there because for some reason there's always dogs hanging around that place and i'm worried they might use them in the meat haha...
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Karma!
5/24/2011
Today I was joined in the shower by a nice big bright red spider, but now he's in the river since I flushed him haha! Also I walked to campus nice and early...I dont know why but I just cant sleep in past 7:30am here it seems. It was a nice long walk across the river and up the hill. But I haven't felt good all day, I think I got the stomach bug...karma for making fun of the vegetarians I guess! But it comes and goes and I've been so hungry all day it's horrible, whenever I get food in front of me I just can't eat. Finally I found some helado (ice cream), at this little pizza shop called Artesenale, and that seemed to go down pretty good and not cause my stomach to twist and knot itself up! Didn't get a whole lot done today except worked on my survey somemore so hopefully my meeting tomorrow goes well with the social sciences people. I've felt a little homesick today and just wanted some chicken noodle soup (without chicken feet or guinea pig in it) and someone to just rub my back til I fall asleep. or a nice soak in the hot tub back home. But I've only got about 8 weeks left so until then I'll deal with the spiders, snakes, bot flies, and whatever else Ecuador can throw at me; oh and maybe I'll build up some Karma haha
Chau!
Today I was joined in the shower by a nice big bright red spider, but now he's in the river since I flushed him haha! Also I walked to campus nice and early...I dont know why but I just cant sleep in past 7:30am here it seems. It was a nice long walk across the river and up the hill. But I haven't felt good all day, I think I got the stomach bug...karma for making fun of the vegetarians I guess! But it comes and goes and I've been so hungry all day it's horrible, whenever I get food in front of me I just can't eat. Finally I found some helado (ice cream), at this little pizza shop called Artesenale, and that seemed to go down pretty good and not cause my stomach to twist and knot itself up! Didn't get a whole lot done today except worked on my survey somemore so hopefully my meeting tomorrow goes well with the social sciences people. I've felt a little homesick today and just wanted some chicken noodle soup (without chicken feet or guinea pig in it) and someone to just rub my back til I fall asleep. or a nice soak in the hot tub back home. But I've only got about 8 weeks left so until then I'll deal with the spiders, snakes, bot flies, and whatever else Ecuador can throw at me; oh and maybe I'll build up some Karma haha
Chau!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
This One Crazy Bum!!!
5/23/2011!
Today has been a day filled with adventures of Loja. We found our way to the bus stop today and just about didn't get on in time because the buses only stop for a short amount of time even though we were 30 minutes early! Then the day was kind of boring really productive got some preliminary stuff done for my research and was free the rest of the day. We went out to lunch and I had some San Jacobo (pronounced: San ah-coo-boo or something like that) and we went to go get one of the girls a phone so she could call someone if she needed help. And I was the one that had to talk to the people at the shop to get her phone it was quite interesting to say the least since my spanish isn't the best! We then proceeded to find another video store that had even better movies and continued to wander the streets of Loja. While walking between stores we passed a homeless man laying on the ground twitching profusely. It was very er...unusual? and I didn't know whether to stop and help him or if it was an act in hopes of gaining attention and getting money, either way the man sat up straight and was talking normally (if talking to yourself is normal) when we got to him. Also I bought these awesome pair of wooden shoes...well they're not actually wooden but they look like it. I bought them because guys here dress up fairly nicely every day so I figured for when we're hanging around the University it would be a good idea to have them! I definitely posted a picture of them on photobucket so check them out.
Once again we tried to go to the 4th Pirates tonight and were unable too because it was sold out...oh and found out that movies are in spanish here with no subtitles. We were told they were in english and had spanish subtitles but I guess that's untrue, bummer guess that makes more sense anyways....Also talked to Anthony and he told us that the guy we saw on the street was probably high on something, didn't really think drugs were prevalent down here, but I guess it's a reality check that we are just south of Columbia. But havent been approached about them like what happened in Mexico when I went back in high school.
Today has been a day filled with adventures of Loja. We found our way to the bus stop today and just about didn't get on in time because the buses only stop for a short amount of time even though we were 30 minutes early! Then the day was kind of boring really productive got some preliminary stuff done for my research and was free the rest of the day. We went out to lunch and I had some San Jacobo (pronounced: San ah-coo-boo or something like that) and we went to go get one of the girls a phone so she could call someone if she needed help. And I was the one that had to talk to the people at the shop to get her phone it was quite interesting to say the least since my spanish isn't the best! We then proceeded to find another video store that had even better movies and continued to wander the streets of Loja. While walking between stores we passed a homeless man laying on the ground twitching profusely. It was very er...unusual? and I didn't know whether to stop and help him or if it was an act in hopes of gaining attention and getting money, either way the man sat up straight and was talking normally (if talking to yourself is normal) when we got to him. Also I bought these awesome pair of wooden shoes...well they're not actually wooden but they look like it. I bought them because guys here dress up fairly nicely every day so I figured for when we're hanging around the University it would be a good idea to have them! I definitely posted a picture of them on photobucket so check them out.
Once again we tried to go to the 4th Pirates tonight and were unable too because it was sold out...oh and found out that movies are in spanish here with no subtitles. We were told they were in english and had spanish subtitles but I guess that's untrue, bummer guess that makes more sense anyways....Also talked to Anthony and he told us that the guy we saw on the street was probably high on something, didn't really think drugs were prevalent down here, but I guess it's a reality check that we are just south of Columbia. But havent been approached about them like what happened in Mexico when I went back in high school.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Podocarpus National Park
5/22/2011
Today started off kind of weird. We started later and the bus was late picking up Eric and I. We got on and 2 of our fellow students were M.I.A. with some sort of stomach bug (we hypothesize it was the salads they ate the night before but that's what they get for being vegetarians haha) which really sucked. We went to Podocarpus National Park which if your studying ecology/biology in Ecuador is a huge deal because it is one of 5 National Parks that has been created and protected fairly well. They even stopped a road being developed into the park to preserve the biodiversity and to save some of the plants that the University (UTPL-where im at) is studying for the plants properties in possible cures for cancer and diabetes. We started off on a 5km loop (about 3.1 miles) and were taking our tim enjoying the cloud forest we were in and taking pictures along the way...the elevation also had something to do with going slower because we were at about 3500m (11,000ft) and hiking some steep terrain. Thats when the stomach bug took it's third vegetarian victim! She wasn't feeling well and the elevation wasn't helping so we turned around and headed back for the trail head for her sake. So we left her there at the trailhead and took off on a much shorter route so that we could enjoy some views of loja and learn some more plants and get into some actual paramo ecosystem (high elevation neotropical tundra). It was beautiful check out my photos at http://www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo and see the panoramic view that we had on the trail Mirador! So we cut the day short and ended it after eating lunch from the view point and headed back to Loja to relax.
It was actually really nice to get back into loja by 2:30 we were able to relax a little bit. Eric and I decided to kind of adventure around town and see if we could find the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean so we could watch the 4th one in theatres. We actually ended up finding a great video store pirates 1-4, Battle: LA and many many more movies! It was awesome! But then we went to go watch our pirates movie and Antonio (One of the girls' host "brother") advised us to see how the quality was on pirates 4 and it was a russian version that was in spanish! But all the other movies were find and we watched pirates 3, and attempted to go to the movie theatre but Pirates 4 was sold out so we will attempt to go tomorrow night!
Hope that's enough information about that day make sure to check out the sweet pics!
Today started off kind of weird. We started later and the bus was late picking up Eric and I. We got on and 2 of our fellow students were M.I.A. with some sort of stomach bug (we hypothesize it was the salads they ate the night before but that's what they get for being vegetarians haha) which really sucked. We went to Podocarpus National Park which if your studying ecology/biology in Ecuador is a huge deal because it is one of 5 National Parks that has been created and protected fairly well. They even stopped a road being developed into the park to preserve the biodiversity and to save some of the plants that the University (UTPL-where im at) is studying for the plants properties in possible cures for cancer and diabetes. We started off on a 5km loop (about 3.1 miles) and were taking our tim enjoying the cloud forest we were in and taking pictures along the way...the elevation also had something to do with going slower because we were at about 3500m (11,000ft) and hiking some steep terrain. Thats when the stomach bug took it's third vegetarian victim! She wasn't feeling well and the elevation wasn't helping so we turned around and headed back for the trail head for her sake. So we left her there at the trailhead and took off on a much shorter route so that we could enjoy some views of loja and learn some more plants and get into some actual paramo ecosystem (high elevation neotropical tundra). It was beautiful check out my photos at http://www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo and see the panoramic view that we had on the trail Mirador! So we cut the day short and ended it after eating lunch from the view point and headed back to Loja to relax.
It was actually really nice to get back into loja by 2:30 we were able to relax a little bit. Eric and I decided to kind of adventure around town and see if we could find the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean so we could watch the 4th one in theatres. We actually ended up finding a great video store pirates 1-4, Battle: LA and many many more movies! It was awesome! But then we went to go watch our pirates movie and Antonio (One of the girls' host "brother") advised us to see how the quality was on pirates 4 and it was a russian version that was in spanish! But all the other movies were find and we watched pirates 3, and attempted to go to the movie theatre but Pirates 4 was sold out so we will attempt to go tomorrow night!
Hope that's enough information about that day make sure to check out the sweet pics!
Exploring the Jungle
5/21/2011
Hola, so today went really well but it was an early morning! We were up by 530 am and headed out to the field by 630. We then drove towards the Yacuambi-Ona-Sargurro Wetland system which is where myself and 2 others will be working and then 2 others a little bit closer in La Paz doing mining observational work. We stopped on our way in Zamora capital of Zamora-Chinchipe province for a delicious breakfast and continued on our 3 hour drive! It was very cool we got to meet the “presidents”(mayors) of each town of La Paz, 28 de Mayo, y Tutupali. They were all very nice and treated us with open arms! For the ride in now that’s a whole other story, to say the least it was WILD. We had to get off our Mercedes-benz bus/van and hire some locals to take us in with trucks for the last hour of it, and they knew how to drive those mountain single-lane roads! People here use their horns a lot not only in the city but in the mountains too especially for going around corners…we made it safely both ways in the pickups but we will definitely be getting our own transportation the next time we go to Tutupali.
The scenes we saw in the Yacuambi Canton (“state”) were beautiful multiple waterfalls everywhere! The mountains just seem to climb forever into the clouds! If I had to choose any other country to live in it might just be Ecuador because of the scenery and the people. The only thing that as a Wildlife major is kind of disappointing we haven’t really seen any wildlife! There’s stray dogs and chickens running around the forest and we’ve seen some sort of vulture circling us in the jungle but no monkeys, bears, foxes, or any other mammals for that matter. I can’t really describe how awesome the views are in Ecuador so you’ll just have to check out my photos at http://www.photobucket.com/lostintheparamo .
Quito to Loja
5/19/2011
Well today was another early one, we all got up by 5:30 and were out the hostal by 6 am and back to the aeropuerto by 7:00 for our flight to loja at 8:40. Let me tell you national flights (in country) way more crazy than international people running everywhere and three businessmen cut in front of us getting our tickets, they just like ran and ducked under the airport line thingys and whoop got their tickets. The security line was long but moved very quickly! Then came time to put my bags on the scanner and walk through the metal detector. Three times, I had to go through the detector haha! I forgot to take off my hat, and then shoes/wallet/passport, and finally it was my glasses! Next time I think I’ll be a little more prepared now that I’ve done it once. During the flight we were treated with a sight for well untraveled eyes I guess, it was a VOLCANO ERUPTING. Okay, so it wasn’t actually erupting lava but there was smoke coming from it and some of the people got some good pictures of it (I was on the wrong side of the plane)! I was nervous but excited to go to Loja, but finally we were going to our casas (homes) and going to get settled in for 8 weeks. We landed and Loja Province is way prettier than Quito. Now to skip all the details of the scenery just check out photobucket.com/lostintheparamo for pictures!
We get dropped off at our home after the first 2 people who got families with kids our age that spoke English and Spanish. So Eric and I were pretty excited to get to ours, well it’s an apartment owned by a very nice but energetic person! I could NOT understand a word she said in Spanish (kind of reminded me of my sister haha) she was speaking a million miles an hour! Eric and I are in our own little “studios” and as of right now there is no cocina (kitchen) in sight. So it looks like we’ll be eating out a lot for the next 2 months.
So about our little “studios” they have their own bathroom, twin captains bed (mine), full bed (erics), and a little closet as you’ll see in the photos! I walked in and there was no door on my bathroom which has as of now has been fixed by the hyper land-lady and a nice handi-man. I took the first shower, water wasn’t the hottest which could be a problem because I like hot showers haha (you know what im talking about mom and dad). We thought we had gotten kind of screwed not having a family and living in an apartment building that is currently undergoing renovation! But in all reality we are the closest to the best restaurants as we found out on our way home today from the University of Loja and everyone else is jealous of us for sure!
During all this one thought crossed my mind! My research is going to be speaking Spanish and recording answers and understanding personal cues and attitudes, and as of right now I.D.S (I don’t know S*&%^) haha. There’s always room to improvement and my vocabulary is already coming back to me so hopefully over the next week or so I will gain A LOT more, and it is probably a very good thing that I brought my Spanish textbook with me!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
First Day in Quito
Well it has been a wonderful first day in Quito got to go see the Basilica, many other churches, the Presedential Palace, the Equator (half way point on the world), and many other local sites! Unfortunately I forgot my camera memory card in my laptop this morning so I only got 5 pictures but am in some other photos of people in the groups too! It was awesome visiting the Basilica del Voto Nacional the stained glass was amazing and the "gargoyles" on the front are actually animals of Ecuador it was cool looking. We also visited the "Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus" which had 23 carat-gold leaf plating on EVERYTHING it was beautiful but they wouldn't let us take pictures. So far the people have been very nice down here and are fascinated with the 2 of us that have blonde hair haha! We also went to a mountain top called Teleferiqo de Quito where we could see almost all of Quito and its 2.5 million people. It was quite the site! We are thinking of maybe going back to that when we return to hike into one of the inactive volcanoes (don't worry moms its inactive!) for a day trip or maybe even an overnight hiking trip. We ate at this awesome restaurant called Achoite (or something like that) and it was amazing I had a "Blue Beer" that was delicious and sauteed shrim in coconut sauce with "yucas" which are like delicious potato-y things! We then went to an authentic Ecuadorean bar called "Tequilla Sun Rise" and got watered down free shots and left because the place was kind of sketchy. Next we went to a good old Irish American Pub right across the street and drank local beers, margaritas, and such. It was much nicer than the "authentic" bar, it had a much friendlier atmosphere and the drinks were delicious and we could actually have a conversation and not have to yell over the music!
*Note: I will be posting my pictures on photobucket until i can figure out a more efficient way of posting them on here...the link is http://photobucket.com/lostintheparamo " now go enjoy all 6 pictures currently uploaded!"
*Note: I will be posting my pictures on photobucket until i can figure out a more efficient way of posting them on here...the link is http://photobucket.com/lostintheparamo " now go enjoy all 6 pictures currently uploaded!"
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Spokane, WA, USA to Quito, Ecuador
Hola everyone! Well I made it down to Ecuador safely, had a wonderful evening with my parents and girlfriend last night in spokane. We ate at this restaurant by our hotel called the "Rusty Moose" and it was actually quite delicious, I had a BBQ Blackberry sauce beef brisket....mmm that sounds good right now sitting in our hostel in Quito. I'm going to add some pictures of my parents, Jordan, and I from last night as well as some of my first pictures of Ecuador.Our flights today started at 6:50 after being delayed 35 minutes and consisted of a total of ~10 hours flying and making 2 connections in SLC and ATL. Needless to say its been a long day and during the last 2.5 hours into Quito i spilled water all over myself as i fell asleep and wore wet jeans through immigration, customs, and finally just got to change! Looking forward to spending the day here tomorrow and getting to see some of the city!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Noise and Confusion
Well I'm sitting here in the computer lab trying to finish writing my proposal that is due...tomorrow. I am at a lost as to where I should go at this point in my project, there is "still room for lots of literature and improvement" as I am told by some. But I feel that at this point that is irrelevant because as of the past 24 hours my project methodology and analysis section is being fought over by facutly and mentors as to which 2 completely different directions to take it. At this late in the ball game I feel I am going to just put forth some more effort and complete it as I see fit as ultimately it is me that's running the show!
For those of you who don't know what my project is about. It will be both a qualitative and quantitative study where I will be conducting surveys (quantitative) that I can get statistics from, about peoples views and uses of the paramo. As well as an interview (qualitative) portion that will provide depth to decision makers and land managers views and opinions of the Paramo ecosystem.
That is all I feel like I can write without my blood boiling over at this point! Hope this makes sense to those of you that are following, if you have questions feel free to ask!
For those of you who don't know what my project is about. It will be both a qualitative and quantitative study where I will be conducting surveys (quantitative) that I can get statistics from, about peoples views and uses of the paramo. As well as an interview (qualitative) portion that will provide depth to decision makers and land managers views and opinions of the Paramo ecosystem.
That is all I feel like I can write without my blood boiling over at this point! Hope this makes sense to those of you that are following, if you have questions feel free to ask!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Beginning of the Story
So I am creating this blog after being inspired by my cousin Allisons blog "Where the wild spuds are..." so that my friends, family, and girlfriend can make sure that I'm alive and doing well. Also so that they may enjoy some stories and pictures of my experience this summer while I'm down in South America in the beautiful country of Ecuador! I'm getting excited but nervous about this summer mostly because I've never been out of the country (with the exception of Mexico a couple times with my parents in high school). This has been a tough semester of trying to write my project proposal and will submit another post with a simple breakdown of what I will be researching this summer.
*Note* My posts may wander as my thoughts often do, but hopefully you'll be able to follow along and enjoy the stories! Also don't be afraid to comment, ask questions, or ask for requests of some info or whatever.
*Note* My posts may wander as my thoughts often do, but hopefully you'll be able to follow along and enjoy the stories! Also don't be afraid to comment, ask questions, or ask for requests of some info or whatever.
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