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!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)