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.
Showing posts with label Intramural sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Intramural sports. Show all posts
Monday, July 11, 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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)