Amazon Princess

This is a really long post.

On Monday, we had a super early/quick breakfast and then left for the Amazon! We drove to the Quito airport and landed literally thirty minutes after departure in Lago Agrio in the northernmost tip of Ecuador. From there we took a bus to this one river and then a canoe to our Cuyabeno Lodge. Cuyabeno Reserve is an area of the Amazon Rainforest that is under complete protection so nobody can touch the wildlife flora and fauna there. The canoe ride was super cool because it totally made me feel like I was in the Amazon. There were trees on both sides of the river and above us. It was really hot and humid. The wind felt really good, but when it stopped, you could definitely feel the skin cancer forming. The sun rays were so strong that it felt like they were burning through my clothes and skin. But it felt nice after all the cold in Quito and Los Chillos.

The area we were staying was half flooded because the rainy season just ended. So, it was still really muddy, and my feet got stuck in the mud as we were getting out of the canoe. It was insane how much mud there was, and I wasn't even wearing boots! The area is really cool because during the high point of the dry season, the water completely dries up and you have to walk everywhere. Even when we were in the middle of the lagoon/river, there were places where the water was just knee-high. But sometimes it got annoying because our boat kept on getting stuck! By the time we actually got to settle in, it was already dark and time for dinner. I loved all the buildings because they were all made of wood and pacha (this hay-looking plant for the roofs) and looked super Amazonian. It was so surreal being in a place like this. It was a really chill night, and most of us spent a lot of time either in the hammocks or in our bunks.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early at 6 because of the birds right outside our cabin/hut. They really were the coolest bird I had ever seen because they make this sound like a water droplet - they're called oropendula birds. Really cool, really loud haha. After breakfast, we went on a hike in the forest; there was no path or anything so the guides had to lead the way. After walking for a while, we were left alone in various spots in the forest to do our "solos" for an hour, which was just sitting in the middle of the rainforest listening, looking, and smelling. It was just personal time that the directors gave us to connect with ourselves and with nature. I really enjoyed it, even though there were SO many bugs/ants/frogs/flies/mosquitoes. I don't think I ever had this much private time in Ecuador except right before I sleep, but then I'm on my computer so it's not very personal.

When we returned, we had lunch, which was amazing. Again. :D I loved the food here. Then after lunch, we went for a short boat ride to go piranha fishing! It was awesome since I actually caught fish!! The piranhas there are vegetarian, and the method of catching them were different. With poles that had string attached, we attached a piece of raw meet. Then with the end of the stick, we shook it in the water, and then put the meet in. Immediately you can feel the piranhas feeding on the meet. When you feel like they've taken the bait, you quickly pull the pole out of the water and hope the fish is caught on the hook! I think I caught two or three in total. It was really fun!!

Then right after that, it was getting really dark, so we went caiman hunting on the river. In order to spot the caiman, you have to skim your flashlight across the surface of the river and along the trees. If you see a round, red reflection, it's their eyes. Then we would turn off the motor to try and get closer to the caiman and see it up close. We didn't have much luck, though, because we didn't get to see one super up close. We did see a baby caiman on land, though. It was really small and cute! Then we went back and had dinner and played card games the rest of the night. I learned a new game called Rummy that Lisa taught everyone, and I want to bring it back to my area and teach everyone because it's an awesome game!

The next day after breakfast, we went to visit the Siona community, a group of indigenous people that lived on the reserve before it was considered protected. So they still have the right to live on the land, but they have to obey the rules of the reserve. As soon as we got there, a monkey that the people had found last year greeted us; his name is Nacho! He was super adorable, and since he was still a baby, he was really energetic and wanted to bite everything he got his hands on. It was super cool to play with a monkey!!! He was climbing all over us and dragging us everywhere.

After a while, we got a tour of their community, and their farm area. The coolest part was tasting the fruit of a cacao plant! The seeds actually have a gooey white fruit around that is sweet but really sour. I loved it and saved the seed from the fruit that I ate. I can't turn it into chocolate, but it's still cool to have! And we got to harvest some yuca plants. Yuca is very similar to potatoes in their shape and the way they're grown underground, but they taste different. It's white and a lot smoother than potatoes, which I like since I don't like the grittiness of potatoes. After harvesting them, Marisol, one of the indigenous women, made us really delicious tortillas de yuca. It's such a long process, but she doesn't add anything, so it's really healthy for you.

After lunch, we had a charla with the local shaman. It was really interesting to see him because we had read about shamans in class, and I really wanted to see one in person. We really couldn't understand anything he said because his Spanish wasn't very good since he speaks an indigenous language, which is completely different. He had on very traditional clothes, and our directors told us that only he wears it now since he is the shaman. Everyone else can wear more modern clothes. His feet were really different because he has never worn shoes in his 90 something years of life. So his toes are really spread apart, which is useful for climbing trees, apparently.

After the talk, we played some soccer with the locals and then went swimming in the river! It was really refreshing since the day was really, really, really, extremely hot. The current made it hard to swim against it and kept taking us away from the boats haha. But it was really relaxing and fun - kind of scary since there are caimans and snakes and other animals that live in the water, but we didn't encounter any of them, so it was fine.

The rest of the afternoon/evening, we just chilled and talked. The next morning, we woke up at around 5 to go rowing in the canoe and watch birds, but it rained so we couldn't. I was really upset because I really wanted to canoe, but oh well.. After breakfast, we had time to chill until 10:30, which was when we had to leave for the airport. One canoe ride, one bus ride, one plane ride, and another bus ride later, we were back to civilization at the Alston Hotel. It was really surreal that earlier that day we were in the Amazon. It was really a life-changing experience. But I was really glad to be able to sleep without having to worry about malaria. :D

Hiking in the Cold

That next Saturday, I was supposed to cook Korean food for my family, but we decided it would take too much time since we woke up late, aka 10 am. So we postponed it and instead made this really good potato soup. We pretty much just chilled at home since the next day we were climbing Cotopaxi, the second tallest mountain in Ecuador at 5080 (or something like that) meters. It's an active volcano that can erupt at anytime and it's always snowing/always cold there, so no vegetation can grow. There were really cool volcano rocks that I picked up, though.

Anyway on Sunday, we woke up really early and met up with my Rocío's cousin, Marcelo, and his host student Maddy, who I talked about before I think. We drove for around 2 hours to Cotopaxi where there is a parking lot 4500 meters up the mountain. From there, we hiked up to the refuge, a building where people can sleep or rest if they plan on hiking all the way to the peak. It wasn't a really hard walk physically, but it was super freezing because it snows in Cotopaxi. That day, it wasn't actually snowing, but since there's always snow in this area, it's always cold and the wind is probably below zero. I thought my face was going to freeze off. And since it's really high up, it's harder to breathe, even if we're just walking literally 10 steps. It took around 45 minutes to an hour to walk to the refuge.

As we were reaching the refuge, we saw two foxes! It was really cool because they're usually never there since it's too cold for anything to grow/live on the mountain. When we got there, we got to drink the best hot chocolate ever (probably because we were freezing), and had Oreos and this other Ecuadorian cookie that was delicious. After resting for 30 minutes and then taking pictures, we started our walk down. When we were hiking up, actually, we took the zig-zag way because the shorter way was really steep and would have been much harder to climb up.

But we took this way down since it's easier to go down and it's shorter. It was kind of slippery, though, because there was a lot of sand and random huge rocks that we tripped on. I think I fell twice, but Maddy and Daniel fell more than three times. Maybe it was three times. I can't remember. But every time someone fell, I don't know why we all thought it was hilarious and started taking a bunch of pictures. Great times.

On our way back home, we had picked up a hitch hiker from Argentina who left his country 9 months ago to travel the world. And now he was in Ecuador. I personally didn't get to talk to him because I was sleeping... But Daniel told me about him. He said that the guy smelled like he had been traveling for 9 months. LOL Pretty sweet. We dropped him off somewhere along the way, and then headed home.

We had lunch at Marcelo's place, which was really delicious. We had hornado (baked pig?) with this really good sweet/sour sauce that you put on it with mote and choclo - aka the usual Ecuadorian food. It was delicious. Then we got to play with their puppies. Their dog, Chispa, just had puppies three weeks ago from now, and they are the most precious things I've ever seen. I was so in love with them, and I guess Marcelo's family realized that because they offered to give me one. And I was ECSTATIC!! So now I get to take a super cute Cocker Spaniel baby home in December. They said they'd keep taking care of her for the next two months, obviously, and then my host mom would arrange papers so that I could take her home with me when I leave Ecuador. Pictures are on Smugmug.com, or will be very soon! I am so excited!!

Then it was time to leave Los Chillos forever, which was really sad. My family dropped me off at the usual drop-off place in front of our school. I almost cried when I left because my host family had been super caring and loving for the month I had stayed with them. But I still have a lot of time in Ecuador, and we had planned a bunch of things for the weekends, so I'm glad I can still see them once in a while.  We then went off to the Alston Hotel to rest before the Amazon! :D

Busy Week

That Thursday, we had Final Exams for our language course, so we were all busy studying Wednesday night. The rest of the day was busy and full of planning/practicing for our class final presentations in front of the whole group, teachers, directors, and the assistant dean of our SIT program. No pressure. Our class decided to do a rendition of "El Ahogado Más Hermoso del Mundo" by Gabriel Garcia Márquez and turn it into a skit. It was fun making lines and actions up.

The next day, we had a few hours to practice and then we presented. First it was Andrea and Kara's group - they did a Jeopardy game with food, legends, famous people, ethnic groups, and Ecuadorian expressions. It was really fun, and at the end, we all got candy. Yum. The second group consisted of Lisa, Sophie, Joi, Chris, Abby, and Lucy, and they acted out all the crazy things that had happened to them so far. It was hilarious and by far the best "skit" I'd ever seen. They really did have interesting events throughout the month, and it was really cool to see things acted out. It's one thing to hear about it and another to see it kind of happening in front of you.

We were the last group. It was really fun to present what we had practiced. It probably wasn't our best run-through, but it was still really enjoyable and entertaining. We dressed up in "rural" clothing and even made a fake ahogado (drowned man) out of Dan's clothes and a bunch of pillows, bags, and newspapers; we even gave him a face that we cut out of a magazine. Hahaha it was pretty great. We also used real candles and flowers and other stuff that made the experience a bit more real. It was really cool.

Right after class, I went straight home to quickly take a shower and eat lunch, because I was planning on meeting Laura W. at the choclo (type of corn) monument so that we could go to Quito together. We met my host parents in Quito and drove to their work so that we could walk to the 30-S commemoration march. 30-S, or 30 de septiembre de 2010, was a really crazy day for Ecuador. The police and other people started riots in Quito because they were really against Rafael Correa (the president of Ecuador). So Correa tried to go stop them or something but the police had captured them. And so the military had to be involved and shot a bunch of people; in the end 4 people died and many more were injured.

Correa tried to make it look like it was all the police/anti-Correa's faults by using propaganda and controlling the media, and he claims that it was an attempted coup d'e'tat. I still don't think I can form my own opinion since I don't know much about this country's politics, but I really don't like Correa because of his previous actions, which you guys can look up or ask me if you really want to know. But yeah. Now he's trying to make it like a celebration that democracy is still living since he is president, and he's really sorry that 4 people had to sacrifice their lives for democracy. So in honor of those who were injured/killed, he had a commemoration ceremony/march in the Carolina Park in Quito.

It was seriously crazy that Friday because there were so many indigenous people walking around that had traveled for days just to be there. Apparently Correa pays some of them to make it look like he has indigenous supporters, when in reality he really doesn't because he's ruining their homes with the petroleum industry in the Amazon. But anyway. We got to be in the midst of tens of thousands of people who were chanting and holding flags and banners. Eventually we got to see Correa in person because he gave a speech. He's young and handsome and charming, and I can see how he got elected. But I still don't approve.

Then we went straight to our host family reception, since it was the last weekend with our Los Chillos families. It was really fun because we got to see all our group members' families and how they interacted with each other. The food was great, and afterwards, we got to dance a lot. It was so much fun since there were a lot of people, and the music was Ecuadorian. Afterwards, the group wanted to dance more, so we went to a discoteca (club) called Picante to dance. It had really good music to dance to. It was such a fun night. :)

This Is Going to be Hell...

Because 1. you guys probably don't want to read a 100 page novel on my blog and 2. I'm super lazy, I won't go too in depth with my life in Ecuador since that one Sunday in Quilotoa (I think it was the 25th?).

The Tuesday afterwards, we visited an elementary/middle school in Fajardo, which is around 10 minutes away from our school. We were separated into groups based on each grade a couple weeks before and had to come up with lesson plans for the students. It was really fun to decide what we were going to teach and how because it reminded me of summer school at KCC last summer. I even had the same grade - first and second graders. Joi, Abby, and I were really excited and adement that we get this grade because we really love little children! We planned so many games and activities to do like: learning animals, shapes, colors, and numbers in English; weather and climate of Ecuador; making musical instruments out of cups and beans; among other random games like Simon Says and Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

As soon as we walked into the class, they got really excited and would not shut up/stop moving around. Their teacher quieted them down with this really cute song called "Las Lechusas," which I have no idea what it means, but it's a song about being quiet and shushes them. Then also when they were wild, we would yell out "Abrazos de oso," which means bear hug, and then they would hug themselves so they can't move. And they usually quieted down. It was adorable. We got to know the students pretty well given that we only saw them for 4 hours. There was one student in particular who was really obnoxious and didn't listen at ALL. His name was Richard. And he is the kid in class who never sits down, never stops talking, never listens to directions, and always wanders off on his own. But other than him, all the other students were fairly attentive, especially the girls. They were so cute and kind of like suck ups like all little girls are to new people, especially foreigners.

At the end of our time there, we played with bubbles, and the kids enjoyed that thoroughly. They loved to jump and try to pop the bubbles, and they loved it when they got to blow from the bubble sticks. As we were about to leave, one of the kids - Luis - asked if we were coming back the next day. And when we told him we weren't, he asked when we were coming back. We couldn't answer, because we weren't going to be back.. So after like 5 seconds, he asked, "Are you never coming back?" And it just broke my heart. It was really sad. Even though we had only known the kid for 4 hours, we had formed such an impact on him and the rest of the class. I loved the experience of this rural school and really want to help/be involved in improving their studies so they can have brighter futures.

Cunugyacu & Quilotoa

On Sunday, Keely, me, and my host dad left Sangolquí at around 6 to go on an adventure! And it was probably the coolest adventure ever. We drove around 2 hours, mostly on a rocky and bumpy road, up the Illinizas, two mountains next to Cotopaxi. On the way, we saw a bunch of wild bunny rabbits that were really cute! We were looking for the Cunugyacu waterfall, known to be thermal. It turned out to be kind of cold because it was snowing at the top of the mountain, but it was still cool. The water is yellow because of the iron content that's in the soil in the mountain. But it doesn't really smell bad or anything; it's just yellow. The hike wasn't bad either. It was literally a 7 minute hike to the falls. From where we parked the car, we could hear the water falling (get it?? hahaha). We crossed a river using stones and logs for balance; I felt like a true nature girl! :D

After taking a bunch of pictures and admiring the beauty of the place, we left to go to Quilotoa, a lake that formed inside the crater of an inactive volcano. On the way, we stopped by Pujili for lunch - potato pancakes and fritada. Yummy!! This area rarely gets foreigners so Keely and I got some stares. We got to walk around the market, which is pretty much all indigenous people, and saw a lot of different things than normal. That does not make sense, but I don't know how to make it make sense. There was a guy that was selling these HUGE worms to eat.. Because it's supposed to be really good for pain and is a cure-all.

Then we left for Quilotoa; on the way, we passed by Tigua, a small pueblo known for its amazing art because of the famous artist Jorge Tiguaza (I think..?). We got to stop at his gallery and talk to him and look at his art. It was really cool. Then we finally got to Quilotoa. It was the most amazing place I've been in Ecuador. We got to go down to the lake, inside the crater; it's pretty deep and the ground is mostly sand so it was kind of difficult to go down quickly, but it was really fun sliding down. It took around an 45 minutes to an hour to get down the crater. When we got there, we took a lot of pictures and got to explore around the lake. There was an overnight house near the lake so we went to go look around. The rooms are really small because they're designed to be exactly how the indigenous people used them. There's only a bed and a window. Sweet and simple - all you really need.

Then we sat down at this camping table and ate bananas, dried aves (a type of bean), and pepino (a type of fruit that tastes like Korean pear - delicious!). After eating, we decided to go back up because it looked like it was going to rain. We got to climb up riding horses!! Or mules, to be exact. It was so cool because I've never been on a horse!!! Super chévere! It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would; my host dad said that my legs will hurt a lot. But my horse would NOT listen to me. He was really short-tempered and competitive, apparently, because he really wanted to be ahead of the other two horses (my host dad's and Keely's). My host dad wanted to go ahead of us because he wanted to take pictures, but his horse would not move. And my horse would RUN in front. My host dad eventually went ahead, but while we were stopped in this really tight crevice, my horse decided to run past my host dad. Awesome idea. My leg got trapped in between my host dad and his horse and my horse. It was a great experience. Then another time, when we were almost at the top, my horse decided to stop. And so naturally, the other horses stopped behind him. And then my horse lifted his hind legs and tried to kick the horse behind him. And I almost fell off!! But that was really cool LOL.

When we finally got to the top, I realized I had lost my lens cap :( Probably when my horse was acting crazy. Sad.. But at least it wasn't my camera. And I think I'm allergic to big animals because my throat started getting itchy again and it was getting kind of hard for me to breathe, and I kept coughing. The area between my chest and my throat hurt a lot, like there was something pressing against it and pressing into my body. Ouch. But it got better after I drank a lot of water and slept a little bit in the car. On our way home, we stopped by La Avelina, a famous restaurant known for their amazing chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream. It was so good.. Probably the best simple vanilla ice cream I've ever had. We got home around 7:30 because of traffic, and when we finally arrived, I was so exhausted that I couldn't do anything. Great day, great day. :)

Volcano?

Last weekend was probably the most exciting weekend I had. On Saturday, I was supposed to go to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, with my host family, but my host dad had some work to do, and we had to pick up my host grandma, who is such an adorable little lady, from her son's house and drop her off at her niece's. I was kind of bummed because I really wanted to go to Guayaquil, but the day turned out to be cool.

After we dropped off the grandma, we met up with my host cousin's family to get some lunch. We went to a very typical restaurant where they sell typical Ecuadorian food. What, do you ask, is typical Ecuadorian food? Well, usually it's a lot of mote (type of corn), fried meat, and plátanos. We ordered 3 plates of fried pig skin with mote, a plate of fritada (fried pork) with potato pancakes and mote for me, and half a guinea pig for my host uncle. Sweet. And I got to try it!!! I took a picture of it, but accidentally erased it before I could upload it :( sadness. Guinea pig sounds really gross because they're so small and are like pets. But I don't like guinea pigs so I decided to have a piece. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! The skin was super chewy and felt like rubber in my mouth and the meat tasted kind of like fish - i don't know why. I don't know if I'd be able to eat it again, just because I know it's guinea pig. If they had just put a plate full of the meat w/o telling me what it was, I'd probably eat it. Hehe

Then after lunch, we went to the TeleferiQo in Quito, which is a place where you ride those cable cars up to the top of a mountain. But it was really cloudy, and we wouldn't have been able to see anything, so we decided to go to the amusement park right next to it instead called Vulqano. My host family told me that it used to be really big when it first opened, but as the instable weather started interfering with the park's business, less and less people started to go, and shops started to close down. They had to close down a lot of the rides, too, so now it's really small. But there are a few good rides that are still open. There was one that made me really sick; it's like the Viking Boat, but there are two "ships" that go opposite each other, and it also goes all the way around like when you swing a yo-yo. At one point, I thought I was going to fall out of my seat.

There's also another ride that's very similar to the Giant Drop at Six Flags Great America, but not as giant. It was alright. We also went on the Viking..which was very not exciting. There was this ride called Catapult where two people ride in this capsule ball connected to ropes and the machine pretty much just throws them around. It looked really intense.. and I wanted to go on it, but I didn't at the same time. So I didn't :) We also got to go on the bumper cars! It was really exciting because I got to ram into a lot of people that I didn't know. Hehehe

After Vulqano, we were supposed to go to the Centro Histórico de Quito (self-explanatory I think), but it started to rain, so by the time we got there, it was closed. Boo, because I really wanted to go. But I'll be living in the city for three weeks, so I still have time to explore. After being stuck in Quito traffic, which is probably worse than Chicago's I-90/94 traffic, we went home and just chilled :)

Otavalo

So.. this is going to be a crazy long day full of updates. I haven't been able to update last week and this week because I was being super lazy and didn't want to spend so much time thinking. Haha but I was also busy with class since it was our last week.

I shall begin where I left off. So last Tuesday, we had breakfast and then left Intag because we were planning on stopping by a city called Otavalo, which is known for their rich industry of artesanal crafts. They have these amazingly colorful pants/shirts that are really lightweight and comfortable; everyone in our group has at least 2. Before we did anything in the town, Lisa, Laura W., Joi, Andrea, and I went to this really delicious restaurant and had hamburgers because we had been fed as vegetarians for the past four days. I think it was the best hamburger I've ever had in my life. Hehe.

Then we went to the Otavalo market, which was awesome! There were so many crafts and other things to buy such as alpaca sweaters, which are really soft. I wanted to buy an alpaca blanket, but I have no idea how I would take that home.. So instead I bought another pair of the pants, some cool bracelets, and hand-knit slippers that are super warm. Love! The indigenous people there reminded me of Korean people at the markets in Korea because as soon as you walk by or just look at their booth, they'll come running up to you and asking you if you want to see a certain product. Then they'll pull out everything else they have.. And they don't leave you alone, especially if you're foreigners. A couple of the men tried to say hello to me and one of my friends.. Awkward.

Then  we went home, which took about 2-3 hours. I felt so gross as soon as I got home that I had to take a shower immediately. It was a great shower. Then I can't remember what I did, but I probably went to sleep because I was so exhausted from the trip.

The rest of the week went by fairly quickly even though I didn't do anything during the week except go to class and come home. Or I can't remember.. Sorry people. But I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything. The weekend was really exciting though. :)