PERU

[caution: long post ahead. feel free to skim.]

One of my group members could not have been more right when she said that our week in Peru shouldn’t be called our spring break trip, but rather our spring break expedition. 8 days of traveling, hiking, exploring new cultures, and touring cities was certainly both an adventure and a nice treat as the semester winds down!

Day 1: Bienvenidos a Peru!
We met bright and early at the airport in Quito to embark on our 6 or so hour journey to Cusco, Peru, via Lima. A bus met us at the Cusco airport to take us to our hostel, where we sat down to a cup of mate de coca, which is a typical Peruvian tea made with coca leaves (yes, the same leaves that cocaine is extracted from). We found the tea everywhere we went for the rest of the trip, and it was delicious! (No crazy side effects, if you’re wondering.) Coco leaves are used to help adjust to the altitude and are chewed by indigenous workers who want to take away their hunger and thirst during the day while they’re out in the field. We had the afternoon to explore Cusco on our own and eat dinner. I tried a typical dish called aji de gallina, which is chicken in a yellow cream sauce made of potatoes and cheese (delicious!). One of the tricks we learned early in the week was to ask for the “menú" at restaurants. For 12-18 soles (approximately $4-6), you get soup and/or an appetizer, a main dish, and coffee or tea!

Day 2: Felices Pascuas en el Valle Sagrado
On Easter Sunday, we woke up early to start our day tour of el Valle Sagrado, the region around Cusco.

View of the Valle Sagrado
We visited a llama farm in the morning where tourists get to walk through the llama pens and feed the animals before arriving to the demonstration of how llama wool is dyed and woven into all sorts of artisan products. Llama wool products were EVERYWHERE in Peru: hats, gloves, socks, sweater, slippers, bags, headbands, table cloths, belts.



Later, we went on a short and relatively easy hike around some Incan ruins in the valley. Our guide, Bobby, a native Cusceño, showed us all kind of cool things, like Incan cemeteries in the sides of mountains and how the terraces built into the mountains were used to cultivate plants.

Ancient and modern civilizations are neighbors!
For lunch, I tried two foods that I loved and ordered all over Peru: Quinoa soup and Trucha! (Quinoa is a very typical, high protein grain and truch is trout.) On one of the bus rides to an archeological site, we stopped at a little house marked with a red plastic bag over a lamppost. This sign means that chicha, a traditional corn beer, is made here. We learned how the beer (which is very very low in alcohol content and very very high in corn flavor) is made and got to try some. I wasn’t a huge fan, but it was interesting to say the least. After visiting the last site of the day, we visited a local family’s home to see what it was like to live there. The most surprising thing was definitely the plethora of cuys (guinea pigs) that they keep right in their home! If you remember, cuy is a delicacy in South America!

And you thought guinea pigs belongs in cages…
At night, we boarded a train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Pichu that welcomes all the tourists and hikers to the most famous of the Incan ruins.

Day 3: Ready, Set, HIKE.
After a 2 hour hike from the hostel to the entrance to the Inka trail at Km 104 (in Peru Inca was always spelled with a k and Cuzco was always spelled with an s, so I’m going to stick to the authentic spellings!), we began climbing. We climbed about 700 meters over the course of a few hours, and hiked a few kilometers on the original Inka trail to Machu Pichu. On the way, we passed a few other Inka sites, and had a picnic lunch on the terraces of one called Wiñaywayna.

Wiñaywayna from a distance, to give you an idea of how far we hiked!

Wiñaywayna

We arrived at la Puerta del Sol after the last stretch of uphill climbing and enjoyed an absolutely beautiful view of Machu Pichu from a distance.

Zoomed in view of MP from la puerta del sol

After taking it in and catching our breath, we continued on the trail to the entrance to Machu Pichu. I was absolutely stunned by what we saw: the Inkan people were simply brilliant architects and must have been strong as mules to move so many rocks through the mountains! The pictures I took hardly do justice to what I saw. After about 8 hours of hiking, we were grateful to finally reach the end, but we were nowhere near done. We still had to climb down the 700 meters we had reached. Also, the park was closing for the day so we couldn’t walk around and take pictures.

The group overlooking Machu Pichu and looking pretty happy after 8 hours of hiking

Machu Pichu!
Thus began the descent, and let’s just say that my knees were not very happy with 2 hours of very steep downhill stairs! By the time we made it back to the city, my legs were jelly and my heart and lungs were ready for a break.

The road you can see here is for the buses; we hiked more or less straight down to the river!
Like so many trips this semester, the hike was breathless is both ways: high altitude = hard to breathe, but with the most rewarding vistas! We worked hard and certainly earned our dinner after 10 hours of hard hiking!!

Day 4: Machu Pichu, up close and personal
After a much easier ascent to the Inkan city via bus, Bobby led us on a guided tour of Machu Pichu. He told us all about the various legends, buildings, and leaders of the ancient city. I found the history of the Inkas so much more interesting while learning about them in person than I did when I learned about them from a textbook. Being there and seeing even just a glimpse of how they lived and rules was mind boggling and very humbling. They were such a smart and advanced people in so many ways! After our tour with Bobby and lunch, we had free time to explore the park, which was my favorite part.


Clouds moving in!
A few of us hiked around rooms and paths that the tour didn’t cover and listened in to some other tour guides explanations of the different parts of the city.

We got to walk right up to llamas who call Machu Pichu home (one even trapped poor Mariana in a room!) and crawl around the rocks at our own pace.

In the evening, after some free time to relax (and finish some reading for school – a novel that, appropriately, takes place in Peru, called La Ciudad y los perros) we hit the hot springs that Aguas Calientes is named for. The baths were really nice, and not too hot, which was nice. Even in the rain, it was relaxing! The it’s-a-small-world moment of this trip was meeting some people from the south of Bolivia who we ran into the next night in Cusco!



After an early morning train and bus ride back to Cusco and some free time to eat and explore the artisan market, we took a city tour of Cusco with a new guide, Nieves, who was quite animated and loved calling us “jovenes.” (Many of the people we encountered thought we were all much younger that we are, which surprised me! It’s probably because we were so dressed down the whole time). On our tour of the city, we were all dragging because it was such an early morning. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit the Catherdral, which was to be one of the big stops on the tour, because the local tour guides and students of tourism were holding a “huelga” (strike) on the steps and were prohibiting tourists from entering. It was a little unclear what they were striking against, but it had something to do with rights of the tourist industry. (There was also a railroad strike when we were in Aguas Calientes which was an equally unclear protest against privatization of water?)

4 walls, each from a different time period/style of architecture
We did learn, among other things, that Cusco, the Inkan capital, was built in the shape of a Puma and about the different types of walls in various Inkan buildings.

Streets of Cusco
At the end of the day, we drove up to one last archeological site of Inkan ruins, pronounced “sexey woman” (but not spelled that way…I would butcher it!). From here, we watched the sun set over Cusco and took some nice group pictures.

View of quito from “sexy woman” ruins
Everyone seemed to catch their second wind for a oldies singalong on the busride back to the hostal and a nice dinner out to celebrate Amanda’s last night with us. Thanks to her hard work with the Quito program, BC treated her to the trip. Even after sending her students to Peru every semester for the past 14 years, she herself had never seen Machu Pichu! It was so nice to have her along for the experience! We enjoyed a nice group dinner together in her honor. I tried another very typical dish, Alpaca, for dinner. When I said llamas are all over Peru, I mean it in every way. Alpaca is a type of llama, and the meat was delicious. I know, I know, What do you mean you ate LLAMA, Carolyn? They’re so cute!! But hey, when in Rome…or Peru…. After dinner, a few of us went to a salsa club where we practiced our steps and then watched a very interesting transition from salsa to a latin version of the electric slide, danced by some local men who were very into the moves. It was hilarious!

Day 6: Puno


Some pictures from our pit-stop on the bus ride…lots of mountains and llama products for sale!!
One 6 hour bus ride later, we arrived in Puno, a city on Lake Titicaca in the southeast part of Peru. Lake Titicaca is the highest freshwater lake in the world and the largest in South America. It is simply beautiful! Though Puno was not the most beautiful city, it has a great location on the lake! Also, something that I was surprised to learn is that Titicaca does not mean anything it sounds like. It actually means “large gray puma” in Quechwa, the native language of the Andes. In Puno, we met our new local guide, Bertha, who took us to Sillustari, an Inkan burial ground. We watched the sun set over the lake and stopped at a local family’s home to see what the living conditions were like and learn about some of the vegetables and grains that they harvest. The home was very different from those we have seen in remote parts of Ecuador, and was very unique to the region. Though they had no electricity or running water, the family was very happy and healthy! Before we boarded the bus back to the city, we took a few moments to star gaze. I don’t think I have ever, or will ever, see so many stars in one night. The Milky Way was very bright and we saw 5 or 6 shooting stars in just 15 minutes. I can’t imagine going to sleep under that sky every night!

Day 7: Life on Lake Titicaca
On our last full day of exploration, we left our hotel very early in the funniest taxis I’ve ever taken. We sat two by two in these little carts pushed by men on bikes…quite environmentally friendly for such a big city! After a short boat ride, we disembarked on las Islas Uros, which are a group of small, manmade islands in the middle of the lake. The islands are built on the roots of tortora plants, which grow in the water. The islands float in the water and are home to 7-8 families each. On the island, we learned how the islands are constructed, toured the homes, and got to try on some of the local people’s attire.


After dancing and singing in the traditional clothing, the women showed us their handmade products. One thing I noticed while in Peru is that everyone is a salesperson, from the 3 year old girl carrying bracelets on the mountainside for 1 sol to the 85 year old women showing off their goods. Artisanship is definitely one of the biggest sources of income for the indigenous people, and for good reason…all their products are beautiful! After another boat ride, we lunched on another island and learned about the local typical clothing, one piece of which is partially made with women’s hair!

In the afternoon and evening, we hiked to the top of the island Amantani, where we watched and helped our guide perform a local ritual offering to the Pachamama, the goddess of mother earth. Over the course of the trip, we had learned a lot from our guides about the traditional Andean religions and local customs and influences from the Catholic. The ceremony was very powerful and very uplifiting. After building a fire, we built an offering that represented luck, love, harmony, peace, happiness, and other happy things. We were each given something to add to the pile (I got raisins, which represent “dulcera”, sweetness) and then burned the pile, along with candles for people we know who are sick.

Our offering
We said a very simple prayer as a group and hugged everyone else present (S&L, think hugs of peace!) and poured confetti on each other. It was a very powerful and happy ceremony, and I felt very privileged to be a part of it. Afterwards, we climbed to the temple of the Pachamama and watched an incredible sunset over the lake again.



When it was dark, we hiked down to the bottom of the mountain and were greeted by local families who would be our hosts for the night. I stayed with a lovely young woman named Olga along with Jenny and Hallie After eating an absolutely delicious, natural, and typical dinner of rice and locally grown vegetables with Olga, her parents, her daughter and niece, and our guide Bertha, we were surprised with yet another set of traditional outfits to put on. Olga and her husband Zacharias helped us get dressed in the skirt (which would have been scandalously short on me had I not had jeans on underneath…the locals are much smaller than us!), top, and scarf, they led us to a gathering where we met up with the rest of our group and their host families. A local group of musicians came to play for us, so we all danced both inside and outside around a fire. We had so much fun and looked beautiful in the traditional clothing.


Needless to say, I slept very well back at Olga’s house after such a long day! The house was ready for guests; there were extra beds that were very comfortable and warm and plenty of food for all of us! It was obvious that they were prepared for tourists, but it was still nice to eat and talk with a local family. One of the most interesting parts of the evening was when the three of us were in the kitchen with the grandmother, who didn’t speak Spanish. While we all acknowledged that we couldn’t understand each other, we talked to each other anyway, and all laughed to acknowledge that no one really knew what was being said. Though the younger people on the island learn Spanish in schools, the older generations only speak Quechwa! The younger adults and children are all bilingual out of necessity, which is SO amazing to me! It was very interesting to be communicating in my second language with other people who learned Spanish as a second language!

Amaranti in the daylight

Saying goodbye to Olga!

Day 8: Harvest to Home
After waking up with the sun, we hit the fields early in the morning with Zacharais to learn how potatoes are harvested. Our timing was great because April is the month of the harvest! We helped dig up some small veggies that the family would dry out to eat for the rest of the year. They were delicious! Our journey home began at 8:30 with a 3 hour boat ride back to Puno, a bus to Juliaca, a flight to Lima, a 7 hour lay over, and then another flight back home to Quito. We arrived around 3:30 am, which was oddly reminiscent of the first time I landed in Quito and went through migration in the middle of the night…

All in all, the trip was an perfect blend of cultural and touristy activities. Our guide, Javier, who was with us the whole time, did a great job of planning the trip and organizing our travels, guides, and tours. We worked hard and were all exhausted by the time we got home, but I am very well aware that this was probably a once in a life time opportunity, and I am SO grateful that it was part of my study abroad experience! Big time thank you if you made it all the way to the end!

This Week in Quito...

La Fiesta de la canción
At preprac last Wednesday, the entire school, grades K-12, gathered in the auditorium for a talent show meets battle of the bands in the middle of the day. The assembly was a series of 12 musical performances (both vocal and instrumental) by groups of students from all grades. The students were competing for spots to perform in a show/competition among many high schools in Quito. I was again astounded by the talent of the students – and even more surprised when all the songs they performed were in English. There were groups who covered everything from Somewhere Over the Rainbow to Audio Slave to Eric Clapton. Quite impressive!

La Chulla Vida
On Thursday night of last week, Eddie played another show at the cute little café that I went to with Amanda and Boni a few weeks ago. It is located in La Ronda, a famous neighborhood in the historical district of Quito. Our whole group, together with Amanda and Boni, went to support him and enjoy some chocolate caliente (hot chocolate) and vine hervido (hot wine…very interesting). Eddie did great!

Me and Amanda at the cafe!

It’s a Small World
When I was out with my friends on Friday night, I had had not one but TWO it’s-a-small-world moments. First, I ran into a girl I who I had gone to school with since Bret Harte! We graduated from East together and she goes to Brandies in Boston. She is part of a program that landed her in Quito for a few months this semester as well. I think we both did double takes when we passed each other on the street! Later that night, I was talking to a guy who from NJ…I thought this alone was crazy. After talking a while about what we were doing in Quito, I found out that he graduated from BC last May! Again, I couldn’t believe it!

Cotopaxi
On Saturday, Maqui, Melissa, Karina and I hit the road early for a day at Cotopaxi, the volcano south of Quito that can be seen from miles and miles away. Before getting there, we stopped at a cute little restaurant called La café de la vaca for breakfast. It’s a good thing we ate a big breakfast because we needed it for the hike! We then drove into the national park that surrounds the mountain and drove up as high as cars are aloud to go (4000m above sea level). From there, Melissa and I trekked up the refugio, a small building at a VERY steep 4800m where hikers and campers can stop for a bite to eat and to catch there breath (which is easier said than done at that altitude!) Even though we were more or less climbing through clouds and the air was freezing cold, Melissa led the way up to the snow! I didn’t think I would be walking through snow until November in Boston, but alas, we made it! The snow on the mountain has been getting higher and higher each year, thanks to changing weather patterns and temperature increases. We met a professional guide who was making his way down, and he told us all about the conditions needed to climb to the summit and how they go about making that trek. To climb all the way to the top, groups usually start in the middle of the night to begin the 5-6 hour straight-uphill-hike to the top. The walk up was very tough – let’s just say I could tell that I’ve fallen out of my regular running routine! – and the descent was very slippery. I had Melissa laughing the whole way down as I fell after every 8 or so steps! When we got back down to the car, we drove with Maqui and Karina to a lake and had a little picnic lunch. It was a wonderful day with the family, even though we were all so exhausted afterwards that we hardly moved on Sunday!

El teatro
On Tuesday night, Maqui and her friend took me to the Teatro Nacional Sucre in the historical center to see a cello recital. There were all kinds of special music and theatrical performances this week for Semana Santa, so it was really nice to see one! The cellist was playing music from the Baroque period, and was accompanied by a contemporary dancer. The combination was unique and very well done!

Viernes Santo
This week was super quick – only three days of classes because Spring Break started yesterday! We had off for Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and then all next week. Today, a bunch of us went into the historical district to see the traditional procession for Good Friday, called Procesión de Jesús del Gran Poder. It was absolutely beautiful, in a very intense way. Though the environment was not incredibly somber around where we were standing (there were people walking up and down the street selling food and mementos and members of the press taking pictures and videos), the procession itself was extremely impressive. The procession is organized by the Franciscans and starts and ends in the Plaza de San Francisco. Though the events go on all day, the procession started around noon and went by the biggest churches in the center, which takes about 4 hours. Hundreds of men and women don Cucuruchos, traditional purple robes and masks seen in the pictures below. Some men dress like Jesus, in white robes and crowns of thorns, to carry enormous wooden crosses. The image of Jesus that is reflected in the garb, sculptures, and signs carried by the people in the procession is one from the 17th century in which He has long hair, a crown of thorns, and blood running down his face. The degree to which this was mirrored was quite impacting. Below are a few of the better pictures I got. Experiencing this traditional procession was definitely an incredible opportunity, and very moving.





Tomorrow morning we take off for our group trip to Peru! More in a week or so when I get home! HAPPY EASTER!

Galapagos!

Brace yourselves…this one will be long! Feel free to skim through for the pictures!

By an enormous stroke of luck, and a lot of help from Boni, I was able to sneak onto a tour of the Galapagos Islands this weekend. Let’s just say he knows all the right people in Quito. The timing was perfect – I was able to travel with Matt and Katie’s families and Amy, all of whom had made arrangements for the trip a while ago. I made #8 in the group, which was a great number to travel with. It was really nice to travel with parents… different from being with the BC crew of 17, but reminiscent of a family vacation.

In case you’re not familiar with the Galapagos, maybe the name Charles Darwin rings a bell? Though Galapagos was put on the map in the 16th century, it was Darwin who made the islands especially famous: his theory of natural selection was inspired by his stay and studies on the islands. Since the islands are volcanic and thus isolated from the main land, the species that are native to the archipelago are not (naturally) influenced by any other species. Here’s a basic rundown of what we did…

Friday:

On Friday morning, we left Quito for the island of San Cristobál, where the crew of our ship, the M/V Santa Cruz, met us. After a valiant yet failed effort of trying to persuade the National Park Guides to let us into the park for the student rate of $25 instead of the tourist rate of $100 (apparently we have the wrong visa and lack sufficient student ID), we boarded a bus and then a dingy (aka zodiac boat or panga) that took us to the ship. The Santa Cruz is one of the larger tourist boats in the Galapagos, holding 90 passengers. The rooms were beautiful, spacious, and air conditioned, and the food was outstanding.

After being welcomed aboard by the very friendly crew, we met our Expedition Leader (“this is NOT a cruise, it’s an expedition”), Ramiro to hear about basic rules and safety. The Parque Nacional Galapagos takes the preservation of the islands very seriously, and thus no one is allowed to touch or feed animals, bring food onto the islands, or take flash pictures. As a result, all the animals we encountered were completely indifferent towards our presence on the islands. They did not once seem to change their behavior patterns or run away when they saw people. Since the islands were not historically inhabited by humans, and have been closely protected for a few decades, they have no real reason to be afraid of people. All the passengers were divided into smaller groups which were led by one guide (also known as Naturalists). The 8 of us were in the Fregata group, led by Edison, a native Galapaguenion (not really sure how to spell it) who has been in the tourist industry for 16 years and was extremely knowledgeable about, well, everything Galapagos.


Above: The frigates. From the right (behind me and Katie): Mr. & Mrs. Blach, Amy, Mateo, Mr. & Mrs. Gelman

Our activity on Friday afternoon was swimming and snorkeling on Cerro Brujo, the visitor site on San Cristóbal. We took the pangas from the boat to the beach and were able to swim, snorkel, walk along the beach, and take our first peek at the wildlife endemic to the islands. We met our first sea lions, which are NOT to be confused with seals, as our guides were certain to make clear! The water was perfectly clear and beautiful.


Sea lion in motion, but not running away from us!

Later in the evening, we gathered for the Captain’s Cocktail and a discussion of the plans for the next day. After the presentation and introductions, Ramiro asked to speak with me afterwards, in front of all the passengers on board. I immediately got nervous that something happened with my ticket, and all the parents with us got concerned, but reassured me that they’d take care of any problems. Not to worry though – when Ramiro finally approached me, he told me he’d been put up to that by a friend of mine who was in Ecuador last semester (thanks, Chris). Apparently the fall BC crew got to know Ramiro pretty well when they did their Galapagos trip last semester!

Saturday:

After a very early wakeup call and buffet breakfast (yum), we disembarked on Española island. We went on a 3km hike around the island and met a ton of blue-footed boobies and marine iguanas. We walked through the “albatross airport” which is currently deserted because the birds have migrated for the season and enjoyed a beautiful view off the cliffs. Edison told us all about the various types of boobies (go ahead, laugh) and other birds that live on Española.


Blue Footed Booby! (Blue feet are verrrry attractive to the boobies…they get their color from hormones!)

After the hike, we returned to the boat for lunch and a talk on the human presence in the Galapagos. There are about 20-30,000 people who call the Galapagos home. We were also lucky enough to be joined for a while by dolphins! They swam with the boat for part of the trip from Isla Española to Isla Floreana.


We jumped out of bed where we were napping to see the dolphins!

Once anchored by Floreana, we had the opportunity to go deep-water snorkeling, which was simply fantastic. After a panga ride out into the middle of the ocean to look for a whale, which we successfully saw, we arrived at a craterous structure that emerged from the water. We snorkeled off the panga and saw thousands of fish, sea lions, a shark (!), enormous starfish, and more. The sea lions swam right up to us, not seeming to mind our presence at all. I wish I had an underwater camera with me – the water was SO clear, and there was some great stuff to see (example – blue starfish!).


Some strangers snorkeling…

After snorkeling, we took a walk around the island, saw some flamingos and frigates, and watched the sunset. We learned about the plant life on the islands and found turtle nesting sites on the beach, along with skulls of some animals that had washed up on the shore. After cocktail hour and dinner, the sky was sparkling with stars. There were no clouds and no lights. The last time I saw so many stars at once was in the planetarium!

Sunday:

On Sunday morning, we walked around Isla Fernandina, the youngest of the islands, and (I believe) the youngest island in the world. The lava rocks were solid black and the beach was perfectly white – beautiful! As we walked onto the island, we were greeted by a congregation of very large, very content marine iguanas lying in the sun. As we walked around the island, we also saw crabs, turtles, sea lions, barnacles, eagle rays, fish, and parts of a whale skeleton.


Just a fraction of the iguanas we saw…practically posing for the pictures (but actually just trying to cool down in the breeze)

In the afternoon, we went snorkeling around Isla Isabela, the largest island in the archipelago. Unfortunately, the visibility below the water was not great, but we did get to see our first Galapagos penguins above the water. The penguins were absolutely adorable! We took a ride around the perimeter in the panga and got to explore a cave and see the birds and special sea lions that call that island home.


Penguin!

In the evening, we gathered again for a cocktail as we passed over the equator into the northern hemisphere and watched the sunset. After dinner, we watched a slideshow from the weekend and got our instructions for the trip home. [For the nineman: before bed, the 4 of us watched a double feature of SATC, season 4] I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had gone and how much we had squeezed into 2.5 days!!


Katie, Amy, Matt, Me, and the Ecuadorian flag at sunset as we crossed the equator!

On Monday morning, we got up early to visit the Charles Darwin Foundation on Isla Santa Cruz. This is the heart of the national park, and is where scientists are working with the land turtle population. We saw some huge turtles as they were feeding (let’s just say they don’t have great table manners!) and some little baby ones. After a quick tour, we hoped on a boat to the island of Baltra, where we were rushed on our plane back to Quito!


The land turtles are so much bigger than they look in this picture!


Some more pictures…


Beautiful crabs!



crystal clear water


sunset as we crossed the equator into the northern hemisphere


beautiful beaches and volcanic rocks


more beautiful beaches.

Amanda’s and Mindo

Greetings! I don’t know why, but the weeks are absolutely flying by. I feel like I just got home from Mindo, yet here I am, done with another week of class and getting ready for the next trip! I just finished week 12 of classes which leaves me with 6 more weeks until exams…it just doesn’t seem right. The semester is going by much faster than it does at BC because we seem to merely be squeezing in class, homework, and exams between trips. (Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, I haven’t forgotten that I’m here to study!)

Last week, while Maqui and the girls were on what sounded like a fabulous cruise, I stayed with Amanda and Boni. They took SUCH wonderful care of me. I had my own room, wireless internet, wonderful dinners, lots of fresh fruit, and a chance to enjoy their beautiful home. Unfortunately, I spent most of my free time doing the projects and reading that I had due, but I was in the best possible environment. There’s nothing like living with your professor to get you motivated to do work!

On Wednesday night of last week, Amanda and Boni took me to a neighborhood in the historical center called La Rounda. La Rounda is a beautiful street that is home to many little shops, cafes, bars, and historical buildings. The environment is much more relaxed and has a much more local feel than the Mariscal (the bar district most popular for young Quitenos and extranjeros alike) and is much more safe. We sat and hot chocolate in a little café called La Chulla Vida (chulla = only in Quichua) and enjoyed live music. The live music thought we were all gringos, because he kept saying “Thank you very much, table four” and thanked Boni for his tip in English. Amanda and I were cracking up because Amanda and Boni are both Ecuadorian through and through…I was the only gringa! Later in the evening, Boni took a picture of a large Ecuadorian family, and they also thanked him in English, so we were laughing all the way home. As we were sipping our hot choclate (which was some of the best I have ever had) I learned a new Ecuadorian phrase that explained why the coco and cookies came with pieces of cheese: “Chocolate sin queso es como abrazo sin beso” (chocolate without cheese is like a hug without a kiss). Cute, eh?

On Thursday, I enjoyed the convenience of being in Cumbaya at night because I could attend a program at Colegio Menor where I do my pre prac. The Spanish department (which is the department I observe) put on a program called “Globalizarte” (Globalize yourself). All the Spanish classes in the high school prepared creative interpretations and presentations of a work of literature that they had read that year. The works ranged from Ulissess to Cronica de un muerte anunciada to the Kite Runner. The students did skits, made videos, put together fashion shows, hosted talk shows, constructed booths, and recreated scenery that marks the literature they had read. I was so impressed by the talent and creativity! I am grateful that I was able to attend because for the two Wednesdays leading up to the program, the classes I observed were consumed with the preparation, which left me more or less watching as they painted, rehearsed, and designed their presentation. My favorite presentation was by the AP Lit class; they put on a skit called Les Luthiers, which was a satire about the most famous Latin-American writers, many of whom I have or am currently studying. The skit was hilarious, and they had a great crowd!

On Saturday, I took off bright and early for Mindo with a small portion of our group. This past weekend was the first time we all split up to travel, and it was strange to not all be together! Matt, Amy, Eddie, Hallie, Jenna, Chris and I were the largest of the groups to split off. We took a two hour bus to the town of Mindo, which is located in the Northern Highlands of Ecuador. Saturday was a bit rainy, which is especially typical during the winter (aka rainy season). We took a cable car ride to a hiking path. We were unbelievably high above the trees and river. As the clouds descended, we literally rode through a cloud and couldn’t see to the other side! From there, we hiked down to one of six waterfalls, but decided to head back after seeing one because the rain was picking up. From there, we all went back to our hostel and enjoyed an evening in the hot tub and had a really nice dinner.


the cable car is in there somewhere...

the waterfall we hiked down to, and the ladder that chris decided to climb (crazy?)

Sunday was another early morning, but much sunnier. We met our guide in Mindo and he drove us up the mountain to where the ziplines are located. I didn’t really know what to expect from “ziplining,” but it was SO much fun. Basically, they put your legs in a harness of sorts, give you a couple straps with carabineers and pulleys, a helmet, gloves, and send you on your way. There are guides who do all the connecting of people to cables stop you at the end, so no one falls into the valley or smashes into a tree. It was all very safe and professional, but the same services would certainly require waivers and more than a $10 fee in the US! There were about 10 cables, which varied in length and height. The longest was probably the length of 2 football fields, and the shortest was maybe 2 basketball courts. The cables are quite high, which gave quite a thrill but wasn’t scary. Besides being attacked by bugs (shorts were a bad choice), ziplining was my favorite part of the weekend!
the four girls and a view of the line:



This week has not been too eventful. My host family is home, so it’s back to the normal routine. Classes were pretty normal…I had one exam, finished reading Cien Años de Soledad (good book!), and have started on two more novels. I will definitely have read a lot of great Latin-American literature by the end of this semester! The most spontaneous part of the week was planning for this weekend’s trip to the Galapagos! Boni helped me wiggle my way onto the nicest cruise ship with 3 other people in my group and two sets of parents who are visiting. I’m SO excited and very lucky to have Boni, who certainly knows all the right people in this city! So, stay tuned next week for adventures in Darwin’s evolution laboratory!!