Las Islas Galápagos

Last weekend I went to the Galapagos Islands with all the other exchange students in my study abroad program.

Friday morning, we flew into the island of San Cristòbal and headed straight to our hotel. We were split into three groups an assigned tour guides. The Galapagos National Park Rules say that all certified tour guides must be native to the Islands. My group got the best tour guide, Carlos, who was 20 years old and had a group of 16 girls the same age. Great group dynamics.

We walked through "Centro de Interpretación" a museum about the history of the islands. We learned all about how the Islands were formed by a hot spot, the three ocean currents defining it marine environment, how plants and animals arrived there with the ocean currents or by bird or by wind, the history of humans on the island, and of course the big man on the islands, "Carlitos" Darwin and his theories of natural selection!

The science behind the Galapagos Islands is absolutely fascinating. But, instead of going too in depth with all the amazing processes of our Earth in my blog...I´ll just post a link for those who are interested.

After the museum we hiked a trail called "Sendero de la Tijeretas." We saw Frigate Birds, Blue Footed Boobies, Marine Iguanas, and got up close and personal with the sea lions. Each of these animals have something about them that is so strange and wonderful.

The Galapagos Islands are not famous for the biodiversity of flora and fauna but for the endémic species. In other words, there aren´t a tremendous amount of different species there but the species they have are unique from any other place in the world.

After our walk, we went swimming in the ocean. The Panama Current is the most predominant ocean current this time of the year and it made the water was a lot colder and saltier than the ocean water in Canoa. We ate dinner and then went to sleep cuz we were exhausted.

Saturday we boated to the Island Floreana for lunch and then to the biggest Island, Isabela, for the night. Around Floreana we went snorkeling in two different locations. We saw lots of fish, swam right next to the sea lions, and I was five feet above a shark. Other groups saw dolphins and manta rays.

On Isla Isabela we visited "Centro de Crianza de Tortugas Gigantes." A place where they study, breed, and take care of the giant tortises. We were there during mating season and witnessed and learned a lot about tortise sex and mating habits, as well as how babies are born and raised.

Saturday night there was a big party for Carnaval on the beach. It was lots of fun. Two friends and I decided we hadnt swam enough that day and went skinny-dipping in the ocean.

On Sunday we hiked 16 km aka. 10 miles around the volcanoes Sierra Negra and Chico. Sierra Negras last eruption was in 2005. We walked along the edge of its gigantic crater that contained some rock that was still molten. The part of the hike to Volcano Chico was pure volcanic rock that hadnt broken down enough to make a soil profile or grow any vegetation. The volcanic rock was so beautiful and all the different minerals made it very colorful. It was also sharp, and I cut my hand when I touched it. Our tour guide (Enrique) showed us rocks as thin as needles that had solidified while dripping. All the rocks were porous because gases were being released as they solidified.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0oXZAJw-k

On Monday we visited the Charles Darwin Station. They are studying, breeding, and taking care of a variety of flora and fauna. We saw land iguanas and a lot different types of tortises. We saw Lonely George, the last turtle of his kind with his two potential mates, Georgia and Georgina (who are the closest species to his).

That afternoon it started pouring rain but that didn´t stop us from visiting "Los Gemelos" or "The Twins", two giant craters that were formed by periodical collapses of Earth. The ecosystem in this area was different in this area. Arg. I want to write more about the ecosystems and invasive species but I´m getting tired of typing.

We went to a ranch where we saw massive tortises in their natural environment. They had a place where you could try on a tortise shell. They are heavy and difficult to get into, but very entertaining.

We also ventured into a Lava Tunnel. When the lava was flowing, the top part exposed to the air cooled down and solidified while the bottom part continued to move. The solidified top shell creates a huge cave-like tunnel that can run for miles. We walked through this part. It was really neat. Parts of the tunnel had caved in and at one point we had to get down and dirty to crawl through.

That night we spent shopping and dancing. People were celebrating Carnaval on the streets and we were sprayed with a lot of "Puma de Carnaval" which is this shaving-cream looking stuff specially made for Carnaval. Other students got hit with water balloons and/or soaked with water, which is the more traditional form of celebrating Carnaval here. I think I heard somewhere that the soaking other people with water came from people mimicing baptism.

Tuesday, we flew back to Quito from Island Santa Cruz and now all the exchange students are sick either from something we ate or the altitude change.

Hopefully I will improve this blog later and add pictures. For now, you can check out a couple of my pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35732784@N05/

En el Corazón en el Día de los Enomorados

For Valentine´s Day I summited an inactive volcano perfectly named "El Corazòn" or "The Heart." I went with el Club de Andinismo or Mountaineering/Adventure Club at my University here. They described it as a "medium physical difficulty and low technical difficulty" hike. When I signed up I was envisioning a challenging but do-able romantic hike with beautiful Andes mountain views making it worth the while. HA! that is not exactly what i got...

The summit is at an altitude of 15, 716 feet. For reference, Mount Washington in New Hampshire is at 6, 288 feet. The highest point in the Rocky Mountain range is Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet. (According to Wikipedia)

In other words, 15,716 feet is reallly high. When I was walking uphill slowly I was breathing as hard as I do when I usually run. It got to the point where I would take one step, breathe in, breathe out, then take another step. Fortunately, there were 3 other Gringos who were happy to hike at my pace. The rest of the group consisted of natives who had lived in Quito (9, 350 feet) for most of their life and hiked all over the Andes. They speed bulleted up the mountain and were constantly waiting for us. Everyone was very nice, patient, and understanding. They made sure we stuck together and although the entire hike took about 9 or 10 hours, we made it!!

On top of not being able to breathe, it was really cold, cloudy, and rained and/or hailed for most of the time. I was very cold and wet. The clouds hid any beautiful landscapes that might be there.

This is me being very cold and very wet. I was not incredibly well prepared for this journey...

However, we were hiking through "El Páramo" ecosystem (translates to the Moor) which boasts very high plant diversity and about 60% of the flora is endemic (exclusively exists there). We saw some really interesting plants. At one point our surroundings looked like it belonged under the ocean with coral-like plants and green spongy plants (we kinda were under water). Unfortunately I was too cold to take my hands out of my gloves and take pictures (also risking water damage to the camera), but I may be able to mooch pics off of others that were braver than I.

Here are some lovely flowers we hiked by. I might be able to tell you more about them when I finish my floral resources class.






This plant, Almohadilla, looks like a rock that is covered with plants but its actually all a very spongy plant. It depresses like 5cm if you step on it. This picture shows the hail bouncing off of it.


I was also excited about my food. My host sister helped me shop for an authentic Ande Mountain hiking meal. It featured Panela, which is pretty much brown sugar in a block form. My host family said that indigeous people and the Ecuatorian Olympic champion walker alike nibble Panela for energy along their vast mountainous treks. I also ate these beans called "Chochos" and toasted corn "Tostados." I also shared cookies called "Amor" with everyone to go along with the Valentine theme of the day.

Sooo while it definitely wasn´t the most romantic Valentines Day I´ve ever had, it was quite an adventure.

Lunch Time!

Beauuuttiful scenery, isnt it?

This is when trail turned into complete rock....


...that we had to climb straight up.


On the way back down close to the bottom when we finally saw some coudy landscape.

The Chaos of Classes & "Have you been to Bahia my friend?"

Key:
PUCE = Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

IES= My Study Abroad Program

After a week of chaos I finally picked my classes.

"Desarollo Sustentable" or "Sustainable Development" of the PUCE Department of Geography
-The prof randomly didnt show up the first day
-Second day I arrived 10 minutes late cuz i missed my bus. It was okay. The class is all about environmental issues and sustainable development mainly in Ecuador. It looks like a really interesting class.

"Literatura Indigena" or "Indigenous Literature" at IES

-We discussed identity the first day. The point of his first class was that names are important. Some of you may know I have issues with grouping, generalizing, and labeling so I had a lot of arguments forming in my head. I always have a hard time agreeing with my teachers of literature. But this class seems intriguing.

-Im required to take a literature course

"Una aproximación a la teoría y practica de las culturas aborígenes ecuatorianas" aka. Aborigenous Ceramics at PUCE
-This class was cancelled the first day, but no one told us, so me and two other girls searched for the class for about 40 minutes before giving up.
-Taught by this wonderful indigenous man, this class is about studying and recreating ceramics of various indigenos cultures all over Ecuador. Class takes place in a small museum and is 2 classes of theory to 4 classes of sketching and playing with clay.

-Getting my hands dirty and experiencing it is by far my favorite way to learn about cultures.

"Recursos Flora" or Flora Resources of the PUCE Department of Ecotourism and Hotelerism

-Pretty much a Botany class. I believe it includes field trips. I believe we are also going to spend one class going to this other class about drawing flowers. :)
-Ecuador has amazing biodiversity, and a great place to study plants.

"Environmental Diversity of Ecuador" at IES

-This class starts next week, but it should be interesting. I was required to take one of three classes and I chose this one.

Reaching this schedule was definitely an adventure that included jumping buses, being passed up by busses, attempting to call taxis, being overchanrged by taxi drivers, getting lost on campus, not knowing where to find a schedule, not realizing some of my desired classes dont exist, misunderstanding many people, and a healthy dose of embarassment.

This weekend was even more of an adventure. About 17 exchange students in my program decided to go to the beach! We first took a 7 hour bus ride overnight to Bahia (Although the song i reference in the title of this blog is referring to Bahia, Brazil and not Bahia, Ecuador...I still can say I´ve been to Bahia). Then took a boat to San Vicente. Then took a "taxi," that consisted of a motorcycle with a buggy/compartment thing attached to the back that fits two people, to Canoa.

...Ahhhh....Bahía

Our boat. We were happy we didnt sink.

The strangest taxi Ive ever taken.

Canoa is right on the Pacific Ocean and is this wonderful surfer town. On Friday we ate, swam, enjoyed the waves, napped, and went dancing at night. On Saturday a friend and I rented a surfboard for the day, and spent most of the day "surfing" (aka. mainly wiping out). I was pretty good at catching the waves (they were nice waves) and totally stood up a couple times (righteous!). It was the most successful surfing experience Ive ever had. In the afternoon two of my friends rented boogie boards and we all kinda floated out in the ocean past where the waves were breaking. It was beautiful and so peaceful. That night we partyed at a karaoke bar where i sang "Colors of the Wind" and "The Circle of Life" in spanish. I didnt want to sing anything in English, but unfortunately didnt know any of the other Spanish songs.

We didnt pay for lesson, but received plenty of help from enthusiastic locals.

Of course all this beauty and relaxation comes with a bit of pain. I was stung by a jelly fish on my inner thigh, it wasnt too bad. Despite 3 applications SPF 45 very water and sweat resistant sunscreen, my face got scorched. I would like to thank Aunt Karen for my 100% UV protection shirt that I wore while surfing and completely saved by shoulders and back. All the other exchange students werent so lucky. I also have some bug bites despite all the 25% DEET bug spray we used. I have a rash from my surfboard. My muscles are sore from surfing. And my whole body was elecricuted when I accidently touched the shower head of my electric shower. However, I´m okay, still dont have any weird diseases yet, and it was totally worth it.
Our rooms with mosquito netting

Some kind of leaf soothing our burns.

On Sunday, we left our Hotel Paìs Libre in the morning to go to breakfast but quickly turned around cuz we were worried we didnt have enough time before we had to check out. We wound up checking out and then didnt leave the Hotel until sundown. We spent the whole day either napping in hammocks or hanging out with the owner of the hotel, Fabio, and his 25 employee/adopted son, Cèsar. (Cèsar is very popular around town for his surfing abilities) They treated me and my two friends like Queens! We talked a bunch, he gave us these soothing leaves and a chunk of their aloe vera plant for our sunburns, he gave us most excellent lemonade, gave us salsa dancing lessons in their discoteca, played with these adorable month-old puppies, we played pool, and met a bunch of their friends. At sunset we walked up a hill to Cèsars house with two of his friends where there was an incredible view of all of Canoa with the ocean and the sunset in the background. We were good friends by the end of the day and Fabio gave us a ride back to San Vicente and made sure we caught the boat back to Bahia. It was such a nice day, with so many chill people, and none of it was in direct sunlight. :)

This is what you saw after you walked down the very muddy road

Gringos!

Césars friends

Canoa at Sunset

the middle of the world

The highlight of Wednesday was salsa lessons. The Quito University, la Catòlica, hired this Cuban dance teacher for the afternoon and all 30ish exchange students learned how to salsa. He started us off clapping to the music and by the end we learned how to spin and do some other cool moves like out to the side. I kept switching to do the guys part cuz there was like 5 guys for over 25 girls, and that kinda messed me up sometimes, but it wasn´t too hard to pick up. Some people weren´t as enthusiastic as I was and left early, but many people got the hang of it.

Thursday we spent allll day (8am to 5pm with a lunch break) picking classes. It was painful. Dad called it Tyranny of Choice. There are so many options. I could take classes with my study abroad program or at the local university. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I know what to expect from the IES classes and they would be easier to transfer, but i would definitely meet more locals if I took more classes at la Catòlica. I picked a tentative schedule but I´ll let you know what my classes are when they´re final.

On Friday la Catòlica sponsered a field trip for the exchange students to La Mitad del Mundo, or in English Middle of the World. Its this big tourist attraction that lies (supposedly) on the equator. We had lots of fun taking weird pictures across the Orange line that represented the equator. Then we went up the big monument there and down through a museum they had inside the monument about all the Indigenous tribes in Ecuador. We then saw a show in the planetarium. It was in Spanish, but a lot of constellations sound the same as in English.
We ate lunch at this area PUCE (aka. la Catòlica) owns. It was a gorgeous area with so many flowers blooming everywhere. We also saw a presenation of various folk dances. Their costumes were very elaborate, colorful, and very beautiful to watch. I don´t feel like I can describe the dances in a blog...but I got some video of them, if anyone is interested later.
On the Equator.

That afternoon I took the public bus for the first time. Previously, my sister had been driving me around and I had only seen the buses and heard really bad stories about them. The busses dont really have bus stops (or if they do, they dont necessarily stop there). They just stay in the right lane most of them time and you wave them down like a taxi when they pass. If they are in the middle lane you either wait for the next one or, if they are stopped at a red light, walk through traffic to jump on. Sometimes they never stop at all, they just go slow enough so you can jump on while they are moving. Most of the busses are a bright blue and say the route in the front window. But just in case you cant read or cant see the sign, they have a person that hangs out the door of the bus and yells the route out the door as they pass people standing on the side of the street. They casually jump on and off the bus while its moving, helping people on and off the bus and also collects the bus fare (25 cents...a taxi to my house from school is about a dollar). To get off the bus you have to tell the bus driver to stop, and hopefully they will slow down long enough for you to hop off.

All of our orientations warned us about the safety on the bus. You should always wear your packpack or purse on the front of your body cuz its easy for theives to unzip your bag. However, one of my American friends was doing this and didn´t feel someone slip her cell phone out of the pocket of her jeans. We were also told to avoid window seats on a crowded bus because you cant escape if someone sits next to you and holds you at knife point to steal all your stuff.

My host brother showed me how to use the bus the first time. I was telling him everything they had told us at orientation about bus security. He said that the front was safer then the back of the bus. He also said that while walking around the city, he had been robbed 4 times, sometimes at knife-point. My sister has only been robbed once. Neither of them were ever physically hurt. From the stories and advice Ive heard, it seems like the theives here like easy robberies. They are just looking to make some money and usually arent doing it with the intent of hurting the victim. Some people have said that if you just surrender your money and phone they´ll leave you. Its still really scary and I can´t wander around the city like I want to.

Anyway, my older sister´s birthday was friday and we went to a party friday night. There was karaoke but I didn´t sing. I hung out mostly with my younger host sister and her cousin.

The next day, Saturday, my family participated in this big procession of cars supporting the cadidate for mayor of Quito, Ricuarte. My older sister had to sign a really important paper. I couldn´t understand exactly what it was for eventhough it was explained to me at least 5 times. As an American exchange student, we are not supposed to participate in any protests, and they discouraged us from being associated with any political movements (espcially if they might turn into protests), but this was safe and pretty interesting to see.

Saturday afternoon, we went to my host cousin´s birthday party where we played ping-pong and watched the cousins play soccer. And today, Sunday, my bro and sis went to go see a professional soccer game.

I would like to note that I went to 2 birthday parties and neither of them had cake. Not even dessert. This is strange to me.
They also generally eat a pretty big break fast, big lunch, and a very small dinner. This to me seems healthier than the small breakfast and big dinner that most Americans eat cuz you eat and then burn calories throughout the day, instead of sleeping on all the calories you ate at dinner. We eat a lot of fruit, frequently in the form of jugo (juice). This morning my host mom made a Tomato and Kiwi juice that was reallly good, a lot better than it sounds. They eat fruits here than I´ve never heard of. We also eat corn in any manner possible, on the cob, corn bread, roasted kernals, this more like pastry thing, etc. Potatoes are also plentiful in every possible way prepared. Meat as well. Not exactly sure what kind of meat we usually have...some part of pig or cow is my best guess. All in all though, the diet is pretty healthy. I was talking with one of my host uncles about food and he said that they don´t have an obesity problem here. Although some of it might be the extra calories expended to breathe at such a high altitude.

peace