Into the Jungle

So, shortening this weekend trip into anything readable may be quite the feat. Let's see.

We left Quito Thursday morning, I excited to actually be able to take my ipod somewhere (6 hours of driving was a legitimate enough reason), not to mention pretty psyched about going into the jungle. So, Ecuador is not the richest of countries... as in, they can't afford to pave all of their roads. Which means that we drove several hours on the bumpiest rock and dirt roads and (mom, close your eyes), the scaries mountainside rickety bridges I have ever seen in my life. And the way this is done, by the way, is by driving very very slowly, swerving constantly to avoid the mud-potholes from the cliffside to the mountainside. While by some stroke of miraculous luck did not get sick at all, both ways I spent a huge majority of the time in desperate need of a bathroom, not helped at all by the constant bumpy ride.
So we drove through the mountains on scary dirt roads as it misted cold rain outside the bus. I listened to my ipod like it was a lifeline as the bus dove from puddle to mud to bumpy rocks down this tiny country road to a resort and spa in a place called Papallacta, near some hot springs. Here we paused our crazy bus ride in order to relax a bit in the warm, hot, or freezing cold pools at the spa. It was great to swim, and we all looked ridiculous wearing these blue and white swim caps (which were required). And the food was great. Basically, we all were relaxing in a group of giant hot tubs fed by real hot springs in the shadows of the giant Andes mountains, as the cold mist fell all around. It was an incredible way to begin a jungle adventure, I must admit.
As we continued our drive after lunch (which, lunch here is always late, and our group is always late, so at this point, as usual, we were running exceedingly late). We continued on dirt roads through mountain after mountain, hillsides each covered in some different plant, passing waterfalls falling hundreds of feet through the mountains, and tiny waterfalls that appeared right next to the road. We passed farms and ranches and sheep and horses and cows, we drove across one lane hanging bridges, we drove down the skinniest dirt road past shacks and poor families sitting in the street, and then the bus stopped. We got out and looked at the rickety wooden building next door and the river directly in front of us... there was no more road. The rest of the trip was in motorized canoes. Finally around 7 pm (11 hours after we had left Quito) we motored into dock at one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been in my life. Welcome to La Casa del Suizo.
La Casa del Suizo is a small (my guess is 200 guests) resort right on the Napo river (hence the Canoes) which is one of the feeders of the Amazon. There is a giant pool (I feel like it might have been designed by the same guy who designed morse college, because it was the most bizarre geometric shape... and no right angles), right next to the beautiful outdoor eating area, where there is a massive buffet of the most delicious food every meal. Each room is a simple place with two beds and a nice bathroom, and a balcony right on the river that contains a wonderfully comfortable hammock. Since the resort is in the amazon, it also contains a number of... well... creatures. Like hummingbirds and fireflies, like giant (foot-long!) lizards, bats that fly (swoop might be a better word because they move so fast you can't really see them) around the pool at night, the tarantula that was ourside Anne´s and my room Saturday morning...
Our guide was an incredible man named Carlos, who had been working at the job for over 16 years. Carlos is a Kichwa man who showed us the plants in the amazon (walking trees, love potion, pain reliever... clay), and led us around for the next 2 days. We went swinging from a tree... through the trees...on a rope (I guess vines are a little primeval for modern liability). We went to visit the home of an indigenous family, and we girls got our faces painted as if we were having our own kichwa wedding. We tramped through the jungle, we crossed log bridges, we went to go see a butterfly garden, we saw clay making and woodmaking, we went tubing down the Napo river. We went to an animal rehabilitation center and zoo, where all sorts of animals (monkeys especially) were just wandering around, with us.
I mean, there wasn't much to not like about the whole weekend. We were in a beautiful resort in a beautiful place. The rain that came crashing down at 3 am our first night there was possibly the most gorgeous storm I've ever witnessed. Every morning I would be the first up and eat my breakfast looking out at the rainforest as the sun burned away the fog and little whisps of clouds would come steaming off the trees in the forest. I went swimming constantly and was with my amazing class. I didn't even have that much homework.
But I think the most amazing thing was just the power of the life in that town. Most of the people there will really never be able to travel much of anywhere. They don't wear shoes, they bathe in a river, they kill chickens with blowguns. And yet I think that Carlos is living one of the most amazing lives I've ever seen. He shares the home he loves with people, he takes care of that home, and he loves what he does. He lives in one of the most beautiful places ever. You don't need money or fame to be an incredible person. Carlos is a testament to that.

Funny story: so one of my teachers, Profesora Peña, is a younger lady from Venezuela. My entire class is in love with her (rightfully so because she is funny and is one of the best teachers I ever have had. When she walks in the room the entire class perks up and smiles and suddently becomes interested in Spanish. And she's a trip, as my mother would say.) So we were all hanging out on the patio on our last night, enjoying the relaxing post-dinner atmosphere, and two of the guys in our group got the idea to go to the local discoteca. Which, is in itself hysterical, because this is a town of less than 1000 people, and most of them don't even speak spanish, because they're native Kichwas. So Travis and Derrick go, and come back a few minutes later; we're all still sitting there conversing peacefully. Here's what ensues.
Travis: So we didn't go inside, but we looked in the window thing and it's not exactly like most other discotecas.
Derrick: Yeah, nobody's really dancing or anything. There's like 7 people there... some locals, and some swiss people.
Travis: And there's this 70 year-old-man with a mic singing, *does really funny impression of a 70 year old man singing in spanish*.
Derrick: But we thought that since it's karaoke, we'd come back and see if anyone else wanted to come. So.... anyone?
(silence).
Naima: I'm tired.
(various mumbling assent for several minutes as Derrick and Travis look hopefully around.)
Prof. Peña (in a perky voice suddenly calls out): Esperenme. Yo voy. Esperenme. (wait for me, I'm coming) (she leaves to go get proper shoes or whatever)
(rest of class stares at each other and talks, well Profesora Peña's going...)

20 minutes later, 18 Yale students and Professor Peña have overrun the discoteca.

Then yesterday morning we rode back, and I spent the entire ride in desperate need of a bathroom, as everyone sitting near me can attest. But I have to admit that when I got home last night I really finally felt, and do today, that I have in a way found a home here in Quito. 2 weeks to go... I've got a lot of studying to do, so I'll catch y'all later.

Keep in touch everyone! Love and miss you all...
:)

Mitad del Mundo

Yesterday we took the lovely bus trip out to the ecuator (about an hour north of Quito), affectionately called the Mitad del Mundo. Unfortunately, as often happens in science, people several hundred years ago were sure they were right when they located exactly where the ecuator was, and so they built a massive and mildly expensive monument and tourist site on the line. Unfortunately, some smart guy with a GPS actually decided to measure it, and discovered that the ecuator wasn't there at all... it was several hundred meters away. Tragic really, but at least the monument's good for pictures.

So where the real ecuator is, there is a museum all about the natives of the Ecuadorian sierra (brief geography lesson: ecuador is small, it has a coast, a mountain range called the sierra, and the amazon rainforest, a.k.a the orient). was interesting, and only a little disturbing as they told us in detailed steps how we might go about beheading someone and creating a shrunken head. Then they proceeded to show us dead specimens of all the scariest animals of the rainforest, enclosed in jars or glass cases. Great timing, considering we leave for the amazon tomorrow morning. Personally, the 15 meter long anaconda skin pinned to the wall was the most disturbing. I think. Hard to say.

But then they took us to the "line" and our poor (but truly wonderful) tour guide, Marcos, who goes to this place at least 3 times a week with various groups and always gives us the most dubious looks when we request things in Spanish and not English, looked on with a mixture of boredom and amusement, as we participated in the classic touristy ecuator experiments, like watching water drain (counter clockwise on the north side, clockwise on the other side), or trying to balance and egg on a nail on the ecuator (where there is significantly less gravity, and thus less equilibrium). My personal favorite is the strength test. You lose a lot of your muscle strength on the line for some bizarre reason. It was all crazy, and my class was so ridiculous that even Marcos had to laugh.

Well, as I mentioned, tomorrow we're heading for the amazon. On the way we're stopping at some hot springs. Should be quite the adventure... although apparently the amazon we're going to is actually a very fancy schmancy resort...
I´ll let you all know how it goes. Have beautiful weekends!

adventures in the andes

so, yesterday i was standing in the line at the supermercado, buying myself some snacks and maybe a bit of chocolate for myself (because my host mom believes in rice and noodles and potatoes in one meal, but never in desserts), and i looked around. the view was strangely empty. then i looked down at the crowd of people, lined up, and realized that except for the 6.5 foot tall british man down in the last aisle (whom i had heard conversing with his girlfriend earlier), i was the tallest person in the store. and not just the tallest... the tallest by at least a foot and a half.

no wonder they always say hi to me, and never hola.

sooooo. updates, and interesting updates.

friday night, my class had this welcome dinner thing. my host mom has about 6 other "children" though, so she had to feed everyone, and we got there late, but just in time to see everyone applause and look around awkwardly for what to do next... dance, that is. but there is a problem when the class has only learned salsa and merengue, and the school has brought only one 4 liter bottle of water. because (A) salsa and merengue are both fast and aerobic dances, and (B) everyone only knows 2 moves. and not particularly well. but no fear, it was a great time. i miss dancing.

Saturday was an adventure indeed... we got on our bus at 7 in the morning, and headed up for Otavalo, so they told us. But Otavalo, a city famous for its bi-weekly market(the mask pictured was bought there), turned out to be only a brief (if expensive) portion of the adventure that was saturday. the poor bus climbed through the andes like the little train the could... dragging us all reluctantly up and down some of the tallest mountains in the world, through some random sightseeing and touristizing, chugging past (and occasionally stopping so we could get out and take pictures) at the most gorgeous vistas). We took 2 hours for lunch, half of which my table spent looking around at the other tables and pondering if it would be okay, or possible, if we got the blackberry ice cream that everyone else in the restaurant but us seemed to be getting... (we did not manage to get said ice cream)
and then we stopped at a lake in the middle of an ex-volcanic crater. it was gorgeous, and we were all so tired that Josh (the professional artist) among us was having no trouble taking some of the greatest candid pictures ever. no one cared...
and we were off...for quito and home, we thought, singing our hearts out, a cappella and off key to some of the greatest hits of all time (from bohemian rhapsody to a whole new world...). but the bus stopped, yet again, and we all stumbled out, upon the house of a man who makes indigineous instruments, and everyone watched him make a flute like it was a race (i swear it took like 25 seconds), then play all these instruments, then they danced, and played more, then everyone in my class had to try the big native trumpet horn thing... and finally we headed home.
anne and i finally found ourselves eating dinner at 10 pm.

whew. i'm out of breath typing that.
well that was saturday. sunday wasn't nearly as interesting.
although i did accidentally confuse llamas and camels at the dinner table last night.oops.


but i'll let you know if i come across any more fun stories. in the meantime... keep in touch!

1 week down

Greetings from Quito, Ecuador!


So all my life I've had trouble with altitude, and living 2800 meters above ground has been no different. But today I think I might finally be adjusting a bit, so I'm going to try to update you all one what's going on.

Quito is a very interesting place. We've seen everything here from the president of Ecuador to a gold-plated church to the average Ecuatorian university.

Things I find really interesting:
1. The mountains. They are exquisite. They rise above the clouds.

2. There is fresh juice everywhere. Like no-sugar-added fruit squeezed juice.

3. Every meal is rice, beans, meat, and some combination of more carbs. And it's so much food. for like, $1.50.

4. Because of the poor economic situation, there are a lot of robbers and muggers here. So the walls of a lot of houses, instead of having spiky iron fences, have broken glass cut into the top of cement walls to keep people form climbing over. Cheaper and more effective.

5. The graffiti here. It isn't territory tagging. It's political commentary, or poetry, and it's amazing. I'll try to get some pictures up.

6. Chapel of Man-- an art museum designed by the artist Guayasamìn for his own art, which is mostly social commentary on various wars and injustices. Cool stuff.


okay a brief update on what i've done: i have spanish class 3 hours every morning, and in the afternoons we do cool things like go to museums, take dance or cooking classes, etc. Tomorrow we go to Otavalo, a market town, and next week we head into the Amazon.

I love and miss you all! please keep in touch... shoot me an email or something. =)