domingo, 9 de diciembre de 2007
sábado, 8 de diciembre de 2007
Mis Abuelos Vienen!
Sunday, November 26 was a bit of a sad day for me because my family was gone, but on Monday, November 27, my Nana and Opah flew in!
Their flight arrived pretty late on Monday night, but they picked me up in a taxi from the university on Tuesday. Just like my immediate family, it was so wonderful to see them! Then we headed to Otavalo. (I love that place). It was really fun to hear what they thought about Ecuador and how they compared it to Guatemala, which I’ve never been to, but they have.
On our way to Otavalo, we first stopped at the waterfalls in Peguche. It was way less crowded than the previous times I had been there on weekends, except for when the local gym class/track team showed up.
At la Cascada de Peguche. I decided against repelling down it today.
We took some gorgeous pictures, and then headed into the market in Otavalo. After the market, we went to a gorgeous restaurant on a lake.
That evening, we ate dinner at a French restaurant (Japanese AND French food in one week?! Crazy!) in the Swissotel.
The next day, Wednesday, I met up with them after classes at La Compania de Jesús, one of the most magnificent churches in Historic Quito. I had never been there before, and it was absolutely gorgeous!
Nana and Opah were really fun to walk around with since they knew the names of many plants
We wandered around Old Town (Centro Historico) for a bit and then took a taxi up to Café Mosaico, which Mom and Dad had visited during their hike up Itchimbia. As soon as we stepped onto the balcony of the café, we understood why Mom and Dad had told us why we should go there. The view of Quito was absolutely increbible!!!
Check out Quito! Right before sunset was the best time to go to this cafe since we got to see the sunset and then all the lights slowly come on in the city.
Then we enjoyed a tasty Greek meal. (Japanese AND French AND Greek food in one week! Double Crazy! I’m getting spoiled, lol.) It was so wonderful to be able to see and talk with them, and once, again, saying good-bye was difficult. But I’m totally willing to go through good-byes if it means I can see people!
Decisions, decisions
The next day they headed onto Peru and I hit up the university.
Their flight arrived pretty late on Monday night, but they picked me up in a taxi from the university on Tuesday. Just like my immediate family, it was so wonderful to see them! Then we headed to Otavalo. (I love that place). It was really fun to hear what they thought about Ecuador and how they compared it to Guatemala, which I’ve never been to, but they have.
On our way to Otavalo, we first stopped at the waterfalls in Peguche. It was way less crowded than the previous times I had been there on weekends, except for when the local gym class/track team showed up.
At la Cascada de Peguche. I decided against repelling down it today.
We took some gorgeous pictures, and then headed into the market in Otavalo. After the market, we went to a gorgeous restaurant on a lake.
That evening, we ate dinner at a French restaurant (Japanese AND French food in one week?! Crazy!) in the Swissotel.
The next day, Wednesday, I met up with them after classes at La Compania de Jesús, one of the most magnificent churches in Historic Quito. I had never been there before, and it was absolutely gorgeous!
Nana and Opah were really fun to walk around with since they knew the names of many plants
We wandered around Old Town (Centro Historico) for a bit and then took a taxi up to Café Mosaico, which Mom and Dad had visited during their hike up Itchimbia. As soon as we stepped onto the balcony of the café, we understood why Mom and Dad had told us why we should go there. The view of Quito was absolutely increbible!!!
Check out Quito! Right before sunset was the best time to go to this cafe since we got to see the sunset and then all the lights slowly come on in the city.
Then we enjoyed a tasty Greek meal. (Japanese AND French AND Greek food in one week! Double Crazy! I’m getting spoiled, lol.) It was so wonderful to be able to see and talk with them, and once, again, saying good-bye was difficult. But I’m totally willing to go through good-byes if it means I can see people!
Decisions, decisions
The next day they headed onto Peru and I hit up the university.
The Family is Coming, The Family is Coming!!!!!!
Well, it’s been a busy past few weeks so I haven’t updated this blog in awhile.
Anyway, by far the best part of my time here so far was when my family came to visit me!!!!! Haha, I was having so much fun with them I forgot to take enough pictures. That, and I relied on Mom and Dad to take cool pictures. So I don’t have a ton of pictures from our time together here, but lots of awesome memories! This is a VERY abbreviated version of our time together, and the journal Mom and Dad kept is way better, but here’s a short synopsis:
Saturday, November 18
Mom, Dad, and Brian’s flight was set to arrive around 10:20, so I got to the airport a little after 10, soooo excited to see them. There were two other gringas, one of whom I had met before, who were waiting for their families as well so we chatted as we waited impatiently for our families to come.
After what seemed like FOREVER of waiting, people finally started coming out of the gate! Their families arrived before mine, and just as I was getting nervous, I saw my family come through the gate! I called out to them, and we met up just outside of the airport doors and I got big hugs from everyone. It was the longest I had gone (even longer than my time in Tijuana) without seeing them.
So we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the Hostal Sandmelis, which Patricia had recommended to me. We stayed up and chatted a bit, and then crashed fairly early because they had had a long day of traveling.
Sunday, November 19
Mom, Dad, and I all slept in while Brian went for a run. Then we headed out to Mitad del Mundo…the Middle of the World. The first time I had been there had been in a private car driven by my host mom’s friend and the second time had been on a private bus with the U of I crew.
However, I had read of a possible way to get there in my trusty little Lonely Planet guidebook so my family was really patient as I led them around Quito trying the find the right bus. After going into (and paying for…there’s 25 cents down the drain) a wrong bus terminal, we finally figured out that we needed the MetroBus. So we hopped onto a MetroBus, and Mom, Dad, and Brian got their first taste of Ecuador bus riding. I think they’re naturals, because they managed to stay standing better than many of the quiteños!
All together at the REAL equatorial line
Apparently it's quite easy to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail on the equatorial line due to magnetic forces. Brian succeeded in the task and got a certificate. I tried and failed. Oh well, guess I won't be a professional egg-balancer
Dad demonstrating his superior blow gun shooting skills. You can't do it without the headdress or it's just ain't official
After switching buses, and about 2 hours later, we finally arrived at Mitad del Mundo. First we went to the real equatorial line, which I had never been to, and then we went to the more commercialized equatorial line which has the (in)famous monument. We enjoyed a classic Ecuadorian lunch and then watched some traditional dances while eating ice cream. What more could I ask for? I was with my family, in Ecuador, eating ice cream.
We then caught a taxi and headed back to the hostal where everyone got ready to go see my apartment and meet my host family. We took the short 15 minute walk from the Hostal to the apartment where my GringaFamilia and my EcuFamilia met each other!
Then Mom, Dad, and Brian headed back to their hostal while I stayed in the apartment and worked on homework. I know, exciting, right?
Monday, November 20
Well, I had a pretty unexciting morning because I just went to classes, but Mom, Dad, and Brian did some really cool stuff! Haha, their week was way more exciting than mine, and they’ve been to some places in Quito, like the teleferiQo, that I haven’t been to yet!
After classes, Brian and I went running in Carolina Park. Even though he had just gotten to the high altitude, he was still WAY faster than me! Still he was nice, and ran with me for a lap around the park. It was so much fun to run with someone and I haven’t gotten to run with Brian in a long time! After we finished our runs, we headed back to the hostal, got ready, and took the Ecovia to el Centro Historico to meet Mom and Dad.
We grabbing dinner at a Fruteria and heard about Mom and Dad’s adventures climbing hills, visiting a cool café, and meeting a hatmaker. Then we wandered around the Centro Historico (note to self, there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on in the Centro Historico on Monday nights), we went to a small café for some drinks and I ordered some chocolate con queso and morrocho for everyone to try. I think they still like marshmallows in their hot chocolate more than cheese, but I think everyone liked the morrocho.
Tuesday, November 21
I went to classes in the morning again (stupid education. Haha, just kidding), but the rest of my family went to the teleferiQo!
In the afternoon, we met up at the hostal and headed to el Parque Carolina (my favorite park and place to run) and went running/walking.
After cleaning up, we headed to la Mariscal and ate a delicious dinner at the Coffee Tree. And, of course, everyone tried Pilsener, the national cerveza. It was a hit! There was some quality live music too.
Wednesday, November 22
I had spent the night in the hostal with my family, and Brian and I woke up early to go for a run. After a quick breakfast at the hostal, we all headed down the valley into Cumbaya to see my university.
I went to class while my family explored, and then we grabbed some lunch at the school cafeteria. Mmmm is love Ensalada a Tu Gusto (Salad How You Like It, more or less). Then Brian went to my Sociologia Rural class with me while Mom and Dad hung out on campus. Haha, the campus here is more like a high school than like U of I’s huge campus so there isn’t a whole lot to do. But they never seem to get bored and I think had a nice hour.
Then we headed back to Quito and to el Terminal Terreste to go to Otavalo. When we got on the bus to Otavalo, we were the only four passengers. Then another guy got on who we assumed worked for the bus company, and took Mom’s backpack, lifting it to the rack above to “help.” He asked to see Brian and my tickets, and told us we were in the wrong seats; we should be in the seats in front of Mom and Dad. Well, I should have know WAY better, I mean we were the only 4 people on the bus and the busses to Otavalo don’t really have assigned seats, but we moved anyway. Then, when we got to the hostal in Otavalo, we realized that Mom’s purse (which had her passport, phone money, and some credit cards in it) and her raincoat had been taken out of her backpack.
So we got to know an Internet Café/phone cabaña place in Otavalo really well and we tried to cancel credit cards and figure out how to get a replacement passport. Then we ate a tasty late dinner at a small restaurant overlooking la Plaza de los Ponchos, the main market area.
Thursday, November 23
Brian and I got up to run up and down the streets of Otavalo. I tried to find the way to Peguche, where there are waterfalls, but I didn’t make it to the path in time. Then we enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the hostal and headed into town for the indigenous market!
La Plaza de los Ponchos had been pretty deserted the night before, but when we got there midmorning Thursday, it was quite busy, even though Saturday is the main market day. We had some fun bartering and came away with plenty of woven goods, including two hammocks and LOTS of pants. (They’re sooo the cool thing to get. Well, according to me).
After some quick shopping, we bought some sandwiches from a Panderia and headed back to Quito. This time the bus was way more crowded and none of us got anything stolen! Well, not that I know of. Maybe someone took some fuzz of my sweater of something, but they can have that.
We found out that the U.S. embassy was closed on for Thanksgiving (which they don’t even celebrate here!) and that the embassy was always closed Friday through Sunday. I’m considering a job at the embassy with that kind of workweek. The only way you could talk to someone was to report the death of a U.S. citizen. We considered doing that just so we could talk to a real, live person, but refrained.
Then we headed to Maria’s, the U of I resident director, house in Cumbaya for Thanksgiving dinner! Did I say they don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving here? Well, we don’t count. Anyway, there was TONS of food which we all helped prepare. There was even TURKEY which is a huge delicacy and basically unheard of here. I hadn’t had turkey in over three months. It was delicious. Besides the turkey, everything else in the meal was meatless, so all that vegetarians in the group were happy as well.
We may not even be on the same continent as Plymoth Rock, but we still know how to celebrate Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 24
We woke up fairly early, intent on trying to find a backup passport for Mom, even if it meant breaking into the US embassy. (not really, please don’t arrest me for that.) Mom tried calling the embassy again, and amazingly, they picked up! It turned out that you could go to the embassy on an emergency basis on Fridays, and since Mom had to leave the country on Sunday, we qualified!
So we ran, (well, okay, power-walked), around Quito to various police stations, photo places, government buildings, and I-don’t-even-know-what to get the proper documents to get a replacement passport. Finally, around 2 pm, Mom had her replacement passport in hand!
We high-tailed it back to the hostal and then took a taxi to another bus terminal to go to Mindo, a small town in the cloud forest! We got a few of the last seats on the bus and enjoyed the gorgeous 2 hour ride, arriving at Mindo at dusk. Dad and I had both been reading our respective Lonely Planet guidebooks, and each independently decided that the coolest place to stay would be La Casa Cecilia.
After arriving at Mindo, La Casa Cecilia was a bit tricky to find because it was getting dark and it was hidden up on a hill in some trees (I guess that would be a forest). Still some people on bikes gave us directions and we managed to get there just before it was too dark to see anything. We found our rooms, complete with beds covered in mosquito-netting, which I was grateful for, since at the lower altitude bugs, can, well, bug you. A lot.
There was even a huge deck complete with four hammocks right outside of our rooms! Talk about meant to be!
Still, the area around the hostal was VERY dark and it was quick difficult to walk without falling over. Dad took a spill walking down to the river and pulled his quad pretty bad. So we decided that dinner in the hostal would be a good idea. Mom and I went to order pizza while Brian ran, and then we rigged Dad up in a hammock and we all enjoyed some quality Mindo pizza. Mindo isn’t known for it’s pizza or anything, but it’s pretty hard to screw up pizza so it was delicious. Mmmmmm.
Saturday, November 25
Brian and I got up to run, which, even though Mindo is at a lower altitude than Quito, was pretty difficult for me because it’s basically one huge hill out of town. Well, I guess Mindo is on the Andean slopes.
Walking down the trail from La Casa de Cecilia
Anyway, by far the best part of my time here so far was when my family came to visit me!!!!! Haha, I was having so much fun with them I forgot to take enough pictures. That, and I relied on Mom and Dad to take cool pictures. So I don’t have a ton of pictures from our time together here, but lots of awesome memories! This is a VERY abbreviated version of our time together, and the journal Mom and Dad kept is way better, but here’s a short synopsis:
Saturday, November 18
Mom, Dad, and Brian’s flight was set to arrive around 10:20, so I got to the airport a little after 10, soooo excited to see them. There were two other gringas, one of whom I had met before, who were waiting for their families as well so we chatted as we waited impatiently for our families to come.
After what seemed like FOREVER of waiting, people finally started coming out of the gate! Their families arrived before mine, and just as I was getting nervous, I saw my family come through the gate! I called out to them, and we met up just outside of the airport doors and I got big hugs from everyone. It was the longest I had gone (even longer than my time in Tijuana) without seeing them.
So we grabbed a taxi and headed back to the Hostal Sandmelis, which Patricia had recommended to me. We stayed up and chatted a bit, and then crashed fairly early because they had had a long day of traveling.
Sunday, November 19
Mom, Dad, and I all slept in while Brian went for a run. Then we headed out to Mitad del Mundo…the Middle of the World. The first time I had been there had been in a private car driven by my host mom’s friend and the second time had been on a private bus with the U of I crew.
However, I had read of a possible way to get there in my trusty little Lonely Planet guidebook so my family was really patient as I led them around Quito trying the find the right bus. After going into (and paying for…there’s 25 cents down the drain) a wrong bus terminal, we finally figured out that we needed the MetroBus. So we hopped onto a MetroBus, and Mom, Dad, and Brian got their first taste of Ecuador bus riding. I think they’re naturals, because they managed to stay standing better than many of the quiteños!
All together at the REAL equatorial line
Apparently it's quite easy to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail on the equatorial line due to magnetic forces. Brian succeeded in the task and got a certificate. I tried and failed. Oh well, guess I won't be a professional egg-balancer
Dad demonstrating his superior blow gun shooting skills. You can't do it without the headdress or it's just ain't official
After switching buses, and about 2 hours later, we finally arrived at Mitad del Mundo. First we went to the real equatorial line, which I had never been to, and then we went to the more commercialized equatorial line which has the (in)famous monument. We enjoyed a classic Ecuadorian lunch and then watched some traditional dances while eating ice cream. What more could I ask for? I was with my family, in Ecuador, eating ice cream.
We then caught a taxi and headed back to the hostal where everyone got ready to go see my apartment and meet my host family. We took the short 15 minute walk from the Hostal to the apartment where my GringaFamilia and my EcuFamilia met each other!
Then Mom, Dad, and Brian headed back to their hostal while I stayed in the apartment and worked on homework. I know, exciting, right?
Monday, November 20
Well, I had a pretty unexciting morning because I just went to classes, but Mom, Dad, and Brian did some really cool stuff! Haha, their week was way more exciting than mine, and they’ve been to some places in Quito, like the teleferiQo, that I haven’t been to yet!
After classes, Brian and I went running in Carolina Park. Even though he had just gotten to the high altitude, he was still WAY faster than me! Still he was nice, and ran with me for a lap around the park. It was so much fun to run with someone and I haven’t gotten to run with Brian in a long time! After we finished our runs, we headed back to the hostal, got ready, and took the Ecovia to el Centro Historico to meet Mom and Dad.
We grabbing dinner at a Fruteria and heard about Mom and Dad’s adventures climbing hills, visiting a cool café, and meeting a hatmaker. Then we wandered around the Centro Historico (note to self, there’s not a whole heck of a lot going on in the Centro Historico on Monday nights), we went to a small café for some drinks and I ordered some chocolate con queso and morrocho for everyone to try. I think they still like marshmallows in their hot chocolate more than cheese, but I think everyone liked the morrocho.
Tuesday, November 21
I went to classes in the morning again (stupid education. Haha, just kidding), but the rest of my family went to the teleferiQo!
In the afternoon, we met up at the hostal and headed to el Parque Carolina (my favorite park and place to run) and went running/walking.
After cleaning up, we headed to la Mariscal and ate a delicious dinner at the Coffee Tree. And, of course, everyone tried Pilsener, the national cerveza. It was a hit! There was some quality live music too.
Wednesday, November 22
I had spent the night in the hostal with my family, and Brian and I woke up early to go for a run. After a quick breakfast at the hostal, we all headed down the valley into Cumbaya to see my university.
I went to class while my family explored, and then we grabbed some lunch at the school cafeteria. Mmmm is love Ensalada a Tu Gusto (Salad How You Like It, more or less). Then Brian went to my Sociologia Rural class with me while Mom and Dad hung out on campus. Haha, the campus here is more like a high school than like U of I’s huge campus so there isn’t a whole lot to do. But they never seem to get bored and I think had a nice hour.
Then we headed back to Quito and to el Terminal Terreste to go to Otavalo. When we got on the bus to Otavalo, we were the only four passengers. Then another guy got on who we assumed worked for the bus company, and took Mom’s backpack, lifting it to the rack above to “help.” He asked to see Brian and my tickets, and told us we were in the wrong seats; we should be in the seats in front of Mom and Dad. Well, I should have know WAY better, I mean we were the only 4 people on the bus and the busses to Otavalo don’t really have assigned seats, but we moved anyway. Then, when we got to the hostal in Otavalo, we realized that Mom’s purse (which had her passport, phone money, and some credit cards in it) and her raincoat had been taken out of her backpack.
So we got to know an Internet Café/phone cabaña place in Otavalo really well and we tried to cancel credit cards and figure out how to get a replacement passport. Then we ate a tasty late dinner at a small restaurant overlooking la Plaza de los Ponchos, the main market area.
Thursday, November 23
Brian and I got up to run up and down the streets of Otavalo. I tried to find the way to Peguche, where there are waterfalls, but I didn’t make it to the path in time. Then we enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the hostal and headed into town for the indigenous market!
La Plaza de los Ponchos had been pretty deserted the night before, but when we got there midmorning Thursday, it was quite busy, even though Saturday is the main market day. We had some fun bartering and came away with plenty of woven goods, including two hammocks and LOTS of pants. (They’re sooo the cool thing to get. Well, according to me).
After some quick shopping, we bought some sandwiches from a Panderia and headed back to Quito. This time the bus was way more crowded and none of us got anything stolen! Well, not that I know of. Maybe someone took some fuzz of my sweater of something, but they can have that.
We found out that the U.S. embassy was closed on for Thanksgiving (which they don’t even celebrate here!) and that the embassy was always closed Friday through Sunday. I’m considering a job at the embassy with that kind of workweek. The only way you could talk to someone was to report the death of a U.S. citizen. We considered doing that just so we could talk to a real, live person, but refrained.
Then we headed to Maria’s, the U of I resident director, house in Cumbaya for Thanksgiving dinner! Did I say they don’t even celebrate Thanksgiving here? Well, we don’t count. Anyway, there was TONS of food which we all helped prepare. There was even TURKEY which is a huge delicacy and basically unheard of here. I hadn’t had turkey in over three months. It was delicious. Besides the turkey, everything else in the meal was meatless, so all that vegetarians in the group were happy as well.
We may not even be on the same continent as Plymoth Rock, but we still know how to celebrate Thanksgiving!
Friday, November 24
We woke up fairly early, intent on trying to find a backup passport for Mom, even if it meant breaking into the US embassy. (not really, please don’t arrest me for that.) Mom tried calling the embassy again, and amazingly, they picked up! It turned out that you could go to the embassy on an emergency basis on Fridays, and since Mom had to leave the country on Sunday, we qualified!
So we ran, (well, okay, power-walked), around Quito to various police stations, photo places, government buildings, and I-don’t-even-know-what to get the proper documents to get a replacement passport. Finally, around 2 pm, Mom had her replacement passport in hand!
We high-tailed it back to the hostal and then took a taxi to another bus terminal to go to Mindo, a small town in the cloud forest! We got a few of the last seats on the bus and enjoyed the gorgeous 2 hour ride, arriving at Mindo at dusk. Dad and I had both been reading our respective Lonely Planet guidebooks, and each independently decided that the coolest place to stay would be La Casa Cecilia.
After arriving at Mindo, La Casa Cecilia was a bit tricky to find because it was getting dark and it was hidden up on a hill in some trees (I guess that would be a forest). Still some people on bikes gave us directions and we managed to get there just before it was too dark to see anything. We found our rooms, complete with beds covered in mosquito-netting, which I was grateful for, since at the lower altitude bugs, can, well, bug you. A lot.
There was even a huge deck complete with four hammocks right outside of our rooms! Talk about meant to be!
Still, the area around the hostal was VERY dark and it was quick difficult to walk without falling over. Dad took a spill walking down to the river and pulled his quad pretty bad. So we decided that dinner in the hostal would be a good idea. Mom and I went to order pizza while Brian ran, and then we rigged Dad up in a hammock and we all enjoyed some quality Mindo pizza. Mindo isn’t known for it’s pizza or anything, but it’s pretty hard to screw up pizza so it was delicious. Mmmmmm.
Saturday, November 25
Brian and I got up to run, which, even though Mindo is at a lower altitude than Quito, was pretty difficult for me because it’s basically one huge hill out of town. Well, I guess Mindo is on the Andean slopes.
Walking down the trail from La Casa de Cecilia
After a delicious breakfast, the four of us hired a taxi, aka pick-up truck, to ride up the mountain to some awesome waterfalls. Along the way, we passed Carlotta, a girl from Canada who was working in Quito teaching English. She hopped into the back of the truck with us and we continued along.
After a hike down some muddy slopes and across an…interesting…bridge, we finally came to the waterfall gate. We had already paid our entrance fee, but there was no one to the let us in. After calling around and searching the premises, we decided to sneak in under the barbed wire. Unfortunately, they had already anticipated people like us and after getting through the first hole in the barbed wire, there was another set of barbed wire, this way more tightly strung.
Taxi Mindo-style. Who needs a sun-roof when you don't have to have a roof?
So we continued calling and hollering and searching around until finally an older lady came to the gate. She said we should wander around her kitchen area and there had been a bunch of “borachos” (drunks) who had been there and broken stuff and we could get hurt. Well, I think that’s what she said.
Brian and me hoping the bridge won't break. I'm hear to tell about it, so it didn't. (break, that is)
Trying to break into the waterfalls. Maybe not the best idea.
Dad looks pretty sure-footed for being on such a wobbly bridge!
Group shot!!! We may be dirty and smell thanks to no water at the hostal, but we're happy to be together! I guess it doesn't hurt that's we're ALL dirty and smelly
Either way, she let us in, and we arrived to see a gorgeous river with pools of water, a waterslide, a rickety bridge to a huge rock, and a rope ladder down to a swimming hole. We explored a bit, but had to head back up the path relatively soon because the pickup truck agreed to meet us at 1:30.
So we made it back in time, and we rode the truck down the hill. After grabbing some lunch, where everyone tried ceviche de camorones (like a cold soup with shrimp) and batidos (a fruity milk smoothie), we headed back to Quito.
Once in Quito we got ready, and went to an amazingly delicious Japanese restaurant at the Swisotel. It was so strange to be eating sushi in Ecuador, but it tasted just like it would be home! Yummmmm. I had an absolute wonderful time at dinner, but it was kinda hard too because it was my family’s last night with me.
After dinner, we said good-bye at their hostal and they went to sleep at the hostal and I headed back to the apartment. Even though I knew I had a plane ticket home for December 21, less than a month away, it was still incredible hard to say good-bye.
But it had been an absolutely amazing, fantastic, excellent, cool, radical, incredible, exhilarating, CHEVERE week!
After a hike down some muddy slopes and across an…interesting…bridge, we finally came to the waterfall gate. We had already paid our entrance fee, but there was no one to the let us in. After calling around and searching the premises, we decided to sneak in under the barbed wire. Unfortunately, they had already anticipated people like us and after getting through the first hole in the barbed wire, there was another set of barbed wire, this way more tightly strung.
Taxi Mindo-style. Who needs a sun-roof when you don't have to have a roof?
So we continued calling and hollering and searching around until finally an older lady came to the gate. She said we should wander around her kitchen area and there had been a bunch of “borachos” (drunks) who had been there and broken stuff and we could get hurt. Well, I think that’s what she said.
Brian and me hoping the bridge won't break. I'm hear to tell about it, so it didn't. (break, that is)
Trying to break into the waterfalls. Maybe not the best idea.
Dad looks pretty sure-footed for being on such a wobbly bridge!
Group shot!!! We may be dirty and smell thanks to no water at the hostal, but we're happy to be together! I guess it doesn't hurt that's we're ALL dirty and smelly
Either way, she let us in, and we arrived to see a gorgeous river with pools of water, a waterslide, a rickety bridge to a huge rock, and a rope ladder down to a swimming hole. We explored a bit, but had to head back up the path relatively soon because the pickup truck agreed to meet us at 1:30.
So we made it back in time, and we rode the truck down the hill. After grabbing some lunch, where everyone tried ceviche de camorones (like a cold soup with shrimp) and batidos (a fruity milk smoothie), we headed back to Quito.
Once in Quito we got ready, and went to an amazingly delicious Japanese restaurant at the Swisotel. It was so strange to be eating sushi in Ecuador, but it tasted just like it would be home! Yummmmm. I had an absolute wonderful time at dinner, but it was kinda hard too because it was my family’s last night with me.
After dinner, we said good-bye at their hostal and they went to sleep at the hostal and I headed back to the apartment. Even though I knew I had a plane ticket home for December 21, less than a month away, it was still incredible hard to say good-bye.
But it had been an absolutely amazing, fantastic, excellent, cool, radical, incredible, exhilarating, CHEVERE week!
jueves, 8 de noviembre de 2007
Galapagos Islands - Day 1: Welcome to another planet
Friday, November 2, 2007
Well, Halloween may have been banned here in all public schools and looked down upon in many areas, but there was still a holiday near October 31 – Dia de los Difuntos, on November 2, so we didn’t have school on Friday!
To take advantage of our lack of classes, Megan, Pedro, Liz, and I (with a lot of help form Megan’s host mom) planned a trip to las Islas de los Galápagos, the Galapagos Islands!
Thanks to my million and 7 (give or take a million) biology classes I’ve had, I’ve heard a lot about the Galapagos Islands and Charles Darwin’s finches and his book Origin of Species, but I never thought I’d actually get to go there.
Still, bright and early, Friday morning, the four of us met at the Quito airport and boarded a plane heading the Galapagos (which, in case you were wondering, are named after the huge Galapagos tortoise species that is on the islands). After making a quickish stop in Guayquil to drop off some passenger and pick others up, our plane took off again for the islands.
Thanks to the time change, we landed on Baltra, a pretty unpopulated island where there used to be a U.S. military base, around 11:00 a.m. The airport was pretty small and we followed all of the other passengers to the entry lines to the Galapagos.
The airport on Baltra, all of it was open to the outside! I guess there is some advantage of not having the crazy snowstorms of Chicago
Well, the entry fee for foreigners to the islands is $100, but only about $10 for nationals. We had heard that since we were students living in Ecuador for a long time, we might be able to sweet-talk the guards to letting us in for $50.
So we got in the “foreigners” line with out Censo cards, which are our ID cards here that say we’re living in Ecuador, and ready with our best Spanish. When we got to the counter, we told the agent that we were students living here, and he told us to go to the “nationals” line! Haha, we felt pretty cool getting to stand in the locals line. So when we got to that agent, we only had to pay $25 to get in. Sweet!
Anyway, we continued through the open-air terminal to meet one of the guides from Hotel Ninfa, the hotel we were staying in that also led tours. We headed to the baggage claim, which was basically a pile of everyone’s luggage. But we got our bags without a problem!
One of the funny things about the Galapagos’ airport is that nearly everyone there is a tourist so I felt no shame at taking pictures of pretty much everything….the only problem was that I had to make sure I had room on my memory card!
Anyway, the guides herded us all onto big busses where we drove through the windy roads of Baltra. I have no idea why the roads were so curvy though because the island is pretty barren looking with few trees. The dirt is brown-red and makes a really cool contrast with the bright blue ocean.
So we finally ended up at a small dock where we all loaded onto some boats to take us across a channel to the island of Santa Cruz, the most populated of the three populated islands in the Galapagos where our hotel was.
From there we were officially introduced to one of our main guides for the weekend, Luis, as well as a bunch of other people of our tour group. Though the group changed slightly day by day, there were usually about 14-20 of us together. Our group was really cool with people from Ecuador (of course), Brazil, Germany, France, China, India and us from the U.S. Our guide spoke all in Spanish, but occasionally he like to throw in the random English words. He loved to say, “buenas pictures.”
So after taking a small bus to Puerto Ayora, the town our hotel was in, we went to the small restaurant area and ate a delicious almuerzo. The cool thing about the package for the trip that we got was that it included our lodging, meals, and tours.
Pedro, me,Megan, and Liz on the bus headed to the Baltra dock!
After lunch we met up with our tour group and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station where there were lots of Darwin’s finches, crazy cacti, and of course lots of tortoises, including Galapagos!
One of Darwin's finches...maybe I should send my high school bio teacher this pic to show that I remembered at least some of what she taught
The plants and animals on the island are all so crazy-looking and absolutely incredible. Also, since none of the animals had any predators, they’re not scared of humans at all so you can get so close to them! Pretty much the only thing that keeps you from not touching them is Galapagos rules.
The cactus' "leaves" were so flat and big I wanted to give them a high five...except they happened to have ridicuosly long and pointy needles. Well, I guess that is a main characteristic of cacti
We also saw Lonley George, a big turtle who is the last of his species. He’s near 100 years old, but still holding on! The tortoises can actually live well over 100, sometimes 200 years. According to Luis, it’s because they eat a lot, don’t move much, and don’t talk much. He said he can’t live that long because he talks a lot.
Having a staring contest with a tortoise...he won, but I think I gave him a run for his money
So after walking back to the hotel, I got to swim in the pool and then we had a delicious cena! We planned on checking out Puerto Ayora’s nightlife, but decided to take a quick nap first. So we fell asleep a little after 7:30 with plans to wake up at 8:30. However, I kept hitting the snooze button on my trusty alarm clock, and by the time we finally woke up, it was past 10 and none of us could get the energy to go out! So we decided more sleep was the best choice. Haha, it was the most sleep I’ve had in weeks, maybe months!
Well, Halloween may have been banned here in all public schools and looked down upon in many areas, but there was still a holiday near October 31 – Dia de los Difuntos, on November 2, so we didn’t have school on Friday!
To take advantage of our lack of classes, Megan, Pedro, Liz, and I (with a lot of help form Megan’s host mom) planned a trip to las Islas de los Galápagos, the Galapagos Islands!
Thanks to my million and 7 (give or take a million) biology classes I’ve had, I’ve heard a lot about the Galapagos Islands and Charles Darwin’s finches and his book Origin of Species, but I never thought I’d actually get to go there.
Still, bright and early, Friday morning, the four of us met at the Quito airport and boarded a plane heading the Galapagos (which, in case you were wondering, are named after the huge Galapagos tortoise species that is on the islands). After making a quickish stop in Guayquil to drop off some passenger and pick others up, our plane took off again for the islands.
Thanks to the time change, we landed on Baltra, a pretty unpopulated island where there used to be a U.S. military base, around 11:00 a.m. The airport was pretty small and we followed all of the other passengers to the entry lines to the Galapagos.
The airport on Baltra, all of it was open to the outside! I guess there is some advantage of not having the crazy snowstorms of Chicago
Well, the entry fee for foreigners to the islands is $100, but only about $10 for nationals. We had heard that since we were students living in Ecuador for a long time, we might be able to sweet-talk the guards to letting us in for $50.
So we got in the “foreigners” line with out Censo cards, which are our ID cards here that say we’re living in Ecuador, and ready with our best Spanish. When we got to the counter, we told the agent that we were students living here, and he told us to go to the “nationals” line! Haha, we felt pretty cool getting to stand in the locals line. So when we got to that agent, we only had to pay $25 to get in. Sweet!
Anyway, we continued through the open-air terminal to meet one of the guides from Hotel Ninfa, the hotel we were staying in that also led tours. We headed to the baggage claim, which was basically a pile of everyone’s luggage. But we got our bags without a problem!
One of the funny things about the Galapagos’ airport is that nearly everyone there is a tourist so I felt no shame at taking pictures of pretty much everything….the only problem was that I had to make sure I had room on my memory card!
Anyway, the guides herded us all onto big busses where we drove through the windy roads of Baltra. I have no idea why the roads were so curvy though because the island is pretty barren looking with few trees. The dirt is brown-red and makes a really cool contrast with the bright blue ocean.
So we finally ended up at a small dock where we all loaded onto some boats to take us across a channel to the island of Santa Cruz, the most populated of the three populated islands in the Galapagos where our hotel was.
From there we were officially introduced to one of our main guides for the weekend, Luis, as well as a bunch of other people of our tour group. Though the group changed slightly day by day, there were usually about 14-20 of us together. Our group was really cool with people from Ecuador (of course), Brazil, Germany, France, China, India and us from the U.S. Our guide spoke all in Spanish, but occasionally he like to throw in the random English words. He loved to say, “buenas pictures.”
So after taking a small bus to Puerto Ayora, the town our hotel was in, we went to the small restaurant area and ate a delicious almuerzo. The cool thing about the package for the trip that we got was that it included our lodging, meals, and tours.
Pedro, me,Megan, and Liz on the bus headed to the Baltra dock!
After lunch we met up with our tour group and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station where there were lots of Darwin’s finches, crazy cacti, and of course lots of tortoises, including Galapagos!
One of Darwin's finches...maybe I should send my high school bio teacher this pic to show that I remembered at least some of what she taught
The plants and animals on the island are all so crazy-looking and absolutely incredible. Also, since none of the animals had any predators, they’re not scared of humans at all so you can get so close to them! Pretty much the only thing that keeps you from not touching them is Galapagos rules.
The cactus' "leaves" were so flat and big I wanted to give them a high five...except they happened to have ridicuosly long and pointy needles. Well, I guess that is a main characteristic of cacti
We also saw Lonley George, a big turtle who is the last of his species. He’s near 100 years old, but still holding on! The tortoises can actually live well over 100, sometimes 200 years. According to Luis, it’s because they eat a lot, don’t move much, and don’t talk much. He said he can’t live that long because he talks a lot.
Having a staring contest with a tortoise...he won, but I think I gave him a run for his money
So after walking back to the hotel, I got to swim in the pool and then we had a delicious cena! We planned on checking out Puerto Ayora’s nightlife, but decided to take a quick nap first. So we fell asleep a little after 7:30 with plans to wake up at 8:30. However, I kept hitting the snooze button on my trusty alarm clock, and by the time we finally woke up, it was past 10 and none of us could get the energy to go out! So we decided more sleep was the best choice. Haha, it was the most sleep I’ve had in weeks, maybe months!
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