La Costa

La costa

Sábado, 31 de octubre

To begin our adventure to the coast, we convened at Quicentro at 8 o´clock in the morning. We were able to see our friends in the liberal arts program before they departed for the Oriente. The bus ride was quite an adventure in itself, including a dance party in the bus and various food-related accidents. We stopped at a very strange restaurant at which our waitress seemed incapable of understanding anything that either we or Tania said. For example, Tina ordered a Sprite but instead received a Coke or Tor who was the only person who was served his lunch in the correct order- soup then plato fuerte. After no receiving any dessert at this choice restaurant we stopped at a gas station for Ice cream. I got guanabana flavor mostly because it was just super fun to say the name. Beth got chocolate but went back to the bus to eat it alone. As we embarked, de nuevo, all of the ice creams were a drippin´ but Beth thought that she had devised the ultimate solution to this problem by sticking her arm out the window to let the helado drip freely. Sadly what she forgot was the puke/spit out the window phenomenon in which the liquid tends to splatter back. Needless to say, Beth was a deaf, chocolate mess that needed consoling. This came in the form of a hair wrap. Then after numerous hours of sleeping and almost falling out of my seat which our bus drivers driving, we arrived at la Estación Biomarina Congal. We were warmly welcomed by Andres and Tor, Katie and I took our personal tour of the nearby surroundings which included bird filled swamps and the nearby chicken coop. For dinner we met the other volunteers living at the reserve and feasted upon camarones and lentils!

Domingo, 1 de noviembre

The next morning we woke up quite early to make our way to Nuevo Muisne. From here we disembarked on a boat with our breakfast for the camaronera (shrimper) which is located in a mangrove forest. After a breakfast of pineapple, bread, ham, and cheese we had to tow the boat through the mangrove forest because the tide was low. This was quite a hilarious experience since we got stuck in the mud and Andres´ son straight up sat down in the mud on accident. We went on an expedition looking for howler monkeys (monos aulladores) in the little pieces of rainforest that remain in the area. We tracked the monkeys by inspecting fruta botada on the ground and observing bite marks out of this fruit. We found a little family of monkeys after a while. The guagua was so cute! After this we went to Isla Congal and learned about the four different types on mangroves (Red, Black, White and the terra firme Congal). Some of the species that live on the ground that is underwater during high tide have stilt roots in order to provide support. Later we went to Muisne on a rickshaw motorcycle, on which our driver was 20 years old. We stayed at the beach until it got dark and played in the waves, volley, and Frisbee.

Lunes, 2 de noviembre

We went to the beach in Mompinche with our new friends Christian Ugge, Jaime, and Willy. I was on a mission to try an authentic piña colada, and Esperanza, Annie and I succeeded in doing in this. A man walked up to us and said, “¿Oye chicas, concen a Andres?” basically just because we were gringas, but later became our personal bartender and kept asking us if we wanted more rum. When we returned to the beach we found Willy injured by a sting ray and Christian became his personal nurse. Later, for some cultural immersion, we visited the cemetery for Dia de los Muertos. The cemetery had a beautiful view of the ocean and there were various families visiting their decreased with flowers and food. After that we went back to the beach where Esperanza was pursued by an inebriated man in the ocean. For lunch I tried ceviche mixto for the first time! It was pretty good, but not as great as everyone had talked it up to be. We returned to the beach and I found a coconut shell and stick and made myself a strange Rafiki staff and coincidentally also had a towel cape. Before leaving, Claire and I enjoyed a delightful coconut juice. Later that night we went on an exploratory walk in the rainforest with one of the employees of the station. I saw hundreds of land snails the size of my fist and frogs from the size of both my hands to the size of my pinky nail. We also encountered a black and white striped snake, a cockroach, and several wolf spiders. Willy brought his machete while I was just fine with my headlamp. The diversity of nocturnal creatures that we witnessed was amazing!

Martes, 3 de noviembre

On Tuesday we woke up early and said our goodbyes to our recently made friends and set off for the journey back to Quito. This ride was slightly more energetic than before, with nearly the entire ride being a dance party, ranging from interpretive dance to gangsta rap. We stopped at a gigantic flammable hut for lunch and were served tiny portions. In order to try my fill up more, I decided to give Calde de Pata another try. Sadly, I could not accustom myself to the gelatinous texture of the cow hoof and remained hungry. A few hours later we arrived back home in Quito.

Dear you (yes you),
Let's see...updates. Tuesday was the 21st birthday of my universidad and there was a party in the plaza where they played a corny Feliz Cumplianos song and we ate tres leches postre. I actually drew in art , but sadly only lines; I guess we are really taking "BASIC drawing". :) But today's class was very fun. we evaluated the lines and I could actually see the creativity in it. We progressed to curvy lines today and I felt so much better. It was too much pressure to draw straight lines.
Today I got my ecuadorian national ID card- CENSO!
Latest update on my social life is that I'm going out to a discotec with my host sister, and host brother and their significant others. General info- I'm never speaking to Antonio again, despite his prevalent text messages- 1) language barrier 2) younger 3) can't understand me and my funniness.

Anyways I wanted to tell you about yesterday. My friend, Kailey, and I were walking around the historical district in the Plaza Grande yesterday, when all of a sudden we noticed that there were a lot more policia than normal around. We started thinking, umm maybe we should get out of this area, when all of a sudden there was a mass of people marching toward us chanting and holding signs that were anti-Correa. It turned out to be a group that wants educational reform, along with workers and other people that just don't like the government. We stayed and watched even though we aren't supposed to, but got going when we heard shouts of Hijo de puta.
Kailey and I bought an Ecuador jersey! woot. I'm pumped for futbol games.

So actually I think that my occurance on Saturday night just turned out to be a "study abroad experience" and nothing more. Everything here is so great, and I never feel stressed. It's such a great environment! My host family is really nice and we get along so well. Rosa, my mom, is really open and nice and always loves it when I get seconds of her food or say, "Que rico!". My sister Paola is 20 years old and she is pre-med so she studies a lot, but we study together in the dining room and watch movies together. On friday we are going to a discotec together with her novio, and also my brother Juan and his novia Gaby. Juan is really funny. He sometimes says stuff in funny voices and also says, "what the fuck". We (my siblings and I) have also created our own spanish word... creepioso! It is used suprisingly often, since I seem to run into many "creepiosos".
The great thing is that they like to run! I almost did this 10k with Gaby last weekend, but I figured I just wasn't in good enough shape to run that long at this altitude of 9,000 ft above sea level. This weekend I'm going to climb Fuya Fuya which I think is about 12,000 ft which is in Otavalo, the town where the weave lots of cool stuff. I'm going to buy tons of hats, comfy pants, and bracelets!
Chau y Besitos,
Sarah

Settling In

Ok y'all, now things are getting rough.
Imagine yourself seated at a table with lots of Latin Americans eating very delicious bread and rice... yum. Everyone is smiling, laughing, telling jokes.
Now imagine doing that at every meal.
Now imagine your digestive tract.
Still yum?
I don't think so. And so I introduce the second week of Ecuador. The problems begin. Two of my close friends, have had digestive tract infections and one went to the hospital today. I've had my fair share of "dolor de estomago", tambien but so far so good. As my host mom has just said "Comer con cuidado". My stomach is acquiring little friends such as amoebas, and other microbes, and I'm so glad that I can provide them with a pleasant home.
On another note, last night was the welcome party for the foreign students en la plaza foche en la Mariscal. It was a gringo-fest but still quite fun. I managed to find the only ecuadorians there and play fusbol with them and also pick up a few good dance moves. I fiesta-ed until 1am and then Skyped until 2 and woke up a 6am that same morning for my first day of school. It's lucky that the first day of school here is taken so seriously...not!
My classes had a 50% chance of actually taking place since 2/4 of my classes were cancelled today: Advanced spanish and Tropical rainforest ecology.
However, my favorite class, ANDANISMO (mountain climbing) was excellent. In this class we will attend only fridays and excursions. On friday mornings we'll learn technical knot trying, watch movies to learn about the mountains here, and rappell in our gym. There will be 4 excursions that get increasingly more difficult finishing with ice climbing! I think this will be a great prep for my Cotopaxi climb in December.
Tomorrow, I have my elective classes which I find exciting...Political Science, Basic Design, and Human ecology.
Hasta!

Hola!
I have so much to say.
A few days ago I had my first real study abroad adventure with Beth. Our orientation on Tuesday ran way over in time and por eso, our plans were slightly thrown off. Beth and I had planned to go to the internet cafe and have a drink and connect electronically to our home! Although this was the first time I had ridden the bus, Beth aka"Butt" in Latin America, assured me that she knew the bus system and I knew the way home from her house. At la estacion La "Y" (this is where we screwed up) we took the bus that "sounded familiar" to Beth: Laureles. Unfortunately the reason that this sounded familiar was because it took us directly back to where we came from. Despite this, it was dark and as we looked out the window of the bus, Beth says, "oh, this looks familiar". Well, obviously. This is our stop that goes to Cumbaya! We had to call mi madre, who saved us and funcioned as a chaffuer to drop off 2 of us Kzoo-ers. I felt really bad though because I interrupted Rosa's cita with Carlos!
Then, yesterday also presented another grand adventure. Beth and I decided to go for a run, which is actually not done here to often except by ecuadorians on the weekend. Additionally, wearing shorts also earns you a guaranteed ticket to get cat called....A lot more than normal.
I experience daily what it is like to be a minority. People constantly stare at me everywhere I go. There are hardly any people with light skin and blue eyes, making me (and many of my friends) a novelty here. Needless to say, the run brought even more attention to us and included a man peeing in the street, barking and jumping guard dogs that absolutely scared the crap out of us, crazy traffic ---
Pause here. Boulderites, pay attention. In quito, the pedestrian NEVER has the right of way. Lauren- you would die here. I almost got hit by a car and now Beth and my phrase when at a street crossing is, "Mira, y entonces".
Last night after our running adventure, we went out to El foche, which is in the center of the Mariscal. This is where all of the bars and discotecs are. It was SOOO much fun! I had never been to a club so this was such an exciting adventure. A large group of us went to a Karaoke Bar and got pitchers of Sex on the beach. Mira! I only had one glass and that was enough for me for the entire night plus some sips of Beth's gin and tonic. The drinks here are tan FUERTE! the positive thing there is that it wont really cut into my budget much ;).
After the Karaoke bar, we went to a discotec and danced for hours. I danced mostly with K-zooers but then also danced with an ecuadorian, Cesno? I actually couldn't really hear his name, but this is my educated guess. The diferent style of dance is much more relaxed and effortless than my normal crazy american style.
The entire night was very fun , but I paid the consequence for staying out til 2am in my 9am class. Oh well, mi profe, Jorge, purposely didn't give us homework last night so that we could "experience" Ecuador. jajaja
Well I miss you,
Hasta Pasta

Quito, Ecuador

Hola from Quito!

Last night I flew into a mountinous city, sprinkled with orange lights everywhere. I was one of the first students from our group to get my luggage and get through customs. Although I was somewhat reluctant to leave the group, the families holding signs just beyond a sliding door that said Ecuador! were too alluring. As I looked around I began to see the names of my friends on the signs surrounding me, but not my name. I met Tania and Natalie, our program coordinators and they directed me to two nice women. I can't explain the feeling of meeting someone who has been waiting for you and knows your face yet you have only imagined them and know nothing. It was very special. Rosa is my host mom and her daughter is Paola who is 20 years old. We got my giant backpack (even though I packed the least of anyone in our group) into the back of their little white sedan and drove 10-15 minutes to their apartment. Mi cuarto es muy comodo and I share a bathroom with Paola.

They are very open here so they've already asked me many times if I have a novio.
Mi familia es tan generosa y tranquilo. Seriously, Rosa keeps saying "cosas de la casa", tranquilo, understand, and "es tu casa".I looked out my window this morning and saw las montanas! They have a pretty big apartment, but no "empleados" (housekeepers) which makes me feel a bit more at home. Paola is studying to be a doctora. Rosa also has a son Juan Sebastian who is 28. He works at an antenna company...something with technology is what I;ve gotten so far. He doesn't live here but he's been here ever since I've been here.

We had huevos y cereal (Frosted Flakes) para desayuna y Paola esta horneando un pavo para almuerzo. I am only allowed to have water and limonada for the first week and then I get to have orange juice. Woopee! Today I am going to el "super" (mercado) con Rosa y will hopefully buy a telefono celular. I just realized this is very Spanglish, but hey I'm adjusting. haha

Tomorrow we are having our first Intensive spanish class and I have to get to the Rio Coco bus stop by 8:30, I think. Rosa said that she'll help me out for the first week though so thats good.
Chau!
Besos,Sarita

July 30th, 2009 A Lazy Day at home

Today I prepare for Ecuador, the land of mystery and far away places.
I constantly feel more independent as I make plans, bank accounts and prepare for my journey. I fear what lies ahead despite my knowledge of my capabilites.
What will I say to my host family about my brother (the number 1 question constantly on my mind).
I miss Lauren. (I kinda copied her on the whole blogging idea anyway)

Well this was basically just a test run blog.
Off to some relaxation.