Galapagos!

The Galapagos Islands are one of the collest places I've ever been to. The little time that I spent there was amazing. I saw so little of what the islands have to offer, and they are beautiful! I saw only 2 of the 13 main islands. I got to snorkle, hike, jump from rocks and just have an awesome time with another 30 some exchange students.
I met everyone at the airport. Like always, the air was buzzing with the excitement of all of us exchange students waiting to go to Galapagos! We were immediatly assaulted by people wearing face masks. Swine Flu was on the rise and people at the airport were taking it seriously. Going to the Galapagos is like going to another country. Just to get in as an Ecuadorian you need a passport. We wen't through a special food and animal security check. (Which was minimal, since someone made it through with honey and limes...) Once on the airplane we saw the magnificent Ecuadorian mountains rising above the clouds. We landed in Guayaquil and waited for 30 minutes, all flights to Galapagos go through Guyaquil. The plane ride was just millions of conversations with everyone! They sprayed Raid in the whole airplane Landing in Galapags was like landing in a desert, it was dry and hot. I remember a girl from arizona saying "Hey, this is like Arizona in the summer." It was hot, we made our way through costoms. which was a pain becuase they wanted us to pay the full fee $100, not $25 which is what Ecuadorians and residents pay. We all made it through and were told to wait. I of course took this opportunity to explore the galapagos terrain. I went running off into the scrub and chased Lava Lizards around for about 20 minuts until the bus came to pick us up. I remember the whole time on our way to the hotel I was so stoked. We took a boat through a small channel and then we continued on in bus. I was so happy there! Everyone was excited and the energy was great.
We made it to Porto Ayora, from there we had a date with Solitary George. The last of a species of Galapagos tortoises, he is kept in the Charles Darwin Research center where they are trying to get him to bread with some other tortioses from another Island that have a relatively close genetic make up. Anyways, we got to see tons of tortioses and land iguanas. It was anticlimatic because I just wanted to see things wild, and it was just like being in a zoo. On the way back to the hotel we all stopped to swim at a beach. It was beautiful. Like being in a pool. The water was clear, and warm. I swam around a bunch and decided to look out on the other side of thwe rocks that protected the beach from the surf. I swam over there with Lea a girl from France. On the other side were people surfing! THe Galapagos has some great surf. We were about to head back when I thought I saw the form of an iguana. I did a double take and was like lets go and see. There was a colony of marine iguanas. We walked around and they let us get really close. They sneezed a bunch expelling the water from their noses. I was tripping out. I couldn't believe that I was starring face to face with probably 30 iguanas! I was to see hundreds in my time in galapagos, but this first sight of them made me feel like an explorer! I was amazed. We swam back to the beach passing mangroves on the way.

Here I go!

I'm going to be going to the Galapagos tomorrow! I'm super excited, here are some photos from when I was working on the school. There are two of me, and then the photo of my friends from class. I'll get more photos up and then there won't be much to explain. We started with very little and in 2 weeks we built a building that will serve as a school. I had so much fun! I just worked all day every day. I suffered a couple of injuries, I stepped on a nailm,and cut myself. But I kept on working. It was an adventure. On the second day I saw a Basilisk lizard, they really do run on water!
When I was on the coast, I worked away my problems and what was left was my wholesome naked self, unscarred and happy. I worked and had so much fun doing it. This was such a rewarding experience. I got to know my classmates so much better. I just felt happy the whole time I was on the coast. I remember thinking half asleep on the two hour ride back to Esmereldas that I was just happy. I hadn't felt this happy in such a long time. I was working about 9 hours a day, and I did that for 11 days. It felt good, I was really using that time to the fullest. I was helping people that really needed it. I was able to let myself go, after working I would wrestle with the little kids. Me running around fending of five kids who were determined to tackle "mi gringito." I recieved this name by the community, "my gringo," I even promised to one of the women there that I would be back in 2 or 3 years. But when I come back there will be at least 50 kids studying in our school.
I also got to do the finishing touches. I got to put the last piece of roofing on because we didn't have a ladder and the worker didn't want to jump down.
All in all, it was one of the best things I did in my time here.
I don't know how to get the pictures off their sides.. sorry.

Let's get real...

So as all of you who have been keeping up with my blog have noticed, it has fallen into a sad state of very little being written. The reasons for me not writing basically all fall on one thing. A lack of inspiration to write. These is largely becuase my experience here has become slowly more difficult and to express myself over the internet without being cynical has become hard. I've gone through some drastic changes and events this last month. I've done so much in Ecuador my expirience can only be described as amazing. But along with these amazing experiences have been some moments where the last thing I want to do is write.
I'm going to start over again, I'll keep everyone posted and we'll see if I can keep up my part of the bargain. I only ask that if you read this to please comment in some way. I would really appreciate hearing about what your reactions are.
I'm going to be leaving for the Galapagos in 3 days, as you can imagine I'm excited beyond belief. The Galapagos has always been one of those childhood dreams, to go to the land where the animals look at you like you are nothing more than a bothersome nuisance. To be totally honest, I feel like the shock of going there hasn't actually completely hit me. At least I know that I'll be in for an amazing adventure.
I got back last friday from a 12 day trip to a rural population in the north coast of Ecuador. I built a school, no seriously, my whole class of 20 kids just completed a school. Really, a building, it doesn't have lights, desks teaching materials or anything. But it is a building that we built. This expirience was beyond amazing for me. I worked like it was my job. My friend even told me that the only difference between me and the professionals that we hired to do the hardest stuff was that I wasn't getting paid. I didn't need to, working in the hot Ecuadorian sun building a school for a poor population that needs one was such a gift. I felt so happy to be there. I had such an awesome time, I felt free and careless, my thoughts always drifting from the next meal and working hard enough to finish the school in time. This was one of the most beautiful moments on my exchange.
More to come... I'll be sure to post soon!

The Amazon! Part 1

From January 31st till the 4th of February I was in The Amazon! It was a Rotary trip to a jungle lodge called Yachana. The lodge is located in the Ecuadorian Amazon which is relatively at the start of the Amazon basin... it is crazy to think about how Ecuador has rivers which eventually flow into bigger and bigger rivers until they reach the Amazon River, which has the largest volume of any river in the world... And the rivers here seem huge!? Yachana has won a National Geografic award for ecoturism and geoturism. Essentially there is a touristy lodge that is completely set up for tourists, english speaking guides, really nice cabins, etc. Just down river is a population that is probably about 20 families. And a little farther down is a high school that has its focus on stewardship of the land and specific education for the Amazon. Essentailly completely epic. Yachana is along the banks of Napo River, which at this point is about... well 2 football fields seems right.
I met up with the other 19 exchange students in the airport on saturday morning. It was great seeing everyone again and we had a fun moment to talk about all that has happened since many of us have seen each other. Spanish, English, French, and German were all spoken, we boarded the plane and were informed of our long 30 minute flight to Coca, a city in the Amazon. We were off the plane before we knew it. One thing that stands out clearly was watching the Amazon jungle change. When we first saw it it was just a sea of green... Slowly it began to change, there were little roads leading to and from clearcuts... and then the red earth, which seemed just like wounds, and finally houses. Fields and the city of Coca finally filled my view. There was a wound around this town. Slowly the people were taking their influence farther and farther into the heart of the Amazon.
The humidity assailed us the second that we stepped off the plane, we met one of our guides, a man who by the looks of him didn't seem much older than us. We collected our bags and got into a chiva... which is pure ecuadorian travel. It is a converted truck to carry a bunch of people, I rode one during the fiestas de Quito. I asked if we could sit up top and we got a yes. We drove to the river and got out of the chiva to find ourselves at a hotel with monkeys, parrots and turtles running around...

Quilotoa photos!

Here are some photos from our adventure! There is a photo of my family on the rim of the volcano, starting our descent. My sister and on the edge of the trail. And us in our kayak.

Hey All... back from my long respite...

Hey so as anyone who at one time was a regular reader has noticed that my posts have stopped their long steady flow. I'm not that sure why but that is just how it is going. Lots of stuff has happened recently and as I haven't been thinking about putting any of it down I'll just write for a little bit and hopefully I'll be back on track with all of my adventures.
Adam and I were robbed, well kind of, it wasn't too exciting but it definatly is worth writing about. We were walking through a dangerous part of the city, the historical district, we were there to buy school clothes for Adam. My mom is always telling me to minimize my time there and it is for a very good reason. We were walking up a hill and two teenagers came walking down the sidewalk towards us. When they got close they did a weird 'what's up man' and one guy gave his hand like he wanted to shake hands with me. Quickly, his hand passed my outstreched hand and went straight for my pocket. I pushed him away and then like lightning as he passed by adam he pulled his money pouch out of his pocket. Adam wasn't in a position to react because he had a plastic bag full of clothes. Adams first reaction was: Hey, I've got a hard time getting things out of my pocket sometimes. We decided it wasn't worth pursueing so we just let it be and laughed it off. Two weeks ago my family went to Quilotoa together. My sisters boyfriend is studying tourism, and he had been to this lake before, it is a crater lake nestled in the top of a volcano. There is the local story about how this volcano was jealous with another volcano and they fought leaving the other as the victor. This lake is really high up, we enter the páramo, which is the highest type of ecosystem that still has plants here, essentially it is a grassland. But with big clump grasses. The people who live here are hearders and farmers. THe houses are subterrranian with grass roofs. The house is dug into the ground for insulation and then over it is the grass. These houses are like 12 foot rectangles. We passed donkeys, sheep, llamas, horses and the people tending them. Finally we made it to the ake, we had to pay $1 to enter the town, which is situated along the rim, apart from the clumps of houses there are a couple of restaurants and hostels. We reached the rim and saw the green tinted lake. It is different than Crater Lake in Oregon because the sides are jagged, it seems like a giant maw lifting up out of the ground. We took some photos and then began the walk down to the lake shore. I was quite sick for this adventure, I had a headache, and just felt really low energy but I just ha to walk down to the shore. We began the descent on the trail which has been completely degraded by the horses that walk up and down the trail everyday. It costs $5 dollars to get a horse to take you back up to the top. I walked down the slowest and my dad and I went to a little point overlooking the beach where there were boats and horses hanging out on the beach waiting for the tourists. We saw mainly Germans, they seem to be the most adventurous travelers with the Gringos following close behind. At the lake shore my older sister and boyfriend rented a kayak and so did my younger sister and I. We headed out onto the still water, I couldn't help but imagine some dark monster rising up from the depths of the water. We found a place where there was water bubbling up from the shore, the water was hot. This volcano still is active, it was cool to put your hand into the water and find it pleasently warm. After we had our kayak adventure which left us wet... the kayaks weren't quite water tight. My sister and I went to a family that had brought food down with them for a picnic. We sat around their cooking fire as they boiled potatoes, and cooked steak and sasages over the fire. We didn't completely dry off but we learned that our family had left and started to hike back up the mountain. I ended up following the trail and my sister took another smaller trail following my older sister and her boyfriend. I ended up passing everyone and waited for them all. About mid-way my mom and sister had a fiasco of trying to get them bothon one of the tiny little mountain horses. I felt really bad, they fell off twice before giving up and waiting for someone to bring another horse, $5 dollars for both of them. So they ttook horses the rest of the way up. WE got in the car and headed directly home. It was about 5 when we got back to the car and we got back to my house at 9 at night. I was sick and so I didn't enjoy this trip as much as I could have but it was really cool to see a part of Ecuador that I still hadn't seen, the outlinging high plains.
Today... I had a great musical expirience. Today when I was in the bus two guys boarded the bus. One with an andean flute and a guitar, and another with a ukelale type of string instrument. They played and sung for about 15 minutes as I was on the bus. I was really happy, honestly, there are many people who do tons of street preformances... but live music is quite hard to come by on the street corners. I had about $.75 and so I gave them 50 cents. It was a great preformance, it seemed like some people were bothered by it, but the majority really liked it. It was a great way to head to my house!

Ok, Soy Vago

I really haven't posted anything interesting lately and it is long over due. I am just going to point everyone in the direction of Adam's blog, he does a good job of cronicaling stuff, which I don't so. Everyone should read the post labeled Pululagua and the one about the bull fights because I may never get to it...
Two weeks ago I went to a river called Morinuco with my family. There is a waterfall that is relatively famous. And it is close to my house. It is passed Sangolquí, which is a city in the same valley but a little farther away from Quito. We made a couple of wrong turns but finally got to the Morinuco cabañas which is a hostal of sorts for visitors. We parked our car and started walking down to the river. We passed the lodge which has soccer, and vollyball fields. We continued down the trail, stopping to look at the river below. There was a turn off to a smaller waterfall whcih we bypassed to the entrance to the second, it was a big wall with three paintings, each had a name above it: Big Adventure, Medium Adventure and Small Adventure... So we paid a couple of bukcs and entered the place. There were some benches, another soccer field and a wooden play structure, bathrooms and a restaurant.There was a guide who explained to us the adventures we could embark on. There was the Small adventure whci would take about 30 minutes, the medium about an hour and the big adventure 2 hours. There was a map and the guide explained all of the places we could go to. All had some name like Eden, Little Cotopaxi, Girls Waterfall's and odd things like that. We were wtold that there were high levels of energy in two places, the waterfall, which is 50 meters and pyramid rock. Anywasy, the guide made the place seem like it was full of magic and new things to be discovered... but with all of the labels I wasn't so sure.
We began walking down the trail towards the river, the first place that we came to was a rock that extended out into the water, there was a tiny little rope swing and not much else... this was the place called Eden. We continued walking along the river to another spot that had another name like the last and was non-descript. There were some people following us so we continued along rapidly. The third place that I can remember was the sport fishing pond... sport fishing is where there is a tiny pond full of trout and you can pay to catch one. Passed that was little cotopaxi... which was a tiny rock painted with white to make it look like a mountain on the other side of the river...
This river was really cool, I was thinking of my Dad and Ben the whole time. There are some crazy repids. Falls, chutes, closing holes... I definatly noted rapids at class 3 or 4. The water was funneled in between rocks and made some really wild rapids. The rapid at Little Cotopaxi was about a 50 foot rapid which fell about 25 feet in the same space, with the river about half the width. At the end was a drop and a closing hole. On the other side of the river was a sign that said only good swimmers should swim there.
Continuing on we passed two guys fishing for trout with minimal equipment, a stick, wooden leader hook and line. We saw a series of small waterfalls which were named Girls Waterfalls, they seemed to be springs that were running down the canyon walls. The pyramid rock was a real let down. It was a rock in the middle of the river shaped like a pyramid, but some one dumped white paint over it so it wouldn't be missed and painted letters for the four directions. We then crossed the threshold to the big adventure, there was a sign making sure that we wouldn't forget. But really... before that we had to cross the river as it widened out. When the water is low you wouldn`t have to do this but we did. We got there at the same time as a family that had drunk to much, a couple of the men and women were drunk... it was really stupid. My family crossed without incident. I walked the rest of the way without my shoes. We caght sight of the falls about ten minutes later. It was huge, the wet wind could be felt really far away. The day was overcast and was like 60º F. So I definatly felt the cold. My sister told me that we could walk around the other side of the waterfall, so I stripped to my shorts and hat...
If anyone remembers the hat I always wore, it is still the same. My mom made it for my brother and I started wering it... hopefully he doesn't mind. But it has some real value for me. I'm always fighting with the inspectors at my school over the use of my hat. Anyways, I never wash it, it gets wet, smells bad and is good again. So I wore it to wash it with a mixture of energy and water power. Just walking towards the falls was amazing. The bottom of the water fall wasn't very deep. So this attributed to the cray water works. I was soaked before I got within 50 meters. There are rivers of water forming from the water that is collecting on the rocks. At about 25 meters I crossed over the ock barrier and the winds were crazy, at this point I couldn't walk and look at the falls. There weren't any more plants, wate wind and rock. I took of my hat because it wasbeing blown off of my head. I put my hand in front of my face, the water collected on the other side and the wind blew the droplets into my face... I stood behind the falls and my sister was off to one side. The power of the waterfall was amazing. I was completely drenched. We returned to my mom and dad where it turned out that my sister hadn't brought any jacket. So my dad gave her his. I shared my last mojo bar with my sister and we walked back. When we returned to the gate we bought choclo, which is corn on the cob but with another specie of corn. It was a really fun adventure to share with my family. We got back to the house tired and happy. The waterfall had blown away the bad energy!

Weekend from really long ago part 3

So my sister and I got up early to catch our train. We ate a quick breakfast and left the house with my mom, we arrived at the train station where there was a train with about 5 or 6 cars. The last two had passengers inside and the others were box cars. We met the man who had sold us the tickets and he gave us two cushins! We walked over to the train and realized that the majority of the people on the train were tourists, Americans, Germans, Swiss, Argentinians, French, and one other girl who is in my exchange program but we never talked on the train, just after during my first rotary trip we met up. We climbed aboard the first car and sat as close to the front as we could along side two women from argentina. The metal on the top of the train was wavy... I think you could call it courugated, but I'm starting to loose my vocabulary. Anyways it was not comfortable, alongside all of the, edges was a metal bar which served as a railing, it was about 15 cm high. My mom watched us as we pulled away, a bunch of hooting gringos on top of a train. THere was a nifty sign that dipicted a devil and said Nariz del Diablo!!!!! We were definatly in for a ride. The train lurched away only to halt about ten minutes later to add another car and to pick up a few more conductors. Chimborazo remained elusive hidden behind the clouds but, the amazing thing was that the top of the mountain could be seen over its shroud. The mountain is huge! The majority of the train ride consisted of lurches, bumps and an urge to pee. I definatly missed out on the beauty of the ride becuase I literally had to pee worse than I ever have in my whole life... seriously I thought I was going to die... When we got to the first stop two hours later I was the first one off the train sprinting to the nearest bathroom... The ride before that was a a weaving path which wound its way out of the valley that Chimborazo dominates. There were the infamous Eucaliptus trees and lots of cows. We passed many farms which were quite isolated. The funny thing was that all the kids would wave and of course we would wave back they would be really happy when we did. The smatrer kids would put there hands out for something but I never saw anyone give anything to them, the part about hurtling along on a train probably made it difficult. After the first stop in which my sister and I bought empanadas and morocho. Morocho is a traditional drink, it is a type of corn and milk... and I really like it, it is something that is completely different from everything. Anyways, I also tried a deep fried banana for the first time... which is good, but definatly not the healthiest way to eat your banana! During the second part of the train ride my sister and I moved up to the first car to get away from the other cramped car. It turned out that this car was for the peopel who would be getting on at the last town. But we said we would move when these people got on. The second part was interesting we climbed up and crossed some very different areas, a couple of places we passed tree farms which really aren't all that pretty in a high grassland but there is some agrigultural value obviously, many trees had been cut in one area... One thing that was cool about the train was that it would stop andpick up anyone alongside the track and take them to their destination. At one point I saw a man literally sprinting down a rocky train well ahead of the train to catch it before it left. That was the purpose of the box cars, free transportation for the people living there. Also the train dropped off railroad ties at about five different spots! And finally at one point a backhoe that had been on a flatbed car up front drove its way off of the car. I felt a little awkward, paying for a train that was the only form of transportation for many people. The train only runs two or three days a week, so if you want to go some where there is only three chances per week. The last town was a little bigger, a bunch more people got on to see the Nariz del Diablo and we headed down to the famous place.
It was a let down... the reason it has this name is becuase the rock is superhard, we had heard about the switch back where the train goes abackwards for a short time. But really it is becuase it is a giant rock... there isn't much more to say about this one. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't an epic expirience, only that when your looking forward to the devil's nose and it turns out to be uninteresting... But the views and the expirience of riding on top of a train was really amzing. We did some switcher-U and we continued back up the track to the town. When we go there My sister and I caught a bus which was jampacked with people and headed home... a good day! Our mom picked us up at the bus station and we headed back to my grandmothers house to eat, after dinner we drove home! A good weekend for sure!

Weekend from really long ago part 2

So after my Family made it to the house of my grandparents and had a really nice rest we wke up ready to climb Chimborazo! Chimborazo is 6310 meters, it is the farthest point away from the center of the earth due to the earths buldge at the equator. It is also the tallest mountain in Ecuador and taller than all mountains in the americas north of here, there are a few mountains in the andes south which are taller than Chimborazo. It isn't a very technical mountain and the only real danger is the weather. Which is completely unpredictable. I made the juice for breakfast, which was Tomate de Arbol, or as I like to call it Mango chiquito. We hopped in the car after eating, my dad, sister, uncle and grandfather and I. We drove through the country side We skirted the mountain and began to climb up one side. We passed small indiginious farms with llamas and cows until we entered the alpine zone where there were only small scrubby bushes and lichen. We saw vicunas! a smaller red version of the llama which is wild. They have been reintroduced to Chimborazo from Patagonia. They were all killed off but are making a good jump. We saw about 10 on our car ride up and down. We got to the turn off for the first Refuge. There was a box from a box car on the side of the road with two guys in it and we paid to enter the park. It was about three apiece. We drove up the mountain which had a grainy redish sandlike volcanic soil which is probably close to what is found on mars. The ground was crisscrossed with bike tracks... downhill biking the mountain is really popular. It is a steep but smooth down hill. We drove up to the first refuge where it began to snow, there was patched snow on the ground too. It was the first time that any one in my family had been in snow! I of course gave my dad and sister a babtism with a couple of snowballs. It was funny teaching them how to make a snowball... it was a completely new expirience for them! The snow was light and fluffy and was falling lightly. We parked the car at the first refuge to hike up to the second refuge which is 200m higher and about 1 km walking. My sister stayed behind in the first refuge becuase she hadn't brought more than a light windbreaker. I acompanied my grandfather who is 73. My grandfather is a beast we quickly left my dad and uncle in the dust. He just kept on trucking! The snow was falling and visibility was limited but with my support he just kept on going. THe second refuge is at 5000 meters, you definatly feel the lack of air at this elevation. We made it to the top and sat around a fire waiting for my dad and uncle. What we didn't know was that my uncle had turned back and my dad with him to check on my sister who was sitting in the first refuge. My grandfather and I talked with all sorts of people. There was a busload of Germans, Danes (Danish people?), and a few other European countries which were on a three week tour. We waited for about an hour before my Dad showed up... but the really cool thing was that I met another Rotary exchange student at 5000m. She is from France and she is really cool, she lives in Cuenca. She was with her whole family. She practices paragliding in France and told me that mountain climbing was in her blood and she does weekend excursions quite often in the Alps! I had a snowball fight with her and her siblings, I also discussed with a guide the option of ascendng the mountain at someother date! I want to do it and will definatly look into it. Finally my dad showed up and we descended the mountain, it was now snowing heavely and there was a good two inches of snow covering the ice and ground. We managed to make it down without any big falls! We returned to Riobamba where my guide book said that in the saturday market it is possible to buy juice with ice mined from Chimborazo! We showed up and looked for the juice stalls! When we encountered one and they showed us the dirty block of ice... it seemed genuine, so we bought juice. I got coconut and my sister and grandfather bought mora... which is a tart blackberry. The juice was exeptional... especiall with a dirty piece of glacial ice floating in it! We then went to the train station which I had read about in my guide book... The Devils Nose, a train ride from riobamba where you ride on the top of the train! We bought the $11 dollar tickets and another dollar to reserve coushins for the coming day! We returned home victorious, we had walked and eaten a mountain!

Finca continued...

So, at the old house of my dad there was a coconut tree, but they were little coconuts, the nut was about the same size as a hazelnut but with like 10 times more shell... Adam, my dad and I threw rocks to knock them down. And my dad, who is a pro nut cracker with a couple of rocks smashed them for the whole family. I forgot to write this in the previous post but... Before we left we were told we were going to be eating Cuy for lunch... Ok, so guess what Cuy is... no idea..... de nada ok... guinea pig! The guinea pig is an animal from the Andes, it is a traditional food here. So before we left to go shopping I helped my grandmother catch the gguinea pigs in there pens. They made tons of guinea pig noise and it was a little sad... but whatever, when in rome do as the romans do... So I had a bag full of five guinea pigs when we were done, my grandmother had to catch them becuase she didn't want us to eat pregnant guinea pigs... When we got back an employee of the farm was singing the fur off the dead guinea pigs. I asked how they were killed... but I've decided not to include this detail ;). So anyways Adam and I watched as they were cleaned and gutted, the skin is left on on. They are prepared in the oven, esentially poke a bunch of holes in the skin and add herbs as desired. During the process my dad told me that we were going to go to a spring which is where some of the water of the farm comes from. So we headed back up the hill. We climbed up to the canal and walked along it for awile... There were huundreds of spiders and webs across the trail. I probably finished the adventure with about ten different webs stuck in my hair and a couple of squished spiders. We crossed our boundery of our property and entered a cleft with the creek in it. We kinda lost the trail but continued on. The first obstical that we arrived at was a ravine. So, we jumped down and scrambled up the other side... it was filled with plants on the bottem and I thought that it was deeper than it was. It was really funny when my dad was like... Ales, you can walk there, you don't need to try and jump the whole thing. Later we headed alongside the river, after fighting the brambles we came to a 5 meter drop onto flat ground alongside of the river. We climbed down a little and jumped. Adam ended up leading and I must say that he proved to be a super guide. Next when our side of the creek ended we jumped across, but it was a difficult movement. The ground was sloped, so we climbed up, used a tree as suppoert and jumped across... It wasn't to hard for Adam and I but my dad definatly had some second thoughts... but he jumped and all was well. He really did well, considering that Adam probably picked some routes becuase they looked more fun... We jumped from side to side and progressed up the river. At one point I leaned on a tree only to find that it broke like a twig. It was obviously dead but I didn't expect a trunk the size of my leg to snap at th slightest touch. I almost fell into the water but narrowly avoided it... We definatly looked for ways to leave the ravine but all that there was on the sides were impenatrable brambles. As we continued on my dad pointed out the trail that we had somehow lost. Soon after we found a huge fallen tree in the way of our progress. Adam went first, as he crossed the creek he put his foot on a tree that was alive but had been squished by the humungous fallen tree. It broke under his foot but he made the jump to the other side. I was next Adam gave me a hand and I crossed without problems. My dad was third and as I helped him he put his foot on the same tree as Adam and it just snapped in half, but I pulled him to saftey. My dad continued up the creek while I followed Adam as he climbed up the slope a little ways. Adam looked at me with a odd kinda look and told me that he had an idea. The dead branches of this tree made a lattice of branches about 2 meters above the creek. He carefully ventured out and crossed to the other side. I was a little scared to follow, but i just had to do it, becuase it was so freaking cool! So I followed without incident. We got to the spring, which was almost completely dry, there was a concrete spring box and there was sufficient water in it. I'm not really sure what our purpose of being there was becuase we just kinda left and returned to our adventure. The return was uneventful except for a tree with massive white bellshaped flowers... and this tree is what scolopamine (the name probably isn't right) is made out of. It is a drug that is put on papers and passed out in the city. If you take the paper the drug will be on your hands, and later when you invariably inhale it you fall asleep. THe people will follow you and rob you. But anyways, we got back to find the Cuy was ready to eat! We sat down for lunch and were asked... tops or bottoms... the cuy is cut in half and served! Adam and I asked for bottoms becuase my dad told me it is better. First was soup, and after, the main attraction! Guinea pig! Adam and I dug in complete finger food, ripping apart the cuy to find the meet that is on it. Adam and I described the flavor as a cross between chicken and fish. But my mom said it was more like turkey. I really think it just tastes like cuy. So if you ever get the chance... dig in! After lunch it was time to harvest fruit to bring back to the house! First were the Avocados which are really fun to get. It was like a game for Adam and I... we had to look and find them hiding in the treetops, and then Adam or my dad would climb the trees and use a pole with a hook on it to pull the Avocados down. The trees were on a slope and the Avocados liked to run away... So my job was to chase the dang things as they rolled down the hill. There was only one problem... the barbed wire fence that was conviniently placed in the middle of my trail. I ended up silding inder it countless times as I chased the elusive avocado. The only damage that was done was that I ripped my favorite shirt one time as I was returning after securing my catch. We finished with a ton of avocados,right now in my house it is like eat! if you don't eat them they will go bad! After the avocados were the limes... but this was much less uneventful, just walking around and grabbing them from the trees. My mom and sister gathered manderines, oranges and another which is a mix between a lime and a manderine... it has the taste of the skin of an orange... but whatever. We got back in the car after saying goodbye to the family. The drive was uneventful except for a perfect view of Cayambe, another volcano. We returned Adam to his family and his mom was suprised at the empanadas, bread and fruit that she returned with...A good adventure!

Finca

So, After Adam and I ate our second breakfast at my house, Adam, my sister, mom, dad and I got into the car to drive to the Farm of my grandparents. I spent the time jamming to my ipod as the terrain rolled by. At one point Adam pointed out a cave in a cliff alongside the road. I quickly asked my parents if we could stop, I had actually pointed out the cave on my earlier trip and was excited to have a buddy to explore the cave. Adam and I scrambled up the incline and peered into the cave. The first thing that we noticed was that there was a giant pile of debri which had fallen from the ceiling not to long ago. The rock really was some type of crumbly whitish rock. At one point it was a mine for the rock, I asked my dad and he told me that the type of rock is used in construction, concrete I think. Adam said that he needed his camera because it was way too cool, he ran back and grabbed his camera. When he got back he told me that he felt like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, when they enter the cave. We scrambled around and found two more entrances. It was really cool inside, other tunnels would end abruptly and the floor was soft with the ground rock. The cave was also completely white. The rest of the trip was uneventful except for when my sister asked if she could practicing driving on a stretch of road that was straight and smooth. I quickly responded that if my sister drove than I would need to also. My mom has told me that I am exactly the same as my sisters which is really cool, it has lead to an amazing relationship with my family. But it was bad for my sister this time, because my parents won the battle with the logic that I can't drive so neither can she...( wow, I never knew I could be so mean!). When we got to the farm we were greated by my dads family. My Grandparents and my Aunt live there. My aunt had Polio when she was younger and lost her voice. I assume that there were never services for people with disabilaties, and thus she has always lived with my grandparents. She is nice, but I definatly feel that she is seperate on some levels from the family, she can understand and listen but never contribute fully. We were served chicken and yuca soup for lunch, which was quite tasty, I entertained my family throughout the meal because I had some really wierd things in my soup and everyone was laughing at my reactions. But I ate it all without problems, it is just really funny when stuff is floating in your soup that you have absolutely no clue what the heck it is. After lunch, my sister, Adam and I went to hike up to where my families llamingos are kept... thats right llamingos. Ok so I'll break it down, double L is "y" and some how these llamas are llamingos. They look excactly the same but somehow there is a difference. This was ridiculously funny for Adam and I... some thing about hearing llamingos just cracks me up. Anyways, so we first tried to get the cows, which were on a lower pasture, to attack us. But the bulls would just walk away looking mildly disgusted. So Adam and I took off our shirts and tried once more... but nothing. My sister was sitting at the bottom of the pasture, but when we returned she wasn't there. We thought that she had left and continued up the hill. After avoiding cow poop we reached the top, and there was my sister sitting waiting for us, it was definitly a suprise. So Adam and I really wanted a llamingo to spit at us. It is just a thing that I have to do before I return. So Adam and I walked down to where the llamingos were grazing contently and tried to get them to spit at us. Ok, so most of the people reading this are probably wondering, what the heck. But llamas are a lot scarier up close... seriously. When a llama looks directly at you it is like being stared down by a cross between a bat and a rabbit. It is really scary, so anyways, they would run away and then we would chase after them. We started to heard them towards my sister. She was sitting at the top of the pasture, it was raining at this point and she was protecting the camera. When we got close the llamingos bolted back down to the bottom of the pasture. They thought that we were beat but we decided to try a different tactic. I started dancing and singing, but the only response that I got was the WTF? look of a llamingo. We had one final idea, the last charge. Adam and I went sprinting down the pasture and the llamingos just ran faster. Finally we were beat, so we headed back to the farm. When we got back there was dough ready to make empanadas! Adam and I were completely soaked, my mom was a little disconcerted because we were really wet. We just took our shoes off and continued as normal, but my mom wasn't pleased. We washed our hands and started helping putting the cheese inside the empanada and making the forms. My mom was amazed at my cooking knowledge... which is nothing as my mom can attest to. Anyways I am assuming that the average male here doesn't know how to turn on a stove. But my dad here isn't this way he definatly can cook. Adam quickly was making empanadas almost perfectly at the same time as mine barely held together. We decided to create a team... Gringo! I rolled the dough and put the right amount of cheese in it and Adam did the decorative part of folding and pinching it closed. We were producing very pretty empanadas. The building that we were in was a mud building. It is thatched and the walls are mud. The oven that we were using was really simple. There is a fire in the middle, a grill on top for the stove, and below it the oven. There wasn't a place for the smoke to go so it filled up the room and slowly filtered out the side of the thatch. The empanadas were really tasty! They burnt my hands and mouth at first but after the pain... yum! Adam and I ate and ate! They were really good, we had extra dough so we started making dough creations, I made a turtle, snake, manatee, and a shark. But really they all looked about like a blob of dough! Adam and I spent the rest of the day chasing the chickens and turkeys! Adam and I had a rock, paper, scissors battle for who would get to sleep in the hammock outside. I won and had a peaceful night (if not a little cold) swaying to the breaze. I woke up early to help with the milking of the cows. My grandmother, with the help of an employee of the farm milked four cows. I drank some of the milk from three of them, it was really, really good! I was actually peed on by a cow... that was a pleasant awakening! It only got my feet... After the cow milking I bothered the chickens some as I waited for breakfast and for Adam to wake up. Breakfast was more milk and empanadas. After breakfast Adam, my dad, sister, grandfather and I went to buy groceries in the town nearest to the farm. I got to see my dads old school and as we drove around my dad talked with people he hadn't seen in years. We also went to the old house of my dads where we found a... ok I hope everyone reads this but I wil continue later I am dead tired, today I had Capoiera and my first dance class. I just want to sleep! Buenas Noches, Descansa todos!

Ok so these are some photos from Mindo, big thanks to Adam, he is a good photographer as well as a great friend. These are some of the photos that he took. The first one is of one of the hummingbirds that we saw. The second is the bird that we saw while canopying. The others are of me chasing the cows, canopying and jumping off of the smaller of the two jumps at the waterfall (I know, I need to buy some board shorts, but all that I have is my swimsuit for the pool at my school).

Mindo

This last weekend was another really cool adventure! On Friday I left Quito with my sister and Adam from school. We caught a bus to mindo. We have family who own a hostal in the Cloud Forest. The name is Mindo Loma, it is east of Mindo by about 20 minutes. The place is a bird saanctuary and has hiking trails. We arrived at about 6:00 on friday night. I brought bread and colada morada from my mom. The tradition here is that on November 2 to visit the graves of the dead and decorate the tombs. It is also a tradition to eat bread that is in the shape of babies and drink colada morada, which is a drink made from a purple type of corn, in it are various spices and fruit, pinapple, strawberry or others. It started to rain right after we got there and we ate soup for dinner. My Aunt, Uncle and Cousin were very nice. I knew my cousin from the first week when we went to a soccer game. Adam and I wanted to explore the forest at night, but we were told that we would get lost. It was probably true but we were ready to go. So we decided to hike to the waterfall which was on their property. We borrowed some rubber boots and stripped down to our swim trunks. We decided that we were going to get wet and that we might as well be ready for it. My cousin and sister were ready a few minutes later. It was quite comical, boots and swim trunks and little else. I brought my tiny little LED light and Adam had a headlamp, my cousin also had a flashlight. As we were about to leave Adam and I were informed that the monkey was eating the plantains that were put out for it... I was of course ecstatic! My first monkey! It was really furry and looked literally just like a stuffed animal. It was chilling and munching on a plantain that was put out for it. It used its prehensile tail to hang on as it contentently continued eating. When it was finished it bolted up the tree and was lost in the darkness and rain. We headed down a muddy trail, crossed a creek where I learned that my right boot had a nice big hole in the top which filled with water... The hike was really interesting, the night is alive. There were hundreds of sounds all around us, but everything was almost impossible to see. We passed a huge magnolia tree and there was a scorpian hidden under the roots. But Adam and I missed it. The hike seemed to take forever, moving through the forest on Halloween! We stopped and turned our lights off a couple of times, the night was pitch black. The senses begin to reach out at the same time as the animals move. We heard ocelots, but they remained illusive. We saw a really cool type of phosphorescent fungus which grows on dead palms, it kinda looks like a rib cage. The first sense that picked up on the waterfall was my sense of hearing, the constant sound of water falling was now kicked up a notch to a low roar. The next was when we could feel the wind of the water. And finally with the aid of the lights the giant cascade, later I learned that it is exactly 39 meters. We all wrestled until each one of us had been dunked under the falls, there really wasn't a ton of water but it still hurt. Also my cousin told us that it was the first time that she had been there at night. We headed back and Adam and I caught a a glimpse of the scorpian. At the house we encountered a 'MothRAH' as Adam decided to call it. There isn't a difference in Butterfly and Moth in Spanish so we created this for the thousands of moths which swarmed the lights. The were all sorts of different colors, shapes and sizes. Some had eye spots, others were the size of sparrows. I got up early to see the hummingbirds the next morning. I think that I counted 6 or 7 different species and 3 different species of Tanangers and one hawk which was super cool. I was actually able to touch the hummingbirds when I moved slowly, and Adam had one land on his finger. For breakfasT we ate homemade empanadas and Adam and I left with my uncle. We weren't quite sure what we were doing but we were told we were going to see the Quetzals. We first went to a town and my uncle negotiated with another man for four cows. They were babies and boys. My uncle bought them for $500. And tomorrow he will be getting them, and paying for them. Later we went to another town and bought groceries and walked around a fair of... I'm not really sure but it was like sustaniable options and ecology. It was interesting and there was a guy who was walking around on stilts dressed up as a bird. I immediatly thought of Country Fair. After the fair we went to the pasture where the cows are kept, Adam and I hearded them to the water becuase I guess they won't drink without coaxing. We chased them around yelling Sal, Sal, which is Salt. but we actually didn't have any Sal, perdon vacas. The sun came out after and the Quetzal won't come out when there is sun so we returned to the house. We ate lunch and left for Mindo. One of the dogs followed us down to the street and wouldn't leave, I was worrid it was going to get hit by a car becuase it really didn't have any street smarts. So I grabbed the dog and ran up with the thing up the road, dropped it and it would follow me. So finally I ran all the way up to the house and handed the dog to my aunt. When I ran back down a truck was stopped with my sister and Adam in it. I jumped in and we headed to the intersection where the road continues to the coast or turns to Mindo. The truck was the kind that transports the bananas here. It was a fun ride and we paid $1.50, which when we told some other travelers that me met theysaid we were toads for paying that much. But whatever, the waited about 15 minutes as I ran the dog up to the house. We caught another truck to Mindo with two Ecuadorian travelers. It cost another $3 for five people to mindo. In Mindo we found a place with Canopying, which is ziplining over the forest. We paid ten bucks a piece to get a truck to the place and to do 10 different lines. It was pretty cool but really was boring after a couple. The coolest thing for me was a really pretty bird that we saw. It was fun to zip along above the treetops, upside down and other crazy positions. The part theat wasn't super fun was a woman and her 25 year old son. She was completely scared of the ziplines first of all and second, everytime that her son was about to go she would repeat the things that the guides said and double check that he understood. she was really controlling and really wasn't any fun, she would scream when she was on the line and when she wasn't she would scream at her son to be careful, etc. I feel bad for him and for us but everything was fine. After Canopying we walked farther up the road for about a kilometer and all the cars were heading down, it was probably about 4 pm. But finally a jeep passed heading up the road, we hitchhiked, Adam and I hung on to the side as my sister sat in the back. We got up to the Waterfall that Adam knew about becuase he went there on Tuesday with his exchange program. It cost $3 dollars a piece. I talked to the woman and she let us in for three bucks. I really had to conserve my money becuase we had to catch the bus back to Quito and I had to pay for Adam and my sister. The lady pointed out a tocan! I was only able to hear them in Trinidad, it was a fleeting glimpse but it was cool to see. We walked down another muddy path to the river. I took off my shoes and enjoyed the mud. The place had a waterslide and a couple of places to jump into the river. I did the smaller jump first which the guide there said was 9 meters but I honestly think it was bigger. Then Adam and I went to the second jump, which was into the water below the waterfall, the water was churning and white with air. Adam jumped first becuase he was confident since he had done it before. The guide said it was 12 meters, but then again, I think it was a little bigger. I game up from the water yelling about how much I love Ecuador, it was really cool! Then we climbed up a rickety ladder to the top and did it two more times. There was a rope in the waterfall so that people could climb down it and dive off of a rock. I had a bad feeling about it and explained to Adamthat when I have these feelings it is a good idea to listen, but Adam just had to do it. And seriously, if he had done it I would have had to also. So we rock hopped to the waterfall and Adam started down the rope. He turned around becuase there was too much water and of course the rock is slippery. So we returned and explained that there was too much water. Then we saw forest chicken... ok that is the translation, but it is a bright red bird with a crest above its head. After, we used the sketchy waterslide. It was made out of concrete and it finished about 2 or 3 meters above the water. There was a sharp turn just before the drop and so your equilibrium is all off. But the first couple of times finished without incedent, Adam did a nice back flop and thus was done, I ran to do it another time, I jumped in and tried to go as fast as I could. I almost fell out, cut up my foot and went flying out of the side and somehow landed on my face. So I was done too. We hiked back up the trail, it was now night. We got to the top and began to walk the seven kilometers to town. My sister didn't bring her cell phone and she told me later that she had never walked more than 2 kilometers at one time. But she held her own, we walked five kilometers before a truck picked us up. The coolest thing were the fireflies! There were thousands and they blinked on and off, it was sooooo cool. Walking through the forest with thousands of fireflies leading the way. We were picked up by a group of guides from another canopying place. When we got to town we bought calzones at a place that my sister knew of and chartered a truck to Mindo Loma. When we got to the driveway of the house my uncle and my other cousin were leaving to come and look for us. It really wasn't good, it was the first time that my uncle had ever left to look for someone. But right now everything is good, I talked with my mom who talked with him, so all is good now. But at that point it wasn't. Another one of my cousins is a photography guide, which is such a cool job! He travels around Ecuador leading photographers, he looks for things to take pictures of and will catchthings to set them up for photos too. He has some of the coolest photos. We went out at night to look for frogs with him. and after about a half hour we didn't see any frogs but tons of insects, my cousin will not leave until he has the perfect photo, after about 10 minutes of taking pictures of the same spider Adam and I walked back and went to sleep. We woke up early in the morning and caught a bus back to Quito, we left at about 11 for the farm of my family.

The Weekend Before Last Day 1

Was......Sick! My Family went south. I didn't have school on friday and saturday so we hopped in the car and drove through some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Ecuador is really amazing because in one day it is possible to pass through tons of ecosystems. We left Quito and passed the Volcanos Ilinizas, they are twin mountains that are like two ice covered knives. They were partially hidden by clouds which added to the effect. The highlands are soooo beautiful, it is grass for kilometers and then mountains rising up... but there are places where there are pine tree plantations. It really ugly because there is only one type of native conifer and it isn't a pine tree, I'll guess that it is for wood to burn and to trap more water in the soil. The first place that we stopped at was San Miguel de Salcedo. This is a really comical place becuase the town produces more ice cream than any other in the world. I saw like twenty just as we passed through town. We stopped and bought some ice cream, I got Avocado, which believe it or not really is pretty good. Later we went east at Ambato and headed to Baños, which was super cool. We descended a couple thousand feet and encountered the beginning of the Jungle. Baños is at the foot of Tungurahua which starting in 1998 is active. It blew its top and the town was vacant for years but right now it is just another part of the fun. As we entered town we passed old lava flows and destroyed buildings. The town is alive with tourism, many places have signs written in English and Spanish. We rented a bike for me becuase we were going to see a waterfall farther east along the highway and my family asked me if I wanted to bike there, like 20 km. I of course agreed and we headed out. My family drove along side me for the first part which I thought was very nice seeing as they are the most impacient people in the car I have ever seen. It really doesn't make sense but by law all Ecuadorians must drive over the speed limit and pass when there is a double yellow (hehe... but seriously I am probably most likely to die in a car here than any part in the US, I have just decided to close my eyes when my dad or mom are passing cars). Anyways I explained to them that I was fine and we continued. The first waterfall that we stopped at dropped probably 40 meters into the river. I forgot to mention that it cost $4 to rent a bike and helmet for the whole day. Right after the waterfall was a tunnel which I had to enter in my bike... with a dog chasing me... but whatever, it's Ecuador!!!!¡¡¡¡ I continued on and passed two or three other waterfalls that my parents family didn't stop at so I just biked along slowly. There was a second tunnel which I entered by accident... dumb, I couldn't see the end and I didn't have lights on my bike. After about 200 meters and a car behind me I turned around and exited safely. There was a bike route around the tunnel and it was fun because there were mini waterfalls pouring right onto the road. On the other side of the tunnel was a bridge. And on the bridge was a set up for swing-jumping. The small one which cost $10 was a swing from the pedestrian bridge with the rope tied to the other bridge for the cars. The big one cost $15 and was a jump from one side of the bridge with the cars and the rope was tied to the other side, so with the second there was a freefall and the first no. My sister and I bothered our parents to let us do it, so after watching people do it my mom said yes, to do the big one too. Of course my mom had to haggle for the price, $25 for two. I went first, I asked the guy if it was ok if I jumped, becuase I watched as he would be talking with people and just push them mid-sentence, and grab there feet for a split second so there heads would be facing downwards. I remember standing on the railing thinking what I was about to do and was completely calm. I jumped and the second of freefall lasted for minutes, I saw the river rushing towards me and... bum, the rope caught me and I was soaring through the air. It was pretty cool, but I like paragliding more because it is really a lot smoother. This was like a giant kick of adrenaline, for seconds and not much more. I was let down to the ground and quickly ran to the top to see my sister do it. The guy was talking with her and just pushed her mid-sentence, but when she was done she was stoked too. The waterfall that we were there to see was about 10 km more. So I rode my bike on enjoying the scenery. When we got to the place where it was a 1 km walk. I learned that my sister wasn't fine, she couldn't move her neck and was laying sown in the back of the car. I figured the problem was that her neck was super tense becuase of the force of the jump. So I massaged her neck for about half an hour and she was able to move it later. We wen't to a restaurant to eat, it was pretty good, chicken soup and fresh fish. After that my dad and I walked down the path to Pailón del Diablo, devil's pail. It was a winding path that dropped down to the river, there were lots of people, I'm sure that in the day it is completely packed. We walked out onto a bridge to view the falls, it was one of those cable bridges that creakes and shudders everytime your foot falls. There wwas also a sign that said no more than five people on it at a time. The falls were spectacular. The river fell into a pool of water and then rushed down through a series of rapids and around a giant boulder. It was really awesome. The water reached us about 200 meters away. After viewing the falls from the bridge we decided to get a closer look, we paid $2 to view the falls on a much more personal level. There was a platform to see the falls but there was also a subterranian path that went behind the falls. That was cool, I was completely soaked. The noise and power of the falls was really spectacular. My dad and I headed back up the trail. On our way up we saw two elderly women and probably the daughter of one of them helping the women up the trail. My dad and I ach helped one. The woman that I was helping was really funny. She told me that the best place was my pants, so I walked up the trail with an old wolan clinging to shorts. We talked as we walked up, she was blazing, we left my dad in the dust... hehe. I asked her how old she was and she told me to guess, I guessed 73 and she told me that she was 73 years old. She asked me what I was eating to guess right like that and I told her I just followed my intuition. She talked to me about her views in god, and we continued on to nature. At one point I saw a brown blur, I asked her to stop, it was pretty dark at this time, and I found a frog. It was small and brown, and of course I was happy. We got to the top and we waited for my dad and her family. When they got there my dad and I returned to our family. As we were putting my bike in the car the ex-first lady walked by. She was cheated on by Ecuador´s president, but my parents knew her face so they small talked for a little while. We drove back to Baños where my sister and my mom rented a four wheeler. We went around the town for about an hour. It was really fun. After Baños we headed to Riobamba to stay with my grandparents on my mom´s side. I slept in the car and when we got to Riobamba I went right to sleep.

Weekends... jeje

So I really haven't written anything about my wekends and I am really far behind so I'm going to wing it and write a little about all of them.
So my first weeekend of school I went to the farm of my dads parents. It was super cool, I loved being in nature! Everyone in my family is super cool but the thing most amazing is that my grandfather is 91 years old and he walks, works and moves like he is in his 60's. It is really inspirational.. I hope that if I make it to 91 that my life will be as healthy. All the kids went looking for insects, there really are some weird ones in Ecuador. The farm has cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, guiney pigs and about every type of plant that you can think of. I loved it, I explored the area with my dad, this was the place that he grew up.
The next weekend I went to QuitoFest to see Sudakaya an Ecuadorian Reggae group. But I never saw them cause they came on late and everyone was getting drunk so my sister and I left. But I saw Gondwana, another Reggae group wich was good, and a Capoiera demonstration which was really cool.
My next weekend my family went to Otavalo, which is famous for the hand made goods that can be bought in the markets. The trip was cool becuase I met more of my family and got to walk around a market with handmade stuff that is really cheap. I bought a sweater for 12 dollars. It is an alpaca wool hoodie. It is really hard to believe just how cheap things are. Work here is worth very little, people are working all day to produce rugs, sweaters, hats, hammocks, wall hangings and jewelry. And everything is way... way cheaper. I actually feel bad when I haggle with people but it is just a part of life here.

First Pic

Ya! I managed to get a picture up! finally! So this is a picture of when my family visited the farm of my dads parents. My mom is second from the left and my dad is far right and at the top, wearing a blue shirt. My sister is right in the middle sitting down. I'll get to writing about it but I really need to get there first... more writing weee!

Portoviejo and Roteract Day 2

After Sleeping for about five hours everyone was woken up at 9:00. We showered, gathered our things and got ready to leave. We ate a measly breakfast at the hotel and borded a bus. But after about 10 minutes sitting in the bus we were told to change busses because the other was more comfortable... it wasn't. But at least we were on our way to the beach. As we were driving down the highway our bus driver stopped the bus and pulled a U-turn over a small barrier. It was quite exciting. We drove back along the highway for about 10 minutes until we turned down a dirt road. It was a lowland area with banana, plantain and papya farms. We meandered our way through these farms obviously not going to the Ocean for about half an hour. We finally arrived at a tiny little school. It was a school that roteract had built in the past. All the kids were dressed up in uniform and really happy to see us. They sang the national anthem and the city song of Portoviejo, it was really cute. All the kids were so excited thatwe were there. After the songs about three kids came up and gave speeches which to me were basicly about how much they apreciated their school and ¡Viva Roteract!. Then the teachers of the school spoke to everyone... it was probably about the same thing but I spent the whole time daydreaming. After all the talking everyone went outside which really wasn't outside becuase the school was only four foot walls with wire above that to keep robbers out. It had a tin roof and was one building with a division in it. So two classes. I was definatly amazed at the kids sitting still through the talking in their ties and uniforms. Outside everyone participated in the planting of trees, but to be totally honest I think that probably not to many of the trees will make it becuase they were planted below the grade of the ground. But it was fun to plant the trees with the kids. The whole thing was really fun and inspiring, we got to play with the kids and at the very end some rotactarians dressed up in costume and put on a show and gave out candy and gifts. It was really fun. Once we left we were in the bus for another half an hour before we arrived at Crucita, a small fishing town. I jumped in the ocean, which was a green color and very warm. I swam around and tried to catch a pelican. The ocean was full of them, there were thousands of pelicans in the ocean. Later we went up to a bluff above Crucita where there was paragliding. It was amazing because they landed and took off in the same place, and it was really small compared to the landing area at Woodrat Mountain in the Applegate. I was sceptical, but once I had watched about four people, I just had to try it again. It was really simple, hand a guy 20 bucks sign your name on a piece of paper with nothing else on it, and you were off. I loved it. It rekindled my desire to learn how to paraglide. The air on the coast is really smooth. So it was possible to control everything. 20 bucks was for 10-12 minutes for example. If I didn't mention this before, I absolutely loved it. Seeing the world from above, with only the wind in your ears... Epic. The guy actually knew the paragliding instructer, Kevin, in Ashland. Because he goes to Ecuador every year. The instructer also said that he teached classes, only four days of classes and your flying solo, I took the card but I would rather learn in the U.S. where the safety is much more. Everyone returned to the hotel, gathered their things and seperated, Everyone heading to Quito had time to kill becuase our bus left at 10:00. We went to a restaurant for sandwiches and hung around and watched what I believe is called Animal. Some funny movie about a guy who gets animal powers after he almost dies in a car crash. It was funny for me even though I couldn't understand anything. The bus ride back was adventure. There were police searching everyone before they got on the bus. I didn't know why but I had my knife on me so I put it in my wallet. My sister had gotten on the bus before me but got off to ask me whether I had my knife, I said I did, and that it wasn't in my bag below the bus. She seemedd really worried but I told her it was in my wallet and that there wasn't a problem. When I was searched it was a bit much, I had never been searched to the point where I was uncomfortable, but this time I was. I had assumed that the search had been for drugs but it wasn't. Two days before a man had gotten on a bus and attacked the passengers with a knife... I passed the search because my knife had fit in my wallet, but it was a very close call... I'm not sure what would have happened, but I didn't want to find out. The bus ride back to Quito was even worse than the one to Portoviejo, for some reason the bus driver managed to hit every pothole in the road. It was crazy, when a bus bottoms out at 100 km, it really wakes you up. So anyways, I didn't end up sleeping. But it was a good trip! Until I got sick... I'll write about that later.

Portoviejo and Roteract Day 1

So, for my first weekend I went to Portoviejo on the coast. It was for a Roteract conference. Roteract is like Rotary except for younger people. Your supposed to be eighteen but my sister and I are in it. Anyways it was for the weekend so on friday night my papi drove me and my sister to the Panamerica terminal where we caught a bus with the other people heading to Portoviejo. The buses run overnight in Ecuador, it is pretty cool. Essentially the hope is that you get on at 10:00 at night, sleep and wakeup in another city the next morning. The bus ride to Portoviejo is eight hours. I slept for probably half of it, it is hard to sleep becuase the roads in Ecuador suck. Also, dropping 10,000 feet kept waking me up. So when we got to Portoviejo I had about 4 hours of sleep. We got off the bus and were picked up by a roteractarian from the hosting club. She brought us to the hotel we were to stay at. I was practically delirious and didn't really understand what was going on but I followed some guy from our bus to a room on the third floor and fell asleep instantly. When I woke up I was so tired that I couldn't understand what he was saying, I didn't know where my sister was too. Well, after a few minutes of recovery from my english dreams. I was able to converse with him. He was from another Roteract club in Quito. Anyways, his name is Jorge, and he is probably in his mid thirties. We couldn't find my sister so we went out to breakfast at an openair restaurant next door. There I had my first taste of Coastal food, fish, rice and plantains, Ecuador is the king of bananas, I have had them pobably over ten different ways, and all are good. After eating breakfast we got a ride in the back of a pickup to the school were the conference was. I found my sister, but we were in different groups for the conference. So after recieving my nametag I was shooed into a room with a bunch of other people. There we recieved a speaker, I didn't understand much but the Powerpoint had some good pictures, it was about community service action. How roteract can help people. After the conference we had a short break, I talked with the other people and told people that they really did have to speak to me in Spanish, becuase it is really hard to learn a language when people are speaking to you in English. I talked with a person from Cuenca, the way that they speak is called cantando. To put it simply, they sing. It is really beautiful but I understood nothing... My other conference was boring... I didn't understand a thing. Lunch was cheap but in comparison to the conferences, I really enjoyed it. Later, my final conference was about colors and their meanings. I enjoyed it, because the lady used the 2004 presidential election as an example. So, I understood what she was talking about. There were supposed to be four conferences in one day but I left with my sister and a friend because I was dead tired. I rested for about two hours, each conference was a full two hours... I could have died and would have been happier. Sorry, anyways there was a dinner and party later. So I dressed up and sat around for about two hours, did I mention that as a point people are really slow in Ecuador. It was supposed to start at eight but didn't until Eleven, But it was chill because I got some quality time with another kid my age, he was 19, his name was Julio, but he wasn't born in July. We talked about all sorts of stuff as the women were burning their dresses with the iron and running around trying to find other items of clothing. It really wasn't amusing because I was deathy hungery. Once we arived at the location we sat around for another hour waiting for the rest of the people to trickle in. Once everyone was there, about a zillion people spoke before anything exciting happened, we were served champaign and for the first time in my life I toasted with champaign. I think the toast was for the life of roteract and the new president of the club. After the toast music came on and people got up to dance, I was not in the mood to dance, tired, hungery and loud music really aren't a good combination for me. So when my sister asked me to dance I rudly turned her down, this was not a good thing to do. I now know that when my sister wants to dance I better not turn her down like I did. In front of about 10 people I turned her down which embarassed her and reflected badly on me. She didn't talk to me for about an hour. Dinner was finally served and I ate two dinners, but the whole time I was preocupied with the fact that my sister was giving me the cold treatment. After dinner I apologised to her. I was really scared that she wouldn't forgive me. But she did, after I still felt really bad. The saying that you don't know what you have until you lose it is so true. In that case it was until you think you have lost it. Becuase, I am in Ecuador, seperate from everything known to me. My only anchor is my family and specifically my sister. My family here in Ecuador means so much to me. They have really become another family. I missed my family back in Ashland too. Because my family back home is excellent, I love my family. Anyways, I had a period of being very sad, it was the first time that I chose to speak english. I explained to my sister my feelings as we walked around the block. I cried too, but when we got back to the dance party there was a miniture parade of masked people. It was all fun but the fact remained that I was really, really tired. I left the party with my sister at about 3:30... and crashed, like a rock.

By the way you should be able to see a photo, but it doesn't show up on my computer