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!

Whats New? Santana!

I just had an Amazing Weekend. Fausto finally made it up to Quito. He has been taking in college something that pretty much translates into diplomacy and international relations. We spent the weekend waiting in the rain for a Santana concert and then exploring the historic district.
Saturday was a very interesting day... we spent it huddled in the rain as the first people in one of the 3 doors to get into the concert. We got there at about 2 P.M. literally just before the pooring rain. If anyone can imagine the crazy summer rainstorms that randomly show up... well it was like that except a lot colder. We were literally in inches of water. We managed to buy an umbrella and ponchos from some vendors which partially covered us. Adam showed up with the tickets at about 4. We waited and slowly watched the lines fill up... We were super lucky to have gotten right in front. At 6 they opened the doors. I sprinted into the next line to enter the colesseum. We wait for a few minutes and we are in! We sprint into the colluseum and pick out some great seats off to one side but much closer than if we had sat directly in line with the stage. The stadium slowly filled up, we amused ourselves by making paper airplanes from the free posters. At 8 a band called Prime Ministers played... they weren't that great but we still enjoyed it by dancing and scaring everyone around us. At about 8:30 or 8:45 Santana showed! He walked out with a green poncho and one of his classic white hats. The rest of the concert was an epic blur... all the members of the band were great. The drummers were amazing, they had a trap set and a couple of guys playing congo drums. Santana of course threw down some solos and a couple of great improve songs. The concert was a total success, we had a blast! Everyone that I know who went were just as stoked! That was the biggest concert I've ever been in. The energy was amazing, it was a mix of young people and adults. Adam and I danced like there was no tomorrow... we definatly recieved our fair share of funny looks! I now have such an appreciation for Santana, the guitarist and the band, they trew it down and made an amazing show!

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!

Some pics... becuase I'm lazy

So My Christmas after the thoughts that I put down was quite interesting. My parents didn't buy us presents becuase the plan was that we were all going to go to the coast for the new year. So we decided to open the presents that I bought for them and the presents from my sisters. I bought all of my presents with Johanita my younger sister for my family, we bought a tie for my dad, a blouse for my older sister Eli and pants for my mom. I also got Johanita a T-shirt. I got a great shirt from johanita and from Eli I got a little ecuador mug! I also gave my family a peace flag from West Wind Peace Flags in Ashland. They loved it! I was super stoked to have brought the peace flags. I also gave them a christmas ornament. I'm not sure if when I was writing the last post if I knew whether the place had changed for our christmas dinner... well it did, at the last minute, we went to my aunts house. It is way, way in the north of Quito. It is a small apartment, and there were like 20 people it was nuts. It turned into a disorganized hodgpodge of people in every room, I could tell that my mom was dissapointed. Becuase of the multiroomedness it seemed way different than a christmas dinner, one cousin was doing homework for college, another listening to music, a few people sleeping, and others watching TV. It was kinda a bummer for everyone that it turned out that way. So my family left early and... well the picture of the kids with the hoola hoops is from christmas eve when I went to give the bags of candies. My dad and I recieved deodorant from my aunt! hint hint...

Whats New!? Feliz Año Nuevo

Ok so lets start with my fellings about the new year: I remember Blythe telling me last year that 2008 would be a good year. I think that 2008 was actually a great year, it seems like this planet may be starting the turn around, I feel like 2009 will be better, this is just an exponential growth, as more and more people begin to change their way of thinking, slowly, the force is growing. 2009 is going to be an even bigger change, it is the time to start looking to ourselves, we, the common people have the answers and the power to change.
As far as my feelings go... I feel as if life is putting me in this situation to challenge me. I have never felt so assaulted on all levels in my life, it is really almost too much. But I am calm in the midst of the swirling chaos of my situation. I have been here long enough to really have my decisions about what is up, I have made so many changes as I mentioned in my other post. I think that I'm going to place my creative energy in Capoiera and Breakdancing, I think I might look into a way of getting some of the music that I lost and a new Ipod. I feel the loss, really, that music was something to do in all of the time that is just nothing. But in any avent everything really is good. The honest truth is that I've been looking at everything from the perspective of learning, it is just that I'm frustrated at how the dice were rolled. I will come out of this year completely different, I just want to come out with a positive change that will help me in whatever path that I choose to take. The city for me has become a completely new form of energy to work with, the energy here is just... hard, cold, and hateful. I think that just living in the city has had an irreversible affect. I said this to ben "I came to Ecuador high on life... and now I've become completely serious" The simple facts are that Ashland is such a different place than the rest of the world. I came to Ecuador to learn and that is what I'm doing... so I can't complain. Life is Good, just difficult... and without sleep... that is just nuts, I'm going to be sleeping all summer.

Random Photos!

So these are a couple of photos that I've got. Adam and Claudio chillin' on top of my roof. The mountain that is close to my house and Kaeti another exchange student from the US during the gift exchange in Crepes and Waffles... how cliche but great waffles!

Christmas Eve Thoughts

Warning! This post will consist of a series of rambles that I will continue until I'm tired.

Lets see, I've been sad this week... just becuase Christmas here thus far has beed a kind of let down. But I'm happy right now becuase this sadness was never bad, it was just a thoughtful profound feeling that got me thinking this week. I feel weird that the only presents under the christmas tree are mine to my family and that my mom told me that we would do the gift giving on the 28th.
I'm amazed at how thankful I am right now. I felt like something was wrong in my life after my birthday passed, I just had a weird feeling that life was passing me by and that there was something missing in my choices. I've passed this and have matured a lot in these last weeks. I had been creating walls that were closing in my perspective, I was pushing myself in some areas where I shuld have been taking it slow and setting myself up in situations that weren't healthy for anyone around me.
I have changed, my life here has become so different. Image the person that I was before i left and wipe it out of your memory, I'm not sure how to describe what went down since I've been here but I'm not the same at all. It has all been responses to my new situation and none of it was on purpose. Living in a new family, city, sitting in busses all day, etc. I actually was calculating it one day in the bus. If I'm here for 300 days I will have spent more than 20 days in a bus. This a rough estimate cansidering weekends and vacations... but I'm always on a bus. Up to three hours a day, and then some days I'll get home and my parents will invite me to do some errand, which is of course in car and bus and my day is just being lost. I am still the same in many respects, but perspectives have changed, the soul remains the same as everything else around it is creating a dance of the stimulouses that we recieve from outside. I have become a piece of clay that can be molded day in and day out but I will never change from being clay. This expirience has taught me so much, I just want to fly... in a literal and abstract sense... I havve learned so much here, and I have so many ideas, many that I had before I came to ecuador, but they have become obscured or morphed. Right now I just want to breathe in the enery of the universe and become the best being that I can be, to do this I must work on opening up my soul and eliminating my prejudices and my ideas that have no positive meaning in my life and neither in the lives of those who I'm interacting with. I feel like school and much of the life in the city has begun to close many of my earlier receptors to life, and at the same time has opened new doors that I thought could never be opened.
Today I recieved a call from the president of my rotract club to see I'f I wanted to go and give bags of candy to poor kids in a population in The Valley of Chillos, about a half hour from my house. I jumped on it because I was just talking to my sister about how I needed to do something today. She went with my mom to work at my moms shop in a shopping center in a poor part of quito, she is there now, her cellular was stolen today too, I don't know the details becuase my cell phone broke today too. I met up wit my clubs president who coincedentially actually went to SOU for a year two years ago. So I actually have some one to talk with about the CO-OP, and all of the other cool places in Ashland. We met up with two other guys from Roteract. We drove into this little village where all the women were dressed tradionally and all the houses were concrete rectangles and the community building doubles as a school. We walked into the place to find the kids practicing a presentation for their holiday program. We were t obe a part of the program, in the building were about 25 kids and their mothers. We started off by giving a christams message. I talked about family and how important it is especially duringg christmas. After we talked the kids did a couple of dances and games, we handed out the bags of candy and a couple was there with more bags of candies to give out to the kids. Some kids were overjoyed, these were probably the only presents that they would be getting for christmas. At this time of year there are kids out in the streets that ask for money or christmas gifts. We played a couple of games and did the Tomato dance, which is a dance between two people with a tomato pressed between them on their foreheads. The last team with the tomato wins, it was pretty funny. I actually didn't play because I was too tall. But I cheered on the teams. This expireince really put everything in perspective, how much I appreciate what I have in the states and all that goes with it. I love my life!
We are all in search of fufilment and I am finding what is most rewarding in my life these are the things I will follow, my dreams will carry me on when I'm down becuase I have recieved my answer. My path is a good one, there are some tall mountains and strong rivers but I must keep on walking this path, for on this path I will become the best that I can be... a human being in the fullest sense.
We can all rise to a level of conscience that will eliminate the problems in the world, it all starts with the individual, when the individual has reached ones potential and is ready, one will pass the level of life in the individual sense and begin to see the world as a huge interconected being. We are all one, part of what has put us here is in all of us. We are a part of the one and at the same time are the one. We are beginning to move into a whole new level of thought on planet earth.... I lost my train of thought becuase my sister came home sad about her cell phone, but in my philosophical state I talked her through it and told her just look at where she is in life and how much of difference the cell phone will make. So it is all good.
So, I think that I have lost the flow that i had so I'm going to change and keep on going... wee... I'm sure you are having fun reading this. I did a secret santa with my class and with some rotary exchange students! I gave a shirt to a kid in my class and got a cool ecuadorian shirt. And with the rotary kids I got a shirt too! I'm stoked to have gotten things that I'll be wearing when I get back!
Life is good, I think that there is hope in the world and that we are growing as a planet of real dilinquents... after all that we have done we can still fix it. I want to wish everyone a merry, jolly and thoughtful christmas. Lets spend this time with family and be thankful to all that we have and thoughtful of those who don't! I will do my part and we can make an agreement to all work together. I love you! and am so grateful that you are reading my blog!!! YOU ROCK!
La Paz es el Camino y el amor la Manera!

We're in!

So my team made it into the tournament. We were in a bracket of 7 teams and the tournament will be between the top two teams from each bracket. So in total there were 84 teams in Quito. This tournament is between 24 teams. If we had lost our game we wouldn't have had any more games this year. We actually tied the game. Which meant that in the next game a school had to win, so that the team that they were playing against wouldn't get the right amount of points.
We really had bad luck in the game, we ended up tying because of two fouls in the goal box, two PK's which they finished, so it was bad, bad luck. The thing that I didn't write about was how crazy my team is.
After the game on tuesday, one of the players on the team fought with a kid on the other team, he beat him up pretty good, when the team left the parking lot in a car they threw water bottles at us. This kid who fought before picked up one of the water bottles and went running after them, they stopped at a red light and began to get out of the car. About 7 kids from our team went running after Carlos... the kid who is ready to fight at an instant. There were probably about 8 kids on their side. We were lined up on the street, the two teams facing off. I grabbed Carlos and told him to chill out and started walking away with him cussing his head off at the other team.
We ended up not fighting but this is one huge difference between Ecaudor and the states, at least in Ashland, our first reaction isn't always to fight. Teenagers here have embodied the flight or fight syndrom perfectly... I have seen tons of fights here. My team mates wil fight others on my team over stupid things, it is really wild. There is actually some kids who go to the nearest park after school and fight. No one here can believe that I've never fought. For example one kid told me that he has fought 30 times this year! This is an extreme example but the teenage boys are ready to fight anyone and everyone.

Stuff

So I actually thought that there wasn't a mail service here... but there is... so late in coming here is my address for the good ol' snail mail.

Av. Ilalo, Calle Rio Paztasa y Rio Corrientes, Conjunto La Viña, Casa #6
Quito- San Rafael, Valle de los Chillos
Ecuador

So, I know that it works, my brother has been sending my family stuff from Germay, so I have Confidance in the mail system. So ya... sorry about not getting this out sooner but better late than never (you wouldn't believe how many times I hear this expression from my sister...)
So... I'm still doing a good job being lazy. But, whats new, I got a whopping 40% on my last math test. I have a boilogy quiz on carbohidrates and lipids. Oh, I'm going to learn how to do blood tests. In ecuador they are really big on the poop, pee, and blood tests. There is actually a Clinical Laboratory in my school. So I had to collect smaples of everything and had it all tested. So in biology we are going to learn how to take blood and then run it through a bunch of machines to sample it... and then later maybe with poop and pee! weee, anyways we practiced last week with oranges and syringes that we bought in a drug store (can you even buy syringes?), I'm a little scared actually, but it is becuase I'm going to have to be taking the blood from my sister... were partners... and, well, this is a little sticky... I'm afraid of the concequences.
I have a soccer game tomorrow, we are in the tournament, we won our last game and we had just enough points to enter the tournament. So here we go, I'm stoked, I played well but I don't have goal painted on my forehead like my coach says that I need. I just am always looking for passes first, I missed a great opportunity for a goal.
I was practicing Capoeira on friday with my teacher, his brother and another crazy kid named pancho, who is insane... well all of them are. They throw down the flips ike nothing and are frustrated at times becase their backflip 360°'s aren't perfect and stuff like that... anyways I just was working on backflips... I have some real confidance problems, with reason, the bother of my teacher practically killed me. The short of it is that I fell prety good on my head. I did such a good job of taking care of my body... but whatever, I'm a walking wreck.
My house is all decorated! We have a fiber optic tree... seriously. I bought a tie with my sister for my dad and I'm still short presents for the rest of my family. My mom is in another one of the houses in our apartment, the 9 days before christmas all of the neighbors are meeting in different houses to do a celebration for the birth of Jesus.
Ok there was a nice short update, big thanks to all those who are reading and especially commenting! thanks everyone!

Mi Cumpleaños!

My birthday was good. I was woken up in the morning with a knock on my door. Quickly there after my whole family streamed into the room with a cake and began singing happy birthday. My first reaction was to hide under my sheats... I like a little time to wake up, especially since it was 5:30... Here in ecuador they always sing happy birthday in English and then in Spanish. So two candles were lit, a 1 and a 7. I blew them out with a little difficulty since my sister was sitting on me. I was told to bite the cake so I did, it was a long role like thing, chocolate and vanilla with fruit in the middle. Later after everyone had left my room I checked my cell phone to find a text message from a friend of mine, she had woken up at 12 in the morning and sent it to me.
At school, I recieved a lot of happy birthdays. The only thing that was really wild was the great ecuadorian tradition of getting hit with your belt... 17 times. Now I've never expirienced this before... and I don't really want to ever again. But during the second break I took off my belt and freinds and non-friends beat the crap out of me. My sister hit me first, then was Adam and Polo. After these three it was a line of people. I was hugging a tree as people wailed on me. The first five were fine, my pain tolerance was fine. But number 13 was a kid that I know from playing soccer at the break. He had a wide belt on, he took it off stepped back and hit me. I practically fell over and cried, it hurt soooo bad. I almost couldn't go on, I felt like I was on fire. At one point a kid was about to hit me, and I was like, "who are you?" he introduced himself and hit me. This tradition is quite weird but definatly something to expireince. Moving hurt for the rest of the day. And the General Inspector came and tried to break up the beating but it continued all the same.
After school Adam and I went to La Mariscal, the turist district where all of the discos and English Speaking people are. We went into an English book store, which felt like one of the funky used book stores that can be found in Ashland! After that we went to eat, Shawarmas, a really good middle eastern food that is hot meat with a flat pita like bread and with some really good sauces... yumm. I met my dad at his work and we drove back to my house.
We left to go out and eat lasagna which I have really missed since I've been here. We first went to the mall to see about switching a new pair of jeans that my family gave me for my birthday. We couln't find another pair that worked out so I'm gonna use these, we also bought two new shirts, a longsleeved pink dress shirt and a short sleeved dress shirt. We left the mall to find a huge stage in the park next to it. There was a band up there playing Pink Floyd. We went closer to check it out and on the other side of the stage they were sending mini hot air baloons with flashing sparks. They sent out 17, and then there was a long pause. It seemed pretty cool, after a few minutes another 20 or so were sent up. We left to go and eat. The place that we went to was empty, just us. We all got different lasagnas, they were little personal lasagnas baked in clay platters. The pasta wasn't all that great but, all in all, it was good!
That was my day, a good adventure. But I really did miss my friends and family. It just didn't feel the same without everyone that has always been a part of my life.

Soccer

So tommorow I have a soccer game, if we lose we will be out of the running, period, tommorow will be our last chance. My teams record is bad, we have lost 2 or 3 times and tied once. Our problem is really stamina, we just don't play strong the whole game. I hope that we win and am excited, I really don't want to lose, not really for me but for my friends and coach. The last game he walked away after the game and didn't say anything to the team, he was pissed. I'll continue this post tomorrow with the results.

So we Won!!!! 2-1 finally, we recieved a very tense pep talk before the game from the coach and a kid who is on the teams dad. I am glad that my dad was never this serious about winning. Anyways, I didn't play which was a bummer... but I was chearing and screaming with the other 11 players on the sideline. The rules here only permit 4 substitutions, so it is definatly difficult to play. Claudio didn't play either. The score was 0-0 after the first half, but we scored once, they returned it, to tie it up. And in the last five minutes one of our players had a perfect shot which put us in the lead and finally... to win a game! So we will keep on going! we can't lose another game or we will be out of the championship, the pressure is on and I think that the team is finally ready to win.
I want to share a funny story, I have never seen anything like this in a soccer game at this level. One of our players took a player on the other team out. As he was on the ground clutching his leg another player on my team expertly pegged him with the ball... It really was comical, the kid falls, he's down for 3 seconds and gets hit with a soccer ball. The ref gave him a yellow and play went on, right after their free kick the wistle was blown again, and another yellow was diched out... to the same player. I didn't see it but when I asked what he did he just said "I punched him," so I'm not quite sure what he did, but his attitude was well whatever. It was jsut a little weird.

Quitenos know how to Party! part 1

So these last week was fiestas de Quito, celebrating the founding of Quito, it was from the 28 of November till 6 of December. It was wild, imagine a city that is all united for one cause, a huge party to shake the planet. I went to two bull fights on monday and thursday. And went out three nights this last weekend. The first things to note are the flags, for the week there were the flags of Ecuador and Quito flying everywhere. There are tons of songs... I of course picked up the songs that have to do with the youth. The whole week was really fun.
The first thing I can remember was watching the bike race down the Panecillo. There were many competitions for the festival, the bike race I only caught on TV but it was crazy! The Panecillo is a little mountain in the south of Quito, I actually went there on my first night. There is a big statue of the Virgin on top. It actually has a nativity scene on top right now, there ia a giant lighted nativity scene for christmas. It was lit up for the first time on the 28, I was in the car and actaully watched as the lights went on. There was also a lighted sign that said, ¡Viva Quito!. At the same time the smiling face off Jupiter, Venus and the cresent moon was But it is really steep, and cobblestoned. On Tv it looked so gnarly... flyinging from street to street and crazy scetchy landings like staircases... it was wild, again I was thinking of you Ben, and when you saw downhill biking in Viseu.
So the first weekend was uneventful, but on monday I went to Los Toros, the bullfight. The fair here is the best in the Americas. There were some of the best matodors in the world. I want everyone to know my reasons for going, I've never seen a bullfight and it is a deeply ingrained part of the culture here. Anyways so I skipped school on monday and met Adam at the plaza at about 9:30. We couldn't buy tickets and had to go to the scalpers. THey were everywere, and we couldn't find any tickets for cheaper than $25. Well we didn't really have an idea what we were doing so we bought our tickets and waited to enter, they would let people in at 10, we also learned that the bullfight wouldn't start until 12 so we had plenty of time to kill. We entered at 10 and walked around as preperations were being made for the after party, there were many... wow I cannot remember the word, just in spanish, if you know spanish carpas but I'm stumped... anyways Im talking about big outdoor tarps, and I can't remember the name. Anyways there was one for Brahma, a beer company, one for Wine, a healthcare company, and lots of booths selling spanish style sandwhiches, I was very tempted to buy a sandwhich with real jamón but I bought a cheaper sandwhich to bring into the plaza. Adam and I cruzed around watching people make the corn empanadas, sandwhiches and packaging wine and beer so that it can be easly brought into the plaza. We were recomended to enter early, so we did, we learned a couple of things as we entered. The first was that the doors have names, Sol, Sombra, sun and shadow, have no real meaning. The place is a round ring and the bullfight starts at 12, I'm about 25 from the Equator so as you can imagine the sun was directly over head. The other thing was the error in our intelligence, in our hurry to buy tickets we bought tickets completely seperate from each other... Well whatever we thought we'll work it out. As we sat down to take in the scenery I caught sight of Lorenz, he is another Rotary exchange student from Germany, he is easy to spot... as easy as Adam, he's a redhead, anyways he is really cool, we shared a class during my two week crash course in spanish that didn't teach me anything. He was with a friend from school. They had bought the tickets the week before hand and got them for 4 days. We talked as I was admiring the bullring. After the toros del pueblo, what I went to in August in Sangolquí. That was the place where the ring was breaking on us... anyways it was a circle about 50 meters across with two white painted rings in the dirt about 10 and 12 meters into the ring. The structure was concrete and we were seated quite far away from the ring, but the elevation gain made a good view. We waited as the ring filled up, our group of four creeped around and sat where there was space, slowly but surely people would come up, stick their tickets in our faces and tell us that we would have to move. But we found a spot for the beginning of the fights. There would be 3 matadors and 6 bulls, we would see every matador fight with two bulls.

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!

Not So Swell

So I wanted to wait just to be sure but... my Ipod was stolen on Tuesday. I put it in my backpack during my soccer practice, and put my backpack on the bleachers. When I got back someone had stolen my Ipod. I've put up notices around my school offering a reward, but I probably won't get it back. I'm definatly hopeful, the thing is that Ipods here are worth $400 USD so it definatly makes it a worthwhile item to steal. I'm not sad about the Ipod but all of my music... definatly is a bummer. It isn't the only incedent either, today a bunch of kids in 3rd year(Freshmen) had there cellphones stolen from their backpacks in the classroom. I just never thought that I had to guard my things in school...
Today is Thanksgiving so I'm just going to say thanks to everyone who is reading my blog. Thanks to my family and friends and thanks to this amazing expirience. I hope that with these few words everyone understands that I'm really so blessed anbd completely thankful. Life is good, I have all the things I need and more. I'm living an expirience of a lifetime and soaking it up!
These past two weeks weren't that interesting as far as school goes. Besides my Ipod being stolen... Last week my team lost the soccer game. But 3-4, so it wasn't horrible. And I played for about 20 minutes, it turns out that my shoes are horrible, I bought shoes for grass, not hard packed dirt. All of the highschool games are played at "The Hole" and whover governs the interschool play has decided to eliminate matenance and scrape off the grass... I miss NMP. I got my sweats for soccer today and they are super nice, but excesively hot, there like flanel. I'm going to roast, It is never cld enough to wear both the top and bottom.
Today all of the kids in BI, my special program wen't to the one of the cities sports centers to cheer on our basketball team. We won but the no one from the other teams school shoed up so all of our yelling was pretty pointless. I did learn that I have a lasting impression on the 4th year BI. There are a bunch of kids on the soccer team from that class, there are 4 of them who are good friends and they remind me of the mini four. But I would just start yelling and cheering and jumping around and they would just clear out... I'm only like twice their weight... But they are fun and I ended up spending most of the game talking with them.

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!