Pictures

Some pictures I stole from my friends :)

On top of the world at Otavalo

 Hiked Pinchincha Mountain!

 La Parque Condour

Horseback riding around a volcano!

Tiputini Biodiversity Station

This past week, I started off my Tropical Ecology class with a trip to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station*.  The station is right on the Tiputini river, which is a tributary of the Napo river. It is so secluded that it took us about 8 hours to get there. It started off with a bus ride to the airport (1/2 hour), a 45 minute flight, a 15 minute bus ride, a 2 hour boat ride, a 2 hour bus ride, and another 2 hour boat ride. The station is absolutely amazing, and the week flew by. I learned so much at the station, however, I am glad to be going back to Quito where I will not be perpetually wet. We did public policy exercises at the station concerning oil companies and the rainforest, we hiked a lot, we climbed a tower into the canopy, floated down the Tiputini river, did a field exercise that involved measuring trees and statistical analysis, and more! My favorite part was the library there. It had tons of books about ecology, entomology, vertebrate biology, and more. I would usually go in there at least once a day and read about what I had seen that day, or other stuff I found interesting.  

Here are some pictures! Shoutout to my brother, Ben, for letting me borrow his gopro. 

*Funny side story: We had to wait at this dingy resort for one of our boats, and there was a restaurant there. Our professor, Esteban, told us that we could eat there if we wanted to. Later we found out that he got typhoid from the restaurant once. (We didn't eat there Mom, don't worry) #dontdrinkthejuice

Boat ride to the station

Hiking through the station

Me and my friend, Erin, after the flotada!

 Swimming in the river (with the anacondas and piranhas)

 About 45 meters up in the canopy

Flotada!!

Center of the World

Hola, amigos!

We are going to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station tomorrow. Isn’t it crazy that on the first day of class we have a field trip!? It is good that the classes are separated into modules, so we can go on trips like this. If we were taking all 5 of our classes at the same time, we wouldn’t be able to go on weeklong excursions!

Tiputini is an eco-station in the middle of the Amazon basin. It is quite the journey to get there from here! First, we take a flight, then a boat, then a bus, and then another boat. I wish I had my kindle with lots of books! The trip can take anywhere from 6.5 to 8 hours. (Dios mio). We will be there Monday through Friday. The trip includes day and night hikes, bird watching, swimming, and learning as much as we can about tropical ecology in general!

Although I am not excited for the trip itself, I cannot wait to go! I stayed in an eco-lodge when I went to Peru a few years ago and it was an absolutely amazing experience. If you were quiet enough, you could sit on your porch and animals would appear on the edge of the forest. I hope to have a similar experience on this trip to the Amazon basin!

I won’t have access to wifi while I am there, so I’ll be posting lots of pictures when I get back.

Here are some pictures from my adventure to the equator today! It was freezing, but still an amazing experience. We took some really cool pictures, explored the museum and the planetarium, and ate Cuy! (guinea pig).

Ciao!

The flags at the Equator

 Upside down on the line

Latitude 0' 00" 

 Hardly home, but always reppin'

 No new friends, but at least half of my butt is in each hemisphere

We ate guinea pig! (Cuy). It was actually really good!

Typical "look Mom, I'm standing in two hemispheres at once!" picture

Life in Ecuador: The Beginning

Hola de Ecuador!

I have been in Ecuador for 4 days now, and slowly but surely adapting to speaking in broken spanish, eating rice and beans for every meal, and eating dinner at 8 pm. 

There are many international students here from all different programs. The program that I am on, IPSL, is a service learning program. There are actually only three of us with the program, and the rest of the students (GAIAS gringos)  we are with are staying for 6 extra weeks to do a research project. The IPSL students take 2 extra courses in volunteerism and development, as well as complete 120 hours in a service placement. Most of the students are from UNC Chapel Hill, but there are also students from Juniata, OWU, Oregon, Notre Dame, Kansas, Australia, and more!

My host mom's name is Ana Lucia, and she doesn't speak any English. Luckily, I am staying with another girl, Cori, in her house, and Cori speaks Spanish almost fluently. I am learning a lot of spanish every day. My host dad, Carlos really wants me to learn! Every time I go somewhere with him, he makes me learn at least 15-20 new vocabulary words. And then quizzes me on them! Ana Lucia does not work, but Carlos does. He used to be a magistrate for Ecuador, but since he was over 60, they made him retire from the government. Now, he works independently as a lawyer. Ecuadorian culture is very different from the "don't-touch-me" New York culture. Every time we see our host parents, we are expected to say Hola! Buenos Dias! (or buenas tardes/buenas noches depending on the time of day) and give them a hug or kiss. It was a little weird at first, but I am getting used to it now.

Because I have been here for four days now, I am getting much better at Spanish! I am able to string together sentences now, and my host mom actually complimented me on putting together "una larga condena" today! (I told her that I had water in my water bottle). My host parents are so nice, and Cori and I are lucky to have a mom who brings us to get helado when she picks us up from school. I am actually able to have full conversations in spanish with the help of my spanish-english cheat sheet (thanks mom) and my super awesome charades skills. I definitely don't speak with proper grammar, but I can get my point across. At home, we have decided that I am not allowed to speak english anymore, which has really been forcing me to learn and use my spanish!

Cori and I took the bus for the first time today. The buses are crazy! They cost 25 cents to take, and if you want to get on, you have to either go to a bus stop or be really good at flagging one down and sometimes they will stop, or most likely slow down to about 5 or 10 mph. They slowed to a roll for us this morning (perks of being a bonita gringita), and we hopped on the bus à la Divergent. Excuse my french. It took us about 15 minutes to get to school. To get off, you have to say "GRACIAS!" really loudly, and the bus will stop. This time, since it was a crowded bus station, it stopped completely, and I didn't have to channel my inner Tris Prior. 

We went on a city tour of Quito today, got to see some beautiful churches, and then got our passports back from the consulate. One of the churches we saw was Franciscan, and for a minute, I felt like I was back home when I saw a Friar in a brown robe with the three knots for no class, no ass, and no sass. Poverty, chastity, and obedience for those who Fr. Greg didn't speak to at orientation. For lunch, we ate on the top floor of this really nice restaurant! I have no idea how Mariuxi, our coordinator, pulled that one off. The weirdest/best part of lunch was dessert. All of the sudden, these bells started chiming ominously. Then, people in these giant purple KKK outfits came in with ice-cream from fog was emerging. Liquid nitrogen ftw. It is an Ecuadorian tradition that people wear those outfits during their Good Friday procession as they carry the cross and act out the crucifixion. The outfit is called cucurucho. After we got back, it was pouring and hailing, so we went for drinks and appetizers at the bar across the street from the university. It's so nice to be legal!

Tomorrow, we are going to Otavalo, a huge market that carries all sorts of indigenous apparel. It is about a two hour drive from Cumbaya, where the university is, so we are going to attempt to navigate the bus system!

Adios!

 The traditional cucurucho outfit

 Gringos with a selfie stick

 The view from the restaurant

 Post-school drinks with my friend, Jake. We're legal!

The gorgeous ceiling of one of the Jesuit churches we visited

En route to Ecuador!

Such a mix of emotions about my first day! It was really sad to leave my family back home and all of my friends back at Siena, but I am super excited for all of the amazing classes I get to take and the warm weather. My day started at 5:30 AM, when I snoozed my alarm twice and sprinted out of bed at 6:11. I was so excited and nervous to go that I only got about an hour and a half of sleep last night! My dad and I drove to the airport this morning. We got to sit in some lovely city traffic, but we still made it with plenty of time to spare. I got a kiss, a hug, and a handshake with money in it (classic mackert, thanks dad) before I walked through security to take a shuttle over to my gate. I first flew to Atlanta, where I had a four-hour layover (plus an hour delay) before my flight to Quito, Ecuador. During the layover, I met a few other girls who are also in the same program. It was nice to be able to discuss what we did and didn’t bring, and our expectations for the program!

During the layover, I also found out that my host mom was not able to host me anymore, which would explain why she hadn’t responded to any of my emails! Luckily, I was able to get in touch the housing director, and she got me set up with a new host mom at the last minute. We are due to get in around midnight, and my host mom and the housing director will be there to pick me up! Then, we are supposed to meet at my school, USFQ at 7:45 am tomorrow morning to get our visas approved. Talk about exhausting!

These past 48 hours have been a whirlwind of packing, planning, and goodbyes! I am definitely a lot more nervous than I thought I would be. For many of my friends, all they could talk about last semester was going abroad (looking at you Nora Gleason!), but for me, I was so focused on my studies that I didn’t really think about how I was going to feel as I left. I am definitely most apprehensive about living with a host family. I think I will feel more comfortable after I see where I am staying, figure out how to get around the city, and get some sleep.

Even though I have been fiercely independent my whole life, I will admit that I am a little hesitant to move to a new country where I don’t speak the language, have no friends, and don’t have a working cell phone. I take comfort in an aphorism that I used to repeat to myself when preparing to learn a new dive. “If it excites you and scares the crap out of you at the same time, it probably means you should do it”. Get ready Ecuador, because I’m coming for you.

Adios!

Tomorrow is the day I leave for Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands! Much love to all who made this possible by keeping me sane last semester, and a whole lot of lovin’ to all those who I won’t see for a whole entire year because we went abroad in subsequent semesters. I am entertaining the notion that I am a blogger/photographer extraordinaire (thanks, GoPro) while I embark on my four month journey, and if you would like to follow my travels, I will be posting pictures and sharing my thoughts here.

I’d like to give a quick shout out to my parents for making this possible, and for always supporting me and my dreams, no matter how crazy they are. It has been said, “Travel far enough, and you’ll meet yourself”. Adios, New York, USA, and Hola Quito, Ecuador!