Galapagos Islands

Tortoises, Seals, Blue Footed Boobies, and Sally Lightfoot Crabs
---More pictures can be found here.

Well, I am officially at home and have been for almost three weeks. It is definitely good to be here, but it feels super cold. I think spending the first part of December in the Galapagos gave me false expectations of what I was coming home to. I left our island during the peak of summer and have successfully escaped the cold until now.

I wanted to blog earlier, but it’s been hard not having a computer. (I’ve been sneaking time on my dad’s MacBook when he isn’t using it.) I wasn’t even able to upload my Galapagos pictures for a while after getting home. I had to find a cord to borrow since mine was stolen. Here is what was taken, and it was pretty random: my suitcase, computer and carrying case, camera cord, toothbrush charger, mosquito head net, and parts from my water filter (carrying case, sponge, rubber o-rings, and silicon lubricant). The hardest part was losing the computer though. I like to take pictures and lost about 3,500 from the trip. Thankfully I’ve been uploading handfuls in blogs and on Facebook so I still have a few of my own.

Anyway, I thought I’d end the blog off by sharing some of the highlights of our last week in Guayaquil and the Galapagos. This was another group trip that was part of our study abroad package, and it’s pretty cool to have a Galapagos cruise paid for.

We flew out of Quito early on Saturday morning and spent the whole day in Guayaquil, the main coastal port city in Ecuador. There we visited a giant outdoor museum, saw a city park full of iguanas, strolled the modern boardwalk, and spent the evening hiking at a lighthouse park. The Ecuadorian coast feels like it's in a different county; the climate and culture are completely different and so are the locals and spoken Spanish. That night we stayed in the sketchiest hotel I’d ever seen, complete with loud traffic and rowdy neighbors.

The next morning we flew out to Baltra, the main airport in the Galapagos. There we met up with our tour guide and caught a bus to the harbor. Our boat, the Yolita II, was about 115’ long and had nine other passengers, who were from Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Russia, and Australia. Our cruise was a five-day tour of the southern islands and we went to six of them, including the small ones below. After Baltra we went to Santa Cruz and the Plazas, then we did a circled around Santa Fe, Española, and Floreana.



The Galapagos seem like normal islands, but the crazy part is the plants and wildlife. Each island has it’s own character and unique flora and fauna, and four main ocean currents all end up there. Everyday we visited parks and beaches on different islands and we were able to do a lot of snorkeling. We saw lots of fish along with turtles, rays, and sharks. My favorite diving spot was the Corona del Diablo (Devil’s Crown), a giant rocky circlet in the middle of the water. Other highlights included spelunking (cave exploring) up to my neck in water, running into a pod of dolphins, and enjoying seal-infested beaches. The hikes were short but they were still a lot of fun.

I didn’t realize how strict the rules and regulations would be though. You have to be there with a guide and the number of visitors per day is limited. The schedules are set so islands can only be visited on certain days and you can only stay on marked paths. This was disappointing at first, but it makes sense. The islands are full of gringo tourists and it’s sad most Ecuadorians have never even seen them.


Beautiful Island Scenery: Floreana and Santa Cruz Islands
(More pictures here)

We flew back to Quito on that Thursday (12/2), and that’s when I first realized my stuff was taken. The last couple days were relaxed and just involved final meetings and (procrastinating) packing. I wanted to go to a bullfight with a couple friends, but that didn’t work out. Saturday (12/4) was the day we left and I had an interesting time getting out of the airport in Quito. Among other things, I couldn’t carry my three paintings on the plane because of a no-glass rule, so I had to call my bags back to pack/wrap everything and I went through a scuffle with the guys who claimed to sell “insurance.” I finally rechecked my odd-shaped 49.8 lb bag with 24 bright orange fragile stickers, and my paintings miraculously made the trip unharmed. It was good to see everyone in Seattle when I landed, and I made it back to the island on Sunday evening.

I remember on the first day of class our teacher asked us what our goals for the semester were. My response was that I wanted to be less of a gringo, and she just laughed and said that wasn’t possible for me. But now after everything has happened, I would definitely consider myself less of a gringo. The experience of living in a foreign country was both powerful and life changing. I met a lot of cool people from all over South America and had some great opportunities while living in Quito. It was good to be able to spend time focused on Spanish studies, and it was challenging to live and build relationships without any English. I learned a lot, had some great travel opportunities, conquered some pretty high elevations, and redefined my definition of awkward. Overall it was a good semester.

Thank you for reading my blog! :)

Good News and Bad News

Well, we just got back from the Galapagos today and I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that we had an awesome trip: a five-day cruise through the southern islands that included a lot of boating, wildlife, and snorkeling. The bad news however is that I returned to find my suitcase and laptop stolen out of my room. (A couple of other NILIs lost stuff too, so we'll see what happens.) That was really frustrating at first, but I've been trying to stay positive about it. I lost a lot on my computer but at least I won't have a crippling addiction to it when I get home.

I can hardly believe I'm already flying back on Saturday! My flight leaves Quito super early that morning, and after another layover in Houston I'll get to Seattle that evening. (And I'll get back to the island on Sunday night.) I'm definitely ready to return and it will be really nice to have a 5-6 week winter break at home. I've loved spending this much time traveling, but at the same time I have increasingly missed my home, family, Lauren (my girlfriend), and all my other friends. Anyway, I'll wrap up this blog and write about our trip to Guayaquil and the Galapagos when I get back to the US. Hasta luego!

Shell and the Amazon

Happy Thanksgiving! Well at least that’s what you’ve been celebrating in the US. We just got back from our Amazon trip today so I’ll go over some of the highlights:

Sunday we left Riobamba, but we had to make a lot of stops including the doctor. A lot of people forgot to bring sunglasses to the mountain so they needed their eyes checked afterward. Yoan’s eyes were the worst, and I feel bad that his first snow experience included a few days of snow blindness. (On this trip all of the guys got really sick at one point, and my stomach hated me after a big burger from a street vendor in Riobamba.) We drove east to Shell, which served as our base for the rest of the trip. We had a wooden hostel that was really cool looking, but it was frustrating when our bathroom light broke and we ran out of water.


Left: Eating Jungle Ants. Right: Yoan and I.
---More pictures can be found here.

We had no idea what our schedule would be like in the jungle because everything was planned around our flights into the Amazon. Monday the weather prevented us from flying, but it was really nice in Shell. Instead we rented a nature guide and headed into the jungle by car. We started off at an Arapaima fish hatchery, then we went trekking into the jungle. We headed out along a river and did cool stuff like tribal face painting, eat ants off of leaves, and make clay masks from river mud. Along the way we say a lot of cool plants and wildlife, including giant spiders). Finally we reached a tall waterfall at the end that we could swim under. Afterward we floated down another river in handmade wooden canoes, and visited an indigenous tribe that gave us some chicha (the fermented corn drink). Then we went to a monkey refuge and got to see a bunch of monkeys. This was scary at first because some were demonic looking, but I eventually gave in and played with them.


Left: Holding. Right: Petting.
---More pictures can be found here.

Tuesday was our day to fly into the jungle and after being weighed and sorted into two groups, we were set to head out first. We got in the Cessna and went through the preflight check with the pilot, but after he started the engine we weren’t cleared for take off. The weather was too cloudy out where we were headed. We were disappointed but headed into Puyo, a nearby town for shopping. There were a lot of tourist stores there, but we were able to kill some time. Our next attempt took us through the whole process again, but right before we were cleared to take off, one of the gauges in the plane wasn’t working. So instead of two planes flying out into the Amazon together for a few hours, we had to resort to one plane flying each group out for just a few minutes.

This was still really fun though, and we got to visit a Waorani village that wasn’t too far away. Our Cessna flight took us just over thirty minutes each way and all we could see were green trees and scattered villages. Our group was the second to go, and when we landed a bunch of villagers came out to greet us. They painted our faces and put grass crowns on our heads, and we met their leader, Dyuwi (pronounced ‘Dewey’). Dyuwi was one of the original men from the spearing party in 1956, during Operation Auca. This was the first attempt for outsiders to reach the isolated tribe, who were known for brutal violence. It’s a really touching story and was also made into a movie: The End of the Spear.


Left: Waorani Villagers. Right: The Children.
---More pictures can be found here.

Wednesday was a more adventure filled day and we started out river rafting nearby on the Pastaza. The Rio Pastaza is a river that runs through Ecuador and Peru and is a large tributary to the Amazon. There were some pretty sweet rapids, including one called ‘King Kong’s Hand’. I was put in a group with Jenna, Kelsey, and Amy and we had a crazy guide. During one of the small rapids he called his mom on his cell phone and at one point he just jumped out of the boat for the heck of it. He let us tip the raft too which was really fun.


Left: Getting Ready. Right: Padding Downstream.
---More pictures can be found here.

Afterward we visited the Paillon del Diablo (the devil’s cauldron), a huge waterfall we hiked down to. We were also able to crawl up to the top in a small cave, where we got soaked! Then we rode a terabita (gondola) across a valley to another waterfall. (I forgot my camera on this trip.) We also had some free time in Baños so Thad and I walked over to the famous thermal baths. But we were bummed out when we found out they were closed. (The only hour they close each day was the hour we were there!) So we just walked around town and visited the big cathedral.

Well, that’s the gist of what we did. We left early this morning and got back in time for a Thanksgiving meal with some of the other missionaries. That was really cool, and better than the food we ate in the jungle. Tomorrow is graduation (and Yoan’s birthday) so we’re just going to hang out here in Quito. Apparently we are going to have a feast too (hence the live sheep tied up outside of my dorm room). Saturday morning we fly out to Guayaquil (a coastal city) and then we head for the Galapagos on Sunday. I am really excited for that. It’s so crazy that I’m already flying home in nine days. Well, hasta luego!

Riobamba & Chimborazo

Wow, it sure feels good to be done with classes! Tuesday was our last day and we finished up with our final presentations on Wednesday. After that on Thursday we had a field trip to one of our teacher’s houses in the country (yes, her family has a lot of houses) and we cooked an American meal together for our roommates. Now we are just travelling as part of a two-week travel practicum and it will be 8 weeks before we have classes again. It’s like having a half summer in between semesters!

We’ll have two weeklong trips, with a short stop back at the Seminary in between for graduation. Both Gustavo and Yoan (my roommates) are graduating so that will be cool to see. Our first week trip is to Riobamba and the oriente (Amazon Jungle), and our second trip is to Guayaquil and the Galapagos Islands. A few other people came along with us on this trip, and I’m really glad that Yoan is one of them. I decided to bring my computer with me, so I’ll try to update my blog more often than I have been. Sometimes we have wifi at our hostels.

Anyway, we started our first trip off by heading south to Riobamba, the city below Volcán Chimborazo, the tallest mountain in Ecuador at 20,565 feet. It was a long van ride, but we stayed in the sierra so there weren’t any crazy elevation changes. On the way down we stopped in Latacunga had chugchucara, a traditional (and random) mixed plate of fried pork, potatoes, and bananas, corn, popcorn, and sweet meat pie. Then we had homemade ice cream and I chose avocado, which had an amazing creamy texture. After we got to Riobamba, we went to a giant fruit and vegetable market, which serves as a distribution center for the rest of the country. That was the most produce I’d ever seen in one place and the food was being sold in bulk for rock bottom prices. The guys walked around town afterward and we found a meat market, a bakery with pineapple pie, and an old-fashioned soda fountain where we had some good batidos.


Left: In Front of Chimborazo. Right: NILI Jumping Pic.
---More pictures can be found here.

This morning (Saturday) our whole group headed up to the base of Chimborazo and trekked around below the refuges. Overall we started at around 14,700’ (when the van couldn’t make it any higher) and Thad, Yoan, and I hiked up just beyond the first refuge at 15,800’. It was so nice out with no wind or clouds, and it was really sunny and warm. I spent most of the hike in a t-shirt and shorts, and had to keep reapplying SPF 30 so I wouldn’t burn. But my favorite part was playing in the snow with Yoan, who had never seen it before in his life. He’s from tropical Venezuela and it’s funny how we can take things like that for granted. Like a little kid, he was so excited to see it and really liked throwing snowballs. Plus he could throw them pretty well since he played pro baseball back home as an outfielder. Thad and I had fun showing him how to make snow angels and other snow activities. And when we got far enough ahead of the group, he had a crazy awesome idea: take all of our clothes off and take pictures. (You won’t find those on Facebook.)


Left: Yoan and I. Right: A More Appropriate Picture.
---More pictures can be found here.

Tomorrow we head east to Shell, and there are a lot of activities planned on the way into the jungle. We are also flying small Cessna planes into the Huaroni village sometime early next week. (Those are the fierce people with spears and blowguns who became infamous after attacking a missionary party in the 1950s.) I’ll try to write another update in the next few days, but I doubt there’s a whole lot of places to connect to the internet in the Amazon. Hasta luego!

A Weekend of Mountaineering

This weekend Thad and I had our trip to Cotopaxi and it was an amazing experience. We decided to climb this mountain for a number of reasons. It’s the second tallest mountain in Ecuador at 19,348 feet, but it’s not as technical as other huge mountains. (You don’t have to know a whole lot about mountaineering, you just have to be in really good shape.) It’s one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, and because of the equitorial bulge, it’s also one of the farthest points from the center of the earth. Also, it’s an Ecuadorian icon and the most climbed mountain in the Andes because of this and it’s easy accesibility.


Volcán Cotopaxi: (Not my picture, it was too cloudy.)

Saturday morning we met up with our guide in Quito and headed down to the national park. Segundo was cool but he didn’t really remind us of a mountain guide. He spoke barely any English (except for swear words and glacier commands) and talked more about hot girls than anything else. But he was hilarious and fun to be around.

First on the itenerary was to climb Volcán Rumiñahui, a fifteener inside the park for more acclimation. We drove up to a lake at about 12,600’ and started trekking uphill toward the mountain. It was cloudy and we could barely see the peak but the surrounding area was still really pretty. We hiked through a lot of páramo grass and wound our way up part of the crater rim, but unfortunately we had to turn back at the rocky part of the mountain (just over 13,800’). It was raining pretty hard and there were some thunderstorms, which are dangerous in climbing that kind of rock. Originally we were going to rope up and scramble to the top, so that was disappointing.


Left: Nearby Rumiñahui. Right: Hiking.
---More pictures can be found here.

During the hike Segundo kept asking us if we needed any breaks, but we felt fine with the altitude. He told us we were in a lot better shape than most people, and our first forty minutes of hiking can take others up to two hours with the elevation. Meanwhile our clothes were getting soaked and I realized the jacket they gave me was really cheap because it was soaking wet on the inside. The last part of the decent turned into a slippery swamp and it was hard getting back to the car.

Afterward we headed for a lodge in the park that was just over 12,200’. We had our own cabin, but there was no heat or electricity and it got pretty cold. We tried to dry our clothes with a fire in the fireplace but this didn’t work out too well. Finally we resorted to sleeping with our wet clothes because we didn’t bring very much. That wasn’t too fun, but at least they were somewhat dry in the morning. The lodge had good food and we were served coca tea along with our meals. (It’s popular in mountanous countries and apparently it can help altitude sickness.)

After breakfast we took off for the José Rivas Refuge, on the side of Cotopaxi. It’s really popular among park visitors but it’s mainly for climbers staying the night. We parked the car in a parking area at about 14,700’ and then we made the hike up to the refuge, which was over a thousand feet higher. This took about forty minutes, and we had to carry full backpacks with gear and full summit packs. This was a lot of weight and it felt good to get to the top. There were a lot of interesting people there from all over the world who were really into mountaineering. We were supposed to hike up to the glacier and learn some techniques for crampons (spikes for ice and snow) and ice axe, but there was a rainstorm and we weren’t able to. We didn’t want to be stuck with a bunch of wet clothes again. Segundo told us it was easy enough to figure out, so we felt alright about it. At least we'd have a guide with us on the mountain.


Left: Finally Made It! Right: Refuge Trail.
---More pictures can be found here.

It was cool staying at the refuge but insanely hard to sleep. On top of trying to sleep in really high altitude, there were probably 40 people staying in the same room and there wasn’t a whole lot of personal space. Plus we had to go to bed super early so we could wake up around midnight, which is the best time for climbing before the snow starts to melt in the sun. By the time the first alarm clock went off around 11 pm, I barely got over an hour of sleep and I couldn’t get much more with all of the noise of people getting ready. We stayed in our sleeping bags until Segundo woke us up around midnight, and after breakfast we found out we would be the last group to leave the refuge.

We started the climb at about 1:15 am and trudged uphill in the snow with our headlamps. It felt good to get going, but it was hard on such little sleep. We had a pretty good pace though and even passed a couple groups in the beginning. After about an hour, we arrived at a glacier where we had to put on our crampons and a lot of other people were there too. We roped up quickly and passed them while they were still starting on the ice. It wasn’t too hard walking in the crampons, but it got more and more challenging as the mountain got steeper. It got really steep, but we didn’t need a whole lot of rest and kept passing groups. The glaciers and crevices weren't too hard to navigate, but I lost my balance a couple times trying to toe in with the crampons. Finally we passed the last group and were leading the way. I was sucking air big time at the top, but kept plugging away. It’s crazy how hard altitude gets as you keep getting higher and higher.

We finally got to the summit at 5:45 am, just as the sun was rising. It was cloudy though and we couldn’t see much. (I made a snow angel at the top too.) Our ascent only took four and a half hours, which was crazy fast. (My guidebook says that route takes 5-7.) I still couldn’t believe that we passed everyone because some groups left almost an hour earlier than us. This felt really surreal and we had no idea we would do so well. Other people were impressed and congratulated us as we were coming down, and that felt really good. A couple of guides were even surprised too. There were people with a lot more mountaineering experience than we had, but we were in better altitude shape. It helps living at over 9,000 for three months and running and hiking a lot.


Left: At the Top! Right: Snow Angel at 19,348 feet.
---More pictures can be found here.

The descent wasn’t so fun though. I got altitude sick on the way down and had a horrible naseua headache. (I figured this was a combination of the fast ascent and little sleep.) Because of this I had to take a lot more breaks going down. It was cool to see everything in the daylight though and there were a lot of ice crevices that we couldn’t see at night. I wanted to take a lot of pictures, but my hand went numb everytime I took my glove off. Finally we got to the bottom of the last glacier and decided to slide down to the reguge. We did this sitting down with our ice axes as brakes and we were able to go pretty fast. Afterward we hiked back to the car and drove back to Quito. We got back at noon and still had the whole day!

It’s crazy how fast the semester has gone. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is our last day of class and we have our final presentations on Wednesday. After that we have a field trip on Thursday and two weeks of travel after that. The first week will be to Riobamba and the oriente (Amazon), and the last week will be in Guayaquil and the Galapagos. This will be a lot of fun and it’s hard to fathom that I’m flying home in 18 days. Anyway, hasta luego.

Random Awesomeness

This weekend turned out to be a relaxed weekend without any plans, and it’s our last free weekend of the semester (not counting mountaineering or group travel). I’m still recovering from a sinus infection so it was definitely good taking things easy. But we were able to do some cool stuff this week as well.

I have been thinking a lot about what I still want to do here in Ecuador, and while skimming through a guide book I found a phone number for a paragliding school. Jenna and Kelsey wanted to go too and we were told over the phone that two pilots would be availiable to fly us on Sunday morning. But we found out the spot in South Quito is hard to get to by city bus. One of the pilots lived close to us so we were told to meet up with him. Our instructions: take a taxi to a nearby cross street and some dude named Carlos would be waiting for us in a VW van. (Now, that doesn’t have sketch written all over it…) He turned out to be really cool though, and he was a good pilot: he’d been flying for fifteen years and is training for the world championships in Columbia.


Above: A Great Day for Paragliding...

The park is a grassy field on a large hill and a really popular place for paragliding. There are lots of people who go there to watch during the weekends, and we saw a lot of other paragliders, including the inexperenced. (One took off uncontrollably in the wind and another sent the crowd running away from his landing.) It was a bummer though because Carlos was the only tandem pilot that went. He had the girls to go first because they were lighter and each of their flights lasted about fifteen minutes. However, they didn’t have organized transportation to get back and they had to find their own ways. He and Jenna found a truck (after landing in a field of thorns), but after Kelsey’s flight they had to wait a long time for a city bus. I ended up waiting five hours at the park but by the time it was my turn, it was too cloudy and the wind had died. I was disappointed but I’m glad the others had a good time. I guess I saved $60, but that is super cheap compared to tandem flights anywhere else.

Another thing that I had wanted to do here was puenting. This is usually translated as ‘bungee jumping’, but it’s more of a type of bridge swing. (Instead of a giant stretchy cord, a cable is attached to the top of the other side of the bridge; creating a giant swing after the initial freefall.) Earlier in the semester I found the company that does puenting in Quito, but learned that they only set dates for groups of five or more. After waiting a long time, they contacted me this week with an invite to join a group on Tuesday night. Jenna was down and Josué and Thad wanted to come along too so we could all eat somewhere else for dinner. (We ended up going back to that amazing Mexican restaurant, for the third time.)

When our taxi brought us to the bridge, two guys were getting everything ready and it was a pretty good set up: two harnesses, lots of locking carabeaners, and good rope. They’ve been operating for eight years without an accident, so this fact alone made the $15 price tag more assuring. The bridge was about 120 feet high and in the middle of the city, so the traffic and city lights created an intense atmosphere. I was the first one to go and had a lot of adrenaline flowing. The only scary part is looking off the bridge leading up the jump, but I went backwards and afterward wished I’d gone forwards. My lower harness wasn’t exactly comfortable but overall it was a good experience. Unfortunately, it was too dark, rainy, and cloudy to get good pictures or video, but here is a YouTube video of what we did:



Wednesday we had a field trip to a museum of colonial archives, and there were a lot of paintings, sculptures, maps, and plant species. It wasn’t like a traditional museum, it was more like something you would see in a National Treasure movie and there was a lot of great hidden stuff. Afterward we went to eat lunch a traditional restaurant that had some interesting food choices. I put together the weirdest meal I’ve ever eaten: roasted guinea pig, intestine soup, a side of dried blood, and Sierrian chicha (a fermented corn drink). I shared the cuy (guinea pig) and got a nearly meatless sections of the head, back, and arms; which were really good but I didn’t like the skin. Also I like fried intestines, but the soup was funky. I only made it halfway through and was glad to finish someone’s pork fritada instead. The dried blood had the texture of sun-dried tomatoes with barely any flavor, but the chicha was good and a lot smoother than the homemade stuff I had back in August.


Left: Our NILI Group. Right: My Interesting Lunch.

That night we went to another Liga soccer game in the South American cup quarterfinals. This time it was against “Newell’s Old Boys” from Argentina (so random that their name is in English) and the stadium was a lot more crazy. The first match in Argentina was a 0-0 tie, so both team’s hopes of a championship were riding on this game. It was scoreless and intense throughout, but finally the Liga pulled through with an emotional goal in the 79th minute. This was a great game and now they advance to the semifinals, but I doubt we'll have time to go to anymore games.

This afternoon Josué, Thad, and I decided to head back to Colonial Quito once again. Our main goal was to check out the Casa de Alabado, a new Precolumbian art museum, and that turned out to be really cool. We also found an awesome handmade candy store, enjoyed batido smoothies (avocado, carrot, and mango), and got ripped off by a volunteer worker in the San Francisco cathedral. (He offered us a private tour for a small donation and after a lame five-minute walkthrough he asked us for five bucks.)

Sorry my blogs have been getting long. I’ve been getting in the habit of only writing every week. Anyway, this is our big climbing weekend so I’ll make sure to post when we get back. Here’s a rough itenerary of what’s going on: Saturday morning we’ll climb Volcán Rumiñahui (15,459’), Sunday we’ll hike up to Cotopaxi’s second refuge (15,748’), and Monday is our summit attempt (19,347’) starting at 1 am! This will be fun and I'll try to take some good pictures. Anyway, hasta luego!

Five-Day Break

This past weekend we had a five-day break! The first two days of November are Ecuadorian federal holidays to celebrate the Day of the Dead, but President Correa declared Wednesday off as well. Actually, we pretty much had a six-day break because Friday we just made traditional holiday foods: colada morada is a thick, delicious drink with a bunch of fruits and spices cooked together, and guaguas de pan (bread babies) are small loaves of bread that are rolled with filling and decorated to look like little people.

Last Thursday, Thad and I booked a guided tour of Volcán Cotopaxi, which we’d been talking about doing for a while. At 19,347 feet, it’s one of the highest active volcanoes in the world and an Ecuadorian icon. Also because of the earth’s shape, it’s one of the closest points to the sun. It’s not as technical as other huge mountains, but it will still be a challenge and we’ve been trying to get ready for it. Our tour is the second weekend in November, so we still have a week.

Sorry this post is late…we’ve been without internet for a couple days now. I’m uploading this with wifi at the mall. Anyway, this past weekend can pretty much be summarized with two activities. First, Thad and I went up north and climbed Volcán Imbabura and then we headed south with Josué to a rural hostel in the middle of nowhere.

Volcán Imbabura

Left: Over 15,000 Feet! Right: Heading back down.
---More pictures can be found here.

Thad and I wanted to climb another mountain and we decided to go to Volcán Imbabura, a fifteener a couple hours north of Quito. It’s not as tall as a lot of the other volcanoes, but it’s a really physical hike that appealed to us. According to the internet and our guidebooks, La Casa Aída was the only hostel by the mountain so we decided to go there. Originally we were going to leave on Saturday morning, but Thad’s roommate convinced us to stick around for an indigenous wedding that was happening on campus. (The seminary shares a campus with a conference center, so there are often interesting events.) The wedding turned out to be really similar to one back home and we were the only gringos there.

Afterward, we had to buy bus tickets for Ibarra and we ended up waiting in line at the terminal for over two hours, which was almost as long as our bus ride. When we finally made it to Ibarra we caught a taxi to La Esperanza, a small neighboring village at the foot of the volcano. We ended up getting a crazy driver, who wasn’t too professional (dressed in sweat pants and texting) and drove really fast. He was all over the place, narrowly missing huge potholes in the rocky indigenous roads. Once we got to La Esperanza he didn’t know where our hostel was so he had to pull over and ask. He finally found it, but didn’t have change for a $20 and told me to go ask the hostel owner. The owner and the locals in the restaurant didn’t have smaller bills either, but they managed to scrounge together $5 in coins. That was awkward to ask for money, but they were super chill and said we could pay them back through the owner.

During our stay, the hostel owner was accommodating and a really good cook. After putting our packs in our room we had an awesome dinner of tomato soup, veggie omelet, and beef strips. The cheapest rooms were $7 a person and meals were only $3 each. When we told her our plans to hike the mountain she generously offered to serve us breakfast at 6 am and hired a truck for us to get to the trailhead.

Sunday we woke up early to a pancake breakfast and a truck picked us up afterward. Our hostel was just below 9,000’ and the truck ride took us through the scenic countryside to almost 11,000’. There we started the hike through a lot of parámo (tall mountain grass) that looked really cool but was hard to see around. We soon got lost and ended up wandering the wrong direction on an animal trail. (Note to self: buy a topographic map if you go to a mountain that isn’t climbed a lot.) After roaming aimlessly for a while, we finally figured out the right direction and saw the main trail, where a group of climbers caught up with us. With amazing luck it turned out to be a mountain guide who was taking his son and nephew up that mountain for their first time. He had made the trek over 100 times and offered to give us a free tour.

Ivan was really knowledgeable and pleasant to be around. He was able to answer every question we had and told us a lot about the native plant and bird species as well. Once we got above 13,000’ we lost visibility in the clouds and it was nice to know where to go. There was some fun scrambling (rocky sections where you have to use your hands) and we weren’t able to see a whole lot. Finally we made it up to the first summit at around 15,000’ and had lunch. There are two summits connected by the crater rim, and the second is only 100-200’ higher but it adds an extra two hours on to the trip. He said it was best to head back after lunch so we stuck with him. Overall our round trip was 8 hours and he gave us a ride back to our hostel.

It was funny because back at the car he said something I didn’t understand (about a coin jiggling in his glove box) and when I asked him to say it again he managed to describe it in English. I was surprised and commented in Spanish how good his English was, and then in perfect English he said: “Well I have to speak it to be a guide because a lot of clients are English speaking. I speak French too.” This was mind blowing to have known him so long on the mountain and we didn’t even know he spoke our language. He gave us an awesome experience and we were thankful for his selflessness and generosity.

Afterward we decided to stay another night in the hostel and wanted to meet up with the others in Otavalo the next day. But it was frustrating because we didn’t have cell phone signal to call them. We had perfect signal on top of the mountain, but none down at our hostel. Go figure. So we headed back to Quito.

Secret Garden Cotopaxi

Left: The NILI Guys. Right: Mountain Biking.
---More pictures can be found here.

We got back on Monday and decided to head somewhere with Josué. On the internet we found The Secret Garden Cotopaxi, a resort in the middle of nowhere near the mountains. Perfect. We caught a ride from The Secret Garden Quito, which we found to be a commune of European travelers. We shared a van with two guys from Ireland, a guy from Australia, and a guy from Germany, and they were interesting to talk to. The ride was beautiful and took us south on a rocky road through the scenic avenue of the volcanoes. The Secret Garden resort was in an awesome location at about 11,400’, however, the only people that spoke Spanish were the cook and the horse guide. Everyone else was from Europe and we felt like we were there too. (The other visitors were from England, Ireland, Germany, and France, and the manager was from Poland.) After spending so much time with other South Americans, we went through culture shock with so many white people and spoken English.

One of the traditions at the resort is taking the newcomers on a hike the first day. After lunch and orientation, we were fitted with a pair of rubber boots (which they could barely find in my size) and headed out to the river, where we waded upstream and climbed the ravine up to a waterfall. There we were able to jump into the freezing cold river water, and I made the jump with two guys from Ireland and England. I didn’t have my altimeter with me, but it was probably about 11,700’, and on a cold day too. I accidently dropped my towel into the river and it wasn’t too fun chasing it downstream.

For the rest of the day we relaxed at the picturesque resort, and it was really enjoyable to be out of the city again. We had some awesome burritos for dinner and than relaxed in the Jacuzzi. Our room was freezing cold that night because it didn’t have any heat or light, and all we had were candles. (The resort was self-sustaining and didn’t use electricity.) One of our favorite parts was the composting toilet that had an indoor garden and a view of all the mountains.

The next day, they offered lots of activities like hiking and horseback riding, but we decided to do something on our own. They had mountain bikes so Thad and I rode up to the entrance to Cotopaxi national park (up about 800’ to 12,200’). The bikes were among the crappiest I have ever seen, and that’s saying a lot. (I’ve worked on hundreds of bikes the past couple summers and know that these wouldn’t even be worth tuning up.) My bike was not even efficient to pedal uphill because the chain rings were bent and the bottom bracket was totally messed up. The axles were loose too among other things, and Thad’s crank arm kept falling off so we had to beat it back on with a rock. The cheap aluminum frames and the indigenous roads made for a rough ride, but overall it was good to get out and the bikes were free to use.

Afterward we shared a ride to the airport with a girl named England. And now that we're back in South America we've gone through culture shock again. But it's awesome having another weekend after only two days of class. Hasta luego!

Nocturnal Quito and Nike We Run

This weekend I was sick and didn’t do a whole lot, but there were still a couple significant events that happened: Friday night we had another field trip into Colonial Quito and Saturday we had our Nike 10k race.

It was cool to visit the historic part of Quito again and it was a different experience at night. The old city has a lot of charm and the buildings date back to the 1600s. We started off with carriage rides through the plazas and historic streets. I sat up front next to the driver who had trouble getting the skiddish horse under control. He was interesting to talk to and kept swearing at the horse. There were a lot of people taking pictures when we rode by and I couldn’t figure out whether they were photographing the horses or the gringos. There aren’t many carriage rides here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were taking pictures of us.

For dinner we went to Café Mirador, a really nice restaurant in the heart of town. Before eating we climbed up to the roof to Vista Hermosa and saw a beautiful panorama of the city. I’m really starting to like Quito and it’s cool to live in a historical city like this. In the restaurant everything looked good on the menu, but I ordered a type of spicy steak. It’s good to have meat when I get the chance because Ecuadorian cuisine tends to be carb loaded. (Seriously, we’ve been served rice, noodles, and potatoes before.) When I asked for the steak to be medium I was warned by the NILI staff that meat is cooked really rare down here. I decided to go for three-quarters, but the steak still came back pink and bloody on the inside. This was suprising at first, but I didn’t really mind. I know throughly cooked meat is empasized in the US, but I think there might be more risk back home with our mass produced feedlot cattle. If the organs and scraps are safe to eat here, the cows are probably safer too. At least, I hope so. The steak was delicious though, and the texture reminded me a lot of sashimi (raw fish sushi).

Afterward we drove up to El Panecillo, a hill in South Quito with the famous virgin statue that overlooks the city. We hiked around the park and admired the 150-ft structure (same height as the copper part of the Statue of Liberty). Later I learned that it was based off of a smaller statue and made from 7,000 pieces of aluminum. It’s possible to go inside the statue, but it was closed by the time we got there. The Madonna is really iconic in Quito and it was cool to see it up close.

Saturday we had our 10k race and I still wasn’t feeling well so I rested all morning. I hadn’t really run in two weeks and I was a nervous with being sick, but it turned out to be an awesome experience. The race was part of the Nike We Run series, which took place in 16 cities around the world with about 142,000 runners. A few of us decided to run it last month after seeing ads and promotions all over the city. Since we signed up early, the cost was only $15 and we got a Nike Dri-Fit running shirt that was flourescent yellow.


Above: Before and after the race! (Photos from Jen's camera)

We knew we arrived in the right part of town when all we could see were people in these bright yellow shirts. There were runners all over the place, warming up and stretching so we joined them until everybody lined up at the start. Quito was set to have 6,000 runners and the area was packed. It’s funny because there were no public bathrooms by the starting line and in countries like Ecuador public urination isn’t looked down upon. (There were a ton of people using the walls and sides of vehicles in the dimly lit streets.) But other than the lack of bathrooms, the race was really well put together with a good route and hydration stations. Thad and I ran together and we didn’t see any other gringos. There were hundreds of people watching and cheering from the sidelines and we even got some cheers in English like “almost done” and “good job”.

Running is interesting at high altitude and I’ve grown to really like it. At higher elevation there is less atmospheric pressure and therefore less oxygen to breathe (up here it’s about 2/3 of sea level). The body has to increase a bunch of functions for the brain and muscles to get enough oxygen, and this makes endurance activities difficult. But ironically since the air is less dense, it is easier to run short distances. With sprints I feel really explosive, but long runs can be really draining, and this contradiction is still mindblowing for me. The race site was 9100-9200’ elevation, but by now we are pretty well acclimated. Our running pace tends to be slower this high, but we still broke an hour (59:13) which I was proud of for how I was feeling.

(Here's a historical note for people who like trivia: The idea of altitude preformance was discovered after the 1968 Mexico City Olympics (held at 7300’ elevation) when the endurance times were below average and all the short distance and jumping records were shattered).

Well that’s about it for the weekend. Sunday I went to church with a group and relaxed for the remainder of the day. I’m still feeling sick today, but I’m trying to rest up. I want to be healthy for this coming weekend, which is a five-day break. (Next Tuesday and Wednesday are national holidays, and Correa decided to designated this Monday off as well.) Thad and I want to do more hiking and we’re planning to head back to into the Andes. But this week is the last week of our third block, so I have to focus on school before I get my head in the mountains. Hasta luego!

Mindo

Wow, I have been getting behind on writing! I still haven’t written about the weekend yet, and there’s already other stuff happening. Anyway, I’ll try to catch up and I’ll start off with our trip to Mindo. Josué, Thad, and I wanted to do something fun this weekend, so we decided to return to the small touristy town, which is about two hours out of Quito. We had a brief stop there after our Santo Domingo trip and this was where we visited the amazing chocolate factory. There are a lot of outdoor things to do in Mindo and it is world famous for bird watching.

After class on Friday we packed our stuff and headed out. I’ve never been much of an ultra light packer, but in my 1000 cm3 Camelbak, I managed to fit a weekend’s worth of clothes and toiletries, along with my water filter, two liters of water, three oranges, and a jar of peanut butter (the only food I had left in my room). I was definitely proud of this packing job and the peanut butter turned out to be a good idea.

Every source on the internet said there was only one bus company direct to Mindo, but all of the locals told us otherwise. They said we could catch a bus every thirty minutes from the nearby terminal and this sounded good. However, we realized that these buses weren’t direct when we were dropped off in the dark at the crossroads about 5 miles out of town. A couple of locals told us to wait for a ride, and soon enough a small pickup truck with blasting salsa music turned at the intersection and offered us one. We hopped in the back and realized we picked the craziest driver. He sped down the winding road recklessly, passing other cars while we huddled in the back against our backpacks. Everyone in the cab was chain smoking and halfway down the hill the truck stopped so everyone could light up again. We were relieved when we finally pulled into town.

Finally we got to our lodging, which was at the chocolate factory, El Quetzal. The place is also a café and hostel and this turned out to be one of the best ideas ever. Our room had great beds and hot showers, and the whole place smelled like chocolate. That night we grabbed dinner in town (huge plates of food for $4) and we returned to relax with a brownie afterward. They were the best brownies I’ve ever had and our teacher always refers to them as the best in the world. Everyone raved about them in the guestbook and they are unexplainably amazing. We ended the night on a sugar high and had some good guy time. Haha, what happens in Mindo stays in Mindo.

Saturday morning we woke up and enjoyed an amazing free breakfast. My pancakes came with ginger syrup and tasted like donuts, and I also had a plate of fresh fruit and a batido de papaya, a fruit drink mixed with milk. Afterward we hit the town and found a travel guide to give us suggestions. There we hired a ride up to the hiking trails and were able to enjoy the outdoors with a variety of activities. We descended a steep slope, hiked along the river, saw some cool plants and wildlife, and went swimming under a waterfall. There was even a concrete waterslide in the middle of the jungle, and whoever had the idea to build that was a genius. But there was a sign in Spanish that instructed people to grab their feet and that confused me. I soon realized why when the slide went fast and momentum brought me on my back during the ten-foot fall into the river.



Top Left: Jungle Waterslide. Right: Our swimming spot.
Bottom Left: Leap of faith! Right: Josué going for it.

My favorite part of the day though was ziplining (in Spanish they use the English word ‘canopy’). There are huge canopy outfits in Mindo, but they are packed full of tourists and for this reason we decided not to do them. However we were lucky to find a privately run canopy in the middle of the jungle, which only charged $3 per run. It included a running leap of faith over a cliff that was super awesome, and the lines took us back and forth across a valley. I ended up doing it three times and the guy running it was super cool and didn’t charge me for the last one. The equipment was a lot less professional than ziplining outfits, but was still really safe to use. I think most ziplines go way overboard in safety measures for insurance purposes.

Afterward we each bought $1 chicken kebobs and fresh squeezed orange juice from a vendor at the trailhead. We were going to go tubing in the river, but once it started to rain we returned back to the hotel. There we split another brownie and found some more cheap food in town. We decided to relax and found a spa to get massages. Josué and I split an hour for $15 each and that turned out to be great. I was so relaxed I almost left without paying. (The masseuse was an American from Washington and I was surprised when I found out that her boyfriend’s family lives on my island and she travels there all the time. What a small world!) That night we each got another brownie with ice cream and mixed them with the peanut butter I brought. That was seriously the best dessert I’ve ever had! Pretty much in a nutshell our trip consisted of adrenaline and sugar highs.


Left: El Quetzal. Middle & Right: Enjoying Amazing Dessert!

Sunday we woke up and went tubing early in the morning. The cost was only $6 each and this included transportation to the top of the river. The tubes were tied together in a honeycomb shape and included two guides who rode with us and steered our makeshift raft. I was surprised how many huge rocks there were in the river, but we still were able to go through some class II and III rapids on our way down. A couple times we got stuck and the guides jumped out to move us.

Afterward we relaxed for the rest of the day and bought our return bus tickets, which was a good thing because we were running low on money. After paying the hotel for our room and brownie tab, we were left with about $8 combined. In our quest to find the cheapest lunch, we found a section of town that served cheap lunches to locals, and for $2.25 we each got a bowl of cow’s hoof soup, a plate of rice and meat, and a glass of juice. Sadly, we couldn’t bring any brownies home, but after our final bus transfer we made it back to campus with 31 cents to spare. Talk about cutting it close!



Top Left: Before the game. Right: Roommates.
Bottom Left: Cheering on the Liga. Right: Game action.

On Tuesday a group of us went to watch a local soccer game between LDU Quito (the local team known as the ‘Liga’) and San Felipe de Chile. This was part of the South American Cup, an annual tournament between the best pro teams in the continent. A few days before, the Liga lost to the Chilean team on the road and this was played on the day of the miner’s rescue. I imagine there was a lot of emotion involved when they pulled the upset. But at the game we went to, the Liga gave them a 6-1 beating and it was a lot of fun to watch. Also, our tickets were only $9 and we could sit near the field! The crazy section of the stadium (known as la muerte blanca, the white death) was so fanatical and passionate and I want to watch another game from there. Yoan and I were originally planning on being there until we decided to go with a bigger group.

Finally, yesterday (Wednesday) we had a field trip to La Capilla del Hombre, a local art museum that showcased the work of Oswaldo Guayasamin who was a humanist and expressionist influenced by Picasso. He worked to promote peace and indigenous rights and he reflected the hurt of misery of humanity in his artwork. The paintings were impacting and we learned about the history behind them. There were also some powerful quotes, one of which has still stood out to me: “I cried because I didn’t have shoes, until I saw a child who didn’t have feet.” On a lighter note, we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant afterward that had amazing food and served habañero sauce. I ordered the biggest burrito I’d ever seen, and the ‘Super Machote’ was 50 cm (20 in) long and extremely delicious.


Above: El Super Machote!

Later there was a two for one deal at the cinema so a group of us went to see Piraña 3D (Piranha 3D). I was expecting to see a good horror movie about piranha attacks (a good thing to see before travelling to the Amazon), but the movie turned out to be kind of a joke and was more about teens partying over spring break. I found it sad that other cultures get their view of US youth culture from media like this.

Well that’s the gist of what went on the past few days. I also added some more pictures to my Andean Adventures album on Facebook. I will try to not get too far behind on blogging in the future. Hasta luego!

Miscellaneous Week

I’ve gotten in the habit of only blogging about the weekends because it feels like there’s not a whole lot of stuff happening during the week. It’s usually just the same old routine, but there’s usually cool and interesting stuff happening. I’ll try to put something together for this week.

One interesting experience that happened this week was getting a haircut on Tuesday. My hair has been getting longer so I decided to go for it in the spur of the moment while we were down in Carcelén. I was expecting the worst to happen, but the haircut actually turned out well. I was proud of myself for explaining what I wanted in Spanish, and as my parents know, this is something I don’t like doing in English. And the best part: it only cost $4! The haircut included a trim with a straightedge razor, which I admit was slightly nerve-racking.

My hairstylist, Fernando, was an interesting dude though. He lived in Spain for a while and got his hair license while he was visiting England. (He said he couldn’t speak English very well, and the only English word he used was an expletive when he nicked me with the straightedge.) He was really nice and we talked a lot, but I could tell he was gay with his hair and earring (a sign in Ecuador). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with this, but I had to think about the cultural implications afterward. I asked Josué what it meant when he conversed with me in the second person, and apparently this showed that he felt really comfortable around me. I then asked what it meant when I referred back with the same pronoun, and found out this was a way of showing that I felt really close to him as well. Great. The tú/usted pronoun difference (two different ways of saying "you") in Spanish is really important in distinguishing close relationships with professional interactions and discernment can help keep space between yourself and another person. I totally knew this beforehand but wasn’t thinking. Maybe I shouldn’t have told Fernando where I lived.

Another interesting event was a concert last night (Wednesday). It was a strings ensemble of baroque music that played Vivaldi’s Four Seasons among other pieces. Jenna (a NILI student) was offered a bunch of free tickets from the school she helps at so a large group of us decided to go. It was a really good event and I love capitalizing on whatever free opportunities come about. The music group was a travelling ensemble from Korea and we found it weird that they spoke to the crowd in English. I tried translating for Gustavo, but even us gringos had trouble understanding the non-native speech. Afterward a few of us were dying of hunger so we made a late-night food run downtown.

One activity we tend to do a lot is going to the nearby mall. It’s not too far away and we usually split a taxi since they are cheap in Quito. Today (Thursday) we decided to go shopping and I ended up buying a shirt. I love how South American sizes are more slender, and I found a t-shirt kiosk that only had size differences with the height. Score! The shirts were all $16, but some of the styles were half off. I paid with a $10 and ended up getting change back in nickels. We also stopped at Sweet & Coffee, a popular coffee shop that has good drinks and desserts. They have really good prices and their large frappachinos are only $2! I dumped off my nickels on the cashier and eagerly awaited my drink. However, it was strange today because Josué ordered a type of cappuccino and they gave my drink to him with his order. I ordered a new flavor (cacao) but it didn’t look the same and we thought it was meant to be mixed with his drink. We soon found out we were wrong and ended up sharing the drink (a dizzying concoction of cacao frappachino with a double cappuccino shot and two packets of cane sugar). Needless to say, I will probably be up late tonight.

This weekend I am really excited because the NILI guys (Josué, Thad, and me) are heading back to Mindo. It’s a touristy town in the cloud forest about 2 hours away with a lot of fun activities like hiking, biking, rafting, and zip lining. This is where we went to the butterfly exhibit and chocolate factory at the beginning of the trip and we’ve wanted to head back. We are actually staying at the hostel that is part of the chocolate factory so that will be awesome. It will be really good to get out of Quito now that the political situation is pretty much all straightened out.

Another thing that will be amazing: a few of us are going to a South American Cup game on Tuesday! The Copa Sudamerica is an annual soccer tournament for pro teams, and last year LDU Quito won it all. However, this year they lost their last game to San Felipe, the Chilean team that they are playing again on Tuesday. It was an interesting game (I reported on it for a news article in class), and while San Felipe is a younger team, they fought a lot harder. I imagine the motivation had a lot to do with the rescue of the Chilean miners on the same day. But Tuesday’s rematch will be an intense game, and Yoan warned me not to go unless I plan on jumping and screaming the whole time. Heck yes.

Anyway, our classes have been going great and we just started a new block this week. We are in the classroom three hours a day, but the good thing is each class only lasts for three weeks. The first two class blocks were Advanced Grammar I & II and now we are in Advanced Conversation. It is a good class so far and we talk about a lot about cultural topics and current events. I am learning that I need to become less of a procrastinator, as the workload gets bigger because it is harder to put off work that has to be done in Spanish. I especially realized this with a 4-5 page paper that I didn’t do until the day of on Tuesday. I really need to work on procrastination and I should probably start by getting to my homework tonight. Anyway, hasta luego!

Ecuadorian Homestay

My Ecuafamilia.

Things have gotten a lot better politically since I wrote last. I don’t know everything that’s happened, but the streets are back to normal and we’ve been able to leave campus. Also last week, president Correa and the Ecuadorian parliament modified the new law so the government could give the police and armed forces a salary increase. I still don't completely understand last week’s situation though.

Anyway, this weekend for a cultural activity we moved in with an Ecuadorian family to observe what a home setting is like. Friday night I met my Ecuadorian parents and carpooled to their house with Amy and Josué (two other NILIs) who were living with families close by. Nine of us shared a small four-door sedan, and while I was lucky enough to sit in the front, my only available space was occupied by a 5-year-old who sat on my lap. After we arrived I found out that I had three siblings: Eduardo, Luis, and Christina who were 26, 22, and 18 years old. It’s interesting in Latin cultural how close families are and it’s the norm for children to continue living with their parents, even after they are finished with school and working. The house was a small concrete structure, but it was comfortably made into a two-story home. I realized that they lived in the same area as Gustavo’s church, which is a rough part of town, and I heard some terrifying stories about this from Miguel, my Ecuadorian dad.

Instead of doors in the house there were hanging rugs, but this didn’t bother me at all. Also, I was warned to watch my head every time I went up the stairs, because there was barely any clearance. Oh yeah, another thing I was warned about was the size of the shower. The ceiling was my height and the spigot was about shoulder level. But that wasn’t the worst part. There are many ways to heat water and one of them happens to be with electricity, complete with wires and electrical circuits in the shower. With my height I could smell the electric current and hear buzzing, and without thinking I touched the spigot and was shocked. This combination made me really nervous, so I squatted the whole time to stay away from the electricity.

Saturday morning we went to a downtown market, which is a weekly family tradition. This was similar to the market we went to for our field trip and there was just about every kind of natural food imaginable. I asked a lot of questions about unfamiliar foods and saw a lot of interesting stuff. The meat section was filled with organs, heads, tongues, and hooves, but it’s cool how every part of the animal gets used up. It was also interesting to see my family purchase chicken. The poultry were all completely intact for the vendor to gut after each purchase, and the head, feet, and organs are all brought home as part of the deal. The head and feet are especially popular in chicken soup here.

For lunch we went over to the seafood section and bought a bunch of cangrejo, a type of small tropical crab. Crabs down here are cooked in a soup with vegetables, peanut butter, and verdes green bananas. (There are at least six different types of banana here). There were no tools to remove the meat so we used our teeth along with a big mallet on the table for the claws. It was weird to see the crabs served floating in a bowl of the brown liquid, but they were really tasty. Similarly my family thought it was weird that we just cook crab in salt water.

On Sunday mornings Miguel and a few others from his church have a really cool routine: they climb the nearby mountain to spend some quiet time and pray. I decided to tag along and it turned out to be a really neat experience. We left the house at four in the morning and after meeting up with others, we hiked for over an hour until we reached the top. We had an amazing view of the city and could see a lot of other mountains as well. From where I sat I was able to watch the sunrise next to Cayambe, Ecuador’s third-highest peak. (I didn’t have my altimeter with me, but I guessed our elevation to be between 10-11,000’.) On the way down, Miguel showed me a bunch of medicinal plants that are used to help the stomach, lungs, kidneys, liver, and a lot of ailments.


Left: Approaching the Summit. Right: View of Quito and Cotopaxi

Overall, I learned a lot about the culture: things such as you don’t take your shoes off or dress casually in an Ecuadorian home. Another thing that stood out: I was really hungry one night and I ate my dinner fast. I then apologized and said that I’m used to eating fast at home, but Miguel’s response was profound: “I used to eat fast too, until I realized how long it took for my wife to make the food.” That comment has stuck with me, and all together this weekend was really nice. I definitely want to see their family again before I leave the country.

Sorry for going so long in between blogs. This week has been somewhat uneventful following the attempted political coup. But things are starting to pick up again, which is nice. I’m excited to get back to more adventures over the weekends. Anyway, hasta luego!