I just uploaded my Galapagos pictures (162 on the website, but don't worry, there will be plenty more for slideshows when I get home!) so you can check them out here:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Galapagos/?albumview=grid
I made a separate album because there were so many, and I'll post the link on the top of my blog along with the one for my other pictures!
Enjoy!
Caroline
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
GALAPAGOS.
Wow. I don't even know where to begin with this post. We got back to Quito today around 6pm after spending a week in the most incredible place in the world, the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos were nothing like what I was expecting, which was an archipelago filled with lush, green vegetation. The islands are really dry, which is a result of two cold, major ocean currents that affect the climate of the islands, especially at this time of year. There are some areas that are green, but most of the time we saw cacti mixed with dry vegetation or bare lava rock. These are the conditions that caused the animals that settled on the Galapagos to become so unique, because you have to be really specialized to live in an environment like this. Another thing that I didn't really believe before I got to the islands was that the animals have absolutely no fear of humans. We would walk by sleeping sea lions and blue-footed boobies with chicks or eggs and they would just watch us pass by and then go back to what they were doing before.
On Tuesday we flew into the airport on Baltra island and immediately split up into our smaller groups to go our separate ways. My group has 22 people in it, and we split in half for the Galapagos because it would've been hard (and expensive) to do everything that we did with that many people at one time. My group started our Galapagos adventure on Santa Cruz island where we saw a volcanic crater, a farm with a ton of giant tortoises (not Lonesome George, we never actually got to see him), and walked through an underground tunnel created by a lava flow. We had lunch in Puerto Ayora, which is the only city in the Galapagos, and then got on a lancha (a motorboat) to go to Isabela island where we were having our homestays. The trip from Santa Cruz to Isabela was only supposed to take about 2 hours, but only one of the two motors on the lancha was working so it took us 3 hours, and we were late to our homestays!
Our homestays were in Puerto Villamil, which is the largest settlement on Isabela. My family included my mom Clara, my dad Daniel, and my little brother Justin, who was 8. I was one of only 3 people in our group who were alone in our homestays (everyone else was doubled up) which was a little scary at first but turned out to be a really great experience. Clara was so nice, she took me out the first night to walk around and show me the town and we had a great conversation even though we'd only met a few hours before! She was definitely my favorite mom out of the three homestays that I've had so far. Puerto Villamil is a really cute port town that's a little touristy, but not overwhelmingly so. Everyone rides their bikes around town and when you go into a store everyone seems to know everyone else.
On Wednesday morning we got picked up in our chiva (an open air bus kind of thing) to go snorkeling at a site called Tuneles. We walked around on the really cool lava rock structures for a little while and then got in the water to snorkel. It was the first time I had ever gone snorkeling, which was pretty nerve wracking, and my mask let water in which was really annoying. We got to see some cool fish, including a rare yellow pufferfish. The water was really calm, too, so it was a pretty good first snorkeling experience. On the way back to Puerto Villamil we saw some huge manta rays and sea turtles in the water, which was really cool. When we got back to town we had lunch, and then went to the beach for a little while before heading out in pickup trucks to see some of the sights on the island. We went to the Muro de las Lagrimas, which is a huge wall made of volcanic rock that was built by prisoners who were being punished on the islands. After that we went to a little beach where we saw some marine iguanas as well as another lava cave.
On Thursday we got picked up really early because we were going to climb one of the volcanoes on Isabela called Sierra Negra. People usually ride horses up at least part of the way, but we were walking the entire trail. We got to see the huge crater of Sierra Negra (11 km across), as well as a place called Volcan Chico with a lot of smaller volcanoes and cool volcanic rock formations. As soon as we got onto the rocky part of the path to Volcan Chico it looked like we had been transported to Mars, it was nothing like the hike we had done before. The hike back down the volcano was definitely the hardest part, and we were all very tired and hungry when we got to the bottom. Luckily we were going straight to lunch at this place called Campo Duro, which was a really beautifully landscaped farm type place. We had a delicious and filling lunch there, and got to explore the farm a little bit afterwards. Once we got back to Puerto Villamil we had free time on the beach, where we played frisbee, jumped in the waves, swam with a sea lion, and watched a gorgeous sunset before going back to our homestays for dinner.
On Friday we had to have all of our bags packed and ready to go in the morning because we were leaving for the boat after our activities. We went snorkeling at a site really close to the port called Tintoreras, where we saw a lot of fish as well as a sea turtle in the water. We also saw a bunch of baby marine iguanas and white-tipped reef sharks while we were walking around, but none in the water. After that we enjoyed our last few hours on Isabela on the beach before and after lunch. We were all really bummed to be leaving the island because our homestay families and the town were really nice, but we were all excited for the boat. The other half of the group was talking a lancha to Puerto Villamil, so we got to see them for about half an hour before we had to get on the lancha to go to Puerto Ayora to get on the boat. Our boat was called the San Jose, and it was incredible. The food was great, the crew was super nice, and the boat itself was amazing. When we got there we had a brief presentation about boat safety given to us by our guide, Daniel, and then had dinner before settling into our rooms.
On Saturday I was woken up by Xavier, our Academic Director, saying "whales, guys" through the open window of the room I shared with my friend Rachel. Sure enough there were some small whales swimming not too far away from the boat, which only reinforced the fact that we were in an absolutely amazing place. Where else can you wake up, walk outside of your bedroom, and be greeted by whales? It was super cool. After that we had breakfast and the headed out in the pangas (small motorboats) to San Cristobal, the island we were visiting that day. First we looked at some of the volcanic formations around the island and then headed to the beach to go snorkeling. There were a lot of sea lions on and around the beach, and one of the juveniles was playing with us while we snorkeled! Once we finished snorkeling we walked around on the beach, taking pictures of the sea lions and ghost crabs that were everywhere. After that we got back on the boat and circumnavigated around a huge rock called Leon Dormido where a lot of marine birds nest. After that we went to the main port of San Cristobal, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, where we visited the Centro de Interpretacion (kind of a Galapagos museum) and then had a chance to walk around in the town.
We spent Sunday on Espanola island, which is the oldest of all the islands in the archipelago and has a lot of unique species. The first thing we did was walk around on one of the beaches, where there were a ton of sea lions, and there were even some pups! They were really cute, and it was funny to watch them play. After that we headed back to the boat, got our snorkeling gear, and headed out to snorkel. At one point I looked up out of the water and saw some people back in one of the pangas, which was surprising because usually you only get back in the panga if you're cold or tired, and we hadn't been in the water for very long. It turned out that someone had spotted dolphins out in the water, so we all got in the pangas to chase them. It was a huge pod of dolphins, and they were jumping out of the water all around us, swimming under our pangas, and playing in the bow waves. We tried to snorkel with them, but the minute we got in the water they turned and swam in a different direction. I did see two of them swimming below us, and another girl and I may have seen a shark underneath us as well! That was definitely one of my favorite experiences of the trip.
After we went back to the boat and had lunch we disembarked again to hike a trail that has a lot of blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and albatrosses that nest near it. We also saw a bunch of marine iguanas that have a unique red and green coloration, lava lizards, and Espanola mockingbirds. One of the coolest things that happened on our hike (besides being right next to nesting boobies) was when a baby albatross wandered towards us on the path. He was really interested in us, and eventually started trying to eat my friend Teddy's shoe. It was really funny, and also pretty cool being that close to a baby albatross!
On Monday we were on Floreana island, which was the first island to be colonized of the Galapagos. Floreana is the site of the post office barrel, which is a Galapagos tradition where people will leave postcards that they want to send in the barrel and other travelers will come by, see where people want to send the postcards, and then take the ones that they can deliver. You're supposed to hand deliver the postcards that you take so it's a "postage free" form of mail. I took a postcard going to Portland, ME (there weren't any for Massachusetts!) so it'll be a fun day trip to deliver it when I get back to school. While we were at the barrel we saw some huge splashes out in the water, which were humpback whales breaching! We scrapped our plan to walk through a lava tunnel, called the pangas, and went chasing after the whales. It was a mother and calf, and even though it took us a while to reach them we ended up being pretty close and getting to watch them breach and swim for a little while. It was incredible to see that and also be so close to them, and for a lot of people in our group it was the first time that they had ever seen whales!
After chasing the whales we went back to the beach to play a soccer game against the crew from another boat. I didn't play, but it was really fun to watch other people in our group play with our crew against the other crew, and we ended up winning the game! After that a few of us went snorkeling off of the beach, where we saw two sea turtles, a sting ray, an octopus, and three penguins! It was really cool swimming with the penguins, they were so cute! After that we went back to the boat, had lunch, and then hiked around a lagoon on the island where we saw a few flamingos. After that we collected our snorkeling gear from the boat and then went to the Devil's Crown, which is one of the three best snorkeling sites in the Galapagos. The crown is a bunch of rocks sticking up out of the water that form a circle, and there are a ton of fish there because of the way the currents are. We saw sooo many fish there, a lot that we hadn't seen in other places, and also some white-tipped reef sharks! (They don't attack humans, don't worry Mom.)
This morning we got up early to go to Seymour Norte, which is a small island where a lot of marine birds nest. The highlight there was getting to see frigatebirds, especially males with their red pouches inflated trying to court females. We also got to see terrestrial iguanas and fur sea lions, which were also cool. After that we headed to Baltra to go to the airport and start our journey home. I'm really sad that the week is over, because it was an absolutely amazing experience. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to go to the Galapagos and see all the things that I saw, because there are a lot of people (especially native Ecuadorians) who never get to visit the islands during their lifetime.
I took almost 500 pictures while we were in the Galapagos, and I'm going to post them tomorrow, so check back if they aren't up when you read this!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
On Tuesday we flew into the airport on Baltra island and immediately split up into our smaller groups to go our separate ways. My group has 22 people in it, and we split in half for the Galapagos because it would've been hard (and expensive) to do everything that we did with that many people at one time. My group started our Galapagos adventure on Santa Cruz island where we saw a volcanic crater, a farm with a ton of giant tortoises (not Lonesome George, we never actually got to see him), and walked through an underground tunnel created by a lava flow. We had lunch in Puerto Ayora, which is the only city in the Galapagos, and then got on a lancha (a motorboat) to go to Isabela island where we were having our homestays. The trip from Santa Cruz to Isabela was only supposed to take about 2 hours, but only one of the two motors on the lancha was working so it took us 3 hours, and we were late to our homestays!
Our homestays were in Puerto Villamil, which is the largest settlement on Isabela. My family included my mom Clara, my dad Daniel, and my little brother Justin, who was 8. I was one of only 3 people in our group who were alone in our homestays (everyone else was doubled up) which was a little scary at first but turned out to be a really great experience. Clara was so nice, she took me out the first night to walk around and show me the town and we had a great conversation even though we'd only met a few hours before! She was definitely my favorite mom out of the three homestays that I've had so far. Puerto Villamil is a really cute port town that's a little touristy, but not overwhelmingly so. Everyone rides their bikes around town and when you go into a store everyone seems to know everyone else.
On Wednesday morning we got picked up in our chiva (an open air bus kind of thing) to go snorkeling at a site called Tuneles. We walked around on the really cool lava rock structures for a little while and then got in the water to snorkel. It was the first time I had ever gone snorkeling, which was pretty nerve wracking, and my mask let water in which was really annoying. We got to see some cool fish, including a rare yellow pufferfish. The water was really calm, too, so it was a pretty good first snorkeling experience. On the way back to Puerto Villamil we saw some huge manta rays and sea turtles in the water, which was really cool. When we got back to town we had lunch, and then went to the beach for a little while before heading out in pickup trucks to see some of the sights on the island. We went to the Muro de las Lagrimas, which is a huge wall made of volcanic rock that was built by prisoners who were being punished on the islands. After that we went to a little beach where we saw some marine iguanas as well as another lava cave.
On Thursday we got picked up really early because we were going to climb one of the volcanoes on Isabela called Sierra Negra. People usually ride horses up at least part of the way, but we were walking the entire trail. We got to see the huge crater of Sierra Negra (11 km across), as well as a place called Volcan Chico with a lot of smaller volcanoes and cool volcanic rock formations. As soon as we got onto the rocky part of the path to Volcan Chico it looked like we had been transported to Mars, it was nothing like the hike we had done before. The hike back down the volcano was definitely the hardest part, and we were all very tired and hungry when we got to the bottom. Luckily we were going straight to lunch at this place called Campo Duro, which was a really beautifully landscaped farm type place. We had a delicious and filling lunch there, and got to explore the farm a little bit afterwards. Once we got back to Puerto Villamil we had free time on the beach, where we played frisbee, jumped in the waves, swam with a sea lion, and watched a gorgeous sunset before going back to our homestays for dinner.
On Friday we had to have all of our bags packed and ready to go in the morning because we were leaving for the boat after our activities. We went snorkeling at a site really close to the port called Tintoreras, where we saw a lot of fish as well as a sea turtle in the water. We also saw a bunch of baby marine iguanas and white-tipped reef sharks while we were walking around, but none in the water. After that we enjoyed our last few hours on Isabela on the beach before and after lunch. We were all really bummed to be leaving the island because our homestay families and the town were really nice, but we were all excited for the boat. The other half of the group was talking a lancha to Puerto Villamil, so we got to see them for about half an hour before we had to get on the lancha to go to Puerto Ayora to get on the boat. Our boat was called the San Jose, and it was incredible. The food was great, the crew was super nice, and the boat itself was amazing. When we got there we had a brief presentation about boat safety given to us by our guide, Daniel, and then had dinner before settling into our rooms.
On Saturday I was woken up by Xavier, our Academic Director, saying "whales, guys" through the open window of the room I shared with my friend Rachel. Sure enough there were some small whales swimming not too far away from the boat, which only reinforced the fact that we were in an absolutely amazing place. Where else can you wake up, walk outside of your bedroom, and be greeted by whales? It was super cool. After that we had breakfast and the headed out in the pangas (small motorboats) to San Cristobal, the island we were visiting that day. First we looked at some of the volcanic formations around the island and then headed to the beach to go snorkeling. There were a lot of sea lions on and around the beach, and one of the juveniles was playing with us while we snorkeled! Once we finished snorkeling we walked around on the beach, taking pictures of the sea lions and ghost crabs that were everywhere. After that we got back on the boat and circumnavigated around a huge rock called Leon Dormido where a lot of marine birds nest. After that we went to the main port of San Cristobal, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, where we visited the Centro de Interpretacion (kind of a Galapagos museum) and then had a chance to walk around in the town.
We spent Sunday on Espanola island, which is the oldest of all the islands in the archipelago and has a lot of unique species. The first thing we did was walk around on one of the beaches, where there were a ton of sea lions, and there were even some pups! They were really cute, and it was funny to watch them play. After that we headed back to the boat, got our snorkeling gear, and headed out to snorkel. At one point I looked up out of the water and saw some people back in one of the pangas, which was surprising because usually you only get back in the panga if you're cold or tired, and we hadn't been in the water for very long. It turned out that someone had spotted dolphins out in the water, so we all got in the pangas to chase them. It was a huge pod of dolphins, and they were jumping out of the water all around us, swimming under our pangas, and playing in the bow waves. We tried to snorkel with them, but the minute we got in the water they turned and swam in a different direction. I did see two of them swimming below us, and another girl and I may have seen a shark underneath us as well! That was definitely one of my favorite experiences of the trip.
After we went back to the boat and had lunch we disembarked again to hike a trail that has a lot of blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and albatrosses that nest near it. We also saw a bunch of marine iguanas that have a unique red and green coloration, lava lizards, and Espanola mockingbirds. One of the coolest things that happened on our hike (besides being right next to nesting boobies) was when a baby albatross wandered towards us on the path. He was really interested in us, and eventually started trying to eat my friend Teddy's shoe. It was really funny, and also pretty cool being that close to a baby albatross!
On Monday we were on Floreana island, which was the first island to be colonized of the Galapagos. Floreana is the site of the post office barrel, which is a Galapagos tradition where people will leave postcards that they want to send in the barrel and other travelers will come by, see where people want to send the postcards, and then take the ones that they can deliver. You're supposed to hand deliver the postcards that you take so it's a "postage free" form of mail. I took a postcard going to Portland, ME (there weren't any for Massachusetts!) so it'll be a fun day trip to deliver it when I get back to school. While we were at the barrel we saw some huge splashes out in the water, which were humpback whales breaching! We scrapped our plan to walk through a lava tunnel, called the pangas, and went chasing after the whales. It was a mother and calf, and even though it took us a while to reach them we ended up being pretty close and getting to watch them breach and swim for a little while. It was incredible to see that and also be so close to them, and for a lot of people in our group it was the first time that they had ever seen whales!
After chasing the whales we went back to the beach to play a soccer game against the crew from another boat. I didn't play, but it was really fun to watch other people in our group play with our crew against the other crew, and we ended up winning the game! After that a few of us went snorkeling off of the beach, where we saw two sea turtles, a sting ray, an octopus, and three penguins! It was really cool swimming with the penguins, they were so cute! After that we went back to the boat, had lunch, and then hiked around a lagoon on the island where we saw a few flamingos. After that we collected our snorkeling gear from the boat and then went to the Devil's Crown, which is one of the three best snorkeling sites in the Galapagos. The crown is a bunch of rocks sticking up out of the water that form a circle, and there are a ton of fish there because of the way the currents are. We saw sooo many fish there, a lot that we hadn't seen in other places, and also some white-tipped reef sharks! (They don't attack humans, don't worry Mom.)
This morning we got up early to go to Seymour Norte, which is a small island where a lot of marine birds nest. The highlight there was getting to see frigatebirds, especially males with their red pouches inflated trying to court females. We also got to see terrestrial iguanas and fur sea lions, which were also cool. After that we headed to Baltra to go to the airport and start our journey home. I'm really sad that the week is over, because it was an absolutely amazing experience. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to go to the Galapagos and see all the things that I saw, because there are a lot of people (especially native Ecuadorians) who never get to visit the islands during their lifetime.
I took almost 500 pictures while we were in the Galapagos, and I'm going to post them tomorrow, so check back if they aren't up when you read this!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Rainy days, salsa dancing, and Galapagos prep!
Hola mis amigos,
My weekend was really fun, and also really relaxing, which was a nice change after the stressful week I had. On Friday after lunch I met up with 4 of my program mates (Miriam, Sam, Tim, and Elliot) to go to an artisan market near one of the parks (called El Ejido) in Quito. There were only about 8 stalls, which was a lot smaller than we were expecting, but it was fun to shop around and look at everything. The things being sold were basically the same as what we saw in Otavalo, but we did find some new things, like knitted slippers. I bought an alpaca sweater and a present for my mom, Miriam got headbands, Sam got a sweater, and Elliot bought some of the slippers. Once we were done shopping we met up with another girl, Rachel, who told us that her taxi driver had told her about a different market nearby, which she led us to. It turns out we went to the wrong market, the other one was indoors and much bigger, but by that time we were all pretty much done shopping, so it didn't really matter. After that we went and had dinner at a restaurant that we all enjoyed eating at when we were living at the hostel during orientation week, which was really fun.
On Saturday morning after breakfast I went for a walk with my mom and comadre around Parque la Carolina, in the center of Quito. It was a really nice morning and it was fun to walk with them because the entire time they were either gossiping or telling me stories. The walk around the entire perimeter of the park is 4 km (I think that's about 2.5 miles, but I'm not sure) which made it pretty good exercise too. When we got home I took a shower and then called Miriam, because we had plans to go to the Vivarium, which is like a museum with live reptiles and amphibians in it, that afternoon. It started pouring rain a little bit before we were going to go, though, so we decided to go to the movies instead. We met up at a random mall and our plan was to just pick the movie that started closest to the time when we got there. We got pretty lucky because we ended up with 3 choices, two of which were English movies with Spanish subtitles. We saw I love you, man (Te amo, brother in Spanish) which was really really funny. Miriam and I were definitely the only people who spoke English in the audience, and whenever there would be a funny joke in English that didn't translate to Spanish we would both be cracking up, while everyone else would be completely silent.
It was really fun to go see the movie, but it was very disorienting, especially when we were leaving the theater. It felt like such a normal thing to do and as we were walking out we both felt like we had been magically transported back to the U.S. It was kind of a shock to walk out and realize that everyone outside was going to speak to you in Spanish, not English. After that we both went home, ate dinner, and then later on that night went out salsa dancing with Sam and her German host sister. We went to a small Cuban salsa club, and it was really fun to get to practice the moves we'd learned during orientation week!
Sunday was a pretty low-key day for me, I spent most of it doing work and watching Grey's Anatomy. I also went to the local supermarket (called Supermaxi) with my sister to get some snacks for the Galapagos trip. We leave tomorrow at 6am, and I'm super excited! Our group is going to be split in half the entire week, and half of the time we'll spend in homestays on Isabela island, and the other half will be on a ship going between different islands. We are the only study abroad group that does homestays in the Galapagos, so I'm really excited to get to have that unique experience. My bag is almost packed with all the essentials I'll need for the week: sunscreen, flippers, mask, snorkel, and lots and lots of snacks. I'll be sure to take LOTS of pictures and post them as soon as I get home!
Hasta luego!
Caroline
My weekend was really fun, and also really relaxing, which was a nice change after the stressful week I had. On Friday after lunch I met up with 4 of my program mates (Miriam, Sam, Tim, and Elliot) to go to an artisan market near one of the parks (called El Ejido) in Quito. There were only about 8 stalls, which was a lot smaller than we were expecting, but it was fun to shop around and look at everything. The things being sold were basically the same as what we saw in Otavalo, but we did find some new things, like knitted slippers. I bought an alpaca sweater and a present for my mom, Miriam got headbands, Sam got a sweater, and Elliot bought some of the slippers. Once we were done shopping we met up with another girl, Rachel, who told us that her taxi driver had told her about a different market nearby, which she led us to. It turns out we went to the wrong market, the other one was indoors and much bigger, but by that time we were all pretty much done shopping, so it didn't really matter. After that we went and had dinner at a restaurant that we all enjoyed eating at when we were living at the hostel during orientation week, which was really fun.
On Saturday morning after breakfast I went for a walk with my mom and comadre around Parque la Carolina, in the center of Quito. It was a really nice morning and it was fun to walk with them because the entire time they were either gossiping or telling me stories. The walk around the entire perimeter of the park is 4 km (I think that's about 2.5 miles, but I'm not sure) which made it pretty good exercise too. When we got home I took a shower and then called Miriam, because we had plans to go to the Vivarium, which is like a museum with live reptiles and amphibians in it, that afternoon. It started pouring rain a little bit before we were going to go, though, so we decided to go to the movies instead. We met up at a random mall and our plan was to just pick the movie that started closest to the time when we got there. We got pretty lucky because we ended up with 3 choices, two of which were English movies with Spanish subtitles. We saw I love you, man (Te amo, brother in Spanish) which was really really funny. Miriam and I were definitely the only people who spoke English in the audience, and whenever there would be a funny joke in English that didn't translate to Spanish we would both be cracking up, while everyone else would be completely silent.
It was really fun to go see the movie, but it was very disorienting, especially when we were leaving the theater. It felt like such a normal thing to do and as we were walking out we both felt like we had been magically transported back to the U.S. It was kind of a shock to walk out and realize that everyone outside was going to speak to you in Spanish, not English. After that we both went home, ate dinner, and then later on that night went out salsa dancing with Sam and her German host sister. We went to a small Cuban salsa club, and it was really fun to get to practice the moves we'd learned during orientation week!
Sunday was a pretty low-key day for me, I spent most of it doing work and watching Grey's Anatomy. I also went to the local supermarket (called Supermaxi) with my sister to get some snacks for the Galapagos trip. We leave tomorrow at 6am, and I'm super excited! Our group is going to be split in half the entire week, and half of the time we'll spend in homestays on Isabela island, and the other half will be on a ship going between different islands. We are the only study abroad group that does homestays in the Galapagos, so I'm really excited to get to have that unique experience. My bag is almost packed with all the essentials I'll need for the week: sunscreen, flippers, mask, snorkel, and lots and lots of snacks. I'll be sure to take LOTS of pictures and post them as soon as I get home!
Hasta luego!
Caroline
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Guayasamin, Twenty dollar bills, and Scary phone calls
Hi Everyone,
Even though I just updated yesterday I wanted to write a quick post to tell you about my day today. We had an excursion with our spanish classes this afternoon, and my class and another class went to a museum called La Capilla del Hombre, which showcases the work of Oswaldo Guayasamin. Guayasamin is considered to be the best Ecuadorian painter, and is probably the most famous. He came from indigenous roots, and many of his paintings explored race and race relations. His style is kind of Picasso-ish, and all of the paintings we saw were really, really cool. I highly recommend looking up his paintings on Google Images, because they're awesome. His most famous work is called "Ternura" and depicts a mother embracing her child. Most of his paintings are about the suffering and misery of the human existence, so this one really stands out because of the bright colors he used and the loving scene he depicted. Hearing the stories behind the paintings were also really cool, he has one work called "Mutilados" that he made in remembrance of all those who were tortured and mutilated during the Spanish Civil War. The painting is actually six different canvases which can be rearranged into almost 3 million different placements, but the meaning of the painting remains the same no matter what arrangement the canvases are in.
The museum was really cool, and we were all really glad that we went there instead of somewhere else. We all hit up the "gift shop" before leaving, where they had everything from 40 cent postcards to original paintings priced at over $2,000. I bought a small poster sized reprint of one of his paintings called "Quito Negro" and a postcard of another painting that I really liked called "Lagrimas de Sangre" that was a little too dark for me to buy in a full poster size.
This brings me to another topic which has recently become an annoyance for most of the group: money. The official currency of Ecuador is the U.S. dollar, which makes things easy for us because we don't have to learn a new currency, but also hard because money has a much different value here. At this point in the trip almost everyone has taken money out of the ATM, which, just like American ATMs, gives you mostly $20 bills. In the U.S. it's perfectly fine if you pay for something that costs $1.50 with a twenty, because there are very few stores that won't have change for that. Here, almost nobody can make that kind of change, only big stores or supermarkets, and even they will ask if you have something smaller. So we've all had to learn how to pay with twenties strategically, which is really really annoying. I used the last of my small bills buying my poster at the Guayasamin museum, and all I was left with in my wallet was a $20 bill and 45 cents (and four more twenties at my house). In order to have bus fare for tomorrow I had to go to a papeleria (paper store) near my house and buy notebooks (that I don't really need, although I'll probably use them for ISP) and pencils. Thankfully they were able to break my twenty, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the other four that I have...
When I got home I had to call my ISP advisor to set up a meeting before we leave for the Galapagos (Tuesday, I can't wait!) which was definitely the scariest phone call I've ever had to make. Talking to people in Spanish in person is one thing, but on the phone is a whole different story. Since you can't see the person you can't pick up on facial clues or body language, which makes it a lot harder to understand them (the whole talking fast in Spanish thing doesn't really help either). But I made the call and set up the meeting (thankfully my advisor speaks very clearly) and now I'm getting even more excited for my ISP!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Even though I just updated yesterday I wanted to write a quick post to tell you about my day today. We had an excursion with our spanish classes this afternoon, and my class and another class went to a museum called La Capilla del Hombre, which showcases the work of Oswaldo Guayasamin. Guayasamin is considered to be the best Ecuadorian painter, and is probably the most famous. He came from indigenous roots, and many of his paintings explored race and race relations. His style is kind of Picasso-ish, and all of the paintings we saw were really, really cool. I highly recommend looking up his paintings on Google Images, because they're awesome. His most famous work is called "Ternura" and depicts a mother embracing her child. Most of his paintings are about the suffering and misery of the human existence, so this one really stands out because of the bright colors he used and the loving scene he depicted. Hearing the stories behind the paintings were also really cool, he has one work called "Mutilados" that he made in remembrance of all those who were tortured and mutilated during the Spanish Civil War. The painting is actually six different canvases which can be rearranged into almost 3 million different placements, but the meaning of the painting remains the same no matter what arrangement the canvases are in.
The museum was really cool, and we were all really glad that we went there instead of somewhere else. We all hit up the "gift shop" before leaving, where they had everything from 40 cent postcards to original paintings priced at over $2,000. I bought a small poster sized reprint of one of his paintings called "Quito Negro" and a postcard of another painting that I really liked called "Lagrimas de Sangre" that was a little too dark for me to buy in a full poster size.
This brings me to another topic which has recently become an annoyance for most of the group: money. The official currency of Ecuador is the U.S. dollar, which makes things easy for us because we don't have to learn a new currency, but also hard because money has a much different value here. At this point in the trip almost everyone has taken money out of the ATM, which, just like American ATMs, gives you mostly $20 bills. In the U.S. it's perfectly fine if you pay for something that costs $1.50 with a twenty, because there are very few stores that won't have change for that. Here, almost nobody can make that kind of change, only big stores or supermarkets, and even they will ask if you have something smaller. So we've all had to learn how to pay with twenties strategically, which is really really annoying. I used the last of my small bills buying my poster at the Guayasamin museum, and all I was left with in my wallet was a $20 bill and 45 cents (and four more twenties at my house). In order to have bus fare for tomorrow I had to go to a papeleria (paper store) near my house and buy notebooks (that I don't really need, although I'll probably use them for ISP) and pencils. Thankfully they were able to break my twenty, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with the other four that I have...
When I got home I had to call my ISP advisor to set up a meeting before we leave for the Galapagos (Tuesday, I can't wait!) which was definitely the scariest phone call I've ever had to make. Talking to people in Spanish in person is one thing, but on the phone is a whole different story. Since you can't see the person you can't pick up on facial clues or body language, which makes it a lot harder to understand them (the whole talking fast in Spanish thing doesn't really help either). But I made the call and set up the meeting (thankfully my advisor speaks very clearly) and now I'm getting even more excited for my ISP!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Otavalo, Quito Sightseeing, and Roses
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was a little sick last week (a side effect of my malaria pills) and I've been really busy this week with work. I finally have time to kill now, so I'll let you know what I've been up to!
On Saturday I went to Otavalo, a city 2 hours north of Quito, with two of my friends, Rachel and Miriam. Otavalo is famous for its weaving as well as its huge Saturday artisan market. We took a bus from Quito (it only cost $2!) and got to Otavalo around noon and started shopping! The market was completely overwhelming at first, during the week it's confined to one area called La Plaza de los Ponchos, but on Saturday there are stalls set up on all the streets around the Plaza. We all had a few things in mind that we wanted to get, and decided to do a sweep of the market to see what there was before we actually started shopping. One thing that my family warned me about before we went is the prices because a lot of the vendors will jack up the prices for certain items when they see that someone is a gringo (white person). We all bargained for almost everything that we bought (usually you don't bargain for something that costs $5 or less) but it got very tiring by the end of the day.
For sale in the market are a lot of woven goods (sweaters, wall hangings, tablecloths, blankets, hats, scarves, bags), jewelry, traditional indigenous outfits, animals and other things carved from wood, paintings made by indigenous artists, and even modern clothing and shoes from American stores. I bought an alpaca wool sweater, earrings, a hat, and even an Ecuadorian national soccer team jersey! It was a really fun day, and we all felt a little shocked by how much money we had spent at the end of the day (not much by American standards, but a lot for here) but we were definitely happy with our purchases.
On Sunday my family took me around Quito to see some of the places that I hadn't been to yet. First we went to the first church in Quito, which was cool but we couldn't go inside because they were having Mass. After that we went to a park across the street that has a fake little lagoon area and my dad rowed us all around in a rowboat. He wasn't a very good rower, but we made it all the way around eventually. My mom kept saying that now I could tell everyone at home about the yacht ride I went on in Ecuador, which was pretty funny. After we got out of our "yacht" my brother and sister and I played this 'game" where you basically shoot a dart out of a gun at a wall covered in candy wrappers, and if you hit a wrapper you get that candy. We all ended up getting something, which was good because I was not very confident in my shooting abilities!
After that we went to La Virgen de El Panecillo, which is a huge statue of the Virgin of Quito that was built on top of a hill. The Virgin statue was a little underwhelming, but there were some really great views of Quito from the hill and also the terrace on the statue (there's a stairway you can climb inside of the statue). Next we drove to El Centro Historico to walk around and visit a church and a museum there. The church we went to was la Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, which was really big and really cool. We almost didn't get in though, because our tickets were $3 all together, we only had a $20 bill, and the woman at the ticket desk couldn't make change. My brother ended up going to a store and buying a notebook so we would have change to get in! The church was really beautiful inside, and almost every inch of the ceiling and walls was covered in gold.
After that we went to a museum called El Museo Alberto Mena Caamano. I'm pretty sure it was about the history of the independence of Ecuador, but our guide spoke very fast Spanish so it was a little hard for me to keep up. The museum was basically a bunch of wax sculptures of different people who were parts of important historical events, so it was a little funny to be staring at a person and not really be sure of who they were and what they did. Once the tour of the museum was over we were going to have lunch (it was 3, I was starving) at a restaurant in El Centro, but it closed at 2:30, so we ended up going to one of the malls in Quito called Quicentro Shopping to have lunch. We didn't get there until 4, and at that point I was ready to eat anything that was put in front of me! We ate in the food court and I had a pretty lackluster plate of spaghetti with meat sauce, but I was so hungry that I was just happy to have food. After lunch we walked around the mall for a little while, got ice cream, and then got in the car, which I assumed meant we were going home. We actually ended up going to El Parque Metropolitano, one of the parks in Quito, and went for a walk. It was pretty cold at that point and I was really tired but it was nice to walk around with my family, and after our walk we played on the playground for a little while, which was pretty fun. After that we finally headed home, where I started to tackle the massive amounts of work I had to start for this week.
Yesterday we went on a field trip to a flower farm and a rose plantation. The flower/rose industry is huge in Ecuador, and Ecuador is one of the biggest producers of roses in the world. The farms were both really interesting, the flower farm was much smaller and mostly produces baby's breath and delphinia. The rose plantation was a much bigger, industrialized place that's part of a huge corporation called RosaPrima. We got to see one of their greenhouses, and also how they sort, pack, and ship the roses. They even let us make our own bouquets of roses to take home with us! It was really interesting to see both of the farms, because I had never given much thought to where flowers like baby's breath and roses actually come from. It was also a little confusing for all of us because we had learned before about how bad the rose industry is (there is a lot of pesticide use, pollution, and exploitation of workers, especially women) but at the farms they kept telling us that we should buy more flowers because each flower is tied to one of the workers and their family. We had a discussion with our ADs today about what we had seen yesterday and they told us that the best thing to do is to buy local flowers, because importing flowers is so destructive for the environment.
Today was a pretty exciting day for me because I chose my ISP! I will be spending four weeks in the mountains (near where we were for our cloud forest excursion) using camera traps to study spectacled bears! Spectacled bears (also called Andean bears) are the only bears native to South America, and very little is known about them. I'll be setting up camera traps, mapping where I put them, and using the developed photos to identify individuals, among other things. I'm really excited to finally have a project so that I can start planning and getting ready for ISP!
I put some new pictures up from my weekend, so click the link at the top right hand corner of the blog page to get to them!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was a little sick last week (a side effect of my malaria pills) and I've been really busy this week with work. I finally have time to kill now, so I'll let you know what I've been up to!
On Saturday I went to Otavalo, a city 2 hours north of Quito, with two of my friends, Rachel and Miriam. Otavalo is famous for its weaving as well as its huge Saturday artisan market. We took a bus from Quito (it only cost $2!) and got to Otavalo around noon and started shopping! The market was completely overwhelming at first, during the week it's confined to one area called La Plaza de los Ponchos, but on Saturday there are stalls set up on all the streets around the Plaza. We all had a few things in mind that we wanted to get, and decided to do a sweep of the market to see what there was before we actually started shopping. One thing that my family warned me about before we went is the prices because a lot of the vendors will jack up the prices for certain items when they see that someone is a gringo (white person). We all bargained for almost everything that we bought (usually you don't bargain for something that costs $5 or less) but it got very tiring by the end of the day.
For sale in the market are a lot of woven goods (sweaters, wall hangings, tablecloths, blankets, hats, scarves, bags), jewelry, traditional indigenous outfits, animals and other things carved from wood, paintings made by indigenous artists, and even modern clothing and shoes from American stores. I bought an alpaca wool sweater, earrings, a hat, and even an Ecuadorian national soccer team jersey! It was a really fun day, and we all felt a little shocked by how much money we had spent at the end of the day (not much by American standards, but a lot for here) but we were definitely happy with our purchases.
On Sunday my family took me around Quito to see some of the places that I hadn't been to yet. First we went to the first church in Quito, which was cool but we couldn't go inside because they were having Mass. After that we went to a park across the street that has a fake little lagoon area and my dad rowed us all around in a rowboat. He wasn't a very good rower, but we made it all the way around eventually. My mom kept saying that now I could tell everyone at home about the yacht ride I went on in Ecuador, which was pretty funny. After we got out of our "yacht" my brother and sister and I played this 'game" where you basically shoot a dart out of a gun at a wall covered in candy wrappers, and if you hit a wrapper you get that candy. We all ended up getting something, which was good because I was not very confident in my shooting abilities!
After that we went to La Virgen de El Panecillo, which is a huge statue of the Virgin of Quito that was built on top of a hill. The Virgin statue was a little underwhelming, but there were some really great views of Quito from the hill and also the terrace on the statue (there's a stairway you can climb inside of the statue). Next we drove to El Centro Historico to walk around and visit a church and a museum there. The church we went to was la Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, which was really big and really cool. We almost didn't get in though, because our tickets were $3 all together, we only had a $20 bill, and the woman at the ticket desk couldn't make change. My brother ended up going to a store and buying a notebook so we would have change to get in! The church was really beautiful inside, and almost every inch of the ceiling and walls was covered in gold.
After that we went to a museum called El Museo Alberto Mena Caamano. I'm pretty sure it was about the history of the independence of Ecuador, but our guide spoke very fast Spanish so it was a little hard for me to keep up. The museum was basically a bunch of wax sculptures of different people who were parts of important historical events, so it was a little funny to be staring at a person and not really be sure of who they were and what they did. Once the tour of the museum was over we were going to have lunch (it was 3, I was starving) at a restaurant in El Centro, but it closed at 2:30, so we ended up going to one of the malls in Quito called Quicentro Shopping to have lunch. We didn't get there until 4, and at that point I was ready to eat anything that was put in front of me! We ate in the food court and I had a pretty lackluster plate of spaghetti with meat sauce, but I was so hungry that I was just happy to have food. After lunch we walked around the mall for a little while, got ice cream, and then got in the car, which I assumed meant we were going home. We actually ended up going to El Parque Metropolitano, one of the parks in Quito, and went for a walk. It was pretty cold at that point and I was really tired but it was nice to walk around with my family, and after our walk we played on the playground for a little while, which was pretty fun. After that we finally headed home, where I started to tackle the massive amounts of work I had to start for this week.
Yesterday we went on a field trip to a flower farm and a rose plantation. The flower/rose industry is huge in Ecuador, and Ecuador is one of the biggest producers of roses in the world. The farms were both really interesting, the flower farm was much smaller and mostly produces baby's breath and delphinia. The rose plantation was a much bigger, industrialized place that's part of a huge corporation called RosaPrima. We got to see one of their greenhouses, and also how they sort, pack, and ship the roses. They even let us make our own bouquets of roses to take home with us! It was really interesting to see both of the farms, because I had never given much thought to where flowers like baby's breath and roses actually come from. It was also a little confusing for all of us because we had learned before about how bad the rose industry is (there is a lot of pesticide use, pollution, and exploitation of workers, especially women) but at the farms they kept telling us that we should buy more flowers because each flower is tied to one of the workers and their family. We had a discussion with our ADs today about what we had seen yesterday and they told us that the best thing to do is to buy local flowers, because importing flowers is so destructive for the environment.
Today was a pretty exciting day for me because I chose my ISP! I will be spending four weeks in the mountains (near where we were for our cloud forest excursion) using camera traps to study spectacled bears! Spectacled bears (also called Andean bears) are the only bears native to South America, and very little is known about them. I'll be setting up camera traps, mapping where I put them, and using the developed photos to identify individuals, among other things. I'm really excited to finally have a project so that I can start planning and getting ready for ISP!
I put some new pictures up from my weekend, so click the link at the top right hand corner of the blog page to get to them!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
How a coati saved my life
Hi Everyone,
Yesterday we got back from our excursion to the Oriente, and it was absolutely amazing! We were at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, which is run by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. TBS is in a very remote part of the Oriente, there were no people around us except for a few indigenous villages across the river. To get to TBS we had to take a half hour flight from Quito to a city called Coca, then a 5 minute bus ride to a hotel, then a 1.5 hour boat ride, then a 1.5 hour bus ride, and finally another 2.5 hour boat ride before we actually got to the station. Most of the Oriente is parceled up into blocks, each of which is controlled by a separate oil company. To to TBS we had to go through Block 16, which is controlled by Repsol, a Spanish oil company. We had to pass through their checkpoint to get on the bus to take us to our second boat, and they put our bags through an x-ray machine and made us walk through a metal detector. It was very official and a little nerve wracking, but we all made it through okay.
For the first four mornings that we were at TBS we were split into four groups, and each group did one of four activities. The morning activities were going up into a canopy tower, going on a suspended bridge, taking a boat down the river, and doing a hike. For each activity we had an indigenous guide (most of them were Quichua) which was awesome because they all knew so much about the plants and animals in the rainforest. The activities were all really fun, and we saw some really cool stuff. The only downside was that we had to start at 5:30 am, because starting later would mean a ton of bugs at the tower and bridge, and more heat and humidity. Once we got back from whatever we were doing we would have breakfast, and then the rest of our day would be filled with lectures, field exercises, and other activities. We had lunch at noon, and then usually a break until 2 or 2:30 where we could play cards in the air-conditioned lab, go swimming in the river, or anything else we felt like doing. After the break we would have more activities until 5, lectures from 5:30 to 7, dinner at 7, and then more lectures or activities until 9. It was a very grueling schedule, but we packed a lot of really cool stuff into 6 days.
Here are some highlights from the week:
On Tuesday we had a "drop off" where we spent about two and a half hours by ourselves in a designated spot along one of the trails. A guide dropped us off and picked us up, and it was a time for us to make our own observations about the forest and stuff like that. While my group was walking along the trail behind our guide, Don Meyer, we came to a bridge that was basically just two wooden planks. Don Meyer stopped to point something out to us, and seven of us were standing on the bridge when he stopped. All of a sudden we heard a crack, and then the bridge broke! We all slid down into the little creek below us, and thankfully the worst injuries sustained were scrapes. It was pretty funny though, and afterward someone decided that we were all on "The Ultimate Drop Off."
On Friday after our morning activities we split up into "interest groups" and hiked to different places to see/learn about different things. One group went to a bird lek (a communal mating ground), another group went to see tent-making bats, another group learned about ethnobotany, and my group went to a saladero (salt lick). My group consisted of me, three of my friends, and our guide Ramiro. As we were walking along the path Ramiro stopped all of a sudden and pointed into the forest, where we could all see a small reddish animal that looked kind of like a fox. It was really close to us, but didn't notice us until it got to the path so we all got to see it really well. After it ran away Ramiro told us that it was a coati, which are pretty rare to see. About 15 seconds later we heard a huge crash ahead of us and saw the top of a tree falling down on the path. Ramiro gave us all high fives and told us that if we hadn't stopped to watch the coati, we would've been directly underneath the tree when it fell. So basically the coati saved all of our lives, and we all decided that it was Ramiro's spirit animal keeping us safe in the forest.
After dinner on Friday we went for a night hike (with guides and flashlights) and got to see a lot of cool things that aren't out during the day. We saw a lot of walking sticks, lizards, insects, and even a group of nocturnal monkeys! I think my group was the only one to see the nocturnal monkeys, which was pretty cool.
Saturday was our designated insect day, so we spent the morning running around and catching different insects. I definitely was not excited at first, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. My group caught some really cool bugs, and we saw a lot of interesting things that we normally wouldn't have noticed.
On Sunday we had a "free day" where we got to sign up to go on all day hikes or follow one of the two monkey researchers around for the day. I ended up following Dan, one of the researchers, around for the day with four other students. Dan studies dusky titi monkeys, and is working on a project about monogamy. In the morning we followed a group of half habituated titis around, which meant we were basically clambering around in the forest trying to find the monkeys. In the afternoon we went to a habituated group that had a new baby that wasn't even a week old! It was so incredible to see the difference between the two groups, the habituated group didn't care at all that we were there and let us get pretty close to them. It was a really really fun day, and it was really cool to get to see what kind of research they do at the station.
Even though the heat and humidity were at times unbearable, the trip was absolutely incredible, and it was definitely one of the best weeks of my life. It was amazing to be in a forest that was so completely undisturbed by humans, and we got to see a lot of things that most people don't. It was also really cool to be in a place with so many types of monkeys (there are 8 species at TBS, I saw all but one) that live practically in your backyard. It was really sad to leave yesterday, but I'm really glad that I got to see everything and experience everything that I did there.
I put some new pictures up on my photobucket account, so check them out if you get a chance!
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Yesterday we got back from our excursion to the Oriente, and it was absolutely amazing! We were at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, which is run by the Universidad San Francisco de Quito. TBS is in a very remote part of the Oriente, there were no people around us except for a few indigenous villages across the river. To get to TBS we had to take a half hour flight from Quito to a city called Coca, then a 5 minute bus ride to a hotel, then a 1.5 hour boat ride, then a 1.5 hour bus ride, and finally another 2.5 hour boat ride before we actually got to the station. Most of the Oriente is parceled up into blocks, each of which is controlled by a separate oil company. To to TBS we had to go through Block 16, which is controlled by Repsol, a Spanish oil company. We had to pass through their checkpoint to get on the bus to take us to our second boat, and they put our bags through an x-ray machine and made us walk through a metal detector. It was very official and a little nerve wracking, but we all made it through okay.
For the first four mornings that we were at TBS we were split into four groups, and each group did one of four activities. The morning activities were going up into a canopy tower, going on a suspended bridge, taking a boat down the river, and doing a hike. For each activity we had an indigenous guide (most of them were Quichua) which was awesome because they all knew so much about the plants and animals in the rainforest. The activities were all really fun, and we saw some really cool stuff. The only downside was that we had to start at 5:30 am, because starting later would mean a ton of bugs at the tower and bridge, and more heat and humidity. Once we got back from whatever we were doing we would have breakfast, and then the rest of our day would be filled with lectures, field exercises, and other activities. We had lunch at noon, and then usually a break until 2 or 2:30 where we could play cards in the air-conditioned lab, go swimming in the river, or anything else we felt like doing. After the break we would have more activities until 5, lectures from 5:30 to 7, dinner at 7, and then more lectures or activities until 9. It was a very grueling schedule, but we packed a lot of really cool stuff into 6 days.
Here are some highlights from the week:
On Tuesday we had a "drop off" where we spent about two and a half hours by ourselves in a designated spot along one of the trails. A guide dropped us off and picked us up, and it was a time for us to make our own observations about the forest and stuff like that. While my group was walking along the trail behind our guide, Don Meyer, we came to a bridge that was basically just two wooden planks. Don Meyer stopped to point something out to us, and seven of us were standing on the bridge when he stopped. All of a sudden we heard a crack, and then the bridge broke! We all slid down into the little creek below us, and thankfully the worst injuries sustained were scrapes. It was pretty funny though, and afterward someone decided that we were all on "The Ultimate Drop Off."
On Friday after our morning activities we split up into "interest groups" and hiked to different places to see/learn about different things. One group went to a bird lek (a communal mating ground), another group went to see tent-making bats, another group learned about ethnobotany, and my group went to a saladero (salt lick). My group consisted of me, three of my friends, and our guide Ramiro. As we were walking along the path Ramiro stopped all of a sudden and pointed into the forest, where we could all see a small reddish animal that looked kind of like a fox. It was really close to us, but didn't notice us until it got to the path so we all got to see it really well. After it ran away Ramiro told us that it was a coati, which are pretty rare to see. About 15 seconds later we heard a huge crash ahead of us and saw the top of a tree falling down on the path. Ramiro gave us all high fives and told us that if we hadn't stopped to watch the coati, we would've been directly underneath the tree when it fell. So basically the coati saved all of our lives, and we all decided that it was Ramiro's spirit animal keeping us safe in the forest.
After dinner on Friday we went for a night hike (with guides and flashlights) and got to see a lot of cool things that aren't out during the day. We saw a lot of walking sticks, lizards, insects, and even a group of nocturnal monkeys! I think my group was the only one to see the nocturnal monkeys, which was pretty cool.
Saturday was our designated insect day, so we spent the morning running around and catching different insects. I definitely was not excited at first, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. My group caught some really cool bugs, and we saw a lot of interesting things that we normally wouldn't have noticed.
On Sunday we had a "free day" where we got to sign up to go on all day hikes or follow one of the two monkey researchers around for the day. I ended up following Dan, one of the researchers, around for the day with four other students. Dan studies dusky titi monkeys, and is working on a project about monogamy. In the morning we followed a group of half habituated titis around, which meant we were basically clambering around in the forest trying to find the monkeys. In the afternoon we went to a habituated group that had a new baby that wasn't even a week old! It was so incredible to see the difference between the two groups, the habituated group didn't care at all that we were there and let us get pretty close to them. It was a really really fun day, and it was really cool to get to see what kind of research they do at the station.
Even though the heat and humidity were at times unbearable, the trip was absolutely incredible, and it was definitely one of the best weeks of my life. It was amazing to be in a forest that was so completely undisturbed by humans, and we got to see a lot of things that most people don't. It was also really cool to be in a place with so many types of monkeys (there are 8 species at TBS, I saw all but one) that live practically in your backyard. It was really sad to leave yesterday, but I'm really glad that I got to see everything and experience everything that I did there.
I put some new pictures up on my photobucket account, so check them out if you get a chance!
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid
Hasta luego,
Caroline
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