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
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Today, I ate guinea pig.
This is going to be a short entry because I leave for the Oriente at 7:30 tomorrow morning and I've barely packed anything! This weekend was really fun, Malte, the German host student that my family had before me, came back for the weekend, and it was really nice to have him around.
On Saturday morning we went to a soccer game that Carmita was playing in with some of the women she works with at the airport. The game was in a military base next to the airport, and the fields were right next to two of the runways, so planes were taking off and landing while we were watching soccer, which was pretty cool. There was also a plane graveyard next to the fields, so Emilia, Belen, Valeria, and I all went to take pictures with the airplanes. There was one that you could actually climb into, so naturally we all did that, even if we weren't supposed to. After the game we picked Rodrigo up from work and then went home to have a quick lunch before Carmita, Rodrigo, Malte, Emilia and I left to go to Molinuco, a reserve in the mountains where they have all sorts of cool waterfalls and stuff. We hiked around for about an hour before getting to the biggest waterfall, called Pita. It was sooo beautiful, and really really amazing. We all took pictures around it, and then decided that we had to go in the water, which was absolutely freezing! And even though we were far away from the actual waterfall, the spray was so powerful that we all ended up soaking wet, which made the hike back pretty uncomfortable. All in all, it was a very fun day.
Today we were having Rodrigo's family over for a special lunch because his cousin who lives in the U.S. was visiting. Because it was such a special occasion we were serving cuy, which is the Ecuadorian name for guinea pigs. We all helped with the preparations, Malte was the barbeque master who cooked the cuy and the chicken, and I helped wash some of the furniture with my sisters. The family started arriving around 1, and we all sat outside and chatted while lunch was being finished. I was sitting next to one of Rodrigo's sisters who was very nice, but also talked very quietly so it was really hard to understand her sometimes, especially when other people were being noisy. Lunch started with soup (naturally) and then the main course was served, which included potatoes, rice, lettuce, avocado, chicken, and cuy. The cuy had been cut up into various sections, and at first I had a chest portion, which Rodrigo said I couldn't eat because it wasn't good. Next I got a front leg, which is better but still not the best, so eventually I ended up with a hind leg. They told me to eat the muscle part, which was really hard for several reasons. First, the foot (complete with toes and toenails) was still attached, which made it a little grosser to eat. Second, the leg is so small it's hard to actually get the meat into your mouth, and third, the bones are so fragile that they break really easily, and if you bite in the wrong place (like I did one time) you get a mouthful of bone.
Even though cuy is a huge delicacy here (in a restaurant it costs $15, while filet mignon costs $10) most of my family members admitted to not liking it, which I found interesting. I didn't like it very much either, it tasted kind of like fish, but I'm glad that I tried it. After everyone ate we put on music and started dancing, which was very fun. Malte and I both told everyone that we knew how to salsa, so naturally they made us demonstrate our skills. We were also taught how to do the merengue, cumbia, and a traditional Ecuadorian dance that I forget the name of. It was really fun, and also very tiring because whenever a new song came on Rodrigo's father, brother, or cousin would ask me to dance and try to teach me some new steps.
After that everybody left, and we drove Malte to the bus station because he had to go back to the coast to teach his classes tomorrow. After that we went to pick up Camilo at a friend's house, and then stopped at KFC to get dinner. I almost never eat KFC at home, so it was really funny that I was going to eat it here. A little while after dinner my parents and I were having tea in the kitchen, and my mom had peanut butter, grape jelly, and bread on the table. She told me that she had never tried peanut butter with bread before, and that she really liked it. Then I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and explained to them that this was a really traditional lunch in the U.S. and everybody eats it. My mom tried it and liked it, and then I made Emilia try it too and she liked it as well. It was really fun to show my family something about my life at home, and my mom was really excited because now she has something to make for Emilia's lunch that isn't ham and cheese!
Now I have to go pack my backpack for tomorrow, but while I'm gone (I'll get back Monday October 5th) I'll leave you with some new pictures from my adventures on Saturday! (Sunday and Oriente pictures will be put up as soon as possible when I get back.) Here's the link for the pictures:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid
Enjoy, and I'll update when I return from the Oriente!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
On Saturday morning we went to a soccer game that Carmita was playing in with some of the women she works with at the airport. The game was in a military base next to the airport, and the fields were right next to two of the runways, so planes were taking off and landing while we were watching soccer, which was pretty cool. There was also a plane graveyard next to the fields, so Emilia, Belen, Valeria, and I all went to take pictures with the airplanes. There was one that you could actually climb into, so naturally we all did that, even if we weren't supposed to. After the game we picked Rodrigo up from work and then went home to have a quick lunch before Carmita, Rodrigo, Malte, Emilia and I left to go to Molinuco, a reserve in the mountains where they have all sorts of cool waterfalls and stuff. We hiked around for about an hour before getting to the biggest waterfall, called Pita. It was sooo beautiful, and really really amazing. We all took pictures around it, and then decided that we had to go in the water, which was absolutely freezing! And even though we were far away from the actual waterfall, the spray was so powerful that we all ended up soaking wet, which made the hike back pretty uncomfortable. All in all, it was a very fun day.
Today we were having Rodrigo's family over for a special lunch because his cousin who lives in the U.S. was visiting. Because it was such a special occasion we were serving cuy, which is the Ecuadorian name for guinea pigs. We all helped with the preparations, Malte was the barbeque master who cooked the cuy and the chicken, and I helped wash some of the furniture with my sisters. The family started arriving around 1, and we all sat outside and chatted while lunch was being finished. I was sitting next to one of Rodrigo's sisters who was very nice, but also talked very quietly so it was really hard to understand her sometimes, especially when other people were being noisy. Lunch started with soup (naturally) and then the main course was served, which included potatoes, rice, lettuce, avocado, chicken, and cuy. The cuy had been cut up into various sections, and at first I had a chest portion, which Rodrigo said I couldn't eat because it wasn't good. Next I got a front leg, which is better but still not the best, so eventually I ended up with a hind leg. They told me to eat the muscle part, which was really hard for several reasons. First, the foot (complete with toes and toenails) was still attached, which made it a little grosser to eat. Second, the leg is so small it's hard to actually get the meat into your mouth, and third, the bones are so fragile that they break really easily, and if you bite in the wrong place (like I did one time) you get a mouthful of bone.
Even though cuy is a huge delicacy here (in a restaurant it costs $15, while filet mignon costs $10) most of my family members admitted to not liking it, which I found interesting. I didn't like it very much either, it tasted kind of like fish, but I'm glad that I tried it. After everyone ate we put on music and started dancing, which was very fun. Malte and I both told everyone that we knew how to salsa, so naturally they made us demonstrate our skills. We were also taught how to do the merengue, cumbia, and a traditional Ecuadorian dance that I forget the name of. It was really fun, and also very tiring because whenever a new song came on Rodrigo's father, brother, or cousin would ask me to dance and try to teach me some new steps.
After that everybody left, and we drove Malte to the bus station because he had to go back to the coast to teach his classes tomorrow. After that we went to pick up Camilo at a friend's house, and then stopped at KFC to get dinner. I almost never eat KFC at home, so it was really funny that I was going to eat it here. A little while after dinner my parents and I were having tea in the kitchen, and my mom had peanut butter, grape jelly, and bread on the table. She told me that she had never tried peanut butter with bread before, and that she really liked it. Then I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and explained to them that this was a really traditional lunch in the U.S. and everybody eats it. My mom tried it and liked it, and then I made Emilia try it too and she liked it as well. It was really fun to show my family something about my life at home, and my mom was really excited because now she has something to make for Emilia's lunch that isn't ham and cheese!
Now I have to go pack my backpack for tomorrow, but while I'm gone (I'll get back Monday October 5th) I'll leave you with some new pictures from my adventures on Saturday! (Sunday and Oriente pictures will be put up as soon as possible when I get back.) Here's the link for the pictures:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid
Enjoy, and I'll update when I return from the Oriente!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Paramo and Food!
Hey all,
Yesterday we went on a one day excursion to the Paramo, which is a mountain ecosystem characterized by cold temperatures, strong winds, and strong UV rays. We prepared ourselves for any type of weather, because our Academic Directors told us that in the past they've had everything from snow to hot sun on this excursion. When we got off the bus at our first stop to walk around and learn about some of the plants we were met with really strong wind, horizontal rain (the wind was so strong that it was blowing the rain sideways), and cold. We were all bundled up in jackets, rain coats, hats, and gloves, and it felt very reminiscent of New England! We walked around for about 20 minutes before getting back on the bus and driving to another stop where we walked through a forest that looked like it came straight out of Lord of the Rings. Everything in the forest, from the trees to the ground, was covered with a thick layer of epiphytes, lichens, and mosses. We all got really dirty from scrambling up and down the muddy path, but it was so cool to walk around in a forest that was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
When we finished our walk in the forest we got back on the bus and drove to a lake to do FIP work. FIP stands for Field Investigation Project, which is a project that we do to learn different methods of conducting field work. We're split up into 4 groups, Birds, Insects, Botany, and Environmental methods. We do field work to study something in every ecosystem that we visit, and use different methods each time. I'm in the bird group which is pretty fun because we basically get to walk around looking at birds while other groups have to climb around on rocks to count plants or catch insects or test water. After we had our FIP time we ate lunch, and then headed off to Papallacta, which is a semi-touristy place with a bunch of hot springs. Because it was a weekday there weren't a lot of people there, and it was really nice to just sit back and relax in the hot springs after a rainy and cold morning. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then headed back to Quito.
I had plans to go to the ballet with my family last night, so when I got back to my house I showered, ate dinner, and then my dad drove my mom and I to the bus station (my sister was supposed to come too, but she fell asleep in the afternoon and didn't get any of her homework done!). We took the bus to the Teatro Central, where we met up with one of Carmita's friends and her daughter. We found seats, and then sat there talking until the show started. It turned out to be a celebration of the works of Pablo Neruda, which was pretty cool. They started off with a symphony orchestra, and then different musical acts. We kept waiting for the ballet to start, but whenever the curtains opened for the next act it would always be musicians. Eventually they announced the final act, and still no ballet! I'm not really sure what happened, whether it was a mix-up on my mom's part or the teatro's, but it was still really fun to hear all the different types of Ecuadorian and indigenous music that they played.
A lot of people have asked me how the food is here, and I keep meaning to include it in a post but haven't yet. Well, today is the day.
The food is pretty standard "latin american," which means lots of rice (with pretty much every meal, even if you're having pasta), beans, lentils, and platanos fritos. Ecuadorians also eat a lot of soup, almost every lunch includes a bowl of soup. The soups are all really good, and a lot of the ones that my comadre makes are vegetable based, which is a good because they don't eat a lot of vegetables here. Meatwise they eat chicken, beef, tuna, and ham. Ecuador is also one of the infamous places where they eat guinea pigs (called "cuy" here), and I think my family may be planning on making it for lunch on Sunday, which should be interesting. They don't eat a lot of sweets here (which is always hard when I have a sugar craving after dinner), and usually have juice as the "sweet" part of their meals.
A typical breakfast varies from family to family, with some only eating bread, and others eating eggs, cheese, bread, yogurt, or cereal. Lunch is usually soup and rice with something else, like lentils, beans, chicken, potatoes, meat, or noodles. In my family dinner is a smaller portion of what we ate for lunch, but in other families dinner is just bread and coffee. Lunch is the big family meal here, and traditionally people would get 3 hours off of work in the middle of the day to go home, eat lunch, and rest before going back to work. Now a lot of people follow a more "American" work schedule, and don't make it home for lunch (both of my parents eat lunch at work). One of the weirdest things that I've had to adjust to here is the fact that dinner is not a family meal. For us in the U.S. dinner is the time when everyone connects about their day and spends some time together before going about evening activities. Here, dinner is just another meal that you may or may not eat. Very rarely does everyone in my family eat dinner together, usually Emilia or Camilo will skip dinner or only eat something really small. There also isn't a set dinnertime in my family, so it's always hard for me when I'm sitting very hungrily in my room waiting for dinnertime and not knowing when it's going to be.
Overall I'm really enjoying the food here, and I've only had one meal where I didn't really like what was put in front of me (it was fried white fish, I wasn't a fan). I've been eating a lot of new things like tropical fruits, and even liver! (I had it when I went out for lunch one day, and it wasn't that bad.) I'm already dreading when I have to go back to school, and there won't be someone preparing delicious food that I love every day. Commons is great, but it has nothing on Ecuadorian mamas.
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Yesterday we went on a one day excursion to the Paramo, which is a mountain ecosystem characterized by cold temperatures, strong winds, and strong UV rays. We prepared ourselves for any type of weather, because our Academic Directors told us that in the past they've had everything from snow to hot sun on this excursion. When we got off the bus at our first stop to walk around and learn about some of the plants we were met with really strong wind, horizontal rain (the wind was so strong that it was blowing the rain sideways), and cold. We were all bundled up in jackets, rain coats, hats, and gloves, and it felt very reminiscent of New England! We walked around for about 20 minutes before getting back on the bus and driving to another stop where we walked through a forest that looked like it came straight out of Lord of the Rings. Everything in the forest, from the trees to the ground, was covered with a thick layer of epiphytes, lichens, and mosses. We all got really dirty from scrambling up and down the muddy path, but it was so cool to walk around in a forest that was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
When we finished our walk in the forest we got back on the bus and drove to a lake to do FIP work. FIP stands for Field Investigation Project, which is a project that we do to learn different methods of conducting field work. We're split up into 4 groups, Birds, Insects, Botany, and Environmental methods. We do field work to study something in every ecosystem that we visit, and use different methods each time. I'm in the bird group which is pretty fun because we basically get to walk around looking at birds while other groups have to climb around on rocks to count plants or catch insects or test water. After we had our FIP time we ate lunch, and then headed off to Papallacta, which is a semi-touristy place with a bunch of hot springs. Because it was a weekday there weren't a lot of people there, and it was really nice to just sit back and relax in the hot springs after a rainy and cold morning. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and then headed back to Quito.
I had plans to go to the ballet with my family last night, so when I got back to my house I showered, ate dinner, and then my dad drove my mom and I to the bus station (my sister was supposed to come too, but she fell asleep in the afternoon and didn't get any of her homework done!). We took the bus to the Teatro Central, where we met up with one of Carmita's friends and her daughter. We found seats, and then sat there talking until the show started. It turned out to be a celebration of the works of Pablo Neruda, which was pretty cool. They started off with a symphony orchestra, and then different musical acts. We kept waiting for the ballet to start, but whenever the curtains opened for the next act it would always be musicians. Eventually they announced the final act, and still no ballet! I'm not really sure what happened, whether it was a mix-up on my mom's part or the teatro's, but it was still really fun to hear all the different types of Ecuadorian and indigenous music that they played.
A lot of people have asked me how the food is here, and I keep meaning to include it in a post but haven't yet. Well, today is the day.
The food is pretty standard "latin american," which means lots of rice (with pretty much every meal, even if you're having pasta), beans, lentils, and platanos fritos. Ecuadorians also eat a lot of soup, almost every lunch includes a bowl of soup. The soups are all really good, and a lot of the ones that my comadre makes are vegetable based, which is a good because they don't eat a lot of vegetables here. Meatwise they eat chicken, beef, tuna, and ham. Ecuador is also one of the infamous places where they eat guinea pigs (called "cuy" here), and I think my family may be planning on making it for lunch on Sunday, which should be interesting. They don't eat a lot of sweets here (which is always hard when I have a sugar craving after dinner), and usually have juice as the "sweet" part of their meals.
A typical breakfast varies from family to family, with some only eating bread, and others eating eggs, cheese, bread, yogurt, or cereal. Lunch is usually soup and rice with something else, like lentils, beans, chicken, potatoes, meat, or noodles. In my family dinner is a smaller portion of what we ate for lunch, but in other families dinner is just bread and coffee. Lunch is the big family meal here, and traditionally people would get 3 hours off of work in the middle of the day to go home, eat lunch, and rest before going back to work. Now a lot of people follow a more "American" work schedule, and don't make it home for lunch (both of my parents eat lunch at work). One of the weirdest things that I've had to adjust to here is the fact that dinner is not a family meal. For us in the U.S. dinner is the time when everyone connects about their day and spends some time together before going about evening activities. Here, dinner is just another meal that you may or may not eat. Very rarely does everyone in my family eat dinner together, usually Emilia or Camilo will skip dinner or only eat something really small. There also isn't a set dinnertime in my family, so it's always hard for me when I'm sitting very hungrily in my room waiting for dinnertime and not knowing when it's going to be.
Overall I'm really enjoying the food here, and I've only had one meal where I didn't really like what was put in front of me (it was fried white fish, I wasn't a fan). I've been eating a lot of new things like tropical fruits, and even liver! (I had it when I went out for lunch one day, and it wasn't that bad.) I'm already dreading when I have to go back to school, and there won't be someone preparing delicious food that I love every day. Commons is great, but it has nothing on Ecuadorian mamas.
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Monday, September 21, 2009
First weekend with my family!
Hi all,
I wanted to do a quick update about my weekend before I get swamped with homework and preparations for our excursion to the Oriente (we leave a week from today).
On Saturday after eating lunch I went with Rodrigo, Emilia, and a random woman who spent the weekend at our house (I'm going to call her Dona M., because I was never introduced to her and only heard her name spoken very quickly and in a Spanish accent, so I'm not sure exactly what it was) to Rodrigo's mother's house to visit with his family. There were a ton of people there, so it was a little overwhelming at first. I ended up sitting next to Rodrigo's mother and Dona M., who were talking up a storm in Spanish. Rodrigo's mother would occasionally ask me questions (which usually had to be repeated a few times before I understood them), but for the most part I was watching either Law and Order or Charmed, both dubbed in Spanish, on the TV.
We left around 5:15, and then Rodrigo drove me to my friend Estelle's house because a bunch of us were going to a soccer game and we were going to take a taxi there together. The game was between La Liga (the Quito team that my family supports) and Deportivo Quito, another team from Quito. We were there with almost everyone from the program, and it was a lot of fun watching the game and seeing how energetic the fans were. We even got to see a fight break out, but we weren't close to it and there were a lot of policemen there (so don't worry, Mom). After the game I took a taxi home with two of my friends, ate dinner, and then watched Up (the Russian version dubbed in Spanish) with my mom and sister.
On Sunday morning we had a big family breakfast, and then Rodrigo, Emilia, Dona M., and I went to Parque La Carolina, a big park in Quito. Emilia was rollerskating, Dona M. was walking, Rodrigo was running, and I was riding a bike (which I only agreed to because I thought everyone was going to be biking). The bike was a terrible decision, because the seat was sooo uncomfortable. I also had to maintain an awkwardly slow speed to not pass Rodrigo, and it was hard to navigate between all the people walking/running/biking on the path. It was a lot of fun though, and it felt nice to get at least a little exercise. When we were done with that we picked Carmita up from work (every 2 weeks she works at the airport as the person who directs the planes on the runways, I think) and then dropped her and Dona M. off and went to get flowers and a birthday cake for Carmita (it was her birthday).
When we got home we set the dining room table with the good china for Carmita's birthday lunch. Bertha had made all of her favorite foods, and it was cool to be included in the small family celebration (although it made me miss my home and my mom). After lunch I helped Emilia with her English homework, and then did some reading in preparation for the paper I have to write tonight. We had "dinner" around 7:30, which consisted of popcorn, Jell-o, hot chocolate, and Carmita's birthday cake. Because the whole family was together in one place, I decided that this would be a good time to give them my homestay gifts (which also tied in nicely with Carmita's birthday). The things I had brought for them were a calendar of pictures of Maine, a book of Boston postcards, chocolate covered cranberries, a frisbee, and two squishy Red Sox balls for the little girls, and they loved them! It turns out Carmita collects postcards, so those were definitely a great gift, and they all liked looking at the pictures of Maine. It was really fun, and definitely a relief because I've had the gifts under my desk for a week waiting for a good time to give them!
It was definitely a good first weekend with my family, but for now I have to get back into homework mode and start my paper!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
I wanted to do a quick update about my weekend before I get swamped with homework and preparations for our excursion to the Oriente (we leave a week from today).
On Saturday after eating lunch I went with Rodrigo, Emilia, and a random woman who spent the weekend at our house (I'm going to call her Dona M., because I was never introduced to her and only heard her name spoken very quickly and in a Spanish accent, so I'm not sure exactly what it was) to Rodrigo's mother's house to visit with his family. There were a ton of people there, so it was a little overwhelming at first. I ended up sitting next to Rodrigo's mother and Dona M., who were talking up a storm in Spanish. Rodrigo's mother would occasionally ask me questions (which usually had to be repeated a few times before I understood them), but for the most part I was watching either Law and Order or Charmed, both dubbed in Spanish, on the TV.
We left around 5:15, and then Rodrigo drove me to my friend Estelle's house because a bunch of us were going to a soccer game and we were going to take a taxi there together. The game was between La Liga (the Quito team that my family supports) and Deportivo Quito, another team from Quito. We were there with almost everyone from the program, and it was a lot of fun watching the game and seeing how energetic the fans were. We even got to see a fight break out, but we weren't close to it and there were a lot of policemen there (so don't worry, Mom). After the game I took a taxi home with two of my friends, ate dinner, and then watched Up (the Russian version dubbed in Spanish) with my mom and sister.
On Sunday morning we had a big family breakfast, and then Rodrigo, Emilia, Dona M., and I went to Parque La Carolina, a big park in Quito. Emilia was rollerskating, Dona M. was walking, Rodrigo was running, and I was riding a bike (which I only agreed to because I thought everyone was going to be biking). The bike was a terrible decision, because the seat was sooo uncomfortable. I also had to maintain an awkwardly slow speed to not pass Rodrigo, and it was hard to navigate between all the people walking/running/biking on the path. It was a lot of fun though, and it felt nice to get at least a little exercise. When we were done with that we picked Carmita up from work (every 2 weeks she works at the airport as the person who directs the planes on the runways, I think) and then dropped her and Dona M. off and went to get flowers and a birthday cake for Carmita (it was her birthday).
When we got home we set the dining room table with the good china for Carmita's birthday lunch. Bertha had made all of her favorite foods, and it was cool to be included in the small family celebration (although it made me miss my home and my mom). After lunch I helped Emilia with her English homework, and then did some reading in preparation for the paper I have to write tonight. We had "dinner" around 7:30, which consisted of popcorn, Jell-o, hot chocolate, and Carmita's birthday cake. Because the whole family was together in one place, I decided that this would be a good time to give them my homestay gifts (which also tied in nicely with Carmita's birthday). The things I had brought for them were a calendar of pictures of Maine, a book of Boston postcards, chocolate covered cranberries, a frisbee, and two squishy Red Sox balls for the little girls, and they loved them! It turns out Carmita collects postcards, so those were definitely a great gift, and they all liked looking at the pictures of Maine. It was really fun, and definitely a relief because I've had the gifts under my desk for a week waiting for a good time to give them!
It was definitely a good first weekend with my family, but for now I have to get back into homework mode and start my paper!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Saturday, September 19, 2009
My Week in Review and Pictures!
Hey Everyone,
Sorry I only posted once this week, internet time was hard to come by because Camilo got a laptop on Tuesday and spent a lot of time using the internet connection to set it up. This week was also pretty uneventful, but I'll give you a recap of what I did.
Tuesday was a normal day of Spanish classes in the morning, a lecture until 1, and then eating lunch at home. Tuesday night after dinner we went to El Jardin, one of the malls in Quito, to buy Camilo's computer. We went to the department store called Su Kasa, which sells pretty much anything you would ever need. After we bought the computer we had ice cream in the food court, which was really good.
On Wednesday instead of having classes we went to a town called Yaruqui to do another minga where we we planted trees to help reforest an old pasture. The holes had already been dug for us, but they were way bigger than they needed to be, so most of the work we did was just filling in the holes enough so that we could actually put the trees in. It was really hard work, but it was fun because it was the first time we had been together in one big group since going to our homestays, so we were all laughing and joking and telling stories about our families. We had lunch around 12:15, and it was really interesting to see what everyone's families had packed for them. So far the first week with the homestay families has felt kind of like a regression into elementary/middle/high school because we were getting dropped off and picked up from school, and we were bringing lunches from home and comparing/trading what we had. After lunch everyone else went back to work, but I was a little sick (I'm all better now, no need to worry) so I rested inside of the house that was there and read an issue of The New Yorker from February.
On Thursday instead of going home for lunch I went out with 5 other girls because we had to have a discussion group as one of our assignments. After that I went back to the Experimento to use the internet there to upload pictures and also to read through summaries of ISPs that past students had done to get an idea of what I would like to do for mine. For those of you who don't know, ISP stands for Independent Study Project, which is the cornerstone of all SIT study abroad programs. An entire month during the program (in our case, November) is devoted to the ISP, and each student does their own project with the help of an advisor. Projects range from everything from studying water contamination in a gold mining camp to studying monkey troupes in the Oriente, and everything in between.
On Friday we had Spanish in the morning and then a lecture on ecoanthropology from 10:3o to 1. After that we ate lunch at the Experimento (again packed by our families) and then went with our Spanish classes to visit museums around the city. My class went to El Museo de la Ciudad which is in El Centro, or the old part of Quito. The museum was pretty cool, and went through the history of Quito century by century. Once we finished our tour of the museum we walked around El Centro for a while before taking taxis back to the Experimento. I took the bus home by myself for the first time, which was pretty exciting. When I got home I hung out for a little while, and then at 7:30 Carmita, Rodrigo, Camilo, my abuelita, and I left to go out to dinner to celebrate Carmita's birthday (which is actually tomorrow, but she had to work today). The restaurant we went to was really cool, it was a rooftop terrace with amazing views of the city around it. It was in El Centro, and it was really cool to see what I'd seen earlier that day from a different view and during night instead of day. When we were done with dinner we walked around, and they told me about all the churches and historic parts of the city. It was really cool walking around at night and seeing everything lit up.
Today I got up, ate breakfast, and then went to a papeleria (paper store) near my house to buy envelopes and a small daily planner type thing. It was the first time that I'd gone out by myself, and it was nice to just walk around and take everything in. My house is in a really great location, because almost everything I would ever need is one or two blocks away. There is an ATM just around the corner for my house, so getting money won't be a problem because I can always ask someone in my family to run over there with me. There's also a lab really close, so if I ever need to drop off a "sample" to get tested for a bacterial/parasitic infection that will also be really easy. There are also a bunch of papelerias, convenience stores, a drugstore, bakeries, and lots of other things close by, so pretty much anything I need I can get without walking more than 2 minutes.
When I got home I finally got my picture situation sorted out which means that, yes, you can now see pictures from my first 3 weeks in Ecuador! I still can't figure out how to put them on my blog, so I'm just going to post the link to my photobucket album whenever I add new pictures. The link is:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid
I'll add more pictures as I take them, and if you have any questions/comments about the pictures I think there is a place where you can comment at the bottom (although I'm not 100% sure). Enjoy!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Sorry I only posted once this week, internet time was hard to come by because Camilo got a laptop on Tuesday and spent a lot of time using the internet connection to set it up. This week was also pretty uneventful, but I'll give you a recap of what I did.
Tuesday was a normal day of Spanish classes in the morning, a lecture until 1, and then eating lunch at home. Tuesday night after dinner we went to El Jardin, one of the malls in Quito, to buy Camilo's computer. We went to the department store called Su Kasa, which sells pretty much anything you would ever need. After we bought the computer we had ice cream in the food court, which was really good.
On Wednesday instead of having classes we went to a town called Yaruqui to do another minga where we we planted trees to help reforest an old pasture. The holes had already been dug for us, but they were way bigger than they needed to be, so most of the work we did was just filling in the holes enough so that we could actually put the trees in. It was really hard work, but it was fun because it was the first time we had been together in one big group since going to our homestays, so we were all laughing and joking and telling stories about our families. We had lunch around 12:15, and it was really interesting to see what everyone's families had packed for them. So far the first week with the homestay families has felt kind of like a regression into elementary/middle/high school because we were getting dropped off and picked up from school, and we were bringing lunches from home and comparing/trading what we had. After lunch everyone else went back to work, but I was a little sick (I'm all better now, no need to worry) so I rested inside of the house that was there and read an issue of The New Yorker from February.
On Thursday instead of going home for lunch I went out with 5 other girls because we had to have a discussion group as one of our assignments. After that I went back to the Experimento to use the internet there to upload pictures and also to read through summaries of ISPs that past students had done to get an idea of what I would like to do for mine. For those of you who don't know, ISP stands for Independent Study Project, which is the cornerstone of all SIT study abroad programs. An entire month during the program (in our case, November) is devoted to the ISP, and each student does their own project with the help of an advisor. Projects range from everything from studying water contamination in a gold mining camp to studying monkey troupes in the Oriente, and everything in between.
On Friday we had Spanish in the morning and then a lecture on ecoanthropology from 10:3o to 1. After that we ate lunch at the Experimento (again packed by our families) and then went with our Spanish classes to visit museums around the city. My class went to El Museo de la Ciudad which is in El Centro, or the old part of Quito. The museum was pretty cool, and went through the history of Quito century by century. Once we finished our tour of the museum we walked around El Centro for a while before taking taxis back to the Experimento. I took the bus home by myself for the first time, which was pretty exciting. When I got home I hung out for a little while, and then at 7:30 Carmita, Rodrigo, Camilo, my abuelita, and I left to go out to dinner to celebrate Carmita's birthday (which is actually tomorrow, but she had to work today). The restaurant we went to was really cool, it was a rooftop terrace with amazing views of the city around it. It was in El Centro, and it was really cool to see what I'd seen earlier that day from a different view and during night instead of day. When we were done with dinner we walked around, and they told me about all the churches and historic parts of the city. It was really cool walking around at night and seeing everything lit up.
Today I got up, ate breakfast, and then went to a papeleria (paper store) near my house to buy envelopes and a small daily planner type thing. It was the first time that I'd gone out by myself, and it was nice to just walk around and take everything in. My house is in a really great location, because almost everything I would ever need is one or two blocks away. There is an ATM just around the corner for my house, so getting money won't be a problem because I can always ask someone in my family to run over there with me. There's also a lab really close, so if I ever need to drop off a "sample" to get tested for a bacterial/parasitic infection that will also be really easy. There are also a bunch of papelerias, convenience stores, a drugstore, bakeries, and lots of other things close by, so pretty much anything I need I can get without walking more than 2 minutes.
When I got home I finally got my picture situation sorted out which means that, yes, you can now see pictures from my first 3 weeks in Ecuador! I still can't figure out how to put them on my blog, so I'm just going to post the link to my photobucket album whenever I add new pictures. The link is:
http://s934.photobucket.com/albums/ad189/cbarr520/Ecuador/?albumview=grid
I'll add more pictures as I take them, and if you have any questions/comments about the pictures I think there is a place where you can comment at the bottom (although I'm not 100% sure). Enjoy!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Monday, September 14, 2009
Homestay update
Hi Everyone,
Today is my second day with my host family, and so far things are going pretty well. Everybody in my family is really nice and helpful, so the hardest things so far have been getting used to a new routine and family dynamic. Ecuador has a very "machismo" culture, so women typically do all of the cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the house while men work and are taken care of by the women. My family is unique because we have a "comadre" who does all of the cooking instead of my mama (she works at the airport). The living situation is also unique, because instead of one big house where everybody lives there are 3 smaller houses within the same area. My mama (Carmita), papa (Rodrigo), 12-year-old sister (Emilia) and I all live in the main house (I'm living in Camilo, the 18-year-old boy's room). Bertha, the comadre, and her two daughters live in a separate little house where we eat lunch and dinner (we eat breakfast in the main house), and my abuela lives in another separate little house.
Carmita and Rodrigo came to pick me up from the hostel yesterday, and as only the fourth student to get picked up I was definitely more than a little nervous about meeting them for the first time. They were really nice right off the bat, and I definitely felt immediately welcomed into the family. They have their own car, so we drove through the city until we got to their house. On the way Carmita explained to me that they had a German student staying with them, and that they promised they would take him to the Equator (called el mitad del mundo here) that day. That threw me for a loop, and was definitely not what I had been expecting for my first day with the family. When we got to the house I was introduced to everyone, and then unpacked for an hour before Carmita, Rodrigo, Emilia, Malte (the german student) and I set off for some sightseeing. We went to a volcanic crater, some pre-Incan ruins, and then el mitad del mundo. It was really fun, and very cool to see everything.
When we got back to the house we had lunch, and then I unpacked a little bit more before hanging out with Malte and Emilia for a bit. After that we had cake to celebrate Malte's birthday (his birthday is actually today, but he left yesterday so we celebrated then), which was really good. After that we drove Malte to the bus station, and then went back to school shopping for Emilia. All the schools in Quito started classes today, and it was really fun to go shopping for school supplies, even though they weren't for me. When we got home we ate dinner, although Rodrigo, the two little girls, and I were the only ones who ate anything because dinner is a very very small meal here.
This morning I got up at 6:30, showered, and ate breakfast, which was basically a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was pretty mild though, so I actually really liked it. After that Carmita and I set off to catch a bus to take me to the Experimento. The bus system here is really crazy, and when we finally found a bus that was going the right way it was so full that we had to stand on the steps with the doors open for 2 or 3 stops until enough people got off so that we could actually get into the bus. Once we made our way in I saw Teddy, one of the kids from my group, and found out that he lives pretty close to me, so we decided that we'll try and meet up in the mornings and take the bus to school together. We had spanish classes all morning, then a half hour break, and then a lecture about the history of Ecuador. We have 2 more history lectures this week, and I'm excited to learn more about the country that I'm spending 3 more months in!
We got out of class at 1, and Bertha's oldest daughter (she's somewhere in her early 30s and has her own family) came to pick me up and bring me back to the house. When we got home we had lunch, and then I did some spanish homework and hung out with Emilia. The school schedules are very different here, with classes beginning at 7 or 8 in the morning and ending around 1 or 2 so that students can go home to eat lunch. That schedule is just one more thing on the list of Ecuadorian-customs-that-Caroline-has-to-get-used to, which so far includes:
1. Throwing toilet paper into a trash can, not the toilet (the pipes here are too small to handle toilet paper)
2. Military time (I refuse to change my watch though, so whenever I see a clock that says 16:42 I have to do some nifty subtraction in my head to figure out what time it really is)
3. Eating very little for breakfast at 7 am, a lot for lunch at 2:30 pm, and very little for dinner at 8 pm, without a lot to eat in between meals.
And probably more things that I can't think of just yet.
I'm excited to finally be getting into a routine, and I'm ecstatic that I no longer have to live out of a suitcase, like I have been for the past two weeks. I'll keep everyone updated on how my week is going, and I'm going to do my best to get pictures on here this week.
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Today is my second day with my host family, and so far things are going pretty well. Everybody in my family is really nice and helpful, so the hardest things so far have been getting used to a new routine and family dynamic. Ecuador has a very "machismo" culture, so women typically do all of the cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the house while men work and are taken care of by the women. My family is unique because we have a "comadre" who does all of the cooking instead of my mama (she works at the airport). The living situation is also unique, because instead of one big house where everybody lives there are 3 smaller houses within the same area. My mama (Carmita), papa (Rodrigo), 12-year-old sister (Emilia) and I all live in the main house (I'm living in Camilo, the 18-year-old boy's room). Bertha, the comadre, and her two daughters live in a separate little house where we eat lunch and dinner (we eat breakfast in the main house), and my abuela lives in another separate little house.
Carmita and Rodrigo came to pick me up from the hostel yesterday, and as only the fourth student to get picked up I was definitely more than a little nervous about meeting them for the first time. They were really nice right off the bat, and I definitely felt immediately welcomed into the family. They have their own car, so we drove through the city until we got to their house. On the way Carmita explained to me that they had a German student staying with them, and that they promised they would take him to the Equator (called el mitad del mundo here) that day. That threw me for a loop, and was definitely not what I had been expecting for my first day with the family. When we got to the house I was introduced to everyone, and then unpacked for an hour before Carmita, Rodrigo, Emilia, Malte (the german student) and I set off for some sightseeing. We went to a volcanic crater, some pre-Incan ruins, and then el mitad del mundo. It was really fun, and very cool to see everything.
When we got back to the house we had lunch, and then I unpacked a little bit more before hanging out with Malte and Emilia for a bit. After that we had cake to celebrate Malte's birthday (his birthday is actually today, but he left yesterday so we celebrated then), which was really good. After that we drove Malte to the bus station, and then went back to school shopping for Emilia. All the schools in Quito started classes today, and it was really fun to go shopping for school supplies, even though they weren't for me. When we got home we ate dinner, although Rodrigo, the two little girls, and I were the only ones who ate anything because dinner is a very very small meal here.
This morning I got up at 6:30, showered, and ate breakfast, which was basically a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheese was pretty mild though, so I actually really liked it. After that Carmita and I set off to catch a bus to take me to the Experimento. The bus system here is really crazy, and when we finally found a bus that was going the right way it was so full that we had to stand on the steps with the doors open for 2 or 3 stops until enough people got off so that we could actually get into the bus. Once we made our way in I saw Teddy, one of the kids from my group, and found out that he lives pretty close to me, so we decided that we'll try and meet up in the mornings and take the bus to school together. We had spanish classes all morning, then a half hour break, and then a lecture about the history of Ecuador. We have 2 more history lectures this week, and I'm excited to learn more about the country that I'm spending 3 more months in!
We got out of class at 1, and Bertha's oldest daughter (she's somewhere in her early 30s and has her own family) came to pick me up and bring me back to the house. When we got home we had lunch, and then I did some spanish homework and hung out with Emilia. The school schedules are very different here, with classes beginning at 7 or 8 in the morning and ending around 1 or 2 so that students can go home to eat lunch. That schedule is just one more thing on the list of Ecuadorian-customs-that-Caroline-has-to-get-used to, which so far includes:
1. Throwing toilet paper into a trash can, not the toilet (the pipes here are too small to handle toilet paper)
2. Military time (I refuse to change my watch though, so whenever I see a clock that says 16:42 I have to do some nifty subtraction in my head to figure out what time it really is)
3. Eating very little for breakfast at 7 am, a lot for lunch at 2:30 pm, and very little for dinner at 8 pm, without a lot to eat in between meals.
And probably more things that I can't think of just yet.
I'm excited to finally be getting into a routine, and I'm ecstatic that I no longer have to live out of a suitcase, like I have been for the past two weeks. I'll keep everyone updated on how my week is going, and I'm going to do my best to get pictures on here this week.
Hasta luego,
Caroline
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Cloud Forest and Homestays!
Hey Everyone!
We returned to Quito at about 4 this afternoon, and we're spending the night in a hostel tonight before going off with our homestay families tomorrow morning. The cloud forest was absolutely amazing, and definitely one of, if not the, most beautiful places that I've ever been. We stayed at the La Florida Cloud Forest Reserve, which is run by a man named Carlos Zorrilla and his wife Sandy. The reserve has a completely sustainable farm where they grow everything from coffee to lemongrass to pineapples. They also have chickens for eggs and a cow for milk, but they don't consume any meat at the reserve.
We got to La Florida around 3 on Saturday afternoon, and Carlos took us on a tour of the farm after we got settled in. We were staying in pretty rustic cabins with absolutely breathtaking views. After our tour of the farm we had dinner, which (like all of the meals we had at La Florida) was delicious, with the majority of the ingredients either grown on the farm or nearby.
On Sunday a few of us woke up early to go birdwatching in the forest around the reserve. We got to see the cock-of-the-rock, which is a really big, red, funny looking bird that uses communal mating grounds called leks. There's a lek not too far from the reserve, so we hiked up there and got to see and hear all of the cocks-of-the-rock displaying and calling, which was really cool. After that we had breakfast, two lectures, and a guided walk through the forest so that we could learn the names of some of the native plants. After our walk we had lunch, and then some of the women from the artisania group came to sell us their goods. They make all sorts of bags, hats, rugs, toys, and even water bottle holders! After everyone had bought their share half of the group (including me) were introduced to their homestay mothers, and then we set off for our homestays.
My homestay mother was named Elizabeth, was 19, and had a 23 year-old husband named Rodolfo and a 1 year, 4 month old baby girl named Jennifer. It was a little weird at first because she was younger than me, but once I actually got settled in I totally forgot about our age difference. It took us an hour of almost all uphill climbing to reach Plaza Gutierrez, the town where Elizabeth lived. There were about 7 other students from the group living with families in Plaza Gutierrez, so we all walked together until we reached the town and split up to go to our new houses. It was definitely a big adjustment getting used to living in a place so different from what I'm used to, but it was a really great experience at the same time. On the first day we had breakfast at 7 am and then walked to Rodolfo's mother's house to milk the cow. My friend Samantha's homestay mother was Elizabeth's twin sister, so they came with us to milk the cow. Once we were done with that we went to collect leaves for the guinea pigs to eat (they eat guinea pigs in the Intag and my family had a rabbit hutch out back with 16 in it, thank goodness they decided not to eat one while I was there) and also harvested a few beans. It was really cool to see all of the crops that they grow, but it was a really long walk getting to and from the fields.
When we got back from doing all of that Elizabeth taught me how to do the stitches to make things out of cabuya, which is the natural plant fiber that the women make all of their crafts from. The first one she taught me was really hard, but the second one was a lot easier and I was able to do it a lot faster. She made part of a water bottle holder for my nalgene for me, and I made the entire strap myself!
We did a lot of other things while I was there like going to a farm to pick out a chicken to have for lunch the next day, selling the cow's milk, going to the store, and playing soccer. At around 5:30 every night a bunch of the townspeople (and any students being hosted) would gather at a soccer field to play until 7. We were definitely a motley crew, but it was a ton of fun playing with everyone.
On Wednesday morning we headed back to La Florida where we spent the next two days learning about botany and ornithology. We walked in the woods and played a game to learn plant families, and also did mist netting. The mist netting was pretty unsuccessful though, we did it on three separate occasions and only caught one bird each time. On Friday the other half of the group came back from their homestays and we all walked to another reserve called Flor de Mayo to do a minga. A minga is basically when a bunch of people get together and work together to do something, like a barn raising. In our case we were moving rocks to make a bridge, which was very hard and very tiring work. It was really fun to work with people from the community, though, and to know that we were all helping and working towards a common goal. When we got back to La Florida we all showered and then talked in a group about our homestay experiences and about possible ISP projects in the cloud forest. We also got letters from our Quito homestay families, which got everyone excited and nervous at the same time. My family is really big, with a dad, mom, their 18 year old son and 12 year old daughter, a grandmother, and a "comadre" with her 7 and 9 year old daughters. The comadre is the godmother of the children in my family, and she lives in the house. They also have 3 dogs and a cat, so it's going to be a little crazy! I'm really exited to meet them tomorrow though, they seem like really nice people.
I PROMISE that I'll add pictures once I get a faster internet connection, even with nobody else on the internet here it takes forever to upload pictures. I hope everybody is doing well and I'll let you know how it is meeting my homestay family for the first time!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
We returned to Quito at about 4 this afternoon, and we're spending the night in a hostel tonight before going off with our homestay families tomorrow morning. The cloud forest was absolutely amazing, and definitely one of, if not the, most beautiful places that I've ever been. We stayed at the La Florida Cloud Forest Reserve, which is run by a man named Carlos Zorrilla and his wife Sandy. The reserve has a completely sustainable farm where they grow everything from coffee to lemongrass to pineapples. They also have chickens for eggs and a cow for milk, but they don't consume any meat at the reserve.
We got to La Florida around 3 on Saturday afternoon, and Carlos took us on a tour of the farm after we got settled in. We were staying in pretty rustic cabins with absolutely breathtaking views. After our tour of the farm we had dinner, which (like all of the meals we had at La Florida) was delicious, with the majority of the ingredients either grown on the farm or nearby.
On Sunday a few of us woke up early to go birdwatching in the forest around the reserve. We got to see the cock-of-the-rock, which is a really big, red, funny looking bird that uses communal mating grounds called leks. There's a lek not too far from the reserve, so we hiked up there and got to see and hear all of the cocks-of-the-rock displaying and calling, which was really cool. After that we had breakfast, two lectures, and a guided walk through the forest so that we could learn the names of some of the native plants. After our walk we had lunch, and then some of the women from the artisania group came to sell us their goods. They make all sorts of bags, hats, rugs, toys, and even water bottle holders! After everyone had bought their share half of the group (including me) were introduced to their homestay mothers, and then we set off for our homestays.
My homestay mother was named Elizabeth, was 19, and had a 23 year-old husband named Rodolfo and a 1 year, 4 month old baby girl named Jennifer. It was a little weird at first because she was younger than me, but once I actually got settled in I totally forgot about our age difference. It took us an hour of almost all uphill climbing to reach Plaza Gutierrez, the town where Elizabeth lived. There were about 7 other students from the group living with families in Plaza Gutierrez, so we all walked together until we reached the town and split up to go to our new houses. It was definitely a big adjustment getting used to living in a place so different from what I'm used to, but it was a really great experience at the same time. On the first day we had breakfast at 7 am and then walked to Rodolfo's mother's house to milk the cow. My friend Samantha's homestay mother was Elizabeth's twin sister, so they came with us to milk the cow. Once we were done with that we went to collect leaves for the guinea pigs to eat (they eat guinea pigs in the Intag and my family had a rabbit hutch out back with 16 in it, thank goodness they decided not to eat one while I was there) and also harvested a few beans. It was really cool to see all of the crops that they grow, but it was a really long walk getting to and from the fields.
When we got back from doing all of that Elizabeth taught me how to do the stitches to make things out of cabuya, which is the natural plant fiber that the women make all of their crafts from. The first one she taught me was really hard, but the second one was a lot easier and I was able to do it a lot faster. She made part of a water bottle holder for my nalgene for me, and I made the entire strap myself!
We did a lot of other things while I was there like going to a farm to pick out a chicken to have for lunch the next day, selling the cow's milk, going to the store, and playing soccer. At around 5:30 every night a bunch of the townspeople (and any students being hosted) would gather at a soccer field to play until 7. We were definitely a motley crew, but it was a ton of fun playing with everyone.
On Wednesday morning we headed back to La Florida where we spent the next two days learning about botany and ornithology. We walked in the woods and played a game to learn plant families, and also did mist netting. The mist netting was pretty unsuccessful though, we did it on three separate occasions and only caught one bird each time. On Friday the other half of the group came back from their homestays and we all walked to another reserve called Flor de Mayo to do a minga. A minga is basically when a bunch of people get together and work together to do something, like a barn raising. In our case we were moving rocks to make a bridge, which was very hard and very tiring work. It was really fun to work with people from the community, though, and to know that we were all helping and working towards a common goal. When we got back to La Florida we all showered and then talked in a group about our homestay experiences and about possible ISP projects in the cloud forest. We also got letters from our Quito homestay families, which got everyone excited and nervous at the same time. My family is really big, with a dad, mom, their 18 year old son and 12 year old daughter, a grandmother, and a "comadre" with her 7 and 9 year old daughters. The comadre is the godmother of the children in my family, and she lives in the house. They also have 3 dogs and a cat, so it's going to be a little crazy! I'm really exited to meet them tomorrow though, they seem like really nice people.
I PROMISE that I'll add pictures once I get a faster internet connection, even with nobody else on the internet here it takes forever to upload pictures. I hope everybody is doing well and I'll let you know how it is meeting my homestay family for the first time!
Hasta luego,
Caroline
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