Ok, I'm packing, I'm preparing, I'm digging through everything I brought from home that never had a purpose up until now. I leave tomorrow morning for my three week stint in the rainforest. Frankly I'm a little nervous, not really sure why. Should be excited, and I am, but I really don't know what I'm getting myself into.
The family all went home last week. They were supposed to fly out on a red eye flight Wednesday night but the plane broke and they ended up stuck in Guayaquil for an extra day and a half. We had lots of adventures while they were here, did lots of traveling, and ate lots of good food. It was great to see those friendly faces again, but now I'm ready to head out on my own once more. For the next three weeks it is just me and my bio boys, it will be the real test of how much we can stand each other. I'll let you know.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Happy Holidays!
Hello everyone who is still reading this even though I haven't posted anything in over a month... :)
So, in the past month of my life what have I been doing? Well thats a good question. The most part of it has been taken up by school work which is probably why there haven't been any good stories lately. I am, however, now all finished with my semester at USFQ as of last Tuesday. It feels very good being done as I was not accustomed to 15 week semesters anymore and it was getting very difficult to keep going by the end.
I did turn 21 on Tuesday as well! (Happy Birthday to me!) While I am already in a country where the official drinking age is 18 but I have met many a 15/16 year old who has no problems purchasing alcohol, we managed to ignore that for a night and party like I was in the US still and 21 was a special age. The best part about it actually was that all my friends got to go out to the bar with me even though I'm the oldest of them all. It was a wonderful time, if anyone wants actual stories just let me know. :)
Also using my birthday as an excuse I went out last weekend on an adventure in search of this paintball park in the forest. After getting lost in what I'm calling BFE Ecuador driving down half stone-paved roads for over an hour, we located the spot at the bottom of this big cliff. However, due to a lack of good machinery they couldn't get the paintball guns to work so that didn't happen. We did get two free games of laser tag while we waited though, so it was not a complete loss, and we had fun. Although boys against girls is a bad idea when the boys are all really tall and can shoot at you from over the walls. Needless to say we females got our buts kicked even though we had a greater number.
Today I'm spending cleaning my room and packing up for the next two weeks. My parents and Brian and Karen get here in just a few hours. I'm very excited to see everyone, especially for Christmas since I am not coming back to Michigan. Actually according to their online flight status they should be just in the air by now. The only thing I'm crossing my fingers for is some sunshine. We are technically in the rainy season still and the weather so far this week has been nothing to write home about. But I guess it's not a foot of snow. *shrug*
So for anyone who is interested here is my basic schedule from now until I get back home. I'm realizing very fast how little time I will have left in Quito, although the real reasons I came to this country are all in the next 2 months so I won't be complaining much.
Today - Jan 2: the family is here and we travel and do stuff
Jan 7- Jan 28: Travel the Amazon rainforest, two weeks doing research and one week of just travel, should be awesome!
Feb 3- Feb 15: Las Islas Galapagos! One week seminar with my bio boys and an extra 5 days on a yacht with all my other friends that I won't have seen since, well now.
Feb 16- March 3: free time travel around Ecuador? other South American countries? I haven't actually decided yet, but it shall be lots of fun!
March 4: return state side
March 4- 11?: Road trip with Nicholas! Destination unknown.
So, in the past month of my life what have I been doing? Well thats a good question. The most part of it has been taken up by school work which is probably why there haven't been any good stories lately. I am, however, now all finished with my semester at USFQ as of last Tuesday. It feels very good being done as I was not accustomed to 15 week semesters anymore and it was getting very difficult to keep going by the end.
I did turn 21 on Tuesday as well! (Happy Birthday to me!) While I am already in a country where the official drinking age is 18 but I have met many a 15/16 year old who has no problems purchasing alcohol, we managed to ignore that for a night and party like I was in the US still and 21 was a special age. The best part about it actually was that all my friends got to go out to the bar with me even though I'm the oldest of them all. It was a wonderful time, if anyone wants actual stories just let me know. :)
Also using my birthday as an excuse I went out last weekend on an adventure in search of this paintball park in the forest. After getting lost in what I'm calling BFE Ecuador driving down half stone-paved roads for over an hour, we located the spot at the bottom of this big cliff. However, due to a lack of good machinery they couldn't get the paintball guns to work so that didn't happen. We did get two free games of laser tag while we waited though, so it was not a complete loss, and we had fun. Although boys against girls is a bad idea when the boys are all really tall and can shoot at you from over the walls. Needless to say we females got our buts kicked even though we had a greater number.
Today I'm spending cleaning my room and packing up for the next two weeks. My parents and Brian and Karen get here in just a few hours. I'm very excited to see everyone, especially for Christmas since I am not coming back to Michigan. Actually according to their online flight status they should be just in the air by now. The only thing I'm crossing my fingers for is some sunshine. We are technically in the rainy season still and the weather so far this week has been nothing to write home about. But I guess it's not a foot of snow. *shrug*
So for anyone who is interested here is my basic schedule from now until I get back home. I'm realizing very fast how little time I will have left in Quito, although the real reasons I came to this country are all in the next 2 months so I won't be complaining much.
Today - Jan 2: the family is here and we travel and do stuff
Jan 7- Jan 28: Travel the Amazon rainforest, two weeks doing research and one week of just travel, should be awesome!
Feb 3- Feb 15: Las Islas Galapagos! One week seminar with my bio boys and an extra 5 days on a yacht with all my other friends that I won't have seen since, well now.
Feb 16- March 3: free time travel around Ecuador? other South American countries? I haven't actually decided yet, but it shall be lots of fun!
March 4: return state side
March 4- 11?: Road trip with Nicholas! Destination unknown.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The Ocean
So I know I’ve been bad at this blog thing recently like I knew I would inevitably do. I’m trying to redeem myself…
So this past weekend we went on a four day trip to the coast with my bio boys. (That’s what I call them now, although they don’t know it.) What I had imagined was sunny beaches, cocktails, mangrove forests, and new creatures. What I got were thick grey clouds, mud, fishermen, an island of birds, and some whales. It really was a nice trip but unexpected. It started and ended in the same fashion with a car ride of anywhere between 9-11 hours on some of the most terribly pot-hole covered roads I’ve ever seen in my life. Combine that with hairpin curves all the way out of the mountains and 85 degree heat and humidity once we hit relative sea level, and you can guess how much fun it really was. Our suburban has no air conditioning, no radio, not even a clock. Oh, and no decent shocks either. But once we got to see the ocean I was happy again. Our destination was the fishing port city of Puerto Lopez and we did get a hotel right across from the boardwalk. I also managed to get my own hotel room this time which was spectacular and allowed me some space away from the constant attack of testosterone. The boys were jealous. Hehe.
On the first day we took a tour out to the Isla de la Plata which is found about 70km off the coast and is part of the national park we were there to visit. While I had to endure a 2 hour bumpy boat ride (I get a little sea sick) it was totally worth it for the views and amazing wild life. I stood 3 feet from blue-footed boobies and their eggs!! If you don’t know what the boobies are, just Google them. They are some of the coolest sea birds that exist and are famous for being on the Galapagos but also on some other Pacific islands like the one we visited. They are not afraid of people and did nothing but squawk at us when we got too close to their nests. I also got to go snorkeling on a coral reef, jump off our tour boat into the water from about 15 feet in the air, fish for sea turtles with watermelon rind, and because of our awesome luck to watch 2 magnificent humpback whales playing in the ocean on the boat ride home. During the summer Puerto Lopez is famous for its whale watching, but it is quite rare to see them at this time of year. Top off that day with some really fresh sea food and it was a good day.
Day 2 we spent the morning on a beautiful beach that is part of the national park as well and would have perfect if it was only a little warmer and with some sunshine. I got to nap to the sound of the waves nonetheless and the boys played in the waves. After lunch we went to an area of the park that is ‘bosque seco’, dry forest, to take a guided archeological tour of the area and to check out the unique types of plants. There was also a sacred sulfur lagoon there that comes up out of the ground that we could have swam in and covered ourselves with mud, but we were all pretty cold and tired of the water, so we opted to just watch the other people frolic around.
On the last night we ran into another group of exchange students that we knew from USFQ who also happened to be on vacation in the same city for the weekend and went out for a night on the town. There was a search for a girly beach cocktail in a coconut but apparently this city was too fishy and not beachy enough to have coconuts as cups. We did get the drinks and the palm trees though, so it was a close second.
Other interesting facts of the trip:
-We got solicited by two different, but both very drunken, local men. The first was at 5:30am when we went to the beach to watch the fishermen. He invited us for a special boat ride and after a while of trying to be rid of him he then tried to sell us some pot. The second was late at night after our coconut search and this guy tried to rent us rooms in his special ‘hostal’ that was really his house for only a dollar. He also claimed to be Rafael Correa however, who is the current president of Ecuador.
- At the same small street festival where we found Correa we also ran into a dancing clown with a manikin attached to his chest and two Ecuadorian transvestites. I would not call this a country that’s really open to such things so it was quite an unusual sight.
That’s basically it for the past weekend, but just as a side note of my day today I took a Spanish exam in a bar. Our professor had promised us that some day we could do it so we simply walked to the nearest one directly across the street from the university, ordered some liters of Ecua beer and french fries and took the test. It was loads of fun but I wasn’t really able to pay much attention in my following class. I think my rainforest prof was curious as to why we kept laughing… ;)
Check out my two newest photo albums for shots from this trip and other random events:
"A little bit of everything Ecuadorian"
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015113&l=8e834&id=40901410
"Puerto Lopez and the Pacific Ocean"
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015116&l=b3512&id=40901410
So this past weekend we went on a four day trip to the coast with my bio boys. (That’s what I call them now, although they don’t know it.) What I had imagined was sunny beaches, cocktails, mangrove forests, and new creatures. What I got were thick grey clouds, mud, fishermen, an island of birds, and some whales. It really was a nice trip but unexpected. It started and ended in the same fashion with a car ride of anywhere between 9-11 hours on some of the most terribly pot-hole covered roads I’ve ever seen in my life. Combine that with hairpin curves all the way out of the mountains and 85 degree heat and humidity once we hit relative sea level, and you can guess how much fun it really was. Our suburban has no air conditioning, no radio, not even a clock. Oh, and no decent shocks either. But once we got to see the ocean I was happy again. Our destination was the fishing port city of Puerto Lopez and we did get a hotel right across from the boardwalk. I also managed to get my own hotel room this time which was spectacular and allowed me some space away from the constant attack of testosterone. The boys were jealous. Hehe.
On the first day we took a tour out to the Isla de la Plata which is found about 70km off the coast and is part of the national park we were there to visit. While I had to endure a 2 hour bumpy boat ride (I get a little sea sick) it was totally worth it for the views and amazing wild life. I stood 3 feet from blue-footed boobies and their eggs!! If you don’t know what the boobies are, just Google them. They are some of the coolest sea birds that exist and are famous for being on the Galapagos but also on some other Pacific islands like the one we visited. They are not afraid of people and did nothing but squawk at us when we got too close to their nests. I also got to go snorkeling on a coral reef, jump off our tour boat into the water from about 15 feet in the air, fish for sea turtles with watermelon rind, and because of our awesome luck to watch 2 magnificent humpback whales playing in the ocean on the boat ride home. During the summer Puerto Lopez is famous for its whale watching, but it is quite rare to see them at this time of year. Top off that day with some really fresh sea food and it was a good day.
Day 2 we spent the morning on a beautiful beach that is part of the national park as well and would have perfect if it was only a little warmer and with some sunshine. I got to nap to the sound of the waves nonetheless and the boys played in the waves. After lunch we went to an area of the park that is ‘bosque seco’, dry forest, to take a guided archeological tour of the area and to check out the unique types of plants. There was also a sacred sulfur lagoon there that comes up out of the ground that we could have swam in and covered ourselves with mud, but we were all pretty cold and tired of the water, so we opted to just watch the other people frolic around.
On the last night we ran into another group of exchange students that we knew from USFQ who also happened to be on vacation in the same city for the weekend and went out for a night on the town. There was a search for a girly beach cocktail in a coconut but apparently this city was too fishy and not beachy enough to have coconuts as cups. We did get the drinks and the palm trees though, so it was a close second.
Other interesting facts of the trip:
-We got solicited by two different, but both very drunken, local men. The first was at 5:30am when we went to the beach to watch the fishermen. He invited us for a special boat ride and after a while of trying to be rid of him he then tried to sell us some pot. The second was late at night after our coconut search and this guy tried to rent us rooms in his special ‘hostal’ that was really his house for only a dollar. He also claimed to be Rafael Correa however, who is the current president of Ecuador.
- At the same small street festival where we found Correa we also ran into a dancing clown with a manikin attached to his chest and two Ecuadorian transvestites. I would not call this a country that’s really open to such things so it was quite an unusual sight.
That’s basically it for the past weekend, but just as a side note of my day today I took a Spanish exam in a bar. Our professor had promised us that some day we could do it so we simply walked to the nearest one directly across the street from the university, ordered some liters of Ecua beer and french fries and took the test. It was loads of fun but I wasn’t really able to pay much attention in my following class. I think my rainforest prof was curious as to why we kept laughing… ;)
Check out my two newest photo albums for shots from this trip and other random events:
"A little bit of everything Ecuadorian"
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015113&l=8e834&id=40901410
"Puerto Lopez and the Pacific Ocean"
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2015116&l=b3512&id=40901410
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The last few weeks...
Sorry that I haven't posted anything in a while. It's a combination of that I really haven't done too much worth writing about lately and that I've been really busy with school and stuff.
Out of the past two weekends I've had one completely free (way to boring for me since I have a four day weekend every week) and the other where I spent one afternoon wandering through some old and quite boring Quito museums with the kids from Kalamazoo and one day on my final Volcanology field trip. That was pretty cool as it was the only volcano we visited that has a big and beautiful snow cap, but we didn't get to hike up it and most of the times it was covered in clouds. Frankly, I'm not sad that I don't have any more required field trips for that class, they were fun but often more trouble than they were worth. Now I will have much more free time to do some independent traveling which I much prefer.
This coming weekend I am going with my fellow bio boys to the Ecuadorian coast. Its a four day trip that leaves on Thursday bright and early. That means 1) I don't have to go to any of my classes on Thursday, and 2) I will instead spend my day in our old ghetto car without a clock or a radio because it will be about an 11 hour drive. I do really hope the 2 days of traveling will be worth it though because it will be my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean and only my second time out of the Andes since I've been here. I'm really excited for this trip as my host mom told me that her past students have loved it. Crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, doing whatever I can do really that we have good weather and it doesn't rain all the time. Well, actually I'm getting used to the rain here as we have finally hit "winter", aka the rainy season. It rains almost every day, but if I'm lucky the mornings are still beautiful and the clouds don't roll in from the coast until mid-afternoon.
Ok, I promise that I will have more stories after this weekend but right now I have to get some school work done. I'm still having health problems now as it turns out that my small amount of anemia may not actually be my problem. I went this afternoon to a Neurologist to get his opinions and now I have to spend all day tomorrow (that I was going to spend working) at various clinics getting tests run. I'm sure that it will be a blast. I just hope that the final outcome will be one that allows me to discover my problem, seriously.
Out of the past two weekends I've had one completely free (way to boring for me since I have a four day weekend every week) and the other where I spent one afternoon wandering through some old and quite boring Quito museums with the kids from Kalamazoo and one day on my final Volcanology field trip. That was pretty cool as it was the only volcano we visited that has a big and beautiful snow cap, but we didn't get to hike up it and most of the times it was covered in clouds. Frankly, I'm not sad that I don't have any more required field trips for that class, they were fun but often more trouble than they were worth. Now I will have much more free time to do some independent traveling which I much prefer.
This coming weekend I am going with my fellow bio boys to the Ecuadorian coast. Its a four day trip that leaves on Thursday bright and early. That means 1) I don't have to go to any of my classes on Thursday, and 2) I will instead spend my day in our old ghetto car without a clock or a radio because it will be about an 11 hour drive. I do really hope the 2 days of traveling will be worth it though because it will be my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean and only my second time out of the Andes since I've been here. I'm really excited for this trip as my host mom told me that her past students have loved it. Crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, doing whatever I can do really that we have good weather and it doesn't rain all the time. Well, actually I'm getting used to the rain here as we have finally hit "winter", aka the rainy season. It rains almost every day, but if I'm lucky the mornings are still beautiful and the clouds don't roll in from the coast until mid-afternoon.
Ok, I promise that I will have more stories after this weekend but right now I have to get some school work done. I'm still having health problems now as it turns out that my small amount of anemia may not actually be my problem. I went this afternoon to a Neurologist to get his opinions and now I have to spend all day tomorrow (that I was going to spend working) at various clinics getting tests run. I'm sure that it will be a blast. I just hope that the final outcome will be one that allows me to discover my problem, seriously.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Photos
So, because I hate the way this blog program allows me to upload photos I have decided to stop trying. I have so far made 5 different facebook albums of some Ecuador photos. If you have a facebook account, go look at them, if not then follow the links below if you would like to see.
The first 3 are all from the very beginning of the trip but the last two are recent. Just so you know...
Ecuador Stuff 1
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013723&l=10298&id=40901410
Banos, Ecuador
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013724&l=74471&id=40901410
Otavalo, etc.
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013726&l=19810&id=40901410
Bosque and Birds
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014561&l=7a341&id=40901410
Misc. Bio Field Excursions
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014563&l=e0832&id=40901410
The first 3 are all from the very beginning of the trip but the last two are recent. Just so you know...
Ecuador Stuff 1
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013723&l=10298&id=40901410
Banos, Ecuador
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013724&l=74471&id=40901410
Otavalo, etc.
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013726&l=19810&id=40901410
Bosque and Birds
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014561&l=7a341&id=40901410
Misc. Bio Field Excursions
http://kzoo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2014563&l=e0832&id=40901410
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Health update
Ok people, just to let people know in case you were worried about me (either through my previous blog posts or by talking with my parents...) I have finally figured out what my dizziness problems have been. I went to the doctor's last week and also had a blood test to check for sugar issues. As it turns out it is not a sugar problem (Thank God, I can still eat my Oreos, hehe) but an iron problem. It's called anemmia, at least I think that's how you spell it. To fix the problem I simply need to alter my diet to include more things like dark green vegetables and red meat. My host mom is taking it on with gusto as for breakfast I got a very special glass of spinach and orange juice. It was a lovely shade of green. However, I did have more energy today so I won't whine too much. :)
Basically, stop worrying. I'm not going to die and I'm not leaving Ecuador. Sorry to disappoint.
Chao!
Basically, stop worrying. I'm not going to die and I'm not leaving Ecuador. Sorry to disappoint.
Chao!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Quick update:
So, it has been raining here for the past week and looking at the forecast it will continue to do so through the weekend. I must say that being on the equator while it is constantly cold and wet doesn't do much for my spirits. On top of that I actually had school work to do this week. Leave it up to my professors to all have midterms the same week. I swear if I didn't have to speak Spanish all the time I would have thought I went back to Kalamazoo this week.
Last weekend I didn't do much besides visit another volcano, spend 8 hours in a bus and get a really bad farmers sunburn. But this weekend I'm excited. I have ahead of me the first trip with only our group of 4 biology students from Kalamazoo. It will be us and our crazy guide and his wife. Remember that guide I told you about from my bird watching field trip? The one who could climb trees and smoke a ciggarette at the same time? Yeah, that's him. We're going to have fun, all I have to do is pray it doesn't rain the whole time...
Last weekend I didn't do much besides visit another volcano, spend 8 hours in a bus and get a really bad farmers sunburn. But this weekend I'm excited. I have ahead of me the first trip with only our group of 4 biology students from Kalamazoo. It will be us and our crazy guide and his wife. Remember that guide I told you about from my bird watching field trip? The one who could climb trees and smoke a ciggarette at the same time? Yeah, that's him. We're going to have fun, all I have to do is pray it doesn't rain the whole time...
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