Resumen de las ultimas semanas y Adios a Ecuador

I am back in the US but I think Ecuador deserves a last sum up post.  Many awesome things happened since the Galapagos so I will give a quick run through of the highlights of my last weeks and then a few moments of reflection.  

CUENCA

After we returned from the Galapagos we still had 6 days of spring break left.  I spent 3 of those days (April 16-18) in Cuenca with Laura, Marlene, Nathan, and Jake.  Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador and is full of beautiful colonial architecture, including lots of churches.  

I loved Cuenca, it was one of my favorite places that we visited.  We just had a great experience with everything we did.  Our hostel was great (Hostal Paredes - if any of you ever visit Cuenca, check it out) and cheap ($5 a night).  We found a great restaurant, Chicago Pizza, where we ended up eating twice.  Internet and calling was really cheap which we took advantage of.   We visited a cool art museum that was in this nice building with lots of open court yards.   We saw the Rumba Kings and were the cool tourists who danced along and entertained all of the other people in the park.  It was really nice to have a chill stay where we just wandered around and did everything on our own time.  Cuenca had a great atmosphere and it was a good end to an incredible spring break.

Me with Cuenca in the background

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INGAPIRCA

The second day we were in Cuenca we went on a day trip to Ingapirca (which is the Machu Picchu of Ecuador) which is about two and a half hours away from Cuenca.  It is a Inca and Canari (the group that was there before the Incas invaded and took over).  I thought it was super cool and I liked it a lot.  It's amazing to be in the middle of so much history.  What was also great was how easy and cheap it was.  We took a bus there that was $2.50 and then with our USFQ student IDs we got a discounted entrance for $3 which included having a guide and entry to the museum, and then took the bus back for $2.50.  We did the whole thing for $8, not a bad deal.  We not only saw the main ruins but also some other cool things like the Cara de Inca (like the man in the mountain) and some other smaller bits of ruins in the surrounding areas.  We also talked to a guy who lives in the area and he told us more about the history of the area.  Great trip.

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QUILOTOA 

The second to last week of classes we had Friday off (May 1).  I had a lot of homework to do so I couldn't do a full weekend trip so Laura, Jake, and I took advantage of the free Friday to take a semi-day trip to Quilotoa, a caldera lake, and still have the rest of the weekend to work.  We left Thursday night to go to Latacunga (a town not too far from Quilotoa).  We stayed over night there and then left to go to Quilotoa in the morning.  It was a cool trek.  First we took a a bus to Zumahua (about 2 hours) and from there we rode in the back of a pickup truck to Quilotoa (about a half hour).  Both trips were incredibly beautiful.  We were driving really high up in the mountains and the views were great. 

 

Quilotoa itself is super cool.  It is a lake in the caldera of a volcano.  It is a somewhat special one because the water is green.  It has something to do with the volcanic gases and algae.  Looking at it from the rim of the volcano was another one of those moments when i couldn't really believe what I was seeing.  It looks like a back drop or something.  We walked down and spent some time down by the lake and then walked back up.  Up close you can really see how green the water is.  It doesn't transfer to pictures that well , but we tried.  Walking down took about 15-20 minutes.  walking back up took 45.  We were at high altitude (not as high as Cotopaxi but still HIGH) so breathing was interesting.  They do have horses that bring people back up, but we are too hard core for that.  We had perfect timing weather-wise.  When we first got there it was pretty clear and you could see the whole caldera.  After we walked down and as we walked back up clouds starting coming down the walls and then it got cold a drizzley.  It worked out to be a great short trip for the weekend.

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TENA

The Friday before we left for spring break, I went to Tena for a day trip (April 3) to go white water rafting with Justin, Ari, Angela, and Laura.  It was incredible.  Tena is in the Oriente so we were rafting through the rain forest.  To me it felt like rafting through Jurassic Park.  A bit different from my other rafting experience in Norway where we had to wear wetsuits to protect from cold.  It was an all day trip which included lunch and tons of fun.  The guides were chill and enjoyed pulling people off of the rafts when we were in calm stretches.  There was much more swimming involved than I had anticipated.  I fell out of the raft at one point in the middle of a rapid (fell not pushed).  It was fun although I must have knocked my shin very hard against a rock since a had a large bruise and bump (the is still there a little).  One of the coolest moments was when one of the guides and I climbed onto this small rock platform right in front of a waterfall.  We were pretty much standing in the waterfall (I have had many up-close and personal waterfall experiences).  It was a great day and totally worth skipping a day of class for (woops).  

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ULTIMOS DIAS EN ECUADOR

After I was done with my exams I had 4 free days before I left to come back to the US.  One of the days Jake and I went to Teleferico (which is a cable car you can take up Pichincha the volcano alongside of Quito) and the Basilica (where you could climb up the towers).  It was a day of great views of the city.  Many parts of climbing the Basilica were vaguely terrifying because you were climbing these tiny metal ladders, but that added to the adventure.  I spent my last free days cramming in all the stuff I wanted to do in Quito which I hadn't gotten to yet.  

My last day in Quito I spent the day with my host mom.  First we went to the Capillas del Hombre (Chapel of Man) which is the museum Guayasamin created for his work.  Guayasamin is Ecuador's most famous painter who painted about racism, poverty, oppression, and class division.  It was a really cool place and I like his paintings.  I was really glad I got to go because he and his work are a big part of Ecuadorian culture (especially in Quito).  After the museum Matele and I went over to her friend Aida's for lunch with her and their friend Belin.  Matele, Aida, and Belin play cards together almost every week so I got to know them pretty well.  We had great steak which Belin cooked for a lunch.  VERY tasty.  After, the four of us went to Mitad del Mundo (the mini city that is at the Equator).  I can't believe it took me that long to finally go there.  It was great spending my last day with the three of them.  We had a good time.

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UNO NIGHT

The last Friday night I went over to my host sister's house for a big family get together to say good bye to Melissa and I.  I didn't realize it was going to be almost the whole family when the night began but by the end it was me and Melissa (the other student who was my host cousin), Matele, Lori (host sister) her kids Sammi and Jose, Julio (host brother) and his wife Vero, my Abuela, Mario (host uncle) and his wife Maria Sol, and Chirri (host aunt and Melissa's host mom).  We all ate pizza and then played Uno Spin.  It was a great night.  I was so glad I got to spend the time with them because they were so great throughout the semester.  It's sad saying goodbye to all the other students I was with, but it is even harder saying goodbye to my host family.  

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REFLECTIONS

The group (minus Emily)

I wish I could come up with some profound neat statement to sum up my semester abroad, but that never seems to work.  I am so glad that I decided to study abroad in Ecuador.  I have been wanting to do this program since the first time I looked at the BU Abroad booklet.  It has exceeded all of my expectations.  The whole program was great.  We had an amazing group of people on the program, Maria Antoineta does an incredible job with the program, I loved my host family, and I went on amazing mind-blowing trips.  For the same price as a semester at BU I got to visit Otovalo, Tiputini, Santo Domingo, and Galapagos.  I think I can safely say of all the many international programs at USFQ, BU has the best program.   This semester is one of the highlights of my BU experience.  I cannot put into words how awesome it was (although obviously I have been spending the whole semester trying).  I now have the world traveling bug.

Map of all the places I visited

Galapagos - Best Spring Break Destination EVER

Sorry but this is going to be a long one.

As part of the BU program we went to Galapagos for the first part of our semana santa vacation (April 9-13). Our whole trip was completely planned for us and we did not have to think or worry about abything for the 4 days we were there. Maria, our program coordinator, takes care of us and we have dubbed her the Queen of Ecuador.

Day 1

We left Quito at 9 am on Thursday April 9 and flew through Guayaquil. The flight was not too exciting as it was a lot of ocean, but in the last 15 minutes or so of the flight, we started to fly over islands, which was super cool. When we got to Galapagos, it was not anything like I had pictured it. I'm not sure exactly what I imagined, but cacti were not it. It looked a little what I imagine Australia looks like. It was absolutely beautiful though.

Once we got off the plane, we took a bus to the ferry, which brought us to the island where we would be staying the first night, Santa Cruz. We then took a bus across the island to Puerto Ayora, the main city. The first night we stayed in a hotel called the Red Footed Booby. It was a nice place. The rooms had air conditioning and there was a pool on the top floor. As I said, Maria takes care of us. We did not have much time to settle in. Basically, we all just changed into swimsuits and went to lunch...and what a lunch. We had appetizers (patacones which are fired planatnos with cheese), soup, bread, main course (chicken, lentils, rice, and salad), and ice cream. We were all pretty full after soup and still just continued to eat. I repeat again, Maria takes very good care of us. After that we went to the beach (even though we all felt like beached whales). It was a beautiful beach and the sand felt like flour it was so fine. A bunch of us went swimming and I had a great time frolicking in the waves. This was my first experience with the Pacific Ocean and I am afraid I have now set an impossibly high standard. We then went back to the hotel and had a lovely night swim before dinner. At first we could see a bunch of stars, but then it cloudy.

Day 2

The next day we got up and had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. We embarked on our first snorkeling adventure. We took a little dingy out and went snorkeling. This was my first time snorkeling and it took me a little while to get used to the breathing. I saw a bunch of fish, a marine iguana swimming, a stingray, and a sea lion. I got super excited about the sea lion. Little did I know how much better acquainted we would become by the end of the trip. After that, we rode the dingy back towards the harbor. We stopped to see some more sea iguanas. It was funny, when we first started seeing iguanas as we were walking down the trail, we all got really excited and started taking pictures. By the time we got to the beach they were everywhere. This happened throughout the trip. At first all my pictures of an animal are from very far away and then as the pictures go on the pictures get closer and closer until you are literally standing next to the animal. After hanging out with the iguanas for a while, we went back via this sheltered cove where we saw some sharks chillin. We went back to our hotel to get changed and gave all of our luggae to people to bring to the boat where we would be spending the next 3 days.

Our group then took a bus up into the highlands to see some giant tortoises (aka galapagos - they are what the islands are named for(. They are unreal. The first one I saw I could not believe how huge it was. Pictures do not do them justice (not that we all did'nt try). Then on our bus ride back we stopped at this giant lava tube, which we walked through. For almost all of it you could walk normally, but for about a meter and a half you had to crawl. It was cool. Once we got back to port, we hopped on another dingy and went to our boat for the first time. It was a small boat for only 16 people so we had it all to ourselves. There were hard wood floors and wood paneling. There were also a covered deck and a sun deck, a TV with DVD player, and large quantities of awesome food. We were in the lap of luxury and we all felt rich. I cannot say it enough...Maria takes care of us. The rooms were cozy (aka tiny) but nice. I was lucky and never really felt seasick. I just took a Mareol (which is essentially Dramamine) every night before bed and was good.

Day 3

The next day when we woke up, we were north of Santa Cruz. We had an amazing breakfast on the boat and then went to North Seymour Island to see blue footed boobies and other animals. Blue footed boobies are some of the most adorable animals. The way they walk is a little like the penguin waddle and their big blue feet just add to the overall picture of cuteness. At first, the boobies were all pretty far away, but as we kept walking, they were right next to, and sometimes in, the path. We also saw frigate birds. The male frigate birds, in order to attract a mate, have a very large pouch in their throat which they inflate. They are rather bizarre but very cool birds. Another fun fact about them, their feathers are not water proof so they cannot get wet so the way they eat is by chasing other birds, pulling on their tales trying to make them vomit so the frigate birds can eat the vomit. Lovely no? We also saw some land iguanas. Land iguanas are bigger than marine iguanas and instead of being black, they are yellow and brown.

After we completed our tour of the island, we went back to the boat and changed for snorkeling. This time I was a lot more comfortable with the whole thing. It was also a cooler place. There were more fish and these ones were more colorful. I saw those crazy tropical fish you sometimes see in fish tanks or in the aquarium live and in their natural habitat. It was so cool. Some people saw a shark, but I was not that lucky. I did get to see a couple of stingrays relaxing on the sea floor and a manta ray swim by. Towards the end of our snorkel, a bunch of sea lions (or in spaish lobos de mar) joined us. They swam right up to us. I have to say sea lions are one of the cutest things ever. They were spinning in and among the rocks. After snorkeling, we went back to the boat and ate lunch while we sailed to San Bartolome. In transit, we hung out on the sun deck, which resulted in a few sunburns. San Bartolome is an island famous for this spire of rock. It is in a lot of the books about Galapagos. When we first got there, we went out in the dingy to see penguins. That's right penguins. The penguins that live in Galapagos are small and adorable. I have now achieved a major goal in my life to see penguins outside of a zoo. After our penguin watching, we went snorkeling again. The coolest part about this snorkeling experience was when we saw penguins up close and I saw a couple swim by me. After snorkeling, we climbed 365 stairs up to the top of a hill across from the spire. From the top we had an incredible view. It was unreal. I could not believe what I was seeing, it looked like a back drop or something.

Day 4

The next morning we got up at dawn to see wildlife at Plazas. I is an island with many land iguanas and sea lions. One of the highlights of this island was first watching and iguana eating a piece of cactus and then watching him fight with another, smaller iguana that wanted some too. There was a lot of head bobbing and a few narrow get aways with the food. We a also saw a sea lion baby nursing and ta sea lion graveyard where old and infertile sea lion males go to die.

After that we went back to the boat to eat breakfast and travel to Santa Fey. Once we got there, we went snorkeling again. The coolest part was the big schools of fish. I would dive down and just be swimming in the middle of this big group of fish. Also, the water at Santa Fey was that ridiculously bright blue water that doesn't even seem real. Again we were joined by sea lions. There was one point when I was swimming and there was a sea lion right under me swimming around through this big group of fish. I cannot even describe how cool it was. When we got back to the boat, almost all of us jumped off the top of the boat. It was great fun and only a little painful when you hit the water. After lunch, we went to the island proper of Santa Fey to see another type of iguana (green iguana) and a sea lion colony. The sea lion colony was super cool. One of the best things about Galapagos animals is they have no fear of people. We were able to walk around really close to the sea lions. One even sniffed my foot. We also saw a green iguana. It is bigger than either the land or marine iguanas. There was also this cool looking hawk. This was essentially the last of our Glapagos wildlife experiences. We then sailed for our final destination, the capital of Galapagos San Cristobal. It was a really nice ride. For a while I sat on the second deck in the front of the boat just enjoying the view and the breeze. I saw a bunch of sting rays swimming. We spent the rest of the night watching Arrested Development - good times.

Day 5

This was our last day and we didn't do too much. We went to a museaum about the Galapagos. It was ok, but a little anti-climactic after seeing it all in person. After that, we just wandered around the town. We found this cool park with lots of fun paintings, a stage, and play ground equipment. It was a chill last day.


Sorry for the long entry, but a lot happened. Imagine, this was only the first half of my spring break trip. I'll write about the rest in the next blog.