Been here a month already!

Well, it's been kind of a rough week.  I was feeling pretty sick earlier this week, but decided to go to school on Wednesday because we were going on a trip to the páramo.  On the way, my phone was stolen...buses get packed and people are right up against you.  So I was bummed about that because I would never steal from someone random like that, so it was frustrating.  But I am trying to look on the bright side and remember that it could happen anywhere, not just Quito.  And I was lucky it was just my phone, because that is pretty easily replaceable.  Then I temporarily lost an expensive piece of equipment for measuring the height of trees.  But it was found so that was a big relief!

Continuing to be have stomach issues, I decided to go to the doctor on Friday, where I found out I have parasites, probably Giardiasis....Not the best news, but again, could be worse.  Here if you have parasites, they say "estás con bichos" = literally you are with bugs.  Was definitely hoping to avoid getting parasites here, but oh well!  Giardiasis is from contaminated water/food, so I think it was probably from when I was in Plaza Gutierrez, but who knows.  Got some medicine for it, and I feel like a totally different person now than earlier this week!  I couldn't eat anything without getting these shooting pains in my stomach, which was bizarre.  Gladys was convinced it was the peanut butter making me sick, so she wouldn't let me eat it anymore.  So I guess the silver lining of having parasites is that I can eat peanut butter again?

High point of the week was definitely my first fútbol game tonight!!  SO fun.  It's pretty incredible, people are singing team-specific songs and chants literally the entire game!  La Liga de Quito was playing Espoli, another team from Quito.  Both are in the highest level of soccer in Ecuador, but the ticket only cost $4!  We had a group of like 17 people go, it was pretty great.  La Liga is the best team as far as records go - they won the South American Championship last year!  My host family are all fans of a team called Barcelona but from Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city.  My host brother Jonathon explained that if you're a fan of Barcelona, it's in your blood.  Win or lose you love Barcelona.  But fans of La Liga only like them when they win.  Granted, that's coming from a Barcelona fan!  It's definitely a good time regardless of the teams
La Liga won 3-0!

People take fútbol super seriously here - that banner says "white death."
Police everywhere!  We met an official hooligan too!  Apparently fútbol hooligans
are organized groups/'firms' of super hardcore/intense/sometimes violent fans....
He was looking for beer money, to 'support the firm'

Our wonderful group!

Video - after La Liga scored!

Also - I have added a few more photos to earlier posts, as well as some more facts to my list

El Páramo de Papallacta

This forest is many hundreds of years old!  Here we were
walking on top of fallen branches that have been
covered by moss and other plants.  The ground feels
like a sponge!  Lots of hidden holes

Today we went to visit the páramo, an ecosystem at about 4000m - pretty chilly, but gorgeous!  It's a really harsh climate - big temperature range, high UV radiation, wind - so there are some really unique plants there that have adapted to the conditions.

'Years ago, this path was used by the Spaniards as an entry
into the Oriente to discover the Amazon River, and later
was used by the first settlers and mule drivers'

Mt. Antisana, almost 19,000 feet!

Tinyy flowers!

The plant in the water is an ancient species!  Around at the same time as tyrannosaurus rex!

Daisies :)

Some really odd plants/flowers!

Glacial lake

On the way back, we stopped at the natural hot springs at Papallacta - so nice!

Monday we're off to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Amazon for a week!

El Mitad del Mundo!

In both hemispheres at once!

Yesterday Gladys took me to 'Mitad del Mundo,' the official line of the equator.  It's about half an hour north of the center of Quito, and there are different museums, artisanal stores, and little restaurants.  I was told that the actual Equator may have been shifted during the Chilean earthquake...not sure but it makes sense.  So I may not have actually been on the equator haha, but close!

Up close and personal with some cuy (guinea pigs)...

Typical tourist photo on the equator!

Gladys!

View from the top of the monument

Inside the monument was a museum of different indigenous groups.
These are masks from groups from Cotopaxi

Typical Quichua outfits

Pachamama ~ Andean goddess similar to 'Mother Earth'

-Ecuadorian artist Guayasamín

First week with the host family!

Life in Quito - quite a contrast to the cloud forest last week!  I feel bad for my lungs!  Pollution kind of gets stuck in a cloud over the city since Quito is surrounded by mountains/volcanoes.  Starting to get the hang of navigating the city a little bit, and settling into a routine.  Sunday we all moved in with our homestay families throughout Quito.  Didn't know what to expect but so far the family I'm staying with has been super welcoming!  Gladys and René are my host padres, and they have a 23 year old son studying architecture, 20 year old daughter who wants to teach, and a poodle named Brando.  It's a little weird jumping into living in a random family's home, but so far so good.  The main difficulty is just communicating, but it's going to make my Spanish better for sure!
The first day I got here, Gladys and René took me to see the historic section of Quito, which was really neat!  That part of the city was founded in the 1530s, and there are a lot of old churches that have pretty amazing architecture.

Santo Domingo church

(not the same as above)

Basically, a brief day in the life so far -
Breakfast is bread + jam, 'coffee' (powdered/instant), and fruit, sometimes scrambled eggs or panqueques (very different form our pancakes!).  10 min. walk to the bus stop where I meet my amiga Libby and we tackle the crazy bus system to get to school.  Spanish class from 8 to 10, ecology/Ecuador-related lecture from 8:30 to 1.  Back home for a HUGE lunch.  I can't eat that much at one time!  Always soup, every day.  Plus rice and something with it.  Plus vegetables, plus juice, sometimes more.  But they don't really eat dinner, just tea and bread with jam usually.  So far been spending my free time working on projects for my classes and exploring the area.

It's been really interesting to see some cultural differences.  Things that seem simple or easy often end up more complicated, probably a combination of different perspectives and my communication difficulties.  I think Gladys made her first PB&J ever for me this morning for me to take for lunch during our minga today (more later).  She asked if I wanted cheese in it too.  I convinced her it was ok without cheese.  A few days ago I went to the grocery store nearby with Gladys and her mom, who lives in an adjacent apartment.  I mentioned that I was going to get a few apples to bring to classes during the day, and she seemed very confused by that, whereas it obviously doesn't seem like an issue to me.  Then the next morning, I was eating breakfast and she came in and asked, "So, your apples!  Are you bringing all of them today?"  Nope, just one.  And every day since then I get up and go to the bathroom to get ready, and come back to find the Gladys has filled my water bottle and put an apple on my bed.  Just random things that you wouldn't think of are a little different/surprising!

Today we all went to Yaroqui to work on a reforestation project that SIT has been helping with for a little while, planting trees to help offset our carbon footprint from the program (flights, etc.).  Today we planted about 120 trees!  I was part of a group trying to identify and measure all of the trees from this planting and from previous semesters.  It was a lot of work, but we had a good time!  The altitude has a surprisingly huge effect on how you feel during any physical activity...kind of frustrating, but hopefully it'll wear off over time!

So gorgeous and peaceful there!

alpacas!

Fun Facts about Ecuador!

1. Sunrise/Sunset times hardly fluctuate at all, much different from Maine!
2. Up at this altitude, it’s not scorchingly hot, even tho we’re at the equator.  But the sun is close!  So you still burn even if it’s cold out.
3. You can’t put toilet paper in toilets, the plumming system can’t handle it…kind of weird to get used to!
4. In Quito, dogs are typically not your friends.
5. There's policía everywhere.  Earlier today I came out of a grocery store and saw a guy standing in the parking lot with a rifle, just hangin out.  Then stopped at a bakery, another police officer there.
6. You have to saludar (say hello/goodbye) to everyone, always.
7. Until a few years ago, vehicles legally had the right of way over pedestrians, and that still is the case even though the law doesn’t technically exist.  Makes crossing streets interesting...
8. People love to watch TV here.  In Plaza Gutierrez, the small town in the Cloud Forest, the family I stayed with had a TV and DVD player, but no refrigerator.  At the homestay family in Quito, it’s midnight and the TV has been on since lunch…
9. Pretty much don’t drink the water unless it’s been boiled.  Apparently it isn’t necessarily bad or sickness-causing, but you can’t always count on it to be good.  Regulation seems to be lacking in general.
10. In 1859, there were 4 presidents simultaneously!
11. People don't wear flip flops here!  I think I've seen one pair of flip flops since I've been in Quito.  Shorts are rare too.
12. You can often see people breath fire and juggle machetes in the middle of streets
13. During the 1940s, US military occupied bases in the Galápagos!
14. Cuy, or guinea pig, is a traditional staple food here...
15. Between the super dry air, low oxygen levels, and the pollution, my lungs aren't happy.  Also, apparently it's harder to digest food at high altitudes.  Lunch is by far the most important meal of the day here.
16. Growth rings pretty much don't exist in trees here, since there aren't drastic seasonal changes!  So the only way to find out the age of a tree is to chemically test it
17. El Parque Nacional Yasuní in the Ecuadorian Amazon is considered the most biodiverse area in the world!  It has the greatest diversity of trees and amphibians in the world.  One hectare in Yasuní contains as many tree species as all of North America.  This area has unfortunately been threatened by petroleum companies, and it's future is still up in the air.  The Ecuadorian government decided not to allow oil exploitation in Yasuní, asking for international financial compensation for the profits they would be making from the oil.  It's a very forward-looking action, so hopefully the international community will support it!  http://www.sosyasuni.org/en/
18. Corn here has HUGE kernels, and isn't sweet like corn in New England.
19. Parasites = not fun.  Found out giardiasis is also called 'beaver fever!'  The doctor I went to see said almost everyone here has parasites at some point, but their stomachs are more used to it.  Having parasites has definitely been one of the weirdest sicknesses I have experienced.
20. Some words and phrases from the indigenous Andean language Quichua have been integrated into common language here in Quito.  You can often hear "Mande?"  (What?)  or "Achachay" (I'm cold!)  "Arrarray" (I'm hot) and "Ayayay!" (ayayay mi cabeza = my head hurts!)

Week in the Cloud Forest

Just got back to Quito after a week in one of the most amazing places on Earth.  We took the PanAmerican highway from Quito to Otovalo, then a long time on dirt roads up to the Intag Cloud Forest.  Cloud forest is a really unique ecosystem created by rising moisture from the rainforest at lower altitudes.  We stayed at an awesome reserve called La Florida and met some really great people there.  They make coffee there, they're working on permaculture, everything is composted, almost entirely a closed system.  Writing by candlelight at night, plus the most stars and fireflies you've ever seen.  Amazing.

The cloud forest is super valuable as far as plant, animal, and insect species diversity and endemism, but we learned about the ongoing struggle against mining interests that threaten to completely devastate the area.  For the past 20 or so years, people in the Intag area and throughout Ecuador have been fighting to prevent international mining companies from coming in to create copper mines.  Most copper mining is done in very dry climates, with plenty of environmental issues there, but having an open pit mine in such a rich and unique ecosystem would cause unbelievable damage.  Whole communities would also have to be relocated.  

People in Ecuador and other countries have been killed in this struggle, and these international companies involve so much corruption like bribing politicians.  We met Carlos Zorrilla who is originally from Cuba but now lives at La Florida reserve.  He has really spearheaded a lot of the defense of the Intag and it was great to get to talk to him for a while.  The Canadian mining companies hired paramilitary and other security groups to try to get him 'out of the way' any way they could.  We learned that ultimately, the amount of deforestation involved in a mine in the Intag could cause the climate there to dry up!  Would completely destroy such an amazing area, in addition to the devastation to the people and communities who have lived there for years.  We really got just an overview of the struggle because it is so multi-layered and complex.  Carlos said that they had success against the Canadian mining companies, but they also have to deal with the effects of World Bank and other international policies, and now they're facing threats from some people in the Ecuadorian government itself who want to pursue the mining projects as well. 

After spending time there, I can’t really describe how unbelievable it is to think that companies could knowingly go in and cause SO much ecological and social devastation.  It was discouraging to hear about this whole problem, as well as the influence the US and Canada have in it, but awesome to see how successful the fight in the Intag has been!  The people there are great and very inspiring, dedicating their whole lives and literally putting their lives on the line to save this area they know is so important, way more valuable than the copper under the ground.  Ecuador recently created a new constitution that recognizes the rights of the environment, so it is interesting to see this clashing with the interests of exploitative companies and now some of the country’s own government.  Check out www.decoin.org if you want to learn more about this conflict.

We also spent a few days staying with a family in a rural village…very interesting experience.  I went to Plaza Gutierrez, a small town about an hour’s hike away from La Florida.  I stayed with Marina and Oswaldo, and their 3 kids.  Everyone in the town was really friendly, and it seemed like a very tranquil, relaxed lifestyle.  The biggest shock was that there isn’t really a concept of ‘germs’ here, mainly evident in the general lack of sanitation.  But it was still a great experience!

Con dos de los hijos de la familia y sus perros

I went to the school two days and tried to help with reading and writing.  A lot of the kids also wanted to learn some English.  Really great to spend time with the kids and see what their school experience is like, but also very exhausting.  They love playing marbles and basketball.  The first day we went to work at the family’s bean field after school and almuerzo.  People eat huge lunches here!  Lots of rice, eggs, and soup.  Also this root vegetable called a yuca, kind of like a potato, but actually very toxic unless cooked well…Lots of foods made with bananas too!  After coming back from the field (steepest agricultural field I’ve ever seen!), some of the people in our group that were also in Plaza Gutierrez went to play fútbol with a bunch of the kids in the town.  Then people in the town heard somehow that I play guitar and they found a guitar for me to play!  They requested Shakira, but unfortunately I didn’t know any!  Played some Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Dispatch instead.  Went back to the casa for dinner and then watched a movie….no refrigerator in the house, but a tv!  Very long day!  It’s crazy how much more difficult it is to be active in this altitude.

Well, in addition to all that, we spent a lot of time walking around the reserve learning about different kinds of plants, trees, moths, and birds.  Mist netting to catch birds too!

This picture doesn't do it justice, but these leaves are HUGE and shaped like elephant ears.  Very common plant

Tree called 'sangre del dragon' - sap looks just like blood when you cut the bark!  Used medicinally

Un colibrí/Hummingbird

For our last day at the reserve, we all went to participate in a ‘minga,’ which is like a group community service project.  We were helping to build a bridge across a river, and it was pretty much the hardest way to build a bridge I’ve ever seen.  We were trying to rotate and move these huge eucalyptus trees down a hill, all by hand and with natural tools/materials which was interesting.  Made some progress!  Felt good to help out, and made me wish that ‘mingas’ were more prevalent in the US.

Nuestro grupo con Carlos y otros de La Florida!

And today we made the trip back to Quito, such a contrast to the peaceful forest we’ve been in all week!  On the way back, we stopped to see Lake Cuicocha, a gorgeous crater lake.  Cocha means lake, Cui guinea pig.  In Quito taking classes for the next two weeks, then off to the Amazon!  Thanks for reading!  Hasta luego!  :)

Cuicocha