The past few weeks

So it has been quite a long time since I have wrote, and even I’m coming home in a week I thought I’d give a little update. Things have been crazy, and I have been so busy, between service, school, traveling, and getting in as much time with my friends while I still can, I haven’t had much time to just relax… or sleep. Anyway I met a bunch of Ecuadorian guys (Santiago aka Santos, Camilo aka Popeye, Colo aka Patas, Jose and Miguel) who don’t go to our school through my friends Betty Brandt and Kristy and they invited a whole load of us to one of their houses on the beach near Atacames called Casa Blanca. Named after the capital of Morocco because of the all white buildings and Mediterranean style. Casa Blanca is a private community full of amazing houses that only run around $200,000 to buy and come with access to restaurants, markets, tennis courts, and a huge private beach. Fresh seafood, hammocks, and not a care in the world, cant beat it! I can defiantly say I really saw the other side of Ecuador that weekend with our private pool, jacuzzi, and cook, and it couldn’t be farther socio-economically then some of the other places I went like Huaorani Territory or anywhere in the Sierra. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there with everyone and it was so relaxing.
When I returned I had quite a load of work waiting for me that I had been putting off for a while, but you know what? It was worth it, I mean I learn more out of the classroom traveling! Research, interviews, reading, studying, lots of typing, service, and a heck of a lot of maté pretty much sums up last week for me. I finished up classes and exams last Thursday and I feel pretty confident about them, I’m sure you are glad to read that mom! Friday was my last day of service and I was really sad to go, we all piled into the bus to go to hipoterapia, which is where the kids work with horses and it helps them physically because they have to sit up as straight as they can and they work on their balance plus animals really help persons with special needs. After all the kids had rode and were fed we all piled back into the bus and headed back to Quito. Just like how my volunteering started here in Ecuador, it ended; in chaos. The first day I remember leaving and saying to Zac, my friend who I work with, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” When it’s a good day it is amazing, but when it’s a bad day, its almost unbearable. Just as we had left the farm, Mateo a 5 year old with cerebral palsy I have been working really closely with for the last 4 months let loose and threw up all over me! I didn’t know what to do, I just sat there and kept saying “Well, yup, nothing really I can do about this” as he vomited on me 3 separate times. Now you may be thinking, “that’s disgusting, how could you just sit there” well my friends this is not the first time Mateo has thrown up on me, it’s also not the second, but the third time. I had no idea a 5 years old’s stomach could hold that much food and liquid. We stopped the car and I clean Mateo and myself off and after a little crying- by him not me- he broke out in laughter; kids, they’re precious. Saying this I am now confident in my ability to be patient with kids and hope that child rearing isn’t as difficult, but I’m sure it will be. I am going to really miss the foundation I worked at and the kids really taught me a lot about not sweating the small stuff, especially Mateo who’s only words to me in 4 months and 200 hours together were Mama, Papa, and Hola, really made an impression on me. I wish I could stay with them and watch all of them keep progressing.

Yesterday Jose picked up Betty Brandt, Kristy, Katlyn and I and we all met up with Caroline and Alejandro in Otavalo for a little last minuet artisan shopping and my bargaining skills were at an all time high! I was kicking ass! You may say- “But Patrick, aren’t you exploiting these people, selling these goods is their livelihood!” Nay I say! Though it is true that handicrafts is how the Otavaleños survive, but I can say confidently these people are not living too hard, even in this economic crisis, which has not really touched Ecuador because of its protective nationalism, socialism you could say, in Otavalo there is a 0% unemployment rate, and many are so well off they have I-phones just like Maureen’s! Even ignoring that, you must remember that I, Patrick Cutrona, am a whitie- or gringo so when people see me eyeing their goods they immediately try to charge me double. Yesterday was not the right day to mess with me though because I was on my A game! I got pretty much everything for under half of what the asking price was, one lady was trying to sell me a really nice painting that I didn’t even really want, her asking price; $50, I paid her $18. Boo Yah Achieved. She messed with the wrong gringo. Anyway I got some good stuff and left happy.

This morning I made my host parents a big American Brunch to show them what a meal should be! Banana pancakes, sausage, bacon, and two eggs over easy with cheddar cheese cooked in the bacon grease all covered in Maple syrup. It was dang good and we were all full. They seemed to really like it, but I mean how could you not?!

Just a week left and though I cant wait to get home I am going to miss my friends here a lot so for the next few day I will be spending as much time as possible with them- who knows if I’ll ever see them again? See you all very soon and happy mothers day!

What a really cool experience!

Sea lions, giant tortoises, blue footed boobies, sea turtles, iguanas, Darwin’s fitches volcanoes, sandy beaches, and the birthplace of evolution, as we know it. Las Islas Galapagos! What a trip it was! On Thursday April 9th I woke up at 5 in the morning and headed of to Mariscal Sucre Airport Quito for my flight thinking I was on the 7.30 flight, I wasn’t, I was on the 9.30 flight and the rest of the group passed on at 7.30. So I waited 2 more hours, hopped on the plane. Exhausted from the night before, (I wont tell you how late I stayed out, but it was late,) I napped the whole way. After about an hour we stopped in Guayaquil to pick up more passengers and then again, we were off, but this time sailing over the Pacific Ocean; Galapagos bound! We landed on the island of Baltra that is home to one thing: the airport. Though there are around 60 islands and islets that fall under the general name Galapagos but only three have any sort of substantial population to label a town, or village. From Baltra I hopped on the 80 cent ferry across the canal from Baltra to Santa Cruz also known as Indefatigable.

As you may guess, since there are only 3 habitable populations on all of the Galapagos Islands, there is one main paved road, which runs north to south on Santa Cruz, from the ferry to Puerto Ayora, Galapagos’ main deep-water port. I took the 1-hour ride down south and the drive was amazing. Some areas along the drive were pretty barren; dry, lacking all types of vegetation besides cacti. Other areas were full of green veggies, banana trees, and bamboo. That’s the thing about the Galapagos; they were created a few million years ago, making them very young islands, some areas are still completely covered with solid, sharp, unforgiving, black, volcanic rock and other parts have become like normal earth because of the salt water, wind, and introduction of organic material. Before human “discovery” of the Galapagos everything, plants, animals, insects, etc had either floated, swam, or flew there so the majority of the matter on the Galapagos is now there accidentally. To adjust to such a new landscape many of the animals and plants modify themselves to new niches, or die. Now the inhabitants of the Galapagos now share their home with people, tourists, boats, houses, water bottles, and cars, so conservation and impacting as little as possible is very important.

Back to the good stuff. Right off the bat I dropped my stuff off that the hostel, Lirio del Mar, threw on my bathing suit and flip flops and walked on over to the Darwin Research Center, home to the rarest animal in the whole entire world! They call him Lonesome George, and he is the last of his specific species of Giant Tortoises. I don’t know what specific kind he is, or how old he is, but let me tell you, Lonesome George is huge, old, wrinkly slow and really cool. At the Darwin Research Center in Puerto Ayora the worker help breed and take care of all different types of Giant Tortoises that are only found on the Galapagos Islands. During the 17th century the tortes population was decimated by pirates… mmmm good eatin! We only hung out there for a little because once you’ve seen one giant tortes you’ve basically seen them all, plus they aren’t very active, though impressive.

So what else could we possibly do. Its hot, we’re in bathing suits, and we’re on an island… Beach! We then split off into the groups we would remain in for the rest of the trip traveling throughout the Islands. After getting our directions we were directed about 15 mins in one direction to a set of beaches called Tortuga Bay, one problem with Ecuadorians is they tell you what you want to hear. At one point we were standing right next to a HUGE sign that said “Bahia Tortuga 2 km” pointing to the left, and the man we were asking for directions pointed us in the total opposite direction. We found this out on our way back. So 30 mins later we finally arrived at an amazingly beautiful beach that looks like a Caribbean tourism poster or a Corona beer commercial. This is the life! Huge beach, white, soft sand, clear, blue, clear water and it was all ours! We stayed there swimming and covering ourselves in sand for an hour or so and walked on back. As usual when traveling, end even for other living in Ecuador means your shower is a trickle of cold water, but I mean how can I complain, I’m in the Galapagos! A long philosophical dinner went by and we all met back up on the roof of the hostel with a few beers, some cards, and pictionary-telephone, which is the funniest game ever! Like the days on the islands, the nights are scorching hot and a few beers is required to ignore your constant sweating throughout the night.

Day 2
The next day we took a little water taxi to a place called Las Grietas which translates to “The Cracks.” Like most of our days in the Galapagos, we started off walking on sharp lava in flip-flops through cacti, in the hot sun, but once we got there it was amazing! Imagine walking on flat land, (besides the lava,) and suddenly coming to a 50 foot drop in literally a crack 200 feet long and 20 feet wide, straight down to the clearest bluest water on the earth, and below the water it goes down another 40-50 feet. We scaled down one side of it ripped off our clothes and jumped in. We climbed up the walls jumping and screaming into the water, snorkeling, and just floating. After a few hours we went back for lunch, which the whole trip was 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to save money, so I will spare you on any other lunch descriptions, (ps lunch was dry cereal.) That afternoon we headed back to Tortuga Bay, where we encountered our firsts iguanas sunbathing on the beach who had no real fear of us walking around them taking pictures. Some more swimming, walking, and sun bathing and we took our long walk back again through the cacti. That night we went to a Chifa, which is a Chinese restaurant- it wasn’t Chinese food by the way, but it was still good. After dinner, again we roofed it, with some beers and played some games and went to bed we had a big day in store for us.

Day 3
We woke up early and headed down to the dock to jump on our boat for a full day of snorkeling and it was insane! First off on the boat ride to Floreana, the first island to be inhabited because of its curious fresh water springs, hundreds of wild dolphins just started jumping out of the water, diving in, landing on their backs and playing around us while we steamed through the Pacific. This went on for about 10 mins until they disappeared and when we arrived in Floreana we were not met by fishermen in their boats, but sea lions in their boats sunbathing- what a life! After a short walk on, you guessed it, volcanic rock, and through, you guessed it cacti, we got to the Lobería which translates to “The place where the Sea Lions hang out” but the literal translation is “The Sea Lion Store.” All the sea lion mamas and papas were out fishing so we found a kiddy pool by the beach full of baby sea lions… BABY SEA LIONS! The cutest thing you will ever see in you retched life! After we did a little snorkeling with a sea turtle, got some lunch, hopped back on the boat for an even cooler experience, La Isla Champion. Again an amazing boat ride where we saw all sorts of birds including the fabled blue footed booby! Ps every shop is full of all different kinds of shirts that say “I love boobies!,” or “Check out my boobies!” When we arrived at Champion we were met over a hundred sea lions all swimming, sunbathing, and making the same sounds as a human vomiting- go figure. Once we entered the water and looked down with our masked we discovered a whole new world. You could see clear down 70 feet off the shelf we were snorkeling on. Not only that but the shelf was full of playful sea lions, fearless fish, and of course us gringos. The sea lions were most defiantly the most impressive part, because they have no reason to fear us, they are just as interested in us as we are as them. They come flying right up to your face and at the last minuet, while you are flinching they veer off to your side, the little ones nibble on your flippers and they come up from below you blowing bubbles in your face, looking right into your eyes. Amazing. Its not only the sea lions, but the fish too, you can dive down 20 feet and swim right through the middle of the school, surrounded by huge tropical fish. Could it get any better? That night ended in the same way most nights did, cheap good street food, beer, card games, truth or dare, never have I ever and such as that.

Day 4
Because we were so tired from snorkeling the day before we took a taxi to another beach about 25 mins away, and unlike the cabs in the US and Quito the taxis in smaller towns all around Ecuador like Puerto Ayora is a white pickup truck, not great on your butt when you are driving down a dirt road in the back of the pickup. Once again clear blue water, mangrove trees, and soft white sand. That night we went out for a nice Easter dinner and prepared for our trip to Isabela aka Albermarle

Day 5
We took the same boat to Isabela that we did to Floreana, and it was such a beautiful ride, surprised huh? Sitting on the front of the boat, we say thousands of flying fish and turtles the whole way, but since it was a 3 hr trip, naps were necessary. I tell you if I could choose one place to live on this world it would be Isabela. A tiny town, full of the nicest people, a noticeable lack of tourists, and you guessed it sandy white beaches, volcanic rock and cacti! The hotel we stayed at that I can highly recommend was called Cierro Azul and if you get the chance to visit, don’t stay anywhere else! The first afternoon I asked our manager if he could find us a BBQ and he did no problem, so after a little beach time, I went our got charcoal, steaks, half a chicken, sausages, potatoes, peppers, onions, and rolls all for $20, 4 bucks for each of us for more food than we could eat, and cheap! Our bottle of tequila for that night was as much as our whole meal, but so worth it! I got my grill face on and grilled the crap out of the food and it was wicked good like a bastahd! After our food and sprits we were full of life and headed back to the beach for some stargazing and street soccer with 8 year old boys. Lastly, how else would we end the night than a poetry slam and hammock-ing.

Day 6
So we woke up early again and got picked up to go horsebackriding around Sierra Negra, one of the biggest craters in the world spanning 10k at its longest point in diameter. So when got up to the point where they kept the horses and jumped up on and rode off into the distance like cowboys and cowgirls. I affectionately name my horse Petty Pablo and was a bit disappointed that he was such a follower but we worked things out and as soon as you can say “yee haw saddle up partner” we were galloping! What a great view it was just trotting a long on the edge of Sierra Negra- see photos. After our ride we dismounted and took a really long walk through, you guessed it volcanic rock and cacti! But it was a lot different. Finally after being soaked in sweat we arrived at El Chico a smaller crater and from the view of El Chico we could see another volcano erupting on an island a few miles away. It was a really cool experience! The walk back up was really hard and not fun but equally as beautiful as the way down. We hopped back on our steeds, split off into a few groups and headed back, my group, led by a mule, galloped the whole way back and my ass killed because I obviously don’t know how to ride a horse correctly. That night we just went out to dinner and hammoked it for a while because we were so tired.

Day 7
We slept in a little that morning and then headed out for some snorkeling where we saw the usual, Turtles iguanas, etc etc etc you know, living life in the Galapagos. We snorkeled for a while and then tried to lay down on the lava, twas in vain, lava happens to be sharp when dry and millions of years old. The rest of the day we spent on the beach and the night was spent barbequing and polishing off our tequila.

Im sure you are getting as bored reading this as I am writing it so Im going to try to keep the rest pretty short, for those of you who aren’t bored yet, you should probably be worrying about the economic crisis or hating on AIG.

Day 8
We had to leave Isabella because we got kicked out for conduct unbecoming of a USFQ student, just kidding; we just had to go back to Santa Cruz and Puerto Ayora. A beautiful ride back and being on the boat really made me miss home and work, but hey I couldn’t complain I was hanging in the Galapagos! We got back did a little window shopping and then we were out for a little bit of street food. Spent some time up on the roof porch and then headed to bed.

Day 9
That morning I woke up and everyone was gone, the people who booked our flight couldn’t get me on the same flight so I speant the day walking around, buying Ts, taking pictures, and reading at Tortuga Bay. It was pretty nice and relaxing. I pretty much spent the rest of the day reading and napping. After a good flight back I was sad to be back in the big city but what can you do it was certainly and awesome adventure! Hope all is well and I miss you all!

Huaorani Territory! At Last!

So I wish I had more time to write this post but I don’t because I have an exam in an hour! This weekend was probably the coolest weekend so far we went to Huaorani Territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon. For those of you who do know anything about the Huaorani check out the links on the last post. Basically they are one of the most vicious tribes known today and their violence against missionaries and other gringos like myself is as recently as 5-7 years ago.

We set out for our journey last Thursday night. A bunch of us went down to Cumbaya at about 8.30 so we only had to pay the 25cent bus fare instead of the 8 dollar taxi ride. (And so we could go to the bar a little before!) At midnight we met up with the rest of the group outside of USFQ and by 12.30 we were on our way to Tena! After about a 4.5 hour bus ride to Tena we continued to nap on the bus until daylight when we got up and got some breakfast. After breakfast we got on another bus that I think went to Puente, another 3 hour ride. Finally we arrived at the end of a road and the bus driver said, “here we are!” The road just ended, where were we to go? In the now pouring rain we met up with our Huaorani hosts by the river at the end of the road, packed into little, wobbly dugout canoes with Yamaha 45s on them.

Throughout the soaking, sinking canoe ride we would have to stop and shut off the engine so we could pass over small rapids. A 45 min extraordinary ride through the Dayuma River, surrounded by nothing, but surrounded by more green than you have ever seen! Imagine NYC, paint it green, add a lot of water and some wet gringos and that’s where I was.

We finally reach the encampment which was no more than a leentoo (sp?) and another wall-less raised roofed hut. This would be our home for the next 3 days. Living right on the river in small family groups scattered all over the jungle the Huaoranis have lived for thousands of years and have only known outside contact for about 60.

You may think that they would be all naked, stupid, and crazy, but they were just like you and I; this particular group wears clothes, eats off plates, sends some of their people to school and could really teach any scientist a thing or two about the jungle and uses for plants. The Huaorani, like all other Amazonian tribes have an incredible knowledge about their plants, animals and ecosystems. Again I wish to correct another stereotype, Amazonian peoples are not the buen salvajes living one with nature that we have thought for hundreds of years. The Amazon Rainforest is what they call a “green hell.” You cant grown anything there! What? You cant grown anything isnt the Amazon that doesn’t make sense!

Well it does! The soil is so pour in this region because all the plants have adapted so that when the leaves or other organic material hit the ground, the plants suck it right up almost immediately! So the soil contains no nutrients, all of the nutrients are in the plants! Pretty cool huh? When the people needed to domesticate plants only some could adapt to this lifestyle and the people had to alter the landscaped and create their own sort of GMOs to be able to survive.

During the whole trip we did a lot of just sitting and eating with the group but besides that we swam a lot in the river, did some amazing hikes, used their blowguns and threw their spears. Huaorani is their native language; so many of us were at an equal Spanish level as them, which was really quite funny! Well the pictures pretty much speak for themselves though not doing the trip justice at all! I hope all is well at home, or wherever you are! I miss and love you! See you soon!

St Paddys/ International Down Syndrome Day

You may think the title of this post is a little strange but a lot of times people celebrating St Patty’s turn into special needs cases. The last 3 of my four St. Patty’s have been in other countries, (Guatemala, Jamaica, and Ecuador,) and they have all been awesome, this year was no exception! I have been working on growing a moustache and I trimmed down the rest of the scruff that morning so It would stand out even more. I wore all green to school and after my 8.30-10 class we headed over to the bar across the street from campus… What? Its St. Paddy’s Day! After a beer which comes in a two beer serving size bottle I had to go to another class… boo… but don’t worry after my 11.30-1 class I we went right back! The again, we had to go to class. After school Kendra and I made sad excuses for brownies and then headed out for the night. After a little Mexican food… yes they have Mexican food in Ecuador, but only the gringos eat it! We went to a bar called Finn McCools the only Irish owned an operated Irish Pub in Ecuador that was hosting an all day drinking extravaganza! Because the beer was a little expensive we chose to move to a lesser-known lesser Irish bar with $1 beers and 2 for $1.50 cocktails, that was the place for us! We got our faces/ moustaches pained and had a blast!
As many of you may not know Sunday was International Down Syndrome day and to celebrate and raise awareness we did a march in Quito in unison with 14 other cities and towns in Ecuador and hundreds if not thousands of communities in the world. My volunteer service here in Ecuador is Special Olympics so as a volunteer I was sent to a specific foundation to work with people with special needs. At first it was really hard but now its like hanging out with a bunch of friends. The march was huge and incorporated dozens of other foundations in Pichincha and their families and friends. We had thousands of walkers, policemen, bands, concerts and it was all a lot of fun! This Thursday at midnight I leave for the Huaorani Territory by bus and boat, check out the link to learn a little bit about them! Hope all is well!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaorani
http://www.waoraniexhibition.com/

Cotacachi

So this weekend we decided to stay close to home and only took a Saturday trip. After much deliberation and watching Eddie Murphy and Asineal Hall’s “Coming to America” we decided on Cotocatchi; a small indigenous town just outside Otavalo. As a side note DVDs here are all pirated and there are done extremely well and extremely cheep. SO well they even make sure to copy the anti-pirating at the beginning of the movie! Most movie stores sell their movies from $1.50-2. Pretty good! So we set out at about 9am yesterday on an amazing drive North on the Pan-American Highway that passes through a number of Countries on the West Cost of S. America.

The drives here are beautiful and the bus rides are worth so much more than they charge, (which is generally $1 an hour,) You would have to pay 40 or 50 or even more in the US to see the kind of landscapes, colors, plants, towns and people. We arrived in Otavalo, got some lunch and pie all amounting to $6.50 (large helpings) and we started looking for a cab to Cotacachi a 15 min ride. On the way we saw the end of a wedding where after the pictures outside the church they bride and groom got into a pick up truck traditionally decorated as any wedding party car would be, except it was a pick up. Otavalo is full of little indigenous people who will hip check the heck out of you if you get in their way. If we were playing hockey a little 70 year old 4-foot nuthin grandma would have thrown me over the boards! The first cab we found we asked for a ride and he said yes, but when we asked how much he looked at us so confused and started saying “no… no no no” we then were as confused as he was and asked again how much? He replied, “Uhhh, I cant take you I’m from Ibarra,” a city north of Otavalo. “Ok….” We replied and walked away still puzzled and laughing. We then picked up a cab that also contained the cab drivers son and wife, so all seven of us, the 3 Ecuadorians and 4 gringos packed in and headed to Cotocatchi. $5 and 1 mins later we arrived on a street made up of only Leather shops.

A whole street devoted to pissing off green peace and animal rights activists! They made everything you could make out of leather and much much more and though the deals were unbeatable, I retrained my Twohig shopping gene and walked away from wallets, briefcases, baggage, slippers and saddles. If only I had a horse! Next we went to Cuicocha, a Volcano surrounded by a lake south of Otavalo and took a $1 tour around the lake. Then I played with a baby llama and we hopped on a bus and headed back to Quito. You don’t actually need to go to a bus station to pick up a bus, you can stand on the side of the highway and pick up anyone that drives by, by just pointing at them.

On a side not a number of us were featured in the last Universidad de San Francisco de Quito news paper in an article labeled “Tan cerca pero tan lejos” (so close yet so far) The article describes the distance between USFQ nationals and us gringos, but as you can see in the picture most of the blame is set on the gringos. PS the picture was taken the first week of school, yet the article came out last week, we obviously would have not integrated by the first week. Oh well you know the liberally media! It didn’t bother me too much because most of the people I go to school with are really Ecuadorians, they are gringos who actually can speak Spanish, are really rich and snobby, want to live in California and be trendy. I was just happy to get a half page photo! Soooo yea hope all is well back home! I love and miss you all see you soon!

Life's a Beach!

So last weekend we gave ourselves a little vacation from service, school, and hiking though the jungle and took a nice little trip to Atacames in the province of Esmeraldas. It was awesome. I don’t know how many trips I have deemed awesome but that just tells you, you can't get bored traveling here in Ecuador and I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone! Kendra and Colen went a little earlier than Zac and I and our bus rides could not have been any more different. Zac and I called a couple agencies to find out the bus schedule and we headed off to the station.

Unfortunately, Ecuadorians have a tendency to tell people what they want to know even if it is 100% totally incorrect, so beware! We arrived at the Trans-Esmeraldas station to catch the 6.15 straight to Atacames, but before we bought out tickets I made sure to ask the woman behind the desk if it was really going to Atacames, "No," she said. My heart sunk, of course! "Not until 11.15 and 11.30." "At night?" I asked "Yup." "So there are no buses to Atacames tonight until 11?" "Yup" (Literal translation.) She old us to go to Terminal Terrestre which is in Old Town because they leave about every hour from there. Little did I know that again someone was telling us what we wanted to here.

Zac and I jumped in another cab and though it took 30 mins, (because when the Spanish conquered the Incas and set up a traditional colonial city, they did not account for massive mounts of traffic,) It was only $1.75 try to find a taxi anywhere in the US for that! Again, no buses left for Atacames until 11, we checked all 4 companies that go to Atacames and heard the same thing. Let me tell you, know what you are doing before you enter a big station in Ecuador, no one helps you nor cares where you are going but they all want you to get on their bus, no matter where you are going. "?A donde van?" (where are you going?) said a little man, "Atacames" we replied "O we're going to Guayas (Guayaquil) we'll drop you off" At this we proceeded to walk away because Guaya is about 12 hours from Atacames. We finally decided to just take a bus to Esmeraldas the capital of Esmeraldas and take a cab from there to Atacames because its only 45 mins. We left immediately on the 7 a clock bus for a 6-hour bus ride... We didn’t get to Atacames until 4 in the morning; 9 hours.

Because of the heavy rain this "winter" here in Ecuador the Costa was cut off from the Sierra by bus for a while and still has not recovered. Many mudslides and bridge collapse have made it very difficult to travel on the roads, but hey! its part of the adventure right? We drove about an hour and a half NW and then stopped. The road was closed. You'd think if anyone should know it would be the bus companies. We had to turn around, drive another hour and a half until we passed Quito and drive around it and passed through Santa Domingo de Los Colorados where the natives use a seed to make a hard red paste they put in their hair and this is why they are called the Colorados, (colored.) The first half of the trip they played Mel Gibson’s Apocalypse, which is about a young native man who is captured but some Aztec/ Mayan type bounty hunter to be sacrificed for the Gods and then escapes to save the rest of the family. The movie totally lacked plot or any type of twists, but it was hilarious because they speak a native language the whole movie so it had to be translated into Spanish, but all of the voices were done by one guy; the guys the gals and the little kids. It was hilarious! I LOL-ed.

Esmeraldas has a very unique history; during the slave trade in S. America a ship full of Slaves straight from Africa was sailing through the pacific Quito close to the shore and sank. The slaves swam to shore and created their own colony. Because of its distance from the cities, the defenses of the newly freed slaves, their good relations with the surrounding indigenous populations and their own ability to govern and make deals with the Spanish they established their own small state for a period for time. They had their own nobles that would travel and negotiate and their ancestors live on today all along the cost of Esmeraldas, so the majority of the population is Afro-Ecuatoriano.

So when we arrived in Esmeraldas, not a city by the way, more like a couple streets, it was dead. The only person out was some old dude who looked like he was falling asleep, I don’t blame him. We got our cab and arrived at 4 in the morning. We knocked on the girls’ door and passed out after some uncontrollable laugher from them. Three hours passed and we woke up to beach it! The two days we spent there were amazing, it was so hot and there were big waves to body surf in and people walking up and down the beach trying to sell you everything, you'd think it might become annoying but you get used to it, although you're better off wearing a "No Gracias" sign, and even though there was an army of plastic bags in the water it was so nice to swim. At night we just hung out in the hammocks and threw back wine and beer. A great weekend and I'm sure you'd all like to know the ride back was only 6 hours. I miss you all and hope all is well! Saludos!

Amazon Adventure!

So this weekend was freakin' supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. In laymen's terms it was sicky sicky gnar gnar. A wonderfully exciting and awesome weekend indeed! So we had our IPSL trip and we went to the Huasquila area which is a little over an hour away from Tena; 5 hours on the same Cliffside Amazonian "roads." We stayed at this hacienda turned hostel that was beautiful! Surrounded by selva, or jungle on all sides it was hard to believe what we were seeing every morning when we woke up. Zac and I stayed in our own cabin; thatched roof, hammok, and complete with a lot of huge ass spiders. The first day after our horibly uncomfortable yet amazing drive we went our our first hike. *Authors note; never travel on Ecuadorian mountain roads if you have a week stomach, 1 lane is indefinitely under construction and there is no one to direct traffic so many times you come face to face with a large truck or bus while rounding a corner that lacks any sort of guard rail. It makes for an exciting trip. So right after we arrive we threw on our much needed rain boots and headed down the road a mile or so learning about a few medicinal and artisanical plants to a small group of houses where our guide, Jose's daughter lived for a small lesson on the life and work of an Amazonian Quichua artisan. We all made our very own bracelets, some looking better than others, mine looking not so nice, though im quite fond of it. After walking back we dined and promptly retired because day two was no walk in the park... it was in the jungle. What a walk it was! We walked through the former hacienda across a field all the while Jose and his fellow guides were instructing on us on the proper application and harvest of all the medicinal plants whose purposed range from snakebites, machete wounds, diabetes, tumors, mosquito bites, fatigue, and an unhealthy spirit. We entered the jungle not knowing what to expect and immediately we were in the thick of it. Fo real dog I mean the thick of the Amazonian Jungle. No joke. Vines all up in your face, bugs, mud, and insects galore. The leaves bigger than people and what they called the path was no more than the only area that we could get through without crawling on our hands and knees! We took a short break to swim in a huge waterfall and proceeded down the river tasting and trying all sorts of plants and vines that Jose and his Lowland Quichua relatives have been using for thousands of years instead of hospitals and continue to choose local medicine and religion to heal themselves instead of modern medicine. After a little of ceremonial war paint we hopped into a cave that in some places was no bigger than an entrance to a doghouse, not to mention filled with bats and cave spiders, some bigger than my hand! After the cave we poured the water out of our boots and found our way out of the jungle to walk back to the hostel. The 3rd day was no less exciting because we headed off to the AmazOOnica which is an island between two rivers that houses rescued animals and gives them a safe home as well as teaches hunters who survive on the animals how to conserve and domesticate some species. They had everything and more! Parrots, macaws, all sorts of monkeys, an anaconda, jungle cats, turtles, caimans, ect ect. We walked all over the island observing the animals that were in and out of cages depending on their status. Some can be released back into the wild but others; because of their dependence on human sin their early life will remain at the sanctuary. We took an amazing long Amazonian canoe there and to our next destination and the trip made me miss being home and on the water during the summer. They looked like really long Dories. I was inspired, it was a sign, so mom, this summer im going to fix up the dory and find a motor for it and get it out of the back yard! Yeay! We crossed over into the Napo river which is a major vein that runs into to the Amazon, then landed opposite from where we shoved off and got back in the van which was waiting for us. Since it was carnival, known to you gringos back home as Martigras or Fat Tuesday, there were celebrations all over Latin America but here they do it a bit different. In Ecuador there are huge battles, water, fruit, flour, foam, eggs, flowers; they throw everything at you. No matter where we drove there were kids waiting for us with home made pvc water cannons and buckets full of ammo. Being that its 80 degrees here we would travel with the windows open and out of the bushes would jump little boys and girls nailing us through the windows with water soaking us and our driver, it was awesome and a good way to cool off! We stopped at a locally and independently run Quichua museum full of great stuff but mostly animals and medicinal plants, some hallucinogenic, some for healing, some for killing others and yourself. Monkeys and little boys ran wild chasing each other jumping out of trees onto each other, it was something out of jungle book and I was jealous that they had such a free and awesome childhood, who doesnt want their own monkey!? I also got to try a little of the fabled Coca plant which is illegal in Ecuador but is well known for its production into cocaine in Columbia. You need pounds and pounds of the leaves to make 1 oz of cocaine, so what they had there was for medicinal purposes. Chewing the leaf give you energy and has been used by slaves and miners in S America for hundreds of years where food is short and 18 hr work days are mandatory. Next we drove to Piedra del Oro for a huge carnival party in the middle of the woods. Let me tell you.. the Ecuadorians know how to party! We drove up on this random road, parked and started walking; we had no idea what was in store for us. We crossed a bridge and were greeted by a dirt bike race, lots of mud, music, mud, foam, hundreds of Ecuadorians parting, mud, more mud, and some beer. By the time it was time to go we had been covered by foam and mud, it was like the pictures of woodstock. Mud monsters. We jumped into the river to wash off and we were on our way again. A great time. The last day was aother cavern and swiming day and luckely we found some water slides fed by water sucked out of the cavern, it was awesome! All in all, go tot he amazon, it kicks ass. Next week, im off to Huaorani Territory! Saludos!