Wofford College - Study Abroad

Galapagos Islands

During Carnaval, the students from my university as well as those from the other university here took a trip to the Galapagos with our program, IES.  It was one of the most beautiful weekends I have ever seen, and it was one trip I will never forget!

The first day, we landing on the island of San Cristobal where we went to lunch at a local restaurant and took in the beautiful scenery on a short hike over the volcanic rocks.  We went to a small museum where we learned from our guides a little about the history of the islands, and then we relaxed on the beach with the sea lions since the change of altitude and climate was quite exhausting (the one thing everyone was looking forward to the most!). 

The second day, we woke up quite early in the morning, gathered our things, and we headed out for a day in the boat as we ventured to our next island.  And yes, they checked every single one of our bags each time we left an island.  Unfortunate for me, I had to practically sit on my suitcase again to get it to close after they got done digging through my personal belongings.  That day, we spent snorkeling and sun bathing for the most part.  It was beautiful! We saw everything from huge parrot fish and blue seastars to Galapagos sharks and huge sea turtles.  And then there were the sea lions who were not scared of us in the slightest. One actually swam right up next to me and touched me!  I also saw my first blue-footed boobie.  We ate lunch on the Floreana, the least populated with only about 200 residents. That's where I saw a penguin! Penguins were the one thing I wanted to see while I was there, and my wish was granted. Then we headed to the island of Isabela where we all visited a turtle santuary, showered, ate dinner, and headed down to the beach for a Carnaval celebration with music and dancing.

  

The following day, we hiked one of the volcanoes on Isabela that recently erupted in 2005.  It was a long hike of 8 km for some while others took the even longer hike of about 10 km.  However, it was worth it because it was a beautiful view!  Besides, I survived my first ever real hike! After we hiked, we headed to the hotel to gather our things, and we set out on the boats again to head to our next island, Santa Cruz.  Santa Cruz is one of the most populated and generally receives the most tourism.  When we arrived on Santa Cruz, we all ate dinner and then headed out for a little night on the town and visited some of the shops.

   

Our last full day in the Galapagos, we spent the morning at the Darwin Center where we had the opportunity to learn about things that pose a threat to the species in the Galapagos, such as wasps, and the projects that are currently going on to preserve the islands.  We also got to visit the most famous turtle, Jorge, who is the only known turtle of his species.  He currently has 2 girlfriends, but they are having a hard time trying to get him to reproduce. He was HUGE!  Then, after lunch, we headed to a private farm.  On the way, we stopped at the Gemelos ("Twins") which are two craters, one on each side of the road.  However, they aren't real craters. In fact, they are actually points where lava tunnels naturally caved in.  Then, on the farm, we were actually able to walk through a lava tunnel which was amazing! (even though it did include crawling on our hands and knees in the mud!) Then we saw some of the giant turtles in their natural environment and even took pictures in some real shells.

     

Our last night, we headed out on the town to celebrate Carnaval with the people of the Galapagos but to also celebrate the 21st birthdays of two girls within our group.  We had an amazing time, and we were quite sad to be returning to the noise, smoke-filled Quito after being in the very calm, care-free environment of the Galapagos.  While it was beautiful to be in the Galapagos and an experience I'll never forget, I felt like I was at home while I was there because it was so warm and I was so close to the beach/coast.  It was the first time I was really missing home which made it even harder to come back to Quito. Beautiful is definitely an understatement!

Power outages, Presidents, Protests, and PDA

 

in the clouds, literally, at the top of the teleferiQo

 

The past week or so here in Ecuador has been interesting—to say the least.  The fun began with a huge power outage last Thursday early in the evening.  Quito is a rather large city, much larger than any city I’ve ever lived in before.  Needless to say, being without power turned the city absolutely upside down.  That’s not even the worst of it all.  It wasn’t too long before I discovered that it wasn’t a local power outage but a power outage which left 70% of the entire country without power! 

People drive like maniacs here: honking their horns at everyone, running red lights, and pedestrians certainly do not have the right of way.  So, you can only imagine what it was like without traffic lights.  The roads were crammed with cars that didn’t budge for hours, and the buses that run off of electricity obviously left a large majority of people without transportation.  Fortunately, I arrived home just before the power went out, but I watched from my bedroom window as the streets erupted in chaos.  I never imagined that being left without power would create such chaos nor did I imagine such a massive loss of power was even possible. But, it’s all part of my adapting to life in a big city in a fairly small country.

Tuesday was also a very interesting day as I watched the presidential inauguration as it was broadcast on virtually every television in Quito.  It was a very strange feeling for me to watch it alongside Ecuadorians because I think it was the first time that I have really felt the distance of being away.  I felt so close because everyone was watching my country on television, but at the same time, I felt very far away since I was surrounded by people who don’t completely understood the change that our country is undergoing. 

 

   

My host mom and I at the Presidential Palace

Tuesday was also a big day at the Presidential Palace here in Quito (which I visited last Saturday).  On Tuesday, a large majority of the indigenous people who live outside of the city traveled to Quito.  In particular, they traveled to historic Quito to the Presidential Palace to protest a new mining law which has just been passed.  Unlike the United States, you can walk right up to the front of the Presidential Palace.  Therefore, many of the streets were closed, and many of the buses in the area did not run their usual routes in an attempt to decrease the amount of protesters.  While I did not attend, I have seen many indigenous women throughout Ecuador.  I didn’t expect it to be easy for me to be able to identify them, but here they wear distinct clothing and shoes, which I saw for the first time when I was in Riobamba a couple of weekends.  It is very interesting to see the difference between the city and the outskirts as I travel to Cumbaya each day for school.

 

 

the indigenous women in the parade in Riobamba

I am still finding it very difficult to adjust to the amount of PDA (public display of affection) that exists at my university, on the streets, in the buses, and any other place you can think of.  Maybe it’s because here, it generally is not accepted for a boy to go to his girlfriend’s house or vice versa.  Not to mention, the kids generally live in the house with their parents until they are married.  However, PDA is big here in two ways: 1) they like to partake in PDA a lot and 2) they like to watch others who do.  It’s a little strange.  In fact, just today two friends of mine and I were on a shuttle to the TeleferiQo (cable cars that take you to the top of one of the mountains, and you can look out over all of Quito).  Meanwhile, there was a grown couple sitting behind us who were practically attached at the hip, and for our short trip, they could not refrain from making out.  To this, I am not accustomed. 

 

 

at top of the teleferiQo

However, our trip to the TeleferiQo was very fun. However, it was cloudy, and once we were at the top, it started to HAIL! Who knew that they had hail at the equator? I didn’t. We did a little hiking, but with the hail, we decided that we’ll have to go back another day to hike to Pichincha which is one of Ecuador’s volcanoes (it’s actually made up of two: one which is dormant and one which is active).  It was a beautiful sight to look out over Quito, but it was even cooler to be standing in the clouds!  With quite an interesting week, I can wait to see what the next week brings!

 

      

Quito through the clouds                                  Yes, it was hailing at the equator.

 

 

Life in the Middle of the World

Ecuador is quite chevere! (For those of you who are wondering, chevere is the Ecuadorian word for "cool," and it is used quite frequently; in fact, it's my new favorite word.)  Ecuador has been full of nothing but surprises for me since I stepped off of the plane at 11:00 at night on January 2nd.  My family and the food are great, the weather is wonderful, and the landscape is absolutely breathtaking.

I am currently living with a family of five: my host mom and dad, two brothers, and one sister.  I am the fourth student that my parents have hosted, so I guess you could say they know a thing a two about how nervous I was.  My brothers and sister are very close to my age (17, 20, and 23) which is great because they always have advice to offer.  The timing of my arrival here in Quito was somewhat awkward because many of the people in Ecuador were and are still on vacation, which is why I just met one brother the other day and my sister is currently in the US until the end of January.  Nonetheless, my host parents were anxiously awaiting my arrival in the airport.  They welcomed me with open arms and a kiss on the cheek.  I found the whole kissing thing a little strange since I had never met these people before, but I soon came to realize that it was a custom greeting here.

The family roles here are very interesting to me. Although they are similar to some expectations in the United States, it has taken some getting-used-to. Here, the father is generally the bread-winner while the mother tends to the house, and he expects dinner or his coffee on the table when he returns from work.  And when I say that the mother tends to the house, I mean that she does everything.  She cooks, she cleans, she washes dishes, she washes clothes, she runs all the errands.  In fact, my host mom won't even let me clean up after myself after a meal.  The most amazing part of all, however, is that she loves to do it and does it without complaining at all!  In some houses, it is also common to have an "empleadora", someone who works in the house and performs many of the household duties, such as cooking and cleaning.

The food here is amazing! I have never felt so comfortable trying so many different kinds of food.  Ecuador is full of rich fruits and bread filled with flavor.  Here, we eat a LOT of pan, bread.  Generally, we eat a decent breakfast and a very large lunch.  Lunch consists of some sort of soup, which is then followed by a plate filled with rice, meat, and vegetables (any kind of vegetables constitute a "salad" here).  My favorite soup so far is sopa de la verde--soup of the green banana. Who knew you could make soup out of bananas? They are very creative and resourceful here since the land is full of exotic fruits and vegetables.  However, I still have not gained the courge to try cuy--roasted guinea pig.  It's a mental barrier.  Similarly, there was a mental barrier when I went to an open market in the town of Riobamba (about 3 hours from the capital of Quito).  Everyone wanted me to try their meat as they shoved it towards and yelled to me, but then I saw a whole pig sitting on the counter--head, feet, tail, and all.

The weather in Ecuador is ideal, considering that I love the warm weather and hate the cold.  Typically, it is warm here during the middle of the day, but during the morning and early evening as the sun falls behind the mountains, it is quite cool.  The most interesting thing about Ecuador is that you can have every type of weather in a single day! You can have very cold weather, very hot weather, rain, and the cycle might repeat itself several times.  One thing I don't miss: humidity!  While the weather is beautiful here, it is easy for someone like myself (light hair, light eyes, and light-skinned) to burn easily.  Clearly my skin is not adapted for the weather because I burn in solely a few hours.

The landscape of Ecuador is absolutely amazing.  It appears as though it is only something you'd read about.  The city of Quito is found in a valley in Andes mountains.  Therefore, it is surrounded by mountains, a natural barrier of protection.  Not mention, from my own room, I have a clear view of one of the many semi-active volcanoes here, Pichincha.  Because Quito is at such a high altitude, we drove through the clouds this past weekend as we drove to my host mom's home town of Riobamba.  During the drive, we drove through a lot of the country.  It is view was amazing to me since I rarely see mountains having been born and raise solely in the south.  They farm the hills in patches, so it appears as though a patchwork quilt has been laid across the land.  Not to mention, we were able to see the snow on Chimborazo, the only mountain with snow here usually and one of the largest and most popular to climb.  And of course, everyone knows about the Galapagos Islands and the Amazon.  After I visit those, I'll have more information.

Aside from my trip to Riobamba, I also went to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) this past weekend.  It is quite a tourist attraction here, but there are also many Quiteno families (families from Quito) that visit as well.  You can visit different museums and shops, but the most famous is taking your picture while standing along the equator.  While it is one of the most popular stops for tourists, the real equatorial line according to GPS can be found about 200 meters north.  In fact, at this equator, you can witness various demonstrations such as the balancing of an egg on a nail and the movement of water through a hole (it is neither clockwise nor counterclockwise).

So far, life at the middle of the world is treating me quite well.  I'm becoming more accustomed the the people, the culture, and the way of life.  Every day I learn something new, whether I learn a new saying in Spanish or I try a new fruit.  Ecuador appears to be a country full of riches and surprises.