happy new year! it's been a quite a long time since i last wrote on here, and a lot has happened since my last entry.
puyo-amazon region ofecuador
after christmas, i took a little trip with santi, marie and dan to puyo, a city on the western border of el oriente, the amazon region ofecuador ecuador
our first full day in puyo we embarked with our guide luís from puyo in his broke-down jeep to a region of the jungle about an hour away. before starting our trip, luís took us to his house so we could drop off a few bags and i could play with his boa constrictor (this was the number one reason i was sold on his tour company. guaranteed to play with a snake). after a few minutes at his house, we were off. it really felt like we were traveling through the jungle as we turned off the main road and traveled down a gravel path. our first stop was at a fish farm where they breed tilapia and paeché, the world's largest fresh-water fish. to attract the paechés, we would hold out tilapias over the water as bait and wait for them to surface, which was always a surprise (see video below).
our second stop was to our campsite, which rested on the rio puyo. there were five buildings (four bedrooms, one kitchen) made of cane with thatch roofing. our building was closest to the river, with half of the wall facing the river gone, making a nice open air window overlooking the river. there was no electricity in our building and at night, bitch black would not describe the darkness we felt. after we settled into our cabin, the four of us went to the river and hopped into a large, indigenous canoe with rammulous, another guide. we canoed down the river for a while, before we got out and swam the rest of the way down.
after we finished canoeing, luís picked us up and we walked up the steepest, muddiest steps through the jungle to this high-view perch overlooking the jungle and rivers below. it was phenomenal. from there we continued to hike all through the jungle, following luís and listening to him tell us about plants and indigenous people along the way. the highlights of the hike were swimming in a waterfall and climbing up a 10-foot rock face, using only the vines that were already there. halfway up the climb, i felt myself feeling nervous, like the wet vines were going to slip through my hands and i was going to fall. but i pulled myself together and finished the climb. it was pretty sweet. oh! and at one point i cut my hand climbing and luís took spider web to clot the bleeding.
the next two days we went to a quicha village, where we used a blow dart and marie had her soul cleansed by a local shaman and then went white-water rafting in the rio postaza. easily one of the best trips i've ever taken.
santi is gone
so another one of my roommates has left. this time it's santi. i wish i could explain why santi is leaving, but i can't because he couldn't really explain it to us, or anyone for that matter. it's completely different feeling with santi leaving, than when patrick left. i don't like the fact that either one of them left, but at least i understood why patrick was leaving. santi is quitting on us. i'm not sad. if anything i'm angry. there have been many times that i've been frustrated about this, disappointed with him, for not only leaving but for how he handled the situation. but there's nothing that can be said or done now. it's over. now it's just time to move on.
the family visits
last week was blessed with a visit from the family. it was overall a fun time, and great to show my family around and let them see what i do and who i interact with on a daily basis. the first few days they were down here, i showed them around durán. we went to the market downtown with ara to get things for dinner. visited padre damien, semillas de mostaza, walked around arbolito. had lunch with lupe. took a bus out to 28 de agosto. had dinner with lucy, rocio, francisca and kika. they really enjoyed that dinner. my mom seemed to really get along with those women, which is cool because they are the neighbors i enjoy spending the most time with. they met the kids i hang out with. elkin, joel, jessy.
then we went to quito for three days to see the sights. quito is such a ridiculous contrast to guauaquil. it's in the andes mountains. it's cooler. it's historical. it's sweet. i could see myself living or volunteering in quito in the future. the first full day in quito we went to old town to see some of the older sites, churches and museums and what not. some really cool things. the next day we went to the guayasamín museum and capilla del hombre (chapel of men). oswaldo guayasamín is a famous ecuadorian artist who paintings mainly centered around the injustices and poverties endured by latin americans, especially indigenous groups. his art is very, very cool. check him out on google when you get a free second. that afternoon we were going to take the teleferico (cable car) to the top of the pichincha volcano, but it was really cloudy so we opted out. my parents walked around the park in front of our hotel and ended up running into a rally (which was a response to the political rally taking place in guayaquil ... over 200,000 people went, i can't believe i missed it!) and quickly veered the other way. the next day we hired a guide to take us up to otovala to get around up there (otovalo is a town at the base of a mountain surrounded by a lake, where the biggest indigenous market in ecuador is located). as it turns out, we not only saw otovalo, but we also went to other towns like cotcahi and lagun cuicochi, which is this awesome lake. oh and to top it off the five of us traveled in our own greyhound, reasons unknown.
overall a really good trip, although a bit frustrating at times. it made me realize i'm definitely not ready to have a family of my own who is dependent on me for everything. my head was spinning after a week of translating every word said. and taxis were fun at times (no one takes five people, so we had to split up. translation my parents almost got lost). but it was good nonetheless to see people you love from home.
so that's all i've got. but keep me posted on things going on back home and i promise to update this more often.
puyo-amazon region of
after christmas, i took a little trip with santi, marie and dan to puyo, a city on the western border of el oriente, the amazon region of
our first full day in puyo we embarked with our guide luís from puyo in his broke-down jeep to a region of the jungle about an hour away. before starting our trip, luís took us to his house so we could drop off a few bags and i could play with his boa constrictor (this was the number one reason i was sold on his tour company. guaranteed to play with a snake). after a few minutes at his house, we were off. it really felt like we were traveling through the jungle as we turned off the main road and traveled down a gravel path. our first stop was at a fish farm where they breed tilapia and paeché, the world's largest fresh-water fish. to attract the paechés, we would hold out tilapias over the water as bait and wait for them to surface, which was always a surprise (see video below).
our second stop was to our campsite, which rested on the rio puyo. there were five buildings (four bedrooms, one kitchen) made of cane with thatch roofing. our building was closest to the river, with half of the wall facing the river gone, making a nice open air window overlooking the river. there was no electricity in our building and at night, bitch black would not describe the darkness we felt. after we settled into our cabin, the four of us went to the river and hopped into a large, indigenous canoe with rammulous, another guide. we canoed down the river for a while, before we got out and swam the rest of the way down.
after we finished canoeing, luís picked us up and we walked up the steepest, muddiest steps through the jungle to this high-view perch overlooking the jungle and rivers below. it was phenomenal. from there we continued to hike all through the jungle, following luís and listening to him tell us about plants and indigenous people along the way. the highlights of the hike were swimming in a waterfall and climbing up a 10-foot rock face, using only the vines that were already there. halfway up the climb, i felt myself feeling nervous, like the wet vines were going to slip through my hands and i was going to fall. but i pulled myself together and finished the climb. it was pretty sweet. oh! and at one point i cut my hand climbing and luís took spider web to clot the bleeding.
the next two days we went to a quicha village, where we used a blow dart and marie had her soul cleansed by a local shaman and then went white-water rafting in the rio postaza. easily one of the best trips i've ever taken.
santi is gone
so another one of my roommates has left. this time it's santi. i wish i could explain why santi is leaving, but i can't because he couldn't really explain it to us, or anyone for that matter. it's completely different feeling with santi leaving, than when patrick left. i don't like the fact that either one of them left, but at least i understood why patrick was leaving. santi is quitting on us. i'm not sad. if anything i'm angry. there have been many times that i've been frustrated about this, disappointed with him, for not only leaving but for how he handled the situation. but there's nothing that can be said or done now. it's over. now it's just time to move on.
the family visits
last week was blessed with a visit from the family. it was overall a fun time, and great to show my family around and let them see what i do and who i interact with on a daily basis. the first few days they were down here, i showed them around durán. we went to the market downtown with ara to get things for dinner. visited padre damien, semillas de mostaza, walked around arbolito. had lunch with lupe. took a bus out to 28 de agosto. had dinner with lucy, rocio, francisca and kika. they really enjoyed that dinner. my mom seemed to really get along with those women, which is cool because they are the neighbors i enjoy spending the most time with. they met the kids i hang out with. elkin, joel, jessy.
then we went to quito for three days to see the sights. quito is such a ridiculous contrast to guauaquil. it's in the andes mountains. it's cooler. it's historical. it's sweet. i could see myself living or volunteering in quito in the future. the first full day in quito we went to old town to see some of the older sites, churches and museums and what not. some really cool things. the next day we went to the guayasamín museum and capilla del hombre (chapel of men). oswaldo guayasamín is a famous ecuadorian artist who paintings mainly centered around the injustices and poverties endured by latin americans, especially indigenous groups. his art is very, very cool. check him out on google when you get a free second. that afternoon we were going to take the teleferico (cable car) to the top of the pichincha volcano, but it was really cloudy so we opted out. my parents walked around the park in front of our hotel and ended up running into a rally (which was a response to the political rally taking place in guayaquil ... over 200,000 people went, i can't believe i missed it!) and quickly veered the other way. the next day we hired a guide to take us up to otovala to get around up there (otovalo is a town at the base of a mountain surrounded by a lake, where the biggest indigenous market in ecuador is located). as it turns out, we not only saw otovalo, but we also went to other towns like cotcahi and lagun cuicochi, which is this awesome lake. oh and to top it off the five of us traveled in our own greyhound, reasons unknown.
overall a really good trip, although a bit frustrating at times. it made me realize i'm definitely not ready to have a family of my own who is dependent on me for everything. my head was spinning after a week of translating every word said. and taxis were fun at times (no one takes five people, so we had to split up. translation my parents almost got lost). but it was good nonetheless to see people you love from home.
so that's all i've got. but keep me posted on things going on back home and i promise to update this more often.
hunting for paeché
overlooking the rio postaza and the amazon jungle
the shaman who cleansed marie
otovalo
in quito with the family
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