Bienvenidos a otro país

After an enjoyable weekend of being able to spend time with all the family helping with the garage sale since Rosita and her family were moving to New Jersey and of being able to explore parts of Quito that sat underneath my nose (things that were close by such as the only thrift store in Quito -- I was disappointed though since there was really nothing there --- there is not a lot of donating or thrift stores because so many people need so much plus I have a hunch the Catholic Church plays that role). So once my first restful weekend in quite some time was over, what better thing to do then to go travel again to start the week. Fer's dad, also known here by me as "mi papi inmenso" since he calls me his little son as a joke, (In case you dont understand the joke after translating from Spanish, Fer's dad is not at all tall like me.) asked me to go with him by trailer to Columbia to visit some sites and just to experience what it was like to be in a big-rig since I had never been before. (The family owns the company for the rigs. The transport sugars and I think another liquid compound I cant remember to make candies, beer, and toothpaste.) I said of course I wanted to go and we were off Monday morning.

That morning we loaded up and headed to the Tulcan in the north of Ecuador just bordering Columbia. We passed through beautiful mountainous countryside and when we finally got to Tulcan, we visited a cemetery in which thousands of huge bushes were carved into shapes, people, and animals. Then, we toured a little of the city a went to bed

The next day we drove into Columbia to visit the city there and to see a beautiful church designed with the same style as Notre Dame in Paris. It was very beautiful. From there we traveled back into Ecuador to pick up our trailer in customs and headed our way back to Quito where we arrived that night.
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The new rig we drove. Fer's dad did a very good job driving and could see his years and years of experience. On the way back from Tulcan, he made a typical 8 hour trip with a loaded trailer in 5 hours! However, we did get pulled over twice. Once for speeding and it being detected by radar and one for passing in a no passing zone. I was pretty surprised to see police pull people over since all the time there are traffic violations occurring. As far as the being pulled over goes, I also got to see how the police operate. Two big things that are different are they pull people over but the police car goes in front and that violations are "erased" by paying the police directly.
A view of the mountain Cayambe on the way to Tulcan
Here is the famous cemetery of Tulcan and here is the single worker who does it all. He is the son of the person who started it years ago. It is absolutely impressive and amazing that one person does this since there are so many bushes that are so big and not only need to be pruned but need to be made sure that they stay healthy. It was about 5:30 and this guy was still working away.
Here is me with a bird


















Ok so the first picture is of the cemetery again. You will have to see the others to get an idea of how many bushes there were. The second is in the morning in Columbia where we had breakfast. The waiter was extremely friendly and was making the whole restaurant laugh. Fer's dad told me everyone was like that in Columbia. Also in the picture is my breakfast. Meals in Columbia are huge and extremely filling. That night before, I had a typical Columbian dinner of beans, rice, eggs, fried platano (fried green bananas), steak, two types of different sausage, avocado, some vegetables, and I think something else all served in big plate. For that morning, I had beans, rice, eggs, a flat bread made of corn, platanos, steak, some shredded cabbage, and french fries along with a huge glass of fresh juice they call here tomato tree juice and a huge glass of hot chocolate. (I have had hot chocolate with milk every morning I have been here to ensure I at least get one glass a milk a day) I left the restaurant very full


















Here we are on our way down to the church in Columbia. On the wall you can see countless plaques, all of which are miracles in which people want to say thank you for after having prayed through for the intercession of the patron saint there, which I want to say is Mary.

A view of the church from far away. It sits in a deep river valley.




















On the right is Fer's dad and on the left is the inside of the church.











So as I said before, guinea pigs are not used as pets here. Try to guess what they are used for.
Here was an interesting sign I saw before leaving Columbia. These people are currently leading guerilla warfare in parts of the country to try to overthrow the government there.
A neat picture of 3 Columbians riding their wagon pulled by horse. There were lots of cars in Columbia, but also there were quite a few horse-pulled wagons.

Mi Último Viaje con la Universidad, Tiputini

After a school week of working quite hard all week, I finally got to go on our last field trip with the university to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station where the university researches plant and animal life in an untouched area of the Amazon rainforest. The reason it is untouched from, for instance oil companies or settlers, is because an indigenous community has and continues to guard it for hundreds and hundreds of years – I think part of that protection was by killing people, but cannot remember for sure. Here are some interesting facts about the area that I want to tell you before I tell you about my adventures:

• The climate there has temperatures in the 80´s during the day and 70´s and night with a amount of humidity in the air that only God could manage to put in the air.
• In one hectare (100m by 100m -- which is about the size of a football field including the sidelines and end zones) of land at Tiputini you can encounter:

1. 300 species of trees. And with each new hectare, you will find 60% different species of trees thus bringing a total of about 2200 species of trees. Consider this when walking through MI you can probably find about 10 different species if you are lucky.
2. 1000 different plant species
3. Hundreds of thousands of different insect species
4. 530 species of birds (actually in a few square miles … a bit larger). Just Ecuador has 2x the amount of species of bird than the US has.
5. 10 species of monkey
6. 2 species of wild pig
7. 6 types of cat including jaguars( the biggest cat in the Americas), ocelots, and pumas
8. 105 species of frog. There are only 90 species of frog in all of US and Canada.
9. Deer(they are actually there too), anacondas (one that was spotted there was 25 foot long. When the person showed us how wide the snake was, I could not help but thing that the width was sufficient to fit 4 of me in that space.), electric eel, sting rays which can sting you all the way through your whole leg (yep, through your bone too), caimans, and of course piranhas

So we left Friday morning for Tiputini. Getting there would prove to be a bit challenging since another characteristic of any untouched land is that it has to be hard to get to. We began by going by plane for only a half hour to a city in the east called Coca (However, because of the mountainous region the area around Quito is, the 30 min plane ride saved us 10 hours of bus riding) (Also while at the airport, after waiting for about a half hour after our plane should have taken off, we hear overhead that the plane is going to be another hour late – this seemed somewhat typical of a thing to happen but then literally 2 minutes later, they announced the plane was ready and we boarded the plane. We were pretty happy for the mistake.) From Coca, we went by boat on the Napo River for 2 hours or more until we reach a check point to enter into land controlled and patrolled by an oil company. After getting through without problems and being reminded than we could not take any pictures while traveling through the area, we boarded a bus with out walls. (only a ceiling and a floor with Church pews for seats which were squeezed really close together – the ride was really uncomfortable for me and for everyone else. I think the seating on the bus was suitable only for preschoolers.) After 2 hours of that in which I tried to sleep to forget that I was being squished, we arrived at the next river, the Tiputini where we traveled another 2 hours to the research station, of course though after waiting an hour for a person just to begin to start cruising down the river. (By the time I got on the Tiputini, I was definitely not looking forward to the return trip because we were going down stream both ways to get to the station and the rivers were moving quite fast.) So by the time we got there, it was approaching dusk (about 6:30 --- it is the same every day since we are on the equator), we had dinner, and just rested from a very tiring and hot traveling experience.

The next day we did 2 four-hour hikes through the jungle in which our group saw so many unique and interesting plants and animals. In between the hikes we had lunch and also there was the option to go swimming in the river to cool off. I was a little hesitant since well the river was flowing quite fast (we later would find out that the river was actually really high at that time since from that time to when we would leave on Monday, the river would drop about 15 feet!) and since there were piranhas and electric eels and sting rays and who knows what else type of animal or bacteria or virus. But after the first hike, which would be the hardest of them all, I needed to cool off. All those that wanted to swim went upstream to another dock to jump in the water. Unlike some who went directly for the strong current in center (some got pushed along quite a bit past the dock downstream), I decided to swim more toward shore toward some submerged trees as a midpoint. It all worked out, but because the river was so high, there were lots of weird currents and actually I ended up swimming against the current for part of the time while swimming downstream. The water cooled me off, but after working so hard to swim, I still ended up heating up and getting more tired. Thus by the end of the day at dusk, I was utterly exhausted. We took a night boat right along the river to see what we could see, but I can barely remember a thing because I was so tired. Unfortunately, we did not see too much that night anyway.

The next day we did another hike and then after lunch took a boat ride down the Tiputini in which we got to float in the river for a while. Then that night we looked at pictures of the animals taken at Tiputini for National Geographic --- the station set up cameras that detect heat and motion through the area to get the shots.

On Monday, we began our return in the morning at 7:30 and as I already said the river went way down so the return trip was not as long as it could have been. I managed all the time on the boats by sleeping on the boards that made the boat have a level floor (the boat was probably only 30 feet long) and made it back to Quito at 6:00.

On a side note, the food there was kind of interesting because there is no supermarket nearby to buy food. We brought a lot of food, but still, some of the meals were all vegetarian. I ate it all, but not without having some side effects.

About the pictures below, I just was not able to upload very many. I had the writing part down for some time but just could not manage to put on any pictures over the last week. Then as a last resort, I decided to pay a dollar to use the fastest internet connection I could find. In an hour, I could only upload the tiny amount of pictures that I had taken while in Tiputini.

Also, I finally took pictures of my university the last day of my classes on Thursday after I finished presenting my final portfolio to my art teacher. I will just have to show you all when I get back since I am having so many picture problems.

In this picture are red columns that worms build to live in. We did not have too much courage to look into the columns that had the top closed, meaning the worms were there, because the size of the worms were more like snakes --- 2-3 feet.
First view of the river Tiputini in the morning. As I said, the river lowered a lot over our last night there. If you look, you can see the branch I swam to when swimming in the river. By Monday morning, the branch was about 15 feet abover the surface of the water.
Looking up inside a tree that grows around another tree and eventually kills the other tree leaving for the time being a hollow center.
Me inside the tree killer
An ant I found walking around the research station
An Indiana Jones bridge we had to cross

A monkey, in case you could not tell.

Lesson 7 --- How to Build a Wall that Surrounds your Property

Well the first part is the same. Just get some fencing or more often some cement or bricks and build a tall wall. However, after that, you need to do more. I have rarely seen walls solely only being a wall. Once you have the wall, you need to add sharp things on the top of the wall either attached to the metal or planted into the cement of wall. This includes nails or other sharp, pointy metal objects, barbed wire, broken shards of glass, or both. And then if you are really into securing you wall, you grow thorny bushes or grow huge trees behind the tall wall.

Also, window sills and entry ways of shops especially have sharp metal objects before the window and door respectively.

Mindo es Lindo.

Well, I himmed and I hummed Thursday (June 29) about continuing my streak of weekend travels. I had said to myself that I was surely not going to do anything because I had a lot to do and would have a lot more to do very soon. However, as you can tell by the way I am writing and by the fact that I have not written in 2 weeks, I became more sympathetic to the idea of traveling again since after all, it is not always that I am in Ecuador. Thus I left Friday morning on a bus to Mindo, a town about 2 and half hours away, with some friend from the states with the assurance of returning home on Saturday at a reasonable time.

The bus ride was fine … we got to watch the typical action-packed movie buses here almost always show. Also on the bus I started out the day by making a bet with our guide who was quite insistent that his Argentineans would beat Germany, the host country of the World Cup. I don’t necessarily like Germany, but to go against a lucky and strong team at home, I had to at least say I disagreed (I am sure that if you ask Fer or David, they can tell you that I never disagreed with them on who I think is going to win a game) and thus there was the bet of one beer. Well, needless to say, I had a beer that night which I did not pay for.

So back to Mindo, once we arrived in Mindo and went to our cabins, our first destination was probably an hour and a half hike through the wilderness following a small river up a mountain. After trekking across bamboo bridges, some steep and narrow passages, and countless steps carved out of the earth with some being reinforced with a root or a piece of wood, we arrived to a couple of waterfalls. One about 40 feet high we all propelled down by rope. I thought going down would be kind of easy but it was actually a bit harder than I thought. We all enjoyed the scenery before we left and rested a bit before I had my fresh fish for dinner along side a campfire. Then we went into town to enjoy the night there.

The next day would prove to be very tiring since we opted to take a walking route and not pay for all the car transportation. We all thought it was a good idea since there are not too many options to walk in pristine air in Quito. Well, after 24 kilometers later either walking down or up steep sides of mountains, I am not sure if everyone still felt the same. The walking though was worth it. Our first stop after about an hour and a half was more waterfalls from which you had the opportunity to jump from. One spot was seemed relatively easy and safer. There was a rock in the middle of the fall in which you jumped about 20 feet into the center of the river. At another spot much higher than the waterfall itself, you could jump from the side of rocky cliff into the river just below the waterfall from about 50 or 60 feet. The first one I did still with some hesitation because first of all, I am tall. I am taller than probably 99% of the people I see. Thus I was a bit worried but did it anyhow without problems. And the other one, well you can see the picture below with the caption.

So from the waterfalls, we hiked back up the mountain side, took a gondola like thing across a valley, went down an even steeper mountain side to get to another river where we would go tubing (Oh, while walking through these trails, we would look for vines to swing from … I swung from one but not some since all I could look at is where I would be going if the vine broke or I fell. And let me tell you, in spots it dropped really fast and I don’t think that the trees would break my fall very nicely.) This tubing was a bit different from what I and probably you are thinking. This was not some lazy river, it was a fast river filled with tons of boulders, but boy was it fun. With that done, we took ate lunch, and took the next bus out at 5 (so I guess I would return home at a reasonable time).

Since I am writing this from a bit back, I don’t really know what I did that day … but wait, I do. I studied. Something I probably should have been doing that whole weekend but looking back from where I am now, it all worked out. Also, I went to mass again in the historic district this time going to the cathedral – no pictures though since they don’t let tourists in during masses and well, I already look like a tourist and if I had a camera, I don’t think there would be much I could say to get in.

Also I wanted to say I was definitely thinking of everyone over the holiday weekend. I missed all the gatherings of family and friends, the fireworks, hot weather, and refreshing fresh water lakes. What especially brought on my missing the events was that I had drunk lots of watermelon juice while at the beach the week earlier. Somehow I just correlate good, juicy, sweet watermelon with all the good things that summer represents to me.

On a side note, it was my second 4^th of July in my life that I have spent outside of the US. My first time was when I was in Austria 4 years ago. Interestingly, both times I was with a host family and both times they fed me lasagna for supper – pretty coincidental

A view of Mindo
The church in Mindo
Here is a picture of an open area on the hike wee took the first days. I thought the trees looked neat because of all the moss and the flowering plants which grew on them
One of the waterfalls on the first day, this one I only stuck my head in, nothing more.
Propelling down the waterfall --- yes, the water was cold
The second day we all stopped for a break from our 24 kilometers of hiking. At this time, we were hiking up a road, the easiest part of the walking trip.So here is the place where you could jump off the waterfall. On the right you can see the ladder to get up and way in back behind the waterfall is a pretty big hut where I think you could get a bite to eat. It is funny though because this place was literally in the middle of no where and you could not just drive right up to it.A closer view of the hut in back plus you can see the rock in the center of the falls in which I jumped off. There is a bridge in back to get on to the rock.
So here is me thinking before I take the plunge --- so how deep did you say the water is?And yes, here is me jumping from the rocky cliff side too. I decided to do it and made it out alive.




Transportation across the river
One picture of what the trails looked like that we were hiking
Another friend we found during our travels.
Neat picture from above of us all tubing. Note the helmets. They were definitely needed for the boulders and for each other
Tubing again
and again

Lesson 6 --- How to use your horn

If “fútbol” is the first sport of Ecuador, then I would suggest that beeping of the horn is the second. Now let’s compare 2 big cities --- Grand Rapids and Quito. Go downtown to Grand Rapids and yes it is going to be a bit loud and people are going to beep the horn, but I think you can still have a reasonably peaceful time walking the river or traversing through Monroe Center. However, in Quito, people beep there horn a lot more often. If I am in Quito and don’t here at least a good 30 solid honks on my way back from school, I get a little fear in me because it means something out of the ordinary is happening. People down here beep their horn for crossing almost every intersection whether there is a green light, stop sign or no signs or whatever (I can understand this since like I have said, following traffic laws are at a minimum). People beep their horn when they spot someone near the street --- which is pretty much every moment since there are tons of people on foot and tons of people that need to cross the hundreds of streets. People beep their horns at the dogs in the streets and they especially beep their horn at each other --- I think there might be a higher epidemic of road rage here due to the lack of following traffic laws or maybe the altitude – I am not exactly sure. People beep their horns of course when someone is blocking the way and also when there just are a lot of cars and things are going slow. And when they beep and someone else, it is not just once and then just calls it quits. They can have a determination of pushing that horn until something changes. People beep their horns when they want to pass another vehicle and they beep their horn when they are about to turn into an intersection. Sometimes I can’t seem to find a reason why the horn was beeped. What I do know is that the horn business here must be booming. Oh, and taxis or buses beep at you as you are walking to signal that you can come on aboard --- of course there are probably 5,000 buses and 10,000 taxis each within the city (this is probably a pretty close estimate to the actual number). Thus city life is a bit loud, and I fear when I get back I will either be immune to the sound which I used to dread or will need people to start beeping at me in order to feel comfortable outside. But really, it is not too bad and I suppose it cuts down on accidents with cars and pedestrians significantly.