Hello everyone! Well by now I've been back in the States for about a week. I thought I'd take the time to briefly fill you all in on my last few weeks in Ecuador.
A few days after getting back from the Galapagos, I took a spur-of-the-moment trip with two friends to a place called Baños, which has a ton of cool adventuring opportunities. When we got there, we met up with a 4th guy and his brother. Together, the 5 of us went white-water rafting on a class 4+ river. It was really fun and I fell out of the boat once. That was a rush. Half-way down our trip, the guide pulled us over to a sand bar where we got out and were brought to a bridge that the guides estimated to be between 20 to 30 feet high. After taking a few practice jumps into the water below the bridge from lower heights, the guide took us up to the bridge, where we each took turns jumping off into the water below. IT WAS SO COOL!!! The only down side was that my velcro watch fell off when I hit the water and I couldn't find it, so from now on every morning at 8:15, the fish will be woken up to an under water alarm.
We finished up our rafting adventure and headed back to town. We were all pretty exhausted after our morning adventure, and were walking around the town aimlessly when several guys came up to us offering us a deal on bridge jumping. Now this bridge jumping wasn't the "wimpy" 30 feet that we had jumped that morning, no. This bridge was 300 feet above the water. 300 FEET!!! Of course we didn't jump without a harness and ropes, it wasn't bungee jumping, it was pendulum jumping, meaning the ropes had very little give to them, but were set up in such a way that when we fell to the end of the rope, we weren't whiplashed and instead swung a bunch under the bridge until we were let down. The actual fall lasted for about 200 feet. The most terrifying part was right before the jump. Everything seemed pretty scary, but manageable while standing on the bridge, but then we had to climb up the railing of the bridge and stand on a tiny platform. That was really freaky. To make it worse, we had to have our toes curled around the edge of the platform! The man would then grab our ankles and rest his head on our butt and counted uno, dos, tres, and then pulled our ankles while pushing with his head and that was that. The freefall lasted maybe 3 seconds. I didn't make a sound while falling, but as soon as I started my swinging, I was shouting out for excitement!
Other things accomplished in Baños included a relaxing evening at the natural hot springs/baths, which the town is named after, and also climbing part of a volcano.
I had the whole weekend to relax before setting off on my next adventure: my last week in Ecuador. I spent it with my buddy Zack. We visited two big cities in the South: Guayaquil and Cuenca. Guayaquil is the most populated and most modern city in Ecuador. It was very pretty, and Zack and I had fun doing touristy things and going to museums and a huge cemetary.
After a day and a half there, we got on a bus to Cuenca, which was my favorite city that I visited in Ecuador. It's full of really nice, old historic buildings that have nice little shops inside. Very recently, the whole city was cleaned up and now it's a very safe place with beautiful parks. I made sure to get a bunch of pictures of buildings and such from there. I'll post those when I can.
Tidbit: Long-distance bus rides in Ecuador are very cheap. If you want to know how much a bus ride will cost, a good estimate is about $1 per hour of bus riding. That's right, so the 10-hour bus ride returning us to Quito from Cuenca costs about 10 bucks. I wonder what that would have cost if we'd gone on Greyhound.
Leaving my house was very difficult, and it didn't help that I had stayed up all night packing before I left on Sunday morning. During breakfast, my host mom and I were choking back tears, reminding ourselves and each other that there was really nothing to be sad about; I'd had a wonderful time in Ecuador, formed a wonderful relationship with my host family, and decided that I would return some day to visit.
When I first got back to the States, there were several things that I had to get a little used to. The two biggest were getting used to flushing my toilet paper, and also talking to important, official people in English. I've found that I really enjoy both of those.
My first week back was spent in Savannah, Georgia with my bestest buddy Derik. I hadn't seen him in a long time, so it was great to have a week to catch up and hang out. As a little welcome back surprise, he took me to a comic convention in Orlando. We both had a blast! I got to talk to and get an autograph of my favorite comic book artist. It was SO COOL!!!
I am currently writing this blog post from the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, where I got stuck on my way back to Cleveland due to less-than-desirable weather conditions. The good news is that my new flight is scheduled to take off now in an hour and a half, after my first over-night stay at an airport.
Well I think that just about does it for my Adventures in Ecuador blog. Overall it was a fantastic experience, I got everything that I wanted to out of it, and I look forward to returning to Ecuador at some point in the future.
I don't imagine there will be any more posts here, but please check up on my Picasa page in the near-ish future, as I plan on uploading more pictures.
Take good care, everyone.
Thanks for reading,
~Joey
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Two Weeks to Go
Hey, quick update: I'm back in Quito. Everything's great. Right now I'm figuring out travel plans around Ecuador before I have to go back to the States.
The good news is I've finally posted pictures! Go check 'em out on my Picasa site.
Later,
~Joey
The good news is I've finally posted pictures! Go check 'em out on my Picasa site.
Later,
~Joey
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Santa Cruz, You're Not That Far
Quick hello from the island Isabela!
I just found a little internet shop, so I stopped in for a few minutes to check vital things and update the ol' bloggeroo.
Today we did a big hike up the side of one volcano, a bit around its rim, and then down a (not hot) lava covered hill to another smaller volcano. Crazy stuff. Lots of walking, maybe about 16km give or take. Super awesome views of the volcanoes and of the whole island as well as other neighboring islands.
Tomorrow we'll be relaxing and also going snorkeling in a spot or two. There should be some interesting things to see there. Then after tomorrow, we go to our last island: Santa Cruz, where we'll spend a day or so and then fly back to Quito on Sunday. Everything's coming to a close so quickly, but we're having such a great time.
I'll let you guys know how the rest of the trip goes when I get back to Quito. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bunch of pictures as well.
I just found a little internet shop, so I stopped in for a few minutes to check vital things and update the ol' bloggeroo.
Today we did a big hike up the side of one volcano, a bit around its rim, and then down a (not hot) lava covered hill to another smaller volcano. Crazy stuff. Lots of walking, maybe about 16km give or take. Super awesome views of the volcanoes and of the whole island as well as other neighboring islands.
Tomorrow we'll be relaxing and also going snorkeling in a spot or two. There should be some interesting things to see there. Then after tomorrow, we go to our last island: Santa Cruz, where we'll spend a day or so and then fly back to Quito on Sunday. Everything's coming to a close so quickly, but we're having such a great time.
I'll let you guys know how the rest of the trip goes when I get back to Quito. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bunch of pictures as well.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Last day on San Cristobal
Well, ladies and gentlemen, the title says it all. Today (Monday) is our last day here on this island. Yesterday the liberal arts group arrived. We knew they would be doing things that we did on our first day, so when they came to a particular lookout, we made sure to be snorkeling in the water down below. Incidentally, it's the cove on the island where Darwin arrived. Hey, did you know that when Darwin came to the Galapagos (in 1835), he was here for only 5 weeks. He probably didn't stay on San Cristobal for more than a few days to a week, and he definitely didn't go snorkeling.
A few days ago I bought an underwater disposable camera. I took some really cool pictures of fish and sea lions. It was a lot of fun, but I can tell I got spoiled by the invention of the digital camera. After like 20 minutes in the water, I looked down at the camera and was surprised to see I had used up 2/3rds of my pictures already.
So I've been here for about a week. Here's what my next week looks like: us ecology kids are going to go on a tour with the liberal arts kids to three other islands: Floreana, Isabela (the biggest) and Santa Cruz. We'll spend a few days at each and get from one to the other via boat. There will be more snorkeling involved and a bunch of other cool stuff. I have no clue if I'll have access to the internet during the next week, so the next post may come from Quito. I return on the 8th.
Until then, take care everyone!
~Joey
A few days ago I bought an underwater disposable camera. I took some really cool pictures of fish and sea lions. It was a lot of fun, but I can tell I got spoiled by the invention of the digital camera. After like 20 minutes in the water, I looked down at the camera and was surprised to see I had used up 2/3rds of my pictures already.
So I've been here for about a week. Here's what my next week looks like: us ecology kids are going to go on a tour with the liberal arts kids to three other islands: Floreana, Isabela (the biggest) and Santa Cruz. We'll spend a few days at each and get from one to the other via boat. There will be more snorkeling involved and a bunch of other cool stuff. I have no clue if I'll have access to the internet during the next week, so the next post may come from Quito. I return on the 8th.
Until then, take care everyone!
~Joey
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Sand
OK, first off: Correction - In my previous post, I said that the sand on one beach was coarse because the islands were relatively new and the material making up the sand was still breaking down to finer sand (or something like that). That's actually not the case at all. What I should have said was that the beach was young. The island is plenty old enough-- at least 5 million years old. A few days ago, we went on a field trip that ended up at the world's most perfect beach: white, soft sand, clear blue-green water, black rocks poking up in artistic ways along the fringes of the beach... It was beautiful. It was at this beach that I saw my second wild octopus. This one was bigger than the first one, and it was moving around more too. It was crawling around the rock it was on and then it shot off and swam a little ways, changing color do a dark blue, then it landed on a different rock and instantly camouflaged. It was really cool to watch its color changing right before my eyes. A part of me wanted to bother it so I could watch it shoot out an ink cloud, but I decided that probably wasn't the best idea.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Snorkeling and Such
Hey there, so today's like our 4th day here on the Galapagos Islands (San Cristobal, as I mentioned earlier). Things here are awesome (still!). After the snorkeling adventure I mentioned in my last post, I got severely sunburned. Well, it's not bad all over, just on my lower back, my knees, my ankles, and kind of on the back of my shoulders. The good news is there are tons of pharmacies around here and I was able to get my hands on a bottle of aloe. I might need to go out and get some more soon, though, seeing as how it's almost gone. My burns ARE feeling much better now, though. Whew.
Well while we're here, it's not ALL fun and games. We have to take classes too. Luckily the classes don't take up a huge amount of time and we're pretty free to explore in our free time. In class we've been learning some interesting things, like that all of the reptiles here on the islands are endemic, meaning you can only find these species here. A large percentage of all the rest of the organisms on the islands are endemic as well, which is one of the things that makes the Galapagos so special.
Today we had a field trip to the highlands of San Cristobal. The area here down by the beach is pretty dry, there are a lot of cacti. But, up higher, things are wetter and you'll find a lot of grasslands and "forests" of bushes called miconia. Many of the Galapagos islands are powered by diesel fuel, but as of about 2000, initiatives have been taken to use alternative, renewable energy sources. On a big hill here on San Cristobal, are three huge wind turbines that provide a yearly average of 50-60% of the island's electricity. On a good, windy day, they can provide 80% or more.
San Cristobal is the only island with a significant amount of fresh water on it: it has one or two volcanic lakes on it that give the town water.
We took three pickup trucks with taxi signs on the tops, and as soon as we got out of the town, a bunch of us moved from the cab into the back and rode back there, standing up. On our way back into town, it was raining a bunch, but some of us were already plenty soaked, so we rode back in the pick-up's bed anyway. I had mine to myself, and it was really exhilarating, racing through the rain.
After our field trip, I went with a group of friends to a cove that's a bit north of the town. There, we went snorkeling. We've rented snorkeling equipment for the rest of the week, so now we can go out whenever we want. Yesterday we snorkeled in the water in front of the university's building here (called GAIAS, which stands for Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Science, or something along those lines). There were some big-ish fish that were blue with stripes and had yellow tails. We found a whole big school of them and were swimming with them for a while. There must have been hundreds! Also occasionally a sea lion would come and swim right underneath me. It was crazy! It's also not uncommon to see rays in the sand near the shore.
By the way, the beaches here have really coarse sand because the islands are relatively recent.
Anyway, like I said, today we went to a cove north of the town and there we went snorkeling again. The land at the water was made up of uneven volcanic rock as opposed to the sand of a beach. There were cool things growing on the rocks. When we first got in, there was a sea lion swimming with us. It was really cool. We snorkeled for a bit, watching all the crazy fish, with their ridiculous colors. There were several rays, including a pretty big black one and also a spotted eagle ray (google image search it). These were the ones we saw the other day that are black and have white leopard spots. The one we saw today wasn't very big, but still awesome. Wikipedia says they can get up to 8 feet wide and up to 16 feet long including the tail.
I was starting to get cold, so I climbed out of the water to take a break. The thing was that I didn't feel like finishing for the day, I just needed some motivation to get back in the water. My friend Derek gave me motivation enough when a few minutes later he announced, "Hey guys, I think I just found an octopus." We didn't believe him at first, but we got in the water and looked. Sure enough there on one of the rocks near where we were sitting was an octopus. It's wasn't very big, maybe as bit as my two hands put together, but it looked really cool. On top, it looked like a rock, and you could only notice it once it started moving. Its underside was a brilliant blue. It was beautiful. It made my day.
So right now I'm sitting in the computer lab at GAIAS. I'm gonna head back to my room, shower, apply more aloe, and then head out to dinner. We've been eating dinner at nice little places every night. I'll take pictures. Dinner usually consists of rice, beans, a little salad, and some kind of meat, either chicken or fish (albacore is common). Desert is usually some kind of fruit or ice cream. Yum!
Take it easy, everyone, and if the snow and the cold is getting to you, I give you permission to pretend to come down here and go snorkeling with me. We'll pretend to have a lot of fun, I promise. We've got enough heat and sun to go around.
~Joey
Well while we're here, it's not ALL fun and games. We have to take classes too. Luckily the classes don't take up a huge amount of time and we're pretty free to explore in our free time. In class we've been learning some interesting things, like that all of the reptiles here on the islands are endemic, meaning you can only find these species here. A large percentage of all the rest of the organisms on the islands are endemic as well, which is one of the things that makes the Galapagos so special.
Today we had a field trip to the highlands of San Cristobal. The area here down by the beach is pretty dry, there are a lot of cacti. But, up higher, things are wetter and you'll find a lot of grasslands and "forests" of bushes called miconia. Many of the Galapagos islands are powered by diesel fuel, but as of about 2000, initiatives have been taken to use alternative, renewable energy sources. On a big hill here on San Cristobal, are three huge wind turbines that provide a yearly average of 50-60% of the island's electricity. On a good, windy day, they can provide 80% or more.
San Cristobal is the only island with a significant amount of fresh water on it: it has one or two volcanic lakes on it that give the town water.
We took three pickup trucks with taxi signs on the tops, and as soon as we got out of the town, a bunch of us moved from the cab into the back and rode back there, standing up. On our way back into town, it was raining a bunch, but some of us were already plenty soaked, so we rode back in the pick-up's bed anyway. I had mine to myself, and it was really exhilarating, racing through the rain.
After our field trip, I went with a group of friends to a cove that's a bit north of the town. There, we went snorkeling. We've rented snorkeling equipment for the rest of the week, so now we can go out whenever we want. Yesterday we snorkeled in the water in front of the university's building here (called GAIAS, which stands for Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Science, or something along those lines). There were some big-ish fish that were blue with stripes and had yellow tails. We found a whole big school of them and were swimming with them for a while. There must have been hundreds! Also occasionally a sea lion would come and swim right underneath me. It was crazy! It's also not uncommon to see rays in the sand near the shore.
By the way, the beaches here have really coarse sand because the islands are relatively recent.
Anyway, like I said, today we went to a cove north of the town and there we went snorkeling again. The land at the water was made up of uneven volcanic rock as opposed to the sand of a beach. There were cool things growing on the rocks. When we first got in, there was a sea lion swimming with us. It was really cool. We snorkeled for a bit, watching all the crazy fish, with their ridiculous colors. There were several rays, including a pretty big black one and also a spotted eagle ray (google image search it). These were the ones we saw the other day that are black and have white leopard spots. The one we saw today wasn't very big, but still awesome. Wikipedia says they can get up to 8 feet wide and up to 16 feet long including the tail.
I was starting to get cold, so I climbed out of the water to take a break. The thing was that I didn't feel like finishing for the day, I just needed some motivation to get back in the water. My friend Derek gave me motivation enough when a few minutes later he announced, "Hey guys, I think I just found an octopus." We didn't believe him at first, but we got in the water and looked. Sure enough there on one of the rocks near where we were sitting was an octopus. It's wasn't very big, maybe as bit as my two hands put together, but it looked really cool. On top, it looked like a rock, and you could only notice it once it started moving. Its underside was a brilliant blue. It was beautiful. It made my day.
So right now I'm sitting in the computer lab at GAIAS. I'm gonna head back to my room, shower, apply more aloe, and then head out to dinner. We've been eating dinner at nice little places every night. I'll take pictures. Dinner usually consists of rice, beans, a little salad, and some kind of meat, either chicken or fish (albacore is common). Desert is usually some kind of fruit or ice cream. Yum!
Take it easy, everyone, and if the snow and the cold is getting to you, I give you permission to pretend to come down here and go snorkeling with me. We'll pretend to have a lot of fun, I promise. We've got enough heat and sun to go around.
~Joey
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Livin' it up in the Galapagos!
Hey there from the Galapagos Islands, San Cristobal to be exact. We flew in here just yesterday afternoon. This place is great!
The most exciting thing is that today we went snorkeling! The first place the boat took us was a relatively shallow area. When we first got in the water, we were excited just to see a fish, but then we started seeing other things as we went further. There was a sea turtle eating an underwater plant, there was an iguana under the water crawling on rocks to eat algae growing on rocks, while yellow-lipped fish tried scaring it out of their territory. There were sea lions that swam around with us a little bit. We were watching a few females and then suddenly a huge male swam within a few feet of me. The females are pretty docile, but you're supposed to watch out for the males, so even though I didn't feel threatened at the time, I backed off. We saw several rays half-covered in sand, and several schools of fish, some really little, others at least a foot long that were like blue and yellow and had some stripes. I liked those ones. Nothing in the water seemed particularly afraid of us, and sometimes we'd find some curious fish following us.
Then we got back in the boat and headed to this place called the ¨Sleeping Lion¨, a huge rock jutting out of the water, at least like a hundred meters, maybe more. Super steep sides, dropping almost vertically down into the water. I was the first out of the boat here and had to calm myself as I looked down at the side of the rock disappearing into blackness below me. We swam around this island and saw some more cool things. First of all, on the side of the rock were barnacles, probably some types of coral, and algea, I suppose: There were large parts of it that looked like someone went over with a paint brush, alternating between red and blue paint. There were more cool fish. Someone pointed downward towards the nothingness, and we saw a shark, swimming, turned on it's side, swimming along the rock wall. This thing must have been at least 10 feet long. We also saw more sea turtles, some had algae growing on their backs. In a huge crack splitting the rock island, we saw several large rays. Some were ¨golden¨while others were black with white leopard spots on them. We saw a few more sharks before going back in the boat. These ones weren't as big, but still looked really cool!
On the way back from the Sleeping Lion, I lay down on the bow of the boat and ate watermelon and relaxed. It was amazing. One of the coolest days I've had in a long time.
Oh, yesterday, I went swimming with a few friends. One thing you should know about this place is that along the water in most places you go, you'll see sea lions. These guys are everywhere, and they're really cool animals. Anyway, we were swimming and we see one headed right towards us. We backed away a little, and it came and swam in a circle around my legs. It wasn't too much more than a foot or so away.
So right now I'm chilling at this internet place that's on the island where it costs 1.50 for an hour of use. Pretty reasonable, I must say. We're in a town that has shops and restaurants and stuff. It's not a very big town, but we're able to get most things that we'll need. It's not like we're out in the middle of nowhere.
I'll keep you guys updated. I don't know how soon I'll be able to post pictures. I did get my hands on a camera, I'm borrowing it from someone in my house. The only bad news is I don't have the cable to connect to the computer, so unless someone here in my group has the right cable, I'm not gonna be able to get pictures up until I come back around February 8th.
Take care everyone!
-Joey
The most exciting thing is that today we went snorkeling! The first place the boat took us was a relatively shallow area. When we first got in the water, we were excited just to see a fish, but then we started seeing other things as we went further. There was a sea turtle eating an underwater plant, there was an iguana under the water crawling on rocks to eat algae growing on rocks, while yellow-lipped fish tried scaring it out of their territory. There were sea lions that swam around with us a little bit. We were watching a few females and then suddenly a huge male swam within a few feet of me. The females are pretty docile, but you're supposed to watch out for the males, so even though I didn't feel threatened at the time, I backed off. We saw several rays half-covered in sand, and several schools of fish, some really little, others at least a foot long that were like blue and yellow and had some stripes. I liked those ones. Nothing in the water seemed particularly afraid of us, and sometimes we'd find some curious fish following us.
Then we got back in the boat and headed to this place called the ¨Sleeping Lion¨, a huge rock jutting out of the water, at least like a hundred meters, maybe more. Super steep sides, dropping almost vertically down into the water. I was the first out of the boat here and had to calm myself as I looked down at the side of the rock disappearing into blackness below me. We swam around this island and saw some more cool things. First of all, on the side of the rock were barnacles, probably some types of coral, and algea, I suppose: There were large parts of it that looked like someone went over with a paint brush, alternating between red and blue paint. There were more cool fish. Someone pointed downward towards the nothingness, and we saw a shark, swimming, turned on it's side, swimming along the rock wall. This thing must have been at least 10 feet long. We also saw more sea turtles, some had algae growing on their backs. In a huge crack splitting the rock island, we saw several large rays. Some were ¨golden¨while others were black with white leopard spots on them. We saw a few more sharks before going back in the boat. These ones weren't as big, but still looked really cool!
On the way back from the Sleeping Lion, I lay down on the bow of the boat and ate watermelon and relaxed. It was amazing. One of the coolest days I've had in a long time.
Oh, yesterday, I went swimming with a few friends. One thing you should know about this place is that along the water in most places you go, you'll see sea lions. These guys are everywhere, and they're really cool animals. Anyway, we were swimming and we see one headed right towards us. We backed away a little, and it came and swam in a circle around my legs. It wasn't too much more than a foot or so away.
So right now I'm chilling at this internet place that's on the island where it costs 1.50 for an hour of use. Pretty reasonable, I must say. We're in a town that has shops and restaurants and stuff. It's not a very big town, but we're able to get most things that we'll need. It's not like we're out in the middle of nowhere.
I'll keep you guys updated. I don't know how soon I'll be able to post pictures. I did get my hands on a camera, I'm borrowing it from someone in my house. The only bad news is I don't have the cable to connect to the computer, so unless someone here in my group has the right cable, I'm not gonna be able to get pictures up until I come back around February 8th.
Take care everyone!
-Joey
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Back in Quito
Hi, so for the last 5 days or so of our time at Tiputini, we didn't have communal electricity, so no one could access the internet on their computers, much less write their papers for their projects. Oh well.
I just got back to Quito this evening (the 20th of Jan). I had a fantastic time in the rain forest. Here are some highlights (good and bad):
I saw a collared peccary, a 2-toed sloth, and a pink river dolphin, three things that are pretty rare. Also I saw some nocturnal monkeys (possibly called Owl Monkeys)
My camera broke while I was running with it in my pocket. Stupid me. Someone told me it would be easy enough and probably relatively cheap to send it in for repairs, so I'll try to do that when I get back to the States, but in the mean time, I'll have to pick up a cheap replacement so I can take a bunch of pictures on the Galapagos (I go there on the 24th!!!)
One girl got bit by the VERY painful Conga Ant. She's better now, though.
We went on a canoe ride in a little lake. The canoe was extremely wobbly, and we almost fully tipped over several times. All the while, our guide was telling us about the animals that live in the lake: specifically Piranhas, Caimans, and Anacondas. We didn't see any, but the water was VERY murky and we may have seen a muddy water cloud of a moving caiman. Also I think I felt something brush up on the underside of the canoe, but I suppose it could have been a stick.
The river rose a total of 4 meters during our 2 weeks there. Several lower paths were completely flooded, up past the rope handrails of several bridges.
We went up on the Canopy Walk, a system of 4 bridges that span across the forest canopy. It was super cool.
That's about all for now. I'll post pictures of things eventually. At least I have slightly faster, more reliable internet here in Quito than I did in the rainforest, but that's not saying much.
Happy Inauguration Day, everyone!!!
~Joey
I just got back to Quito this evening (the 20th of Jan). I had a fantastic time in the rain forest. Here are some highlights (good and bad):
I saw a collared peccary, a 2-toed sloth, and a pink river dolphin, three things that are pretty rare. Also I saw some nocturnal monkeys (possibly called Owl Monkeys)
My camera broke while I was running with it in my pocket. Stupid me. Someone told me it would be easy enough and probably relatively cheap to send it in for repairs, so I'll try to do that when I get back to the States, but in the mean time, I'll have to pick up a cheap replacement so I can take a bunch of pictures on the Galapagos (I go there on the 24th!!!)
One girl got bit by the VERY painful Conga Ant. She's better now, though.
We went on a canoe ride in a little lake. The canoe was extremely wobbly, and we almost fully tipped over several times. All the while, our guide was telling us about the animals that live in the lake: specifically Piranhas, Caimans, and Anacondas. We didn't see any, but the water was VERY murky and we may have seen a muddy water cloud of a moving caiman. Also I think I felt something brush up on the underside of the canoe, but I suppose it could have been a stick.
The river rose a total of 4 meters during our 2 weeks there. Several lower paths were completely flooded, up past the rope handrails of several bridges.
We went up on the Canopy Walk, a system of 4 bridges that span across the forest canopy. It was super cool.
That's about all for now. I'll post pictures of things eventually. At least I have slightly faster, more reliable internet here in Quito than I did in the rainforest, but that's not saying much.
Happy Inauguration Day, everyone!!!
~Joey
Thursday, January 8, 2009
A Bird's Eye View
There are two towers on the station's land. This morning the guide took a group of us (composed of almost all of the boys) up to one tower while the girls and one guy went to another tower. Yeah, we're more than half-way done with college and we still split ourselves up as boys and girls. The tower we went to was 45 meters up (that's 150 feet). It was supported by a Ceiba tree. Ceiba trees are ridiculous because they're so freakin' big. Also on their branches really high up there are tons of other plants growing, like Bromeliads and vines. I'm really surprised when I see them because I can just imagine how much extra weight that puts on, and so far away from the trunk too. There's also a lot of moss and lichen and vines that grow on them (like almost every other tree here in the rain forest).
From the top, we could look out over the canopy of the forest for a long ways in every direction. It rained for the first hour or so that we were up there, so we didn't see too many birds, but once it calmed down, they all came out and we saw so many. Here are some of the ones we saw. I suggest you google image search these as well as any other animal I mention. The internet here is a little slow sometimes and a lot of people are sharing it so I don't know if they'd be too happy about me using up bandwidth to upload pictures. I'm not saying it won't happen, just don't hold your breath.
We saw:
Scarlet Macaw
White-throated toucan
Chestnut-fronted macaw
Blue and yellow macaw
Orange-cheeked parrot
Fork-tailed winged humming bird
Greater yellow-headed vulture
...just to name a few
We also saw many butterflies other hummingbirds, bats, and conga ants. Conga ants are huge. One bite can make a grown man cry. 3 or 4 can leave you sick in bed with a fever.
After lunch, we'll be heading out to the second tower to look for other things.
From the top, we could look out over the canopy of the forest for a long ways in every direction. It rained for the first hour or so that we were up there, so we didn't see too many birds, but once it calmed down, they all came out and we saw so many. Here are some of the ones we saw. I suggest you google image search these as well as any other animal I mention. The internet here is a little slow sometimes and a lot of people are sharing it so I don't know if they'd be too happy about me using up bandwidth to upload pictures. I'm not saying it won't happen, just don't hold your breath.
We saw:
Scarlet Macaw
White-throated toucan
Chestnut-fronted macaw
Blue and yellow macaw
Orange-cheeked parrot
Fork-tailed winged humming bird
Greater yellow-headed vulture
...just to name a few
We also saw many butterflies other hummingbirds, bats, and conga ants. Conga ants are huge. One bite can make a grown man cry. 3 or 4 can leave you sick in bed with a fever.
After lunch, we'll be heading out to the second tower to look for other things.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I'm in the AMAZON RAIN FOREST!
Hi! Greetings from the one and only Amazon Rain Forest. This is a really cool place. We're staying at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a place set up by the university that I went to in Quito. It's pretty hot and humid down here, but it could be a lot worse. Yeah, there's rain. Mostly during the night, however my friends and I got caught in a rainstorm this afternoon while walking around on the trails. It was pretty incredible to look out from little gaps in the jungle to see how much it was pouring outside while within a lot of the forest it felt like a sprinkle. The rain was actually pretty warm, so we didn't mind walking through it at all, it was a nice way to cool off.
Here in the station there are two periods a day that we get electricity. The showers aren't heated, but that can feel really good. The surprising thing is that as opposed to Quito, here in the middle of the jungle, we can drink the water coming out of the tap. All the water we get is from the Tiputini river, which is right here. It's all filtered and everything to make it yummy and not full of things that could make you miserable.
Yesterday, we went on 2 long hikes throughout the place, guided by very knowledgeable men, who pointed out many cool plants, several of them with surprising medicinal properties. As far as animals go, I've seen 4 species of monkey (wooly, tamarin, saki and dusky titi), and can often hear howler monkeys from a distance. They make a deep wooo wooo wooo sound that can sound like a heavy wind. Also in a town that we stopped by on our way here, we saw squirrel monkeys. They were really cute and not afraid of people. I took a video of this one woman who was holding food and had at least 3 squirrel monkeys climbing all over her to get it.
I've also seen a lot of birds, like a collared trogon. There have also been some manequins and a raptor that squawks really loud if you come close. They call it the alarm of the jungle. I've seen tapir footprints, another group actually saw a tapir. Also jaguars and a very deadly snake called the bushmaster can be found here. Luckily jaguars avoid people and bushmasters are only dangerous at night. Last night we went on a boat ride under a clear moonlit sky to look for caimans, a slender relative of crocodiles. We actually saw a few.
I'm taking tons of pictures and will make sure to post another blog... at some point.
Take care everyone, and I'll make sure to do the same.
~Joey
Here in the station there are two periods a day that we get electricity. The showers aren't heated, but that can feel really good. The surprising thing is that as opposed to Quito, here in the middle of the jungle, we can drink the water coming out of the tap. All the water we get is from the Tiputini river, which is right here. It's all filtered and everything to make it yummy and not full of things that could make you miserable.
Yesterday, we went on 2 long hikes throughout the place, guided by very knowledgeable men, who pointed out many cool plants, several of them with surprising medicinal properties. As far as animals go, I've seen 4 species of monkey (wooly, tamarin, saki and dusky titi), and can often hear howler monkeys from a distance. They make a deep wooo wooo wooo sound that can sound like a heavy wind. Also in a town that we stopped by on our way here, we saw squirrel monkeys. They were really cute and not afraid of people. I took a video of this one woman who was holding food and had at least 3 squirrel monkeys climbing all over her to get it.
I've also seen a lot of birds, like a collared trogon. There have also been some manequins and a raptor that squawks really loud if you come close. They call it the alarm of the jungle. I've seen tapir footprints, another group actually saw a tapir. Also jaguars and a very deadly snake called the bushmaster can be found here. Luckily jaguars avoid people and bushmasters are only dangerous at night. Last night we went on a boat ride under a clear moonlit sky to look for caimans, a slender relative of crocodiles. We actually saw a few.
I'm taking tons of pictures and will make sure to post another blog... at some point.
Take care everyone, and I'll make sure to do the same.
~Joey
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Christmas in Ecuador!
It was really cool to celebrate Christmas here in Ecuador this year. It was among the most fun holidays I've celebrated here thusfar, second to New Year's. First of all, they celebrate Christmas here on the night of the 24th. I guess it's so they can celebrate it as close to midnight of the 25th as possible. Either that or they're just impatient and can't wait the extra day.
My most special gift for Christmas this year was a visit from my mom and my sister. They arrived a little before the festivities started. We picked them up from the airport, got them settled in, and then began. My whole host family was there in the living room, spilling into the dining room.
Christmas started off like most nights of Novena, with songs and readings. Here are some of the things that happened after the Novena part:
Performances: Each subfamily within our big Ecuadorian family prepared and presented a skit, or song for the rest of the family. My host parents and I had come up with something earlier that day, which involved me being a spoiled little kid who starts whining when his mother says he can't have everything he wants for Christmas. The mother in turn goes to the father and begs him for money and gifts for her and her son. The father is completely overwhelmed and doesn't have enough money and can't take it any more. Here the acting part of our skit ended and my host mom stepped forward, still wearing the silver tinsel wig that was part of her costume, and made the point that Christmas isn't just about getting presents, it's also a time to share with family and stuff like that. Other people sang various songs, one family re-wrote the words to "Rudolf" to be about their favorite soccer team.
BINGO: We played a big game of BINGO, three actually. I didn't win any money, but it was still a fun time. As soon as the numbers were called out in Spanish, I had to repeat them in English so my mom and sister would know what was going on.
Gift Exchange: We didn't have a stack of gifts under the tree, but rather when it came time to give gifts, everyone walked around and handed out the gifts they had. I gave two gifts: one as part of a secret Santa gift exchange that the adults in the family do, and the other to my 4-year-old buddy, Paula. You see, after my experiment with the tadpoles, I kept the little guys around and Paula became fascinated by them. Whenever she came over, she'd want to go up to my room and play with them, touching them, picking them up, making them dance, everything. Around these parts, tadpoles are called "wiji-wijis". It wasn't long at all before Paula and I started calling each other "wiji-wiji". I decided that it would be the perfect gift to give her a stuffed wiji-wiji. Since it's VERY hard to come by them in the stores, I decided to make her one by myself, so I bought the materials and sewed her wiji-wiji by hand. It turned out being about two feet long, I'd guess. When I wrapped it, I squeezed it into one of the plastic containers that I kept my real wiji-wijis in. When she opened it, her eyes sparkled and she had the biggest smile on that I'd ever seen her have. She was so delighted and I'm so glad I was able to capture that face on camera.
Christmas Food: Yummy, there was so much good food. Salads, turkey, Columbian rice (with cocoa), desserts of guanábana mousse and a crunchy things called pristiños that you drizzle dulce de leche on. Also there of course was wine. Everyone was so cheery and happy to be there, and I had fun translating for my mom and sister.
Well, it looks as if I won't have time to do my New Year's post before heading off to the jungle. I won't have time to post pictures before that either. There will be internet at our biostation where we'll be staying so more likely than not, I'll be able to post my progress and adventures in the rain forest.
Take care everyone, wish me luck on my trip. I'll be out there for two weeks--until the 20th.
~Joey
Friday, January 2, 2009
Novena
Hi! I hope you're all enjoying your 2009 so far. On the 5th of January, I embark on my journey into the rain forest. I'll be spending the following 2 or 3 weeks in the Tiputini Biological Research Station, over there in eastern Ecuador. For that period of time we'll all be working on our own personal research project. I plan on doing mine on web-weaving behaviors of spiders, looking at how long it takes them to do each step of their web and such.
So recently I've been finishing up things here in Quito before my next set of adventures starts. This specifically involves catching up on things like my journal and my blog. If all goes to plan, I should continue pumping on my route of pumping out several blog posts rapid-fire. This means that if you check on my blog about as frequently as I normally write it, you may want to go back and make sure you're not missing anything.
Well, that wonderful winter holiday season has come and gone, and I'd like to take some time and a few posts to explain what goes on down here during December. Several of their celebrations I've found to be very similar, while others are like mixes of US holidays or opposites of them. You'll see what I mean.
All of December for Ecuadorians is a big month for holidays. First of all, we have Fiestas de Quito in the beginning, and I've explained a little about that with the bull fights and stuff. The next big thing that comes up after that is called Novena.
As you know, Jews get a nice long celebration in the winter spread out over eight nights, savoring the holiday season while Christians and a bunch of other people get one big day to look forward to with family and gifts and such. Here in Ecuador they kind of get the best of both those worlds with the unintentional mix of the two styles of celebrating. It's called Novena and it's the celebration of the nine days before Christmas, each day representing a month that Mary was pregnant.
What happens on a night of Novena is that family and friends gather together at someone's house (ideally a different house each night). After we're settled down, we start off by singing a few Spanish Christmas songs. Some of them are familiar tunes that have been translated, like Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Others are completely new tunes to me. Luckily they had several sheets with words on them to help poor gringos like me or forgetful family members. After a song or two, the hosts for the night read out loud traditional passages. There's an opening passage and a closing passage that the same every night and a middle passage that is different that usually talks about Mary and Jesus and angels. After that, some standard prayers are said, like the Lord's Prayer, and then we sing a few more songs. After that, comes my host brother's favorite part of the night: the Novena food, or as it's called here: "bocadillo navideño". The host family prepares some little snacky/appetizer food such as emanadas, cake, fruit and ice cream, or something along those lines, usually with a yummy drink as well. People sit around and chat for a little while and then head home.
The whole celebration of Novena takes about an hour, so by the time you get home, you still have time to do things like homework or hanging out with friends.
Next up: Christmas in Ecuador!
Have a happy day,
~Joey
So recently I've been finishing up things here in Quito before my next set of adventures starts. This specifically involves catching up on things like my journal and my blog. If all goes to plan, I should continue pumping on my route of pumping out several blog posts rapid-fire. This means that if you check on my blog about as frequently as I normally write it, you may want to go back and make sure you're not missing anything.
Well, that wonderful winter holiday season has come and gone, and I'd like to take some time and a few posts to explain what goes on down here during December. Several of their celebrations I've found to be very similar, while others are like mixes of US holidays or opposites of them. You'll see what I mean.
All of December for Ecuadorians is a big month for holidays. First of all, we have Fiestas de Quito in the beginning, and I've explained a little about that with the bull fights and stuff. The next big thing that comes up after that is called Novena.
As you know, Jews get a nice long celebration in the winter spread out over eight nights, savoring the holiday season while Christians and a bunch of other people get one big day to look forward to with family and gifts and such. Here in Ecuador they kind of get the best of both those worlds with the unintentional mix of the two styles of celebrating. It's called Novena and it's the celebration of the nine days before Christmas, each day representing a month that Mary was pregnant.
What happens on a night of Novena is that family and friends gather together at someone's house (ideally a different house each night). After we're settled down, we start off by singing a few Spanish Christmas songs. Some of them are familiar tunes that have been translated, like Silent Night, Little Drummer Boy, and Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Others are completely new tunes to me. Luckily they had several sheets with words on them to help poor gringos like me or forgetful family members. After a song or two, the hosts for the night read out loud traditional passages. There's an opening passage and a closing passage that the same every night and a middle passage that is different that usually talks about Mary and Jesus and angels. After that, some standard prayers are said, like the Lord's Prayer, and then we sing a few more songs. After that, comes my host brother's favorite part of the night: the Novena food, or as it's called here: "bocadillo navideño". The host family prepares some little snacky/appetizer food such as emanadas, cake, fruit and ice cream, or something along those lines, usually with a yummy drink as well. People sit around and chat for a little while and then head home.
The whole celebration of Novena takes about an hour, so by the time you get home, you still have time to do things like homework or hanging out with friends.
Next up: Christmas in Ecuador!
Have a happy day,
~Joey
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