When in Mindo...

The GAIAS group (those of us lucky enough to spend three months studying in the Galapagos) took a two day trip to Mindo, a small town among the cloud forest, approximately 2 hours from Quito. The bus ride was so amazing as it involved winding down through the mountains to a lower elevation. The slightly higher temperature and humidity (as compared to Quito) was a nice change.

This was either before or after serenading the other bus passengers with American Pie. Ummm, yeah, super excited for Mindo!!

Mindo is a quaint little town with one main street, dirt roads, and more dogs than you can imagine. Seriously, for you dog lovers, it was a field day!! 

The four of us that took the later bus out, which by the way, only cost $2.50 (beat that NYC transit!!), had time to eat with our fellow friends and find a hostel (only $7/night!) for the night before checking out the town (well, street).

Because Mindo is a little touristy (the locals won't look at you twice, which is really great b/c in Quito Gringas are cat-called and whistled at to no end), we were able to check out one of the local discoteks. Given my love for dancing and the fact I live in a hispanic country, it was really awesome that I was able to learn to salsa and merengue, a skill I will definitely continue to better in Quito. The night only got more interesting as we left the disco; a group of guys were playing soccer in the street and let the crazy, semi-drunken gringos practically take over their game.

As it is practically impossible to sleep-in anywhere in this country (roosters, car alarms, barking dogs, birds, ect), I rose bright and early to join some classmates for a hike to the waterfalls!!

Mindo from a distance

When a stray dog follows you four miles uphill you'll take pity on it too.

In order to access the waterfalls you have to take a 'cable car' (basically a metal box on a zip-line) across a canyon. I'd post the video for the scenery, but I'm yelling expletives, most likely due to the depth of the canyon and I don't really think that's appropriate.

The hike was a little strenuous, but the cold water felt amazing and cooled us right down. The waterfall consists of 7 or 8 cascades that involve a little hiking between, and it was definitely worth it.

Back at the hostel, post hike, pre brownie at the artisan chocolate shop. Also, after hearing numerous comments about my hair being lighter I have come to the conclusion that you are, in fact, correct, as this picture is proof that I'm basically blonde.

Apparently not one Ecuadorian can pronounce my name properly. They are worse than Americans, and well, haha, I'm not even going to go there. Let's just say I've been called numerous variations of my name. On this incredible road I've decided to travel down I've discovered that only the last four letter of my name (Leña) mean 'fiery'. Good to know. Given this, I got a real big laugh out of this sign. :-)

This cool statue of a momma hummingbird feeding her baby is located in the park in the center of town. Want to take a guess as to what it's significance is? If you guessed there must be hummingbirds around, well, you're right. They're all over the place. They wake you up in the morning. And some of them are huge (well, compared to other hummingbirds)! It's amazing.  

One happy lady. Hummingbirds, lemongrass tea, and a relaxing morning at Mindo Lindo.

"After it all I found the best place to walk and be well"

The Páramo

Today was our first field trip! The class took a one hour long bus ride up to the super páramo, the second highest level of the páramo, the high altitude ecosystem between the upper altitudinal limit of forests (i.e., the tree line) and the border of perpetual snow. It extends from Venezuela to Argentina. Basically, on a cloudy and windy day it's really really cold. We can leave it at that.

FROST!!! We started hiking at 4300m (around 13,400ft) with a temperature of 0°C (with the wind chill it got down to -2°C...yikes), stopping to examine the local flora we had just learned about the previous day. Even with the cold temperature and super strong winds that probably helped send quite a few people down on their butts, it was a thrilling experience!

During this great experience I got the opportunity to discover something new about myself...altitudes greater than 11,000ft will affect me. There's this cool plant you can eat or make tea out of while hiking to help with altitude sickness...well, I don't really think it helps. Just sayin. Water. Lots of water. I probably drank a galloon of water today.

Our guide and Tropical Ecology Professor, Esteban, at Parcacocha Lake. The many lakes in the páramo were formed from glaciers and do not contain any life. This lake helps supply electricity through hydropower. Because lakes in the páramo aid in supplying power to the people, if there is a water shortage the cities will have scheduled brownouts.

After hours of breathing difficulties and heart pounding we reached the grass páramo, a slightly lower elevation containing bushes and other interesting flora.

Mucus plant. Seriously. The younger growth is surrounded by a mucus-filled sack. Actually, when you rub it over your hands it leaves them really soft. Now, I don't suggest trying this with your own mucus, but if you're out in the páramo wilderness and your hands feel dry or you're really thirsty and don't have any water (yes, this plant has more than one uses), then this is a very good option.

Awesome hike! Next stop...

...The hot springs of Papallacta!

The ride home. Jurassic Park anyone?

One week already?

Even though I’ve started classes I still feel like I’m on a permanent vacation. This must be what they said in the orientation about the ‘honeymoon phase’. Supposedly, in 1-2 months I’ll be cursing everything about this beautiful land because it isn’t like the states. Hmmm, I don’t know. I think it’s pretty awesome that Ecuador isn’t the US, and well, in 5 weeks I’ll be in paradise. I’m really not too worried.

The bus system here is unlike any you’ve ever ridden, unless, of course, you’ve traveled to an underdeveloped country. People stand on the bus, or more precisely, pack themselves in to the point where no one else can get on. It’s a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious good time to stand on a bus that’s packed full of people while holding on as the bus drives (I don’t think drive is the proper verb for this experience. Perhaps flying while weaving in and out of traffic without a blinker?) around a mountain (of the Andes J) to your stop. Did I mention the bus only costs 25 cents?

View of the Andes from the shopping center in Cumbaya. Mi Universidad is across the street.

We only have two days of classes this week, as tomorrow we have a field trip (I just love the Ecuadorian way of learning…hour + long bus rides weaving throughout the mountains while singing camp songs- totally joking (about the songs, that is) – to some of the most remarkable places on Earth to LEARN!!!! Hello USA universities, take note please! This module I’m taking 3 classes: Tropical Ecology (thus awesome fieldtrip), some service learning class, and basic Spanish.

First day of school!!

Celebrating the completion of our first day of class :-)

There is this awesome indigenous fruit here called chirimoya. The only thing that I can think of that comes close is ice cream. Yes, it reminds me of ice cream. SO good. I will find a way to get it home, or at least eat the entire stock before leaving. It is probably one of the most expensive things in Ecuador ($2-3/fruit). It grows specifically in Guayallamba, where, believe it or not, there is a zoo!

Guayallamba

Mi host padre and I

He's very outgoing, a jokester, and thankfully speaks some english, though keeps threatening to use a stick while teaching me spanish. Apparently I'll learn faster if there's a big stick nearby...

It's hard to get homesick when you're surrounded by such beautiful landscape. Not to mention almost every store/restaurant you walk into is playing music from a US pop radio station. 

Sun setting on the mountains. This is the view from my bedroom!

Quito

Did you know that the equator is actually 25 Km wide, or that you weigh less on the equator? You have less strength, less force, and can prove this by standing at the 0 degree longitude/latitude. If you can't, well, you'll have to take my word for it because I was there and I saw the proof. You can also see the big dipper, Orion's belt, and the Southern Cross from the equator (and they're even more visible in the Galapagos!).

Even though everyone here says Quito is small, in reality, it is a large city. When standing on one side you really can't see the other. Of course, this could be due to the rolling hills (massive mountains, actually) of the Andes (be jealous, it's okay. I'm living in a valley of the Andes). Did you know that in Columbia the Andes are separated into three mountain ranges, in Ecuador two, and in Peru and Chile only one? I think that's pretty cool.

Yesterday was the end of orientations (thankfully). We had a talk with a US government official who told us top information on the security of the country we are living in. Don't freak out, but Ecuador, maybe even Quito in particular, is at the critical level for crime, mostly due to economic reasons. There's a whole list of things you have to be aware of when in this country, and you'd better pay attention to them, b/c you don't want to be the person who got in to the unmarked taxi that took you to a ride to the bank, where all you're money was stolen. Yeah, see what I mean? 

Today it happened. I was wondering if it would, given the fact that I'm living in a very religious country. I was asked by by host father which church I went to. I almost laughed, and most of you should understand why, haha. Is it okay that I told him I belong to the church of free spirits? Looking back, I don't think he understood me and for that I'm glad. Of course, I did visit numerous catholic churches today on the city tour...maybe that counts?

There's this really oil church that we stopped at...it's called the "Gold Church". It's actually painted with gold leaf. It's awesome because, well, who wouldn't want to be blinded by the light (especially at church)? Unfortunately, you can't pictures inside the church, but I was able to get one of the door (Kristen, remind me to bring you here in December).