fotos of Mindo

yes. this is the river we went tubing in....

sketchy bridge. you cant really tell how unstable it was from this picture thooo

hammock room in the hotel 2nd night

balcony with sweet chairs and view at the 2nd hotel

one of the smaller waterfalls we passed on the hike to the waterfalls

random people swimming in the waterfall when we first arrived. they left and we took over. not sure if you can see it very well but theres the bigger one up higher through the trees where we went after climbing the rock on the left side of the picture, you can see someone on it behind that tree in this picture....

pictures dont do any of this justice though... :( you just have to take my word for it haha

Mindo es Lindo

well this weekend we went to Mindo, a 2.5 hour bus ride from Quito. We left Friday afternoon at 3:30pm and arrived to a dreary town. Evidently, Mindo isn't so much the toursity town as much as the nature and jungle tourist area. There was just a big square park about a block wide and a few stores and restuarants. We found a hostel that looked pretty nice for $7/night and checked in. We then went to get dinner (mine included platanos, veggies, and rice...not bad).
That night however, we found out the bathrooms of that hostel were pretty dirty, the sheets on some of the beds were dirty, and a rooster lived above my head. The hostel did have a tin roof though, and the rain was a pretty sweet sound....for a few hours....Laura, Brett and I didn't sleep at all. And around 5am or so, the rooster started crowing....for the day. So we were pretty exhausted. But we had breakfast and then decided to find another hostel. We moved and then found Kraig (who came that morning).
The new hostel was a hotel. Our room had 3 twin beds and a matrimonial bed, I got that one :) and an outhouse of a bathroom, in the room. Odd, but ok. The hotel also had a pool, hot tub, and a hammock area.
We then headed out on a hike to see some waterfalls. The 6km walk wasn't too bad, but the himidity was awful. We finally reached the top and got on the cable car that takes you across the river and above all these super tall trees to get to the waterfalls. It then started to sprinkle, but we trucked ahead anyways.
Down about a 15 minute trail and we found ourselves at the first waterfall. It was so sweet looking. I have never been so close to something so amazing. So we stripped down (bathing suits under clothes, mom) and got in. WOAH cold water. And sat under the waterfall. So sweet.
We then climbed up a rock on the side of the waterfall and went to the higher part of the waterfall, it was like a 2 for 1 deal. So sweet. The bridges were pretty sketch, but no one fell so I guess it's ok :)
After we all re-grouped and got dressed, Katy, Andrea and I decided we were wet and cold and in the rain and we were gonna head back. The others wanted to see more so they went to another waterfall and met us back at the hotel.
That night we ate dinner at a pizza place beside the hotel, so good. Also, I had pineapple juice, incredible.
Saturday AM we got up and had breakfast and then we went tubing. Now, don't for a second think this is like lazy river tubing. This is white water rafting in inner tubes haha.
We decided to do the higher level one, with higher class rapids for $10. We got in the back of a truck and were taken to the location. We had 2 guides, who let me tell you were the most EXTREME people I have ever met in my life.
The "tube" is one big one with 7 normal sized inner tubes connected around it, like a flower design, you know. We all get in our respective tubes and take off. This river was INTENSE. We were going over HUGE rocks and HUGE rapids and I thought I might fall out, but the guide kept making sure I was ok, which I appreciated TONS. I ate a rapid. I hit helmets hard with Kraig at one point. And, Brett was pretty much laughing at me the whole time for screaming like a little girl haha but it was INCREDIBLE!!!
When we finally 'docked' (after about 10 minutes of trying to get to the side of the river, about 50 yards further down the river than we were supposed to stop becuase the current was too strong for the guides to get us to stop on the bank...), they put the tube concoction of the top of the truck bed, tied it down, and told us to sit on top of it. This might have been scarier than the actual tubing in the river haha becuase the road was crooked, bumpy, rocky, windy (curvy, not gusts of wind, daddy), and all around crazy. Luckily, the guide was also beside me on this trip because I almost fell off the top onto the road and then down into the truck bed multiple times haha.
When we returned, we changed, checked out, got some food and just relaxed listening to the rain until our bus at 5pm.
I arrived back here at the house around 7:45pm and went to bed probably at 9pm. I was exhausted. My body aches all over haha, I guess we did walk for about 5 hours straight on Saturday and my muscles were definitely clenched for about an hour straight on Sunday trying to stay in the tubes, so that explains most of it.
I have bug bites all over my body - one on my butt, I'm assuming from when I had on my bathing suit tubing haha. But I will survive. It was an incredible experience and I'm so glad I did it all.
I didn't take my camera so I have to steal Brett's pictures, which he didn't take very many either because we were doing water activities and it was rainy so....but I will do my best :)

fotos

sweet fountain thing i found at the basilica by the outdoor bathroom

my favorite of the stained glass inside the virgin

me with my city - Quito

the virgin

my city

B up at the teleferiqo

b & i at the teleferiqo

mom & b at the restaurant with the veiw of Quito

B & i up at the top of the virgin

B & i drinking pilsner - mom's drunk photography - haha kidding!!!

b & i on the way up the teleferiqo in the cable car

oh also during this time my hokies played in the dance. im so proud they got there even though they lost, they had a great season!!! sorry i missed it!!!

update

daddy requested an update so im taking time and sitting to do this. i keep putting it off because i know its gonna take a while becuase i keep putting it off...hah.

anyways. thursday i went to anthropology class but instead of going to class we went to an intercultural school in Pifo, about 45 minutes away from the University in Cumbaya. We finally got there and I wasnt too impressed with the outside of the buildings, I'm guessing the funding for this school (and many others in that town) isn't great.
But once inside, I had a completely different impression. This school is for children from age 3 - 18 and they all have incredible stories. When we got there the director gave an introduction and then 3 groups of kids gave presentations of dance to music from their part of the country (the country of Ecuador is divided into the coast, sierra, and oriente; each division has its own cultures and histories specific to its' area and geography). I was so impressed with these little kids doing these intricate dances and then they spoke to us in the languages of the cultures that their parents/grandparents came from and another one of them translated that language to spanish for us. I was so impressed.
Evidently all of the kids learn spanish, Quichua, french, english, and some other languages too (depending on what they choose and where they are from, ie: Shuar). The purpose of the school is to keep the cultures of the past alive and to continue the culture through the languages, practices, dances, etc. A lot of these cultures are dying becuase there is a lack of interest and effort put into this kind of education today - especially in the urban areas.
After the presentations, we were told to speak with some of the kids and a group of 3 little girls and 3 little boys came up to me. I couldnt tell you their names if my life depended on it but they were so willing to speak, in english, in quichua, in any language. They simply wanted to talk to me and learn about me and to show me everything about their school. On Wednesdays they have physical activities time, they have a garden with tons of medicinal flowers and plants, they plant lettuce and raspberries and such and watch them grow, they have rabbits, ducks, and other animals in a petting zoo area. They showed me the computer room and the kitchen. One girl told me all about her family (she has a cousin living in Cuba working as a nurse, her mom is also a nurse, her dad is a construction worker, she has 2 siblings, her younger brother goes to the school too.....JoJo, Grandaddy, are you getting all this?).
They were incredibly willing and so cute and it made me realize that this country, and all of the world basically, has so much more history than I could ever wrap my mind around. I mean, I can't even remember the United States history and these kids are learning the languages of their great great grandparents that lived in Ecuador before it was free, etc. You know? It's ridiculous!

Anyways, that night, mom & B got here. I went to the airport alone, which was a bit rough considering I didnt know really where to go but I figured it out. Basically, mom & B were the last 2 people off the plane haha. Go figure.
I was going to take them out that night to the Pobre Diablo but they didnt really feel like it so we just talked a bit and then I went out and they went to bed.
Friday morning we headed to the University to see the campus and where my classes are, etc. Katy's parents were also with us so it was like a tour haha We hung out by the lagoon for a while and then headed back here to Quito. We had lunch here at the house with Veronica and Maria Clara. It was probably the best lunch I have had since I've been here. I guess they pull out the good stuff for guests (anyone else wanna visit? haha just kidding)....we had pineapple juice to drink, which I hadn't had yet here, but it didn't disappoint, like anything ever does haha.
We were going to go to the Teleferiqo after that but it was cloudy and looked like it was about to rain and they were tired so they went and took a nap (I did too hah). That evening we went out to eat at a restaurant that Katy's ecua-mom picked out for us (we call her crazy pants). They didnt want to take our order at first and then we realized that crazy pants had ordered for us, some nasty soup concoction of everything that people eat in Ecuador put all together. It had fried plantanes on the top which everyone enjoyed. But the rest wasn't so great....
Saturday morning we were to go to the Teleferiqo but mom didnt feel so great so B and I headed over there on our own. When we reached the top we realized that the clouds weren't going away so we took some pictures and then headed back down to get mom.
We were supposed to go to some restuarant that Veronica had suggested to me and she said the taxi driver would know where it was. We get in the cab and get to this dead end street where there's 2 okay looking restuarants and I said, "ok. lets just eat here". It had a BEAUTIFUL view. I was really impressed. The food was good - mom was the only one to get Ecuadorian food tho - empanadas - and she liked them. Ate them all. I was impressed. B got a BLT (lame. haha).
We then headed to the Virgin de la Panecilla. We went up into her butt basically and when we reached the top we had another great view of Quito. I was impressed. Totally worth the $1 it cost to go up there!!!
We then went to the Basilica (for B, the religious guru/junkie) and walked around there for a bit. We also got a bit more than expected there because B had to pee and so we basically walked through the area where they were giving sunday school lessons (er, is that what it is for Catholics?) to find the outdoor bathroom haha
That evening, I took them to the Mariscol so be could get a Pilsner (la cerveza oficial de los ecuatorianos) and the 2 of them could have a shawarma. This restuarant is also a hookah bar, so that was interesting :)
Then to a 2 for 1 Canelazo bar so mom could try that. I think they enjoyed the canelazo, but mom's photography skills went downhill from there so.....haha just kidding :)

We came back and went to bed and then at 2:30 I headed to the hotel to get them to take them to the airport. I left them there around 3:30am (the check in didnt open until 4am so I left it up to B and her spanish) and heard later that they had arrived in Miami safe and sound.

All in all, I think it was a good trip. They didnt get to do much since we had only like 48 hours of real do stuff time but I did all I could think of that we could do here in the city and make it worthwhile. If they had been here longer we could have gone somewhere and they could have gotten used to the altitude, I think its gonna be super easy for me to breath in the states when I get back btw haha :)



Sunday during the day all I did was try to figure out how to graduate (which I am still in the process of doing....). Yesterday, class & then trying to find a summer job/figure out how to graduate haha. And today was Course Request so I guess I'm at least 1 step done with figuring out how to graduate....not that I really want to. What am I going to do then???? :(

Trying to make plans for spring break and the week before I leave. Everyone wants to go to Cuba over spring break (everyone whose family isnt going to be here) so I was going to do that...I guess....but not really because I didnt have the money.
But Jackie and Whitney talked to me this afternoon and informed me that they still want to do a Tour D' Ecuador if I'm still interested, which I AM! So, I think thats what the 3 of us are going to do, which will be cheaper than going to Cuba (and legal), but still cost money.
I think the week that I have before I leave I'm going to go to MachuPichu in Peru with Andrea if I have money at that point in my life...

Money...Graduation...Life. Man, why does reality ever have to come back into play???

Anywho, pictures to come...

mas fotos para ustedes

those 2 bodies on the beach are Laura & Brett...not sure they knew about it. But I thought the picture looked sweet...

the ladies at the fashion show: Jackie, Andrea, Laura, and I

I thought this was cool, you can see the setting sun in the reflection of the water on the sand...

the sweet canopy/tent thingys to rent on the beach

ME with the sunset at Canoa :)

just relaxing in the hammock....

as far as the "Anonymous" comment I just received on my other entry....I am going to class. as a matter of fact i am about to go to class in about 30 minutes. classes are ok. basically i worry about my anthropology class and my literature class - since they are the most important to me back at VT.

classes are hard. my anthro class is killing me, i love the class, i find the lectures and readings super interesting but its discussions with native spanish speakers in class that kills me. on the last test, i got all the short answer and matching and everything right except for the multiple choice because i just get everything so confused when i have more than 1 option. but i know the material, its just it gets all confused...i dont know.

i am reading Aura by Carlos Fuentes in my lit class at the moment. its weird, just like every other story we have read in that class. we are supposed to get our midterm tests back in that class today, we will see how that went...

as far as volcanology and conversation, i'm just trying to get through them. conversation isnt going back to VT as anything more than elective credits, which i have plenty of because i have a polysci minor that wont be declared.....volcano class is rough. 8:30am and the professor is incredibly slow and boring. but im just trying to get through those classes.

its definitely different than VT, i miss VT classes. i miss everything about VT. its kind of more like high school here. i mean the way the campus is set up and the way the classes are set up is more like high school....but the material is still difficult. and im still not up to par as far as understanding native spanish speakers. im trying though.....its hard....

La Playa

relaxing in the hammock at the hotel

rainbow saturday afternoon

super pretty sunset....i took about 100 pictures of the sunsets. but it takes so long to upload pictures....maybe ill put more up later but if not youll see them when i get home :)

the ladies on dia de las mujeres (international womens day)

sand & sun & fun

welll....evidently the last update was last monday. sorry its been a while :)

last week was pretty blah. i was sick. i felt horrible. my head was killing me most of the time. and nothing exciting happened really except that we didnt have classes on wednesday....thursday was international womens day. i think its more of a feminist holiday but they celebrate it here. a bunch of guys bought flowers for their girl friends (friends that are girls) and every guy i passed on campus told me to 'tenga un buen dia' which was really nice. that night, cathy, whitney, and i went to Casa Hood for some food, wine, and to listen to the indigenous music there. it was nice.

Friday night we left for Canoa beach. We left at 11pm from the most ghetto bus stop I have ever seen haha. It was seriously a one room shack and a driveway with a huge bus haha. The ride there wasnt so great. The driver kept turning the AC on for abut 30 minute intervals, but the AC was about 10 degrees below 0 so we were all freezing. I couldnt sleep on the way there so basically I just watched everyone else sleep haha.
We arrived at the beach around 7 or 8am and got rooms at the Hotel Bambu. It was a really sweet hotel. All the rooms were like their own little bambu shacks, the hotel had a restaurant (outside), bar, tons of hammocks, beautiful trees, and was right on the beach. It was really nice. The room was only $16 for the night! Whitney and I shared a room, and it had a private bathroom. sweet :)
We had breakfast at the hotel and then changed and headed to the beach. We basically just laid out our towells and hung out all day on the beach. Whitney, Andrea and I ate at a restaurant, we had rice & shrimp, it was pretty good, a little bit on the cajun side.
There were these sweet cliffs at the end of the beach so we walked down to them but we werent dressed properly to climb onto them so we just headed back haha. It was really warm, but we didnt really care haha. We saw the most GORGEOUS sunsets both nights we were there....
Saturday night we went out to a bar that one of Aaron's (another guy from Wisconsin) friends suggested to us. I came back to the hotel and passed out early but everyone else seems to have had a good time. There were a bunch of bonfires on the beach that they checked out.

Sunday morning Whitney and I got up around 8:30 and had breakfast and woke up the rest of the crew. We headed to the beach again. They have these canopy deals that they set up on the beach (much like the umbrellas that you can reserve at Myrtle Beach, etc) but MUCH cooler haha. They were all really bright colors and you could fit up to 5 people under them. Costs $5 to have it for the day, for 5 people under the shade - which was good because everyone got burnt....except me haha. I was pretty proud of my self. We stayed there all day again, I took a nap in a hammock at the hotel after lunch. We saw the sunset again and left Canoa at 10:15pm Sunday night.

We got back to Quito around 6am Monday morning. I came home and slept for a few hours and then headed to class. After class we all hurried to the Marriott hotel where there was fashion show going on.
My friend Katy's host sister was modelling in this fashion show and they were having problems with a lot of the models and they asked her if she wanted to model for them. Basically we all told her she HAD to do it. She did SO well, too!!! I was so proud of her!!! Her family is here for the week, too. She had told her brothers ahead of time but her parents didn't know and they were SUPER surprised and really proud, as we were all. I still can't believe she did it.
It was definitely an experience though. It cost $15, but the money went to an organization that is helping these sick children. I dont know what diseases they have but some of them can't walk and others have other problems. There were 2 of them there and they walked down the runway at the end of the show and it was super cute. They were really cute kids.
The fashion show in itself got a little boring at the end, considering it lasted about 4.5 hours but it was worth it. I'll probably never get to go to a fashion show again, and my friend was in this one!!!

No news from today. Mom & B get here on Thursday :)


ohh...and all of you had better enjoy March Madness for me, double enjoyment :)

P.S.

Brett made this little photo video montage thing, you could check it out if you're interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trmfSbv1rW8

pic & info

Cathy with her ghetto Pyrex cake haha

up on the roof of Katy's apt with everyone to celebrate Cathy's birthday :)

the HUGE spoon that we found to in Katy's kitchen while making the cake

some of the ladies out for Cathy's birthday

C o n d o r i r i is my favorite from the photo exhibit. Check it out. I knew the page would be in Spanish, I just figured you could look @ the pics - but you can probably Google the page, and when you find it in the search list, click "translate this page". It won't be the best, if you can't understand it, let me know....



feeling super SICK-O today. i'm gonna ask Veronica later what medicine I should be taking. Head, throat, nose, eyes itchy, everything you could think of, and my ears are starting to hurt, too....

heyyyyyyyy

I believe the last time I updated was Friday during the day. Friday I did absolutely nothing during the day, seriously worthless. J
That night we all went to Katy’s house and met up to go out for Cathy’s birthday. We went up on the roof of her apartment building where there is this awesome terrace with the most gorgeous view of the city and some mountains. So sweet. Anyways we then went down to the Mariscol, had some pizza, celebrated Cathy’s birthday at midnight, and I came home pretty early.
Saturday I went to a photography exhibition down in Old Quito in the Centre. It was called “Voces de los Andes” (Voices of the Andes). This guy went to a bunch of indigenous centers and met the people, lived there, and eventually won their trust to take some individuals’ pictures and record their stories. These stories include legends about their cultures, stories from their own experiences, stories from their families experiences, or just old folk stories that they have passed from generation to generation. The pictures were gorgeous. My professor is actually friends with the photographer so he was with us. He gave us an intro before we went into the exhibit and then afterwards we got to talk to him about his experiences, etc. He also took a picture of our group and said he’d post it on the website. He asked us to pick out our favorite part and put our reaction/thoughts on the website. The site is a blog, like this one: http://vocesandes.blogspot.com. I took an illegal picture of my favorite person, his story, and the mountain he refers to in his story. Ooops. I didn’t know it was not allowed until I took it and the guard came up to me and shook his head haha. It was really nice, though. I miss photography, black and white photography….
Then I met up with Katy, we went to the MegaMaxi and did some grocery shopping, I needed some things like batteries, etc., and we got cake mix to make Cathy a birthday cake. We headed to Cathy’s for dinner – which she had cooked for everyone – spaghetti and salad and garlic bread, it was really nice. Her mom bought us a bottle of wine, and got Cathy a bouquet of cream roses. The cake Katy and I made was delicious. Except for the fact that her mom had given us a Pyrex bowl to bake it in, and we couldn’t get it out, so we just poured icing all over the top and then poured sprinkles on the top haha. It didn’t look that good but it tasted just scrumptious! Haha
We then went out again, but I didn’t feel so good, ended up heading home while Cathy stayed out to celebrate her birthday. I think I’m getting sick, this morning I woke up with tons of crap in my head, feels huge, nose is running, and my throat is incredibly sore. You know, the normal change of weather illness. Hopefully it will go away soon…..
Today I woke up late J and studied some vocab for a test tomorrow. I tried to “watch” the VT game on gametracker but it kind of broke. Didn’t matter, we lost. Then I went with Adam to a sports bar and watched the UNC/Duke game. I’m pretty upset that both of my teams lost today….
Tomorrow I have 2 tests – volcanology and conversation. Then I think we don’t have school on Wednesday, its some unwritten holiday haha.
I think for Spring Break, I’ve been talking with Katy, and I think we are gonna go on a somewhat road trip. A Tour D’ Ecuador if you will haha. Should be fun, theres a bunch of places we want to see, kind of make a big loop, including stopping at the coast for a few days J
Guess that’s about it. I haven’t checked out the site for the photo exhibit yet, so go check it out.

my uncle Tommy is in the hospital, i'd appreciate it if you could keep him in your prayers.
also, my friend Kraig, his sister has thyroid cancer and she's back in the hospital getting tests done, they arent sure whats going on this time, if the cancer has come back or what, so if you could keep her in your prayers, too.
thanks. loves.

photos

a little late, but this is Andrea and I after swing jumping off the bridge in Banos

The Otavalen dancers at dinner last night....sorry these pictures arent great

an even worse pictures of the show at dinner....but in this part of the show, there was a man in a huge mask, with a face on both sides. this is representative of the "diablo". when the spanish colonized and conquered the incas, the incas had no word for what exactly the christian "devil" is, they had "diablo" (or its Quechua, the old indigenous Incan language) equivalent, which was a all powerful being that had the ability to be good or bad, with 2 faces to represent this. you cant see him, but he's there, and i knew what it was! :)

love

yesterday was pretty sweet. i got up, late, actually, and went to take my anthro test. it wasnt that great, actually. probably the worst part of the day haha....after that i met kraig and ate some yummy italian on campus.

i then proceeded to meet Sra. Calvera (my Prof from VT) to talk for a bit. she had a fantastic surprise for me! evidently, Jo (Joanna, one of my BESTEST friends) went to Calvera when she heard she was coming here to see Andrew and myself and gave her a sweet package to bring me!!! It seriously made my day!! I was so surprised, first that Jo could keep it a secret haha, and second that she thought about me! it was sooo nice! It was this baggie full of caramel with cream candies, starbursts, a nice letter, pics from her birthday that i missed, a mirror (dont worry about that), and a CD with songs for me! I loved it! and it made me so happy (esp. after that test..)

anyways, so i talked to Calvera for a while and then came home. I didnt do much when i got here. i took a nap - which was marvelous - and then got online and talked to some people (bc now i can do that haha)

i then showered and got ready for dinner with Calvera at 7:30. the restaurant was so nice! also evidently one night a month they have this sweet indigenous dance/music show at that restaurant and last night was the night!! it was pretty great. and i knew what some of the costumes represented...from my anthro class haha :)

the dinner was great - i had a traditional ecuadorian meal including: an avacado, lettuce, tomato salad; potatoe cakes; egg; and corn with traditional sauce. And - Virginia Tech paid for it all :) hah

at dinner, i found out that when leaving from the ROANOKE airport, going through security at 6am, no one else in the security line but Calvera, her husband, and the security men, she put her purse through the security scan thing and then went to be scanned (she has a metal thing in her hip so they have to wand her), when she came back to get her purse, she got it and got on the flight. while on her flight to Charlotte, she realized, her wallet and envelope full of cash were both gone. i cant even really understand. the security men stole her wallet and money out of her purse? crazy.....even in Roanoke......

anyways, then i met up with Cathy and everyone in the Mariscol. It was fun. I ended up going to some place with Kraig and Jackie where we played pool for the majority of the night with Kraig's host brother and his girlfriend. and I wasnt that bad :) Which is a huge improvement, if i do say so. i was pretty proud of myself :)

today i have done nothing. got woken up about 10832180 times from 7 - 10 am. i dont know what was going on, but i didnt like it at all. but here i am. awake. i think im gonna go run some errands after lunch and getting ready with Katy. i need some stuff for Cathy's birthday tomorrow and some books for classes.

I hear my boys lost to those lame wahoos last night. Thats ok. I'm still proud of the way they have been playing this season! :)

nothing else to report at the moment. love.