Otavalo (February 17-19)

Maya, Geoff and Vanessa, joined me for an adventure in Otavalo, which is possibly the most well-known tourist attraction in Ecuador because of the huge artisan market. There are more vendors on Saturdays, but because of it's popularity, the market runs everyday of the week. We left after class on Thursday and took a two hour bus to the north from Quito. As we got into town it was raining heavily, so we only walked about 4 blocks from the bus station to find a hostel. Then we met up with Morgan, a CIMAS student from Minnesota who is continuing her internship in Otavalo from last quarter. I got to know her a bit over winter break in Cusco, where we met up with lots of other friends for Christmas Day dinner. On Thursday night she took us to her favorite bar, called The Red Pub and afterwards Vanessa and I discovered the wonders of The Pie Shop, which is probably the only one of it's kind in South America! 

On Friday Geoff, Vanessa and I woke up at 6 am and before breakfast we hiked to "El Lechero" a magical tree on a hill above Otavalo that also is a great viewpoint for the Cotacachi and Imbabura Volcanoes and Lake San Pablo. It was amazing to be able to see the sun coming up on the mountains with a mostly clear sky!

Sunrise hitting Volcan Cotacachi on Friday morning

The magical Lechero Tree!

Lago San Pablo from near El Lechero Tree

After getting back down the hill, we picked up Maya from the hotel room, ate breakfast at an open air food market, and then headed to the bus station to catch a bus to the nearby town of Quiroga. Unfortunately, Maya was still not feeling very well from the day before, so instead of going hiking with us, she went back to the hostel to rest. Vanessa, Geoff and I continued to Quiroga in bus for about 20 minutes and then caught a taxi to take us to Laguna Cuicocha (Guinea Pig Lake) in the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve. For the next 4+ hours, we hiked around the complete circumference of the lake and enjoyed the incredible views of the countryside, volcanoes, islands and waterfalls. We even found some wild blueberries to munch on! Later in the afternoon, it started to rain, so we caught a taxi back to Quiroga. From there, Geoff headed back to Otavalo and then to Quito that night. Vanessa and I rode the taxi to Cotacachi and when we got there, a parade was just starting! 

Laguna Cuicocha-elevation 11,300 ft.

Waterfalls on the side of the lake

Another jumping picture!

We watched the parade for over an hour and it was so neat to see all of the different dancing groups with great music blasting out of the back of pickup trucks. It was one of those cultural events that I knew I wouldn´t be able to experience in any other place and we had just showed up out of the blue-what luck! After the parade we stopped in at Jambi Mascari, an Indigenous community center that we visited with CIMAS a few weeks before, but we were unable to buy the books we wanted because no one was working that day. We caught a bus back to Otavalo and then stopped in at the hotel to check on Maya. Then Vanessa and I ate dinner in the Plaza de Ponchos, walked around looking for live music, but it was much too early, ate more pie and went to bed early to rest our tired legs!

Parade in Cotacachi-the waltzing ladies (they were all women!)

Mariachi dance group

Michael Jackson "Thriller" tribute

On Saturday morning we woke up early again to check out three markets in Otavalo. First we visited the animal market, where locals bring their livestock to sell and trade. It was a wild sight, with a huge variety of animals: chickens, guinea pigs, pigs, sheep, cows, llamas and more! Then we stopped by the food market for breakfast at a little old woman´s coffee stand. Our last market of the day was the famous artisanal market that extends out of the Plaza de Ponchos into the surrounding streets on Saturdays. We perused the stands for a few hours and I bought some bright stripped rainbow clown pants! At about 11am we got on a bus and headed back to Quito so we could make it to Geoff´s family party in the afternoon.

Pigs at the animal market on Saturday morning

View of part of the animal market from above with Volcan Imbabura in the background

Random Fun Moments around Quito from this Quarter So Far!

This quarter I have really enjoyed spending time in Quito and hanging out with my host family and my classmates and getting to know more of the city. Below are a few pieces of the last six weeks that have yet to make it into the blog!

"Chiva" (party bus) that we rode around Quito for the birthday of my host sister's best friend--January 28

Chiva from the outside, what fun!

An amazing Columbian band at a 4+ hour ska concert--January 29

The Venue: "La Pukara"

The birthday boy Roberto (friend of my classmate Michael) breaking open his piñata--February 11

Performing amazing old latin songs for everyone at the party

GIANT birthday party group!

(Previous three photo credits: Kim Kirk)

Geoff belaying while Gretchen climbs at the Rockodromo in Quito--February 12

Peruvian movie at Cine Ocho y Medio, one of Quito's few Independent Movie Houses--February 12

My family made orange cookies with lemon frosting!--February 13

Ecuadorian food potluck lunch!--February 17

Humitas (Marisol), Cholas (Maya), Grilled bananas with cheese and empanadas (Kate)

Getting ready for the potluck

Baptism reception for Fatima, Geoff's 1 year old Ecuadorian cousin--February 19

Geoff dancing with his host mom during the reception!

Morning hike with Vanessa, Geoff, their host families and Geoff's family friends--February 20

Vanessa and Geoff take a swing break midway through the hike, which was followed by a delicious lunch and carrot and tree tomate gelato in Cumbaya, a suburb of Quito.

Field Trip #2: Tropical Diseases in Santo Domingo (February 7-11)

For field trip number two of the quarter, my class went to Santo Domingo de los Tsa'chilas, the 4th largest city in Ecuador. We drove from Quito in about 3 1/2 hours and arrived on Monday to check into Hotel Zaracay and eat lunch there. Almost immediately we noticed a few things about the place: first we were going to be living in a literal compound because apparently the area (and according to some, the entire city) is dangerous. Also, the hotel was probably built in the 1960s and our room smelled like it hadn't been cleaned since then, it was so moldy!

But we were on a class trip so there was no time to complain, we came to learn! After lunch we met our three "tour guides" for the week: Dr. Cristian Carrión who works at a clinic in S.D., Sarah Dobra, an Oregonian with a Masters in Public Health who coordinates health programs in the area, and Ronald Ikechi, a Peacecorps Volunteer who is working at the same clinic as Cristian and Sarah. They gave us an introduction to the problems and challenges in the area and what we'd be doing during the week. Later on we explored the area outside of the hotel compound and found an incredible bakery!

Vanessa and Maya in front of a huge valley in Los Bancos, on the way to Santo Domingo

On Tuesday we ate breakfast at the hotel and then jumped in the van with Cristian and Ronald to tour farms and tropical rainforest areas and to look for mosquito vectors carrying dengue, malaria and chagas. We mucked around in the woods for a while and got very dirty and sweaty because it was so humid! Marisol and I each took a spill, she landed in a scummy stream and I bruised my tailbone coming down a muddy slope. But we did get to eat some delicious jungle fruits, including mandarina, lime, maracuya, the gooey white stuff around the outside of cacao and more! We headed back to the hotel for a swim in the pool there and some lunch and then we got back in the van to drive to a neighborhood of Santo Domingo called Luz del Día. The clinic in this neighborhood was started by a doctor from the University of Kentucky and Dr. Carrión is the main doctor there now. Many times each year, medical brigades from UK come for a few weeks at a time to volunteer. Luz del Día is technically considered to be a squatter settlement by the government, so there is no running water, sewage system or trash services. We walked around the neighborhood with Dr. Carrión and a nurse to visit families in 4 different houses, talking to them about where they get their water, if they use bed nets, where they've dug their outhouse holes, etc. It was a total reality check because these houses were sparse shacks and the people there were at high risk for the tropical diseases that we were studying. After the walk we returned to the clinic and looked at the bugs we'd found earlier that day under the microscope and learned more about Ronald's Peacecorps projects there.

An abandoned house in which we found evidence of bugs that can carry the chagas vector.

Cacao-we ate the sweet white meat that surrounds the beans.

A very difficult river to cross, as Marisol found out!

Maracuya on the vine!

On Wednesday we visited a government office and lab that studies tropical diseases in the morning. Then we drove to the Pearl Protected Forest outside of Santo Domingo, where we walked in the jungle with our guide, "Señor Serpiente," and got to see some impressive trees and a giant boa constrictor hanging out on top of a bunch of bananas. We returned to the hotel to swim again and Sarah gave us a background lecture on the Tsa'chila Indigenous group that we'd be visiting the next day.

Señor Serpiente with some jungle fruit!

 Kate and me inside a tree!

 

It´s hard to see, but there is a boa constrictor snake on top of this bunch of bananas!

The whole group of Public Health students in the tropical forest (Mike was absent because he was sick).

On Thursday we got a little lost in the van, but finally ended up finding the Cultural Center of the Tsa'chila community. We met the shaman of the community and he told us about their history and medicinal plants. We even got to go into his little medicine hut and try some mysterious "black water" that I nearly spit right back out! For lunch each of us got a whole tilapia cooked in a banana leaf with plantain and rice and then we danced with members of the tribe for a while, played with the kids and bought some handmade souvenirs. We drove back to the hotel again and discussed all that we'd experienced during the week with our three guides. After dinner we walked down the street to a cultural gathering with traditional Andean music, even though we were on the coastal side of Ecuador!

Cutural Center of the Tsa´chila Community with plants on the roof! 

The traditional Tsa´chila hair painting process with the achiote plant

Giant tilapia cooked in a banana leaf for lunch!

Don Josè, the shaman in the community that we visited, demonstrating an arrow throwing game.

Traditional dance and music performance

 

The weaving of colorful fabric worn by the whole community

Geoff, Maya, the Peacecorps volunteer Ronald and some of the kids of the community!

Friday morning we ate breakfast, packed up our stuff, had one last lecture/conference with our fabulous teachers for the week. After lunch we hopped back in the van and our wonderful chauffeur Homero took us back to Quito!

 The whole group with our new friend Ronald right before heading home!

Another Amazonian Adventure! (February 4-6)

On Friday morning almost the entire Washington student group from CIMAS left Quito for Tena in the Amazon! Even though I had been to the area twice before, it's a really beautiful place and there was so much more I wanted to do!
On Friday afternoon we checked into a cheap hostel very close to one of the rivers in Tena and we also found out that the Provincial Festivals were starting that same day. We decided to go to Cascadas de Latas near Mishuallí, but were a bit delayed by a parade heading through town! When we got off the bus near the trailhead at about 4pm the rain had just begun pouring down! We quickly got in our swimsuits and hiked and swam in the falls, which we had all to ourselves! We returned to Tena for dinner outside the bus station and then we met up with two students from the University of Minnesota CIMAS program who are doing research in the area around Tena and living there for part of this semester. We checked out the night time activities of the Provincial festivals, including concerts, dancing and a preview of the beauty pageant. Later on we sat at a riverside bar and went to one of the few dance clubs, where it seemed like the whole town was enjoying the fun music!

Just arrived in Tena and already eating fresh empanadas!

Parade for the festivals of Napo Province

Cascadas de Latas

The festivals at night

Dancing the night away!

The next morning Marisol, Vanessa and I woke up early to go rafting for the day! Our Minnesota friends had set up the trip, so we went with them, two guys from California and two Ecuadorian women. We spent the whole day on the river, and while the water was low and the rapids weren't super intense, it was still a great day overall! We even got to see a baby boa snake during lunch, although it was not on the table!
Afterwards we ate dinner outside again near the bus terminal and cruised around town a bit, getting filmed for a TV program in the nearby jungle town of Macas along the way! I ended up going to bed earlier because we were very tired and the town was not as lively as the night before.
On Sunday 5 of us packed up early, bought our bus tickets back to Quito, ate breakfast and then rode to the Cavernas Jumandy near Archidona. Even though they were repairing the swimming pool and slides outside of the cave, we still got to go on a great tour and pretty much had the place to ourselves! We had a while to wait before our bus came to pick us up, so we lounged on some ridiculously comfortable rocks in the river across the road from the caves. By 6pm we were back in Quito with only our numerous bug bites as souvenirs!

Jenean, Maya and Olga in the river near the caves in Archidona

(Photo Credit: Jenean)