Cloud forest near Yunguillas!
Joe with a bromeliad hat!
Looking down inside of Pululahua Crater
The view from inside the crater, near a really neat hostel and organic farm
3/19/11
Recent hikes around Quito! (March 7-8 and March 13)
After coming back from Pedro Moncayo on our last CIMAS field trip I came down with a stomach bug that refused to let me get out of bed for about 3 days! My carnaval backpacking plans were interupted, but fortunately my friend Joe from Pennsylvania/Grinnell College and I got to get out to the cloud forest on Monday and Tuesday. We took a bus and taxi up to a neat little community called Yunguillas and as usual we had plenty of trouble finding the trail that was described in our Treking in Ecuador book. We eventually found a campspot in the middle of farms and the cloud forest. It was so peaceful and gorgeous! As if our luck could get any worse after getting sick and struggling with finding the trail, Joe´s new MSR stove also broke that night. Thankfully we had plenty of food with us and we hiked down and made it back to Quito the next day with no problems!
Our campsite, possibly located on someones farm
Fancy Camping Guy brought a super sweet hamock and made me feel lame!
More cloud forest views down the ridge of the disappearing trail
Community store (with locally made jams and cheese) in Yunguillas
During my last weekend in Quito I took a day hike to the Pululahua Crater, just north of the Mitad del Mundo monument. The crater is a biological reserve and has farms in the bottom as well. I hiked all the way down, checked out a neat hostel that has their own organic farm and bike rentals and picnicked as well! After I hiking back up the huge hill, I got caught in the middle of a heavy rain storm, but then the sun came out again...the weather changes so quickly here!
Class Field Trip #3: Cayambe and Pedro Moncayo (February 28-March 3)
The last field trip of the quarter took us to the north, about an hour and a half from Quito. Our first stop was an equator monument near the town of Cayambe, that had a neat display and explained why the equator passing through Ecuador is so important (because Ecuador has mountains and you can see the changing positions of the sun during different times of the year). Then we stopped off at our hostel for the night, which was actually in a Hacienda from the 1500s! We had a conference there, ate lunch and explored around a bit, when we checked out a super spooky church! In the afternoon we visited a hospital in Cayambe, that actually gave us a very informative tour, we even got to pass through their emergency room. Our tour guide from CIMAS, Luis Chontasi, showed us around the town of Cayambe and a few times the snow capped Volcan Cayambe popped out of the clouds. We returned to our hacienda for dinner and then the current mayor of Cayambe stopped by and talked to us about his opinions on the flower plantations in the area. He was a very animated and entertaining guy and afterwards we learned that he can put his leg behind his head when he does yoga! Later at night we gathered around the fireplace to listen to Geoff play his new mini guitar ("charango").
Tuesday morning we headed off to the neighboring town of Tabacundo, where flower companies are also a huge part of the economy. We visited a plantation and talked with the director and "flower engineers" that work to grow the perfect flower. While they repeated dodged our questions about pesticide use, working conditions and workers rights, they couldn´t hide the signs that said "Do Not Enter: Pesticide Spraying in Process", or the workers without gloves, or the dead duck by their reservoir, or a worker with a gas mask on mixing liquids in a giant bucket. Compared to the other plantation that we visited back in November, this one was much larger, much more like a full-scale production plant for Russian roses and guarded by at least 5 snarling rottweilers. After leaving the plantation, we were all a little dazed by what we´d just seen. We stopped off at Luis´s country home in Picalquí next, which is a small community near Tabacundo that has prohibited flower plantations on their lands. In the afternoon we met up with the president of the Picalquí neighborhood inside their new computer center. As the sun was going down we played soccer on a field and met some fun little kids. Later on in the evening we met their moms when we participated in a meeting of the local womens group. They prepared an incredible "colada" soup with 7 grains and we hung out with them and talked as they knitted and showed us their artesanal work.
The next morning we visited a hospital in Tabacundo and a clinic in the neighboring town of La Esperanza. We also talked with a very intelligent woman who works on development projects in the area and visited a super awesome organic farm! The farm was an eye-opening experience and it was so neat to see a highly successful alternative to flower plantations that is totally possible! And now it turns out that my friend Vanessa from CIMAS is going to spend her 10 week internship at that farm next quarter. I can´t wait to go visit her and eat their amazing tomatoes, amaranth and strawberries!
After the farm we stopped by a native tree plantation and picked out a few to plant the next morning at Luis´s house. To start the planting, we got up early and dug holes before breakfast. Luis encouraged us to bring our children back to his house and farm in 10 years to see how much the trees had grown. I really hope that I get a chance to visit the wonderful Picalquí again someday! After breakfast we packed up our things and drove to a school just outside of Tabacundo. It was a blast to hang out with elementary school kids for the morning as they demonstrated the uses of different medicinal plants to us. We made lots of friends, took lots of pictures and danced around with them! It was nearly impossible for our van to leave when we were supposed to go and we ended up spending extra time there because we were having so much fun!
Next we drove to the nearby community of Tocachi to visit a senior center where they serve free breakfast and lunch every weekday to lots of elderly people. We helped serve the lunch and afterwards they fed us too! Our school in Quito, CIMAS, supported the building of the community house and continues to work on development projects in the area. Our last stop of the trip was an archeological site called Cochasquí. We walked around more than 20 built mounds of earth that have been at the site since before the Incas. I was amazed when our guide told us that from one point in the reserve, 19 volcanoes can be seen! Unfortunately it wasn´t clear enough for us to count 19, but we saw plenty of llamas and alpacas instead! Then we were back in the van to head back to Quito for a 5 day vacation for Carnaval!
Another Mitad del Mundo monument, near Cayambe
A little balance on the equator!
The fireplace in our cozy hacienda
Courtyard of the hacienda
Tuesday morning we headed off to the neighboring town of Tabacundo, where flower companies are also a huge part of the economy. We visited a plantation and talked with the director and "flower engineers" that work to grow the perfect flower. While they repeated dodged our questions about pesticide use, working conditions and workers rights, they couldn´t hide the signs that said "Do Not Enter: Pesticide Spraying in Process", or the workers without gloves, or the dead duck by their reservoir, or a worker with a gas mask on mixing liquids in a giant bucket. Compared to the other plantation that we visited back in November, this one was much larger, much more like a full-scale production plant for Russian roses and guarded by at least 5 snarling rottweilers. After leaving the plantation, we were all a little dazed by what we´d just seen. We stopped off at Luis´s country home in Picalquí next, which is a small community near Tabacundo that has prohibited flower plantations on their lands. In the afternoon we met up with the president of the Picalquí neighborhood inside their new computer center. As the sun was going down we played soccer on a field and met some fun little kids. Later on in the evening we met their moms when we participated in a meeting of the local womens group. They prepared an incredible "colada" soup with 7 grains and we hung out with them and talked as they knitted and showed us their artesanal work.
Rosimar-the flower plantation that we visited with very fancy offices!
Rottweilers protecting the premises (note that the one in the back jumped halfway up the wall)
No chemical mixing and fumigation in process here...
A cow in Picalqui, a community without flower plantations, but where many people still work in flowers outside of the area
Dinner with the womens group
The next morning we visited a hospital in Tabacundo and a clinic in the neighboring town of La Esperanza. We also talked with a very intelligent woman who works on development projects in the area and visited a super awesome organic farm! The farm was an eye-opening experience and it was so neat to see a highly successful alternative to flower plantations that is totally possible! And now it turns out that my friend Vanessa from CIMAS is going to spend her 10 week internship at that farm next quarter. I can´t wait to go visit her and eat their amazing tomatoes, amaranth and strawberries!
Volcan Cayambe in the morning!
All dressed up in traditional Inty Raymi dancing clothes!
In-house band playing some traditional tunes from the Sierra!
After the farm we stopped by a native tree plantation and picked out a few to plant the next morning at Luis´s house. To start the planting, we got up early and dug holes before breakfast. Luis encouraged us to bring our children back to his house and farm in 10 years to see how much the trees had grown. I really hope that I get a chance to visit the wonderful Picalquí again someday! After breakfast we packed up our things and drove to a school just outside of Tabacundo. It was a blast to hang out with elementary school kids for the morning as they demonstrated the uses of different medicinal plants to us. We made lots of friends, took lots of pictures and danced around with them! It was nearly impossible for our van to leave when we were supposed to go and we ended up spending extra time there because we were having so much fun!
Next we drove to the nearby community of Tocachi to visit a senior center where they serve free breakfast and lunch every weekday to lots of elderly people. We helped serve the lunch and afterwards they fed us too! Our school in Quito, CIMAS, supported the building of the community house and continues to work on development projects in the area. Our last stop of the trip was an archeological site called Cochasquí. We walked around more than 20 built mounds of earth that have been at the site since before the Incas. I was amazed when our guide told us that from one point in the reserve, 19 volcanoes can be seen! Unfortunately it wasn´t clear enough for us to count 19, but we saw plenty of llamas and alpacas instead! Then we were back in the van to head back to Quito for a 5 day vacation for Carnaval!
Geoff is getting cleansed by an elementary school student who demonstrated her knowledge of some traditional medicine practices.
The student who used an egg to figure out what was ailing Maya. It turns out that she has "mal aire", oh no!
My new friend Camila!
All of our friends at the school in Tabacundo! te is somewhere in the middle of that pile!
The community lunch for the elderly in Toachi.
A lone llama at the Cochasqui archeological ruins
3/18/11
Fútbol, A Marvelous Day in Quito and A Quick Trip to Riobamba
Sorry that it has been a while since I posted anything! I´ve filled up the amount of free space on the blog, so I had to pay to get more storage space. But it´s worth it to be able to share my experiences and pictures! Thanks for reading!
Liga vs. Independente game on Wednesday, February 23
On Friday February 25, I spent a great day enjoying different and unique parts of Quito. First Maya, Vanessa and I hiked up Pichincha again after riding the Teleferiqo skytram! The last time that I´d done it was way back in September, and it was super fun to go on a hike from Quito! We also met up with Geoff and Mike from our program and Joe from the Minnesota program, they´d gotten an earlier start than us and literally run up to the top in order to train for a climb to the top of Volcan Cotopaxi.We hiked back down and road down in the gondola with some crazy Canadians, one of which has traveled to over 30 countries, I think!
The four of us, (Maya, Vanessa, Joe and myself) had delicous sea bass for dinner at the market and stopped at a really neat natural foods store before meeting up with Olga at Cine Ocho y Medio to see "Muchedumbre". It was an interesting documentary made in Ecuador about the police riots adn temporary take over of the government that took place on September 30, 2010. Afterwards we headed down to La Ronda at night to see an amazing Andean Folkloric Dance show again. We even got to go up on stage and dance this time!
Hiking up Pichincha
Lunch break with Maya and Vanessa
View of sunny Quito
Andean Folkloric Dance show on Friday night...so amazing!!
The whole group of dancers!
The next morning, Marisol, Olga, Maya, Joe and I met up and took the bus for about 4 hours to Riobamba. Once there we met up with our couchsurfing host, Fausto and he showed us around the city! We ate some street food for dinner and saw a few of the historical buildings and churches of Riobamba. Then we bought Olga a $1 cake and sang and celebrated at Monica´s house (Fausto´s friend and neighbor). We went out dancing for a bit that night and found out that Riobamba is pretty hopping at night!
On Sunday morning we got up early and took a bus from Riobamba to Alausi, a picturesque town in the mountains. We intended to ride the Nariz del Diablo ("Devil´s Nose") train ride that runs down a very exciting series of cliffs and affords some amazing scenery. Unfortunately the trains were all full on Sunday and we found out that it cost $20 for a 2.5 hour ride and they don´t even let people ride on the roof anymore! So we hung out around Alausi for a while and enjoyed the sunshine before catching a bus back to Quito. I think that Olga still had a fun birthday weekend even though we were unable to ride the train!
View of the Illiniza Volcanoes in the bus on the way to Riobamba
In front of a church and El Altar mountain in Riobamba
Couchsurfing in Riobamba...our host Fausto is on the far left
Giant San Pedro statue in Alausi
View of the valley surrounding Alausi
Alausi...a town where we supposed to get on a train, but weren´t able to, so we had a really fun time anyways!
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