GALAPAGOS! part 2

Hope you all have recovered from the excitement of part one. Now it's time to buckle up your seatbelts because here comes part 2!

Sunday, March 6

Had to be at breakfast at 7 this morning so we could be done with our hike by the time the rain came in the afternoon. We loaded up the chiva (truck-taxi), picked up our sack lunches, and made the 45 minute drive to the base of Volcán Sierra Negra, the second largest active volcanic crater...in the WORLD. Freaking awesome. The first 40 minutes of the hike were fairly steep, cloudy, and chilly. The we reached the top and had the most incredible view of the magnificent crater.

Yeah. It's ginormous. The last time it erupted was in 2005. It's still hot enough that we could see water vapor rising from the lava rocks. We took a group photo here. Instead of William taking the picture, though, which he had done a trillion times this trip already, Daniel took the picture so William could be in it.

William: "Alright everybody, digan whiskey!" (Say whiskey!)

Us: mumbling 

William: "Digan whiskey!"

Us: louder mumbling

William: "DIGAN WHISKEY!!!!!"

Maximo: "Cerveza!" (beer!)

Hahahaha

We hiked around the east side of the crater for about 3 hours. Then we stopped for lunch and bathroom breaks (the whole world is our bathroom!) under a large tree called Jaboncillo. The fruit of the tree can be used to make jabón (soap). Then we were off again. The weather was gorgeous. Sunny, but clouds here and there. Not too hot, and enough wind to cool you, but not enough to make you chilly. Daniel said it was the best weather he had ever had for this hike. Awesome blossom. The crater has underground "tubes" that feed a smaller volcano (Volcán Chico). So we visited that lava field. Volán Chico isn't a crater like Sierra Negra. It's just hills of lava, so we actually got to walk on the lava rocks. We were able to see, up close, how the lava hardened not only on a small scale, but on a big scale as well. There were also holes we could stick our hands into where we could feel the heat and water vapor escaping. Chevere.

Some of the lava rock is also very shiny. This picture doesn't do it justice. Especially when it's covering the ground. I wish I could have brought some home, but if airport security finds and plant, rock, or animal in your luggage, they remove it from your possession and put you on a list of people who are prohibited from ever again visiting the Galapagos. Didn't want to risk it. 

Finished at the top of Volcán Chico where we had a glorious view of the northern portion of Isla Isabela. Que hermosa (How beautiful).

Then we headed back the way we came. Ten miles total. Didn't feel that long. It's fun hiking with friends. Got back to the hostal around 3:00. Ashley and I put on our smokin' hot swimsuits and headed out to the beach. The tide always seemed to be particularly strong during the afternoon hours. After about 10 minutes we had both mastered body surfing, in the process accumulating a lot of salt water in the mouth and nose and a lot of sand in the swimsuits. Showered and chilled until supper. After supper, Julie and I went to find Magnums (ice cream). Felt like we deserved it after like six hours of hiking. Finished up the night with girl talk on the beach with Ashley, Wesley, Rachele, Hannah, and Kaitlin.   

Monday, March 7

Last full day in the Galaps :(  Breakfast. Then it was back on the fishing boats. We had the same boat and the same capitan, so that was fun. We headed over to some lava tunnel/bridges. On our way over, we saw this little island where the birds like to hang out. Incredible waves.

We also stopped a few times when our capitan would see a manta ray. They're kind of hard to see, but you look for the dark spot just under the surface of the ocean and that's them. Sometimes if you're lucky, you'll see the tip of their wing break the surface. The difference (for those of you who are curious) between a manta ray and a sting ray is basically that a manta ray is A LOT bigger. So yeah. Here was our final destination:

Cool. Our expert fishermen capitanes maneuvered the boats through the maze of tunnels and bridges until we stopped in a little alcove. From there, we climbed onto the lava. This area of the ocean is really calm, so we were able to see lots of wildlife. 

There were loads of sea turtles: 

an Angel Ray:

And a white-tipped shark. I don't have a picture because he moved so fast and was pretty sneaky, but we saw one. They aren't a very large species. Probably only 3 feet long. From there we moved back out into the rougher waters and did some snorkeling. More sea turtles and lots of fish. At the second place we snorkeled, we were able to feel the two currents that collide in the Galapagos (the warm Panama current that comes from the north, and the cold Humboldt current that comes from the south). Literally, swim 10 yards and you go through hot-cold-hot-cold. Crazy. So many unique species exist on the Galapagos BECAUSE both of these currents meet here. It allows for warm-water dwellers and cold-water dwellers to find sanctuary in the midst of these incredible islands. Then it was time for lunch. Me, Ashley, Rachele, Wesley, and Lily had already gotten back in the boat and our capitan had put away the ladder. When William came to get back in, our capitan told him to climb in by himself and that all of us girls had done it (which we hadn't). Haha. So William climbs in, panting, and says to Rachele "I saw the most beautiful sirenas (mermaids), and they're all on this boat!" Hahahaha...haha...ha...creepy. Time for lunch and then we headed home. On our way back, all of the sudden our boat jerked like we had hit a speed bump. One of the motors seemed to be having trouble after that, so we stopped the boat. As the capitan was fixing the motor, William looked at us all solemnly and said, "Sea turtle." Later our capitan told us that it was just a simple mechanical malfunction. NO turtle was harmed in the making of this story. Because we were held up with the malfunctioning motor, we had lost some ground on the other boats. I guess our capitan doesn't like to be last because once he got the motor running, he floored that bad boy and we went careening over the waves at a breakneck speed. There was legitimate fear oozing from our pores. You get thrown out of a boat going that fast and it's like hitting concrete, but as Daniel would like to say, "If you don't risk your life every day, you're not really living." We were all very much alive that day.

Got back to Isabela where some of us went out for an ice cream snack and a chat. At 4 we headed to a tortoise center where they raise and release giant tortoises back into the wild. We got to see the little baby ones! They're only 3 to 4 years old and will be released when they are between 5 and 7. Que precioso. (How precious)

In one of the baby tortoise exhibits, there were some tortoises eating paper.

Kaitlin: "Why are they eating paper?"

Maximo (the cool guide): "Porque tienen hambre." (Because they're hungry)

Kaitlin: "But are they supposed to be eating paper?"

Maximo: "...no."

Hahaha. Turns out, the chart book had fallen down and the baby tortoises were eating all the data. Kids. Such troublemakers. Finished the tour, headed back to the hostal, chilled until supper. I did a photo shoot with the BLUE FOOTED BOOBIE!!!!!! I heart boobies. Seriously. My. Favorite. Galapagos. Animal. This one was hanging out on the beach right in front of the hostal. Unfortunately, he was bleeding a little bit under his right wing and that's why we could get so close. He was gone the next morning, though. Hope he's ok. 

Notice how blue the feet are. I mean, man, there aren't many things cooler than that. 

I also couldn't pass up taking sunset pictures on the beach.

Supper was panela, which is rice with shellfish. Then Maximo and William had a little trivia session with prizes. Maximo asked the first question which was "Where was the first place we went after we got on the bus on the first day?" I answered with "Los Gemelos." Out of his pocket Maximo drew a small blue-footed boobie figurine. I can imagine that the look on my face was priceless. It may seem like nothing, but this figurine means so much to me. For it to be my favorite animal and for it to have come from the cool guide...whew....I don't have words. I seriously teared up a little. I freaking love this place. Afterwards, Daniel bought us all ice cream. Yummy. Then Ashley, Wesley, Rachele, Kaitlin, Hannah, and I hung out on the beach again. Reminiscing. Girl talking. Dreading leaving this beautiful place. Went to be early, though. Long day ahead tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 8

Woke up before the crack of dawn. Had to be packed and ready to go by 5:00 AM. Headed to the dock, got on the speed boat, and made the two-hour trek back to Isla Santa Cruz. I actually slept this time, so the trip seemed a lot shorter. Once in Santa Cruz, we got on a bus and headed to the Charles Darwin Research Station where we saw Lonely George, the last tortoise of his kind. 

He's the big one. The other one is a female of a different species. George is incapable of mating, though. They've tried everything to no avail. People were pretty tired and grumpy and hot and sweaty by this point. When William told us all to give him our cameras, "Group photo! Group photo! Everyone's cameras! Give them to me!", we had finally had enough and just said NO. Haha. Back on the bus, off to the ferry, across the channel, to the airport, 15 minutes of souvenir shopping, on the plane, lunch, nap, landed in Quito. It was weird to leave. I had come to care for those islands so much. To think that I probably will never get the opportunity to go back there. ever. is a sobering thought. The islands have so much to offer. There was never a dull moment. I can say, hands down, best vacation ever. Inspirational. Incredible. Amazing. Breathtaking. Magical. The Galapagos. 

GALAPAGOS! part 1

Yeah. You read the title right. Los Galapagos. Charles Darwin. Finches. Tortoises. Yeah. Be jealous. I'm two-parting this adventure because we crammed a lot of actividades into six days. Let me first start off by saying that Ecuador and many other Latin American countries celebrate what's called Carnival. It's the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. Schools are closed Monday and Tuesday. La gente (the people) celebrate by throwing water, flour, foam, and eggs at people. Luckily, I was never targeted. Many people also celebrate by going to the beach. What did BCA do? The Galaps. No big deal. Just the BEST VACATION OF MY LIFE!

Thursday, March 3: Day 1
We skipped school on Thursday and Friday for this trip. Totally worth it. Ashley, Julie, and I shared a taxi to the airport and got there around 8:15. Checked our luggage, hung around, went through security, sat there anxiously, and finally left the runway at 11:00. The flight takes two hours, but the Galapagos are one hour earlier than Quito (just like Kansas!), so we landed at 12:30 GT (Galapagos time). 12:30? Yes, for those of you who have mastered basic math skill, that means the flight took 2 and a half hours. Why? Well, we made an unexpected stop in Guayaquil because the airline was short planes so we had to pick up some more passengers. Anyway, we land in the Galapagos. I am on the brink of tears because this place is absolutely incredible. Here I am, 19 years old, traveling to a place that some people would die to visit. A place that some people never get to see. I am truly blessed. The airport is like a large, land-down-under shack. We make it through security and whatnot and get herded onto a bus by our two tour guides (Maximo and William). Though they were complete strangers at the time, we got to know them very well over the next 6 days. You'll hear stories later. We drive for about 7 minutes until we reach a channel that we cross via ferry. On the other side of the channel is Isla Santa Cruz, the most populated Galapagos Island. Ninety seven percent of the Galapagos is Official National Parks. At this point, I am in utter awe of the naturaleza (nature). If you've ever thought "Galapagos. Island chain. Like Hawaii," you're wrong. Reddish-brown rocks, green plants sprouting in all the cracks, cacti everywhere, water bluer than the sky. Sometimes Dr. Seuss-like. Sometimes Mars-like. A magical land.
On the ferry ride we saw our first pelicans and sea turtle. Excitement would be an understatement, but little did we know that we would see more pelicans and sea turtles than we had ever dreamed of. Got on a bus which took us to a place called Los Gemelos (The Twins). There we saw two large craters that were formed when lava bubbles collapsed.

We also saw a Darwin finch. Chevere. Then it was back in the bus and off to our hostal, Cafe Escuba. Very nice accommodations. Ashley, Wesley, Rachele, Hannah, and I stayed in a loft-like room. We had to climb a very wobbly, tight-fit spiral staircase to get to our room, but it was cool and we had a little balcony. Ate lunch. Got fitted with scuba gear. Headed via boat taxi and walking to a little channel where we could cliff jump and snorkel. Yes, Mom. You heard right. Cliff jumping. I'm here typing, so I AM still alive. Just FYI. Don't worry, I wasn't as crazy as Daniel who jumped from the top of the cliff. I was about 2/3 of the way up. And it was awesome.

Practiced snorkeling for the first time ever. I thought it would take a lot of practice, but it's just getting over that initial breath when your face is under the water. I caught on really fast. There wasn't much in the channel to see, but it was exhilarating just to be able to see so clearly under the water. Went back to the hostal. Showered. Supper. Walked into town. Just a really chill place. Julie and I hung out on the pier with the pelicans and just talked about life. Some other BCAers joined us and then we headed back to the hostal. By ourselves. We thought we had paid good attention on our way in, but we got lost on our way back. Asked help from the locals and eventually got back. Bed by midnight.

Friday, March 4: Day 2
Breakfast. Then we went and toured a lava tunnel, one of many that helped birth the island. I learned that a lot of the rocks on the island are red because of the iron in the volcanic rocks. Iron oxidizes the fastest and has a reddish tint. Interesting. It reminded me of a mine shaft. It was about 300 meters long and at one point it had collapsed so we had to army crawl. After the tunnel we went to see the Galapagos tortoises. The giant land ones. They live at this park, but they are free-range, so they can basically go wherever they want.

That reminds me. They are super protective of the Galapagos because of it's biological importance and whatnot, so we aren't allowed to touch any of the animals and we have to stay on paths. That's why we have guides. We have to have a guide everywhere we go. Makes this place seem almost fragile. Handle with care. After viewing the tortoises, they had a shell that we got the chance to climb in and try to walk like a tortoise. Hard stuff. It's pretty heavy and inconveniently bulky.

Headed back to the hostal. Lunch. Then we loaded our stuff on a speed boat and headed two hours to the west to Isla Isabela, the largest in size and third most populated island. It is also in the shape of a caballito del mar (seahorse). It started raining on our way over and it was still raining when we arrived. On our way over I was lucky enough to see two dolphins playing in our wake. Only one other person saw them. Everyone else was sleeping. Loaded up the chivo (large truck-like taxis) and headed to our hostal. Right on the beach. Not even kidding. Dream come true. Ashley and I room together and by luck of the draw, we end up with the "honeymoon sweet." Two queen-size beds, a thin balcony facing the ocean, spaciousness, and...a hole in our wall. I guess they weren't quite done renovating. Oh well. We loved it. We were kind of bummed that it was raining, but some of us headed to a nearby store to get some pan (bread) for a snack. Then we went back to the hostal and chilled until supper. We ate at this restaurant right around the corner every night for supper. They also packed us our lunches. We were always treated with plenty of food. Back to the hostal. Bed.

Saturday, March 5: Day 3
This is what I woke up to. No joke. Hard to beat.

Breakfast at a hostal the street behind ours because ours doesn't do meals. Then it was off to the pier. We split up into 4 fishing boats. I was with Wesley, Ashley, Rachele, and one of our guides, the loco (crazy) one, William. He knows bastante (plenty) ingles, but we also know bastante español. He would tell us things in Spanish and then, thinking we didn't catch it all, he would repeat everything in English. Annoying. After he told us some thing he would say "Preguntas?....Questions?" Yes, William. We have lived here for two months now. We know what "preguntas" means. Anyway. We headed over to Isla Tortuga which looks like a turtle, hence the name. There's a big part that serves as the shell, and then a smaller island nearby that serves as the head. The walls of the island are too steep to land on, so we just boated around them, but man was it gorgeous. The island is home to many birds.

Then we got to snorkel around the island. There were lobos marinos (sea lions) and cangrejos (crabs) and marine iguanas just chillin' on the side of the island. There were also three penguins that were swimming around us. Daniel said he had never been that close to a penguin here. Chevere. While I was snorkeling I saw a sea lion swim under me, a manta ray, and schools and schools of the most beautiful fish I had ever seen. It was like jumping into Finding Nemo. There was one that was royal blue with shinny light blue spots all over. Incredible. Then we headed over to Islote Tintoreras, an island composed of very chunky, dark lava rock. First we snorkeled around the island where I saw a sting ray, a sea turtle, and a lobster (which are apparently rare finds). We were able to then tour the island, which is home to several marine iguanas. They blend in with the rocks, so sometimes you didn't see them until you were walking right by them. 

William: "Say it fast...marineiguanamarineiguanamarineiguana. Hahahahahaha."

Me: "...it sounds like 'marijuana'."

When we got to the beach-half of the island, it was littered with iguanas. Daniel said he had never seen so many. 

There was also a baby sea lion pup that was looking for his mommy. He hopped straight towards our group, we parted, and then he passed right through us and continued on his way. Adorable. This was also the point where William told us that sea lions could live up to 30 years, just like dogs...

Back to the boat. Sack lunch. Back to Isabela. We had a little bit of time to hang out on the beach. Let me tell you, I have never been to a more beautiful beach. Not crowded. Sand finer than silk without ANY rocks, shells, twigs, or anything. Water bluer and clearer than Jake Gyllenhaal's eyes, and cold enough to be refreshing, but warm enough to be comfortable. But...no rest for the weary because then we headed off to a lookout point where we could see across the northern part of the island. Absolutely breathtaking.

Our final stop for the day was at the Muro de las Lagrimas (the wall of tears). Convicts had been sent to the Galapagos because there aren't many places to go if you escape. The scary thing was that they sent 300 convicts to an island with a population of 120 at the time. Talk about fear of an uprising. The general in charge of the convicts decided to keep them busy by having them build a wall out of rocks. He was going to make it a square block and keep the convicts inside, but the mainland heard about what he was doing and stopped him. There are supposedly eight dead bodies in the wall. The Great Wall of Los Galapagos. It was said "Here the strong cry and the weak die." Sobering.

From there it was back to the hostal for supper. Afterwards, some of us girls hit up the town (all 3 streets of it) for some ice cream. Headed back to the beach and had our own private dance party to the music that was playing at the beach party next door. Good times. Halfway done with the Galapagos and I didn't want it to end. 

"Nos vemos entonces"....in the cloud forest

I know this is probably my most obscure blog title so far, but by the end of this post, you will understand.

Saturday, February 26

Improvisation performance en el Centro Historico. We were supposed to be there at 10:00. Hannah and I got off the Ecovia at like 9:55. We had called Daniel (our program director and Improvisation professor) on our way and thought we knew where we were going. We ended up heading in the wrong direction, called Daniel again, and headed further South like he told us. Hit a dead end, called Daniel again, and found out that he had meant to tell us North instead of South. Awesome. We finally arrive at the Plaza del Teatro at 10:30. Thankfully they waited for us to start. Ecuadorian time. You know, it all works out. It would take me FOREVER to explain all the activities we did, so I'm not going to try. At this plaza, though, we did a lot of activities based on movement, sounds, expression, and exploring the space. Apparently, a tourist stopped to watch us and made a comment to Daniel that "Boston isn't this cool." Haha. Chevere.

On our way to the next lugar (place) we had to interact with the public with an object. I brought an umbrella. I didn't say much to people, but I would walk up behind them until I was right next to them, shading them. One middle-aged man looked at me like I was crazy. Another older and much smaller gentleman beamed and thanked me profusely for the shade. Haha. Then I walked through the middle of the street twirling my umbrella. Yeah, that part was a little awkward. It was very entertaining, though, to watch Hector (who brought a police hat) stop traffic and wave us across the street. Sebastian, another guy in my glass pretended to be blind and actually got some money from people. Haha

We stopped at a smaller plaza and did two completely improvised activities that Daniel never warned us about. We did a slow motion race where the winner was the person who got last place, but you always had to be moving forward. I was in that race. The rest of my classmates who weren't racing were the audience, and they were also in slow-mo. I didn't win, but I didn't lose, if you know what I mean. The other race was a drunk race. Both the participants and the spectators had to act drunk. Entertaining for sure.

Then it was just a quarter of a block to our next "stage." We performed in the lobby of a burned theater. Here we did a lot more structured activities, less abstract. More talking, less walking. The audience laughed a lot more and my friends said this half of the program was more enjoyable. The audience wrote down objects, we split into groups, and then as a group we had to act out the object. Anteojos, glasses. Rata, rat. Huracan, hurricane. Mierda..."poop." We had a very creative audience. Haha. We stayed in these groups for most of the rest of the program. The audience also wrote down phrases. Each group was given six phrases and had to create a scene using only those phrases. No other palabras (words). While one group was working on a scene, the other group was doing "Open Scenes." We had basic conversation but with different scenarios.

The conversation:

A: Hola

B: Hola

A: Que hiciste anoche?

B: No hice mucho. Y tu?

A: Vi un poco de tele.

B: Algo de bueno.

A: Pues, no.

B: Nos vemos entonces.

A: OK

For those of you who are Spanish challenged:

A: Hi

B: Hi

A: What did you do last night?  

B: Not much. You?

A: I watched some TV.

B: Anything good?

A: Nah

B: See you later, then.

A: OK

Notice the reference in my blog title. People say "Nos vemos entonces" a lot, so every time I hear that phrase in a normal conversation, all I can think of is improv. It has become a running joke among those of us BCA members who are either in the class, or came to this performance. Haha.

We each had to do two scenarios with different partners. My first: we both had to go to the bathroom really badly. The second: a hypochondriac at the doctor's office. Funny stuff.

We did some more activities, but that would take more explanation than I have the patience for. Overall it was a success. I had fun, and I think it was a good bonding experience for our class. We each had to invite a guest so that we would actually have an audience. Haha. Five BCAers came and there are only three of us in the class. Daniel was very impressed with the BCA turnout, and my friends enjoyed themselves, so it was definitely a success. Afterwards, we headed back to Quicentro (the mall), ate at a pretzel place and then finished up with some ice cream at Crepes and Waffles. Went home. Homework out the wazoo.

Sunday, February 27

Met at the Rio Coca station at 8:00 to head to Bomboli, the house of a couple who lives in the cloud forest. The cloud forest is in the process of being destroyed and this couple is doing what they can to protect and maintain at least a portion of it. When we arrived, on the side of the highway, there were some Bomboli workers in the process of slicing a tree trunk with which to make table tops. Chevere. Split into two groups because only half of us could fit into the pick-up truck that would take us up into the mountain. I was on the first shift up. Took a little tour of the house while we waited for the second group to come up. They had about nine dogs there and they were the most well-fed animals I had seen in this country so far. There were twins that had been puppies the last time Daniel saw them last semester. Now? You wouldn't have known they were so recently removed from puppyhood except for their immaturity. I guess that's how it works with college boys, too.

A volunteer there took us on a tour. He looked Ecuadorian and spoke English like he learned it in Ireland. Weird. Apparently he was born in California and moved to Ecuador when he was one. His mom is Californian. That doesn't explain the Irish accent, but we decided not to pry. When the other group arrived at the house, we went on the same tour. Basically. Kinda lame, but educational. They recycle the trees for everything there. The guest housing has mirrors mounted on sliced trunks, clocks mounted on smaller sliced branches, cabinetry, tables, and shelves all made out of trunks. They showed us their garden where they talked about a lot of the plants they were growing there. I found it actually somewhat interesting because I had just been on my Botany field trip so things were looking and sounding familiar. Chevere. There were a lot of beautiful orchids there. The main idea I drew from the experience was that all forms of life need agua, comida, amor, y un ambiente sano (water, food, love, and a healthy environment). The male half of the couple that owns this place really takes this to heart, and kisses the plants every time he plants them. Haha. Loquito (little crazy man). We hiked further into the cloud forest and saw a lot more plants I recognized from the Botany field trip. We were also shown how the couple uses natural fences. There was a cleared out circular cove in the forest where they train horses. The fence around the place was just a conjunction of trees, orchids, and ferns that all grow and thrive together.

Went back to the house to eat. This family makes their own cheeses and manjar (carmel spread). Their Parmesan cheese? Yeah they let it sit in their cupboard for a year and a half. No big deal. Just hardcore dedication right there. We had  locro (potato soup) with mozzarella cheese and a looser cheese that I can't remember the name of. Then it was rice with chicken and veggies and salad. Then it was crepes with manjar on top and homemade chocolate sauce. So. Good. They offered more, so I had thirds. Haha. When it was time to go, the group that went up first (my group) went down first to check out a waterfall. By then it had started to rain. The ride was bumpy and peligroso (dangerous) if you weren't watching the branches that were dangling in front of your head. We passed the time by singing. Let me tell you, nothing beats spontaneous singing parties with some great friends. Nothing. I mean we covered everything. Backstreet Boys. Taylor Swift. Katy Perry. Big and Rich. Avril Lavigne. And I don't even remember what else. Time flew, though. Singing does that. The waterfall was pretty cool. It's right by the highway and had to have been at least 50 feet high. Then we hung out in the bus and did a lot more singing while we waited for the second group to make it down the mountain. That was Bomboli. That was the weekend.

Orchids:

Botany, Botany, I hate you, you stink. Oh wait, you're not as bad as I think.

So I signed up for Botany at the beginning of the semester, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. I was just taking the class because it's required for Biology majors at Bethel. I'm more of an animal person than I am a plant person, but I heard classes at USFQ are easier than most in the states, so I thought it couldn't be that bad. Well. I was wrong. The lecture part of the class isn't bad. Pretty easy to follow and there's a lot of overlap with Virus, Bacteria, and Higher Cells and Ecology, which are both classes that I took last semester. The part that sucked more than a vacuum was the lab portion. Three hours every Monday. And when I say 3 hours, I mean that's how much time the class was scheduled for. How long was I actually there every week? Around 3 and a half hours. Now maybe I've been spoiled because Jon Piper's labs NEVER take all three hours, but I think it's more than that. There is only one other gringa in the class. She's cool, but she's the only one I really know. Also, the lab consists of our professor, Vlastimil (Vlasti), talking super fast for like a hour and a half and showing us fruits, nuts, and leaves. Then we spend like two hours drawing and labeling diagrams of everything he just showed us. Chevere (heavy sarcasm). And the lab homework sucks, too. He asks us to answer really specific and difficult-to-find questions that are even harder to answer because A. I'm searching in Spanish, or B. I have to translate what I find into Spanish. For about a month I hated that lab with a passion and dreaded every minute of it. Then I found out we had a lab field trip and as impossible as it might be to believe, I dreaded that even more. I had heard rumors that we had homework every night, had to write a report, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning doing work, and had to take a test before we left. Not the kind of field trip I want to go on. Plus, we have to pay our own way.
So the date of the trip approaches. Friday, February 18. 1:00 PM. Doomsday. We all payed $50.50 in advance for housing, transportation, and meals. Not too bad, I guess. We meet in Vlasti's office, and I realize I've left my jacket at home. Vlasti says it gets cold where we're going. I know...I'm in the future also. (Mike Birbiglia reference. If you've never heard of him, Youtube him) We get on the bus, and end up sitting there for about 45 minutes, waiting for one of our classmates. Ecuadorian time. Then we head out. I'm sitting next to the other gringa, Beth, and we're both freaking out. This class is hard for both of us. More so for her because (I know this may be hard to fathom) she's more of a perfectionist than I am. We drive for about an hour and a half towards the South and get into the mountains a little bit. Then we get out and Vlasti proceeds to show us plants for an hour. He tells us what family it comes from, what the characteristics of the family are, and what are some examples of plants in that family. We then have time to collect some plants because we have to collect 20 plants by the end of the semester. Get back in the bus, drive 20 minutes, and then have another hour to an hour and a half teaching session. It's actually kind of interesting because of how structured the information is. I feel like I'm actually learning something. But by then it was getting chilly and I was losing patience. It got dark so we headed back to the bus and drove for 2 more bumpy, zig-zaggy hours until we reached our hostal in Guajalito (picture super rustic). There's one huge room that like 24 of us sleep in (boys and girls). The beds don't have sheets, which I wasn't prepared for, but Beth is nice and lets me borrow her blanket (and one of her coats for that matter). She is obviously a better packer than I am. We get our stuff off the bus and take our plants we collected to the patio. Vlasti shows us how to lay them out in newspaper so they dry well and then we get to work. I had to throw some of mine out because they already had enough copies in the herbarium or I didn't have a copy of the plant. You have to have a plant and a copy of the plant in case one herbarium burns down. Haha. Anyway, I had one plant that worked, so I got that done. Then we worked on our "report." When I had heard "report" I thought we were writing a paper. Turns out all we had to do was copy down the family name, the characteristics, and examples. All the information was already given to us by Vlasti. Not too bad. By the time we finished, it was like 10:00 PM and we hadn't eaten supper yet. Went to the kitchen and had a three course meal. Soup, spaghetti, and dessert. And all you can eat. I sat with Beth, Ana (a girl who studied in Texas for a year), and David (a 19-year-old who looks like he's actually the oldest kid in the class). People started clearing out, but since the four of us were the last to get our food, we hung in the kitchen for awhile. Our lab assistant, Pablo, joined our conversation too. He doesn't actually go to USFQ, but goes to a different college in Tumbaco. He just comes to be our lab assistant. We talked a lot about America and Ecuador, similarities and differences. Good times. Finally, around midnight, we headed to bed.
Saturday. Breakfast was sandwiches. Ham and cheese, or cheese and jam, or PEANUT BUTTER and jelly. And scrambled eggs. All you can eat. I probably took advantage of that too much this weekend. Then we packed our lunches and headed out on our hike. Started on the rocky/grassy hill, and ended up hard core in the middle of the cloud forest. Saw a lot of cool plants, but after awhile, everything just started to look green and I couldn't make head or tails of what I was looking at. And I couldn't keep all the families straight. It was still interesting, and dirty, and fun. Stopped at a river on the way back. It was super cold, but I put my feet in anyway. Then it was back to camp to dry our collected plants. Beth and I walked back with Pablo, who doesn't speak any English. He said he wanted to learn, so he asked us how to say things and we would tell him, but pronouncing the words correctly was pretty hard for him. Entertaining for us. Haha. Got back to the hostal where Pablo helped us lay out the rest of our collected plants. Ate supper. Worked on our "report" and headed to bed around 1:30 AM.
Sunday. Breakfast of all-you-can-eat sandwiches again. Freaked out about the test we were about to take. Vlasti set out 20 plants around the hostal grounds. We had 3 minutes at each station to identify the family of the plant with the help of our report. Some of them I knew right away, but it was a really hard test. I think a lot of other people struggled as well, though. The test and the report together were worth 15 points. Vlasti let us decide how much to make each worth. Test: 3. Report: 12. I can handle that. Then we had lunch with our typical mealtime table group: Beth, Ana, David, and Richard (also speaks English. Soft-spoken, but very nice). Packed up the bus. Got home at 5:00 on Sunday. What I thought was going to be the worst weekend of my life ended up being one of the best. Not kidding. I wanted to go back. I had been so focused on how much work the trip was going to be, and I hadn't even considered how much fun it would be to interact with people. It's hard to blog about conversations and interactions with people, so I might not be very convincing when I say this, but I. Made. Ecuadorian. Friends. And it was glorious. Ana, Pablo, David, and kind of Richard. Haha. Let me tell you. Having Ecuadorian friends makes all the difference in the world. I mean, it's not like I have their numbers or we hang out outside of class, but they're still my friends. You come to another country, but until you've made native friends, the trip doesn't have quite the same meaning. All of a sudden, my time here felt more meaningful. Those are the best words I can come up with right now.
I was on a Botany high. The true test was the next day. Lab. Vlasti said it would be an extra long one. I thought he was kidding. He wasn't. I left at 6:30, but you know what? I didn't even care, because I have friends in that class. Yeah, that's right. Friends that help me understand what I'm not getting. Friends like Ana who rode the bus home with me after lab that day and we talked about boys. Haha. Connections like that. With Ecuadorians. Priceless.
Botany. You're not so bad after all.

Rio Muchacho

Last weekend (Feb 11-14) we had another BCA sponsored trip. Left Quito on Thursday at midnight on our own private bus. There were enough seats, thankfully, that we each had two seats on which to "stretch out." I think I managed to sleep some. The trip was rocky, but I guess I was tired enough. Arrived at the beach in Cuenca at 7:30 AM. Cloudy, but comfortable. Had the place to ourselves for awhile. The last time I actually swam in an ocean or other body of water that produced substantial waves was back in 1999 at the Mediterranean Sea. Needless to say, I was excited. Changed into our swimsuits on the bus and headed down to the Pacific. While a majority of the group was complaining about it being cloudy at the beach, I was busy dodging waves in the ocean. Fun stuff. Walked along the beach with Julie and found some shells. Swam some more. Walked to some cliffs near the ocean with Ashley, Wesley, Julie, and Rachele. Played some Ecuavolley with the locals. Ecuavolley is volleyball played with a rock hard soccer ball. I wasn't very good. Then we strolled the city streets and bought Magnum ice cream bars. I don't know if they have that brand in the states, but all of us BCAers are crazy about Magnums. By 1:00 the sun came out so we got the real deal beach experience. Problem was that I hadn't put on sunscreen earlier because it was cloudy. Yep. Dumb gringa. Burnt to a crisp. Let me tell you, you haven't been burnt until you have been burnt by the equatorial sun. I could sit outside all day back home in Kansas on the summer equinox and my legs and feet would never burn. Here, crispy. Learned my lesson. It was low tide in the afternoon, so I walked around and found some more shells. Little side note: I love the beach, but one problem I have with it is that afterwards you never feel like you are completely free of sand. Blech. Left at 3:00 to head out to Rio Muchacho.

Bus could only go so far so we got out, crossed a river, and hopped into some pick-up trucks. Those could only go so far so we got out, crossed another river, loaded our stuff into one pick-up truck, and then watched it drive away as we hiked a good mile and a half in rubber boots to the finca organica (organic farm). We got there and got settled into our cabins. There were 10 of us in one. Four bunk beds pushed together on one wall, two single beds, and then two more up in the loft. There were windows and doors on the cabin, but the building wasn't completely enclosed. There were large open gaps in the wall near the ceiling. Kinda cool, open atmosphere. The place in general reminded me a lot of camp. They rang a hand bell for us to gather for supper. The bathrooms were outside. Cabins (although the one's here had electricity and were a little more spacious). Bugs. Chores. Dish duty. Hot. Humid. They served us supper cafeteria line style. We ate out of clay bowls. Our cups and spoons were made out of the shells of some inedible fruit. The comida (food) here was vegetarian. I've said before that I could never be a vegetarian, but for three days and with the quality of food they served us here, I survived easily. After supper I was on dish duty. Definitely not as sanitary as Camp Mennoscah, but they've got their own system. All the food scraps are saved and given to the pigs. After that, we listened to a little introduction about Rio Muchacho, what it's purpose is and such. Not going to lie, it was a long day and I'm pretty sure none of us were paying complete attention. The rest of the night we had free time. We all spent it getting ready for bed. The showers lacked cold water and all our products had to be biodegradable. No one had biodegradable shampoo, so we washed our hair with soap. Nasty. I think we were all in bed before 9. Since the cabin was open, there were bugs. I guess people aren't used to sleeping with bugs, so there was a lot of freaking out. People slept with t-shirts covering their faces, some were too scared to even sleep under the covers, etc. For me, it was just another night at camp.

Woke up at 6 for chores. Me and Katlin were on pig duty. We shoveled all the poop into trenches and then moved the poop through the trenches until we had it heaped in this one area. From there, they sprinkle chicken feed in the poop and let the "chicken tractor" go to work. The chickens come and eat the seeds, then find the grubs, and scratch up the poop in the meantime, doing a very good job of oxygenating the compost. Then we fed the pigs. They get molasses water first and then their grains. Not going to lie, it was kind of fun. Wouldn't want to do it everyday, but it wasn't bad. Breakfast consisted of fresh-cut fruit with granola and yucca bread. Then we toured the farm. It's a pretty cool place. They don't farm to make money and sell products, they farm to sustain themselves. They use EVERYTHING. The poop from every single animal, yes, even humans, is used in fertilization. They don't produce trash. They plant crops to complement the season and the earth. Rainy season plants are different from dry season plants. They don't plant the same crop in the same place two years in a row because that drains the nutrients from the soil and that's why commercial farmers have to use fertilizers and chemicals. Pretty cool stuff. Lunch. Then we split into two groups. Half of us went to the workshop and made a ring out of a palm nut, and the other half walked to the biggest tree in the area. It's actually a strangler fig that gets planted in another tree and then "strangles" the tree and other closely surrounding trees. Came back. Supper. Then we made homemade chocolate out of cacao beans and crystallized molasses. We ate it fresh and goopy on some pineapple. Delicious. Bed by 9:30.

No chores Sunday morning for our cabin. Breakfast. Then we went to the garden to collect banana leaves AKA our lunch boxes. We wrapped our lunch in the leaves after we dried them over a fire and cut them. Biodegradable. Cool stuff. Then we headed out for our hike. We hiked to what our guide called a "loma," which means small hill. On our way, we crossed 20 some rivers and walked through shin deep mud for half a mile uphill (both ways...haha). We stopped to eat our lunch and then headed onward. Remember when I said this thing was called a loma? Yeah, well turns out there was something lost in translation because this was a freaking mountain. It's as steep as the Mamba I bet, for those of you who have visited the wonderful place called Worlds of Fun and ridden the beastly Mamba. Craziness. The purpose of the mountain hike was to find howler monkeys. No luck. Spent and hour wandering up and around this mountain. Oh well, it was a fun hike anyway. Then it was back to the finca. The entire trip from start to end probably took us 7 hours. We were exhausted. Shower, supper, card games, bed by 10.

No chores again. Breakfast. Packed up our stuff. Walked to the Rio Muchacho school where they incorporate organic farming into the curriculum to educate the kids about ways they can protect the earth and provide for themselves. Not going to lie again. We were all ready to leave by that point, so trying to listen to a guy talk in Spanish about the school was difficult. Crossed more rivers, rode in pick-up trucks, and finally made it to the bus. Headed home. Made a stop on the way, bought some oritos (baby bananas) and pan de yucca, and then were treated to ice cream by Daniel (Magnum of course). Arrived in Quito around 5. Went home and the first thing I did was take a shower. It took three repeats of shampoo to get the biodegradable soap out of my hair. Felt really clean for the first time in 4 days. Whew. What an experience. Built a lot of character.

Next up: Botany field trip.

Lizzie

The beach:

 The chicken tractor:

 Manchita:

This little dalmatian puppy lives at Rio Muchacho and is quite possible the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Her name is Mancha (Spot) and she is clumsy as heck. The first time I saw her, she ran towards me and tripped up the steps. She also liked to run around trees and bite at the plants around the base. So cute!

The tree:

Wesley's Birthday and the Super Bowl

Wesley's birthday was this past Monday, the 7th, but she wanted to have her big celebration Saturday because we're "responsible people who can't go out on Monday night because we have class on Tuesday." Haha. She's so cute. So we spend all day trying to get her birthday plans figured out and things are complicated by the fact that Wesley dropped her phone in a puddle of water. A puddle that only existed because some guy was washing his car. So, for a majority of Saturday her phone was sitting, nonfunctional, in a bowl of rice. Complication was augmented by the fact that my phone was out of saldo (I didn't have any money on my phone). It was difficult to say the least. We got it figured out, though, and around 5:30, Ashley and I headed over to Wesley's house. Then we hung out and charlamos (chatted). Wesley's host parents are SUPER nice and SUPER awesome. They joined in on our conversation for awhile and I found out that the world is small even when you're thousands of miles from home. It turns out that Wesley's host mom studied for a year in high school in Goshen, Indiana. What are the odds. She lived with Doris Keim and her husband (I can't remember his name). They lived very near an Amish community, and she had lots of Mennonite friends. Haha. Crazy. So we talked about Amish and Mennonites...in Ecuador. We left Wesley's house around 8:30 and headed to a restaurant in la mariscal called La Chacha. This restaurant is owned by Galo who is in charge of the soccer volunteering. This restaurant helps fund all the projects he is involved in. The restaurant was closed for some restorations, but they opened it just for us. The restaurant is pretty small, but it has a nice, relaxing atmosphere. The 9 of us just chilled and chatted until the pizza was ready. Then Galo and Andres came out with a homemade chocolate cake. So good. When we were done at the restaurant, we headed over to La Oceana, which is a club nearby. There were 8 of us girls and Vince (aka "Beans" because when Spanish people try to pronounce Vince, it comes out sounding like "Beans." haha). The club tried to make Vince pay $5 to get in while the rest of us would be free, but we refused to go in unless they let him in for free as well. Can't argue with that. It was a nice club. They played a good mix of American and Spanish songs.
This is the new hot song in Ecuador: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zp1TbLFPp8
I'm going to try to memorize it. It'll be hard though, because part of it is in Portuguese.
Dancing isn't really my scene, but I have fun when I'm with a lot of friends. It's kinda nerve-wracking here in Ecuador, though, because random guys will try and dance with you and it's not like you can pre-screen them. So I danced with Wesley and Milijana, but some of the guys that snagged other friends of mine looked pretty nice. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to dance with an Ecuadorian after all. Gotta do it once while I'm here.

Sunday was spent doing a load of homework the size of Pichincha itself. Had to write my first Spanish essay for Advanced Spanish. It was about the movie La fiesta del Chivo, which documented some of the actions of the Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo. In his lifetime he was responsible for killing over 50,000 people. Disgusting. He ended up being assassinated, which you think would be a happy event, something that the rest of the country would approve of, but the army ended up hunting down and killing all of the assassins. So yeah, I did a lot of homework on Sunday. I had assumed that this country wouldn't broadcast the Super Bowl, but after a few people from the States asked me if I was going to watch it, I thought I would pursue the idea. Daniel said Sports Planet, a restaurant/bar in la mariscal would be showing it. I had to go. My Packers were playing. So me, Beans, and Kandi headed downtown and got to the bar right as the coin toss was happening. There were only three seats together left in the restaurant, which was fortunate. There were a lot of gringos there and they were doing a lot of drinking. They had these beer towers that held 3 gallons. People were buying those up like collectible Beanie Babies. They didn't really seem to be taking sides in terms of the game. The just chugged a beer every time someone scored. Beans and Kandi are both Steelers fans, so I had to step up my smack talking game since I was the only Packers fan. I didn't have to do much talking in the first half. I mean the game did the talking for itself. 21-10 at half, Packers. Halftime show was visually impressive. It was hard to hear the music, but I know they played some good songs, the catchy ones. And you've gotta like it when Usher makes a guest appearance and pulls out some dance moves like he did that night. Second half, the Packers didn't score at all in the third and I got a little nervous. I almost started freaking out when the Steelers got it to within three at 28-25, but the Packers held them off and became Super Bowl Champs 2011!!!!!!! Man, did that feel good, or what? Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of the commercials here in Ecuador because they could only stream the game itself. But I watched them last night. There were some pretty good ones. The Ozzy-Bieber one was classic just for the sake that they called Justin Bieber a girl. I was also a big fan of the "Reply-All" one. Haha. But my favorite for the night was the Dr. House commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCB4YWPhNeI
Little twist Gregory House style on a classic commercial. Classic.
All in all it was a Super Bowl success. It was chevere to be able to feel some of that American atmosphere here in Quito and I'm glad I didn't miss out on seeing the Packer's victory.

We're headed out to the beach and then to an organic farm in Rio Muchacho. We leave tonight at midnight and come back Monday evening. I'm excited to take a little break from school.

Lizzie

Quito tour, family introductions, and self-discovery

Sorry it's been a while, folks. With homework and volunteering it's hard to find time to add to my blog. Hopefully this one will be entertaining enough to reward you all for waiting so patiently.

Saturday. Had plans to go to the Teleferico which takes you to the top of Pichincha. Woke up at 8:15 and it was cloudy. Checked Facebook and our group's consensus was to save it for another weekend because it's not worth the money to go up if all you can see is clouds. Went back to bed without resetting my alarm thinking I wouldn't be able to sleep much more, but the next thing I know it's 11:30. Haha. Ate breakfast because it was sitting out there for me. Then at 12:30 we went to a market near the Japanese Embassy where my mom works. Bought some fruit. Ate a typical Ecuadorian meal with juice. I was about ready to explode. Two meals in two hours. Guess that's my fault though. While we were sitting there eating, we randomly encountered two of mis "primos" AKA cousins who walked up to our table to say hello. I don't remember the name of the older one, but the younger one is Samuel (3 or something like that). They were out at the market with their parents (my mom's sister and brother-in-law). They were sitting across the eating area from us, but my mom didn't bother to walk over and say hi. She later told me that that sister is "media rara" or kind of strange. That might have something to do with it. After we ate we picked up some veggies and my mom bought me some sugar coated nuts or beans of some sort. I was pretty full, but I didn't want to be rude so I ate them. Delicious. Headed home and unloaded the car. Then mami and I went to her other sister's house. That's where I met my other two primos, Nicolas (7) and Ignacio (6). They have such a beautiful and spacious apartment and the kids are absolutely a-dorable. They are HUGE soccer fans so we spent some time watching a game on TV and then we went out into the hallway and played. It was so cute because when mami told them I was a futbolista, Ignacio was like "You have to coach me!" (in Spanish of course). Haha. Nicolas wanted to watch Monsters Inc., but Ignacio and I played for a while until we had to leave. He beat me 12-11. Close game. I'll get him next time.
On the way home mami dropped me off at Julie's apartment where she, me, and Ashley took the Ecovia to the historical district for our night tour. We started in La Iglesia de San Francisco, the church that the Devil supposedly helped to build. The one that's supposedly missing a brick that people spend their whole life looking for the hole in the facade. We get into the garden inside the convent of the church and there's a man waiting there for us in a black suit and cloak. He then introduces himself to us as the Devil and off we go on our tour. It's been a while so I can't remember everything he told us, but I remember that a lot of what he had to say was quite fascinating. We started with paintings, then sculptures, and then we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the Virgen de Panecillo. There's a large statue of her located on a hill in Quito that we saw the first week we were here, but the statue here in this church is much smaller and much more beautiful. They say this virgin is the most beautiful woman in Quito. Then it was off to another church (can't remember the name) that's located in the main plaza. With every transition of our tour, the Devil would lick his lips, give a deep chuckle, and then turn on his heels, cape flapping, and book it to the next location. They have a tomb in there dedicated to Garcia Moreno, a former president of Ecuador. Right before the people assassinated him, he said "Puedes matarme, pero Dios no muere." "You can kill me, but God doesn't die." Nobody has any idea exactly what he meant by that, but I think those are some pretty chevere famous last words. Then we climbed through the tiny hidden staircases that led us to the top of the church where we had quite the view of Quito at night. Increíble. Our tour ended at an old restaurant where we had hot chocolate and boscochos (flaky breadstick thingies). I'm not a big fan of hot chocolate, but this stuff was the best hot chocolate I've ever had. That doesn't mean I was crazy about it, but it was alright.

El Diablo:

 Beautiful Quito at night:

 Sunday. Met at Rio Coca station at 8:00. Headed out for our tour of South Quito. After about 45 minutes of driving in the bus we stopped at a lookout point that gave us a good view of South Quito. That's where we discussed the differences between the North and the South. Quito has grown immensely in the last 10 years. A lot of the growth happens in the South because that's the direction people come from and they don't bother to head farther north to find housing. That means when you get into the heart of South Quito, there isn't much space between houses, whereas the north has more space. Architectural design is different in the south. There are many unfinished buildings because people start building and then they run out of money. A lot of the roofs are flat tin roofs or flat concrete roofs that are practical because you can add on to a flat concrete roof. It's also a lot more colorful in the south in terms of house colors, many of which would be considered tacky in the north. People have gardens in their backyards and chickens on their front stoops. The farther south you go, the more livestock you find, too. The roads are all made of stones that the people had to lay down themselves. The government gave them the supplies and that was it. Crime rate is high in the south because people move to Quito and then can't find jobs so the only way to survive is to steal. The Panecillo sits on a hill in the middle of Quito and faces north. The people of South Quito would say the Panecillo is taking a dump on the south, which is very symbolic of the relationship between and the difference in the economic/social standing between the north and south.

Then we headed to a facility that houses a program that works with elderly people. We spent the first part of our time there getting to know the old folks and such. Then we were paired up and we made little baskets out of that thin, colorful foam stuff. At the beginning, the program director asked the old folks to raise their hand if they had ever had a conversation with a person from the United States. Practically nobody raised their hand. Now I don't want to go around thinking that those of us from the States are super awesome and everyone should have a conversation with us, but I just thought that there were enough estadounidenses to go around and that they would have made it to South Quito before. Guess not. The old folks said that gringos never take the time to go to the South because there's nothing to do and it's the poor part. It was sad to hear that. Ate lunch with them and then we headed home.

In South Quito looking north:

 My arts and crafts buddies:

It was on the way home that I had my self-discovery. Granted, a lot of my thoughts make sense in my head, but may not make sense written down. I will try my best though because it's something I feel like sharing. We were headed home on our private BCA bus when all of a sudden a dog ran right in front of us and our driver had no time to react. Bump. I was in no position to see exactly what we had run over. Judging by the reaction on the bus, there was the possibility that we had just run over a small child. When I found out it was just a dog, all I felt was relief. However, there were people on the bus who couldn't even stand to think about the fact that we had just run over a dog. All I could think to myself was "thank the Lord that wasn't a kid." That's when my brain started whirring and came to some very profound conclusions.
Because I didn't feel the same level of pain for that dog, does that mean I won't make a good vet? Is animal medicine really my calling in life? I reflected on this past month in Ecuador and discovered that even though I see a lot of street dogs, they don't seem to be suffering and I don't feel sorry for them. Sure, I hope their happy, but I'm not like "Oh, this breaks my heart." Some people in my program are like that and I think, does this make me a terrible candidate for being a veterinarian? For a split second, I thought "well, what else would I do with my life if I didn't work with animals?" and all I drew was a blank. That's when I concluded that this "indifference" of mine isn't a bad thing, but rather I can use it to my advantage. If I were to care deeply for every animal I treated as a vet or every animal I saw in the pound, my life would be horrible. My ability to distance myself, from getting too attached, will actually probably work in my favor. I don't want you all to think I'm a cold-hearted animal hater, because I'm definitely not. I mean what sort of animal hater would want to be a vet? I'm just realistic. No matter how many street dogs you rescue, there's always going to be more. It's like poverty; there's never going to be an end to it. Death happens. Sometimes you can't prevent it.
That's when I started to reflect on the importance of people on my life. Being here, in a another country, has showed me how incredible people can be. Especially this love-dominated culture in Ecuador. People. I don't know how else to explain how important people are. When I was younger, I used to put my pet right after my extended family and friends in terms of importance and whatnot. But I got to thinking on the bus, would I sacrifice the life of my beloved pet for the life of a complete stranger? This is a hypothetical situation. I don't know when I would ever have to make a decision like this, but without a doubt, right then and there, I knew the answer was yes. There's no way I could choose the life of an animal over that of a human. I had never actually faced this question directly, but I'm sure there were times as a child where I imagine I would have had to think long and hard about that question. But now, I know without a doubt, a complete stranger, an enemy, a person who may not even deserve this type of sacrifice, would take precedence over the life of any animal, yes, even my dog. I went through so many scenarios in my head. What if Hitler were still alive? Would I sacrifice Katy to keep Hitler alive? A man who was responsible for killing millions of innocent people? Yes. As bad as he was, I would sacrifice my own dog to keep him alive. As much as I love my dog (and I love her a lot), it would be a lot easier seeing a person and knowing a dog died for them rather than seeing a dog and knowing that I willingly chose the life of this animal over that of a human. Inside I pray that this was always the way I thought, but like I said, I was never really confronted with the question itself. Now I know where I stand. And it feels good. I hope that makes sense in writing.

‎"You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."
- Alan Alda


Yeah. It was one of those days.


More later,
Lizzie