I hope you’ve all had a decent week. Things have been different and intense and strange but we’re all still here and that’s what matters. This week, I’d just like to spread and share some happiness. We could all use some in times like this. 🙂
I talked about this a bit in my post last week, regarding all of the negativity I dealt with at the grocery stores and Costco, but just to say it again, please make sure you’re kind to those around you. Please, pay it forward and be a kind person.
I can speak for Colorado when I say that we’re in a stay-home order, so for most of us, the only people we truly interact with are family members. And it can be tough to see the same people so often in such close quarters. Cabin fever may be setting in, or maybe it already has, wherever you are. If that’s the case, maybe you feel like you’re going a little crazy and you’re starting to feel irritated. I hope that’s not the case but if it is, there’s a couple of things you can do:
Talk out what’s bugging you. It’s better to share than ball up your feelings and thoughts. Happiness doesn’t have to be the only emotion you feel, but you also shouldn’t constantly feel frustrated, annoyed, and all of those other negative feelings and emotions.
Plan activities with your family. With my family, we’ve been planning walks and movie nights and Just Dance tournaments on our Switch and various other little fun things we can all do together so that we enjoy our time together and have a chance to let loose and burn off any negative feelings or emotions.
Find something nice (and genuinely nice) to say to someone or find something you can help with. Cleaning always puts me in a better mood, so if you’re like me, try that! You’ll feel good for sure, and maybe that’ll lift the moods of those around you too. Complimenting and lifting others always improves the moods of others too. We’re here to get through this together, not bring each other down.
Going off of the helping thing in the last point, just ask what you can do around the house. If you’re not preoccupied with other things, ask what needs to be done around the house and help take care of it! In times like this, it’s important to be helpful and do what you can to support those around you.
On a more general note, if you have the opportunity to get outside the house and go for a walk, please remember to stay at least six feet apart from others and cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. And please wash your hands for at least twenty seconds with warm water and soap too. 🙂 Say hello to others if you get a chance.
And if you’re not able to go out, hang in there! You’ve made it this far! We’ll get through this together. 🙂
Read books. Hang out with family. Clean the house. Walk. Exercise. Rest. Do your homework. Smile. This will not last forever. Wherever you all are, I hope that you are well and that you are taking care of yourself and your families. This too shall pass and I really hope we all see the light at the end of this tunnel soon. Stay positive, stay in this together, and we’ll see the end of this soon. Spread some happiness, spread some kindness. See you next Sunday. And also enjoy these cute animals while you’re here. 🙂
Maybe you’re all sick of hearing about it by now, but we’ve got a global pandemic on our hands. I think it’s important to stay informed and educated during a time like this and more than anything, I think it’s important to stay positive and driven. Here’s how my story on COVID-19 in Colorado.
As I write this, Colorado is way over 200 cases of COVID-19 and the United States has declared a national emergency. New York, Washington, and New York have been the hardest hit as of right now and I send prayers to all of you reading from those states right now. This whole situation has been unreal.
Colorado is currently in a place where a lot of businesses and services have shut down until late March or April, but I honestly have a feeling that a lot of things are going to be closed for longer. I come from a place of observation, not pessimism when I see this. Seeing how fast the virus has spread in the United States, I just have a feeling that we’re just seeing the beginning of things in the U.S. From what I know, most, if not all schools have switched to holding some form of online classes or provided families with homeschooling content and it’ll be interesting to see what comes from this as far as education opportunities go, once this clears up.
There’s a lot of talk about a stay at home order or shelter in place order. I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, we need to do what we can to flatten that curve. As a biology major, I have been very interested in this entire situation. Of course I’m saddened by the effects this is having on so many people and honestly scared in some ways by the power something that’s not even as large as skin cell can have on the world. I’ve also been so interested in how this virus can survive on surfaces and how it affects our bodies. I’m also really proud to say that my university, Colorado State, has a research center that is currently conducting research to find a vaccine for this little monster that has sent our world into the state it’s currently in.
COVID-19 in Colorado has turned grocery stores into an absolute nightmare now. My family has been trying to find rice and flour for the past week now, and we’ve had zero luck because of all of these people stockpiling their food and additional household supplies. I can understand that there’s a lot of uncertainty regarding our current situation but you do not need the large amounts of toilet paper stashed in your bathroom or all of the frozen foods you can fit in your cart. Trust me. There are some people who haven’t even had a CHANCE to grab any of that and the only food they have is what was in their fridge before this whole mess started, and these stockpilers have left those people with zero options. My mom and sister went to the grocery store this past week and there was this dad there with his son. They were throwing a birthday party and couldn’t find chicken ANYWHERE because so many other people had run in, taken as much as they could, and left. As mentioned before, I understand that this situation is scary to many and new to all of us, but we need to be rational with our decisions and consider others, especially when it comes to what’s available for purchase.
And still on the topic of grocery stores, my mom and I got back from Costco earlier today and dealt with some extremely nasty people. COVID-19 in Colorado has turned some people into monsters, oh my goodness. I understand that this is a tough time and again, it’s scary and new, but no one deserves to be yelled at over barely bumping into someone with a cart. My mom barely caught the heel of this lady when we were getting into Costco and this lady turned around and screamed at my mom, yelling, “WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING INTO ME WITH YOUR CART?!” First of all, that lady rudely asked me before we even entered the store and asked why there was a line. Costco created a 30 person in, 30 person out policy to comply with CDC guidelines. She then proceeded to cut us in the line after we were asked to sanitize the cart and when my mom just barely ran into her, this lady blew up on us. I don’t know what her situation was or what she has been dealing with, but I believe that regardless of whether or not you’re having a good day, you should put your feelings and thoughts aside and be kind to others. No one deserves to be treated with that sort of unkindness EVER and especially in a time like this. Some people were even fighting over the food and stuff available in Costco, which I found ridiculous too. Good Lord, it’s a rotisserie chicken. The sign said that each shopping party could only grab one chicken, so accept it. Those are the rules. And the way that some people treated the employees was absolutely disgusting. The employees are more at risk than anyone because of the amount of people they interact with and you have the audacity to scream at them for there not being any cleaning supplies in stock? That’s just unacceptable.
From this post, my goal is not to scare you or worry you. It is simply to educate you on what we’ve been dealing with in my state. I hope that you all are staying healthy and smart out there. Please take care of each other and listen to what your local and national governments are saying. Stay informed and most importantly, take care of yourselves and stay positive. And in addition to that, we need to be kind. My life quote is “Have courage and be kind.” In a time like this, that is SO SO SO important. We do not have time to be blaming some poor employee at Costco for not knowing where the Naked Juice is. We don’t have the resources to be hoarding toilet paper and napkins and other supplies. We SHOULD be treating each other with respect and lifting each other in this uncertain time so that we can get through this.
So have courage and be kind. Stay healthy too. 🙂 See you next week.
Picture courtesy of the Center for Disease Control
So this past week has been one HECK of a week, let me say that. College life and COVID-19 are quite the combination. I’m now on spring break (thank goodness) but this past week at school, it was very interesting to see how coronavirus (COVID-19) developed and how it has affected everything.
It has been incredible to watch the response to this novel virus strain from the local, state, national, and even international levels. A couple of weeks ago, we received emails here at CSU introducing this current nightmare of a coronavirus. We were told that my university was monitoring the situation and would be updated as new information came up. And that new information came QUICK.
First the virus hit the U.S. and after that, boom. Schools in Washington were deciding to shift to online platforms, and before I knew it, CSU decided to do the same. On Wednesday this past week, our president and executive team made the decision to extend our spring break to March 24th, with classes starting up ONLINE beginning March 25th. We will be in online classes at least until April 10th and as the virus continues to do its thing, my school may or may not continue to use online platforms for learning. We shall see.
On Wednesday, it was very interesting to see the reactions of my fellow students. Some were thrilled classes were moving online and ideas of slacking off and screwing around clearly filled their heads. Others, myself included were concerned. What’s going to happen to my labs? Are all exams online now? Are my exams still going to happen that were scheduled upon return from spring break prior to the COVID-19 pandemic? There are just so many questions we have. Some have answers, but some are still just up in the air.
Now. I keep talking about Wednesday, and now I would like to have a little story time. Wednesday, I was supposed to have an in-person exam for my physiology class, which has become my favorite class this semester without a doubt. I was headed to my accounting class at noon when I received an email that my exam, which was supposed to be at 5 on Wednesday night, was moved to be online and I had five hours to schedule an online exam time. It was a mess and I have absolutely hated working with ProctorU to handle online exams. Read my posts about summer classes to learn more about those experiences. Haha.
And as I now add to this post on Sunday, my university has decided to shut down for the rest of the semester, with all classes finishing online. This will be interesting. Oh boy, will this test the discipline and self-control and focus of students across the country.
More than anything, I want everyone to stay healthy and smart out there. To those of you reading this, please please please take care of yourselves and your family. Please make smart decisions and educate yourself on the current situation. Now, more than ever we need to make educated and well-thought out decisions to keep each of us safe and healthy to the best of our abilities. CO-VID 19 is a fascinating, but clearly contagious and dangerous virus to many people so we need to work together and get through this. I really recommend checking out the CDC page on the virus. I’ll link it for your convenience: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
Have a good week and stay healthy out there. See you next Sunday!
By now, some of you might be like, “Thank God this is the last Ecuador post.” If that’s you, I’m sorry. I promise this is the last one! Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these travel posts. I always find travel blog posts to be really fun to write and also look back on. 🙂 The final destination of my Ecuador study abroad was the hustling, bustling city of Guayaquil and boy was it different from anything I had experienced so far.
On our way out of Cuenca and into Guayaquil, we stopped at Homero Ortega Panama hats, a place that makes (here’s a shocker) Panama hats. There were a lot of really pretty and well made hats and I’m a little bummed that I didn’t get one, but that’s ok. Now I know where to get a really nice, high quality hat if I’m looking for one! It was really interesting to see the process of making the hats. They’re woven into a pretty generic pattern and then pressed into this machine that forms the actual shape of the hats and then any additional accessories or designs are added after. Pretty cool if you ask me.
After our hat shopping excursion, we stopped about halfway between Cuenca and Guayaquil at this place called Dos Chorreras for lunch and a tour of the little abandoned mountain town up the road. The tour was cool and the city was absolutely tiny! There was a small mine, saloon, church, and maybe like two or three tiny, tiny houses from what I can remember. And each building wasn’t very big either. Imagine a typical college dorm room and maybe cut a fourth of that off. That was the amount of space on the inside of the church. It was really cold when we did the tour so it felt reaaaally nice to go inside the hotel/restaurant and sit somewhere warm. For lunch, we had a choice of trout (as the place had a trout farm) or steak and I went with steak. The dish it was served on was in the shape of a cow too so that was fun! Prior to the meal, there was a really yummy soup served too and of course my meal wouldn’t be complete without blackberry juice. I ate way too well in Ecuador. Way too well.
After lunch, it was another hour and a half (I think?) to Guayaquil and we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Palace, just before dinner. We had time to unwind and relax and then we got dinner on our own. A couple of the other students and I went and got empanadas at a place not too far from our hotel and boy was I glad that I went with other people. There were so many beggars and someone cat-called me along the way too.
While waiting for my empanadas, this homeless woman stood right at my side pleading that I give her money and on my other side, this nine-year old boy was doing the same. I wanted to help, but I just felt so uncomfortable. My empanadas were ok, but I feel like the experience of the city itself, made them less enjoyable.
There was also this man walking around the empanada stand who had blood GUSHING down his left arm (and when I say gushing, like it was really running down his arm) and it was dripping all over the streets and sidewalks. I’m not sure where he had been or what had happened, but after seeing all of that, I was ready to go hide in my hotel room. I guess that was how Guayaquil welcomed us?
After a unique dinner experience, we went and got ice cream and I got a blackberry milkshake at an ice cream shop across the street from the empanada stand. It was pretty yummy. 🙂 Our night wrapped up with a trip to an iguana park. Somewhere in the center of Guayaquil, there’s this park that is literally just home to a BUNCH of iguanas. Like so many iguanas. They were all sleeping by the time we got there but it was cute to see so many cute creatures. Well, maybe they weren’t all cute. Some of them were though! After some time chilling with the iguanas, we all went back to the hotel and hit the hay for the night.
The next day, we had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and were all ready for our big business visits to Guangala Chocolate and Tulicorp, another chocolate company. Guayaquil = warm temperatures = optimal chocolate making and eating conditions. At Guangala, we got to tour the patio and learn about the chocolate making process and more specifically, the process of extracting cacao from cocoa beans and preparations for turning the cacao into chocolate. It was hot and WOW was the sun beating down on us and I was so thankful to have a water bottle with me that day. It was nice to have my hat too. At Guangala, I realized just how small the world is too. The wonderful woman that gave us a tour played tennis at CSU and her and I had a chance to talk a little about tennis so that was fun. 🙂
Following our roast on the patios of Guangala, we had lunch at this really cute place that had seafood and really good hot sauce. After lunch, it was time for our tour of Tulicorp, the other chocolate factory. At Tulicorp, we learned about how the cocoa beans are actually made into chocolate and had an opportunity to try a variety of chocolates. Let’s just say that I was pretty chocolate-ed out after this day. There was so much chocolate.
Now full of chocolate, we headed back to our hotel, had some time to relax and shower and then, again it was dinner time. One of the supervisors wanted to find this placed called Arthur’s Cafe that was about a 30-minute walk away from our hotel and so a group of students and I joined her in finding it. Sadly, that cafe was closed permanently and we didn’t know that until we were standing at the vacated doors of what was once Arthur’s Cafe. We were all pretty hungry at this point so we found some other place nearby that was alright. The service was HORRIBLE and the food was so-so, but at least I got some more blackberry juice out of the deal! After our meh dinner, we made the 30-minute trek back to our hotel and I passed out.
And just like that, it was January 15th. Our last day in Ecuador. We had breakfast at the hotel and then drove for about two hours to get to Salinas Beach, where we would spend a good chunk of the day. I spent some time swimming, working on a tan (which tends to be VERY hard for me), and doing one other thing that has me permanently traumatized… A banana boat. So some of you might be asking, what’s so scary about a banana boat? To those of you that have been on one and enjoyed yourselves, you’re not human. To those of you that have been on one and hated every second of it, I feel ya. To those of you that are like banana boat????? I’ll explain.
So a banana boat is a giant inflatable banana with straps attached to the top, which is where you sit. One end of the devilish banana is attached to a boat and as you ride along on this banana, the boat driver makes a sharp turn and you fall off unless you hold on for dear life. It’s supposed to be “fun”. Tell me WHERE the fun is, because I don’t see it.
See the thing is, I didn’t know that you were going to be flung off the banana as the boat driver guided us around. I thought we would just hop on the banana, and then get to bounce around and ride the waves. If that’s what the banana boat had actually been, I would’ve loved it. But NOOOOO. I legitimately get chills writing about it. Upon our first turn, we were WHIPPED off that stupid banana and a bunch of the people I was on the banana boat with all crashed into each other. One of my friends got smacked really hard in the head and someone or something smacked my ankle reaaaal hard. We had life vests on, so we weren’t going to drown but the feeling of being flung from a banana and then tossed around in the water and banged up by a bunch of other people was so so so NOT fun. We did this unfortunate banana flipping thing two more times and then it was all over. Thank. God. 10/10 would not ever recommend a banana boat to ANYONE. As I write this, my ankle still feels a bit tender because of the damage that was done on that gosh darn banana boat. Not good. Not good at all.
After that traumatizing experience, I remained on land for the rest of our time at the beach. Some ice cream helped lighten my mood, but wowza was I ready to go home at that point. After our time at the beach, we stopped at a local spot for lunch that had some of the best fettuccine with shrimp I’ve ever had. They also served my meal with a mountain of rice and avocado which was much appreciated.
We arrived at the hotel back in Guayaquil about two hours after leaving our lunch spot and by then, we had to finish up our packing and shower. At this moment, I realized just how sunburnt I had gotten. Yes, I had applied sunscreen, but being at the equator is just so different than being under the sun in Colorado. I was RED. I barely peeled later though, so that’s good!
Image by Creative Fabrica
Now all ready to go to the airport, we had our farewell dinner at this gorgeous place that had some of the best service we had the entire trip. The food was phenomenal too. If I could remember the name of the place, I would definitely share and recommend that if you’re ever in Guayaquil. It was incredible. I definitely felt under-dressed though, in my leggings and hoodie. It was definitely a more formal eating spot.
And now the fun had ended and it was time to soak in the long lines of customs and airport security. Yippeeeeee. Getting through customs and security took a while, but it was fine. The miserable part came with the six-hour flight to Dallas. My sinuses wanted to kill me and it felt like my head was going to explode the entire flight to Dallas. And to add to that, it was also past midnight and I was trying to sleep. No bueno. When we got close to Dallas, our pilot announced that a storm was over Dallas that prevented us from landing so we had to detour to Austin, sit there on the plane for 30 minutes and then made it to Dallas.
And that was the cherry on top. Our little detour resulted in us missing our connecting flight to Denver, and the people with American Airlines were everything BUT helpful about our situation. No one was helping us get on another flight and I was just feeling miserable and exhausted and just wanted to be home already. Customs in Dallas really sucked too.
Finally, a wonderful woman came to our rescue and helped us all get on a flight back to Denver (even if it was going to put me home two hours later than planned) so we were going to be home. I fueled up with some Starbucks and before we knew it, we were on our flight back to Denver.
I got home around noon and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to be home. I really missed my country, of course, but I really missed my family. To give up two weeks of my winter break for a study abroad was totally worth it, but that time I missed with family is also important to me and I was a little bummed that I only have a couple of days with them before I had to leave for spring semester to start. Regardless, it felt good to be home and enjoy the time I could with my family.
Ecuador, you were an incredible, hospitable country, even if I got sick while visiting. Thank you for being the first country, beside the United States for me to visit and explore. I’ll be back and I’m looking at you, Galapagos Islands! 🙂 If you’re a student in college or even high school that is considering studying abroad, I highly recommend looking into some sort of program, even if it is a short two-week thing, because it really gives you a chance to explore a new culture, have some fun, and get college credit while doing it.
I hope you all have enjoyed the Ecuador posts and on that note, I’ll see you all next Sunday. 🙂
I’m just going to go ahead and kill three birds with one stone in this post. I’m still writing about my time in Ecuador and this week, I’m talking about three of the short stops we made toward the end of my study abroad- Alausí, Ingapirca, and Cuenca.
Alausí was a small town and our main reason for being there was for the Devil’s Nose train ride. We had the chance to wander the tiny town until 11, which was when we then hopped on the train and rode up to this small mountain community which was a hardcore tourist attraction. Before that though, I had a chance to buy some empanadas and they were so good and fresh. 🙂 Good empanadas are another thing I really miss from my time in Ecuador. There were dancers and a lot of bright colors and good smelling food. Toward the end of our time in the community, I even got to dance with one of the dancers when they all started picking people to dance with from the crowd. It was pretty fun.
Fun fact for this Sunday (or maybe it’s not so fun, haha), the reason they call it Devil’s Nose is because 4000 works were killed in a dynamited explosion on the mountain you’re looking at and from what I remember, no one recalls detonating the TNT so they’re not sure what set it off.
Also, in my opinion, if you look toward the top of the mountain in the center of this photo, it looks like a face is coming out of the mountain and that’s also why I think they call it Devil’s Nose.
We left the community at 1 and were back in Alausí for lunch pretty quick. For lunch, we stopped at a cafeteria and I had a massive plate of really good local food and a huge glass of blackberry juice, all for only $4! Our time in Alausí was short but sweet. We then had a lovely three hour bus ride to our next stop, Ingapirca. See ya later Alausí!
We arrived at our hotel, La Posada Ingapirca (I’m pretty sure that was the name), and then had dinner at the hotel around 7. I was feeling kind of yucky when we got to this hotel but I was extremely relieved to find a comfy bed and very cozy room waiting for me. I remember sleeping very hard that night. And if I can recall this right, I’m pretty sure the sleep I got that night was the best it had been in a few.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and then were off to the Ingapirca Ruins, which are a mixture of Cañari and Incan Ruins. I’ve always wanted to see some form of ancient ruins and it was cool to see what we did. If you’re ever in Ingapirca, Ecuador for some reason, go check these out! They’re no Machu Picchu, but they’re still very cool. After seeing this ruins, I’m even more intrigued to actually go to Machu Picchu and see the Mayan and Aztec Ruins in Latin America. Maybe some day!
Our time in Ingapirca concluded after our tour of the Ingapirca Ruins and we were then off to Cuenca. We arrived before lunch time, checked into our hotel (which was gorgeous by the way! If you’re looking for a good hotel in Cuenca, San Juan Hotel is the way to go!), and then were off to lunch at a really cute place called Simón. I had a buffalo-chicken sandwich with fries and strawberry juice and that was a very good meal, despite my upset stomach. I still wasn’t feeling 100% and it was honestly so frustrating to have such good food in front of me and worry about not being able to keep it down.
Following lunch we had a tour of Cuenca and it was a gorgeous little city. We were there on a Sunday and Cuenca is a very religious town so a lot was closed, but I still really enjoyed taking in the views of such a pretty town. After our tour, we had some time to relax at the hotel and then went out to dinner at this place near the Catedral de Cuenca. I had some really good avocado, cheese, and potato soup that night. 🙂 To work off our dinner, we then walked to the river and then back to the hotel and hit the hay for the night.
I wish we could’ve stayed in Cuenca longer, but sadly, the next morning was our last day (not even a full one) there. We had breakfast at the hotel, visited the Catedral de Cuenca, which was absolutely STUNNING by the way, and then left for our final destination, Guayaquil. One quick thing about the Catedral de Cuenca. They built it to emulate Notre Dame in France, but something went wrong with the calculations for the towers and so if they had added the full-on towers to truly look like Notre Dame, the whole building would have collapsed so they didn’t do that. Being inside the cathedral was such a powerful moment and I’m sad that I wasn’t able to take any pictures in there though. I can understand why, but I just wish I had some pictures of it to remember how beautiful it was. If you ever find yourself in Cuenca, please visit the cathedral. It’s hard to miss.
I’ve really enjoyed sharing my experiences in Ecuador and I hope that you all have enjoyed reading about them! Visiting a new country is such a fun experience, even if you get sick along the way. Our short time in Alausí, Ingapirca, and Cuenca was fun and I hope that you all have a chance to explore another culture or country some time, or have done so already. I’ll see you all next Sunday for the final Ecuador blog. Have a good week! 🙂
If you haven’t checked out my other Ecuador blogs, here’s easy access to each of those! If you haven’t checked out my other Ecuador blogs, here’s easy access to each of those!
Again, running out of creative titles here, haha. And we’re continuing right where we left off. I was leaving Baños and on my way to Riobamba with my study abroad program. I don’t remember how long the bus ride was, but it was broken up into segments.
During one of our stops, we had the chance to visit a mountain climber’s lodge at the base of Chimburazo (the tallest peak in world if you consider the distance from the center of the earth to its summit). The climber in charge of the house, Rodrigo, told us stories about his climbing adventures and treated us to some really yummy tea. A lot of students added alcohol to that tea but I’m not about that life, so I let my tea be tea.
After our visit at his house, we headed to a hacienda where we got to cook our dinner on lava rocks! It was also the same hacienda that Simon Bolivar had once stayed at to sign the constitution (I think that’s the right information). The food was really good that night. I really enjoyed the potatoes, blackberry juice, and flan. 🙂 And then with full stomachs, we finally made our way into Riobamba and checked into our next hotel, Casa Real. This hotel had an indoor garden situation going for them and it was really nice.
The not so nice thing though, my body was beginning to suffer from what I’m pretty sure was food poisoning. I’m not sure where it happened, but I was not feeling good and that night, I spent a lot of time shaking, drinking water, and debating throwing up. I never did, but it really sucked, that’s for sure.
Still feeling like crap the next morning, I managed to get to breakfast and keep it all down. We then left for our next service learning which was in the San Jose de Liro area. The community was called the Guamote community. There we watched guinea pigs be killed and prepared to eat. The women were very humane with the guinea pigs (minus holding them by their necks prior to their deaths) so I appreciated that but I wasn’t a fan of all the squealing that came from the guinea pigs before their necks were snapped. :(( It was just such a different experience from anything I’m used to. Guinea pigs are pets in the United States and in a lot of South American cultures, they’re food. That’s just how it is for them!
After that demonstration, we had the opportunity to see how the people shear sheep and plant their crops. We also taught the kids English again which was fun and was smoother than the first time. “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” was quite the hit that day. We finished our time up at the Guamote community with a soccer game against the kids (who were REALLY good, might I add), and lunch.
The food there was very bland in comparison to any other food we had up to that point. It was a lot of potatoes, beans, and corn that had the texture of potatoes. There was also guinea pig and I had the tiniest amount. Did I like it? No. Am I happy I tried it? Sure. I’m glad that I tried it, just to say I tried it and have had that experience but I most definitely will not be eating guinea pig again.
After our time in the Guamote community, we went and saw the first Catholic Church ever established in Ecuador. It was an old building, but it was incredible that it had stayed up for so long. I can’t remember if this church was just outside Riobamba or if it was actually within the city, but regardless, it was cool to see.
After that visit, we went back to our hotel and relaxed for a bit, which I really needed. I was feeling like garbage. Walking to get groceries at the super mall helped me feel a bit better but I still wasn’t feeling good. It was insane how much food I bought for $15. I bought a big thing of Gatorade (gotta get those electrolytes!), Amor cookies which are sooooo good, some shortbread cookies, plantain chips, and some water. It was a good deal.
Fully loaded with snacks, I headed back to the hotel and by that time, it was almost time for dinner. We went to a karaoke bar for dinner where I had my first bowl of pasta in a long time. Spaghetti tasted SO good that night, even though I felt like throwing it up (sorry for the TMI :)).
Around 11 that night, we headed back to the hotel and called it good for the night. Yes, I was still feeling like trash, and I had a lot of medication running through me to try and keep me less nauseated. Thank goodness for all the meds I brought.
The next day, we left Riobamba for our next stop at a train station, which you will get to hear more about next week. Our time in Riobamba was short, but it was still a good time. See you all next Sunday. 🙂
I ran out of creative ways to say hello to the city I visited. I think what I did works though haha. Like with Quito, I could say hello and with Otavalo, heyo was fun, but I have nothing for this one. Anyway, the next city we stopped in during my study abroad to Ecuador was Baños!
The full name of the city is Baños de Santa Agua (or Holy Water Baths in English), but for short, it is referred to as Baños. This was a pretty touristy town but it was still super cool to visit. We did a lot of fun stuff here. The geography of Baños was very different from anything we had experienced before. We were still surrounded by mountains but the area was much more jungly than before. That was partly due to the fact that we were at one of the gateways to the Amazon jungle.
On our way out from Otavalo to Baños, we visited Rose Success, one of the many rose farms in Ecuador. It was really cool to see all of the greenhouses and be around SO MANY roses. In Ecuador, roses don’t have as much value as they do in the United States, because they are in abundance there. You could buy a dozen roses for $2 there as opposed to the at least $12 you would spend on the same bouquet here. Crazy! After our business visit, we stopped at Pujili Market which is one of the many fruit and vegetable markets in that area. It was so cool to see that much fruit and all of the unique products sold. We got to try some passionfruit and that was pretty weird but good at the same time. And I learned the proper way to eat mangoes that day too! If you’re ever curious, let me know and I’ll teach you.
The next stop on our journey to Baños was a painter’s house and we had the opportunity to watch him paint a traditional Ecuadorian painting. These types of painting always include the condor (the national bird of Ecuador) and a volcano. There are typically other features commonly seen in these paintings including llamas and working people. The tradition behind the paintings is really fascinating and if you ever have time to learn about it, I highly recommend it! The arts and crafts tour continued with another stop at a pottery place where we had the chance to make our own pieces using volcanic clay. We created our pieces in a traditional way. To do this, we had to take a chunk of clay and then press it into the mold we were given. Mine had a farmer with some llamas in it. 🙂
Following that, we stopped for ice cream in a town called Salcedo, which specializes in dairy products because of all of the cows they have there. The coconut ice cream was reallllly good. And then after dessert, we had dinner and then arrived at our new hotel, the Alisamay Hotel in Baños.
That night, I’m pretty sure I got the WORST sleep I’ve ever gotten in my entire life. There was this dang rooster at the house next door to our hotel and it screeched all night. I’m not even exaggerating. He must have had a lot to say. Regardless of the lack of sleep I got, I still had a really fun day the next day.
On January 8th, we started our day off with a hike to a beautiful waterfall. The hike wasn’t anything too taxing which was nice. The views of the waterfall were spectacular too. And after the waterfall hike, the physical intensity picked WAY UP. We went to this spot where you could zipline across a canyon and then zipline back. The ziplining was SO different from the ziplining I’ve done before. Instead of sitting in the harness, we were hoistedup once the harness was attached to our chests and the line and then our feet were placed into what I will describe as a baby harness. With this zipline, I basically flew like Superman. It was really cool but kinda painful. I can’t imagine how the guys felt doing this. Yikes… When we got to the other side, we were taken down from the line and had to carry all of our gear up a mountain (I’m not really exaggerating. The hike was intense and my lungs hated me for it haha) to then get reattached and fly back the other way.
I enjoyed the zipline experience but would I ever do it like that again, probably not. There was something just so fun about the ziplining I did in Hawaii that made it better than what I experienced in Ecuador. And now you might think, wow, that’s a lot to do in one day. Did you go to bed after? The answer to that question is no. We hadn’t even had lunch yet!
After the zipline, our bus drove us up to La Casa del Arbol which is this treehouse at the top of one of the mountains in that area. It’s owned by a man who keeps an eye on all of the volcanoes in the area and if one of them begins to show signs of eruption, he notifies the government. At this place, there was this swing attached to a treehouse and you could swing “off the edge of the world”. It was a cool experience and as a disclaimer, we were not going off the edge of the world, it was more off the side of a decently steep hill. It wasn’t even a cliff. And we only had to pay $1 to get to the park! Pretty nice right? I enjoyed the swing, but I really enjoyed the view more than anything. It was gorgeous up there.
And with our incredibly long morning complete, we FINALLY had lunch. It was around 2 in the afternoon when we finally got to a market to grab some food. The food, by the way, was INCREDIBLY good. I’m not sure if it was good just because I was starved or it was actually good. I’m pretty positive that it was a combo.
With that busy day coming to a close, we then headed back to the hotel to shower and relax and then went to dinner at this really nice hotel with a restaurant called the Luna Volcan. I got to try ceviche for the first time here and I was really pleased with how much I liked it. Thanks for the recommendations, Dad 😉
The next day, after another sleepless night thanks to Señor Rooster, was quite relaxing. We only had a half-day left in Baños and we had the chance to do whatever we wanted that morning. Some of the girls and I went to this spa that wasn’t too far from our hotel called Huellas Natural Spa and the experience was pretty good. The massage I had was probably one of the best I’ve ever had, and while the manicure was pretty mediocre, the service was still great and I was shocked at how decent it all was in general for $45. I had a facial, full body massage, and manicure. After the mini spa day, we went to lunch at this place called Honey that had massive milkshakes and extremely yummy paninis. I don’t think I’ve ever had a milkshake that contained that much sugar in my entire life. I definitely crashed on the bus later.
We had a chance to explore Baños until about 3:15 that afternoon and then we were off to our next city, Riobamba. That’ll be a story for next Sunday. Have a great week and I’ll see you all next Sunday! 🙂
Like I said, we’re back with the Ecuador content, yippee! And this was probably my favorite city we visited during my study abroad program. Heyo, Otavalo! This week I’ve got stories about llamas, a lot more food and a lot of little town visits and stops. So I hope you’re not sick of the Ecuador blogs and you’re ready to do some reading. 🙂 And also maybe look at a few pictures of llamas. What I’ve included in this post is only a small fraction of the llama pictures I’ve accumulated.
On our way out of Quito we visited the ruins of one of the indigenous groups. Despite the fact that the ruins were mostly covered with grass and remained unexcavated, they were still very cool to see and it was interesting to learn about many of the beliefs and traditions of the indigenous people. One of the most interesting things I learned here was that the moon was the most important god to the people. The sun was an introduced character. And also, if you want your hair to grow longer, you need to cut it at the full moon. Kinda quirky, kinda cool.
At this same archaeological site, we were surrounded by llamas. And when I say surrounded, I literally mean it. There were soooo many. And they were all so cute too! We had the chance to feed the llamas salt and take as many pictures as we wanted. They were all really cute and I feel proud to say that I didn’t get spit on. Woohoo! I’ve never seen llamas run, but this was the place to see that at and it was really cool to spend as much time as we did with some really cool creatures.
Our next stop was at the Quitsalo Museum, basically another equator stop. This one was a more scientific view of the equator and they tried to explain things in a more scientific way. It was interesting, but it was ultimately just a plug for their explanations and documentary. I was hot and hungry and to be honest, I wasn’t all that interested. I was glad to leave that place, that’s for sure.
After our play time with llamas and second trip to the equator, we went to this place for lunch called Cafe de Vaca, or Cow Cafe. The restaurant was cow-themed and it was pretty dang cute. The food was really good too. My favorite parts were the drinks and dessert although the entire meal was really good. To drink, I had lemon, mint, and pineapple juice and for dessert we had a passionfruit mousse. So yummyyyy. We were still on our way to Otavalo at this point and our next step was a scenic view of the city as we got closer. It was really cool because we got to see Imbabura and Cotacachi, two of the volcanos in that area. A much needed bathroom break occurred too, haha.
After a long day of traveling and fun, we arrived at our next hotel, Las Palmeras Inn. This place was nothing like a Holiday Inn Express but it was pretty cute. The one thing I hated about it though, was my specific room situation. My roommates were fine, but I hated where our room was. It was on the top floor of the main building at the inn and we had no true bathroom that was just ours. Our room opened into the common TV room and then a bathroom which had a shower and all of the stuff you typically find in a bathroom, but it was accessible to all. I just felt like I couldn’t really get clean at that place. It was still gorgeous and the place was nice though.
The next day, January 6th, was going to be our big day at the Otavalo Market. I was so pumped. Our day started with breakfast at the inn and then we went to the market. We had three hours to shop to our hearts’ content and I really enjoyed it. Bartering was stressful but fun and I enjoyed being competitive will all these Ecuadorians trying to get me to pay more for things that I should. In the end, I made a friend in the market who gave me a free bracelet, walked away with a lot of llama-related items, and had a really good time. Everything was extremely cheap and it was just really cool to interact with the locals in the way that we did. This was more of what I expected out of a study abroad. All of the touristy things we had done up until this point had been extremely fun and memorable, but I went to Ecuador to experience a new culture and immerse myself in it. That’s something I definitely had the opportunity to do at the market and I loved it.
After our time at the market, we went to a musician’s home where he demonstrated and played a variety of handmade instruments for us. His family performed for us as well and that was really cool. After that, we had lunch at a great local spot and I didn’t get food poisoning so that was a good thing (I wish I hadn’t thought that because oh boy do I have a story for later!). Our next little stop in Otavalo was in a little city that is known for its wood carvings. It was called San Antonio and no it was not in Texas, haha. After our short time there, it was back to Las Palmeras Inn and we had a cooking class! I got to prepare my own trout and help make empanadas. We also got to see how they make blackberry ice cream. Yum yum yum.
And just like that, short but sweet, we were saying adios to Otavalo and were onto our next city, Baños! I’m excited to share everything we did there. There was a lot of excitement and a lot to do in our next city. But you’ll just have to wait til next Sunday to hear about that! Have a good week and ciao for now. 🙂
Hi, and welcome back to my TED Talk that no one asked for. I need to rant again. I enjoyed it the first time and I know I’m going to enjoy it now. We’re going to ditch the Otavalo post I originally had planned for today… So if that was what you were looking for, I’m genuinely sorry. That post will go up next Sunday for sure. Something is really frustrating me currently. I just wanna get it off my chest and see if anyone out there can help me out. So I got a new suite mate this semester and she seems nice. There are a couple of things that I need to rant about though, not necessarily about her but about my current living situation and a struggle of mine…
One of my issues, she has a cat and I’m allergic. Not deathly allergic, but I’m allergic enough to the point that their hair being in the area makes my immune system go all haywire. I touch a cat and my body is like “Ana, what the heck are you doing?!?” She’s allowed to have the cat in the room because it’s considered an ESA, or emotional support animal. I don’t really care if it’s an “emotional support” animal, to be quite honest. ESA or not, I’m still allergic to it. I understand the need for them and I get how they can be helpful but who in their right mind allowed that to happen?
I’ve never seen or made contact with the cat, but the fact that one lives next door to me and I share a bathroom with the room that the cat is in, makes me nervous. I hope if it comes to someone moving, it’s not me. I have lived in the hall I’m currently living in for the past year and a half now and in my specific room for the past semester, so I feel that I should get a bit more say. Let’s just say that I’m very excited to be getting my own apartment next year.
My second issue is that I KEEP GETTING LOCKED OUT OF MY BATHROOM. Here’s where my true rant begins. It doesn’t matter how many texts I send, it keeps happening. With my previous suite mate, that was an issue too. She kept forgetting to unlock the door on my side so I couldn’t use our bathroom. For a bit of insight, the bathrooms in the suite style room can lock from both sides. I can lock it from my room, preventing my suite mate from coming into my room. I can also lock the bathroom doors while I’m taking care of business so no one comes into the bathroom. Hopefully that’s understandable. Last semester, I was locked out of my bathroom a total of five times. Just after our second week of classes this semester, I’ve already been locked out twice. I’m. Over. It.
I get that it’s just a door handle and that maybe I shouldn’t be getting as worked up as I am, but I’m fed up. It happened way too many times last semester and I just hate having to send that awkward message, “Hey, could you unlock the bathroom door please? I can’t get in from my side…”. A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do though…It makes me feel so pathetic! But also, how hard is it to remember to unlock the door?! I haven’t forgotten a single time. And I’m true to my word when I say that. I have never forgotten, partially because I believe it isn’t that difficult. People can be forgetful. I’m forgiving of many things but I’m starting to feel a lot less forgiving and patient. Ugh.
Imagine really needing to use the bathroom after a class and rushing back to your room, only for your bathroom door to be locked and no suite mate in sight to unlock it. I’ve been there. Imagine getting all ready to go shower after a good workout at the gym, again to be turned away by a locked bathroom door and no suite mate to respond and open it. I’ve been there. The amount of times I’ve now had to just go use the bathroom on the main floor has been ridiculous. This issue exists with both the past and present suite mates.
I’ve been wanting to put up little sticky notes on both doors exiting the bathroom that say something like “Don’t forget to unlock the door!” just to prevent any locking-out, but I feel like that’s too passive-aggressive. If anyone has any suggestions for my situation, please let me know. I would gladly appreciate it and take any suggestions into consideration.
So on that note, I’d just like to leave you all with this advice: Be aware. Be aware of your surroundings, those around you, and just everything in the world. You’ll be better off that way. Thanks for letting me rant this week also. 🙂
See you next Sunday, back to our regularly scheduled programming with continued stories of my study abroad in Ecuador. And I promise I won’t post another spontaneous rant like this for a while. Have a good week everyone.
Hola y bienvenidos a mi blog! Hoy, vamos a hablar de…I’m just kidding haha. I don’t think I could do an entire post in Spanish. I could, maybe on a very basic level, but I’m not sure that you’re all here for that kind of blog. Anyway! This week I’m going to be talking about the first city we stayed in during my study abroad from January 2nd to the 15th. Quito! The capital of Ecuador!
If you haven’t read my post on all of my journals summing up my Ecuador trip, I recommend maybe doing that before you read this post, just so you get a general idea of everything I did. Or if that’s all you want to read about my time in Ecuador, you can read that too, by clicking HERE! 🙂 You won’t be totally lost if you don’t though. On with the show!
What a wonderful way to start off my trip to Ecuador. We arrived super late on the 2nd after an entire day of traveling. My first time through customs wasn’t as scary as I honestly imagined it being. The man just asked how long I will stay, and I couldn’t remember how to say fourteen days in Spanish, so I told him “Two weeks (dos semanas)!” and called that good. My first stamp is looking pretty cute in my passport. 🙂
When we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at downtown, my roommates and I practically all crashed. That may or may not be a theme of mine for this trip, haha. The next morning, January 3rd, we had an early breakfast at our hotel and then it was off to the Fundacion Cristo Misionero Orante, which is a school run by a group of nuns. The place was entirely self-sustaining, so all of the food they needed was right there for them. In addition to that, they also double as a safe place and home for children who come from abusive homes. At Fundacion Cristo Misionero Orante, we helped weed in the areas where farming happened so that they could plant more vegetables and herbs too. We also had the opportunity to teach English to the kids who were in class at the time. Another student and I had the opportunity to go and teach English toward the end of our time at the school, and let me tell you, it was not easy. One of the things I learned during this part of the trip is that I really wish I had taken more opportunities to learn Spanish in high school. I learned quite a bit, but what I knew still wasn’t enough. The kids most definitely wanted to communicate and I wanted to communicate back, but it was difficult. Sometimes, I felt like a fool, if I’m being completely honest. In the end though, I was more focused on just being able to make the kids smile and enjoy their company overall.
After about three hours of work at the school, we went back to downtown Quito for lunch at this super cute place, Patio Andaluz. Our first of many wonderful meals happened at this place. My addiction to blackberry juice also began this day, haha.
With full stomachs, our tour of Quito then began. We saw the president’s estate, the main plaza, and many beautiful, tight streets lined with brightly colored buildings that were both homes and shops. Locals walked around will platters filled with meringue treats which looked delicious and every chance they had, they wanted to sell us something. We also visited a beautiful cathedral during our tour of Quito. With the help of our wonderful guide, we were allowed into the church and even got to climb up to the roof and see a wonderful city view. I can now say that I’ve been on top of a church before. Literally, the very top. After this, we visited another spot where we could see all of Quito. It was beautiful and also really cool to look out and see how the building climbed up the Andes Mountains and then suddenly stopped.
Our first busy day in Quito concluded with a wonderful dinner at this place not too far from the hotel called Restaurante Achiote. The food was great, yet again, although I wasn’t a huge fan of the dessert which was figs dipped in black sugar and cheese. It was different, that’s for sure. A lot of the people on my trip really wanted to go out that night, so we went to this area deemed “Gringoland” and found a bar. I got some good old bottled water while everyone else drank. One of the things I learned to be extremely grateful for that night was the no smoking policy that a lot of places have in the United States. There was a man smoking behind me and let me just say my asthma wasn’t too pleased with that. My first experience in a bar was an interesting one, that’s for sure.
The next day in Quito, we were back at Fundacion Cristo Misionero Orante. We helped paint the wall outside the school to cover up the graffiti and also did some more weeding. If I can’t put that I’m a professional weeder on my resume at this point, I’m going to be very disappointed. Just kidding. It was REALLY hot that day and I am so glad that I brought some water, sunscreen, and a hat with me that day.
After our time at the school again, we headed to Hacienda Herlinda for lunch. The food was fantastic, again and after that we visited El Mitad del Mundo, or the middle of the world. Here I got to experience the wackiness that is the equator and now I can proudly say that I’ve been in both hemispheres at once! Fun times. With another busy day practically over, it was back to the hotel. We later had dinner (at a place that I can’t remember and appear to not have written about in my notes) and then went and got brownies at this place called Sweets and Coffee, which to me, seems like the Starbucks of Ecuador. It was a cute little place! Everyone wanted to go out again that night, but I was getting a headache, so I called it a night.
And just like that, our time in Quito was over and we were onto our next city, the one I was most excited for, Otavalo. Save the drama for your llama and I’ll see you all next Sunday!
