I can't believe that it's already been two weeks since I left Ecuador. Everything has been so busy since then.
I actually haven't had reverse culture shock as badly as I feared. Of course, that could also be due to the fact that I simply feel like I'm on vacation and haven't settled into a routine. However, the Houston airport was quite an experience. It was odd to be able to drink from water fountains and not to have to carry my own toilet paper (or buy any). Also, what's this about toilet paper going into the toilet and not the trash? I must say that I was even used to the C on a faucet indicating hot instead of cold. And while I knew that Ecuador's prices were low and airport prices were high, I could not figure out how anyone could charge $5.00 for a smoothie.
The weirdest thing was probably walking into a bookstore in the Houston terminal. I had heard about Sarah Palin's book, so that didn't really surprise me. However, I recognized almost none of the NY Times bestsellers. That was odd. And then, I walked over to the YA section and noticed a new book by Eoin Colfer. Before I even pulled it off the shelf, I realized what it was, but I was still astounded to the final Hitchhikers' Guide book in print. I had read that Colfer was to be the author, since Douglas Adams died before he got around to writing it but had no clue on when it was going to be published. I must admit that I still haven't decided whether I want to read it or leave the "trilogy" only to Adams.
I have noticed a few more changes as I've adjusted back to the US. For one, I shower a lot more here. In Ecuador, I showered about once every three days, partially due to the nature of my program and partially due to Ecuador's drought which is causing power and water cuts. Similarly, washing machines make cleaning clothes much easier, though I know that they waste water. Also, I miss the markets with the fresh fruits and vegetables and ladies in their traditional brightly colored, pleated skirts.
Additionally, there are changes in just the scenery. Since I was within 3 degrees of the equator, the length of the day barely changed between the equinox and solstice. The sun rose about 5:45 each morning and set about 6:15 each night. The regularity made it quite easy to base my internal clock on the sun. Also, Ecuador has one of the highest diversities of birds, so while I enjoyed watching robins today, it wasn't quite the same as seeing multiple species of hummingbirds flitting around.
All in all, I'm quite pleased with my decision to study abroad this term. I saw some incredible orchids, became acclimated to hiking above 3,000 m, practiced Spanish, and learned plenty about alpacas. Though while I enjoyed the term, I did learn that I was right. I'm not really interested in biology. Partly because I really like math, but partly because I feel that conservation biology treats the symptoms and not the causes of climate change and that there is more important work to be done. It was fun to explore the field for one term, but now, as a new year and term begin, I'm ready to turn back to physics.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Los Cedros: Adventures Post-Program
Wow, I'm worse at posting when I do have reliable internet than when I only have sporadic access and power cuts. Oh well!
Elizabeth and I were originally going to spend our last days in Ecuador, after the end of the program, hanging around Quito, but we noticed Los Cedros about halfway through the term in a guide book. It claimed to have over 700 nocturnal moths, hundreds of orchids, and spider monkeys. This won us over almost instantaneously.
Although we had conversed via email with Jose, the owner of the reserve, but getting to the reserve was still quite an adventure. We managed to find the correct bus station and the bus to Chontal, but they didn't tell us that the bus doesn't actually stop there. Thankfully, we noticed the town's name on a building before we completely missed it. (The town is only a block long, so it would be quite easy to miss.)
We were earlier than our guides were expecting, so we went into a small restaurant and ordered breakfast while all of the children peered through the windows and studied us. Once we finished eating, we asked our hostess about the reserve and where we should meet our guide. She didn't have any idea, but just while we were mentioning that the guide would probably have mules, a guy on a mule rode past the window with two more mules behind. Perfect timing! The children hailed him for us, and thus we met Danielo for the first time.
After Danielo had wandered around the town for a bit, the three of us started the 4-hour journey to Los Cedros. Elizabeth and I rode mules, while Danielo walked and the third mule carried our packs. This was rather amusing, since both Elizabeth and I have limited riding experience, the majority of which was from our childhoods.
Still, we managed to reach Los Cedros safely and were stunned by the views. We even had an excellent view of a guan perched in a tree when we were almost to the camp.
The rooms were marvelous, and we could actually drink the water for once! They kept their streams clean enough that you could drink directly from them and pumped that water to the camp. I couldn't imagine streams that clean anywhere.
Anyways, we only had a couple of days there but we spent them hiking around. The birds were beautiful. At breakfast, we'd see cuckoos (which really do sound just like the clock) and once a toucan barbet (look it up-it's gorgeous). We also saw three species of guans, tons of hummingbirds including a sickle-billed and one whose tail was 3-times the length of its body, a nightjar, swallow-tailed kites and a couple of species of toucans. They were all incredible. We also heard howler monkeys but they never came into view. The orchids were also amazing and numerous, although we were told that the best blooms will be next month. There were fun fruits, too, including one which we got to stamp our shirts with, as the clear liquid stains once it dries.
The most exciting part was towards the end of our hike the first day. We were rounding a turn in the path when Fausto, another of our guides, stopped and pointed up. There was a baby Andean spectacled bear in a tree! Elizabeth and I couldn't believe it. We had convinced ourselves that we were leaving Ecuador without seeing any wild bears. While we watched, the mother followed the baby up the tree so that we had excellent views of two bears only 20 meters away. I was awed by our luck, though unfortunately none of the photos came out very well.
All in all, I was quite pleased with the end of my term in Ecuador.
Elizabeth and I were originally going to spend our last days in Ecuador, after the end of the program, hanging around Quito, but we noticed Los Cedros about halfway through the term in a guide book. It claimed to have over 700 nocturnal moths, hundreds of orchids, and spider monkeys. This won us over almost instantaneously.
Although we had conversed via email with Jose, the owner of the reserve, but getting to the reserve was still quite an adventure. We managed to find the correct bus station and the bus to Chontal, but they didn't tell us that the bus doesn't actually stop there. Thankfully, we noticed the town's name on a building before we completely missed it. (The town is only a block long, so it would be quite easy to miss.)
We were earlier than our guides were expecting, so we went into a small restaurant and ordered breakfast while all of the children peered through the windows and studied us. Once we finished eating, we asked our hostess about the reserve and where we should meet our guide. She didn't have any idea, but just while we were mentioning that the guide would probably have mules, a guy on a mule rode past the window with two more mules behind. Perfect timing! The children hailed him for us, and thus we met Danielo for the first time.
After Danielo had wandered around the town for a bit, the three of us started the 4-hour journey to Los Cedros. Elizabeth and I rode mules, while Danielo walked and the third mule carried our packs. This was rather amusing, since both Elizabeth and I have limited riding experience, the majority of which was from our childhoods.
Still, we managed to reach Los Cedros safely and were stunned by the views. We even had an excellent view of a guan perched in a tree when we were almost to the camp.
The rooms were marvelous, and we could actually drink the water for once! They kept their streams clean enough that you could drink directly from them and pumped that water to the camp. I couldn't imagine streams that clean anywhere.
Anyways, we only had a couple of days there but we spent them hiking around. The birds were beautiful. At breakfast, we'd see cuckoos (which really do sound just like the clock) and once a toucan barbet (look it up-it's gorgeous). We also saw three species of guans, tons of hummingbirds including a sickle-billed and one whose tail was 3-times the length of its body, a nightjar, swallow-tailed kites and a couple of species of toucans. They were all incredible. We also heard howler monkeys but they never came into view. The orchids were also amazing and numerous, although we were told that the best blooms will be next month. There were fun fruits, too, including one which we got to stamp our shirts with, as the clear liquid stains once it dries.
The most exciting part was towards the end of our hike the first day. We were rounding a turn in the path when Fausto, another of our guides, stopped and pointed up. There was a baby Andean spectacled bear in a tree! Elizabeth and I couldn't believe it. We had convinced ourselves that we were leaving Ecuador without seeing any wild bears. While we watched, the mother followed the baby up the tree so that we had excellent views of two bears only 20 meters away. I was awed by our luck, though unfortunately none of the photos came out very well.
All in all, I was quite pleased with the end of my term in Ecuador.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
By the Numbers
I arrived back home in South Carolina 43 hours ago after:
- 89 days (on a 90 day visa)
- 2 field camps
- 5 classes
- 74 identified observed bird species (and who knows how many unidentified)
- 5 National Parks
- 3755 photos
- 1 sighting of the Southern Cross
- 5 Book Club Books
- 3 Big Blue breakdowns
- 2 Andean Spectacled Bears
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Quito
Elizabeth and I arrived at our hostel in Quito early afternoon on Saturday. We're in the part called Gringolandia, so again we had a bit of culture shock at the number of gringos and amount of English around us. Anyways, after settling in a bit (including buying maracuya ice cream), we met up with my sister, Sarah, and her friend Johannah, who lives in Quito. Elizabeth and I had a grocery list from the reserve we were leaving for on Sunday, so all four of us headed to Supermaxi to pick up some food.
Afterwards, we stopped by a cafe and got cheesecake. It was amazingly rich and delicious and not quite the type of dessert I expect in Ecuador.
We continued onto the historic center where two of Johannah's friends were giving a concert at 6:00pm. The group consisted of an accordian and a cello, which was a fun combination. I must say that I have missed concerts and plays this term, so it was great to hear excellent music.
Afterwards, we all called it a night, as it was Sarah's first day in Quito, so she needed to rest and acclimate to the altitude, and Elizabeth and I were catching a bus at 6:00am. Although we only spent a few hours in Quito, it was rather fun and wonderful to spend it with Sarah and Johannah.
Afterwards, we stopped by a cafe and got cheesecake. It was amazingly rich and delicious and not quite the type of dessert I expect in Ecuador.
We continued onto the historic center where two of Johannah's friends were giving a concert at 6:00pm. The group consisted of an accordian and a cello, which was a fun combination. I must say that I have missed concerts and plays this term, so it was great to hear excellent music.
Afterwards, we all called it a night, as it was Sarah's first day in Quito, so she needed to rest and acclimate to the altitude, and Elizabeth and I were catching a bus at 6:00am. Although we only spent a few hours in Quito, it was rather fun and wonderful to spend it with Sarah and Johannah.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
¡Que Afortunado!
On our way home from going out for dinner on our last night in Cuenca, we noticed that the sky was rather clear and that the light pollution wasn't as bad as usual due to the drought blackouts. And we finally saw the Southern Cross. What a perfect way to end the term.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Podocarpus National Park
This week I visited my 9th Ecuadorian national park. I think that I'm doing pretty well for this being only my second time in the country.
On Monday, we took the bus to Zamora, a small but beautiful riverside town in southern Ecuador. Then, the next day, we hiked through the lowlands of Podocarpus. It was interesting to see cloud forest at only 900 m (which now seems incredibly low). We heard tons of birds, but sadly, they were all out of view, so I didn't get to add more species to my Ecuador checklist. However, we did see leafcutter ants! Although they're incredibly common in rainforest, they don't do well at high altitudes, so we hadn't seen any all term. After the hike, we cooled off by playing in the river, which was quite cold and fun.
Next, we headed to Loja and the highlands of Podocarpus. (It's a large park!) This hike was more similar to the area around our base camps, although it included primary forest in addition to secondary. Also, it was not as steep for most of the climb, making the hike much easier.
That night, we headed to Vilcabamba, a tourist town where the locals are known to live for quite a long time. This time we stayed at a tourist resort, which was quite odd. All the visitors were white and speaking English. All of us had slight culture shock at that. We were so used to any spoken English being directed at us and didn't know how to handle so much of it. Or how to ask for rooms in English, or order food in English.... Ummmm... going back to the states will be odd.
Still, the resort was nice, and we got some bird watching in the next morning before heading back to Cuenca.
Then, this morning we cleaned the house and worked on packing, but I have a bit more left. It's strange to realize that we're flying out of Cuenca in the morning. Then, Alex and Tim are heading back to the states, while Elizabeth and I spend some time around Quito before leaving just before our visas expire.
On Monday, we took the bus to Zamora, a small but beautiful riverside town in southern Ecuador. Then, the next day, we hiked through the lowlands of Podocarpus. It was interesting to see cloud forest at only 900 m (which now seems incredibly low). We heard tons of birds, but sadly, they were all out of view, so I didn't get to add more species to my Ecuador checklist. However, we did see leafcutter ants! Although they're incredibly common in rainforest, they don't do well at high altitudes, so we hadn't seen any all term. After the hike, we cooled off by playing in the river, which was quite cold and fun.
Next, we headed to Loja and the highlands of Podocarpus. (It's a large park!) This hike was more similar to the area around our base camps, although it included primary forest in addition to secondary. Also, it was not as steep for most of the climb, making the hike much easier.
That night, we headed to Vilcabamba, a tourist town where the locals are known to live for quite a long time. This time we stayed at a tourist resort, which was quite odd. All the visitors were white and speaking English. All of us had slight culture shock at that. We were so used to any spoken English being directed at us and didn't know how to handle so much of it. Or how to ask for rooms in English, or order food in English.... Ummmm... going back to the states will be odd.
Still, the resort was nice, and we got some bird watching in the next morning before heading back to Cuenca.
Then, this morning we cleaned the house and worked on packing, but I have a bit more left. It's strange to realize that we're flying out of Cuenca in the morning. Then, Alex and Tim are heading back to the states, while Elizabeth and I spend some time around Quito before leaving just before our visas expire.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Almost there....
Done. Done. Done. In the past few days, I've taken three exams, written three final papers, given a powerpoint presentation and finished up a creative project (building a globo). It is so nice not to have to worry about any of those any more.
However, this is not to say that my program is done. We intentionally finished our classes a week early so that we could have one more vacation. Yeah, this is our third vacation in a 12 week program.
Anyways, we're now just outside of Podocarpus National Park where we'll be enjoying our last few days school-free. It seems a bit odd that the time has flown so quickly, though we've also done a lot, so it is believeable. I still feel like there is so much left to see in Ecuador, so maybe I'll just have to return.
However, this is not to say that my program is done. We intentionally finished our classes a week early so that we could have one more vacation. Yeah, this is our third vacation in a 12 week program.
Anyways, we're now just outside of Podocarpus National Park where we'll be enjoying our last few days school-free. It seems a bit odd that the time has flown so quickly, though we've also done a lot, so it is believeable. I still feel like there is so much left to see in Ecuador, so maybe I'll just have to return.
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