- 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
Saturday, December 19, 2009
By the Numbers
I arrived back home in South Carolina 43 hours ago after:
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.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Adios Field Camps
Sadly, yesterday was our last day in the field. I still can’t believe that I might not see paramo again, or that was my last time climbing through the moss jungle.
Anyways, this trip to the field, we split our time between Rumi Loma and La Libertad. It was odd to see Rumi Loma after the burn. Although the fire had ended two weeks before, the cabin that had burned was still smoldering, and clearly nothing was salvageable. I’m grateful for the trails through camp. They seem to have been what stopped the fire. There was one place where the fire had gotten to within a foot of another cabin. It is miraculous that it didn’t go up in flames as well. (FYI the photo of the burned lizard really is black and white.)
After relaxing at Rumi Loma, on Friday we hiked from Rumi Loma down to La Libertad. The hike was only about four hours, and it ended up taking Jesse the same amount of time to drive Big Blue down. The hike was fun because we started playing mind games for the first time this term. None of them knew the “53 bicycles” one, so that took awhile. Also on the hike, we found a cacique nest and could hear chicks inside of it! An adult kept flying back and forth, probably feeding them.
This was definitely the week that we started playing games. Besides mind games, we began playing telephone pictionary and mafia in the evenings. We ended up with some crazy things with telephone pictionary. I mean, it’s hard not to when the first sentence is “I’m so rich, I use mahogany toothpicks.”
On Saturday, Catherine came up to camp for our last class. She also brought Josue, our vegetation expert for the transects, and surprisingly Hannah. Hannah was a RRCS student two years ago. Additionally, she’s a Carl who happened to be in my problem-solving group for E&A. (So I’m pretty sure there are more Carls in
On Sunday and Monday, we took Josue out to our two plots and went over the transects with him. Monday especially was a lot of work. The hike just to get to the moss jungle plot is fairly significant, and then we had to make both of the transects, one of which had a 30 foot drop in the middle. It is still such an odd feeling to be supported just by branches and vines so far above the ground.
Mora-Manzana Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving, we headed up to Rumi Loma, since that’s where we have an oven. It was a marvelous day, and we split up cooking dinner. Coral made a green bean casserole. Then,
Mora-Manzana Pie
3 cups sliced apple
2 cups blackberries
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. flour
½ cup sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
2 Tbsp. browned butter
First, prepare your choice of crust. Then, mix all of the ingredients except for the butter. Layer the mixture into the crust. Next, pour the butter over the pie. Finally, lay the top crust on top. (I suggest lattice.) Then, bake until done, and eat.
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