La Amazonía

Sorry it's been so long, y'all, things have been rather busy lately.  In this post, I'm going to relate the story of a trip I took about three weeks ago, so my memories are not quite as vivid as they were right afterwards.  For a little bit of context, USFQ was granted a large parcel of land some years back just north of Yasuní National Park in the eastern part of Ecuador for the express purpose of conservation and research.  This parcel of land is located on the Tiputini River, thus its name: Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS).  What makes TBS so incredible is the fact that it is located in arguably the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet.

The trip began at around 6 a.m. Friday morning, where all of the students going to the station met at the Quito airport.  After a surprisingly streamlined trip through airport security and an hour or so of waiting in the terminal, we boarded our plane to Coca.  Coca is one of the few large towns in the east of Ecuador, founded by early missionaries and later, after the discovery of large amounts of petroleum in the jungles of the east, maintained by oil companies.  Seeing as oil companies write my tuition checks, I will try not to be too harsh on them, but if you are not familiar with the history of Texaco/Cheveron in Ecuador, it warrants some exploration.  Texaco was more or less given unrestricted and unregulated access to Ecuador's eastern territories by the dictator General Rodriguez Lara after he came to power in 1972.  Texaco, and later Cheveron, neglected to follow standard operating procedures for the disposal of hazardous materials drawn from their wells, and as a consequence, thousands of indigenous people living in the jungles of the oriente have experienced devastating health problems for decades, and their lawsuit against Cheveron (to the tune of $23 billion) is ongoing.

I'll go ahead and get off my soapbox and continue with the story.  We landed in Coca, took a bus to a hotel by the Napo river and boarded a long, thin boat for a two hour ride down the river.  After a long, relaxing boat ride, we docked at a checkpoint for the entrance to a road into the oriente originally built by an American oil company, but now maintained by REPSOL, an oil company out of Spain.  The security at this station was tight, with camouflaged men with assault rifles patrolling the area and photography strictly prohibited.  Following a short wait, we embarked on a "ranchera" (an open-air bus) down the road for a good 90 minutes.  We finally arrived at where the road crossed the Tiputini river and promptly set sail for another two hour boat ride.

On the Napo River

Me, Chloe, and Alex on the Napo

When, at last, we arrived at the station, we were given a quick briefing on the rules and procedures of the station and then guided to our cabins.  After a hearty dinner (the food at Tiputini was some of the best I've had in Ecuador), we retired to our cabins.  We all woke up around 6:30 a.m. the next day, as breakfast started at 7 a.m. sharp.  Perked up after pancakes and coffee, we were split into three groups to embark on our morning hikes.  My group went to the "puentes," which were essentially a series of bridges and platforms right at the top of the jungle canopy.  On the walk to the puentes, we observed some congas, otherwise known as bullet ants.  Congas are among the biggest species of ants in the world, and their sting is known to cause extreme pain.  Just one sting can (and has, on multiple occasions) reduce a grown man to tears.  Taking this into account, it is hard to believe that many indigenous groups in the oriente intentionally inflict 20 or more stings on young men as a part of rituals symbolizing the transition to manhood.  Candidates are expected to show no reaction to the excruciating pain.  The puentes themselves were incredible, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  On the way back to camp for lunch we took a roundabout rout (to say the least), but our guide pointed out a type of plant that holds lemon-ants inside small pods at the base of its leaves.  Needless to say, we all partook in the consumption of these ants, which, as their name suggests, had a strong citrusy taste.

Our awesome guide, Ramiro, with a giant stick-bug

The Puentes

The highest platform at the Puentes

Ramiro introducing us to the lemon-ants

In the afternoon, we went to "the tower."  The tower, like the puentes, is situated high above the canopy and equipped with a telescope for optimal wildlife-viewing.  We stayed on top of the tower for a couple of hours chatting and spotting wildlife (toucans, parrots, wooly monkeys, and howler monkeys, just to name a few).  We hiked back to the cabins, took a quick rest, and then ate some dinner.  After dinner, we were invited to the lab (the largest and most technologically advanced building at the station) to view a slideshow of the various animals that had been captured on film around the station.  One of the many research projects currently being executed at the station involves a number of camera traps situated all around the University's territory.  These camera traps have captured at least two species never before caught on film in the wild (both are species of wild dog) along with jaguars, black jaguars (otherwise known as panthers), wild pigs, and many other exotic species.

The Tower

One of many camera-traps

The next morning after breakfast, our group travelled to the last of the three spots on the rotation: a large lake known to house anacondas and caimanes.  Although we did not see any caimanes or anacondas, we did get a good look at an adorable chick in a nest situated in the vegetation at the edge of the lake.  Other significant events from this excursion include: me getting bit where the sun don't shine by a giant mosquito-like insect that is known to carry botfly eggs (pray that I am not infected by these parasites and rendered sterile), and a Wooly Monkey throwing a tree branch at our group.

Canoeing on the lake

This is the little bastard who got to my most tender spot through underwear and pants... Evil

Giant spider on the dock at the lake

In the afternoon, we travelled upriver for a good while to fish for piranhas.  We did not succeed in catching any piranhas, supposedly because the river was higher than usual.  Instead of taking the boat back to the station, we were invited to put on life vests and simply allow the Tiputini River's strong current to take us back home.  Naturally, we all obliged.  The float was relaxing for the most part, though it got rather cold after a while and we were all too terrified of this parasite, known for swimming up poor humans' urethras as they urinate in the water, to relieve ourselves.

After dinner, we split into groups yet again for a night-hike.  On this hike we saw two whip spiders, a giant worm being eaten by ants (the worm must have been 10 inches long and an 1.5 inches in circumference), and what the guide called a "cigar grasshopper" (which apparently doesn't translate very well into english, as I couldn't find a picture online).  This grasshopper is apparently the biggest species in the world and lived up to its name, as it was large, fat, and brown.

The next day, we rose bright and early yet again, and repeated the whole traveling process in reverse (boat on the Tiputini River, Ranchera on the REPSOL road, boat on the Napo River, and flight from Coca).  We came home tired, behind on our homework, but all very happy to have spent the weekend in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet with new friends (from now on I will have a very positive view of the University of Illinois, for example).

More photos:

This was a really spiky tree

Also good for making unicorn horns

Yes, those are bats under that tent of leaves

Thank God for rubber boots

That enough butterflies for ya?

Cool moth

Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party

Over the past few weeks I have heard quite a bit from pundits and politicians comparing and contrasting the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements.  Those of you who are familiar with my political leanings probably assume that I have much more sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street movement than the Tea Party movement.  You would be correct in that assumption.  But in contrast to the partisan representatives and media figures who so often penetrate the public discourse with their petty political posturing, I am not writing this post to vilify the Tea Party, or even to overtly endorse Occupy Wall Street.  I am writing to say that, from my perspective, both movements represent a positive change in the American political landscape.

My thoughts on the matter were sparked by this political cartoon, posted on a staunchly republican friend's facebook wall:

This political cartoon, and the generalizations it draws with both protest movements and the media's perception of them, represents a large portion of what is wrong with modern political discourse.  Painting the men and women participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement as marxist, unpatriotic, freeloading hippies is obviously outrageous.  Painting Tea Partiers as ignorant, rich, racist reactionaries is equally ridiculous.  The fact of the matter is, the majority of people participating in both movements are concerned American citizens who have gleaned that there is something fundamentally wrong with both the current state of American society.  The difference is the lens through which these people see the problem.  I don't intend to underplay the fundamental differences in ideology and the extremely different impacts these ideologies can have, I am simply saying that both movements have an acute understanding that something is amiss in the United States today, though they may have very different thoughts on who to blame.

Regardless of how brainwashed the followers of Glenn Beck might seem, how obviously corporate-funded the Tea Party movement is (see the Koch brothers or Newscorp), or how directionless the Occupy Wall Street movement is, we must not lose perspective of the roles each of these groups are playing in the ongoing development of America's political culture.  What both movements have managed to do is generate interest in the modern social, political, and economic realities.  Both movements have initiated a heated discourse throughout the country about the proper direction for the United States.  The fact that I do not see smaller or larger government as the solution to the problems at hand in our country (I prefer to think of myself as an advocate for different governance) is a topic for another time.  What is more relevant here is the big picture.  People are getting involved and educating themselves about the world around them, and I see that as a positive trend for the functioning of our democracy.  Yes, dogmatism without rational thought is a problem, but I remain optimistic, because at the end of the day I can sit down with my right-wing family members and talk with them about politics.  We rarely agree on anything, but there's always at least one or two topics on which we can find common ground.  At the very least we will have been forced to confront differing opinions and constantly evaluate why we believe what we do about the way things ought to be.

Although this is the most cliché Thomas Jefferson quote of all time, I think it is relevant to this post: "Every generation needs a new revolution."  I am not hear to say that I agree with the Tea Party, or even that "I am the 99%."  I'm just happy people are out there challenging the system, themselves, and each other.

I'll get back to blogging about Ecuador shortly, I just had to get that out of my system.

The Beach

This weekend we went to Atacames, a town on the northern coast of Ecuador.  Before I get around to recounting the details of our trip, there are a few memories from the previous weekend (my host brothers' combined birthday party) that deserve to be preserved for posterity.

But first: my host mother is adorable

The cracker game: the rules are simple.  One tilts one's face back, places a cracker on one's forehead, and uses facial expressions to move said cracker to one's mouth.  This will be played at every gathering I am involved in organizing when I come back to the states.

The chocolate game: for this game you will need: dice, a winter hat, gloves, a scarf, a butter knife, a fork, and a large chocolate bar that is divided into squares.  The players go around in a circle rolling the dice until someone gets a six.  When this happens, whoever rolled the six must put on the hat, gloves, and scarf, and use the knife and fork (no hands!) to cut into the (still wrapped) chocolate bar and eat the candy square-by-square.  While this is happening, the other players continue to roll the dice until someone else gets a six.  Once someone else gets a six, the person who was eating the chocolate before must stop what they're doing and pass the materials on to the next lucky individual.  This game gets very competitive, very quickly.  People love chocolate.

The chocolate game in full swing

La Familia Sevilla + one Sullivan

Now for Atacames:

Our trip started, like many do, with a cab ride.  Being the arrogant gringos we are, the four of us decided to take the first taxi at our disposal, which happened to have exactly one of the four required symbols for a legitimate taxi.  Well, as it happens, the bus terminal in Quito is deep in the south of the city (the part of the city where gringos are usually advised against visiting), and it was our cabbie's "pico placa" day.  "Pico placa" is a law in Quito that makes it illegal for cars with certain numbers on their licence plates to drive on main thoroughfares during certain days of the week (this is done in an effort to reduce congestion and pollution).  Suffice it to say that us four gringos got a scenic tour of all of the back roads of south Quito for a good half an hour.  When our cabbie took us down a particularly sketchy street, a bit of nervous laughter spread among us gringos, to which the cabbie responded, "haha, guess I'm kidnapping you!"  He proceeded to say, "hey, you look like you have a lot of money, so pass up the bags!"  The four of us looked at each awkwardly for a good few seconds before the cabbie declared that he was joking.  Really funny.  Hilarious.

Our seven-hour bus ride featuring such cinematic gems as, "Into the Blue 2: The Reef," "Driver," and "Dragon Wars: The Final Battle" (all dubbed, in Spanish of course).  We also got pulled over twice by police, who forced us to store our bags under the bus, shoved video cameras in our faces, and patted us down (makes me love my civil liberties).  We caught a cab from the Esmaraldas terminal to Atacames (this cabbie was much better, though he was going 120 km in a 50km zone), and met up with our compañeros who had come the night before.

We stayed at an $8-a-night place called "Chill Inn" that featured an adorable puppy, hammocks, and nice-enough rooms.ccAt about 5:50 a.m. on Saturday, four of us in one of our rooms were awakened by the sound of a woman screaming bloody murder outside of our room.  We can only speculate as to what happening, but it was very disturbing, and I don't think any of us slept particularly well for the rest of the night.

A good example of life at the "Chill Inn."  This cat and I had a moment.

The next day we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then caught a pair of moto-taxis to Sua, a beach a little further down the coast from Atacames.  Ben, Julia, and Gwen decided to go whale watching, so the rest of us decided to stay on the beach and be vitamin-d absorbing vegetables for a while.  For lunch, we went back to Atacames and chowed down on some mariscos and then headed back out to the beach.  In the evening we made a run of the various Atacames bars, I nearly got robbed by a bunch of small children who were surrounding us with the pretext of teaching one of our friends how to dance (luckily, Alex came over and loudly announced we needed to move along).  We ended our evening with a 1:30 am dip in the Pacific, and then called it a night.

The next day, the majority of our group decided to catch an earlier bus back to Quito, but Gwen, Julia, Ben, Michael, and I decided to stick around.  Once out on the beach, Ben and I negotiated with some of the people working on the beach and ended up parasailing for only $35 split between the two of us.  We did some bodysurfing, had some ceviche, and then decided to head back to Esmaraldas to catch a bus to Quito.  As luck would have it, when we got to Esmaraldas (around 3:30), there were no busses with open spots until 11:30 pm.  To kill time we went down to Las Palmas, a beach in Esmaraldas where we were certifiably the only white people.  We played Yahtzee and watched the sun go down over the Pacific.  After a few more hours of homework, boredom, and near-insanity, we boarded our bus back to Quito.  We got to the station at 6:00 am.  Needless to say, classes for the next few days were rather painful.

Right now partial exams are getting into full swing, so I'm going to be rather busy for the next few weeks.  On friday I leave for Tiputini, USFQ's biodiversity research center, so I should have some interesting stories once I come back on monday night (though this means I will be missing both Ecuador's world cup qualifier against Venezuela, and the red river shootout [for the first time in my 20 years]).

Yeah, that look on my face says, "what the hell am I doing parasailing in Ecuador?"

If I don't end up killing myself somehow on this trip,
my mother will get me afterwards for being so reckless

Yup, this happened

Ceviche on the beach

Loitering to pass the time

Me, Michael, Ben, and Julia at Las Palmas

Like I said before, we all went a little crazy at the end of the long wait

A Month In!

Me at Cuicocha

Hey y'all, sorry it's been so long since I last posted, but I've been really busy.  I'm going to try to give some quick highlights of the last few weeks.

Thursday, september 1: There was a party for the anniversary of the university's founding with lots of wine (it was a sweet, sparkling red wine, which was really weird to me), food, and an 80s cover band.  Highlight of the day: watching my ancient Buddhism professor virtually chug a glass of wine.

Saturday, september 3: The university threw a party for the international students at a small hacienda outside of Cumbaya.  There were lots of games (piñata smashing, egg races etc), food, dancing, and drinks.  It was a good time and a great opportunity to meet a lot of the other kids studying at USFQ.

Alex rocking the egg races

All the Hoyas in Quito!

Friday, September 9 - Sunday, September 11: Otavalo
It's hard to know where to start with Otavalo.  Otavalo is a small town outside of Quito famous for its market (feria).  We decided to go up to Otavalo for the festivals of Yamur, which constitute the most popular days for tourism in Otavalo.  After taking a private bus to our hotel (thanks to our wonderful Ecuadorian friend, Stephanie) we decided to go explore the town for a bit.  Finding a club was a challenge, but we got there eventually.  After an hour or so of dancing and carrying on, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest before hitting the market in the morning.  Thankfully, Chloe and Lara convinced us to get up early for the market, as it got really crowded as the day went on.  We did some Christmas shopping, ate some street food, and worked on our negotiating skills with the vendors.  Later in the day, we made our way to Cuicocha, a volcanic lake in the mountains above Otavalo.  After a quick boat ride, we did a little hiking and took way too many pictures of the view (y'all will get a good sampling in a second).  Finally, we headed back to the hotel, had a few drinks, went to a concert for a short bit, and ended up at the same club as the night before.  The next day we got up early to do some more shopping at a town famous for its leather and eventually made our way to a large park featuring a giant waterfall.  After some interesting hiking experiences with the "Adventure Squad" (Ben Barge from UNC and Lucy Way from Oregon), we caught the bus back to Otavalo for lunch and then took off back to Quito.

Ben and I rocking our Correa shirts at the feria

The boys at Cuicocha

Yeah, we had breakfast here, no big deal

The Otavalo crew at the Cascada

The Adventure Team! (Notice my hair is wet)

Tuesday, September 13: We went to trivia at Finn McCool's today.  After jumping out to a large, early lead, we fell to second because of ridiculous questions about Val Kilmer and weird music none of us had ever heard of.

Wednesday, September 14: I went to the university's Salsa Dancing Club.  I am way to white for this stuff, but I guess I'll keep trying.

This weekend: Thursday, Ben Burt, Lara, Chloe, and I went out to "La Ronda," the oldest street in Quito, located right outside of the Centro Historico for some canelazo.  Our canelazo was good as usual, but I can only drink so much without feeling a little sick (it's really sweet).  Afterwards we sat down in a restaurant and ate some funnel-cake-esque treats with honey.  We ended our night at a hookah bar in the Mariscal.  Yesterday (friday), I went with Daniel and Daniela to the Colegio Ecuatoriano de Arcitectos to see a musical group that specializes in pre-hispanic instruments.  All I can really say is that it was perhaps the strangest music I've ever heard in my life, but really cool nonetheless.  Afterwards, we went down to the Mariscal to see a really awesome reggae band, Kunta Sativa, at a really awesome bar, Este Cafe.  We grabbed some street food and wound down the night at a club filled with Ecuadorians (except for a group of kids from Texas A&M who were all really cool despite their unfortunate condition of being Aggies).

Great place

Today is Alex's 26th birthday and tomorrow is Daniel's 24th birthday, so there's going to be a party for both of them at my house today, so that should be a lot of fun.  In the meantime, I'm loving watching some Texas football and taking it easy this saturday.  I've been in Ecuador for a month now and I'm really loving it.

Hook 'Em!

Classes, Dances, and Zombies

Guápulo by day 

(I do not own this picture, nor did I take it, I got it from this guy... hopefully he won't sue me)

It's been a busy week.  On monday classes began at USFQ, and it's taken the whole week to finally figure out what classes I'm taking, but it's finally done.  My classes are as follows:

Portuguese: should be a lot of fun, but I am having some trouble grasping all the new sounds.  I'm also one of the only kids in the class who's not in his or her first year, so I feel a little out of place.

Buddhism: we meet every monday and wednesday in the pagoda/buddhist temple on campus and our professor (originally from France) teaches us meditation techniques and the history and theology of Buddhism.

Conflict and Resolution: so far this class has been awesome.  The professor is a bit strict, but he studied at Harvard under the top thinkers in the theory and practice of conflict, escalation, and resolution and is obviously very intelligent.  Half the readings for this class are in English and the classes themselves are discussion-driven.

Politics and thought of Ecuador: I haven't really gotten an impression of what this class is going to be like yet, but the professor tends to ramble and lack a coherent structure to lectures.  He's a former politician, and from what I've heard from people around GU, politicians are not always the most able professors.

The Latin American Literature Boom: I will have to read A LOT for this class; though I should come out of it with a much more extensive understanding of 20th century Latin American literature.  We will be reading 100 Years of Solitude (García Marquez), The City and the Dogs (Vargas Llosa), and Pedro Páramo (Rulfo) along with short stories by the likes of Borges, Cortázar, and Fuentes.

Now for the fun stuff.  On tuesday, five of us from GU went to the same bar in the Mariscal that we had visited the Saturday before; an English-style pub called Finn McCool's.  Every tuesday is trivia night at Finn McCool's, so we decided we would try our hand at some pub trivia.  It was $2 per person to enter and the first-place prize was a $50 gift certificate to the bar.  Our team, "Del Districto", placed second and won a free pitcher of beer.

Once friday finally arrived, we made our way out to the Mariscal once more to do some bar hopping.  I found that the three basic salsa steps that I know came very much in handy (all credit for this goes to Biana Tamimi for this).  The next morning(ish), we headed out to Quicentro, a mall in downtown Quito so Alex could try some ceviche.  We made are way down to Parque El Ejido to check out a market where various Quiteños peddle their wares.  Although half of the stuff at the market was pretty obviously not the work of "artisans," there were still many cool products (I didn't buy anything... I have 4 months to figure out what I'm bringing back with me).

In a small plaza in the park there was a large band playing traditional Andean music, along with dancers, and a lot of people dressed as zombies (more on that later).  We watched the band play for a while before three of us got pulled into the open area in front of the band to dance with the traditionally-clad Andean dancers (you might be sensing a pattern here).  After a couple of minutes of making a fool of myself in front of a large number of people, I retreated back into the crowd to enjoy the music in a more passive manner.

Now, more on the zombies.  On friday, I had lunch with a group that was probably half gringo and half Ecuadorian, and one of these Ecuadorians, Nico, had told me about the zombie walk.  The zombie walk is an event in which hundreds of people get together, dress up like zombies, and walk from Parque El Ejido to the mariscal, moaning and staggering as zombies do.  For those of you from Austin, this sort of activity probably doesn't seem all that out of the ordinary, but for my friends from all around the states, the zombie walk didn't seem to make a lot of sense (which is pretty much the point, anyway).  So, once we came upon the zombies in El Ejido (completely by accident), I couldn't resist.  Luckily Nico and Rafa (a couple of Ecuadorian guys I had met on friday) were there and willing to get all painted up.  So, perhaps to the shock of my fellow Americans, I put on some white facepaint, drizzled some fake blood out of my mouth onto my chin and forearms, and walked with the zombies from El Ejido to the Mariscal (pictures to come).

After heading home and showering, I went with my host brother, Daniel, to pick up his girlfriend, Daniela, in the Plaza Foch (the main plaza in the mariscal), where her parents sell handmade pottery.  I met what seemed like hundreds of Daniela's family members and we headed down to where the zombie walk had finished to watch the punk rock concert that was going on there for a little bit.  From there we took a cab to the top of a huge incline, and thus began our adventure in Guápulo.

The neighborhood of Guápulo is located on the west side of central Quito, and it is by far the coolest area of Quito I've seen so far.  We followed steep stone streets (built by the spanish conquistadors) down hundreds of feet to a bar called Cafe Guápulo.  The best way I can describe this bar is "an Ecuadorian Spider House."  Because that will probably only make sense to those of you who are under 30 and have lived in Austin, suffice it to say that the bar was very much a hipster hangout, with lots of cool art and thrown-together-at-the-last-minute attitude.  On the patio, once the fog cleared up, you could see hundreds of feet down the mountain where Guápulo is situated.  Daniel, Daniela, and I sipped Canelaza (a hot alcoholic beverage made with naranjilla juice and some sort of liquor), vino herviente (hot wine with orange slices), and pilsener on the patio while Creedence Clearwater Revival played on the bar's speakers (this, for me, was paradise).

From the bar we continued down the hill until we came across a stone cross which was supposedly supposed to be one of the seven crosses of Quito (I don't know what that is either).  There's a legend that if you stand on the wall across from the cross, with your back to it, make a wish, and hurl a small rock over your head and it lands either on top of or on the arms of the cross, your wish will come true.  We all tried our luck with the cross (none of us managed) and then continued hundreds of more feet down the hill until we reached a house where Daniela (who is the singer in Daniel's Salsa band, Mango Negro) had recorded some choruses for a local hip-hop group.  We talked for a while with one of Daniela's friends from the group, shared a beer, and then moved on down the road.

We finally arrived at the party, and were greeted by the sounds of "Música de Pueblo" (town music).  Behind a nondescript wall we found a neatly manicured lawn with a full band (from Cumbaya, where USFQ is located) and lots of people drinking and dancing.  The dance was nothing like the measured steps of Salsa or the traditional Andean dance that I had tried to imitate earlier that day.  There was lots of jumping, running, leg-kicking, forming giant circles with hands connected and running around together or running towards the center of the circle all at the same time until everybody crashed together at the center of the circle with a yell.  It was utter chaos; and, as you might've guessed, I got sucked right in.

Once the band finished, we made our way to the house, which could be better described as a castle, for more dance and drink.  Ecuadorians, as it turns out, are a bit pushy with alcohol (to put it mildly).  There was rarely a moment where I didn't have a drink in my hand, because if ANYONE saw that I was empty-handed, I would immediately be presented with another beverage.  After a few more hours of reaggaeton, salsa, and electronica, the crowd started to trickle out.  Daniel, Daniella, and I packed into a car with on of Daniel's cousins and his pregnant wife and finally made the long trek all the way back up the mountain to Quito.

Sorry about the incredibly long post, but I haven't been able to update in the last week or so and there's quite a lot that I want to remember about this week.  Sorry also for the lack of pictures, I haven't been good about taking my camera with me recently, but Chloe and Lara took a few at Finn McCool's and the zombie walk, so I should be able to upload those shortly.  Finally, a shout out to my sister, she's getting the word out about this super cool blog, so I thought I'd return the favor.  Check out her blog here.

Orientation, the Basilica, and the Mariscal

It's been a while since I've updated, so there's probably a lot I've forgotten already, but I'll do my best to do the last few days justice.  On Friday I got up at 6:30 to eat an early breakfast and walk down to the Estacion Rio Coca (which is basically my portal to the rest of Quito) and take the bus to Cumbaya and USFQ.  On the ride down (Cumbaya is in a valley below Quito) we were treated to a stunning view of Cotopaxi, a massive, snow capped volcano visible on clear days from Quito.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture, but I'll include one from Wikipedia for good measure.  As Lula and I entered through the school's gates, I was astounded by how unlike any American university USFQ is.  There's a large lagoon in the middle of the university accompanied by a zen buddhist-style temple.  The buildings are well maintained and are all painted bright colors.  After meeting up with some of the Americans I had met on my flight from Houston and some of my fellow Hoyas, we all headed into the theater in the "casa blanca" for orientation.

Cotopaxi

The orientation consisted of several talks about safety, health, politics, and culture.  The general theme was summed up by Daniel from the Office of International Programs (OIP) with these words: "You are not in Kansas anymore."  We were ensured that in our time in Quito we will have gastrointestinal distress (in great detail, I might add), and the representative from the US Embassy in Quito did his best to scare the living bejeezus out of everyone with his safety talk.

What was most interesting to me about the orientation, was the overt political bias held by both the president of the university (a graduate of Notre Dame) and many of his administrative officials.  Four of the six speakers that presented during our orientation were overtly anti-Correa (the current president of Ecuador and a former economics professor at USFQ).  Although I am no huge fan of Correa myself, the overt political stance struck me as strange, because the vast majority of my college professors have obviously put a lot of effort in remaining objective in political discourse (of course, some more than others).  That Correa openly talks about his disdain for USFQ and private education, and that the staff of USFQ makes no qualms about their view of the president reminds me that I really am living in what Samuel Huntington would call a "Praetorian Society" (sorry to go all SFS on you, but I couldn't resist).  The behavior of both the president and the university administration is indicative of the "naked political forces" and uninstitutionalized political discourse that characterize a "Praetorian Society."

On Saturday morning I met up with Alex Honjiyo, a fellow Hoya with whom I shared my "Latin American Government and Politics" class with last semester, Jamie Finch, an American student from Connecticut being hosted by Lula's daughter, and John Rosenberger, a senior at UNC.  We made our way down the Ecovía bus line with Lula, and she showed us where we could grab a taxi and make our way up a hill to Ichimbía, a large park with a nice view of the Centro Histórico.  From Ichimbia we headed down the hill to the massive Basílica del Voto Nacional, paid two dollars for entrance and climbed up a couple of the Basilica's towers for some stunning views of the city.

Quito from Ichimbía

The Basílica from Ichimbía

El Pichincha from the Basílica

By the time we left the Basilica it was 1:30, and we were all craving some almuerzo (which is the biggest meal of the day in Ecuador).  We walked down calle Venezuela until we found a little shop advertising almuerzos.  We were helped by a lady and her young son, who brought us cream of chicken soup with popcorn to add to the soup (which is apparently common practice in Ecuador).  Our second course consisted of rice with either chicken or beef and fresh-squeezed orange juice.  The best part about all of this is that lunch for four came out to $5.50.

Crema de Pollo with popcorn

After lunch we walked around the Centro Historico (of which you've already heard the details) and then we all headed back home for dinner.  In the evening I caught a cab with Alex and Jamie and we headed down to the Mariscal to meet a couple fellow Hoyas at a pub called Finn McCool's.  It was there where I had my first (probably of many) Pilsener (the primary Ecuadorian beer).  After an hour or two at the pub we decided to head towards the center of the Mariscal to check out some of the other bars.  These bars ended up being absurdly expensive ($6.50 for a cuba libre, even though the same drink at the pub had been $2.50), so we decided to catch taxis and head home.  We all thought our night had gone without any major hitches, that is until I got a call from Jamie around noon today asking if I had seen her cell phone.  Apparently it had gone missing sometime the night before, so the prospects of her finding it are close to none.  Thus is life in Quito, I guess.  Tomorrow I start classes at USFQ.

Simon Bolivar, the liberator

Stained Glass in the Basílica

Walkway we had to take to get to one of the towers

View from the top

We're the cingular bars

One of the Basílica's towers and North Quito

El Panecillo y la Virgen de Quito

The Presidential Palace

Liberty (apparently)

Dog barking from a balcony near my house

Coca Cola, made with cane sugar ($0.30)