Back in the States...

Back in the good ol’ USA… I arrived back in the States last Wednesday afternoon, and have since been trying to get things in order here – I still have some researching/writing to do for my final paper that’s due in September, and have also been trying to squeeze in visits with my friends in Indianapolis before I head back to Bryn Mawr on the 29^th. 

Sunset in Quito

My last week in Ecuador was pretty great, as it included a trip to the beach! After some ticket drama and some bus-sickness (I thought I was going to be sick because of the curves and how fast our bus was going), we made it to Manta at 6am on Friday morning and from there caught a bus to Puerto Lopez. There were 6 of us in total, so it was a bit difficult to find a hostal because a lot of Ecuadorians are on vacation this time of year, but we eventually found a place, went out for breakfast and then rented some bikes to go to a nearby national park/beach. 

Puerto Lopez

No more than 3 minutes en route to Los Frailes (the national park/beach), my bike got a flat tire. I’m pretty sure that something was wrong with the bike to begin with because one of my friends also had problems with her bike. Luckily, there are motorcycle taxis everywhere in Puerto Lopez, so Sandra and I took a taxi with our bikes to the beach and waited for the boys to arrive pedaling (I think my friend underestimated how long of a bike ride this was). The beach was gorgeous! The waves were quite large, so we didn’t really get to do much swimming, but we enjoyed hiking up to a lookout point and eating ice cream.

View from the lookout point at Los Frailes

The group!

Los Frailes

Back in Puerto Lopez, we returned the bikes and went back to the hostal to rest a little bit. Galindo and I enjoyed piña coladas while watching the sunset and then all of us went out to dinner. I had some kind of good fish (no idea what it was, though) and everyone else had breaded shrimp. The waterfront in Puerto Lopez is lined with small little huts selling drinks and sandwiches, so we went back there at night for drinks and dancing. The weather was perfect – not too cold, yet not too hot – so we enjoyed ourselves there, but went to bed rather early in preparation for our whale watching adventures the next morning!

Watching the sunset in Puerto Lopez

I had my heart set on visiting Isla de la Plata (Island of Silver – it got its name because of the guano on its cliffs that supposedly glows in the dark at night), an island about an hour away from Puerto Lopez, so I left at 9:30am on a tour to go there, whereas my friends only went whale-watching closer to Puerto Lopez. There were about 16 other people on my tour, and we bonded over trying not to get seasick on the rather choppy ride out to the island. The journey was well worth it, however, as we got to see blue-footed boobies and frigates and enjoy gorgeous views from our hike to the highest point of the island! The blue-footed boobies are so used to tourists that you can literally get within 1 foot of them! We probably could have touched them, but nobody wanted to risk being bitten with no medical facilities around! They do a little dance as part of their mating process, and the males give the females little twigs and stones as presents. So cute!

Doing their little dance

A blue-footed booby egg!

We saw a sea turtle while eating lunch on the boat, and then went snorkeling for a little bit. I saw a couple of colorful fish, but it was hard to see much more because the water was a little sandy, so we didn’t stay around for very long. On the way back to Puerto Lopez, we got to see humpback whales! They’re there from about June-September, but August is prime viewing time! Originally we were watching a male and a female, but then another male joined the group, so we got to watch 3 whales swim around for about 20 minutes or so. We all had our cameras out during that time, but of course we put them away once we resumed the journey back, so we missed the prime picture opportunity which was a huge humpback whale jumping out of the water in the distance about 15 minutes later! It was incredible to see – they’re huge creatures, so seeing one jump out of the water was just amazing. 

Isla de la Plata

Humpback whale

I met up with my friends in the nearby town of Montañita after I got back from my tour and after some kind of shower fiasco at our new hostal (the water came out of the electric showerhead black and with an electric current – I passed on showering until they fixed it), we went out to dinner. I had the best shrimp with coconut sauce ever! It was probably one of the better meals I’ve had in my life, so I was a pretty happy camper. Montañita is a big party town, so we went out that night, although in retrospect, I think we enjoyed the more laid-back atmosphere of Puerto Lopez better.

I’d never had ceviche before, but we ate some on the beach the next morning for breakfast and it was delicious! The boys went body-boarding, and Sandra and I enjoyed laying in chairs under an umbrella on the beach with our fruity drinks and newly purchased sunglasses. We stopped for incredible fruit salads on the way back to the hostal from the beach, and then caught the bus back to Puerto Lopez in the afternoon in order to eat dinner and catch our bus back to Quito. 

Ceviche on the beach

We bought the sunglasses, but not that hats!

The bus ride back to Quito was hair-raising, to say the least. I’d taken motion sickness medicine because of my experience on the way to the beach, so I was quite drowsy, but could still feel that we were going rather fast. My friends were in disbelief about how fast this bus driver was going, especially with all of the curves on the road! You know it’s bad when the Ecuadorians themselves complain! We had left Puerto Lopez at 8pm, and the bus was supposed to take 10 hours to arrive in Quito, but instead, we got there in 7.5 hours at 3:30am. We all slept at my apartment for a little bit, and then my friends left to go back to Yunguilla in the morning.

Body-boarding in Montañita

I spent Monday sleeping and doing laundry, and then on Tuesday I cleaned the apartment and packed. Galindo came to go out to dinner on Tuesday evening and then we went to the airport after lugging all of my luggage down to the street (a very steep walk) because no taxi company wanted to send a taxi to the apartment, grrr. I was of course quite sad at the airport, and matters were made worse when I went through customs. Before I left for Ecuador in June, I had called the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to make sure that everything would be fine with my 90-day tourist visa taking into account how many days I’d been in the country last summer. The woman checked my specific dates and told me that everything was fine. False. As soon as the man at the customs counter in Quito scanned my passport, he told me that I’d overstayed my visa. They brought the police over and made photocopies of my passport, but assured me that everything was fine, I just couldn’t return to the country for 9 months. I didn’t have to pay a fine, but I told them that the next time I’d be returning to the country, it could be to live/work there, so I’d rather not have a record of overstaying a visa. They assured me that it’d be no problem. I probably should’ve gotten that in writing, just like my conversation with the woman at the Ecuadorian Embassy in D.C....

I had an overnight flight to Miami, but ended up spending most of the 4 hours crying and moping, not sleeping. Ecuador is a truly incredible place with amazing people, and I’ve been so fortunate to call it home for the past 9 weeks and been able to make 4 trips there over the past 5 years. I’m re-adjusting to life back in the States, but I look forward to going back to Ecuador as soon as possible and potentially living/working there in the future. 

Full moon in Quito

I’m off to D.C. with my parents on August 29^th to pick-up my stuff and visit with Ted and Nancy, and then we’re off to Bryn Mawr the next morning to move-in and for me to attend my Spanish teaching assistant workshop. I can’t believe it’s already my senior year! Because I was interning in D.C. this past semester, I’m really excited to see everyone again, but know that the year is going to be full of lots of work (i.e. thesis) and challenges (i.e. finding a job for post-graduation). My commencement ceremony (*fingers crossed*) is Saturday, May 18^th, to which you’re all invited! Thank you all for reading and allowing me to share my experiences with you this summer, I hope you’ve enjoyed it!

Xoxo,

Maggie

A Zelonis Family Vacation

Where to begin…! I think it’s going to be easiest for me to go day by day so that I don’t forget anything…

Wednesday: I met my parents at the Quito airport around 7:30pm and we took a taxi back to the apartment. After a long hike up the stairs with the suitcases, we ate a light dinner and they got settled in.

Thursday (Mom’s birthday): Today was spent exploring the historic center of Quito. We ventured up to the top of el Panecillo, visited several churches and got a tour of the Presidential Palace. At night, we went to La Marsical, the touristy area of the city, for some contemporary Ecuadorian food for our birthday dinner!

The birthday girl with her birthday flowers!

On the balcony of the Presidential Palace

The Ecuadorian flag!

Friday (My birthday): We visited the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man), which houses some of Oswaldo Guayasamin’s artwork. He’s one of Ecuador’s most famous artists, and we also got to explore the patio area of his former house before being kicked out by the people who maintain the property! After a pizza lunch, we visited the Quito Botanical Garden with its many species of orchids and other native plants. I spent the evening of my 21^st birthday playing cards with my Mom at the apartment. Wooo!

At Capilla del Hombre

Not your typical 21st birthday...

Saturday: We woke up early to take the bus to Otavalo, one of the largest indigenous markets in South America. Lots of colors and lots of people selling everything you could possibly dream of! We shopped for a while, ate lunch at a nice Colombian restaurant and then took the bus to the Quito Zoo. The Zoo houses primarily Ecuadorian animals, my favorite of which was the 3-toed sloth. I got really close to touching it, but then the zookeeper told us we had to wait for the tour to enter the exhibit area. I was still quite a happy camper though, as I got to be within 2 feet of my favorite animal!

Little monkey with his hands on his knees

Sloth!!

Sunday: Today we made the trek (the bus stops to let people off/pick people up every 30 seconds so it takes forever) to Yunguilla, the community where I lived last summer. My parents stayed with German, Sonia and their daughter Camila. German is the coordinator of the community’s corporation, so he speaks some English, and knows a lot about the community and surrounding area. We took a trip back out to Calacalí, where they’re in their month of parties to celebrate their founding, to see the bulls. Bullfighting is illegal in Ecuador, so this is just people who want to getting in an arena with a bull and running away from it when it comes after them. Some people sustained minor injuries, but the rest seemed to run away pretty readily from the bull instead of egging it on. We had a nice dinner with German and Sonia, and then my parents got to see the incredible night sky that I can never take a good picture of while in Yunguilla. So many stars!

The clown bull "fighter"

Sunset on our way back to Yunguilla from the bulls

Monday: We woke up early to go to the mirador, or lookout point, about 30 minutes away from Yunguilla via car. You can see 7 volcanoes from that point if it’s not cloudy! It’s an absolutely incredible view. We then came back and Galindo gave us a tour of the community’s farm, which includes the cheese and marmalade factories and the orchid greenhouse. We left after lunch with the family I lived with last summer and made it back to Quito for some grocery shopping and dinner.

View from the lookout point

Stop at the Equator on the way back to Quito!

Tuesday: After some shopping in the morning at one of Quito’s very modern malls, we visited the National Museum. Lots of ancient artifacts from all over Ecuador, an excellent collection of gold pieces and some religious art (of which I’m not really a fan). We returned to La Mariscal for some more souvenir shopping at a store that only sells products made in Ecuador and then took a taxi to Guapulo, a lookout point from which you can see the valley on the Eastern side of Quito (it’s home to the city of Cumbayá and the new airport that is scheduled to open in October). From there, we walked down to the church, which supposedly has a nice collection of artwork, but unfortunately it had just closed, so we had to settle for postcards.

Ceramics at the National Museum

Gold at the National Museum

View from the Guapulo lookout point

Wednesday: We left for Mindo this morning, which is about a 2-hour bus ride away from Quito. It’s at a lower altitude than Quito, so it was a bit warmer and much more humid. We ate breakfast at El Quetzal, a small chocolate factory owned by an American-Ecuadorian couple, and then took off for the waterfalls. After a bumpy truck ride and a cable car ride across to another mountain, we hiked to several waterfalls. Everything surrounding us while we were hiking was green. Well, except for the bugs, which always seem to like my blood better than anybody else’s! We returned in time for a tour of the chocolate factory and then went out for dinner. My parents stayed in a room at El Quetzal and I stayed at a nice little hostel down the street that’s popular with backpackers.

Cable car ride to the waterfall trails

Thursday: Mom woke up early (i.e. 4:30am) to go and see the birds for which Mindo is famous! I enjoyed sleeping in, and then Dad and I went to go see a small hummingbird garden. We then met back up at the butterfly garden/farm before heading back into town for some quick shopping and lunch before our bus back to Quito.

Hummingbird in Mindo

Friday: We spent the last day visiting Guayasamin’s other museum in Quito, which houses more of his artwork, along with his collection of religious art and pre-Colombian artifacts. His work is truly spectacular, and I’m excited to have bought several prints to hang up in my dorm room back at Bryn Mawr in the Fall! We ate some delicious crepes for lunch and then came back to the apartment to pack. I took my parents to the airport, where Galindo met us to say goodbye. I couldn’t accompany them into the check-in area, which might have been for the better because they had several flight problems which led to heated conversations (read: screaming and yelling) with the airline employees. They made it to Guayaquil, and then to Miami, and finally to Indianapolis, however, so all is well, it was just unfortunate that they had to end their trip on a kind of sour note.

Yunguilla :)

I spent this past weekend in Yunguilla, which was lovely, as always. We didn’t go to see the bulls again, though, so I unfortunately missed my chance at becoming a bull “fighter”. We played lots of cards (Galindo’s friend’s 15 year old son from Quito is staying with them, so I taught him how to play Phase 10, my favorite card game), swung on the swings in the community’s farm, watched soccer and volleyball and I tried to finish all of my food (they always give you so much!!).

Swinging in Yunguilla

I’m now back in Quito and am starting to realize that I only have two weeks left. I don’t regret changing my flight because I know that I’ll need the time back in Indianapolis to work on writing my final research paper, but I already know that I’m going to miss Ecuador quite a bit when I get back. It was fun to be able to show my parents the places that I love so much, and overall, I think that they enjoyed it (minus the flight back)! I’m off to the beach next weekend with some friends to see humpback whales and blue-footed boobies, so I’m super excited! I need to do some more reading, writing and figuring out of my life (i.e. fellowship applications) before then, but I think it’s going to be a fun way to end my time here. Will try to get another blog post in before I head back, but no promises! -Maggie

The Zelonis Family in Ecuador!

Halfway Point

Can’t believe I have less than a month left in Ecuador…!

It was also interesting to see how academic events are structured here. The event, of course, started on “la hora ecuatoriana” (Ecuadorian time), which, unlike Bryn Mawr time (where events start 10 minutes after their scheduled start time), can range anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. The question and answer portion at the end of the panel was also structured a bit differently than what I’m used to. Instead of answering each question after it’s asked, the moderator fields 3-4 questions from the audience and then allows the panelists each to respond to different aspects of those questions. I found it to be a bit confusing, as not all of the questions were addressed by the panelists and there didn’t seem to be a logical structure that the panelists were following in answering the questions. As I was walking out after the panel, I was approached by someone who looked to be my age asking me where I was from. I think I probably rolled my eyes, as I’ve become so tired of being approached by people (especially men) here who can obviously tell that I’m not Ecuadorian. After explaining where I was from and what I was doing in Ecuador, I asked if he was a student at FLACSO. Turns out he was actually Spanish and in Quito for the summer for an internship. We ended up going out for a bite to eat and discovered that we both have similar interests, and as we are both visitors in Quito, made plans for later in the week.

I don’t know any Americans here in Ecuador, so my 4^th of July was relatively quiet. I returned to FLACSO for the presentation of a book titled “21^st Century Rural Ecuador”. This event started a grand 40 minutes late, but was neat in that it had a wide range of panelists, including the Ecuadorian Minister of Agriculture, the President of an Indigenous organization and a representative from a women’s rights group. They also gave us a free copy of the book at the end of the event, so I’m excited to begin skimming through it to see if it has any information that can be of use in my research.

That night, I was able to watch a spectacular fireworks display from my balcony. I’m assuming it was probably a production of the US Embassy here in Quito, but I have no idea. Happy belated birthday, America! US-Ecuadorian relations are a bit tense at the moment (Ecuador hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for example, this past January, and is also debating granting asylum to WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange), but people here, in my opinion, have a generally favorable view of Americans (just not our Government). 

4th of July fireworks

Carefully balanced fruit

On Saturday afternoon (which was gorgeously sunny and a good 82 degrees warm), I did some exploring around the neighborhood, including walking through the nearby German cemetery. Why there’s a German cemetery here, I have no idea. It was gorgeous, however, with each person having their own mini-garden along with their tombstone. I also went for a $6 pedicure, and I think that the woman had never seen feet my size before!

A gorgeous tombstone in the German cemetery

Sunflowers

Mini-gardens

I ventured up to Yunguilla on Sunday afternoon to watch my friends play soccer (they won 4-2) and spend time with the community. I went to one of the community’s corporation meetings, which in typical Ecuadorian fashion lasted more than two hours and was completely disorganized (everyone speaks at the same time, there’s no agenda, etc.). They’re always fun, though, because I love seeing how things work in other places and what the rationale is behind the corporation’s various decisions (i.e. how to make the marmalade better, whether they should continue making cheeses, whether they need more administrative support so that things can run more smoothly, etc.).

Yunguilla

My new friend!

I barely slept on Sunday night because of the crazy roosters, but enjoyed spending time with my friend’s mom on Monday morning sorting beans and listening to her stories. I asked her about el buen vivir, and while she’s generally supportive of President Correa, I don’t think she really had an understanding of what it was in terms of the 2008 Constitution. She’s one of the kindest people, and while she’s the same age as my Mom, she looks much older, partially because she’s raised nine kids, but also because of the manual labor she does every day. It’s truly incredible to think of all the work the women in rural Ecuador do each day. They clean the house, they cook (when I woke up at 7am on Monday morning, she had already made potato and yucca soup), they hand wash all of the family’s clothing, they tend to the animals (in this family’s case, this includes guinea pigs, chickens and pigs, as well as the random dogs and cats) and they plant and harvest food. She mentioned that one British tourist who stayed with their family a couple of years ago had told her that in the UK, they bought soup in cans at the grocery store. To her, this was unimaginable. Yes, she’s seen soup in cans before, but she just couldn’t believe that it was healthy for those cans to sit on the grocery store shelves for months because they contained vegetables, and in some cases, meat. I had to agree – it’s a bit absurd when you think about the chemicals required to keep food like that edible for so long. It’s hard though, because with the way our society is set-up, not everyone has time to grow their own vegetables and raise their own chickens, yet alone prepare fresh soup several times a week. As I ate my bread and fresh Yunguilla marmalade for breakfast this morning back in Quito, I thought about how great it was that I knew exactly where those chigualcan fruits (there should be a picture of them somewhere on my blog from last summer) had been grown and that I knew the women who had prepared this marmalade. It made my food taste so much better, and I wish I could say that I knew where everything I eat comes from, but alas I’ll have to settle for working on that as I return to the States in August.

My friend's house

This poor little guy got stepped on by a big rooster and so my friend's family was taking care of him

Yunguilla :)

Tonight I’m off to see “The Fog of War”, a documentary about former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. And then tomorrow evening, my parents arrive! Their flight is scheduled to arrive at 6:30pm, so hopefully they’ll be able to get a good view of the mountains as their plane descends before the sun sets. We have plans to explore Quito, celebrate our birthdays (my Mom’s is the 12^th and mine is the 13^th), travel to Yunguilla and shop at the largest indigenous market in South America in Otovalo. Should be a good time, with me playing tour guide/translator for the 9 days they’re here! Hope everyone is well! -Maggie

And my weekly food picture: A white carrot (not a parsnip) fried thing that I made