An Ecuadorian Experience

Returned safely from Quito, Ecuador! First off, let me say that conferences are strangely strenuous, especially when you're in an unusually large group of people for socialization & really don't get any down time in a day that lasts from 7am-9pm. That said, so much fun, and so many great people!

Purpose of Conference: Gather all the Andean fulbrighters together to talk about our projects with like minds, see the similarities, differences between our countries, our experiences, have time to network, and potentially get feedback. We were put into groups of "like" topics. I was in Arts, Education, and Archeology. In our group was one archeologist studying Inca sacred sites in Peru, 2 girls from Ecuador studying education and class issues in the education systems (between indigenous populations and the hispanic schools), one musician from Columbia studying Afro-Columbian precussion, one anthropologist studying tea rituals & storytelling in the jungle in Ecuador, an artist doing an art history project on the history of women artists in Paraguay, and me. Very interesting discussions about language barriers in Quechua vs Spanish commuinities, indigenous rights and discrimination, how to stay objective in an immersion situation, and many other things (so many similarities).



There was also a "sight seeing" portion of the trip, where the Fulbright Coordinators wanted us to see the city and near by historical things. We went to the Colonial district of Quito, where we toured a few buildings (our tours lead by reenactors), took an Afro-Ecuadorian dance class, and saw a performance of traditional Ecuadorian dances.

Quito Cathedral

We went to the Equator and the monument to the Equator (the monument was built before GPS and when GPS was invented, was discovered to be in the wrong place). The Equator is a line on the ground. Woo.





Jeff (the glacier guy) doing a handstand on the equator


Monument that was not in the right place...


We went to an artisan market where most of what was there was just like what's here in Peru, except for these filigreed pieces of silver jewelry. We went to the hot springs.... We were supposed to go to the Cloud Forest in the Jungle to do volunteer work and go hiking and then a landslide happened blocking the road, so instead Hot Springs!!

Part of the experience of getting to know the country was eating lots of different types of Ecuadorian foods-- with which they took every chance they had to stuff us. Had an adventure to go with this part of the trip, as I warned them I'm allergic to Shellfish and for dinner one night were 3 dishes with shellfish. Managed to eat a bite or two of octapus before I realized what it was (I'd asked what it was and I heard "papas" and not "papas y pulpo," pulpo meaning octopus). So I ended up with an allergic reaction to dinner, had to go hunting for meds, not the best way to end the evening.

Last day was just for us to go running around before our flights. Went to the Telifereqo, a ski-lift like contraption that took us to the top of the highest mountain in Quito, where we could hike at 4100m and get a good view of the city.





What was left of our group Saturday Morning....


Then off to the Art Museum of Guayasmin. Guayasmin is the most famous artist to come out of Ecuador. During his life, he traveled around South America and the world and painted about the suffering and the hardships of the people. The paintings themselves were on a grandiose scale and were absolutely visceral in your experience. You felt the pain and hardship of the people he painted.

A Second Workshop in Sallac

I really do love working with this community. They're so organized and helpful! It ended up being Santa Thomas and Sallac this time, and if it had just been Sallac we've been done by 3, so wow.

Without further ado, pictures!!

Quito, Ecuador

Off to Ecuador for a week for the South American Fulbright Conference. This means ~50 Fulbright Grantees in a room together (which means we'll revert back to being normal 20-something as opposed to adult-acting grantees). Should be fun times. Photos when I return!

Article for the "In Our Words Blog"

So I wrote a piece for the In Our Words Blog (a queer blog about queer things) about Queer Invisibility in Peru. Go check it out here!

Return to Ica (Part 2)

Last day in Ica/Huacachina, we took the bright and early tour to Paracas, to the Isla Balletas to look at the birds!

Cool boats for fishing sardines/anchovies!






The dunes along the coast have a lot of iron in them, hence the red color...










There were 2 types of Cormorant, Humboldt Penguins, Pelicans, Blue Footed Boobies, and Sea Lions (not a bird but still found on the islands) Took a boat around the islands, took tonnes of pictures, was a little frightened by the sounds emanating from the sea lion beach (they make awful strange noises). Had some delicious fish for lunch (ahh the pleasures of being near the ocean!) before heading back to Huacachina.



Penguins!!








Sea Lions!






And then back on the beach after the tour... Pelicans!







17.5 hour bus ride back that evening. That was it's own adventure... Something I ate on the bus didn't agree with me. Hadn't gone away by the next morning, so I went to a Travel Clinic, only to discover I had an amoeba & salmonella. Proceeded to spend the next 2 nights in a Travel Clinic with an IV in my arm. le sigh. I'm happy to report I'm feeling MUCH better now.

AND! Go check out my flickr for more images that didn't find space in my blog!

Paper Count

4-16-12

Paper Count: 104

Sent all the leaves I had home in March with my girlfriend, now have another drawer full to send with my parents in May. And my mom's got leaves of her own at home she's been working on.

Slowly but surely.

A Return to Ica (part 1)

Sometimes I'm just lucky enough to do things I didn't think I'd be able to-- returning to Ica being at the top of my list here in Peru. I loved it so much the last time, however returning anywhere isn't easy here, as there's only so much time and so very much to see. However, Easter weekend in Peru is 4 days of parades and festivals, and I made the split second decision that I wanted to leave Cusco (all the roads near my house were closed for the week sometime on Monday, and it was going to be miserable with crowds of people if I stayed). So Thursday I went down to the Terminal Terestre and found a bus and left at 6pm that night, accompanied by Martine and Karen, two expats I know in Cusco who'd never been and decided I had the right idea leaving.





A 16 hour bus ride later and I was back! The dry heat was glorious and it was just as beautiful as I remembered it and I was just thrilled to be there.



Of course, there are drawbacks to traveling on holiday weekends-- there were about 2000 people in Huacachina (as opposed to the 3-4oo last time I was there) and alot of the activities had been postponed until Monday/Tuesday because the tour groups there were making so much money just doing Pisco Tours and Buggy rides. Determined to make it work anyway, we checked into Paleontology Tours &, assured that the guy who was running them this weekend would call us around 3pm, we headed out to Bodega del Catador for pisco tastings... Because what else are you supposed to do early afternoon while you're waiting to find out when you're fossil hunting?



As it happened, we got back just a bit before 3, and when we went to check in with our tour organizer, we found a Paleontologist. Apparently we were going to get a private tour! (Turned out it was a good thing most of the places weren't running the paleo tours because this was waaaay cooler). Bright and early the next morning we were to meet and go! So that meant the evening would be spent relaxing and taking in how beautiful it was there.

Desert at Sunset...


The paleontology tour was superb. Only thing better would've been if I could've stayed overnight in the desert. We went out into the Ocucaje Desert for about 4 hours with Paleontologist Mario Urbina (google him, you'll find tonnes of articles!) to look at fossilized whales.



















The whales we were looking at were aprox. 10million years old. We saw around 10 (probably a few more) during our trek. We saw sperm whales, a whale with baleen, and a handful of whales that have never been excivated & therefore have no names. So freaking awesome.