Tiputini

TIPUTINI BIODIVERSITY STATION--

Tiputini is located in eastern Ecuador, almost on the boarder of Peru. It is a biodiversity station created by my school, USFQ, and Boston University. It is deep in the Amazon rain forest. It took us seven hours to get there. We had to take an airplane, two bus rides and two boat rides. Though it was entirely worth it. It rained and stormed so much there, and I've realized how much I've missed the rain. I saw a lot of cool animals like caiman, a snake, tarantula, poisonous frogs, macaws and so many other birds I couldn't name them all. I ate ants that tasted like lemon. I ate a leaf that made my tongue blue. I saw the biggest moth in the world (jk, I don't know if it's the biggest, but it was huge.) I only took cold showers. I saw some terrifying spiders. We played with monkeys. I helped a turtle get to where it wanted to go. I climbed to the top of a tower and saw across the entire canopy of the Amazon. I crossed these sketchy bridges that would not be legal in the U.S. And last but not least, I floated the Tiputini River with caiman, piranha, and anacondas.

Mindo

Hey everyone!

Sorry it's taken me awhile to post something. I'm starting to get a lot of homework. The weekend before last,   (9/14) my friends Cari, Julie, Jesse, Arturo and I went to Mindo. Mindo is a little tourist town that has adventurous things to do. We left for Mindo at about 6:30 in the morning. And before I knew it then, I had already been ripped off. We all met at the Rio Coca bus station, and my taxi driver charged me four dollars. It should only take $2.50- 3 to get there from my house. But he jacked up his meter and I was running late so I didn't care. So I gave him a ten, and in exchange, he gave me a dollar coin and a FAKE FIVE. I paid 9 dollars to get to Rio Coca! So that was kind of upsetting. Anyway-- we arrived in Mindo about an hour and a half later. We had a great hostel, Casa de Cecilia.

Since we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted, we decided to go ziplining. It cost $15 and had 13 lines. We were able to do some crazy poses!

Arturo doing the Mariposa

Julie doing the Superman

Crazy taxi ride in the back of a truck!

The next morning we went on a five/ six mile hike! it was exhausting but completely worth it. There was one area were you could jump off a forty meter cliff into a river, and Julie and the boys did it! There was absolutely no way I was about to do it... so I got some good pictures :)

Arturo and Jesse on the cable ride to start our hike!

Arturo jumping in, Jesse watching

Fútbol Game, Otavalo, Galapagos Tickets

Hey all!

Well, another amazing week has passed by. Last Wednesday night my friends and I went out and had a great time. Friday was the Ecuador vs. Bolivia game! Some of my friends got tickets and went to the game at the Atahualpa Stadium. My friend Alex tried to get tickets for us, but he ended up standing in line for four hours without any luck. My friends who got tickets scalped them. That's what I'm going to try and do for the Chile game next month. That's going to be a huge game! We ended up beating Bolivia 1 to 0!!! Everyone went crazy and that night in La Mariscal, everyone was out wearing their jerseys. We had some beers at a bar while we watched the game.

These two guys play for the National Ecuadorian Basketball team!

Friday night was a lot of fun but also very sad. Our medical student friends that we went to Atacames with two weeks ago, left Friday night. I'm so glad we met them, they're such a crazy bunch. Thankfully, a few of them live in Oregon, and we have plans to meet up when we get back to Oregon. 

Saturday I had to wake up at 5:30 am! But it was worth it because we went to Otavalo. Otavalo is an indigenous town that has a huge market and it known worldwide. It's about an hour and a half drive away. The market is gigantic. I got lost in it. It's similar to Saturday market, they have trinkets and cute things, as well as clothes and all the food you could want. I got some gifts for my friends and my parents. I also got myself a llama sweater!

We stopped along the way to Otavalo

I love my friends

Otavalo- so many colors!

Cari, Julie and I with our llama sweaters!

The ride back home was exhausting but hilarious. You know when you are so tired you start to get really silly? That was just about everyone on our bus. We couldn't stop laughing the whole ride home. That night there was no way we could go out. I went to sleep at 10 and slept for twelve hours. Much needed. Sunday Cari and I went over to our friend Arturo's house with his friend Jesse to swim in his pool and go in the steam room. I can't tell you how much I wish I had a pool and a steam room. We had a lot of fun in the sun. Then at 6:30 pm, Arturo and I went to buy our Galapagos plane tickets. I only ended up getting my ticket because the mall closed at 8 pm. But... I'M GOING TO THE GALAPAGOS :) I'm so excited! It's a four day, three night trip that includes everything (hotels, rides to different islands, every meal, snorkeling equipment, etc.) and I leave October 26th! Other friends are meeting with the coordinator to buy their tickets today. The total price is about $900, which is an EXTREMELY good deal. I can't wait! 

Love,

Audrey

Artwork, Mitad del Mundo, Cuy

Hey all!

This past week has been crazy busy. There is more homework, sadly. Classes are still going really well, even if I sometimes make a fool of myself trying to speak Spanish. My three host siblings have been in the U.S. this past week, so the house has been pretty empty. My host parents work all day too. They come back around 8 or so to have dinner together, but then my host dad usually goes back to work and works at night. Their artwork is absolutely stunning. They just made three pieces of art for a church. Here is an unfinished one, about to go in the kiln. This is the biggest one of the three.

On Saturday, we went to the international students welcome party. Basically, we drove two hours to a small town, did some obstacle course races, and started drinking at 10 am. I don't think the trip was really worth it, it was okay, but not worth twenty five dollars. Our money does go to charity though :) One of the events was climbing a thirty foot tall, wooden poll. Not everyone had to do it of course, but after about my second beer I decided why not. AND I DID IT :) I climbed all the way to the top! It was really difficult and I kind of  burnt the top part of my foot when I slid down. My friends and I started thinking how unsafe and laid back this party was. People were drunk, climbing a thirty foot poll, without any support or anything. I feel like an organized school event like that would never happen in the United States! The party went on forever also, it didn't end until 5 or 6 pm. 

That night I slept over at my friend Cari's house in Batan Alto. We went out and had a great time, and then got breakfast in the morning with our friend Julie. We quickly organized a trip to Mitad del Mundo, which means middle of the world. We went to the equator :) Except now that GPS has been invented, they can tell that the real equator is about 200 meters away from the one we went to. Oh well.

Me, Kirsten, Taylor, Alex and Cari

Both going there (about an hour and a half) and coming back we got semi lost on the buses. Coming back, Kirsten and I got really lost and took a bus going north when we definitely needed to be going south. So we got off and took a taxi all the way home. So much of my money has gone to taxis! We had lunch at Mitad, and the guys split some cuy. Cuy is guinea pig, and it's really expensive here. It's about twenty dollars. I tried some, and it tastes similar to chicken, but it's really chewy. 

They split the cuy in half and then cooked it.

We left at about 1 pm and got back around 8 pm. That trip was only slightly worth it also. But this Saturday we're going to Otavalo, which is a huge market where the indigenous people sell their things. Everyone who has been there has told me to bring at least one hundred dollars, because there's so many cool things there and it's the perfect place to buy gifts. :) 

Until later,

Audrey