Meredith and I are in Piura from now until next Wednesday. Let me explain what we're doing.
We are volunteering at an elementary school; Meredith is going to do some workshops about eating healthy and washing hands, and I am going to teach some hand-drumming.
We sat in on some classes today, to meet the kids and get a feel for the school, and it was CRAZY. Kids touching my hair, shaking my hand, saying "Koose Morniz" (good morning), but mostly asking me to write my name in their notebooks and draw hearts and animals in their notebooks.
I know it's bad to pick favorites, but so far my favorite is this girl named Gladys, which is also the name of mi abuela.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
this is actually a rushed email that i just sent my parents, but i figured i would share
today Mara, Alex, Alyssa, Joe and I went to Loch Lomond. We took a train at about 9.30 and when we got to Balloch (the town) we found a farmer's market and bought fresh scones and cheese and shortbread, mmmmmmm. There was a lot of fresh fish i wanted to buy but I couldn't have kept it cold all day.
Then we found the old "castle" which is really just a castley looking estate house. It's in the middle of the city park and very beautiful. Then we went on a cruise on the Loch and that was very beautiful.
I was tired and went home, but the others went on a whiskey tour in another town.
But yeah, it was a good day and I think we will see the stirling castle tomorrow!
love yall
Monday, October 12, 2009
Collegian Column #3
I invented a constellation.
I spotted it the night we camped next to Laguna Limpiopungo. The lake is so high—12,500 feet—and the night sky was so crystalline after a stainless steel sunset that I found myself able, for the first time, to connect the dots and animate the astral menagerie: a tiger, a grasshopper, a salt shaker, a bowman; a monkey king in a golden crown. My spouting volcano.
The sight of this night sky, over many years and many millennia, must have seeped into the land and the people who live in the valley below. In fact it’s just one long valley that runs the entire length of Ecuador, nearly straight north–south, framed by two mountain ranges called the Eastern and Western Cordilleras. Everything encompassed by these three parallel lines seems astrotropic, reaching up always towards the stars.
Many of the buildings naturally reach for the sky. The tallest structures in Quito and Guayaquil qualify as skyscrapers. Every church in every town signposts a path upwards, their crosses looking like arrows strung and waiting to be fired. I remember seeing in Baños, perched up on a hill, a giant neon-encrusted cross that, when lit at night, functioned like a prayer candle burning for the whole town. In a Catholic country like Ecuador, church spires and crosses are only the most overt attempt to touch the heavens. The summit of one mountain, Chimborazo, is the farthest point outward from the center of the Earth.
There is also an accidental kind of flora that can be found nearly everywhere here, on buildings of every size and age. It consists typically of a column of cement bricks and mortar, topped with a plume of rebar extending six to eight feet up into the air, swaying sometimes in the stronger breezes. So many buildings are unfinished, begun when a little extra money is had, and planned for ambitiously. No building ever seems designed to be only one story, though many end up that way. At some point the construction stops, occasionally leaving a second or third floor with no walls and a stairway to nowhere. Children play here. When an abandonment is particularly fresh it seems nearly possible to pinpoint, down to the very second, when the last penny was expended.
Once I saw from a bus one of these buildings, with stands of rebar forming a five-by-eight matrix on its flat cement roof. Some of the posts were so tall as to be drooping or twisting, and one would reach out into space to touch the hand of another, looking when taken together like dancers engaged in a vibrant twirl.
The women in Cotopaxi province wear feather-banded fedoras; looking at one from above in a store window was like looking at a topographical map of Ecuador, with its two ridges and crease in between. More properly, Ecuador looks like a pair of hands pressed together upward in prayer, each city draped along the valley floor like a string of glistening rosary beads. All this has made me feel conspicuous, more aware of my being lapsed. Have I been missed?
I wonder if the thugs who robbed Ming and Travis at knifepoint in Cuenca weren’t somehow asking us to join this nation in prayer, arms raised and palms out to the stars above us.
I spotted it the night we camped next to Laguna Limpiopungo. The lake is so high—12,500 feet—and the night sky was so crystalline after a stainless steel sunset that I found myself able, for the first time, to connect the dots and animate the astral menagerie: a tiger, a grasshopper, a salt shaker, a bowman; a monkey king in a golden crown. My spouting volcano.
The sight of this night sky, over many years and many millennia, must have seeped into the land and the people who live in the valley below. In fact it’s just one long valley that runs the entire length of Ecuador, nearly straight north–south, framed by two mountain ranges called the Eastern and Western Cordilleras. Everything encompassed by these three parallel lines seems astrotropic, reaching up always towards the stars.
Many of the buildings naturally reach for the sky. The tallest structures in Quito and Guayaquil qualify as skyscrapers. Every church in every town signposts a path upwards, their crosses looking like arrows strung and waiting to be fired. I remember seeing in Baños, perched up on a hill, a giant neon-encrusted cross that, when lit at night, functioned like a prayer candle burning for the whole town. In a Catholic country like Ecuador, church spires and crosses are only the most overt attempt to touch the heavens. The summit of one mountain, Chimborazo, is the farthest point outward from the center of the Earth.
There is also an accidental kind of flora that can be found nearly everywhere here, on buildings of every size and age. It consists typically of a column of cement bricks and mortar, topped with a plume of rebar extending six to eight feet up into the air, swaying sometimes in the stronger breezes. So many buildings are unfinished, begun when a little extra money is had, and planned for ambitiously. No building ever seems designed to be only one story, though many end up that way. At some point the construction stops, occasionally leaving a second or third floor with no walls and a stairway to nowhere. Children play here. When an abandonment is particularly fresh it seems nearly possible to pinpoint, down to the very second, when the last penny was expended.
Once I saw from a bus one of these buildings, with stands of rebar forming a five-by-eight matrix on its flat cement roof. Some of the posts were so tall as to be drooping or twisting, and one would reach out into space to touch the hand of another, looking when taken together like dancers engaged in a vibrant twirl.
The women in Cotopaxi province wear feather-banded fedoras; looking at one from above in a store window was like looking at a topographical map of Ecuador, with its two ridges and crease in between. More properly, Ecuador looks like a pair of hands pressed together upward in prayer, each city draped along the valley floor like a string of glistening rosary beads. All this has made me feel conspicuous, more aware of my being lapsed. Have I been missed?
I wonder if the thugs who robbed Ming and Travis at knifepoint in Cuenca weren’t somehow asking us to join this nation in prayer, arms raised and palms out to the stars above us.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Hey everyone. Haven´t written in a while, here´s a bit of an update...
katie, ari and I spent 2ish weeks in cusco doing a spanish school and living witha host family. Overall I enjoyed it, although all of us were happy to get out of the big city and explore more rural areas. We went to Machu Picchu on a 4 day trek that was biking and hiking and some hot springs, lot of fun, met a cool Australian couple. MP had tons of tourists, but I loooovved it and would like to go back again some day. i feel like i didnt even begin to comprehend it. Ari was the toughest one of us all, she was sick the first day of hiking and got terrible blisters but was a total trooper. we also visited some smaller towns in the sacred valley, like Pisac and Ollantaytanbo, which have spectacular ruins and mountains and artesania.
Then we went to Arequipa, in southern peru, which is the country´s biggest city. We did a 3 day hike through colca canyon, which was also very spectacular, relaxing. the women wear really beautiful elaborate clothing, unique to the region. didnt spend much time in the city.
then we bussed it down to Nazca, and saw the nazca lines, very mysterious and cool. we went in a tiny plane which was fun.oh and katie got her camera and other stuff stolen on the night bus from cuzco to arequipa, which is a big bummer. watch your bags on the night buses! ps.. cuzco´s original name in quechua is q´osqo. It means center of the earth, i think. the spanish changed it to cuzco because they couldnt pronounce it right, which apparently is a word for a little dog or puppy.
after nazca, went to paracas, on the coast south of lima, and the islas ballestas, saw penguins and sealions and lots of pelicans and their shit. we made a random friend named fernando who was this stoner jewelry maker guy who lived on a tent on the beach.
THEN we went to lima, hung out there for a few hours before getting on the bus to huaraz. I actualy started to really like Lima, its really big and bustling and crazy.
So we got to huaraz this morning after our 4th all night bus. phew. we are sick of buses! but this place is pretty cool. Tons of trekking opportunities here, but less expensive and touristy than the sacred valley. And amazaing mountains, cant wait to explore. after this, we will be meeting up with ming trav bri mer in....chiclayo i think. hasta pronto guys!
katie, ari and I spent 2ish weeks in cusco doing a spanish school and living witha host family. Overall I enjoyed it, although all of us were happy to get out of the big city and explore more rural areas. We went to Machu Picchu on a 4 day trek that was biking and hiking and some hot springs, lot of fun, met a cool Australian couple. MP had tons of tourists, but I loooovved it and would like to go back again some day. i feel like i didnt even begin to comprehend it. Ari was the toughest one of us all, she was sick the first day of hiking and got terrible blisters but was a total trooper. we also visited some smaller towns in the sacred valley, like Pisac and Ollantaytanbo, which have spectacular ruins and mountains and artesania.
Then we went to Arequipa, in southern peru, which is the country´s biggest city. We did a 3 day hike through colca canyon, which was also very spectacular, relaxing. the women wear really beautiful elaborate clothing, unique to the region. didnt spend much time in the city.
then we bussed it down to Nazca, and saw the nazca lines, very mysterious and cool. we went in a tiny plane which was fun.oh and katie got her camera and other stuff stolen on the night bus from cuzco to arequipa, which is a big bummer. watch your bags on the night buses! ps.. cuzco´s original name in quechua is q´osqo. It means center of the earth, i think. the spanish changed it to cuzco because they couldnt pronounce it right, which apparently is a word for a little dog or puppy.
after nazca, went to paracas, on the coast south of lima, and the islas ballestas, saw penguins and sealions and lots of pelicans and their shit. we made a random friend named fernando who was this stoner jewelry maker guy who lived on a tent on the beach.
THEN we went to lima, hung out there for a few hours before getting on the bus to huaraz. I actualy started to really like Lima, its really big and bustling and crazy.
So we got to huaraz this morning after our 4th all night bus. phew. we are sick of buses! but this place is pretty cool. Tons of trekking opportunities here, but less expensive and touristy than the sacred valley. And amazaing mountains, cant wait to explore. after this, we will be meeting up with ming trav bri mer in....chiclayo i think. hasta pronto guys!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Cuenca
We are now in Cuenca. Guayaquil was nice, but there's truly not that much
for the average tourist to see. Cuenca seems amazing, Travis and Ming's robbery at
knifepoint notwithstanding. I'm liking the large numbers of museums with
attached bookstores, and the quality coffee shops.
Also, we went to a convent; you can't go inside, but you can go to a
little revolving cabinet and buy things the nuns make. We bought a bottle
of radish syrup, just to try something crazy sounding. It tastes exactly
like you might imagine--sweet syrup with a hint of radish. Not at all
unpleasant.
Then later we went to a little store that I read makes their own fruit
liquors. We bought a little bottle of Licor de Mora, which is sweet and
good (and cheap!) and the lady behind the counter offered, out of the
blue, to show us their home. It was beautiful, with a central open air
hallway and many branch rooms. They showed us where they make the liquor,
and where they bake shit--very beautiful.
for the average tourist to see. Cuenca seems amazing, Travis and Ming's robbery at
knifepoint notwithstanding. I'm liking the large numbers of museums with
attached bookstores, and the quality coffee shops.
Also, we went to a convent; you can't go inside, but you can go to a
little revolving cabinet and buy things the nuns make. We bought a bottle
of radish syrup, just to try something crazy sounding. It tastes exactly
like you might imagine--sweet syrup with a hint of radish. Not at all
unpleasant.
Then later we went to a little store that I read makes their own fruit
liquors. We bought a little bottle of Licor de Mora, which is sweet and
good (and cheap!) and the lady behind the counter offered, out of the
blue, to show us their home. It was beautiful, with a central open air
hallway and many branch rooms. They showed us where they make the liquor,
and where they bake shit--very beautiful.
roamin' round the higlands
Hello all. I can only imagine what all of yall are doing right this moment. I, currently, am sitting in my little dorm box doing everything in my power to keep focusing on my homework... oops, now I'm writing a blog. Oh well. I am currently in four literature classes and boy do they expect the reading. My homework load is currently, and will probably continue to be, four novels a week. Holy macaroni.
If I am not sleeping, eating or in class, then I am reading... or trying to force myself to focus on reading. Whoever said studying abroad was easier lied to me.
BUT, all of this reading has made socializing better than ever. I SUPER enjoy going out to pubs at night after a long day of intellectual labor. And weekend trips are so much fun. It's like exhaling after holding your breath a long time.
Last weekend I went on a trip with the mountaineering club. We went to a part of the highlands called Glencoe. It. Was. Beautiful. But it was also the giver of pouring rain, hail, and 100mph winds. Hiking in that was fantastic, and dare I say it "broke the ice" between all us participants. Hahaha.
We had a really good group on the trip. Everyone was super chill, open and friendly. I especially made friends with a group of Frenchies namely Aude, Gauthier and Antoine. They talk alot about France and frankly it makes me really want to go there. I also got to meet a lot of locals, meaning Scottish people. They are really cool as well. I felt pretty successful having met them on that trip because it was pretty much my goal of joining the club. It seems like since everyone had such a good time together the collective socializing will continue. One difference here is that all clubs have socials once a week or every two weeks at pubs... very interesting yes.
Oh and I saw sheep last weekend and bought a wool sweater. Check off some one of my goals.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Isla de la Plata
Hey, we went ^there^ today. Finally! It seems like one of the things we had actually been talking about since almost the beginning. Um, it was cool! We had some whale friends accompanying us for part of the boat ride--they jumped in the air and slapped the surface with their flippers, and got eerily close at one point.
The island itself is pretty drab; 'plata' means silver, but that refers more to the gray color of most plants and the thick bird poop in some areas than to any metallic sheen. Still very beautiful 'in its own way,' nevertheless.
But it's the birds that everyone wants to see when they're on the island. Blue-footed and red-footed boobies, frigatebirds (with the puffy red pouches) and nazcas, along with some tiny red birds and some albatross that we didn't see. One boobie seemed to be trying to steal some food out of the throat of another boobie as it was trying to swallow it, sort of slow like you would imagine a snake swallowing an egg.
The town we're in is called Puerto López. We're now taking our malaria med, doxycycline.
The island itself is pretty drab; 'plata' means silver, but that refers more to the gray color of most plants and the thick bird poop in some areas than to any metallic sheen. Still very beautiful 'in its own way,' nevertheless.
But it's the birds that everyone wants to see when they're on the island. Blue-footed and red-footed boobies, frigatebirds (with the puffy red pouches) and nazcas, along with some tiny red birds and some albatross that we didn't see. One boobie seemed to be trying to steal some food out of the throat of another boobie as it was trying to swallow it, sort of slow like you would imagine a snake swallowing an egg.
The town we're in is called Puerto López. We're now taking our malaria med, doxycycline.
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