Pictures!

Here are some random pictures from the trip so far! Enjoy!

I am taking an Andinismo (mountaineering) class and so we practice repelling from the gym ceiling!

At the International Student welcome party, we played a giant game of flip cup- 3 tables.

This is the view of Quito from the top of Pichincha. We took the Teleferico (ski lift type thing) up and then hiked a bit further. As you can see, there have been fires all over the city recently. Many of the locals think it is arson. 

At the top of Pichincha, we just lay in the grass and looked at the city and mountains. 

This is Narcissa, Marcelo, Pato, and David playing a game called Zapo. They NEVER got tired of this game and played constantly. It involves throwing big brass washers at holes in a piece of wood. Our kitchen is the building in the picture. 

There were a few baby guinea pigs while I was there! 

This is Sangay, the 1 year old oso de anteojos (sunglasses bear). He is extremely friendly but we can't touch him. He eats oatmeal and fruit- I'm not sure how he's growing so quickly on such a small diet!

This was one of the only friendly horses. While the guys were changing the sprinklers, I would try and get over my fear of horses by petting this guy. 

The last weekend on the farm, the three of us went camping up the mountain where there is a little cabin. No water, electricity, nothing. We hiked around during the day but what was really scary was when Muneca (in the picture) got stuck in a big thorn bush at night about a kilometer from our camp. We thought she was being eaten by a puma so we ran out with sticks and light and tried finding her in the forest. 

On one of the last days, Marcelo let me ride one of the horses bareback. It was so calm!

This is my favorite goat, which I called Maldito (little fucker- loosely translated). He would run away from the pack and just didn't care if I tried herding him in a different direction. All the goats had unique personalities. 

This is a view of the mountain, Cotopaxi, where the farm was located. I feel such a strong connection to this mountain since I woke up to it, worked underneath it, and lay in the grass in the evenings and gazed at it's glaciers. 

This is Muñeca, the queen of the farm. She ended up sleeping on my pillow next to me every night. Recently, she was bitten very badly by an unknown animal so I'm hoping that she is able to recover. 

Latacunga

The closest big city is called Latacunga. It’s not a touristy city at all, so there’s not much to do but we were relieved to have internet, laundry, and restaurants. The first morning we were there, Maddy woke up sick, so Taryn and I hung out at the hostel and made necessary trips to buy soda and limes. We walked around a bit and I called home to find out my grandma, Gaga, was very sick in the hospital. This really threw me off since it was so unexpected and of course I made a big scene in the store. I tried to shake it off and promised I would call later that weekend. After, we walked around the big Saturday market and bought fruit and a sugary substance called panela that I came to love.

That night, Taryn and I really wanted to go salsa dancing so we found a small bar (after arriving at a club that had been shut down two years earlier) and sat down at a table. Soon after, a middle aged man sat down and didn’t say anything. He proceeded to show us his military ID and pay for our beers with a $20 bill without saying a word. He was really weird. I didn’t enjoy talking with this mime, so we acted very uninterested but he had trapped us in the table so there was no escaping. Finally a guy from another table came and made him leave but not before he dramatically blew out the candle on our table. After that was over, we salsa danced with some normal guys for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I woke up with a huge headache and knew I had to call my family. As it turns out, my grandma had passed away a few hours before. Since it was a Sunday morning and everything was closed, I had to call from my cell phone where the only reception was in the middle of a public park. So I caused a big scene there, too. I was extremely frustrated because I could only talk for a few minutes and all the internet cafes were closed. I realized how much I had taken communication for granted since I couldn’t talk to my family for another few days.

That Monday on the farm, I became sicker and sicker until Marcelo made me go to bed. I walked an hour by myself to San Ramon only to find out there was no internet which made everything ten times worse. To cheer me up the next day, Marcelo and David caught my favorite white fluffy llama, Santiago, and let me ride him!! He wasn’t too happy and his sister, Luna, spit in my face but it was so worth it.