Eliza in Ecuador: Lights Out and Laguna Quilotoa

Sheep family!- Laguna Quilotoa

Hola once again!

This has been one of my most interesting weeks to date. The "fall" months- October through December are considered Ecuador's rainy season. I knew that coming in, so I came prepared with my rain jacket and umbrella, ready for months and months of rainy afternoons. Well... someone missed the memo, because it has not rained in this city (or in the greater part of this country for that matter) for weeks. Ecuador is a country committed to "clean energy", they use no nuclear plants to power their cities, therefore, when it doesn't rain, se va la luz- Goodbye electricity!

In Quito, "cuts" happen at various locations around the city, on various schedules. You might wake up to find that you have no lights from 6am-11am, you might show up to work at a pitch-black museum with no windows or you might be finishing up some homework when your entire neighborhood goes black. (All of the above have happened to me this week if you hadn't guessed!) It's an interesting lifestyle and lends itself to a lot of flexibility and attempts to plan in following the lights. Prayers for rain would be much appreciated since a country, even one as small as Ecuador, cannot function in this manner forever.

Getting back into the swing of things was a bit of a challenge after such a nice week off vacation-ing. My internship responsibilities have changed a bit- and in a kind of disappointing manner. La Fundación Sinchi Sacha, where I've been working, opened up a new store a few weeks ago. Since it's new and in a location not extremely overrun by tourists, the store hasn't been very busy. My bosses made a decision that, business wise, makes a lot of sense, although for me, not so much. I will now be spending the majority of my internship hours sitting in this near-empty store, waiting... for anyone who might want to buy something. I was extremely disappointed in this change, because I didn't come all the way to Ecuador to sit in a little store all by myself. I've been trying to see the silver lining in that this new job will give me plenty of time to work on my Independent Study Project whose due date is quickly approaching, still after only two days of sitting by myself in the store I've started to drive myself a little crazy. We'll see how it goes, I've decided to try it for two weeks and if I still feel a little jipped, I will try to work something out with my supervisors.

Our Thursday seminar class took on a little different look this week. We focused on Ecuadorian Food Culture and therefore, we went to the house of our director, Martha, and concocted up our own Ecuadorian creations. On the menu: Cheese Emanadas (fried dough filled with cheese and topped with sugar), Japingachos (potato cakes with cheese), colada morada (fruit and herb hot smoothie typical for the Day of the Dead celebration), and ahí (a salsa made primarily with tomato and onion). It was a really fun afternoon and I think we all enjoyed the break in the normal schedule. It also made me remember how much I love preparing and sharing meals with friends and family, so get ready for some Ecuadorian dinners upon my return!

Me, the hike down to Laguna Quilotoa

About a month ago, Torrey had showed interest in going to visit a crater lake south of Quito called Laguna Quilotoa. This Friday and Saturday, a group of six of us got our chance for the visit. Laguna Quilotoa is a beautiful, emerald green lake that was created after a volcano collapes and its crater was filled with water. It's a stunning sight and we were lucky enough to arrive in the Quilotoa Pueblo on Friday night, so early Saturday morning we had the trails and lake all to ourselves. Hiking down was simple, and fun- parts definitely felt like moon-walking, with the sandy trails, we had so much fun jumping down the sand dunes, we didn't take the time to think about the return up the crater. After spending a few hours on the lake, we kayaked and took in the scenery, we bought some waters and began our accent. The 45 min. hike down the crater turned into about 1hr 1/2 or more up the crater. We were at higher altitude than Quito, but I don't think I can blame my dificulty with the trail simply on thinner air. It was tough, and by the time we were finished my legs felt like jello and I was very ready to chill out on our bus rides home.

Today we'll go over to lunch at my "grandparents" house. I do love being in Quito for parts of the weekends. It gives me some time to relax and at least think about working on homework :-) This week will be a busy one, I will be trying to complete my interviews necessary for my ISP before we head to Otavalo and Imbaburra next weekend.

Adios for now,
Eliza