Thursday, December 4, 2008
Breakfast was kind of crappy, which was definitely a first. It was just bread and an apple and kind of left of hanging. At school class was the same old same old routine, but interesting none the less. After lunch I went back to school to get some reading done, and successfully finished all the readings for tomorrow. When I went home to shower around 5:30, there was no power. I thought maybe the power had gone out just at school, but it turned out that none of the town had any power. That meant no water anywhere except for my shower because gravity worked on my shower. I let Lisa shower in my room first, and then I got in. However, by this time it was pretty dark out so I put my head lamp in the corner of the shower. I showered under a trickle of cold water with only my head lamp as a source of light, and then proceeded to get dressed and ready in the dark. When I opened my door for dinner and found the lights on I felt silly because I had just done everything in the dark. At least it was fun though! Dinner was really good – it was some beef vegetable stew type dish with white rice and plantains. We all pretty much cleaned our plates (except for the heap of rice I couldn’t eat because I was so stuffed).
After dinner with the family, I went to walk around town with Rachel and Katie to look for Christmas gifts for people. Unfortunately, most of the stores were closed for some reason. We did get ice cream at the soft-serve place though, and it was delicious because it was mora and chocolate. Oddly enough we also ran into about 12 others from our group there and all sat there for a while eating our ice cream. Katie and Rachel convinced me to go to Polo’s for one drink, so I went and we hung out and talked for a while. I was feeling pretty full, so I was limiting myself to one drink and then going to go home to sleep, but I couldn’t even finish the one. Rolando and Carlos tried to get me to stay for a while, but I just felt not great. I went home and in bed I finished watching Definitely, maybe. By the end of the movie, however, I was feeling pretty awful. Convinced that it was just because I had not had enough water, I drank a lot of water and went to sleep. The next few hours of sleep were restless, however, and at 2:30 am I woke up feeling horrible. I ended up getting sick, hugging the toilet for a good 15 minutes while violently shaking and sweating. I thought I may have even bruised my ribs I was throwing-up so hard, and I had no idea why. Once I had gotten everything out that there was to get out, I brushed my teeth and went back to bed, hopefully to feel better.
Friday, December 5, 2008
This morning I felt fine when I woke up – my throat was a little raw but nothing bad and I was actually hungry. After thinking about yesterday, I am attributing my being sick in the night to lunch (fried shrimp killed me). Thinking back on it though, the fried shrimp and that freaky soup didn’t sit well with me from the minute I ate them. (Another weird thing is Stephanie Daly got sick last night too…)
At school I cautiously ate breakfast incase it was not just a food poisoning ordeal and I was actually sick, but everything seemed ok. Class was long and packed full of information, but I had successfully gotten some of the reading done for today so that was good. Today was also the last time we would have lunch at Comoran, which means we don’t have to walk all the way across town for lunch anymore. Since the sun was out I decided to do some reading on the beach. I hung out there to watch the sunset with Charlotte, Caroline, and Matthew (all three of whom are English volunteers from England) on the beach, and then headed home for a shower before dinner. Dinner was some sort of pork at Opuntias and I couldn’t even take a bite of it, so Katie and I left and went to Casa Blanca to get food. Rolando tried to tell us it was closed, but then proceeded to make her fries and me a chicken bbq sandwich anyway. The sandwich was delicious, but I was feeling sick again and thought it best to go home even though everyone was planning on going out. I went home at 8:30 pm and by 9:00 I was asleep, getting as much rest as possible before the big scavenger hunt tomorrow.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
I was woken up early this morning by my mom knocking on my door. Normally breakfast on the weekends is around 8:30 am, but this knock came at 7:40 am. I was very confused and upset that I was robbed of my last 20 minutes of sleep, but still came to breakfast anyway. Turns out Katie forgot that breakfast wasn’t at 7:30, and she also had to be in town around 8 am to catch the taxi up to El Progresso for part two of Dia Darwin. We had granola with bananas (I love that meal) and then I headed to school. At school I did some reading, then made my way out to the beach. At the beach there was a baby sea lion that I am pretty sure had been born during the night because it could barely move and still had its umbilical cord attached. The alpha male, who was pretty calm yesterday, was going crazy this morning, patrolling the beach and barking up a storm. I looked more closely at him and realized he had been attacked by something during the night because he had a bit mark on his lower body, his one eye was hurt and shut, and his snout and mouth was all ripped up. It looked too big to be a sea lion bite, so it must have been a shark. Hopefully whatever it was is long gone by now because tons of people swim in the water at Playaman daily.
Around 11:45 am Jon and I headed into town to meet Rachel and Sam for lunch at Tongo Reef. Today is the scavenger hunt and we wanted to come up with a team strategy and make matching shirts. Rachel, Jon, and I sat and waited for Sam to come but decided she might not make it seeing as Rachel was pretty sure she was hung-over. Rachel herself only snatched 5 hours of sleep (I got 11) and was feeling the repercussions of last nights partying. We decided to order food, and as we were waiting for our meals to come and discussing where Sam might be, a van drives by with about 20 people in it and in the very back corner is Sam looking at us with an “I have no idea what is happening” face. Rachel and I lost it at this point and laughed so hard I almost fell off my stool. The look on Sam’s face coupled with the fact that she was the only white person in the back of a van full of Ecuadorians was just too much for us to handle.
As we were eating and not discussion a strategy for this evening’s game, Sam came around the corner and almost died laughing. She explained to us that she had been invited to her host sister’s first communion this morning and decided to go because it would be good family bonding. Unfortunately, the church was hotter than Hades, full of lots of incense and burning stuff, and mass lasted for about 3 hours. That combined with the fact that Sam was hung over from the night before meant she had to convince herself for three hours straight that she would not pass out or puke in a church. She ordered food and ate with us while we all laughed at her story. After we were done eating we headed back to school, where the three girls went to the beach and Jon went inside to do mysterious Jon things on his computer.
At 3:30 pm everyone who was participating in the scavenger hunt met at school, gathered their necessities, and went to the beach to get instructions and rules for the game. There were a total of 5 teams; each team was given a list of things to do and they were all worth different points. At the end, the team with the most points accumulated would be the winner, and we had three hours to do as many of the activities as possible. Some of them were pretty out of control, while others required traveling long distances across the island. Our team decided to do stuff around town and complete as many tasks as possible. We completed feats such as climbing trees, doing creative stuff on the roof of GAIAS, getting a picture on the bed of a hotel, skinny dipping at Punta Carola, doing the Macarena on the malecon with locals, playing Red Rover on the beach with locals, playing soccer with locals, singing to a stranger, group hugs and gifts to tourists, dressing up in tons of clothes at a store, eating magnum bars in just two bites, taking shots at Iguana Rock, jumping in the water off the tourist pier, and most importantly as it was worth 250 points if the entire team did it: streaking on the malecon. And yes, all four of us streaked on the malecon, and all four of us were completely sober.
It was some of the best three hours of my life, even though I cut my foot while climbing over rocks to get to the light house so we could climb it for 50 points. We all came out a little battered, and my left ankle and foot felt like I had put them through crusher, but everyone had tons of fun. At 7 pm we met at Calypso to have dinner and let Shawna M go through all our photos and tally points (she set up the whole scavenger hunt). It was a riot reliving the past few hours with everyone and looking at everyone’s videos and pictures they had taken. At just 2 minutes to 7, however, I was slightly interrupted from my conversation with Jonathan by Forrest and Dave running but naked down the malecon, junk flopping around everywhere, and running straight into Calypso. I think the entire town may have gotten a view of them and probably think we are all crazy – while their run was a bit bolder than ours, I must point out that at this point my team was sober while their team had been drinking since about 3 pm…
Most people at dinner at Calypso then dispersed to go shower. I had chocolate cake in my face and up my nose from Stephanie sneak-attacking me for 5 points, and was completely soaked in ocean water from jumping off the tourist pier in my clothes. Katie and I grabbed a cab home because I was not about to walk that far on my feet and both got ready to go out. I required a shower to get ride of the chocolate, sand, salt, and dirt that covered most of my body. Around 9:45 we headed out to meet people at Arrecife so that Shawna could tell us the points and give out prizes. I was sure our group was going to win seeing as we had all streaked on the malecon, and all skinny dipped as well. We lost by just over 100 points (we had 1198 points while the winning team had 1336). Our prize, however, was not too shabby at all: a bottle of cana manabita and patches that read, “I love boobies”. Since many people were hung over from last night still, and others extremely tired from the long day, most people were not drinking. A group of us went to Polo’s to get caiparinas because they are delicious there, but they were out. I got a cubra libre instead, and once everyone had finished a drink there we migrated to Iguana Rock. It was pretty dead at iguana actually, and we were able to play pool without upsetting the locals, which was nice. Danielle and Tom were ripping up the pool table and beating everyone who went up against them. I hung out for a while but was so tired from the long day that I left around 1 am with Danielle and Tom. We were all planning on going to Puerto Chino tomorrow and I didn’t want to be too tired for that, so we walked home together and I immediately fell asleep.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
This morning we had delicious scrambled eggs and bread for breakfast, along with fresh squeeze orange juice. (Did you hear that mom, fresh squeezed?!) After breakfast we all gathered our stuff and hurried out to run to the store before heading to Puerto Chino. I had to make a stop at the school as well to grab some things and put the pictures and videos from last night’s scavenger hunt on my computer because my memory card was pretty full. The plan was to leave from Casa Blanca at 9:30, but of course we only said 9:30 so that we would be on the road by 10:00 am. Surprisingly, at 9:50 am we had squeezed 15 students and one driver into a taxi and were on our way to Puerto Chino. I cannot tell you how glad I was to be in the cab, because it was cloudy and rainy and kind of cold out, and going through the highlands in that weather could not have been pleasant for the people in the back of the truck.
Once we got dropped off it’s another 15 – 20 minute walk to the beach. It’s only accessible by foot, so it’s a pretty excluded beach. The weather, while still not perfect, was much clearer and warmer on this part of the island as well. By the time we had arrived at the ocean we were all pretty sweaty. Everyone claimed their territory on the beach and got settled in for the day. The water was amazing – it was pretty warm and the waves were perfect for playing in. Not to mention you don’t have to worry about sea lions or rocks here. Most of the day was spent going back and forth from the water to the beach, and back again. People played cards, did some surfing, played volleyball, read books, swam and played in the waves, went for hikes, ate little snacks, and listened to music (Sam brought her portable speakers for her ipod). The sun came out and made what was a good day into an amazing one. Everyone was in good spirits, especially after last night. I ended up falling asleep for about an hour, and while I was asleep people put food on my back to get the finches to land on me and I didn’t even wake up! I finally woke up to a tickling sensation on my back, which turned out to be a hermit crab that was crawling on me. Apparently the hermit crab had been placed on my butt a while earlier and just then decided it was safe to come out of its shell and walk on me. While I was asleep, some people had started making sand castles. Forrest, Sam, and Katie worked on one big one, while Charlotte made another. Then Shawna and Tom made dribble castles (I love those!), and Dave made the university out of sand. After they were done I made Charlotte and Tom bury me completely in the sand. It was tons of fun, but getting the sand off was another story…The best part about the day was the fact that we had the entire beach to ourselves for almost the entire day. There was one couple that was there for a little while in the morning, and in the evening the family that owns the campsite that we had all stayed at with Hugo showed up, but other than that it was just the 23 of us that had come together, and we all had a great time. I think everyone is starting to realize how little time we have left here and we all want to make the most of it…
Around 4 pm we all packed our stuff up and left the beach to go meet our taxi. Unfortunately, the taxi that 15 of us had come in decided he was going to be 20 minutes late, and bring his daughter with him. So while fitting 16 people into a truck on the way there was difficult, we got to squish 17 in it on the way back. We sat 4 up front, 4 in the back seat of the cab, and 9 in the bed of the truck. Again, please know that this is just how traveling works in Ecuador and the drivers do actually drive safely (at least when there are tourists in the vehicles). The ride back was cramped, curvy, extremely foggy (I was a little worried for a while), and made me want to puke from being car sick. Arriving at Casa Blanca at 5:30 pm could not have come sooner for me, and I had to walk slowly back home with Katie because I felt sick, I had to use the bathroom, I had barely eaten all day, my left ankle was hurting, and my right foot was cut. Good god I’m a mess!
Back home I showered and got ready for dinner, then met Shawna S., Shawna M., Rachel, Sam, and Stephanie O. at MiraMar for a nice Sunday dinner. I got pesto pasta (which was delicious but very rich) and a crepe for dessert. As soon as dinner was over I headed home because the headache that I had been battling all day was definitely winning and by this point I wanted to puke my head hurt so much. As soon as I got home I was going to go to the bathroom, pop some pain killers, and hit the hay, but my dad was back. Seeing as I haven’t seen him in about 7 weeks I felt like I should say hello and chat for a while. I held out as long as I could, and once I learned he was going to be here for the next 4 weeks (and therefore for the duration of my stay) I politely excused myself and went to bed.
Monday, December 8, 2008
This morning I was woken up before my alarm went off not by the rooster, but by rain. Yes, real rain. It was hitting the metal roof and making quite a racket – at first I wasn’t sure what was happening because it doesn’t usually rain here, it just mists. Once I was awake enough I realized that it was true rain. It reminded me a lot of the spring rains at home – not fall rains because it wasn’t cold, but kind of warm. My walk to school was uneventful and wet. By the time I arrived at the university my hair was pretty soaked, as was my backpack. Before class started I had some breakfast and did some stuff online as well (mostly checking the news, weather, my email, and of course facebook). Class today was quite interesting and more discussion based. We talked about deep ecology, Aldo Leopold, anthropocentrism, and many other topics that I have discussed in previous classes. It’s crazy how much this class combines everything I learn in sociocultural diversity, biocultural evolution, into to archaeology, environmental ethics, and ethics of health care. It’s kind of like taking all those classes at once and cramming them into 3 weeks. I also think I am about 800 pages behind on my reading right now…and I’m not sure I will ever catch up…
After class it had cleared up a bit and was just humid (we’re talking 98% humidity) rather than actually raining. Lunch was at Naty’s which is where Stian and Louise live and is about 2 houses away from my house, so afterwards I decided to take a nap. My one hour nap turned into a two hour nap, that was rudely ended by the stupid rooster on my roof that desperately needs crowing lessons. Seeing as I needed to get stuff done and everything was at school I got dressed and headed back to the university. It was a good thing I had brought my rain jacket with me from school because it was raining once again, but this time it was more like a mist and just annoying to walk in. At school my plan to be successful was terminated by mostly music: Iguana Rock burned us an MP3 CD of all their music for just 4 dollars, but to load it on my computer I had to select “open with itunes” for each and every song. It took a while, and of course then I had to organize them, and I had to organize photos on facebook, and well, you see where this is going.
When 6:30 rolled around I had successfully done almost nothing for school and headed to dinner with Shawna in more sticky, humid weather. Dinner was at Tropic Bird, probably my least favorite place we have eaten, and they lived up to their standards by serving crappy fish. (Although the French fries and peach were good). On the way back to my house I stopped and picked up a piece of chocolate bread from Tienda Barcelona because it is just delicious. Then I did some work on my computer, arranging photos until Katie got back. Once she got there, she, Carlos, and I watched a couple episodes of Nip/Tuck in her room. We laid on the two beds she had shoved together and had a good time goofing off and watching the show. It is highly addicting and I have a feeling I am going to need to buy my own copy of the series if it is at all possible. When I came back downstairs my host parents were asking if she was showering because the water was running. I said no, because Katie hadn’t been but her toilet runs for a long time every time she flushes it. Leonardo thought he should go check it out but Carlos was still up there so I awkwardly tried to intervene. After me going up first to knock on the door, we realized it was Lisa who had been showering. Man how I love those awkward moments with my host mom…and I do seem to have quite a few with her too…
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