http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ATL Fan/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ATL Fan en-us Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:03:13 BST Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:03:13 BST I still find it weird to be back in the states everytime i look at my pics i just want to go backMy week has been a blast full of reunions and catching up with my friends from my Ceiba Program. Last weekend I drove up to Northern Illinios just over the border with bretski and brenna and met Joe and Cath Molly and her sister and some other ceiba kids from past semesterssummers and we campe http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Wisconsin/Madison/blog-285267.html So i am in the united states writing this from the convenient and comfortable confines of my backyard underneath my gazeebo to be exact. It has been four days since I've arrived in the states and the weirdness of being back is beginning to wear off. The final flight per my typical nature carried its own adventures me ab and steve met two body guards from californina who had justbeen on http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/Wisconsin/Madison/blog-276705.html Its already May 10th. that seems so surreal. my final banquet was yesterday and the whole time everything seemed to be moving so slowly. It wasnt teary or emotional like i thought it would be a nice dinner at la choza then we gave joe and catherine their thank you gift a yearbook with group pics and personal thank you letters and im pretty sure they really liked it. Then the suprise was a roo http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-274895.html So guess who is scuba certified the last wednesday we did our pool session and then thursday and friday we did 2 open water dives. sooooo coool i saw some green sea turtles fish coral sea snake eel and some other stuff. also the last night we went to monitor turtle nests i woke up for my shift at like one took my time cause i was like they're not gonna hatch but to my suprise the first http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-272523.html So i am on my internship right now almost two weeks in. it is far less than i expected and puerto lopez is far from being anything close to amazing. when i do work we go out to monitor the beaches for turtle nests at night and we go shark monitoring on weds and sats. we have started very early stages of implementing environmental education into the schools but besides that i have a TON of do http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Puerto-Lopez/Puerto-Lopez/Puerto-Lopez/blog-268928.html So saturday after we got back from the galap went and visited the mexicali and we ended up getting free mexicali shirts so that was awesome. then sunday worked on our presentation all day and kind of papers as well . again got dinner at mollys and there was egg again always with the eggs. monday our presentation was awesome so much better than last time and everyone did a really good job. t http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-264446.html Life in the galapagos island cannot be beat I was there for 3 weeks and what a crazy three weeks they were First of all i was on an eight day boat cruise and we visited a ton of islands and i was on the boat without the professors just our TA javier. hellooo party boat...no seriously like all the noisy people who did and didnt party a lot were on our boat and most of the quieter kids who didn http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos-Islands/blog-263442.html So today was fun. first day back to class had a lecture on marine biologymostly overview of the ocean. found out i am on the loud boat which basicaly has the 8 people who are either really loudopiniated or who partygo out a lot boat and the other boat has like all the quite people . its quite funny actually. anyways our boat is the Amigo and joe and catherine are not on it but javier our o http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-255639.html So i actually returned from my destinations to quito on friday but sat we went to otavalo and i've just been in quito ever since.So monday had class gave my presentation then went and got shwarma and hookah food and liquor items for the beach and then came home. then later josie and molly came over and we headed out to the mariscal. two mojitos later and after running into several people we knew http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-255177.html So i made it safely back from the jungle where ive been for the past three weeks. because there is so much to include in this i may just resort to bullet points of things i saw and or did. but ill try to include the few journal entries i wrote down.to get there we had a long day of travel. first we caught a 40min plane flite from quito to coca then a bus ridethen a two hour boat ride then a 2 http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/blog-251683.html hey all back in quito i am. just ate a grilled cheese. not too bad. just got back from a wicked awesome trip to the pacific coast. but let me start at the beginning.Friday last day of spanish took my two finals then all my classmates in my program sans laura went across the street to this like parking lot bar. literally this dude bought a parking lot put up tents and bam its a bar. regardl http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-244013.html So last night i went to the equilibrio azul presentation. that is the organization i will be interning with in may. it was cool i filled out some paperwork as well bcuz i am also going to get open water scuba certified so i got my book to work on reading. when we get back from the coast next thursday will be our first class day and then up til that sunday well work on theory and what not. the pr http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-241365.html hello all things have been going well here. just got back from two day trips this past weekend tons of fun.Thursday night went to my first ecuadorian soccer game at this stadium called casa blanca. it was liga de ecuador versus columbia i think very fun and cheap cerveza. then friday woke up and had to be at the bus at 7 to go to cayambe'coco this place that was like 14000 ft in elevation. the http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-240316.html so i was walking down the stairs and i slipped and fell and hurt my arm. now i am currently icing it with a bag . great. its not broken or anything just super annoying. hopefully ill be better in a couple days. mmm my spanish tests werent so badjust gonna run some errands tonite and do some hw i guess. ciao. http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-238491.html Hola amigos como te va that means hows it going for all you non spanish speaking folk. things are well down here. i just got back from a three day adventure in the montane forestscloud forest. we left early early at 8 am on a bus just for our program. i sat by molly on the way up and it was a blast. we stopped at the mitad del mundo which is the middle of the world supposedly and we got to wa http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-238149.html So last night i went to el pobre diablo this snazzy little bar joint near mariscal. the downside was that it was quite expensive 2 50 for una cerveza but because it was just a chill night i didnt mind nursing it slowly. Anna b josie bret mj and chris joined me for the evening. there was this latin jazz band later around ten which was ok but not great. tonight it pedros last nite in quito http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-236881.html hello everyone hope youre doing well. i know i am. right now i am at papaya net with my friend molly just doin the email thing. lets see i think i left off on last friday so thats where ill plick up.last friday 111 had to get my visa registered so that was fun then went out to lunch with most peopole before school . after went to mariscalplaza fursch and went dancing. it was fun but had to t http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-236000.html So my birthday was succesful. joe one of my professors gave me some candy and a hat and then later that night met up with like 10 people in plaza fursh. Then we went to the coffee tree to get some food and i had a sex on the beach and a shot of tequilla. then we went to bungalo seis to dance and we got a fishbowl and i had a jagerbomb. Badams and Pedr met up with too so that was fun. we had a go http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-235012.html Hola familia y amigosI will try to keep this short but i am squishing like 4 days into one entry so bear with me.1508 this is a continuation of my previous entry. so after visiting la plazafrancisco and i took the ecovia this red bus to the mall and just walked around. i got this really yummy ice cream dish that had a cone bowl two different scoops of fruity ice cream a strawberry kind an http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-234105.html Hi everyone I made it safe and sound to Quito last night around 1130pm. Very tired and then had to wait a long time to get through migracion and customs but i made it. My host family is awesome I live across from a real famous restaurant that has guards outside it day and night. I have a brother who studies in spain and a dog named Strauss who is a rottweiler. Today I am exploring and learning http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Ecuador/Quito/Quito/blog-233173.html