AnnaMarieSmith

So as of today I only have 2 days left in Ecuador, which is a very weird feeling. In some ways I am ready to leave and in other ways I do not want to leave at all. This past weekend my friends and I went to Guayaquil and the beach for a last trip. The beach was amazing it was a great way to say good bye to many of my friends. It was very hard to say good bye because we have all been going through the same things and have grown very close. We are all from different parts of the country which makes saying good bye even harder. The beach howver was amazing, filled with fun times and not thinking about the end. Now I am back in Quito spending a last ... read more

Sorry I have not blogged lately, it has been pretty busy with exams and getting ready to leave. The last couple of weeks have been amazing. I have been to Mindo again ,the cloud forest, went mountain biking at Coatapaxi Volcanoe, went to a soccer game, and went to an indigenous village. Each of the experiences was amazing, but the most interesting was probably my stay in the indigenous village. We left early on Saturday morning for the vilage called Tingo. After about four hours of driving on dirt roads on in the Andes we reached the village. The vilage is around 12,000 ft above sea level and has amazing views of the Andes. The village is one that the university I attend works with on development. The village was small with around 50-100 residents. No ... read more

After the Galapagos I went to a city in the South of Ecuador, Cuenca. Cuenca is a much more beautiful city than Quito and had a lot of Euopean influence in its arquitecture. On Thursday morning a took a tour bus a round the city which was great since I did not have much time there. That afternoon we went muesuems which were actually intersting. We first went to the Panama hat muesuem. Panama hats are actually from Ecuador and the name is wrong. In Cuenca many of the indigenous people still wear them as part of their culture. We then went to the Casa de Cultura where there were Incan ruins which were really interesting. For lunch we had Fanesca. Fanesca is soup that Ecuadorians only make during Holy week and the ingredients represent different ... read more

So it finally worked out and I left for the Galapagos the Friday before spring break! During the plane ride I was so excited to see the Islands I have heard so much about. I got there around noon to the smallest airport I have ever seen on a very small Island- the runway takes up most of the length of the Island. Then my guide, Walter picked me up and we took a boat the Island I would be staying on. The water in the Galapagos is absolutely beautiful with dark turquoise tones. We then rode about 30 minutes to the town where I would be staying. I did not realize how big some of the Islands are in the Galapagos and how there are mountians and grasslands in the interior. After checking into the ... read more

So in most of blogs I have talked about all the amazing things about Ecuadot, and there are alot; but there are somethings that I have to deal with her. One of the first thing I noticed is the poverty here. There are always people selling things on the street or on the bus. On the bus you often to get people with sicknesses or those without work asking for money. When we go out there are children selling things at 2:00 a.m. There is also the infastructure. The water is not safe to drink for anyone, and people live in home we would considered condemned. I know there is poverty in the U.S., but the poverty her is much more obvious. Here machista, racism, homophobia, and classism are all still very prevelant. The hardest for ... read more

This past week has been very interesting. This past Monday I learned both good and bad news from home which was hard to deal with, being seperated from my clostest friends. Also my computer decided to stop working, which I was not easy to deal with. I did not realize how much I relied on my computer until it was not working. This week I was also planning my Spring break trip. I really wanted to go to the Galapagos, and after about 15 different plans I finally have it worked out. I will leave this Friday and be back on Wednesday. I am so excited to get to go. When I was not sure if it was going to work out, I was nervous because I do not know when else I will have this ... read more

So I know I should get better about blogging more often! This week and the past are midterms so I have actaully been a little busy with school. It is so hard to be motivated here with so many fun things to do, my classes are pass fail, and no library to go to and study. I eventually get things done, but it takes a little more time than in the states. Since it is midterms this means I am half way done with my time hear, which is hard to belive. Since blogging I spent one weekend in Quito and traveled one weekend. The weekend in Quito was very chill hangiong out with friends and my Ecua fam. This past week I had to make a typical Ecuadorian dish for my culture class. I decided ... read more

I know it has been awhile, but I was wick for awhile so there was not much to blog about. I did not really do anything the weekend after I was sick because I wanted to make sure I was better for Carnival. Last weekend we took a night bus to Salinas, a beach that is suppose to be 10 hours away from Quito. A night bus sounded perfect because we could sleep for most of the time, and then have the whole day on the beach; however, the bus took 16 hours to get to Salinas. We are not really sure what took so long, but we know that at one point we were not moving during the night, and that before we left Quito our bus driver had to turn around. Once we arrived ... read more

This past week was a lot of fun, until Sunday. On Wednesday I went to ladies night as usual with a lot of USFQ girls. Its funny because they dont let guys into the place until 10:00pm. On Thursday we had a Salsa class which was a lot of fun! I definitely want to learn more and get better at it. That night I went out with my sister and we had a lot of fun. On Friday I only have one class so it was very chill. That night some friends and I walked around to find different places to go. We found a hot dog stand which will be great in future when we are chraving American food. We also went to a Salsa club, we were the only gringos in the place, and ... read more

The past weekend I took a trip to Tiputini in the Amazon river basin which was absolutely incredible. The trip began at 6 am when I took I arrived at the airport followed by a 30 min flight, a 3 hour boat ride, a 2 hour bus ride, and another 2 hour boat ride. We waited at a hoetel after our flight where there were monkeys, a rabitt, peacocks, guinea pigs, a cat, a toucan, and parrots just free to roam around. It was very strange, but it was fun to play with the monkeys. On the way to the station we saw river dolphins, macaws, and other birds. There was litterally nothing along the shore of our last 2 hour boat ride. At the station we stayed in cabins which were nice especially for being ... read more