My name is Danielle. I am from Minneapolis, Minnesota born and raised. I am currently a student at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. I am studying Environmental Science and Policy. Food, music, friends, family, coffee, the outdoors, and learning are a few of my favorite things.
Hola! So after a very full two days adventuring in the cloudforest, Saturday morning 8 of us headed off to Cotopaxi for the weekend. Cotopaxi is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world and is the second highest point in Ecuador. It has a huge snowcap on the top and is very beautiful. We took another travel bus to Cotopaxi national park, which was about 3 hours away from Quito. This trip was more camping intense, we packed our packs with food, sleep bags, food, and ropes to repel off the cave we would be sleeping in. We got dropped off in the middle of the park and began our 3 hour walk to our “camping site” AKA a cave with straw to sleep on. The director of international students at Universidad de San ... read more
Hey there! Thursday morning week took off from Universidad de San Francisco at 7 in the morning to head to a cloudforest spot in Ecuador called Maquipucuna. It was about a 2 hour drive from Quito in a big coach travel bus. When we got closer to the area where we would be staying we started passing through the most adorable villages ever. People were outside everywhere and would all wave at out bus passing. There were chicken coups at almost all of the houses and small gardens where bananas, papayas, guava and more yummy fruits grew. Also all their clothes were hanging outside to dry, making colorful clothes lines decorate the houses. I was quite jealous of the way their life style looked. Maquipucuna is an ecological reserve that protects about 14,000 acres of biodiversity ... read more
Here are some pictures of the wonderful house I am staying at in South America. The house is in Tumbaco, Ecuador. It is absolutely lovely, I am lucky to be staying here. Enjoy! ... read more
How’s it going everyone? Wonderful I am sure. I have survived my first week of classes in Quito, which is excellent news if I do say so myself. Right now I am taking two classes. The first on will only last for 3 weeks and we meet everyday from 2-4ish. This class is called wildlife management and conservation. It is quite interesting. We have been learning about the wildlife, ecosystems, and biodiversity of Ecuador. Ecuador has four different regions, the Amazon, the highlands, the coast, and the Galápagos Islands; because of this they have a ton of species diversity. We have also been talking about all the conservation that needs to be done not only in Ecuador but in the whole world. Almost any environmental class I leave, I am a little sad after. There are ... read more
Hello all! This one is short, I figured out how to upload a video of the Piano Surgeon that I talked about in my last post to youtube. Here is the link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqtSfL27CTQ enjoy! He is amazing. Ciao, Danielle... read more
Saludos! Yesterday the GAIAS (the group of students I am studying with) group and I were given a tour of Quito. We went to the top of a mountain and looked down at the mass amounts of buildings that occupy Quito. The city is in a mountain valley so it is very long and skinny and the airport landings go right down the middle. Looking down at Quito and its surrounding cities is quite overwhelming. The pictures I have captured cannot do it justice. It is 10 times more massive in person. Our guide took us to old historic Quito, which was beautiful. There are countless plazas, churches, restaurants, cars, and of course people. There are people everywhere, and a lot of them. One of the churches we visited was called La Compania. Inside La Compania ... read more
Hola amigos! I have arrived safe and sound in Quito, Ecuador. The journey here was not the most pleasant, definitely a full day of traveling. However, on the way from Minneapolis to New York at 6 in the morning I was able to watch the sunrise and lucky enough to see a shooting star right by the plane! It was beautiful. The highlight of my day was getting off the plane in Quito and walking to the Migración line and seeing Elena and Edgar (my host parents) holding a sign that said my name. I was really worried nobody would be there and I did not have any emergency contact numbers. Fortunately it all worked out perfectly, todo salió bien! I am living in Tumbaco, which is about 20 minutes outside of Quito. Edgar and Elena ... read more
