Ecuador y más allá: February 2013

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Church pictures

This church was absolutely beautiful. It was made of gold in many places and painted blue on the ceiling. I wish the picture of the ceiling was more clear so you could see the paintings.

More Amazon pics and weekly update

First, some country news- Rafael Correa won the election [surprise surprise] and will be president for another term. He won over 50% of the votes and there were 6 or 7 other candidates that ran. It's crazy to think that so many people ran for office and it really split the votes. Funny fact- In other countries [Ecuador] it is perfectly legal for the government to ban drinking for 72 hours over the election weekend so no one will be intoxicated while voting. Yeah, that happened. Also, it is mandatory by law that everyone 18 and older must vote. Since not everyone actually cares to vote, my Ecuadorian friend told me that many campaigns buy votes.

My identity has been shaken. I have begun to have cravings for tilapia, jugo de tomate de arbol [tree tomato juice] and tomato soup. My whole life I have hated tomatoes and fish. Now I like it- WHO AM I?

For my ecology project, I am spending 10 hours at three different rivers with my partner. We are assessing the impact of humans on the abundance of bird species. The river we went to this past weekend was called Rio [River] Chiche. It is one of the most contaminated river because the city dumps its waste water into it. The next part of the story is why I'm so happy that I am in a country with basically no rules. We drove into the water treatment plant and asked one of the workers there if we could get a sample of the waste water that they pump back into the river. He lets us and we went on our merry way. In America, there would be guards out front and there is NO WAY the company would let dumb college kids take samples to prove there is a lot of contamination in the river. I have realized that there are SO MANY rules in the US and everyone is afraid of being sued.

I went to El Museo de la Ciudad [The Museum of the City] this past weekend because I have to right a paper on it for my Ecuadorian culture class. The museum takes you through different exhibits that explain the history of how Quito became Quito. It was a really awesome museum and I learned a lot! A few exhibits were sad that showed the slaughter of the indigenous people by the Spaniards.It's a part of their history that not many people talk about. Sounds a lot like the US, right? Only difference is, the indigenous people here didn't get casinos.

There were also no rules at this museum [except no flash photography]. There were no guards around anywhere so I could have stolen stuff [if I was a horrible person]. I guess they just have more trust for people, which was a bit refreshing. I really liked the art that they had hung up in the hallways. After the museum, we went into a BEAUTIFUL church that was covered with gold. It was the most beautiful church I've ever seen. I'll post pictures of that later.

Exhibit showing the corralling and mass murder of the indigenous people of the Andes.

I had to put another tarantula pic in there

Two green parrots (taken from the telescope, sorry for the blurriness)

Bats!

Me, next the the anaconda.

See the bulge in its tummy? Yeah, that was it's lunch.

Cool spider.

Craziest looking insect I've ever seen.

Another shot of the anaconda.

Macaw

Huge tree

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Hogar Para Sus Niños

Today I volunteered at an organization called Hogar Para Sus Niños which translates to A home for His children. It's a Christian organization that takes in abandoned or abused children from birth to three years of age. The children remain under the care of the organization until they are adopted into specifically selected families. The facility was maintained very well and has one big house for infants and another for toddlers.

My morning didn't start out especially well. I had to be at the organization at 10:30 to begin the orientation. I told Ruth I needed to leave and grab a taxi by 10:00. I ate a little and was on my way out the door at 10:00 when she placed more breakfast for me on the table. I told her I had to go so I wouldn't be late and then she asked me how I was going to get there. When I told her it was by taxi she insisted on driving me because she knows a family friend who's daughter was either robbed or kidnapped in a taxi [Don't freak out, only the um-registered taxis are dangerous and I NEVER take them]. After 15 minutes of getting dressed, we left and I ended up being 15 minutes late. The director is very nice so she didn't mind my tardiness but I still didn't want my first impression to be of me arriving late.

The children are absolutely adorable. I played with a few of them after we went over all of the regulations. I know I'm going to really enjoy volunteering there. One precious boy gave me dirt as a present so in return I gave him an acorn. I also got to feed a baby before they went for their naps. The way the organization is set up is that they have one "tia" [aunt] for five children and she lives at the facility with the kids. The tia is responsible for taking them to school, the doctors and doing all of the things a normal mother does. The volunteers are there to help our with the tias to play with the kids and sometimes feed the babies. I can't wait to go back! I know I've said this before but I might be coming home with some Ecuadorian kids :)