Still alive!

My friend David in Baños after a mud mask... amazing picture

Maureen, David, and Kelea in our hostel in Baños

Inés, Kelea and Myself in Mindo!

Inés and me over the cloud forest

Eating Ceviche on the coast!

Two of my bosses - Shannah (left) and Belén (right)

The view from my room in Montañita

It’s been 21 days, a trip to the coast, a zip line through cloud forests, and some minor intestinal problems... but I’m back! The past three weeks have been tiring, yet I’m happy to report that all is well and continually interesting in Quito. We are still working hard on the Maternal Health project, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and I’m guessing that we’ll be finished by the first of August at the LATEST! I’m really anxious at this point to begin on my thesis research. After eight hours of work, however, I don’t really feel like writing about it at the moment – well at least not office work. Last week (for work), with my three bosses and a fellow intern, my good friend David, I hopped a flight to Guayaquil and then spent three days on the coast conducting interviews with adolescents in a little town called Palmar. It was pretty neat to be able to travel in the middle of the week and I was even able to conduct eight of the interviews on my own! Even though the work was in Palmar, we stayed in party central – AKA Montañita – that is located a half-hour to the south. There, after long days of chatting about sexual and reproductive health choices, we would return for fresh Ceviche, soothing reggae beats, and excellent views of the Pacific. After my three-day getaway, I grumbled back to the office and continued with the ever-present tasks of data entry, translations, and research – all while struggling to get over some deep-fried coastal shrimp that turned out to not agree with me completely (not at all in fact). The weekend came quickly enough, thankfully, and I was immediately on the road again with Inés and my two friends from work to a little town called Mindo. Actually, I already knew Mindo and its mosquitoes quite well. Last year, in the depths of Mindo’s forests, I somehow neglected to bring bug repellent and ended up with about 50 bites on each ankle alone, causing them to swell to the size of melons. Fortunately, I learned my lesson this time around and brought along some DEET! After visiting several waterfalls and eating a great lunch, David, Kelea and I decided to fly through the treetops by zip-line before heading back to Quito. (MISTAKE, I just realized that I actually went to Mindo the weekend before going to the coast... my bad!). This past weekend (the ACTUAL weekend after the coast), I went on a different mini trip with the same people – David, Kelea and Inés – to hot springs in a town called Papallacta. At the moment, on this Tuesday evening, I’m sitting in bed, considering warming up some food, and searching for live music options in Quito tonight. I need to get out of the house and do something fun!

P.S. I forgot to mention that before all of this happened I took a trip to Baños with about eight people and we biked to literally ten or twelve massive waterfalls and went to a crazy spa that involved steam boxes followed by ice water, and mud masks... fun stuff!

Chillin' at work

Right now I'm at the CARE office... taking a little break. I've pretty much spent the entire day doing data entry for the maternal health project. The interviews I was looking over in the past couple hours were a bit depressing because they were conducted with youth who haven't participated in any support groups for making better reproductive health decisions. A lot of them have serious misconceptions regarding how HIV is spread, have trouble communicating with their partners, and have difficulty naming human rights (especially for women). Tomorrow will be more of the same I'm guessing. Our goal is to finish with maternal health in two or three weeks so... hopefully that actually works out! I want to get started on the forest conservation project so I can finally begin my thesis research and get out in the field! Tonight I´ll be in the Mariscal with a bunch of friends, having fun and laughing! I need a good laugh! O... and next weekend I´m going to Baños to celebrate the fourth of July! O yeah baby! No pictures this post - ¡Perdòn!

Week 2!

It's about 9:00 AM and I'm chilling at home for a bit before I initiate that long bus commute to work. It usually takes between 40-50 minutes to make it to the office. Luckily, I enjoy the bus quite a bit. The views of Quito are amazing, and I've always been a fan of people watching. Last night was another great adventure. CARE just got two new interns named David and Kelea from Atlanta, so we went out to the Mariscal (La Zona) and then to a bar called Seseribó for Salsa Dancing. I really love them! They're super friendly and enthusiastic about being in Ecuador. This Saturday we're going to Otavalo together so I can pick up those many alpaca blankets that various people in my life have requested. Also, a couple nights ago there was a free choir performance at La Compañía, which is a beautiful church in the historical district of Quito with an almost completely gold interior. I'm sure I'll be able to post some great pictures later with my new friends from work, but for now the above is from the church in old town. 

Damp but happy : )

So... remember when I said that it never rains here? NOT!!!! Yesterday I went out without a jacket and got drenched and today it was raining and thundering non stop. Last night was super fun once again. I went to another day of the free music festival and saw some hip-hop that was actually really good! Today, as predicted, I spent my time working on data entry for CARE and then had a delicious lunch with my host family. Happy Father's Day Daddy!

O Man! Quito is fun.

Just woke up with the sun shining in my face and the sound of barking dogs ringing in my ears. I don’t understand how the weather forecast always says it’s going to rain in Quito. I’ve been here for almost a week and it hasn’t rained once that I’m aware of (it was “supposed” to do so every day). Last night was a blast. I met up with Maureen and her friend Diego from last year and we got some dinner at my favorite place – Mr. Bagel. It was delicious! We then moved on to a couple bars, got more amazing food and then headed out to a free concert in central Quito. The music being played wasn’t normally my style – hardcore rock with some grunge and just craziness mixed in. I actually really liked it though! Our friend Carolina was having a bad day so we watched her work off that negative energy in the mosh pit. It was pretty hilarious watching a normally kind and gentle person being transformed into a bundle of rage and terror. Remind me to never make her mad! I got home pretty late... again, but managed to not set off the alarm to my house! Congratulations to me! Today I’m going to another free concert that should be more traditionally up my alley (they’re playing hip-hop and reggae). Tomorrow I have to crack down on my work, however. My boss from CARE, Belen, sent me a super nice email welcoming me to Quito and telling me about some of the projects that are under way. I have a meeting at their office on Monday so we’re going to go over what the next steps are for the maternal health project and then start to conceptualize the climate change research. Hope you all have a sunny and happy day! The pictures are of Maureen, Diego and me at the bar “Aladdin” in the Mariscal, the concert, and some street art (Guayasamin Style – a famous Ecuadorian painter.

First Week... the ups and the downs

The following post is actually from a couple days ago. Today (Friday the 19th) I'm feeling much better. I finally got a new phone that functions and the Internet in my house is working too! I've been going out a lot lately, dancing, and just having a good time! Today I have a ton of work ahead of me. I have to do data entry for interviews that were conducted for the Maternal Health project at CARE. Should be pretty interesting!

Tuesday June 16th:

Okay... at the moment I’m sitting in my room in Quito. I just ate a delicious lunch of pea/celery soup, fresh cheese, tomato juice, green beans, tomatoes, and beef with my host grandma, and our housemaid. Yesterday was a pretty long day of sitting and travel. All of my connections went smoothly and Inés, my host mom, was there to pick me up at the airport as soon as I got in. My last flight from Atlanta to Quito was especially nice. There was a monitor for every seat with good movie options, a free meal, and I pretty much spent the entire time talking at the two girls sitting next to me (I say “at” on purpose). At the end of the flight we were all forced to put on masks out of fear that we would bring Swine Flu into Ecuador, and I almost suffocated having to wear that thing for twenty minutes while everyone was trying to get their bags and shuffle off the airplane. I was feeling pretty good until I got into bed. The tears just started to flow for a lot of reasons that I’ve been bottling up the last couple months. Being back in Quito is like stepping into a memory. It feels strange and awkward and wrong. I know that this sadness will pass, and I’m already doing better today, but it’s hard to view this as a completely new experience given everything that’s happened here. My eyes were all puffy and gross in the morning but luckily no one said anything about it. On a lighter and slightly funnier note, I showered this morning and got dressed, and put on my makeup, bla bla bla, and then I looked up and realized there were construction workers repairing the roof and they could see directly into the bathroom via the skylight – AWKWARD. Luckily, I don’t think they were paying too much attention to me, but it was still a little uncomfortable. O, another thing I forgot to mention is all the noise in this place. I forgot about the constant stream of car alarms going off and dogs barking and construction work that starts from the break of dawn. Inés has a dog named “Mishu” that’s old and cranky. She told me that I’ll be fine as long as I don’t pet him EVER and tell him to “¡Subes Arriba!” or basically, get away from me! when I come in the gate at night. After I get my phone to work later today, I plan on calling my friend Maureen and heading out to the bars. I’m excited to see her and talk to her because I’m sure that she’s going through some of the same things that I am. I’ll be writing soon so hasta pronto! PS – The pictures are of my room, the view from my room and the skylight in my bathroom!

Festival Review!

Outside Lands was incredible as expected and it was so nice to see Maureen and to roam around Berkeley! The first day was kind of lame because it was hard to see everyone we wanted to see and it was impossible to walk anywhere because of the crowds (over 60,000 people in Golden Gate Park). The second and the third days, however, went really well. My favorite shows included Lupe Fiasco, Bon Iver, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Cake, but perhaps another time I'll be so lucky. 

The only down part of the trip was our drive home on Monday. Not only did I get a speeding ticket five minutes after taking the wheel, but my hand was completely swollen and sore due to a spider bite that I had received the night before. Luckily, Devany enjoys driving more than I which allowed me to relax and get some rest before my bus ride to Black Butte today to meet up with Carrie's family. After that, it'll be off to Wisconsin this Saturday for a week of hanging out with my grandma, visiting my uncle's lakefront cabin and seeing my amazing friends in Madison. 

Nos vemos pronto...

Outside Lands!!!!

So the day is finally here!! Today Devany and I are taking off to the Outside Lands Music Festival at San Francisco's Golden Gate park and I'm just so freaking excited right now!! I'm especially excited to stay with my awesome friend Maureen in Berkeley and for her to show me around the city etc.... Top five people I'm excited to hear include Manu Chao, Cold War Kids, Rodrigo and Gabriela, Ben Harper and Jack Johnson (there are too many more to name).

Other sweet news includes me finishing Shantaram and actually... that's the only other thing ha ha. I liked a passage that I found in it towards the end which read, "luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting". Okay all for now! Much love! 

Summer Part II

After finishing my first summer course, I'm taking my weekend break before course two (International Studies 260) gets under way on Monday. The subjects of the course are globalization and capitalism, so kind of redundant, but I guess there's always more to learn. I finally got my prints from Ecuador in the mail and put them all in an album. The next step will be to start on my awesome scrapbook. I'm pretty tired today after last night and am NOT looking forward to working at 11:45, but I know it won't be that bad once I get there and have a pre-work Café Yumm : )

Escritor Rebelde

Hey all! I made this commercial for my Spanish for Business class : ) Hope you guys like it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCbQRMZnDTQ