last day in ecuador

My trekking plans fell through so i decided to mountain climb the highest active volcano (or so the ecuadorians claim), Cotopaxi. Actually, it was the only activity that fit within my limited schedule in Quito...and i thought climbing a volcanic glacier seems so much cooler than just hiking up a big hill... Basically, upon reaching 18k feet (we started at 15500ft), the altitude started to kill me. Not to mention the 25mph winds and snow, the fact that i´m climbing this mother fucker at 2AM in the morning and my head lamp is failing didn´t help the situation at all. The altitude didn´t give me a headache, nor did it get me nauseous. However, it DID get my head spinning like when I drink and take at least 2 vicoden simultaneously, and i swear my eyes were starting to cross- I looked the desperate (and very inebriated) fool, literally dragging myself on all fours, when i couldn´t stand up straight. it was that or falling down the mountain, only hoping that if my crampons or ice axe don´t catch in the freaking glacier, then my guide who's got me harnessed will save me. It was a test of my will, and more importantly a great lesson in knowing just how far my body can go. I've always thought that it was mind over matter, but this trip proved me wrong. Or I'm just not as fit as I thought. I have NEVER in my life experienced such physical exhaustion and extreme fatigue as I did on this mountain. It was a humbling moment, and I decided (read my body decided for me) to not go any further and I didn´t reach the 19,000 summit. Next time, I'll just make sure to acclimatize a few more days before attempting such a climb. Taking a day trip to these thermal baths in a nearby town, where I did have to walk up a steep 2 kilometers, during which I ran into a guy with an armful of brooms attempting to sell these on a desolate road (perplexed at who is client base was, amazed that he saw the earning potential for this market activity), is not the best way to acclimatize. I just got back into Quito and will be leaving to come home tomorrow.

good to be back in ecuador

Hey everyone! Despite the fact that Ecuadorian Immigration almost didn´t let me into the country b/c they didn´t have a record of me actually leaving the country last time i was here 4 years ago, everything else has been smooth travels. The children at the organization I am visiting (and used to work for back then) threw a "Fiesta para Linda" and they presented me with songs and dance, and we played a bunch of games as well. One contest in particular amused the crap out of me. When one of the educators announced that we would now commence the "Baile de Limon", the kids hurriedly grabbed a partner. Girls grabbed their girlfriends and the boys grabbed their buddies. Each pair then proceeded to grab a lime. They subsequently put the lime on their foreheads and pressed each other hard so as to not let the lime fall without the use of their hands. The objective is to be the last pair dancing with lime intact in between each others faces. Of course, a few kids cheated and they were immediately thrown out. The rest followed the rules and were concentrating really hard, too hard. Soon the dancefloor transformed into something that appeared to be a makeout session of homosexual elementary kids. It wasn´t though, of course . As song after song ended, I was beginning to become impressed with the will and concentration of some of these kids. One particular pair of girls caught my attention. After about the 3rd song, I noticed that the girls had let their lime fall to both their eye sockets. Ít´s inevitable that the lime will slide down the face a bit, but to have the lime pressed against the eye is definitely the worst. So imagine, you´ve got this lime pressed real hard against your eye and you´ve got to dance, i mean MOVE your entire body to the beat of the music, or you LOSE. These girls´ lime had burst a little from pressing their faces so hard together, and the acid from the lemon juice started to make them cry. Yet, their conviction to stay in the contest made them hold each other more firmly, and they continued to dance through the duration of a couple more songs. At this point, I´m laughing my ass off watching the other kids, yet I´m starting to get concerned about the potential danger of pure lime juice seething in one´s eyes. I mean, if you can toss some raw fish in lime juice and called this "cooked" (this is how you make Ceviche)....Well, the contest finally ended and the girls only came in third, and they didn´t get that prize they worked so hard for - a tennis ball. However, they didn´t lose their spirits and we all had a ball till the party ended.
Well, other than hanging out with the organization and my friends, I´ve been enjoying the leisurely pace of a traveler without an agenda, and remembering the days when I used to live here, feeling nostalgic for times past. At the same time, it saddens me about the economy and how the poor and middle class had to bear the brunt of the bank scandals and dollarization of the economy. As a result, the middle class here is disappearing and there is more crime on the streets than before. It's a sad reality that everyone accepts. Just last night, coming back from dinner at my friends house, there was a guy, who was assaulted. He lay bleeding in the middle of the street with a crowd gathered around him. Blood was staining the pavement and from what I could see, it was coming from his head...however, a couple of kids didn't seem alarmed at all. In fact, some girls started giggling and pointing at the victim. Cars drove by and nobody stopped to help. I've learned to listen to people's opinions and perceptions with a grain of salt, however. Some will claim the complete opposite here- that dollarization needed to happen, and now, people actually have credit and can take out loans, unlike before. That now, there's no prostitution on the streets. That now, there are nice public buses manufactured by mercedes benz that guarantee you're never late for anything (i do miss the kitschy old rickety buses with dashboards filled with La Virgen paraphenalia).... As my spanish improves at an exponential rate, i'm forgetting some very basic english...which kind of scares me. Like not remembering how to spell 'confortable(?)', comfortable(?)... hasta luego mis amigos, linda

sucks to be ecuadorian

it's terrible what is going on in ecuador. there is a golpe de estado (coup d'etat) that has enunciated the president and he is detained and the army and indigenous political organizations have closed down the supreme court and congress. the leader or at least instigator of all
this is the ex general of the army who is now a senator in the congress, can you believe that? quito and the entire country is in chaos, protests going on everywhere, military about everywhere, but little violence unlike the coup that happened in chile with pinochet. the coup in E. is not accepted by the international community and the US supports the president. but the extreme economic measures that the president imposed on the people, the cuts in so much
social spending and the attempt to dolarize the economy has driven the people to this. transportation is stopped. my colombian friend who is trying to return to his pais is stuck in quito and had to backtrack to guayaquil to avoid the blocked via panamaerica. i wonder how my ex companeros are doing in cuenca. i haven't heard from them, but i know that they are against the dolarization of their econommy. i don't quite understand how that would affect everyone. i need to learn more about that. well, i left 1 week be the national protests started and i am so lucky bc had i waited a bit longer, i wouldn't be able to leave the country bc all the municipalidad and immigration offices are probablay chaos or shut down and since i was illegally staying in eucador, i would have had serious problems leaving.
this is actually such a crazy thing to be happening, so close to me, to the country where i had lived for half a year. i only read about golpes(coups) in texts mostly and once or twice in the newspaper about some sub-saharan african coutnry. so to be right here when all this is going on, in my generation, blows me away. i feel terrible for the ecuadorians. all year, i witnessed the rapid deterioration of the economy; the super-high inflation driving people to agitation and anger, rushing madly to buy dollars(only means of monetary security for them), with weekly bursts of protests from the police sector to the transport sector to the national health to students(which became the norm) having lost complete faith in the democratic process bc the president and his political interests worked so fervently and selflishly to pursue their greedy
interests, and having the people pay for their corruption by freezing down all current bank accounts while the state cleaned the bank "corrupt" financial system. i was there, as an extranjera, although wroking voluntarily for children, enjoying the fucking extremely low prices of everything that my strong dollar was providing me. i am so lucky and fortunate.
so these are my latest news, i am now in cuzco, tying up my trip like a big circle.

i am buttfucking tired for not having slept in the last 2 days, but i will rest, go out, and hopefully do some trekking in a couple days. i miss you all and for those of you in the states, NOS VEMOS PRONTO!

sea lion attacks tourist!

i am back in cuenca and it is good to back at the base. or maybe, it is just good to be back on land for more than a stretch of an hour. although, the repercussions of the week long catamaran ride

around the galapagos are still being felt as i stare at the computer swishing and swashing like the waves ofthe ocean. sometimes, i need to take a deep breath and remind myself that i am on stable ground. it isn´t too bad as i can reminisce about the fucking amazing animals that i saw and swam with and the cool people i shared a lovely dream vacation with. hmmm... some reflections-

*the aforementioned subject above refers to the male sea lion that chased me, mistaking me for one of its male competitors. that made me doubt the shape of my body and the slimming down i have done- is it all an illusion? i dont think i am that big. or maybe they are near sighted mammals...

*once again, i met a group of cool dutch people.

*adrenaline and terror equals it really can give one superhuman powers- at that precise moment when the sea lion came after me, i turned into a record breaking freestyle swimmer.

*oh, the giant tortoisess are so cute!

*we were fed like queens and kings with a top notch chef on board that catered to all our gastronomic needs. lekker!

*in Baños, we biked halfway to the jungle. let me remind you that i hadn´t been on a bike for over 5 years so my cofidence wasn´t all there, yet i made it miraculously, dodging buses and trucks passing us not particularly driving like they cared for these stupid tourists getting in their way on this dodgy road with a cliff and no railing on one side. i can give myself a pat on the back for that one. i won't even go into details about being stuck in a tunnel w/no light reflectors as this truck came speeding towards us...

well, those seem to the highlights of my trip. now i am apartment hunting and i might just have a place in a couple days. need to get out of this hostal- it just so happens that this is where is the prostitutes go and i discovered peepholes in many of the bathrooms and rooms. hmm, not the best place if you are looking for privacy or a decent chat with the other customers.