Finally

Well, I have a moment to breathe, but just for today. Tomorrow I start my research project and I have no idea what I'm doing but hopefully I will figure it out quickly. First, let me update.

The party with all of the families was okay. We ate this really weird-tasting turkey. It will not make up for the fact that I'm missing Thanksgiving this year. Oh well. A mariachi band came and played for us which was pretty cool and we all got together and danced, but you could tell the Ecuadorians thought our dancing was quite strange. The next day we had a huge crab dinner for my departure on Sunday. It was slightly awkward because my host sister had her friends over and they were all coupled up, but my younger cousin was hanging out with me so it was ok. They bought about 72 crabs for $45, I think that's a good deal. I don't really want to eat crab again after eating so much that night, but it was pretty good. Another funny thing: it was a dry weekend becuase of the elections, but that day I saw my host mom drink for the first time. I guess she wasn't worried about being arrested.
The next day was my last day in Los Chillos. I went to vote with my host mom which was a pretty interesting experience. We went into Quito to vote and my mom was voting at a school. I was allowed to go in with her and it was complete chaos inside. There were so many people and so many stations. I think the stations were divided by regions and then by sex, which I thought was kind of interesting. The ballot was huge and it was in color, which I thought was pretty cool. The process was really strange thought-you could vote for up to 38 people, but if you voted for more than one person you only gave them a fraction of a vote. On the way out my mom got her voting card laminated, I'm assuming becuase by law you have to vote. We later visited my host sister who was working the polls back in the valley and it was quite a family affair there. There were games, food, music, and other stuff going on around the polling places and everyone showed up for the party. It was pretty interesting.
We stopped at Supermaxi for some supplies and I noticed for the first time how expensive the clothing is there. I was expecting Wal-Mart prices, but I was pretty off. The shirts are around $20 and the shoes $50. The weird thing is that most people in Ecuador don't just have this type of money lying around to buy expensive clothing. I guess Supermaxi is just for the elite. We ate lunch in San Luis and then were off for me to catch the bus.
I returned to Quito and a bunch of us went DVD shopping, which was quite difficult becuase we couldn't choose just one movie to watch. We ended up watching "The Holiday" which is okay. Then the next day we were off to the Oriente, or the real rainforest.

Overall, the trip to the Oriente was amazing. We left on Monday and got a flat tire pretty much right away, but after that everything went fine. We first stopped at some hot springs in Papallacta which were pretty nice. The air was quite chilly though becuase we were pretty high up there. I think the highest place along the road to the Oriente was close to 4100 feet above sea level. We continued on the main road used by Colombian drug runners (although I don't think we saw any). Later on we stopped in Tena for a final ice cream. The weather was so different already. Then we made it to Alinhaui where we were spending the night. We split into two groups again and I was in the group leaving the next morning. My group went to the San Pedro community to work at their school. First we taught some classes in math and then we participated in a minga, a communal work project, during which we pained the kids school. Then we went for a short hike around the farm surrounding the school, during which I ate pure cacao (it's white, pulpy, and sticky) and came back to play soccer. Then we headed down the river in canoes to Arajuno Jungle Lodge, which was very cool. It's on a cliff overlooking the Rio Arajuno, which is safe to swim in so swim we did. The current was really strong though so I got wiped out just crossing the river. However, we had the rest of the day off so that wasn't too bad. There were hammocks everywhere and a swing that went out over the river that was pretty cool. The girls were all staying in tents under a shelter and right behind us were capybaras. I have been waiting quite a few years to see these so I was pretty excited to be sleeping twenty feet away from one. There were so many insects there, but not too many mosquitoes, which I guess is good on the malaria front. I soaked myself in bug spray though so I didn't really have any bugbites. There were also lots of leaf-cutting ants making this one path. Apparently they work 24-7, so there was a very visible path from one place to the next. It's amazing that something so small can make something as visible as a path.
The next day we made some pottery, coil method (I prefer wheel-I'm pretty bad at coil) and we walked around Tom's property with Miguel, who has been by far the most energetic guide. Then we went down the river again in a canoe, although it was a short ride becuase the bus was meeting us at a bridge. We rode back to Alinahui where we had a free afternoon, so I walked around with Andrea and Anna. We walked the driveway to the main road, stopping to walk into the forest a bit to this huge tree. We had our boots on so it was pretty easy to get to the tree. We saw some boys playing with tires in the road and we stopped to try to talk to them a little. We also saw the sign for the new airport they are trying to build in Tena, which is slightly controversial becuase it has something to do with Plan Colombia. Then we went back and had dinner. After supper was a shamanic talk which was pretty interesting. Then later that night we walked around the grounds for a night-walk. We saw lots of spiders in their huge 3-D webs, these huge conga ants that will really hurt you if they bite, and moths. On the way back we walked in a human chain in complete darkness, although there were a few lightning bugs to light the way. It was pretty cool.
The next day was busy. My group went on a three-hour hike thorugh the rainforest. Our guide Lennon-aka Lenny-made a swing for us which was pretty cool. We also got to eat lemon ants which I had been waiting to do. They really did taste like lemon. I even went back for seconds. We found more gigantic trees. Then we had solo exercises in the forest. I was all by myself in one spot for half an hour to think about things. It was pretty cool to just observe my surroundings as completely as I could in the silence. I saw a conga ant walking along on a log so I decided to stand up the whole time. We then headed back for lunch and then began the long trip down the Rio Napo, the river that would eventually join the Amazon (hence the name Amazon Basin for the area we were staying in). It was a great, relaxing ride. We went to Amazoonico, an animal rehabilitation center (not a zoo). They had lots of different animals. The monkeys were just hanging out outside of cages and one decided to lay in the tree right above me. We saw birds, capybaras, ocelots, and turtles. One monkey came right up to us and tried to eat Megan's bracelet. Then we headed back down the river. We met up with the other group for the first time in a while back at Alinahui and we had a lecture by Alejandro Suarez from Jatun Sacha Biological Research Center (or something like that) about rainforest conservation. After dinner, during which Akiko found a tarantula and I predicted we would find one in our room, we went to the Laboratorio, the bar that all of the scientists at the center frequent. It was pretty fun. Some Ecuadorian asked me to dance a few times which was pretty awkward but slightly flattering. Back at our room, Anna noticed that there was a giant tarantula right above my bed. It was probably about as big as my hand. I freaked out a bit and we went to get Lenny to take it out somehow. I don't think he believed us that it was a tarantula until he saw it. Then he told us that it was a poisonous one and proceeded to try to get it out of the room. The spider had climbed up the wall by then so Lenny climbed up to the celing to scare it out, which he did. He would have killed it for us, but we were in a humane mood and told him to just let it go off into the jungle. However, it's nest was still in the room so I was slightly worried that it would come back. I am surprised that I slept pretty soundly that night.
The next day we said good-bye to the Oriente. We left pretty early to make our way back over the mountains. We got back to Quito that evening and I went out with Anna and Rachel for Anna's birthday. We went to Seseribo, a great salsa club. It was pretty fun. We were sitting with a good view of the dance floor and it was great just watching the experts dance. Some buys sitting near us asked me to dance which was fun. I can't dance salsa very well but the second guy was trying to teach me through a few songs. We were all wiped out so we headed back to the hotel pretty early.

Overall, the Oreinte was really cool. I would love to spend more time there. The weather wasn't all that bad either. It didn't rain too much and there weren't really too many mosquitoes. I only got about two bugbites because I used quite a lot of bugspray. The flora and fauna in the area is also incredible. It's green pretty much where ever you look. The rivers winding through here are cool as well, except many of them are polluted from the oil companies drilling in the area.

I'll continue with the update, continuing on in Quito and the coast. Right now I'm in Riobamba for a month, all by myself, to study traditional medicine and the Ecuadorian public health system. Then I'll write a 35-page paper, head back to Quito for a week, hopefully make it to Machu Picchu, then home. Hope everything is going well for everyone. Chao!