Back to Reality

Life in the US. So different from my life in Ecuador. And though I would be amiss to say that I didn’t love my time in Ecuador, there are definitely two things that have made my transition back to the USA easier. Cooking and the “buzz of summer”.

The night I got back to the USA I went to Whole Foods and made myself a simple tomato sauce to eat with brown rice pasta and sautéed broccoli. I immediately dove into cooking magazines at my friend’s house and then went to the library to take a peek at some cookbooks. Now that I’m home in Virginia Beach, I’ve cooked for my parents every day. I just love being in the kitchen and surrounded by colorful foods. For father’s day I made blueberry oat scones for breakfast. Dinner was a combination of corvina and shrimp with a guava glaze; grilled squash, corn and onions; and a fresh greens salad with cherry tomatoes and snow peas. We topped it off with ginger peach crisp for dessert.

Great Falls National Park

Now to the “summer buzz.” First off, it’s fabulous to have longer days. In Ecuador, the sun rises around 6:00 am and sets around 6:30 pm. In Virginia Beach, we currently have light until about 8:30. People also seem much happier and more outgoing during the summer months. Personally, I’m always more apt to go out late during the summer. In DC, where a spent my first week back in the US, there are always summer festivities to attend. I went with two coworkers to Jazz in the Park, held every Friday on the National Mall. I also met up with friends from my former book club. They hosted a picnic at Great Fall National Park. Of course, a variety of produce is coming into season as well. I plan to visit one of my favorite farms, Larriland, next time I visit the DC area.

Amon (my former roommate) and me

Now that I’m living near the beach with my parents, visiting the ocean is a must. Growing up, I never took advantage of the beach, but this week I went for a walk on the boardwalk with my parents and visited the annual art show at the beachfront. Another highlight of the week was going out on a boat with a few friends and then cooking tuna and veggies on the BBQ. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer has in store.

As you can tell, I didn’t undergo too much culture shock this time. After a few international trips, you realize the aspects of American (USA) culture that cause the reverse culture shock. Now I just acknowledge those things, shake my head and move on. That’s not to say that I just set aside the mentality and emotions I had in Ecuador. No, I hope, in fact, that many of those will stay with me.

Rock we all climbed at Great Falls..soooo much fun!

I am still digesting all the ways that Ecuador has changed me or impressed upon me. I don’t feel like I’m a different person, but hopefully a person with a more relaxed personality. When I became stressed about getting to an appointment on time my second day in DC, it dawned on me that anxiety was rarely part of my life in Ecuador. Time constraints help people get things done, but they can also be stressful.

In Ecuador, I had a handful of outfits for different climates and only one casual skirt. Living this way actually gave me an appreciation for simplicity. I didn’t really get tired of wearing the same clothes over and over (though it was nice because everyone else felt the same way). Now that I’m home, I almost feel claustrophobic in my own room. Over the years I’ve accumulated so much stuff. Time to clean the place out. On the other hand, I am currently in a stage where I enjoy dressing up-not just throwing on jeans and a t-shirt, but perhaps a skirt and collared dress shirt instead. Not sure this mentality will follow me to grad school. We’ll see.

So, my summer is flexible. I have a high school friend coming to visit in July, and I will definitely return to DC at some point. Given the job market and the fact that I’ll only be in town about two months, I decided to forgo job searching. Instead, I’ll try to do small jobs for my neighbors. This summer is the time to complete a few long-term projects, enhance my cooking abilities, stay healthy, and relish my time with family and friends. It may be the last summer I have free from work. Better make the most of it!

Un Pedazo del Paraiso

Imagine peace and tranquility. A breeze flowing through your hair. Lush green tropical forests. Comfortable chairs, the kind you can sleep in with ease. Mini splashes of water hitting your face as you travel across a wide river. That´s what awaited me six days ago when I embarked on my rainforest adventure to Napo Wildlife Center in the Yasuni National Park.

I knew almost nothing about Napo before my trip began. My mom found the location because, quite honestly, I was too lazy to research a good place to visit. I knew Napo had a strong reputation as far as rainforest excursions go, so I just went along with my mom´s suggestion. Suffice it to say I was more than pleased with the whole experience.

Napo Wildlife Center

A little history of Napo Wildlife Center...It was started in 2003 as a joint venture between the Arangu people and an independent nonprofit called EcoEcuador. After a few years working together to get the Center up and running, in 2007 the nonprofit turned the business completely over to the Anangu community. In minimal time, Napo Wildlife Center has surely made a name for itself as a quality lodge offering amazing excursions (I can attest to this) in pristine rainforest. Napo is constantly written up in magazines and newspapers around the world.

At Napo, each group of tourists has a local guide and a naturalist guide. This pairing truly provides a wholistic experience. The locals are well experienced in finding the animals and explaining medicinal plants, wereas the naturalists are educated about the environment, speak English and know the names of all the local fauna. Our guides were Miguel and Freddie. They formed a great team and were so professional and friendly. My mom and I were joined by 6 tourists from Holland for the first few days, but on our last full day, we had a private excusion.

The lodge is situated on the Anangu Lake and has 12 private cabañas. All the day trips start early, to follow the rhythm of the rainforest. We awoke between 4:30 and 6:00 every day, but we were always in bed by 10:00 (of course that was by choice). In the afternoons, we had a few hours to walk around the lodge, relax in a hammock or sleep. There are a few excursions everyone must take as tourists to Napo Wildlife Center: the lookout tower, which is situated 42 meters high above most of the canopy in a Kapok tree and the claylicks, where parrots and parakeets come to eat the mineral rich clay. We did both of those along with some walks around the Yasuni National Park and a few canoe rides through various creeks. The interesting thing about rainforests (and sometimes the most disappointing aspect) is that you can go down the same creek twice and see different wildlife. However, you can also go to an area that is known internationally for a specific animal and never see that species (in our case it was the claylicks...we think a hawk made the birds fearful of coming down).

My two favorite excursions were the canopy lookout tower and the last walk we took on the Tiputini trail. Though we only saw a few animals on the trail, the forest was supreme, and we had to tackle mud the whole way (which brightened the sense of adventure). Throughout our stay at Napo, we saw black caimans, snakes, monkeys, a red brocket deer, lizards, frogs, and loads of birds. The community recently started a camera project that photographs animals around the area via heat sensors. While we were unable to see cats, tapirs or pecaries in the forest, one night we did watch a slideshow of the photos taken by the cameras. That was pretty neat. The data taken by the cameras will enable scientists to study the animal populations more easily and provide obvious reasons for keeping this primary forest intact.

We (sadly) departed from the rainforest yesterday. Our time there wasn´t enough, but then again, I don´t know if I´d ever be ready to leave. I could have spent a few days there just reading in a hammock and listening to the birds. Plus, there are always more things to see...like the river otter.

Tomorrow we are departing South America, thus concluding my four months of Ecuador Explorin, thus completing my dream. I´ll be sure to follow up with one more entry in the next week or so. Now to pack and then to bed for a few hours before my 3:30 taxi ride to the airport.

Cheers to Everyone!

Becky

Bus, Walk, Bus, Walk and Some Airplane Action Too!

The title basically describes what I´ve done the past week and a half but without the beautiful scenary attached. No seriously, if the bus rides didn´t offer gorgeous views through a slew of diverse environments, I would have gone stir crazy. Just to give you an idea, the bus ride from Quito to Cuenca takes between 10 and 12 hours (no we didn´t go straight through). However, the wonderful airplane trip I took last night from Cuenca to Quito took all of 35 minutes! Oh the luxury of air travel (minus the pollution footprint I added to the planet)!

View of Cuenca from Banco Central Museum

Okay, so I digressed a bit. Back to business. Traveling with my mom has been quite fun. Of course we get on one another´s nerves occasionally. Over the months, I´ve become more chill about time, whereas my mom hasn´t had a chance to get into the no-rush travel mentality. Sometimes we bicker about safety and security too, but that´s to be expected. My mom´s been really flexible about what sites and cities we visit. She mainly wanted to have a chance to relax. And, while we´ve done that a bit (bus rides and a few massages), I´m afraid I´ve forced her to walk a fair distance in every city. If it wasn´t a nature walk in Vilcabamba or Baños it was a city walk through Riobamba or Cuenca. Many days we walked at least 3 hours and sometimes up to 8. After all the physical activity invoved in my 3 months of volunteering, it´s so hard to sleep-in and relax for an entire day.

On the most recent leg of the ¨Mom and Daughter Livin´Life to the Fullest Trip¨we journeyed to Baños, Riobamba, Cuenca and Vilcabamba. We both agree that Vilcabamaba and Cuenca top the list.

Coffee

In Vilcabamba we stayed at Izhcayluma, a hostal owned by two Germans. It sits 2 km up a hill outside of the main plaza, which makes for a wideswept view of the area. The food (always important) was feast-like every meal and perhaps more importantly, not salty! My mom loved the fresh-baked grain bread (hard to find in Ecuador) and German dishes while I stuck with inventive fresh and filling salads. Oh, I can´t skip over the pizza...the best I´ve had in Ecuador! Cheese that tasted more like mozzarella than queso fresco and what I believe was homemade crust. Vilcabamba has numerous walks and though my mom didn´t want to take a chance at some of the most difficult trails, we still got in a fair amount of fun exercise (the only kind worth doing!).

Vilcabamba

Going to Cuenca was like a step back in time but with more tourists than I remember. The city itself still has the good colonial feel that I loved back in 2004 when I studied at CEDEI. It was fun trying to find the churches, the parks, the restaurants and the grocery store from memory. I did well with everything except, believe it or not, our lunchtime hotspot, Moliendo Cafe. The mixto sans carne (veggies, chicken, beans and cheese on a Columbian corn tortilla) still hits the spot, and I had a sweet but not too sweet mora juice to go with it.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Cuenca

Pots and Pans, Anyone?

Truly one of the best memories I will keep from my entire time in Ecaudor is the two days we spent with my Cuencan host family. When I told them that I was returning to Cuenca, they immediately offered their home as a place to stay. I was a bit nervous to accept because I knew it would mean constant translating between my mom and my host family. Since I haven´t used nearly as much Spanish here as I´d hoped, I knew my host mom, especially, would notice the downturn in my ability to communicate. However, per the usual, everything turned out better than expected (great how life normally works that way!). My host sister, Tati, took us to Cuenca´s Baños, to Turi (a great spot to view the sprawling city) and to get Cuecna´s famous peanut butter ice cream. One day we also went to Cajas National Park. The park is situated about an hour from Cuenca but much higher. It boasts over 200 lakes, according to Diego, my host dad. The rest of the time, mom and I spent touring the markets, chatting with my host family, or relaxing at the house. What a lovely way to end this part of our trip.

Diego, Clara and Me in Cajas

Ranger Station Lake, Cajas (I don´t know the real name!)

This morning, mom and I woke early and headed to Old Town where we toured some churches, museums and visited some shops. It was a great day to (guess what??) walk some more. I´m exhausted, but now it´s time to go pack for the next adventure. Tomorrow we will rise with the sun and hit the airport one more time to start our stint in the rainforest. Our journey to the Amazon starts with a plane ride, then continues with a 2 hour bus ride, a motor boat ride and ends with a canoe ride. My mom read somewhere that our lodge doesn´t have road access at all (pretty cool!). I´m thrilled to see what´s in store the next five days! Hopefully animal sightings, tropical food, night hikes, and a little ethnobotony too.

I am thoroughly enjoying my Nikon camera, so I got a little picture happy this time around. Unfortunately, I just realized I deleted about 50 photos from my camera without saving them! Grrr.

Until next time...

Becky