Cory's Quito Blog

Snow Way

2010-02-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

10,000 Thanks to the multitude of folks that helped to make the road trip exceptionally enjoyable. Ben, like I mentioned, made us feel like family...well, we are, if you didn't know. He is my evil twin. Solomon W. and his folks, and Dan "Jobless" F., offered solace in sometimes sunny California. Jofus and his feng shui abode made me want to learn more about energetics in a home. It works, somehow/however. Picked up some skis and an old box of junk from gracious Jim and Sylvia (thanks for keeping that stuff around!). And Graham and Kristi turned me on to the late Monday night mid-twenties (20's) bowl-a-rama just across the border near King's Beach...what fun that scene was!

Also thanks to Ilan for hopping a ride, providing great conversation, and letting me stay in Lawrence, KS, for a night of small jam session and The Band on vynil....more love.

On top of all that, Honey and I got to stay with Uncle Mike and Aunt Deb (that's Honey's relatives and my occasional neighbors!) as a last respite. Great conversation, hot soup and local bagels, and Jon Stewart showing us that global warming is, clearly, a load of poo since, well, it's been snowing so hard in DC...I love it.

Pics may come soon...

The Last Days

2008-12-14T11:57:00.010-05:00

Well, this is the end of the journey...for now. We all have one last night in Ecuador and then we leave for Miami in the morning. Ecuador, you have treated me well!

After finishing up school, we had some vacation time in Baños and and Chugchilan. Baños gets its name from the volcanic hot water springs that are mineral-rich and plenty hot! It was a perfect place to be for a few days after school was over. The locals like to get the local hot spots when they open at 4:30 in the morning. I experienced the hottest water in the baths at that early morning time...stars and planets shining and the sun making another run at feeding the earth.

But first I must backtrack....

Me and my host family, from left, Jose, Anita, Fernando, Magus, and Lu Rodriguez. They were super sweet folks and I send many thanks their way for the warm hospitality and loose reins!

We went to la cascada de la Virgen de Agua Santa, basically a gorgeous waterfall named after the Virgin Mary, who was supposedly spotted there by people in this quite Catholic town. As usual, the pictures do not do the truth any justice.

This is one of the pools filled with hot mineral water. It is just below/beside the waterfall that you see in the above pics. A truly blissful place to sit as the stars glow and the waterfall lulls people into more relaxation.

One day, Sheena, Jenny, Nick and I hiked up a steep trail that led to the cafe del cielo (cafe of the sky/heavens)...on the way, we saw some gigantic ferns that are the size of trees...these fiddle heads were huge!

This is a shot from the trail, and if you click on it to enlarge you can pick out the old and new football fields, the church, and even, just under the tree on the left, the UFO Disco tower...that is, unfortunately, not in business. What a shame.

This is a shot looking west-ish from the cafe on the mountainside.

Back in town, overlooking the el Rio Pastaza...the sheer drop-off you see here was very common geography for this area, and really most of Ecuador.

Sheena and I rented bikes and headed east along a steep and curvy route that showed us lots of deep gorges and far-falling waterfalls. A memorable and invigorating day, to be sure.

After leaving the bubbly bath town, we headed deep into the countryside and had the pleasure to stay at a well-known eco-hostel called the Black Sheep Inn. This place sits in Chugchilan, about 1.5 hours from Zumbahua. This radical solace had composting toilets, super awesome vegetarian food, and wonderful wood-work and art....and they conserve, re-use, and care about water and waste...rare in this country!

Here is a shot of Sheena tugging back the zipline...the property is set on a nice hillside and they have probably 10-12-15 buildings, mainly for lodging, but also gardens, greenhouses, a sauna and kiddie hot tub, kitchen and a yoga studio....a truly beautiful place.

This is the nicest pic I have put up yet, me thinks...thanks to Sheena for her little Fuji!
This is Lago Quilotoa, a volcanic caldera created some 3,000 years ago by a huge explosion and then a massive collapse....it is still active and Sheena, Nick and I swam over to some bubbling warm water, after swimming through frigid sulphury/salty water.... The hike down was steeeeeep and the hike up, with a pack full of lunches and rain gear, was sweaty and slow.

The aliens must like this place for its ability to reflect their shimmering space signals.

And to complete the travels, we went to the market in Zumbahua and got to witness the neatest market to date; mainly indigenous people and anything from music to clothes, yarn to tostados (my favorite), live chickens to very dead bull testicles...the list goes on. I was psyched to see so much bustling commerce and a seeming bounty of fruits and vegetables...and, yes, an array of flesh, as well.

OK, I hope that this overwhelming last post can be enjoyed. I am anxious to get back to the snowy mountains and be with family and friends! Take care and enjoy the winter...and if you are going to visit Ecuador and want to ask some questions, fire away!

North America, here we come, rejuvenated and enriched!

Much Love!

Cory

Time flies....

2008-12-01T19:27:00.010-05:00

We have been having fun! Apologies for not posting in a while...I feel less motivated with no camera and classes slowly coming to an end..."if there was ever a time, now would be the time to see your time here is limited..."

My sweet girlfriend, Sheena, arrived last Monday and has been adjusting quite well to the new place, the language, the altitude and the food and water. She showed up to an insane bunch of kids scrambling to make a garden project more than a big mess of dirt and in between that a Thanksgiving dinner with the students and their families. I felt for her because at a few moments she was obviously not very excited to be speaking Spanish to people...on her second day here. Two thumbs up for her ability to roll with the punches, though!

Here are some pics and short explanations:

We stayed a weekend in San Juan, outside of Riobamba, and view from our rooms was gorgeous rolling farmland and view of Mt. Chimborazo (Thanks Leigh/Ash), the mountain peak that is the furthest from the center of the earth...thus closest to la luna as well. According to one engineer/surveyors calculations, Mt. Chimborazo reaches 1.5 miles higher than Mt. Everest, into space that is...Everest is still higher from sea level.

This is the oldest shurch in the country, La Iglesia Balbanera, or the Balbanera Church, which was founded on the 15th of August, 1534! It was a strong little stone building with neat architecture, and Chimborazo can be partly seen behind it. We met our train/bus chiva just across the street from the church. ¡De la iglesia primera en Ecuador a la nariz del diablo! From the first church in Ecuador to the devil's nose!

We hopped on this chiva and rode it into la nariz del diablo. Bascially a little party bus converted to tun on train tracks with seats and ponshos on top...nice countryside! Below is a view from the bu...if you click the pic or look closely, their is a little diamond in the tracks and another bus waiting for us to come down so that they can start back up the mountain. We got some good views but I was looking forward to more excitement..maybe some boulder falls or a hold up by armed robbers...alas, it was very safe.

Now we move on more peaks in Ecuador....

Mt. Cotopaxi is the second highest volcanic mountain in Ecuador. Some of us hiked up to the shelter that you see in the picture above. I nabbed a pilsener and made a few boot turns in the sunny snow. Sheena and I just missed the view of the mountain as the clouds rolled in...standing next to the Avalanche Danger sign...

Later, the group rode bikes down the "washboard" road from Cotopaxi and across the barren bouldery park and through some pleasant farmland. Thanks to the Biking Dutchman for some good bikes to rip on, a nice bumpy Land Rover ride, and a stellar vegetarian lunch...and brownies!!!

Always smiling...Cotopaxi is hidden in them there clouds!

This is blackmail, eh? Prof. Biddle sampling the fine wears being peddled at the gate of the north entrance to the park....a "west coast hippie" head band for his granddaughter...¡qué lindo!

Leigh in perfect style....can you tell what is on the table?

¡El grupo!

We ran into some local traffic on the way back to Quito...amazingly, these mellow creatures casually made their way past us in about one minute or so...

The leader of the cows was a tranquil looking young lady, and her horse was petite and gorgeous.

The next day some of us went to the most important national football game of the season, the number two team, La Liga, versus the number one team, S.D. Quito. Team Quito has not been the champions in over 40 years! They won the game 2-0, a good win. Talk about team spirit and fanaticism, these people know how to do it! The fowl language never ceased, the ticker tape and confetti flew through the air constantly, and when a goal was scored everyone was sure to get soaked in beer....truly a strange spectacle to behold! Notice the obscene amounts of basically reciept paper on the ground...

It was quite packed! More than 35,000 people in attendance, and we found our little seats on the stairway...something that probably rarely happens in the rule-obsessed USA. One wild fan broke past the police on the field and ran for the crowd of people surrounding some star players...they should consider him for the team...he can at least run like a rabbit and dodge past opponents (the cops) quite well.

A goal was scored....the crowd roars and more paper soars.

Well, I have three more days of classes and then some time to explore more of Quito, say goodbye at the end of the week to my gracious host family, and then we all have some time in Baños and some other more remote places to chill out before heading back to the USA. I realize that I have included little about my studies in this weblog...but who wants to know about how neo-liberalism crushes cultures, how capitalism is deeply flawed and leading to serious global problems, or how the governments of the USA throughout the decades have played big daddy with Latin America and, for the most part, made things worse for everyone???

If that sounds interesting...it is. But I only found the tip of the iceberg, even though I would love to chat about it all! I am off to bed and, maybe, preparing for some final exams, papers and presentaions.

Take care,

clc

Oh yes, want to see more pics? Check out Renatas Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=79494&l=53a98&id=703542603. Thanks!

Los Colibríes

2008-11-11T14:51:00.005-05:00

This is a stellar view of Nanegal (thanks to pbase), where Arik, Lindsey and I rode the bus to from Quito and met with Doña Norma (below) and Cecelia for a short drive into Santa Marianita. It is a sweet and fun place that seemed to be living on "island time", only in the mountainous cloud forest.

Here is a view of the town square...basically surrounded by small houses, one small general store, a school and a church. This picture is old, so the grass is short. When I was there this past weekend, the grass was about six inches high and was not cut beacuase there is only one weed whipper in the village and the last time they cut it, the grass was so high it damaged the whipper. So, it sits as it is and is still played in. When I asked why people did not play much futból ("soccer" to the silly gringoes) the Peace Corps volunteer, Jeanette, said that it rains too much. The sport of choice? Volleyball! Under a roof, of course...

After one morning in the garden, we got to see the inner workings of Las Colibrís Womens Artisan Cooperative, the joyería, or jewelry shop (colibrí = hummingbird). Doña Norma, who met us in Nanegal, is seen here sawing materials for the many crafts and jewelry made in this small shop.The large seeds on the table are tagua, a type of palm tree seed. It is also called vegetable ivory...the reason is obvious, as it is a very strong, polishable, and, eventually, white seed. These seeds come from these huge, gnarly, spikey clusters the size of a basketball, and the seeds are removed from that big cluster. (Thanks to Mary Finn for this pic and the those following, RIP camera.)

Below are some polished tagua seeds that are fashioned into salt and pepper shakers.

Tagua is used for a lot of things...these ladies make what you see above, earrings, necklaces, keychains, candle holders with coco, or coconut, as a base, and containers (salt shaker minus holes...). Below is a picture of the tagua seed in raw form, husk removed, slightly polished, etc....

Doña Norma was super friendly, accomodating, powerful, and creative. Here she is holding some of the home-made paper that they make into cards and also use to display and sell earrings.

Arik and Lindsey, my friends form West Va. that are on their luna de miel, or honeymoon, were entranced by this gorgeous little town. Had they not made prior commitments, they would have stayed here for another week! I would have done the same...but classes are a bit of a priority!

We went to the river on Saturday, where the locals have a few thatched rooves to cook food and eat, a few big swings in the trees, and, of course, a volleyball court. It is all situated on a small island that is surrounded by a swift, chilly, and beautiful river. Sorry, no pics...yet!

We had some time to play with the local children. If your heart is cold, they can melt it!!! Arik an I had a game of basketball with some locals...good for the heart, and later we went to a lucha de gallo, or cock fight, and got a good taste of local happenings.....and some mighty delicious local liquor, flavored with piña, pineapple, and heated to a nice toasty temperature. One dollar for a large beer bottle full....not bad. Miguel, a little pal I met whose papa had a cooster fighting, got some blood on his hand and showed it off like a trophy. It was quite gruesome but I sat through it more for watching the people get so into the scene.

The next day, Arik and Linds had to leave early and I stuck around and got into the jewelry scene. Doña Norma, on her day off, got me set up, with another Canadian lady, Alexandra, sawing tagua and polishing them into the beauty that lies beneath the crud....hmmmm, kind of like a human heart and mind. Lots of potential for shining grace, if we would only pick up our internal tools and patiently put them to meaningful work...as Wendell Berry puts it: ...for patience joins time to eternity... (thanks Chipop). What better time than NOW. What only time but now!

Alexandra had been there for two weeks, and 14 year old son asked, for the second time, to stay another week there! Nice place, to be sure.

Well, off to class. Keep in mind that you have those tools within your Self. Use them and see what you can dig up.

Adios,

Cory

Some dead, most grateful

2008-10-30T15:07:00.011-04:00

Howdy doo daa daaaaaay,

Late on posting these pics from last weekend. The date above is incorrect since I am basically editing an old post. Sorry 'bout that! Heading out for the weekend to a place called Colibris, with two friends that I met in Otavalo who are from WV...it should be great. Glad to know that we have our first non-white president in office but we will see just how white he performs. Oh, the times they are a-changin'.... Here are a few pics, CELEBRATE LIFE:

Edwin took us to the local indigenous cemetery on Nov. 2, the Day of the Dead. It was crowded with people sharing food and drink, local food and industrial food. What a mix!

Classmate Tim, Professor Nick, Local Edwin and I at the cemetery. It was actually a little muggy that day...

The night before the Day of the Dead Tim had some cuy ( sounds like "coo-ey"... it is guniea pig) and loved it...even the eyeballs, yum! It has been said..."you are what you eat." Is there a resemblance? Maybe just the teeth?

We picked up trash nearby Cotacachi, where Tim and I stayed for our first week. I found some small treasures along the way...and I made a little collage. Dweeb? Yes. Still like small things/trashy treasures? Oh, yes! We were all a bit tickled when the local barefoot childrne chipped in to help us collect trash...and wanted to come home with us. ¡Qué bacan!

Chillin' at the club with Obama on TV......Me, Ash, Jenny, and emo-rocker Leigh (es un chiste, Leigh!)

More Day of the Dead pics: Guaguas de pan...basicaly bread in the shape of children. Traditional food often eaten with the delicious colada morada (see story below).

A shot of the locals and a cloud covered mountain outside of Otavalo.

Tim, Edwin and the multitudes...

Abuelas serving up the colada morada for the families. All of the indigenous women wear similar white blouses with embroidered (by hand, sometimes) flowers, a dark dress, gold necklaces (that are imported....from somewhere in Asia, I think?) and other things like the head wraps and scarves.

And here is the old post:

I had a quite interesting weekend. My friend Tim and I were pick-pocketed on the Trolley during the the ride to the bus station that would then take us to Otavalo. I had been checking for my wallet literally every ten seconds....and, lo and behold, Tim said....Someone stole my wallet. I thought, man that sucks!....and I reached to feel my pocket....and it had no bulge and felt like flattened box....no wallet! No debit card anymore....tricky!

We know who did but it was too late, they had gotten off the trolley before we noticed...shucks!

We proceeded to the bus station and, once on the bus, a few people tried to befriend us, tell us the buses were totally safe (HA! see earlier post about theft of camera and iPod...) and then eye our things like hawks....hmmmm, is it obvious who the thieves are now?

My friend Jenny, bless her heart, went and pushed past these three guys that were lingering over a gringo like a rain cloud, and told the gringo man to watch out for his things....the thieves got the drift and got off the bus soon after...with his camera lense. Not a total victory for them, I guess.

Luckily for me, I did not put all of my eggs in one basket, so I had some money for the weekend, which was excellent.

We all stayed in a sweet and simple little hostal with a very pleasnt breakfast each morning. The boys, Prof. Nick, Tim, and I stayed there for two nights, while the girls all stayed with families in nearby Cotacachi.

The first ngiht we were there we met a few locals who were VERY interested in the girls and also in learning English. This fellow Edwin ended up hanging out with us that night...he and his friends were drinking aguardiente, the local firewater, which had done them in quite well! Edwin was " A little drink, I am only a little drink..." He meant "drunk" and we corrected his English; he was thankful for the lessons.

Despite having little trust in people who were seemingly friendly to us, I soon realized that these kids were not out to steal anything. Edwin was/is seriously in love with the English language and wants to live the dream in either LA or NYC....American culture strikes again!

We saw Edwin the next day and he wanted to take us to a hookah bar. We had eaten there the day before but did not object to goaing again since there was an open mic night happening on this Saturday night. Now get this people, I sat down and scanned the room....and recognized someone nearby. I then eventually saw the man sitting next to her and realized I knew them both...from Morgantown!!! I later proceeded to say hi and, although we were not too well known to each other, the memories came back and we kept these two poor travellers, Arik and Lindsey, up waaaay past their bedtimes! What a lovely small world it really is, did you know that? Our professor, Nick, connected them to our weekend adventures and I think that we will be seeing them in the cloud forest very soon...yeeeeha! Dub V connection!

Edwin invited us to come to the cemetery with his family and friends for theDay of the Dead the next day, Sunday. I was psyched to be able to go with a local indigenous person and so we made plans and met up with him the next morning.

The cemetery was PACKED with people...and I must say it was a very unique experience. People literally walk and climb ALL OVER the gravestones and graves....so I felt a bit odd stepping right on the graves. The other odd thing is that there are people vending cotton candy, ice cream, soda pop, and strange blow-up power ranger toys the entire time. Corporate blending into culture....as usual? We had some of the traditional colada morada, a sweet fruity drink made of raspberries, pineapples, and other types of fruit, and shared some food with Edwin and his sisters. Edwins mother died five years ago of lymphoma. He did not seem to be very upset that day....a celebration of life and a day to pay respects.

The boys and I were there for a couple hours and then we proceeded to get ready for the busride back to Quito. It seems obvious that the thieves are riding the bus from Quito to...Quito. They get out before even leaving the city...so if you see somebody on a two-hour busride with just a small pack or nothing, beware. I don't want to make people paranoid but also don't want to have the same things happen to them!

Many thanks to Edwin for being so interested/ing and for the invitation to the graveyard. It was a pleasure to join him. I hope to meet him again in the US, or very soon when Sheena comes for a visit!

I hope that all is well with everyone. Hugs and love!

Cory

2008-10-23T10:17:00.005-04:00

Howdy ladies and gentlemen,

A temporary, or perhaps permanent, solution to my photograph problem has been reached. Many thanks to Renata, my classamate, for letting me use some of her photos for my blog.

So, as I mentioned in the earlier post, the museum called Capilla del Hombre was quite dazzling. The centerpiece of the whole large building was a dome painting of suffering mine workers reaching for the light. The picture below is shot from the bottom floor looking up...to the light!

This is a picture of the sketch used for the much larger painting. So much suffering portrayed in his work....heavy. The painting is unfinished due to the death of Ecuador's most famous painter, Señor Guayasmín.

At the smaller museum Renata snapped this good shot of a sculpture of the artist, and one of his many multi-plate super-intense paintings. I think this is "The protestors hands", or at least the last one on the bottom.

Out of the deep and emotional art and into the light and flightyness of hummingbirds!

At Milpe, in the Cloud Forest, we were surrounded by so many birds! It was a thrill, as in Canaan Valley we have maybe 3-5 birds at a time...on a good day. Here, our host said that for every bird there are something like twenty more of the same species...or did he say forty? This pic might show the point.

While playing cards for a few hours we all noticed some lovely little buggers that also wanted to join in on the festivities. Awww, ho cuuute! (remember, you can click on the pics for a zoom in)

And what better way to end this post than with a nice view from the place that we enjoyed some lunch, in Los Bancos. West Virginia, I miss you...

Still have not made it to a football game here...but it is on the agenda. I like not having much time to do all the things on the list of desires. It is MUCH better than the opposite: numbing boredom. ¡Carpe diem! I have been enjoying the comments and I hope that you all are enjoying the blog. My first shot at it so please criticize.

Love to all,

Cory Lyle

STILL loving Ecuador...

2008-10-20T17:27:00.002-04:00

...despite being sick, seemingly from the overabundance of pollution that fills in this city like dry ice in a bowl...and despite having my digital camera, loaded with pics, and my iPod, loaded with enough music to hear songs all day everyday for about 8 months straight.....stolen...on a bus...that was taking us back to the cloud forest.

Yes, I was suckered reeeeally bad, and my friends and I put all the pieces together and realized that we had not lost our electronics...oh no! They had been cleverly snatched by at least three people. One fellow acted like he worked on the bus...and he had put our bags under our seats. I though "Cool, better there then somewhere out of my reach." My friend Ashley sat beside me, and she had a big big bag that barely even fit under the seat...but this dude stuffed it in there. And we were all tired so Ash put her seat back...and before we had even left the bus station a man sitting behind her rudely put up her seat and said that he didn't have enough room.....enough room to crawl under the seats....and cut a hole in her bag.....and get her camera. Upon gettting off the bus, in a hurry and on the side of the road, I noticed that my belt and my red hemp hacky sack were on the floor beside my bag...hmmmmm, that is odd. They were both in two different pockets....but hurry, get off the bus or ride it into town without your pals!

We showed up at our destination, the Milpe Bird Sanctuary (my friend Mr. Rucker would have loved it!), just a few kilometers away from Mindo, which is wehre I was the weekend before. As I was tickled pink that their were literally tens of hundreds of birds, especially hummingbirds, I went to get my camera out of my bag....and it was nowhere to be found. Ashley had already relayed that she had "lost" her more expensive camera....and then I knew what had gone on....the guy who put our bags under the seat got off the bus before even getting out of Quito! And so did two other people that we now know helped him. Pro's, I must say! We had both been robbed.....and I didn't even notice the iPod was gone until I wanted to use it many hours later...no Primus before bed! Just random rain on a tin roof...

Shucks...so many neat pics on there from years past and from yesterday! I wanted to put up some of the pics I took at Oswaldo Guayasamín's quite interesting musuem and art gallery (since I can't, check out that link). We went here right before going to Milpe. This man is Ecuador's most famous painter and was a very passionate human rights activist. We later went to Capilla del Hombre (another great link, in both languages), which was basically a stunning and deep experience of architecture, paintings, murals, sculptures, poems, and a nice guided tour by a sweet lady who claimed not to speak English well but who was stellar at guiding us to see the message and depth of Guayasamín's work.

After that cool experience, we went to Milpe and helped to do some more reforestation work. Since it rained while we worked we could not plant trees...but we could but sprouting seeds into their cozy little plastic wrapped dirt apartments for future transport to the greater dirt home of earth...and when I use "dirt" I mean no disrespect or oversimplification. Utmost thanks to the soil and the ground from which I am fed and kept frrom floating into space...it is too cold up there anyways.

So....that whole rant above was certainly a type of therapy for me. While in Milpe, I awoke very early and hiked down to the river, stripped down and told myself that these material items are gone and that I wanted to shed the energy of anger and worry and keep on going with the amazing journey of breathing in the air (even if it is Quito's grungy air). And with that intention I dove into the river....ahhh! So refreshing and cool...not as cold as that waterfall experience, but just good enough to give me a great morning wake-up.

We returned to Quito on Saturday afternoon and went out for some salsa dancing with our program coordinator, Juan Miguel...of course, he broke it down for us and was quite the talented man, as I have said. What fun! I'll surely return for more....

OK, therapy is over and I have some homework to complete. Not to mention I need an alarm clock that actually works...two tries...third times a _____?

Still enjoying my journey,

Cory

Head in clouds, hands in coffee, feet on green earth

2008-10-14T11:13:00.008-04:00

This past weekend in the Cloud Forest and in Mindo was super sweet; rejuvenating and a small dose of soul fertilizer for positive growth. Juan Manuel, our gracious and multi-talented host, was a pleasure to be with. Painter, musician, chef, plant-bird-tree lover/knower, and that is just what I know from a couple of days with him. The forest was lush and alive with the sounds of MUSIC...birds, that is. Looooots of birds. Hummingbirds galore, and orchids too. Lots of lush.

Juan Manuel has painted many birds (and plants that they might land on) for bird books and posters: mainly birds of Quito, the rainforest, and Ecuador, from what I saw.

These pics show where I stayed (in the green guest house) and the next pic is of some pals getting the low down on what to do with the coffee trees that Juan Manuel is using to reforest part of his land that was shredded up good from them darn cattle!

Thanks to Juan Miguel we had a nice jam session with (from left) Juan Manuel, Juan Miguel, our program coordinator, and Nick Biddle, our history and political science professor. Next is a spider the size of your head...no not really...

Juan Manuel showed us his elaborate collection of local insect species....this is only two boxes, amongst about eight or so...One night as I walked down the driveway in the dark I encountered, and was slightly badgered by, what seemed to be a big bird that flew like a bat....but it was a huge moth...heads up!

(Click on me to get a bettter view!)

Juan Manuel took us to the largest tree around. In the pic below, he could have hid behind the giant trunk that came out like a thick ribbon. The tree is basically, in English translation, a killing tree, because it surrounds and kills another already rooted tree...we could see light coming through from the other side, barely.

This is the view from JM's porch. Dub V with palm tree?

My friend Melissa discovered quite an interesting mariposa (butterfly) right before the coffee tree work. The images have not been altered.

Later we all went to Mindo, which is famous for its natural attractions and loads of butterflys and orchids. We went to ride a trolley across a huge ravine to hike down to some cascadas (waterfalls) and I could not resist stripping down to the undies and hopping into the fury that is gravity and water.

Lago means lake....but I couldn't help but read this sign without the 'o' and get a phrase that sums up what happens when you are in a very different and new place. This was a place to recycle and dispose of trash. (I recommend the first two R's in that equation: Reduce and Reuse...then the third R is a good thing to do...after those first two R's)

The place we stayed at in Mindo was set beside the river and was utterly divine and simple. They had five hammocks that were well used by all. The flowers in this country are super...I have taken hundreds of pics already...here are two of them. The first is a plantain tree, I think, looking up into its huge flower that is being nibbled at by insects. The second is an unknown flower to me...many of the flowers and plants have structures that retain water, as you can see.

School is coming in hot and my Spanish has served me well so far....lots to learn on that subject! We are all getting a good foot in the door to understand how corporations work and what has led to our financial crisis in the US and in other Westernized nations.

Do we learn from our mistakes? Sometimes. We have been experiencing a lot of thriving local microeconomies in the countryside and the typical overabundance of products that people don't really need to live a happy and productive life...yet it is not my place to say what is needed or worth it or not...as I type on this computer and listen to my reggae music. Live and let live....but with government regulations?!

With many thoughts of you who are part of my life, be well,

Cory

To the Cloud Forest

2008-10-09T00:35:00.004-04:00

Johhny Sid Knee MickSugarCain III and Bore Rock Whoz Sane (really! who is?) Oh Bomb Uh II had their debate last night. My classmates, professor and I got to watch it at a very posh Americana hotel and I must say that I have always been amazed at how long somebody can talk and not really answer the question...I was also tickled that the word "Zen" was said before the last question. Both of them blew that one bad. I guess that it is not good to look like you might not know something? Humbleness is not considered a strong presidential quality, obviously.

Here is what I don't know: I am leaving for the cloud forest tomorrow after class to stay with a fellow many of us have already dubbed "Birdman," since he is quite the expert on birds, which Ecuador has more species of than any other place on this entire planet, along with orchids and...Ecuadorians? Sorry, that was lame. But Birdman is also an aritst and he made all of the illustrations for the bird book of Ecuador. This should be great.

We also have the chance to do our service project with him: a reforestation project. I think that I am leaning in that direstion as I want to be outside: of buildings and the city.

In other news, I befriended a fellow who owns the only Reggae shop in Ecuador. It is about two blocks from my classroom and I saw signs for it all over town and finally made it over there yesterday. Picked up some new Midnite CD's, who, by the way, is one of the best darn Reggae groups out there, in my opinion. "100% St. Croix Roots - Give Thanks!"

A bit bummed that I will not attend the World Cup qualifier between Ecuador and Chile but I am sure that we will find a place to watch it on the tube of past illusions and I hope that Ecuador wins so I can see if this place gets as wild as Motown...ha! Sorry, bad joke again. Alrighty, Off to bed.

Adios, ÇÇ

The Will of a Volcano

2008-10-04T14:04:00.007-04:00

If you are interested in the politics in Ecuador or Bolivia or Latin America in general, there is a lot happening. Check it out here: http://www.csmonitor.com/world/americas.html

I’ll try to compress what happened over the past week as well as I can. Here goes:

My group of students and I had the opportunity to spend about a week with indigenous families in the town of Cotacachi, which is next to South America’s most renowned textile market town of Otavalo. The only other male in the group, Tim, and I stayed with Alfonso De La Cruz, his wife Carmen Farinango, and there three boys (whom we rarely go to see or spend time with….oddly enough). They had a small one-story house and had a guest room for Tim and I that had two beds and a bathroom. When at the home we spent time only in our rooms to sleep or clean up and in the dining room to eat. On the second to last day we got to watch Carmen cook my favorite dish the kitchen, which was basically curried veggies from their garden wrapped in an egg wrap. Simple and mind/tongue-tingling! So basically, Carmen always cooked and cleaned our dishes, even after many offers to help with both activities, and actually only ate soup with us on the last night we were there… “This is different.” I thought. They were all super sweet to us and obviously had tourists/students staying with them often. The group that organized our stays was great: Runa Tupari.

This is a picture of Carmen (and Alfonso) making corn tortillas on a tiesto, basically a terra cotta pot with smoldering wood for heat. They were AWESOME….15 cents for one.

This is the goodbye day….Alfonso’s grandmother was such a trip! Classic sweetness and borderline senile, in a cute way….is that weird?

The pic below is of a few neighbors homes…laundry drying and washed by hand.

Runa Tupari took us a few great adventures: we saw and climbed a few volcanoes and saw lakes that were created only 3,000 years ago by violent volcanic activity….wow! The main fellow from Runa Tupari, Fausto, and I became the guys that couldn’t ever stop slamming each other with below-the-belt jokes. (When my Spanish teacher asked how to say “loser” in Spanish….I said “Fausto” so automatically that it scared me….I bet many of you are not surprised, eh?) He called me Senor Nino, or Mister Boy….so I had to call him Senor Hombre, or Mister Man. It was all in good fun and near the end of our time together I dropped the bullshit and told him as best as I could in Spanish that I appreciated his energy and what Runa Tupari was doing. He oftentimes picked Tim and I up in the morning and zipped us, very very VERY rapidly (Whoa, where is the “oh shit bar” in this truck?), to meet the others in the group…but in Ecuador things are a bit more fast-and-loose. I had to quickly get used to vehicles passing each other at anytime, usually causing the oncoming traffic to drive on the shoulder or practically come to a stop to avoid a collision. It happens all day everyday here. Oh, and there are usually no lines on the roads between the towns…yeeeeeehaw!!!

Ecuador (an OPEC country) has a gargantuan amount of buses and vehicles that use diesel…happy ol’ diesel! Oh yeah, it’s dirt cheap, too. I thought about gifts….maybe a few 50 gallon drums of gasoline would be better than a bunch of locally-crafted colorful clothes...

Mis amigas y yo (my friends and I) rode our bikes past the volcanically created Laguna de Cuicocha, or Lake Cuicocha.

Two days later we hiked up another mountain with another lake nearby (I forget the names so I don't want to try and be incorrect.)

This is a local midwife who, after losing her first child in birth, decided to learn to help local mothers and allow them to birth their children in the village…and not in the quite scary and dirty hospitals (so I am told). Red Cross donated funds to build this small yet cozy one room birthing house. She is standing next to an alter full of all sorts of things: lots of bleeding and upward staring Jesus’, Mother Mary, candles, rocks, toys, muchas cosas (many things). It is neat to notice that the Christian religion is blended with the indigenous worship of nature…all of the mountains are male or female gods in their own right. The blending of mono- and polytheism is clear and present here. “It is all the same God to us…” She had the most diverse garden I may have ever seen: lots of medicinal herbs, fruits, flowers, vegetables…and a huge field of lemon balm and mint.

Lots of people ran their animals down the streets…two women with their group of piggies….and a long switch to guide them.

Tomates de arbol, or tree tomatoes, in Alfonso’s garden….which also contains lemons, avacodos, limes, peaches, papaya, and lots of vegetables that are also common in the USA.

On our way out to meet Fausto and to meet our bus back to Quito I snapped this shot of a man placing his mud bricks out to sun dry before getting fired. There are large mud brick furnaces fired by wood, sometimes eucalyptus, to finalize the blocks.

Here is a picture of a field of habas, or broad beans. There are strings tied horizontally from the tops of the poles and then down to the ground for the beans to grow up, of course. This picture doesn’t do the size of this field any justice…

On our way out of Cotacachi our professor Nick Biddle surprised us with a stop at a massive rose growing operation. Believe it or not, when you busy roses in the USA, I’ll bet you a dozen that they came from Ecuador. This operation had about 20 hectares, or, for we non-metric whackos, about 50 acres, of greenhouses FULL of roses. One greenhouse had 300 rows and each row had 300 rose bushes. The roses are very carefully crafted and well taken care of. 75% are doe the nasty agro-chemical method, and, due to consumer demand (hey, perhaps we CAN demand better and make it happen) they are now growing 25% organic.
The first thing we saw was a three day old llama (pronounced yama…since two “l’s” makes a “y” sound in Spanish…comprende?) My friend Tim wanted to get close to them…the parents didn’t. They were definatley moving aggressively close to him and he was warned to back off. What a cute creature! Faultless symmetry and a regal posture.

This woman is picking out the perfect roses for bunches. Depending on the size and the quality the roses would go into basically small, medium, and large groups and the rejects…blemishes? Toss it.

Here the roses are basically being flash frozen for a trip to the airport…then to either the USA or Russia. That is the only tow places that they go! Not even anywhere in Ecuador.

The next picture is, perhaps for some, strong proof that nature has a design and a logical structure….or its just really damn pretty, or both!

After the tour we were each given a dozen roses. I noticed a black X on the cardboard surrounding the flowers…factory seconds that are still quite majestic.

After returning to Quito, tired yet excited to meet my new and more permanent host family, I was introduced to Magus, or Maria Augusta, the 19 year old daughter in my new family. We proceeded to jump into a cab, roses and all, and were zipped to the Rodriguez residence, which is about 2 miles or so from The Mango Tree, the restaurant below/classroom above/storage even higher that is owned and operated by the sweet couple that is putting on this magnificent program, Lori and Juan Miguel Espinoza.

Today we got our first big taste of the Professor Nick Biddle’s class about “the post-corporate world”, which is the title of a book we are using that was written by David C. Korten. Needless to say, I have a ton of things to learn about economics, history, business, politics, oh oh OH the endlessness of understanding. It is fun. I hope that I can keep that attitude.

Being that I believe that there are no coincidences, I will end this post with a quote from the song that I am listening to right now, by one of my favorite bands:

“May your lives be long,

and may your wishes all be simple.

And may your hearts stay stroooooong!” – Cloud Cult

Paz, CC

Digging the Indigenous Vibe

2008-09-29T17:44:00.003-04:00

Hola amigos,

Apologies for not posting anything in a few days...I have been in Otavalo staying with an indigenous family...until Thursday, and the living is much simplier here than in Quito. I am in an internet café for the next 5 minutes and then I need to return to mi familia.

The family is quite different than folks in the USA. The ladies don´t eat with us, they are early to bed and super early to rise. The language barrier has not been toooo bad...I guess I know a bit more Spanish than I thought I did...they also all speak Quechua, which I haven´t the faintest idea about...

Whne I get more feep roots in Quito on Friday I will post a ton of pics and maybe some video, if it doesn´t take all day long.

The people: super sweet.
The food: simple and nourishing.
The market: gorgeous and affordable.
The land: inspiring and strong.
The animals: plentiful and tame.
The beer: beer.

That´s all for now...I love the comments and I´ll reply when I have a faster connection and more time.

Love to all!

Cory
¡Pelé!

Vota Si....mil veces Si!!

2008-09-25T16:43:00.008-04:00

"Vote Yes...1,000 times YES!"

Today was the last day that people in Ecuador were allowed to march the streets in favor (or not in favor) of voting yes (or no) on ratifying the new constitution. This is quite literally the fourth constitution or so in about 50 years, and each time a "new start" is expected by those who want to vote yes.

This time, likely like most other times, a vote of 'yes' is expected to be cast by many people that want the wealthy and ruling elite to basically have to share the wealth. Obviously there are others marching with "Vota no" signs, especially in Ecuador's largest and richest city Guayaquil.

We are leaving tomorrow morning for about a week to a much smaller place where much of the people are fully indigenous....Otavalo. This place is famous for its textiles and I am excited to see the large market this weekend. It is also surrounded by a few volcanoes. We will be staying with local families, working on farms, and going with the local people on Sunday to witness the important and mandatory voting process.

Well, the power just went out all around this part of town. I can hear a loud alarm down the street. I wonder...it came back after five minutes...

Here are some pictures from today...we took a trolley to old town Quito, where the Spanish built large churches and palaces anywhere from ~400 years ago or less. Our trolley was slowed and stopped a few times due to a march of kids, glad to be out of school for the march, who support the new constitution.

Here is a picture of the Presidential Palace...and the marchers. They were very curious of we gringos and many some flipped the bird (chicos) and batted their pretty lashes (chicas). It was a great experience.

We visited the Catedral Primada de Quito Museo, which houses the "most important" relics and TONS of beautiful gold-leaf architecture, carvings, paintings, etc....I could not take pictures inside, but the picture of this fountain and the "tile" was allowed....the church pic is not the museum but a public mass.

Notice the tile, they are all made with bones of cows.

The history and the culture run deep. Mind boggling, to say the least.

One more thing: our teacher for a political science class is a very well established man. His name is Raul, and he was once an ambassador to the USA, a president of a local college, and now he will be working with us. He spoke with us today and he seems like a very kind and intelligent man. I feel honored to have him teach us about political science. I'll update this post with more info when I get it.

Of to la cena, dinner!

Arising in Casa Foch

2008-09-24T09:00:00.007-04:00

After a very smooth and short arrival at the airport, my group and I were bussed to our temporary living quarters, which is a very beautiful place owned by the same folks that also own and operate the Andean Studies Program, which I am participating in for this semester. The two buildings are across the street from each other.

I had a hard time wanting to sleep...but I knew that we would have to be ready for today so I fooled myself into counting llamas. I woke up earlier than I ever do and that must be due to the excitement I am feeling.

Here are some pictures of the place I am staying:

And the last pic is a view from my rooftop window...which I instantly had to climb out onto last night.

Now I must go meet up with the professor and have some breakfast.

Love to all.

Cory

East to the West

2008-09-23T08:39:00.005-04:00

Lindy Point, Blackwater Canyon. Pics of WV geography to compare with Quito when I arrive.

My flight from Pitt to MIA was fine. The shuttle to the hotel and I did not meet, so after much waiting I called them and realized that they were not coming...out comes the wallet for a Super Shuttle (which, by the way, is WAY more affordable than a taxi, which charges 40 cents per 1/6 mile.) I found a grocery store, Publix Sabor, and got some dinner and lunch for today. Miami is a good segway into a Spanish speaking country due to its highly concentrated Hispanic population.

I started reading a book my little brother Morgan gave me by Tom Robbins called Another Rodside Attraction. I have not read any fiction in years, and I realized that I needed a break from books that don't include as much wild imagination and wit as Robbins. He seems to be a literary genius, by my petty judgement. Hard to follow at first, but veeeeery synchronistic as the story begins in Miami, and it has had a lot of parallels, strangely, with another book I have been reading, given by my sweet madre Laurie, called A New Earth, by Echart Tolle. His books are awesome and simple. If anyone wants to lessen or end their self-torture and suffering and gain more understanding, this guy has got it down pat for the average Joe. The power of NOW!

Hace mucho calor! Miami felt like a hot summer day in WV late last night. I have most of the day to spend here and then I fly out near 7 pm. It seems that the weather in Quito will be less warm and more rainy. Raingear: check.

I met two of the people in the program last night outside of the hotel. Both are from WV, one from neighboring Elkins. We might try to head out to la playa (the beach) for some wave action and sunrays.

I felt like I did alright with packing and then these two folks saw my bags and were surprised that I had 3 bags and a laptop. Ah shucks! I thought I was doing better at letting unneeded baggage lay where it may! Oh well. Scouts motto: Be Prepared.

Alright, of to break the fast. Feeling overwhelmed with thankfulness and gratitude to those that have supported me throughout time. I hope that I can return all the favors tenfold.

Much love,

Cory

Here is what I did before I left WV....caught the horsey bug! Thanks to Dan and Shockley!

Airmerica

2008-09-20T16:22:00.002-04:00

I found out Friday that I will be flying out of Pittsburgh on Monday, spending a night in Miami, and then flying directly to Quito, Ecuador on Tuesday evening.

Sheena said that I needed to get over to South Beach in Miami and boogie down before I go. I wonder.....will it be a lot like Morgantown? HA! Doubtful.

Hope all is well with everyone as we transition into the fall season.

Hasta luego (Until later),

Cory

Ecuador it is!

2008-09-17T17:53:00.003-04:00

The fine folks at Amizade have been working hard to get a handful of students into some deep inter-cultural exchange.
They have offered a very similar semester abroad experience in Quito, Ecuador, which I have decided to attend.
I hope to travel to Bolivia in the future, although I am sure that I will have plenty to do in Ecuador.

Sorry for the confusion. This trip should be concrete and I assume that blogging will be easier in more developed Ecuador.

Love to all,

Cory

Cancelled and Rerouted

2008-09-15T20:36:00.002-04:00

Hi all,

I have some sad news. Due to the interesting and politically charged changes going onwith Bolivian-U.S. relations, my program coordinators at Amizade have had to cancel the semester in Bolivia.

Although there has been progress in easing tensions within Bolivia, the U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning to Bolivia, which led to the cancellation of the program.

There are some pending options to do a similar intercultural exchange in either Ecuador or Mexico; I'll likely stay with the program and go somewhere for this semester. I'll keep the posts coming as soon as I know what is happening.

Again, CS Monitor has an update: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0916/p04s01-woam.html

Hope all is well with you lovely people!

Hasta luego,

Cory

Politrix

2008-09-12T18:19:00.002-04:00

Well well well.....what have we here?

The political tensions in Bolivia have been taking a toll on people like me who would like to enter the country. Evo Morales, Bolivia's first ever fully indigenous president, has had some violent opposition from the eastern part of Bolivia where most of Bolivia's natural resources lie (esp. oil and gas).

President Morales claims that the US is supporting these militant groups. The US, of course, denies these claims (lets look at history: not too long ago the US supported many different contra groups, or counter-revolutionaries, in many different Latin American countries...El Salvador, Bolivia, Chile...the list goes on. See: Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution, By Thomas C. Wright, for more info on American foreign policy and propaganda.)

What does this mean for my school program? A one week delay, flight rescheduling, and a close eye on the situation in Bolivia.

If you want to know a little more about what the situation is all about check out this link to a really good news source: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0912/p99s05-duts.html

Well....I am going to unpack now, what a trip...ha.
It looks like a week of getting creosote in my eyes while cleaning chimneys is in the mix....maybe some good reading!

Adios,

Cory

Full Moon Arrival

2008-09-12T13:23:00.003-04:00

¡Bienvenidos!
Welcome!

I am gearing up, materially and mentally, for three months of service and learning in Bolivia. I am leaving on Sunday, September 14. I'll have more than a days worth of flying and playing the waiting game in the airports...my favorite!

I will be staying with a host family, a widow and two of her four children, in Cochabamba, the third largest city in Bolivia. According to IMF and World Bank standards (ah yes, the judgment of the West), Bolivia is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere, behind Haiti. Bolivia also has the highest indigenous population of any country in the Americas. I am quite excited to spend some time with people who speak Quechua, the official adopted language of the Inca. It has some similarities to Spanish but is mostly very different.

I recently found out that one of my teachers will be meeting me in La Paz early Monday morning, right around the time that la luna (the moon) is full. La Paz is the highest capital city in the world at 11,942 feet (3,640 m). We will have breakfast and a small tour in La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia (the historical and judicial capital is in Sucre). Then we will fly to Cochabamba and I will begin to settle into my new giant cultural classroom.

Needless to say, I am getting muy emocionado (very excited)! I hope to be able to update the blog as often as is needed. Definitely post comments and feel free to e-mail me. I love communication.

"¡La unión es la fuerza!"
"Unity is strength!"

Cory