Coming Home

After more than eight months, our trip is finally coming to an end.  There are some things that I'll miss about traveling, but I'm mostly looking forward to going home. Here are five things that I'll miss about our sabbatical, and five things that I am looking forward to at home:

Things that I will miss:

Trying new foods

Not going to school everyday

Meeting new people

Meeting new animals

Having a lot of time to relax

Things that I am looking forward to:

Seeing friends

Eating bagels

Seeing family

Speaking English to everyone

Having my own room

Asia

We've been in Asia for a couple of months now, and the time has gone by so quickly.  I remember that when we were in Hong Kong, home seemed like so far away.  Now, we'll be home in just a couple of weeks.  We're trying not to think of home now, though.  We're on the beach in Thailand right now, snorkeling and swimming. 

My favorite parts in Asia have been: swimming, seeing relatives in China, going to the beach, and surfing.  Swimming is just fun like it always is.  Who can resist going for a swim in high humidity and heat?  I'd been looking forward to seeing relatives for the whole trip, so of course that was a highlight.  And going to the beach has always been one of my favorite activities. Last of all, even though I just learned how to surf, it's so fun, and I love the feel of standing at the top of the waves, approaching the shore.

Even though we're almost home, going to Asia for the first time has been amazing.

Week in Hunan

A few weeks ago, we spent five days with relatives in Hunan, China.  All of the relatives were so open and friendly, it was as if we had known them forever. The week consisted of banquets, spicy food, sports, and karaoke.  I'm so glad that we got to meet relatives and see where our family was originally from. The week went by quickly, but we did a lot in a few days.

The relatives that we met seemed to be good at everything.  The first night at karaoke, some of them sang like professionals.  The next day we played badminton and ping pong.  Two of my uncles (my mom's first cousins), were playing in a city tournament of badminton, and we went to cheer them on.  The family's also very athletic.  One of the uncles who was competing in the badminton competition is also one of the best swimmers in China.  

All of the relatives have good connections, so they managed to have someone open a huge pool for us, get us into the "Governors" karaoke room, and more.  It was so nice of them to take their whole week off and hang out with us!

Although we did a lot that week, my favorite things were probably going swimming in a river off of a boat, seeing the place where Avatar was filmed, and all the good food we ate.    

Hong Kong!

Yesterday we arrived in Hong Kong after a long night on the plane. Being in Hong Kong is so exciting ! Hong Kong is so upbeat and alive. We got here around noon and found our apartment.  Our family is here for three days before more relatives arrive, so we are the only ones in the apartment now.  Even though there's just four of us in the apartment, it seems small and cramped.  Space in Hong Kong is limited, and when everyone else arrives, it'll be hard to fit nine people in this apartment.  One of the rooms is basically just a bed without any other space.  

The weather here is pretty uncomfortable.  It's humid and hot like New York in the summer. Compared to South Africa and the dry weather that we had, the humidity takes some getting used to.

After we had unpacked in the apartment, we set off for a walk.  We took a small historic walk in the neighborhood. The walk was guided by just our Ipad, but still interesting. After the walk and a stop to go to the squat toilet, we went to a small place for bubble tea.  I got a milk tea with tapioca balls, which was very good.  

Today we woke up at ten and left the apartment at eleven.  We had a brunch of dumpling and noodle soups at a small restaurant. The dumpling soup that I had was tasty and filling.  After that, we walked over to the mall and did our summer clothes shopping. When we were in Chile, we tried to get summer clothes, but it was out of season there. It was great to finally get that out of the way. When we were done with that, everyone was pretty tired.  We went to a small place for lunch close to home.  Now,  I'm writing this blogpost on the computer while drinking my bubble tea.

Me and my bubble tea

Safari

We recently went on a Safari in South Africa.  The Safari was in Kruger National Park. My favorite parts were the elephants, zebras, and hippos.

When you see an elephant in a photograph, it looks big.  Maybe the size of a car.  But, when you see an elephant standing six feet away from you…well, the older ones are easily twice the size of a car.  Our guide, Chris, told us about the horrors of elephants.  Say that someone walked into a restaurant and just came and sat at your table.  You don't know them.  So you don't want them there.  Elephants are sort of like that.  If you go to close to an elephant, they WILL flip your car over and smash it like you smash a small soda can.  It was really interesting, though, to see the elephants up close.

Before coming to Africa, I had only seen zebras in photographs, films, zoos, and those charts in classrooms with all the letters of the alphabet.  We saw lots of zebras on the safari, which I enjoyed.  When you look close at zebras, they actually have some brown in them, as well as black and white.  It was great seeing zebras, even if they were far away.

Hippos are the animals that have killed the most people in Africa.  I'm not saying this to scare anyone. I'm just stating the fact.  The few times we passed hippos, they didn't seem too dangerous. They did have HUGE pink jaws. They were really fat and heavy. But, they didn't seem too threatening.  In the daytime, hippos mostly slept in the water.  In the night, however, they were eating up on land.  I guess I expected hippos to seem mellow and small.  They were huge roaring animals, though.  Fun to see in real life… as long as you're not too close.

 

Leaving South America

We've been in South America for six months now.  Today we fly from São Paolo, Brazil, to South Africa.  Even though it will be sad to leave South America, I'm super excited to go to South Africa and Hong Kong.  Here are my top ten things that I will always remember from South America:

1.  Our river rafting trip on the Futaleufú river in Patagonia, Chile.  All of the extreme sports were so exciting, and that was definitely a highlight of South America.

2.  Machu Picchu, Perú.  Machu Picchu was so interesting.  We got to see so many cool Inca ruins.  Even though around Cusco, we saw other ruins, Machu Picchu was the greatest. 

3.  The Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.  The Galapagos was one of the places where it seemed like the fight to conserve the environment was actually winning.  There were so many exotic animals, I can't name all of them. It was so cool to just see a bird land two feet away from you, and not have them being scared of you.

4.  Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile.  This national park is at the end of South America, and we spent five days there, hiking.  Even though it was cold at points, the hiking was amazing.

5.  The Salt Flats of Uyuni, Bolivia.  These salt flats were AMAZING.   You had to wear sunglasses because the ground was so shiny and white.  All you could see for miles, was white salt and more salt.

6.  Climbing Volcán Villarica in Chile.  Climbing a Volcano is something that people dream of doing.  I'm so glad that I got a chance to, a d that we found a company that would take eleven year olds up to the crater.

7.  The violin workshop in Buenos Aires.  When we stayed in Buenos Aires for two weeks, my mom and I went to a violin workshop in Spanish.  It was a bit difficult to speak Spanish all the time, but it was a great experience.  I hope that sometime, I can go back for another workshop.

8.  Our four day biking tour in Ecuador.  This biking tour was hard at parts, but overall exciting and fun.  It gave us a way to see non- touristy places in Ecuador, while biking.

9.  The Otavalo animal market in Ecuador.  I didn't blog about this, but the animal market was so exciting, and I figured out that I need a pet pig.

10.  Being in all of the big cities in South America.  I loved all of the cities in South America, and will miss them.  We visited Quito, Santiago, Lima, Buenas Aires, and more.

Looking back to when we were in Ecuador, it seems like so long ago.  I hope to come back to South America sometime.

Violin in Spanish

Recently, my mom and I went to a four day violin workshop in Buenas Aires. The workshop was for teachers to learn how to teach book seven of Suzuki.  Since I'm not a violin teacher, I was one of the students in the master class and group classes.  

There were people in the class from Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and of course from New York.  I thought that the class would seem totally different from ones in New York, but it really wasn't.  Of course we talked in Spanish, but everyone knew all of the pieces in the Suzuki books.

The first day was a bit overwhelming.  I had a lesson in Spanish in front of eleven teachers, all taking notes.  Oh, and one more detail, people in Argentina speak VERY fast.  It was helpful, though, to have a lesson.

The second day, I got to the studio earlier, to practice with the other students.  We played fiddle pieces and more.  We also all had the same pieces memorized, which we played together.

The same day, we all had lunch together, which was fun even though it was hard to know what everyone was saying.  We also had a group class that day, where we played Suzuki songs and our duet pieces again. When that day was over, I was already looking forward to the next group class day.

The third day was basically same as the first.  I had a lesson again which was slightly easier than the first.  I was able to understand what was said, by a mixture of Spanish and what was being played on the violin.

The last day, I only got to the studio half an hour early, to rehearse the same duet pieces.  After that half hour, we played in the same group class, and duets. My favorite duet was the one called "Cripple Creek" which was a really fun fiddle piece.

If someone asked me what the highlights were of the workshop, I would say meeting new people and having a violin lesson again.

ⓈⒶⓃⒹⒷⓄⒶⓇⒹⒾⓃⒼ ⒾⓃ ⓉⒽⒺ ⒸⒽⒾⓁⒺⒶⓃ ⒹⒺⓈⒺⓇⓉ

Have you ever gone to the desert? Have you ever gone to a desert with a creepy name? Have you ever been to a sand dune? Have you ever gone snowboarding? Have you ever gone sand boarding? Have you ever gone sand boarding without knowing how to snowboard?

Yesterday, we went sand boarding in a desert called, Valle De La Muerte.  Sand boarding is exactly what it sounds like: snow boarding on a sand dune.   It was my first time on a snow board, or sand board, and I was pretty nervous.

When we parked at the bottom of the dune, with our tour group, it looked HUGE.  The dune was steeper than a beginners hill for snowboarding, that's for sure. I had asked myself, "So, how will I go down this without flipping over ten times?" Turns out, sand boarding is pretty easy.

We started out carrying our boards up an enormous hill.  At the top,  everyone strapped in their feet, and one by one, everyone went down.  When it was my turn, I hopped up on my board, and glanced down.  I reassured myself that it wouldn't be hard.  It wasn't hard.

I positioned myself at an angle, and dug my toes into the sand.  Then, I started gliding.  A few times, I got stuck, but it was fine after a bit of jumping.   After boarding six times down the dune, I felt like I knew what I was doing.  Even though sand boarding was fun, I'm not sure I would try snow boarding.

Here's a video of my sandboarding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISsPgFWGgKQ

The fight for a coastline

There are 15 countries in South America.  Out of those 15, two of them are landlocked.  Out of those two, we visited one.  That one is Bolivia.  Bolivia is our fourth country in South America, and an interesting one. For starters, Bolivia has a navy.  Why would a country without a coastline have a navy? 

One hundred and fifty years ago, Bolivia fought a war with Chile.  After Chile won, they took Bolivia's coast.  That land is now Chile, and because of that, there is a huge rivalry between the two countries.

The navy base in Bolivia is on Lake Titicaca in the town of Copacabana.  When we went to Copacabana for a day, navy officers were everywhere.  They were identified by their blue suits and clubs.  But I wondered, what would the navy do on a lake?   Do they think that they will get their land back?  My answer to that question is yes.  

Bolivia has their navy for political reasons.  They want their coastline given back by Chile.   If Bolivia didn't have a Navy, would Chile and other countries think that Bolivia doesn't believe they can get it back?  Bolivia would be showing that they don't think it possible for their landlocked country to be given some ocean.

Today we took a tour of La Paz, Bolivia.  We got to see exactly how obsessed Bolivia was with getting their "Litoral" (coast) back.  There were taxi companies with a name related to the ocean, signs about the ocean, and much more.  When our tour arrived in front of the presidential palace, the guards were even dressed in traditional Bolivian Navy uniforms!   

Bolivia may always be a landlocked country, but it is still fighting for its coast.  Coming to Bolivia, really interested me in rivalries between countries.

A life in Cusco

Living in Cusco for two weeks has been relaxing.  Like Cuenca, we go to Spanish tutoring every single day, plus do other touristy things in the afternoons.

Everyday, we wake up at 6:45 am, in time to have hot chocolate, toast, and cereal for breakfast.  After that, we walk down the narrow steps of our house to the narrow street to hail a taxi.  The school is a twenty minute walk away, so we've taken a car every single day.  

The school is a courtyard, with a main building and little classrooms.  My first teacher, Alicia, and I have a small tent in the courtyard for grammar.  My second teacher, Mari, and I don't really have a classroom.  We just find an open space.

Yo y Mari estamos hablando y jugando

Alicia es mi profesora de grammática

The first two hours of tutoring are grammar. They make your head ache from all the conjugating.  The second two hours are conversational. My teacher and I go on walks, but mostly play with the small kittens at the school while talking.

After four hours of tutoring, we go out to lunch.  So far, we've gone to a great American place, a Chinese restaurant, and a cevicheria.  The best was the American place, where I had caramelized banana pancakes.

After lunch, we either walk or take a taxi home.  Some afternoons, we only relax at home, or go on walks.  Other afternoons, we go to museums or churches (which Oscar and I hate).   On my favorite afternoon, my parents and I went to a chocolate making workshop, while Oscar stayed at home on the computer.  

Every night, dinner has been different.   Some nights we eat small meals at home. Other nights we eat at restaurants, and other nights we get takeout food.  The best nights were probably having takeout chicken and french fries.   

Leaving Cusco tomorrow will be like leaving my home. 

River trip in Chile

Recently, our family went on a week-long white water rafting trip in Patagonia, Chile. The trip was in Rio Futaleufu, the Everest of Rivers. Since this was an overnight trip, we stayed in four different camps over the course of the week.  Each one was different, some large with rapids on the sides, some small with ponds.

Our first morning at the first camp

The first camp was one of the hardest to get lost in (although I got lost twice). There was a central eating/fire area, next to the roaring river.

The main area at camp

Facing the river, you go left and find yourself walking through the woods past cliff dwellings one, two, three and four.

The outside of a cliff dwelling

Inside a cliff dwelling

Then, you pass the wood hot tub, then a small sign telling you that you're in the right place.

One of the wooden hot tubs at camp

Then, there are cliff dwellings five, six, seven, and more.  Retracing your steps, you find yourself back at the dining area.  If you face your back to the river, you walk down a small path, leading to bathrooms and showers. That's most of the camp, at least what I can remember.  Oscar and I shared one cabin, open to the river on one side. Even though the river was loud, I eventually got used to the fierce sound.  I liked that camp, mostly because it was small, and easy to get around in.

Me in my cliff dwelling

The second camp that we stayed in was called Cave Camp.  As you probably guessed, there was a big cave at the camp.  The main eating and fire area was next to the river, though.  On one side of the fire, was the hot tub and two cliff dwellings.  On the other side of the fire was an elaborate set of stairs and rocks, leading to the rest of the cliff dwellings. Behind those cliff dwellings was a huge mass of rock, facing the river.   The mass included a stone hot tub and a little bridge.

Me and my mom walking on the bridge at Cave Camp

Walking past the fire again, you can follow a path to a map of the camp.  Turning left at the map, you follow three bridges, hanging over a lagoon, to the cave. We didn't spend much time in the cave, because it was dry out the two nights that we spent at Cave Camp.  After passing the cave, you go up two flights of wood stump made stairs to the bathrooms.  That's the tour of Cave Camp.

Signpost at Cave Camp

Cave Camp was probably the largest camp. Everything was very spread out, but homey and close together at the same time. The size probably explains why the walk to the restrooms was ten minutes long.

The view from one of the bathrooms

The third camp that we stayed at was the treehouse camp.  After a night in the caves, we hiked up a hill for three hours, ending at the smallest camp.  There was a central gazebo with a fire, and wooden planks leading to another fire and hot tub, on the dock of the lake.  Next to the gazebo, a stairwell led to a cluster of tree houses, each as if it was a spoke on a bike wheel.  Behind the gazebo, a few paces up, there was a bathroom.  Tree houses was probably my favorite camp.  Besides learning how to paddle board, I liked how you couldn't hear the roaring of the river at night.

My mom

The last camp that we stayed at was the one that I remember the least.  Our family had cliff dwellings next to the river, under a hill.  Up on the hill were three picnic tables, and a bathroom.  On the other side of the hill was an eating area, a fire, a kitchen, and a hot tub.  Those are basically the places that I went in the last camp.  Somewhere around, though, there were more cliff dwellings, and other bathrooms.

The picnic area at the last camp

The last night at that camp, we had lamb, sizzling by the fire, for a good ending to the trip.

The biggest lamb lover in the family

Oscar and his cordero

 Even though we did other things on the rafting trip, I found that looking at all of the different camps was a highlight of the trip.  I'm sure that when I look back at our eight month trip, I will see this part as one of the high points.

Climbing up an active volcano

Last week in a town called Pucon, in Chile, we trekked up a volcano called Villarrica.  The volcano looked huge from the bottom.  Half way up the mountain, the snow started.  The only thing that I could think was that I would be climbing that.  It was a full day, starting at 7:00 am, and ending at 4:30 pm.  You would think that climbing an active volcano might be one of the most tiring things ever, but surprisingly, not to me.

We started off on an optional chair lift, which didn't have a bar holding us on the seat.  The lift was meant for the skiing season, but ran sometimes in the Chilean summertime.  Everyone in our group took the chair lift, except a German couple and an Australian guy.  The lift took about ten minutes, while the hike around the lift took an hour.  Since the Germans and Australian were an hour behind, you would think that the people who didn't choose the chair lift would be at least an hour behind us, but surprisingly, they were fast hikers and passed us at one point.

After the chair lift ride, the remaining eight of us, plus two guides, started up.  The main guide was ahead, followed by me, then Oscar, after him, a Brazilian woman called Anna, then her husband, my parents, an Australian woman, and a quiet Chilean guy.

We walked up slowly, step by step, using ice picks to steady ourselves on the scree. Mostly, we didn't talk, except for our guide telling Oscar and me "good job" or the Brazilian man pushing his wife to go faster. Every now and then, we would take breaks, which were always a relief to me, to stop and have a snack.  On our second break, our guide said that the glacier was 45 minutes away.  I had looked up to the beginning of the snow, and it had only seemed about ten minutes up.   In those 45 minutes, I tried not to concentrate on when we would get there, but concentrated on not looking up for periods of time, so when I did, the top would look closer.

        Finally, we were at the snow, and took another break. By then, we were half way to the crater.  It looked like way less than half way.  There was a long stretch, then the crater.  As I later found out, there were parts that I couldn't see from where I was.

As we started up the snow, stepping in each other's tracks, I noticed the long trails of dented snow, which were where everyone sleds down the snow.  Then, I looked up at the steep mountain.  That was probably around the time that I decided to go with a guide on the sled down.

At our second to last break, I saw just a small uphill, and then, a little path leading to the crater.  "Great," I had thought, "Just about twenty minutes more."  As it turned out, there was one more hour from there.

We kept on hiking silently, step by step, and finally reached what I thought was the end.  It was actually just the point where there were 45 more minutes.  After about 25 minutes, we reached another gravely part. After twenty minutes of the gravel, we were at the crater.

I'm not really sure what I thought a crater would look like.  Maybe just a hole that looks like a pool of lava is inside?  Maybe dirt gathering by the lava?  Maybe steaming, burning, fumes coming from the volcano?  Whatever I thought, it wasn't any of those.

I can try to explain the crater as best as I can, but even when you take pictures, they don't capture the exact moment.  The only way to see how it was exactly, was to be there.

You are standing on a gravely surface, pulling your jacket tighter over you to keep warm.  There are many people standing around you, joking around, putting on windbreakers.  You walk forward ten steps on the flat surface, and come to a layer of snow.  You walk forward another ten steps, and pull your hood over your head.  You are standing a few feet from a sloping surface, going into a hole, that is steaming.  You smell the sulfur.  You see the sloping platform twenty feet below you.  You know that this hole goes to the center of the earth.  You wonder what would happen if you fell in.  You are standing at the edge of an active volcano.

On the way down, everyone walked to a row of paths, ready for sliding.  I had originally planned to go down with a guide, but was told that I had to try it first. Everyone had put on a diaper sort of thing, and a plastic sled attached to our belts.

After Oscar, I got positioned sitting at the top of the path.  Then, I started down.  Slowing myself by dragging my ice pick in the snow, I found it was pretty fun.  The next ride, I went down with no problem.  The next one though, was harder.  It turned out that I had been thinking of the wrong problem.  Instead of going too fast, I would come to a stop in the middle of the hill. That happened a few more times, resulting in a group of people behind me, trying to go down.  The next time, our guide towed me down.

When the snow stopped, everyone fell into line again, trying not to kick up dirt from the scree.  My mom and I fell behind with our guide.  We slowly made our way down.  I noticed our guide checking his email and phone.  I wondered if that was what it was like to always climb the volcano.

Later, as I sipped my Fanta from a vender, I realized what I had just done.  I had climbed an active volcano, something that people dream of doing.

Chile vs. Ecuador

We just got to Chile a few weeks ago.  After being in Ecuador for nearly three months, it was odd to see a first world country again.  It was delightful, though, to explore a fresh place, and see all the differences between Ecuador and Chile.  

One of the differences between Ecuador and Chile is that in Ecuador, there are many indigenous (native) people.  On the streets of lots of Ecuadorian cities, you see indigenous people everywhere, identifying them by their traditional clothing.  In Chile, however, there are close to no indigenous people in the cities.  On the streets of Chilean cities, you see people who are dressed in modern clothes, and most of the time, you see no indigenous people. There are some indigenous people in other parts of Chile that I haven't seen yet.

Another difference between Ecuador and Chile is the cities.  For instance, based on Cuenca and Quito, when you say the word "ciudad" in Ecuador, you mean a place with a grid of blocks, semi-crowded streets, stores, restaurants, houses lining the blocks, and a main square, where many people are sitting on benches.   When you say "ciudad" in Chile, based on Valparaíso and Santiago, you mean a place with many people living on grids and grids of blocks, fancy restaurants, skyscrapers, huge parks, and apartment buildings. In Chile, the mindset of a city, is closer to the mindset of a city in the US.  This is because Ecuador is more of a developing country than Chile.

Another interesting difference between Chile and Ecuador is the type of language spoken.  Both Chileans and Ecuadorians speak Spanish, but with very different accents and pronunciation.  For example, Ecuadorian Spanish is slow and easy to understand.  Chilean Spanish is fast, and hard for a non-native Spanish speaker to understand. After being in Ecuador for nearly three months, I was mostly able to know what people were saying to me.  Being in Chile, I can pick up a few words, but mostly hear a mishmash of scrambled up Spanish.

Finally, Ecuador and Chile use different currencies.  In Ecuador, the currency is the  US Dollar, while in Chile, the currency is the Chilean Peso.  I found it easier when I was in a country that used the same currency as the US, because you can get a feel for how much things cost.  For instance, if something costs €10,000 (10,000 Chilean Pesos) it would be hard for me to tell if it's over priced, or cheap.

Isabela island

Isabela island is the largest island in the Galapagos.   It has five of the biggest volcanos in the Islands.  The downside to all the volcanos is that there are not many places to disembark, because most of the Island is volcanic rock.  On the other hand, it is nice to hike around the craters, and see the fascinating lava formations.

When we were on a cruise in the Galapagos, we spent two days touring around Isabela.  On the first morning on Isabela, there were activities on the outskirts of the island: first, a boat tour, afterwards, snorkeling.  On the boat tour, we saw many different species of birds and other animals.  The kinds of birds varied from blue footed boobies, to Galapagos flightless cormorants, to pelicans.  The blue footed boobies were really fascinating to see, because the blue color was interesting to look at on a bird's feet.  From the boat, we also saw a golden ray. I'm pretty glad we didn't see one in the water, because I would have swam away instantly.  It was harder to see fish from the boat, so it was exciting when it was time to go snorkeling.  

In the water, we saw a combination of tropical fish, and other water animals as we swam the outskirts of the island.  The pufferfish were interesting because they swam right under us, and didn't pay us much attention.  We also saw sea turtles, which seemed like they were unconsciously swimming, with their legs and arms splayed out.  The only penguin we saw was a few feet away from me, jumping into the water.

The next morning, everyone had a choice of either a boat tour or a hike.  Our whole family chose the hike.  We hiked around Darwin Lake, where we saw land iguanas and insects, but besides that, not much wildlife.  The lake was interesting, because it has more salt in it than the ocean.  There was also some volcanic ash where we went.  At the end of the hike, there was an incredible viewpoint from some rocks, where we took pictures.  

After the hike, we went snorkeling again, but at a different place.  There were more penguins, actually, a lot more.  I was in the middle of swimming to my Dad, when a bunch of penguins darted under me.  We also saw pufferfish, and sea turtles, like the ones from before.

That afternoon, we went on another hike.  The hike this time was on dried out lava rock, surrounded by waves.  There were a lot of land iguanas too, who sometimes surprised me, because they were so well camouflaged.  The first time we saw them, they were just sitting there, so I thought that they were rocks, and almost stepped on one.  On the hike, there were also sea lions, which were one of the highlights on the trip for me.  I especially liked the baby ones, who tried to waddle towards us and play.  We weren't allowed to touch them though, so every time one came near, everyone would back up.

Going to Isabela was one of the greatest things about the Galapagos. When you think of going to the Galapagos, you think of the kinds of animals and plants that you see on and around Isabela island.

Four day biking tour

         Last week, we went on a four day bike tour, starting in Quito, and ending in Baños. We went from 5,000 meters, to 1,800 meters, or from super cold weather, to warm, humid weather.

We started biking in Cotopaxi National Park on a slightly uphill dirt road at high altitude.  The road was very slowly going up, but at the altitude, I had to take many breaks.   Later, I would be thinking of how much I'd rather be biking up this hill, rather than speeding down a steep downhill. 

Next, we all got into the van with our guide, to drive up Cotopaxi, a rounded mountain with snow on the peak.  The top was 4,600 meters.  It was windy, but not too much for it to be dangerous for biking down.  We got all of our gear on, and started down the long road.  It was a dirt road, which made the ride harder than expected.  The dirt road was bumpy, in addition to all the rocks.  I had thought before, that going downhill on a bike was super easy, but I found that you had to pay attention to the road for sharp turns, and had to press on the brakes a lot, to slow down.  Around a third of the way down, my mom and I got into the van.  We had been jostled enough and our hands were aching from pumping the brakes.  It was a relief to finally relax, but upsetting that we weren't able to go down the whole mountain. Oscar and my dad met us at the bottom. 

When we got to the bottom of Cotopaxi, my mom and I got out of the van, and started riding on the paved road to the visitors center.  There, we picked up Chompy, who was Alberto, the guide's, dog.  We played fetch with him for a while, taking a Dorito break, then we got into the van, and drove a bit.  The Doritos bag said that there was one spicy chip inside.  So every time I picked up a chip, I had to have someone take a tiny bite of my chip to make sure it wasn't the spicy one.  By five o'clock, we stopped at a square in the center of a small town, and had lunch.  We ate delicious curried macaroni with spinach pie, and banana bread for dessert.  We drank ginger tea.  It was late, but still really good. 

That night, we stayed in a town called Quilotoa.  The town was at high altitude, and sometimes you couldn't see more than ten feet  in front of you.

The next day, we started off by taking a hike around a lake.  The afternoon before, we had come to look at the view, but saw none, because of the mist and fog.  In the morning, there wasn't as much fog, it was even pretty sunny out. The hike was a beautiful, narrow path, looking over a lake.  The altitude was pretty high, so I was panting, all the way up to the small peak that we hiked to.  Even though the hike was hard, it was really cool to look down hundreds of meters to the blue/green lake from a high-up point.

When we got back to the van, it was time to bike again.  The ride to the town where we had lunch before, was short, but did have a few uphills. I enjoyed riding on the smooth paved road, even though we had to push our bikes on the uphills.  We saw small stone cottages and mini shops selling ice cream, fields with cows and llamas and alpacas, and people wearing indigenous clothing working near their houses along the way.  People were friendly and waved to us as we went by.  

We got in the van next, for a short drive to a small dirt road at the top of green fields and grass.   A flock of sheep was grazing nearby, and two sheepdogs came over begging for food.  We had lunch there, then started biking downhill.  Half way through the ride, I got into the van.  I think I was pretty lucky to, because there was a huge uphill right where I got in, plus a super bumpy dirt road, and a dog chasing Oscar.  When we reached the paved road, I got onto my bike again.  After descending a huge downhill stretch on the paved road, with a cliff on our right and a valley on our left, we got into the van, and drove to the lodge for the night.

The third day of our biking tour, we drove up to Chimborazo in the morning.  Chimborazo is a very tall mountain, more than 6,000 meters.  We drove up all the way around the mountain, which was scenic and beautiful, but the thought that was in my mind was that I would be riding down this path later.  At the top, we started hiking up a small trail.  It seems like the hike would be easy, but in addition to the altitude, it was really windy.  I made it up to 4,800 meters.  Chompy, Alberto's dog, really liked to play fetch, so we threw him a stone on top of the mountain.  

After our hike, we got out the bikes and started riding down.  It didn't seem quite as steep as Cotopaxi in the beginning, but it was way more bumpy, plus extremely cold.  At first, I started to feel in control, but then, I kept on bouncing up and down on my seat.  In the beginning part, I stopped to put an extra layer of gloves on.  I kept on riding and riding, but eventually, I got into the van.  It was a good call though, because at the next bend, we entered a cloud, where you could only see a few feet in front of you. 

After we got down the mountain, there was a short, 7 kilometer drive.  Then, we stopped for lunch at a bend in the road.  There was a small stream, and we played fetch with Chompy. It was way warmer than the top of Chimborazo, and we didn't need our wind breakers.  Half way through lunch, a man walked up to Alberto and asked him how much he wanted for Chompy.  Alberto said that Chompy wasn't for sale.  The man kept on asking and asking.  Eventually, he went away.

After lunch, we started riding down a really beautiful valley, with cows grazing beneath the cliff we were riding on.  The road followed a small stream that grew bigger and rougher.  It was beautiful and quiet, until we got stopped at a construction site.  After that, was a mix of riding behind giant trucks, and squeezing through traffic jams.  It was kind of stressful trying to stay as close as possible to the side of the road so that delivery trucks could pass.  We got into the van shortly after that.

That night, we drove to Baños, where we are still staying right now. The next day, was the last day of the tour.  We took a short ride on our bikes all the way to a tall and roaring waterfall.  The ride was pretty easy, downhill, with a few uphills.  It was windy though, so I never had to press on the brakes to slow down.  Even on the downhills, I had to lean all the way forward to go fast.

At the waterfall, we bought a whole bag of sugar cane to eat.  Then, we started hiking. When we got to the waterfall, we hiked down a little structure that got you as close to the water as possible.  The water was turquoise, because it came from a glacier.  Water was spraying up on you, and making rainbows on the side of the structure.  We walked back to a restaurant close to the waterfall, which apparently hadn't been noticed by many people.  While the waterfall was crowded, we were the only people in the restaurant.  That afternoon, Alberto drove us back to Baños, where we ended our trip.  After four days of biking, I felt more experienced and I probably could do much more than I did on the first day at Cotopaxi.

Going to the Amazon

           Eight of us are standing by the telescope, sixteen stories high in the air.  We are up in the emergent layer.  Pure joy is the look on everyone's face.  A sloth is slumbering on a tree, a kilometer away.  The sun beats down on us as we look through the scope.  We are in the jungle.

          We just arrived back in Quito after a trip to the Amazon, also known as the Oriente.  We had a day of travel, two days in the jungle, then another day of travel. The day that we traveled to the jungle, we arrived at the airport in Quito early in the morning.  The plane ride to Coca, a town in the jungle, is just twenty minutes long.  The plane arrived at lunch time, and we waited in a sleepy boat port for an hour.  While in the port, we saw a squirrel monkey.  It was the first monkey, and the best because of how close he was to us.  He acted like a human, lying down and hopping around.  We got on to a large canoe in the port and headed down the Napo river. The canoe was motor powered, with fancy seats.  We had bagged lunches, and rested on the boat for two hours.  In the middle of the ride, it started raining.  Luckily, there was a rain cover, but some seats still got wet.  

Squirrel monkeys 

         The big canoe arrived at a small dock that belonged to the hotel.  Since we were in a tributary of the Napo, we got into tinier canoes.  Our group was our family, plus two others, a native guide, a naturalist guide, and a paddler.  These canoes were not motor powered.  We had another long ride in those canoes, but stopped for wildlife.  Our guide taught us a lot about wildlife and plantlife in the Amazon.  For example, how the Napo river was a different kind of water from the tributary.  The smaller one was black water.  When you see where the two rivers meet, it seems like milk chocolate and dark chocolate mixing in a swirl.

          The hotel rooms were luxurious.  Our family had one cabin, to the side of the heart of the resort.  Oscar and I shared a room, while my parents shared another one.  All meals were served at the hotel.  The next morning, I was woken at five by my dad saying,"Good morning, good morning."  We had breakfast at five thirty, and left the hotel at six.  Our tour group went all the way to the motorized canoe again, and rode it to a clay lick.  The clay licks are places close to the Napo river where parrots and parakeets eat clay.  They eat the clay each morning so that they can digest seeds.  We saw swarms of parrots feasting on their morning clay.

          We were supposed to go to another clay lick next, but it was "canceled" because of rain.  Instead, we went to an interpretation center owned by the indigenous tribe called the Kichwas.  Twenty seven women worked there, and they own it.  We saw traditional dances, and then got to see a traditional house.  We learned about a plant called,  yucca , and all the women harvest it.  When a woman wants to get married to a man, she has to make yucca  for the man's father.  If he likes it, they can marry.  We also saw a variety of tools.  We saw graters, which we later saw came from the root of the walking tree.   The woman also showed us bowls and other tools.  Then, we saw weapons.   There were spears and such, but the best part was trying out blow guns on a target.  We each got to try out shooting the fake bird.

          Next, we went to the Kichwa community.  They had a natural heating and a hot water system, but it wasn't working at the time.  We also saw a school, and solar panels being set up.  The community had gotten a huge grant to set up all of these natural systems.

          Later that night, we went on a night hike.  We saw snakes, which I held, plus tons of other insects and frogs.  We also learned about a lot of plants.

          The next day we woke up later, at five thirty.  We had breakfast and left at six thirty.  We had a short, small, canoe ride to the observation tower.  In the tower, which was sixteen stories high, we saw monkeys, a sloth, and birds.  I looked down at one point, only to see the trees of the canopy, blocking the forest floor from sight.  It was interesting how most trees were shorter than the one that the tree house was built on.  Later, our guide taught us about these trees.  They are called kapok and are sacred in most tribes.  Jóse, our naturalist guide,  told us about how he went to one of the trees, and fasted for four days.  That was a tradition from the highlands.  

            After we had all napped -except for me- around four o' clock, our group went to a small creek. We saw a lot of wildlife, but my favorite part was seeing a group of squirrel monkeys.  Our native guide, Xavier, was really great at spotting plants and animals for us to see.   When it started to get dark, we hopped off of the canoe and took another night hike.  We saw another snake, more insects, and interesting trees.  My favorite part was the baby snake who licked my nose because snakes smell with their tongues.  After the night hike, our paddler met us at the end of the trail.  We got into the canoe. Everyone's flashlights were on because it was dark.  Then, we started seeing splashes all around us.  Splash! Splash!  Here and there.  "Uh oh," our guide had said under his breath.  We all quickly turned out our headlamps, and luckily, the splashes went away.  It could have been fishes or caimans.

             The next day, we got up and took the small canoe to the larger one.  That was the end of our trip.  I felt like the trip was so short, but the first day still seemed so long ago.

           

Daily life at the beach in Esmeraldas

I wake up around seven each day. Then I read and drink hot chocolate until around 8:30, when we have breakfast.  There are two hammocks to read in and two couches.  We eat cereal or toast and eggs.  Then we read a little more until around 9:30, and start school.  We usually start with math, then writing, then spanish.  Sometimes we have school at the table and sometimes on the couch. After school, I practice violin, using the counter for a stand.  

Then we eat lunch.  We've had tuna sandwiches, grilled cheese, and ramen for lunch so far.  When we came, there was nothing in the kitchen.  So on the way here, we had gone to a supermarket.   Plus, I went to a nearby town with my dad once to go shopping.  After lunch, we read more and get ready to go to the beach.

The beach is a big strip of sand and huge rocks.  We always put our towels on the same boulder. Sometimes when you walk on it, your feet hurt from all the barnacles. We go swimming a little bit at medium tide then come home and take showers.  There are two showers: one outdoor, and one indoor that is inside the outhouse.  After that, we go to the restaurant at the place we are staying and play cards or read while drinking soda.  The restaurant is just a short walk from our house, down a hill.  Then, around 6:00 when it is low tide, we go on a walk across the long, rocky, beach to a peninsula with caves.  The caves are too dangerous to go inside because sometimes rocks fall from the cliffs, hanging above.  There are little tide pools to walk around in though, and we climb on the rocks.   We hike around and explore or just walk around it for a bit, then walk home, just as it's getting dark out.  

When we get home, we put on bug-spray and read until dinner.  There are a lot of mosquitos and flies here.  In the night, there are beetles attracted by our lights.  We've had seafood every night.  The first night, we had seafood at the restaurant.  The second night, squid at home, the third night, shrimp.  After dinner, we read or play cards until we go to bed.     

Living on the beach

     Since we've been on the coast for a few weeks, I've been learning how to surf.  The first beach that we went to called Ayampe, was a quiet town on the coast.  There was a beach a few minutes from the hotel where we swam and surfed.  The waves were a little bit rough, and one time we had to stop our surf lesson because of it.  The second place we went to was a town on the coast called Canoa.  The beach was more crowded than Ayampe, but the waves were less rough.  We had two surf lessons there.  

When we were in Ayampe, we saw our cousins for a few nights.  We got to go in a van with them to the beach and we took surf lessons with them.  It was really fun having them there because we were such a big group and did so many things with them.  Since we moved around on the coast, we had different surfing instructors.  They taught really differently.  Our first instructor, named Keith, was mostly focusing on position and he pushed us into waves.  Our second instructor, named Cedric, mostly focused on standing up and catching our own waves.  They taught very differently but both were good instructors.

     We just arrived in a place called Playa Escondida.  It means hidden beach.  It's mostly a small country resort.  We are living here in a small thatched roof house, a short walk from the beach.  We can't surf here but the swimming is fun.  Now since school started again, we are doing school work.  

This picture is of our house right now.