The Fiestas de Quito (or parties of Quito) are a celebration of the foundation of Quito that take place at the end of every November and last until early December. There are free concerts to the public everyday, processions for saints, and people go out to drink and just have fun. It is a pretty crazy time in Quito, but also really fun! In the picture above, we went to a free concert. We saw an indie band called La Máquina Camaleón performing. Here are some pictures with my friends over the week! Everyone gets ready to go out and party. And when I say people go out and party, I mean literally every night for around two weeks. I'm not even exaggerating, you see the streets packed even on Sunday night with people partying and acting crazy. Be sure to stay safe on the roads because on one of the nights I was taking an Uber back home with friends and got rear-ended by a drunk driver. Yikes! On another night we went on a chiva, which is a party bus. During this week of celebrations there are chivas picking up people all throughout the Avenida de los Shyris, and street vendors selling canelazo. Canelazo is a popular drink here made out of water boiled with cinnamon mixed with aguardiente, which is an alcohol made from sugar cane. There are little ropes to hold on to that hang from the roof, but to be completely honest they don't do much to help you stay balanced (especially when basically everyone on the chiva has had more than their fair share of canelazo). Here is a short video link to a video of us on the chiva so you can get an idea of what it looks like!:
https://youtu.be/Qm4fRVIjeok
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Today we went on another nature hike! We got to see all kinds of cute frogs and little creatures. To the right is my friend Grace holding a little frog! After the hike we went on a small boat to search for caimans! We were able to spot a few once it got dark out by seeing our flashlights reflect in their eyes. Not gonna lie, I was pretty spooked out that our boat would tip and we'd be the caimans' dinner. We also went to a canopy observation tower at the Napo Wildlife Center. It is over 125 feet tall and you get views of the beautiful surrounding river, trees, and especially the huge variety of birds that are flying all around the area. We saw macaws, toucans, parrots, and crested oropendola. The picture on the right is the oropendola nest, which hangs around 3 feet from the branch of the tree. It's a pretty cool sight! After an exciting day of adventuring, we went out "spider hunting" once the sun went down. It was my goal to get a picture of the scorpion spider, which is called a tailless whip scorpion, on my face (only because they do not bite). Some of the other people in my group told me that if I did it, they would do it after. I was brave and went first and got an awesome picture out of it, haha! We also saw lots of other cool spiders, like the tarantula in the bottom right picture. Overall, this trip was absolutely incredible and a dream come true. Nature is so beautiful. I truly hope I will get to return here someday. Me and Ariana sleeping on the boat ride back to Coca :)
After arriving back in Coca, we had dinner and waited for our bus that left at 8pm. I was SO exhausted after getting no sleep on the 8-hour bus ride back to Quito. I felt sick to my stomach the whole ride, so when I got back to my house at 4 am on Monday, I decided to take a quick nap before leaving for my 8 am class that I had a presentation in. Except it ended up not being a quick nap, and I accidentally overslept!! I swear in all my years as an undergrad I had NEVER missed class from waking up too late, let alone missed a presentation, but I guess there is a first time for everything. I apologized profusely to my professor and luckily she was understanding and let me make up the presentation the next day. This weekend a group of us went to the Amazon rainforest!! It was seriously a dream come true, and something I never imagined I would get to do. This is a picture of us in Coca, the city we had to take an overnight bus to that you leave from to get to Yasuní National Park, where we spent 2 nights. Yasuní National Park is between the Napo and Curaray Rivers, and this area is so peaceful! There are also cute little monkeys all around, so we were always keeping our eyes open to see if we could spot any. We also definitely got peed on by a group of monkeys during one of our hikes because we got too close to them. I honestly don't blame them haha! One of the first things we did was try chontacuros, which are fat, white worms that grow inside of the chonta palm tree. A black beetle brings lays its eggs at the trunk of the tree, and they become larvae inside of it. The worms are then harvested from the tree trunks and grilled and eaten by many local communities in the Amazon. I know they look gross (you can see the disgust in my friend Ariana's face haha), but they actually aren't that bad! They taste buttery and crispy. Plus, as a bonus, they are high in protein and vitamins A and C! Bon appétit! After a long day of hiking, we had a nice, relaxing evening just hanging out on the beach. A few of us went out and swam in the river. I was afraid at first because people were telling me not to swim in the Amazon and scaring me with stories about fish that swim up your urethra if you pee. It was fine though, despite a few scares when fish touched our feet haha!
Today, on our last day here in Baños, we decided to go canyoning! We got to canyon down 3 waterfalls, and then jump from a 130-ft high waterfall! I'm not going to lie, my soul left my body when I jumped and I definitely screamed louder than anyone else in my group. Here is the link to the video of me jumping if you want to check it out!: https://youtu.be/ZFxQbmG7ku8 After that crazy adrenaline rush, we decided to end our last day at Casa del Árbol, which translates to "House of the Tree." It costs just $1 to get pushed on the swing that has an awesome view of the valley and the Tungurahua Volcano. If you still haven't had enough of an adrenaline rush from all your other activities (like me), you can tell the worker to push you extra high. This guy was literally jumping in the air to swing me super high, which was a little scary but at the same time super fun haha!
Wow. That's the most accurate word I can use to describe my trip this weekend to Baños, a small town near the Tungurahua Volcano that's about a 5-hour bus ride from Quito. I went with a group of people that I didn't know very well, but I am SO glad I went to this beautiful, adventure-packed, piece of heaven on Earth. I got closer to Monica, my friend in the picture above, who I hold really close to my heart. I also did so many things that I had never done (nor imagined I would do) before, and saw absolutely breath-taking waterfalls. I enjoyed every minute of my time there. Paílón del Diablo"Paílón del Diablo" means "Cauldron of the Devil," and it is an incredible waterfall a little bit of a drive out from Baños. It is 80 meters (over 260 ft) high, and we were able to see it by going on the Chiva tour that takes you all throughout Baños to see all the waterfalls in the area. On one of the stops on the Waterfall Chiva tour, Monica and I went canopying upside-down. At first I was super nervous but it ended up being an amazing memory that I will never forget.
As of late, practically all my free time has been spent studying for the GRE for Graduate School, which I take on November 15th (in just 12 days!!). I have been so stressed out with homework, preparing for presentations, and studying for the GRE all while trying to balance my social life. That's why I needed this break from studying today to go out and enjoy nature with my friend, Ecson. He invited me over for a BBQ at his house, and then we went to el Bosque Metropolitano, a park right outside his neighborhood that has beautiful artwork, as well as beautiful views of the city of Quito. We had fun taking pictures of each other on top of the Quito signs at the park! Overall it was a really nice day and the start of my friendship with Ecson. I'm so glad we met at a random party! Te extraño amigo!! :)
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Ashley KoboldMy amazing experience studying abroad in Ecuador. ¡Qué chévere! Archives
December 2019
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