This morning I took a bus straight from Cuenca to Montañita to meet another group of friends that have been staying at an Air BnB there for a few days. Montañita means "little mountain," and it is a huge tourist attraction on the south Pacific Coast of Ecuador in the province of Santa Elena. The beach is gorgeous, and my first night I got to watch the sunset. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen. It looked like it was just floating over the shoreline, slowly dropping down, and then all of the sudden it disappeared. I've never seen a sunset like it before. This place is super busy with souvenir stands and shops, choclo stands (which I may or may not have visited at least 5 times while here), and all kinds of food vendors. My friend Sarah met up with me later tonight, and we got to get dinner together and go out partying (which is a huge part of life in this beach town). As soon as it gets dark out, the streets light up, music starts blaring from the clubs, and people start to party. It's fun to be in this environment and experience life here for a little bit, but after a couple of nights Sarah and I were ready to explore the other beaches that Ecuador has to offer. The next morning we hopped on a bus to La Playa Los Frailes, which is an enclosed National Park and one of the cleanest, most beautiful beaches I have seen. It closes before sunset, so we were glad we left early enough to see the beach. We got to lie down and relax, and the beach was almost empty (definitely a big change from Montañita). We stayed here until closing time, and then paid for a ride to get to Puerto Lopez for our final beach destination. It was actually kind of scary coming out of the beach because there was a group of young adults catcalling us and saying inappropriate things while we were on the moto-taxi that took us back to the park entrance. They kept purposely driving right alongside us and yelling things to us. The driver of our moto-taxi slowed down to make them pass us, but then a little bit later we saw that they were pulled off to the side of the road just waiting for us. We tried our best to ignore them and pretend like we didn't notice them, and when we got to the park entrance we barely entered the car to take us to Puerto Lopez in time before they were also leaving the park. Luckily they couldn't do anything because we were already in the car, so they just yelled a few more things and drove off. After that scary and annoying encounter, we were able to relax again. We made it to Puerto Lopez and enjoyed a coconut on the beach. We also met this adorable pup named "Arepa" while eating a delicious dinner of shrimp, patacones, and a piña colada. It ended up being a really great end to our night, and then we headed back to the bus station to catch our bus leaving for Quito at 8.
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Although the colonial architecture in Cuenca truly is a beautiful site, as a huge nature-lover my favorite place in Cuenca was El Cajas National Park. This 70,000 acre park is filled with amazing mountains, beautiful wildlife, and over 760 lakes! The word "Cajas" comes from the Quichua word "cassa" which means "gateway to the snowy mountains". It is also related to the Spanish word for "boxes". A few other of our friends arrived in Cuenca last night, so they joined us for this trip in the morning. We took a bus from the Terminal Terrestre in Cuenca, which left at 8:30 am. The ride took about an hour, and upon arriving at the Park we had to check in with our passport information and have someone explain to us the available hikes. Unfortunately, since it was rainy and all of us are directionally-challenged, we got off course and could not figure out the correct path to take around the lake. Despite the rain and getting lost, we had a really fun time exploring and eating our snacks on the trails. :) After getting off track on the trail and not being sure how to get back to the main office of the park, we started to get concerned as the rain came down harder. Instead of risking getting lost, we hopped over the highway border and hitchhiked back into town. We made sure the guy who gave us a ride was not sketchy, and felt safe because he had also picked up some other tourists trying to get back into town. It made for a really funny memory, and we made it back into town safely and had a fun last night in this beautiful city! Cuenca at night!
Today I traveled to Cuenca with my friend Emma. It was such a last minute plan that we almost weren't even able to get bus tickets at all because they were almost completely sold out! Luckily, there were exactly 2 left leaving from the Quitumbe bus station in the south. We rushed to try to buy them, and then of course BOTH of our cards were denied on the website to buy the tickets. This happened a few times while in Ecuador. I think it has something to do with not being a citizen here. After all the struggling, we finally got the tickets by using Emma's host mom's card and paying her back. After all these complications, we had just 2 hours to pack and get ready to leave from the bus station by 10pm. It was a stressful night, but we made it to Cuenca and now get to explore this beautiful city!! Cuenca is the capital and largest city of the Azuay Province. Filled with cobblestone streets, colorful buildings and old cathedrals, and colonial plazas and churches, it is such a beautiful place. Emma and I went on a tour of the city and it was great to get to walk all around and see the sites without worrying about getting lost! After our tour of the city, Emma and I walked to the Pumapungo Museum and Archaeological Park that has the ancient ruins of the Incan administrative, military, and religious center. With llamas roaming about, all kinds of native Andean plants and trees, and an incredible view over the city, we found this park to be super peaceful. It is a must-see when visiting Cuenca! After a great first day in Cuenca, Emma and I walked back to our hostal and got ready for dinner. We went to a great burger place and of course got some delicious dessert afterwards. Every street corner here has all kinds of delicious pastries, candies, and chocolates. One of my favorites were the roscas, which are donut-shaped cookies with frosting and sprinkles on top- so yummy!
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.
Tonight, after a really long all-nighter the night before at the airport in Quito (in order to avoid the violent protests of the Paro Nacional that have broken out in various cities due to the lack of oil subsidies), along with a long day of connecting flights from Quito to Guayaquil, then to Lima, I finally landed in Cusco, Perú! It was a crazy 24 hours and I was exhausted when I finally landed. Of course, once I got to the hotel, there was no Wi-Fi, and my mom had been waiting for me to tell her that I made it safely. When she did not hear from me for hours, she got really worried and contacted the study abroad advisor from my school. It wasn't until the next morning that the Wi-Fi was working again, and I woke up to at least 5 missed calls from my mom, along with emails from my advisor checking in on me, haha! But after that, things calmed down. I can honestly say fell in love with this incredible city the second I saw it. It is full of beautiful architecture, incredible archaeological sites, unbelievable mountainous regions and lakes, and is very peaceful (which is a really nice break from the constant hustle and bustle of Quito). I seriously could move here right now and be so content. Our first day we visited various incredible archaeological sites in Cusco. This image is of a site called Tambomachay, and the exact function of this site is not known. It is believed to have possibly been a site used for Incan ceremonies, as a spa, or as a military outpost. The architecture is quite impressive, with trapezoidal niches built into the retaining walls. The whole site was also built on top of a natural spring, which is why this very likely could have been used as a spa for the Incan ruler, and has an alternate name of "El baño del Inca" or "The Bath of the Inca". It is also very likely that it had more than just one use. The two images above are from another archaeological site in Northern Cusco, called Sacsayhuaman. This name means "place where the hawk is satiated" in Quechua. It is a fortress of sacred buildings such as towers, aqueducts, and shrines. The walls are tremendously impressive, with some of the stones beings as large as 5 meters (15 ft) high and 2.5 meters (8 ft) wide, and weighing up to 125 tons. Aside from the incredible size of the stones, this site is so impressive because the workers carefully cut each and every stone to fit perfectly on top of one another without using any mortar to hold them together. This cyclopian architecture certainly makes one wonder how they were able to create such a complex fortress so many years ago without the modern-day equipment we have now. There was even this incredible natural slide at the Rodadero, where Incan children used to play, in the northeastern Suchuna sector. It is a smooth, diorite rock that you can actually slide down. (But don't worry, we slid down feet first, not face first. That was just us posing for the picture).
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Ashley KoboldMy amazing experience studying abroad in Ecuador. ¡Qué chévere! Archives
December 2019
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