Moving to the jungle!!!

My trip home was most excellent! I wish that I could have seen more people (especially my family in Minnesota) but you can only fit so much into 2 weeks...especially when you are used to living at S.American pace. Courtney and I shot dinosaurs, I ate a TON of cheese, Betsy and I watched bootlegged horror movies from Ecuador, Kay/Chloe/Kael/Bill came over for pizza and fun, I watched a ton of TV, pestered Zoe, went to Courtney's work, rode around in my parents' Prius and drove my own car, went to the movies, celebrated my birthday and ate out a loooot! Aww, the US is an amazing (yet expensive as heck) place!

Now I am back in Ecuador living the Quito life. I went back for more Spanish classes and graduated at “Superior” level. I absolutely loved my classes with Amparo, my teacher. We spent most of our classes sitting around talking current events and about my job hunt. When it came time for me to leave, she gave me a bracelet as a goodbye present. I have been back a couple of times to visit...she is easily my favorite Ecuadorian of all time.

I got kicked out of my hostel again (because I didn't have a reservation), so I moved to a place in New Town Quito. I absolutely love my new place; it is a bit more high class and attracts a different type of guest. I made a good friend here who is a Fulbright Scholar studying Noisy Night Monkeys. She has also been stuck in Quito because of red tape, so we spend most of our time together. We also took a crazy trip to the cloud forest for my birthday (I'm 25 now!!)...see my pictures for that story.

During this time I got an e-mail from a lodge asking me to finish the application process. I did, and then I went back to waiting... and waiting... and waiting... Finally one day I got an e-mail from the General Manager, but it was clearly not actually to me! It said he was going to Europe and he would like to visit me...ummm? I told my friend Keith who owns a tourist/travel shop in my hostel and he told his friend who is really good friends with the GM. She (Alba) then called him and talked me up, and I had an interview for the next day. It was a strange interview...apparently I already had the job and they just wanted to make sure I understood what the job was. After that I spent weeks working on my visa (trips back and forth back and forth to the ministry) and I got it!! Actually I got a full year visa, so I am legal until next October (though I plan to fly home at the end of March). And then I went and got my new Censo card...so I am completely legal now!! Wooo!!!

I couldn't leave for the lodge until I had gotten my visa, and then I couldn't go because the lodge manager was on vacation and they wanted me to wait for him. So during my waiting I went in to work at the lodge office here in Quito. I input questionnaire data into spreadsheets and then translated tourists' comments from English to Spanish. It was nice to feel useful again, and to learn more about the lodge! During that time I also met the lodge manager, the highest rated guide and an English woman who lives in the community. So that was nice too.

On Friday I went to the airport to help with “guest transfer,” which basically just meant meeting the guests at the airport and giving them a welcome/intro talk. I looooved it. :) I really do enjoy working with tourists. My volunteer coordinator was impressed with the way I “handled” the guests...I think it helped that I am fluent in English ;)

Ok, my lodge...amazing! I am working for Sani lodge (in exchange for room and board) which is 100% owned and operated by the local Quichua community. My main job is to guide, but I am also in charge of the recycling and compost program (the locals currently burn their trash and throw bottles into the woods). When guiding I will be leading day and night hikes in the woods, canoe tours, caiman spotting, and translating for the guests. I am crazy excited.

To get to my lodge, I take a 10 hour bus (or 30 minute flight) from Quito to Coca where we transfer to a taxi (or truck) that takes us down to the river. Then we all load into a motorized canoe for a 2.5 hour (or longer if the water is low) ride down the Napo River. At the entrance to our lagoon we transfer into dugout canoes because the motor would bother the endangered Black Cayman that live in our lagoon. Just getting there is an adventure :)

Around the lodge we have endangered Black Cayman, rare Amazon Manatees, (maybe Pink Dolphins in the Napo River), 12 types of primates, Anacondas, 100s of butterfly and bird species, Conga Ants, tarantulas, and SO much more amazing stuff. I can hardly wait to get there to see all the things that live there!!

I will occasionally have internet at the lodge, but for those of you who want to send me mail, here is my new address:

Sani Lodge
c/o Amber Schmitt
Roca E4-49 y Av. Amazonas
(Pajase Chantilly)
Quito, Ecuador

Whenever someone comes out to the lodge they will bring me my mail.

Well, that is it...you are finally up to date!! I fly out to the lodge on Monday (26^th)...can you believe that I am moving to the Amazon Rainforest!? I am super excited.

I hope that everyone is doing well...please eat some cheese in my honor!!

:) Amber

Where is Amber?

Hello friends! I have been absolutely terrible at updating lately...I apologize. I promise a true update eventually, but for now I thought I would share a couple links to a friend´s blog with stories from my weekend. Enjoy! :)


Amber goes to the cloud forest!

Amber learns how to use the macro setting on her camera!

Next stop...Crazy Town!

Boy some days I sure would like to give Ecuador a swift kick in the butt. Maybe that would wake it up and then it could pull its shit together. But mostly I love it anyway...it is kind of like my child who screams in the supermarket sometimes but is generally well behaved.

That being said... Haha, this is my life! ;) There is a reason that my blog is called “Siempre una Aventura!” (always an adventure)

I think I have mentioned before that my main goal for my “South American Journey” is to guide at an ecolodge in the jungle. Before I left Colombia I e-mailed out a bunch of applications. I heard back from only one lodge, and after meeting with the guy the job didn't seem perfect, but it was all I had! Anyway, I decided it would be a good experience and accepted the job, I then set out to acquire a volunteer visa (with the help of the lodge)...

My visa journey as related to my parents:

So I researched my visa on the US-Ecuadorian Consulate webpage. I copied all of the things that I need from my boss and sent him the information. Then today I stopped by the ministry building just to check in about getting my visa set up next week when I have my papers. The first security guard had me sit and wait until one of the offices reopened after lunch and then the guard at the door pointed me to a webpage (posted on the door) and kicked me out the building. It was fun. Anyway, I just went to the webpage...aaaaand many things have been removed from the "needed" list. For example...siiiigh... doctor´s certificate and HIV test. Guess what I got today? Doctor certificate and HIV test. The doctor visit cost me $50 not including taxis and the HIV test was $11 also not including taxis. Siiiiigh. AND my new roommate has declared that I should write a book just about this doctor visit...it was (by US standards) fairly insane yet very Ecuador.

Whatever whatever, in reality the visa process just got easier so whatever.

Doctor visit... included: another pelvic ultrasound (does this guy give ultrasounds for everything?), the doc wanting to measure himself (back to back) against me while I had no pants on (they don´t leave the room while you undress here....I swear people here have no shame....and it is totally ok to breastfeed on a busy street corner!), the doctor telling me that my belly was the right size if I were 4 months pregnant (I´m not pregnant by the way...which I know thanks to the random ultrasound), the doctor talking for an hour about the airport in Amsterdam...and him declaring I don´t have a yeast infection because the cotton swab that he swabbed me with didn´t smell!!!! He wants me to come back and visit him to get malaria meds when I get back from the US...I think maybe I will skip that visit.

Aaaaaand I got kicked out of my hostel room today. I thought it wasn´t going to happen since the hostel is almost empty and only 3 people had the room reserved and there are 4 beds and I am only 1 person. (I put the numbers so you can do the math...by my count there was still room for me...). Anyway I got bumped to a new room during my 20 minute lunch break between lab, doctor, boss and ministry visits. It was a pretty crazy move...I had to scoop up all of my nicely laid out belongings and dump them on a bed before running back up the stairs for more stuff. During all of this my new roommate kept yelling questions down the hall after me as I was running around. One of my past roommates moved out of this room because of him...he also went on a screaming rampage one night when he thought someone had stolen his phone charger. We´ll see how it goes. I am under the impression that he moves out Mondayish...I am sure that I can handle him until then. The other 2 people in my room are a couple from England and I just love them so far. I diagnosed the female with "classic parasites" and told her which pills to buy. She has been sick for some time and was recently treated with antibiotics which (of course) didn´t help...hopefully she really has parasites and I have now saved her life ;)

Oh man, I really love helping tourists! A girl who is staying in my hostel got robbed recently and went to the front desk to ask about where she could buy a new camera...the employee sent the girl to me saying "she knows where you can get one." And I do! I drew out a map for her and told her which bus stops to use and everything. I was very amused by this. I also gave excellent directions and maps to my 2 favorite couples in the hostel in order to find the 2 markets that are nearby. And then I magically produced a Spanish-English dictionary for some friends who apparently thought their Spanish was better than it is when they were packing. My teacher told me last week that I am a Quiteña now (person from Quito) because I know the city so well and can make recommendations to people. I got in a tif with a taxi driver the other day who kept declaring we were on Gran Colombia (street) when we indeed were not. I had to direct HIM how to get to where I wanted to go. Awwww Quito, besides being polluted and at an insane altitude, I still love you :)

During all the fun, I called Delta and learned that I would not be able to extend my ticket to March (which is when I am leaving). My return ticket is currently for January...which I have now been told would not have worked anyway since that is more than a year after I bought the tickets. Whaaaaaaatttt!? Anyway, I have to buy a new return ticket and it is cheapest to buy another round-trip ticket, so I am coming home for a visit from September 4-18^th.

On my last day in Ecuador I went back to the ministry to pick up my passport and new shiny volunteer visa...when I was informed that I do not qualify for a vol visa because the lodge I am working for is neither a foundation nor a true “company,” just a guy who happens to have some employees. This caused some panic... I was able to return in the afternoon to pick up my FREE 90 day extension on a tourist visa so that I can return to the country to apply for a different visa after my visit home.

And then... I went to the USA.

Lessons learned

Lessons learned while trying to leave Colombia:


E-mail sent from Bogota airport:
Frack!! Apparently if your flight connects within the same country you have to go to a whole different airport!! So the first check-in lady yelled at me and then sent me running all over the airport looking for a bus. Then (after asking 8 people where the bus was) I had to go through security to even get to this imaginary bus....of course they wouldn't let me through since I have scissors in my checked bag. The lady told me that I had to go back downstairs and give my scissors to the airline. Right. So I ended up leaving and taking another expensive taxi to the other airport where I arrived just minutes before my plane is supposed to board. Wow such excitement!! I haven't even gone through customs yet, so I will have to do all of that fun in Medellin, good thing I have that long layover! Phhhheeoooowwww!!

E-mail from Quito:
Man oh man the excitement just wouldn't stop today. Once I got to Medellin I had to totally exit and check back in...only my airline wasn't open yet!! So I had a nice sit down lunch and used up all but about $1 of my Colombian money and then went to get my boarding pass. The lady sent me back to the other side of the airport (it is shaped long and skinny like the KC airport) to get my tax exempt form and then tried to keep my piece of paper that had my hostel information! No worries, I got it back from someone else who then sent me to immigration. Of course my airline wasn't set up at immigration yet either and I was sent away for another hour..booo. So I studied during that hour waiting break, pretty sure I am a Spanish expert after that hour refresher ;)

THEN I made it through security without too much problem (I set the alarm off so they made me take off my shoes) but then some random security lady stopped me and gave me a very thorough pat down...she found my my passport pouch that I carry around my neck, but nothing else that I hide on me...muahahaha!! Of course I was only hiding money...US money!!! But then I got to my gate and it was for the wrong airline! (and they don't have ANYTHING posted about what flight is leaving from what gate) So I asked some dude and he pointed me to the next gate. I then got on the plane when an announcement was made with the flight number and destination LIMA...so I leaned over and asked the Grandma next to me what the flight number was and had a momentary freak out when I thought I was on the wrong flight. Then when we were about to take off Grandma started freaking out with her seat belt so I leaned over and showed her how to do it....then we were even :)

Amber goes to Colombia!

So, Colooooombia! My friend Ingie is working for a year a ministry here in Bogota, so for my two weeks with her with be spent helping kids and enjoying my friend :)

Bogota is very different from everywhere else I have been...much dirtier and more rundown. But the landscape around Bogota...iiiiincredible! I am excited, I should get lots of Spanish practice and everyone here (in the ministry) is so upbeat...love it!

Bogota is a HUGE city and yet I don't find it nearly as intense as a big city back in the US. I am so glad that I didn't try to tackle Bogota earlier in my trip. Because of Colombia's (unfair now) reputation I think I would have been scared off my butt... but I have been in South America long enough now that I am not scared anymore. Whatever, people get robbed...but I am smart and I don't carry all of my valuables around town with me or in the same spot. At the same time, Bogota just isn't scary. Don't get me wrong, robberies happen here, but it just doesn't seem any different from any other major city that I have been in lately. So moral of the story, I am being smart and trying not to get robbed but in the end I'm not dwelling on the fear of it anymore.

As for my life here in Bogota...wow what a switch!! I have my very OWN room all to MYSELF in a HOUSE with a FAMILY. This is the first time that I have had a room to myself in months...honestly it was a bit overwhelming and WAY too quiet at first. Anyway, Ingie lives with a Dutch family from the ministry. They are...interesting :) Mostly nice. The kids scream ALL the time. No joke. BUT today the Mom went to work at the ministry and the dad stayed home and the kids were SO much better behaved. Even when the homeless people came over to the house for lunch...no screaming! It was amazing. I sat down and had a tea with him later, he is very nice. Except for one night he and his wife were (we assumed) fighting and he turned around and yelled at us for "whistling"...we assumed he meant whispering. Haha, it was very classic.

As for the work. Wow, the intensity leaves me feeling the exhaustion that I always felt at the end of a day of summer camp...but the pay here sucks! Saturday we went to a shitty part of town to help run a 'kids club' for some pre-street kids. It was crazy! We had 90 kids and I was put in charge of a group and told to discuss what "God's love" means to us. Ummm....kids were shouting ideas at me and I had NO idea what they were saying. I am sure the look on my face was priceless :) I just took every idea they had and had one of the older girls remember them all ;) Haha!!! We then played 'human knot' which didn't work out in any way. Lol, the craziness...oh man.

During the week Ingie works at a school that takes in street kids (who are usually rejected from traditional schools for various reasons). They have only 19 kids...oo but the craziness. Haha, are you seeing a pattern? I have always known that I wasn't cut out for orphanage/street kid work so this is quite an adventure for me. I am trying to be the strong adult, but I don't even know how to say things like "keep your hands to yourself," so I just say "your hands are for you only." Haha! And man the kids have so many more problems than your average kid, it's so hard! They try to fight so much, I have had to grab a couple of boys off each other...I am thankful that I have not seen any bloody fights yet!

Yesterday Ingie and I spent the day cleaning the library (a lot of Courtney references during this) and then the toy room. During the toy room some of the kids came in to help. My favorite part was when the 2 youngest troublemakers came in to help me wash toys and Ingie asked me, "will you be ok if I leave the boys with you while I look for a bucket?" In the smallest voice I could manage I responded, "alone?" Hahaha!! It was really a rather horrifying thought though...I speak Spanish but not a toooon and the kids don't really respect me because I'm not technically a teacher. I was so happy to be cleaning yesterday...that is something that I am good at and understand in any language ;)
But I don't spend everyday at the school with Ingie (since I also wanted to see the city!) One day I ventured out into the city by myself and it was such a huge success! I went out to the bank and the store and then caught a taxi out to the Monserrate (famous church on a hill overlooking Bogota). My taxi driver was hilarious! He said that I was only the second foreigner that he has ever had in his taxi and he had SO many questions. He wanted to know if we have Frito Lay in the US and if everyone looks like me and if my family has my eyes. He was very disappointed when I told him that I cheer for Ecuador in futbol and gave me the futbol flag from his window of his favorite team so that I could cheer for them back in the US :) Sometimes taxi drivers get creepy and start proposing marriage and stuff, but this guy was just genuinely interested in learning more about my country, it was super fun....and great Spanish practice! He was really worried about me going up the church alone...he said he wouldn't do it because he was scared. He was also worried that my water bottle would make me a target because if I had 50cents for water then obviously I have money for other things as well. He was very sweet.

To get to the Monserrate you can hike, take a mini train or a cable car...but hiking has gotten too dangerous so they just recently closed down the path (too many robbers waiting for dumb tourists...it's the same way in Quito at their TeleferiQo). When I got there I got in line to buy a ticket for the cable car on the way up and the train on the way down when 2 (obviously) Americans walked up and asked me to explain their options for getting up the mountain. Rescuing confused tourists is one of my favorite activities! Sadly the train was closed down so we all bought round trip tickets for the cable car. It turns out that the guys are Delta airline pilots and I spent most of the rest of the day with them. They were super friendly and thought that I was fascinating, so of course I loved them :) One of them just bought land in Washington and was asking me questions about selective harvests and reseeding and which types of trees grow well together, and do I know what a Tamarac looks like? I do I do! Haha, what fun. OH! And then he asked me questions about lightning ignited fires and such...I suddenly felt very smart, it was great. So we had a beer on top of the mountain and then rode back down just as the rain started! A taxi from their hotel pulled up so I rode down with them...where we learned that the president was staying at their hotel!! Then they put me in another fancy hotel taxi and paid to send me home. I need to meet more people with money ;) When I got home the dad here answered the door and he couldn't get over the fact that I came home in a taxi from a fancy hotel...he had to go tell his wife right away. Haha!

My sister asked about where I am staying. I am staying in the house where Ingie lives. The house is owned by a Dutch family (mom, dad, 16 month old and a 4 year old...both boys). The boys scream a lot, it is interesting. The parents are very "European" Ingie tells me...in other words they are odd about some things, mostly involving money. I have my own room and bathroom off the washroom. It was a little intimidating being all alone after months of sleeping in dorms!! They have wireless internet here, so that is addictive and terrible :)

Part of what the ministry here does is support "pre" street kids as well as taking in kids whose parents are not stable enough to care for them. One such boy, Jorge (4), lives with one of Ingie's friends (her entire job is to care for this little boy...in other places in the city other volunteers care for up to 10ish kids at a time) and he is absolutely adorable. He reminds me of a little Kael :) I was really glad that he got comfortable with me super quickly so that I can twirl him around and play cars with him...I miss having kids in my life! I met his baby sister the other night and she was sooooo sweet, very smilely and just precious. Their mom makes super cute kids, but she really needs to be stopped! (she has at least 3 others as well...the ministry is working with her so that she can take the kids back into her home)

I have met a ton of kids here and some of them just break your heart. Some of their stories are just terrible...they need so much love! I am so glad that they have Ingie, she loves them so so much :) and she is so good with them/for them, she has definitely found her place.

I continue to be blown away by Bogota. At first glance it is the most run down/underdeveloped country that I have spent time in, but then I run into things like Blockbuster where you RENT movies instead of just buying bootlegged copies on the corner. We ate at a Crepes and Waffles where they only employ single mothers or expectant unmarried women. They have Baskin Robbins!!! Their bus system here is incredible, very advanced. I can't remember what else I have noted, but my favorite expression has become: "What is this country, where am I!?" I am very impressed.

Oh man, I had a slow week last week because I wasn't feeling great...like I was coming down with the flu again. Every single one of Ingie's friends was sick with something different which didn't help me. I slept in a lot...which Jordie (the dad here) thought was amazing...especially since his kids scream so much :) I had an ear infection that spread into my jaw which was fun for about a week. Luckily that is done now and I am starting to feel like I am on the upswing...but of course Ingie isn't feeling well now so that makes me nervous. Whatever, upswing!

I am getting kind of excited to head back to Quito.  It will be such a different place without Jill or the apartment or the school, but I am so ready to be back in the glorious world of hosteling and my Spanish can not wait to get better!!

Fighting "the man"

Once the bus got moving again we all pretty much passed out. Except... Andrea had a terrible cough at the time and one time when she coughed, the mom behind us reached forward and hit Andrea on the head REPEATEDLY!!! Earlier in the ride her kid had pulled our hair, sneezed on our heads and kicked our seats continuously. When Andrea asked him to stop, the mom yelled at HER. This was a fun bus :)

We eventually made it to the Lima bus station where we immediately hopped a taxi to the airport to get Andrea's flight sorted out. When we got there (around 6am) we were told that the Delta office doesn't open until 7pm because they only have night flights. Agh!! We hiked around the airport finding new people to yell at until we realized that absolutely NO ONE in the airport could help us.

We ended up setting camp at a phone/internet cafe where Andrea called Delta offices all over the world. They told her that she would have to buy a whole new flight because she had missed her first one (even though her mom had called ahead to say she wouldn't be able to make it because she was stuck in a RIOT).

I sat on our luggage while Andrea screamed and cried at Delta officials (all but one were incredibly unhelpful). While this was happening, an older American came up and offered to pay for her calls, offered her a place to stay and tried to help find new flights. Then a younger guy (American too) heard her screaming at someone about not having the $700 for a new flight and he came over to me and chatted for a while. He later told me that he wanted to give her the $700!!! She ended up finally talking to someone at Delta who worked the problem out and the extra money was unnecessary, but my goodness how generous and helpful of them both!!!

After that I walked the entire Lima Airport until I found a “special cases” Delta office where Andrea confirmed her flight for later that night and weighed her bag. Reassured that she would be able to go home, we found a hostel for me and spent the rest of the day repacking our bags and trading things that were supposed to stay/return to the US.

I was sad to see Andrea leave after spending 6 super crazy incredible adventure-filled weeks together, but it was time for her to head to the wedding and I was scheduled for a restful 9 days in Lima. I met a ton of amazing people at my hostel and had a fantastic time in a city that offers very little in the way of activities.

My 9 days in Lima consisted of sleeping late, watching English TV with other backpackers, partying at the bar in the hostel and laughing a LOT. I had such a great time. This was by far one of my favorite hostels of all time. It just felt so comfortable and by the end I knew literally everyone there.

After 9 days of parties, I boarded a morning plane to visit my friend Ingie in Colombia. Ok, stop judging! The Colombian government has made incredible strides to clean up their country, fight crime, track down FARK and increase tourism. Sure Colombia used to be the kidnap capital of the world, but now Venezuela holds that title. Also, Northern Ecuador is considered more dangerous than Colombia these days. I was psyched.

My flight over the Andes was easily the most amazing flight EVER. The mountains, the clouds, the ocean....wow. It was truly magical. And they served a hot breakfast with fresh fruit! How will I ever adjust to US airlines??

It was so great to see Ingie waiting for me at the airport (we met my first week in Ecuador at my Spanish school). We got in a taxi and excitedly exchanged stories on the way to her house. Sooo nice!!

More "oh geez"...

And “Oh geez” continues...

Disclaimer!!: If you already stress about my safety in S.America, please skip this blog (but know that I am fine!)

So anyway we finally tracked down a hostel in Cusco and started researching alternate ways to leave Cusco for Lima. Andrea's flight was at midnight the next day, and I absolutely needed to go to Lima with her in order to get our checked bag back from the South American Explorers Club and our things sorted out before she left. We considered flying or getting on a bus immediately and when the bus stopped at 6am the next day just walking until we found a taxi or other mode of transportation. We ended up deciding to wait until morning to see if the strike was truly happening or not. I don't think either of us slept very well that night!

In the morning Andrea got up at 6:30 or so to check if traffic was still moving...it was! So we went back to bed and got up in time to head for our bus. We had a TERRIBLE time finding a taxi (and of course Cusco is at incredible elevation and we had all of our bags on) so when we finally found one, we fell straight in. The guy pulled to the corner and told me that the ride was going to cost us $20!!! When I asked him why it was so much, he said it was because the strike was indeed happening, and if anyone saw us driving they would throw things at us and it could be dangerous. Greeeaaaat. We took a bunch of back streets and hid from the riot police and eventually were dropped “near” the bus station. Good enough.

Once inside the bus station we were told that our bus was delayed until 5pm...our original bus was supposed to be at 12:30 so we were there at 11:30!! We decided to just wait at the station since the strike was affecting transportation throughout the city. Around 6pm everyone on our bus stormed the office demanding to know where our bus was. Eventually we all got on a bus at 6:30 where we were served a hot dinner (Andrea and I saved our extras...), watched a few movies and then went to sleep.

At around 4am we were all woken up when the bus almost tipped over. When the bus continued on we all went back to sleep. We found out the next day that the bus had hit a horse!!! This seemed like enough craziness for one ride...

But it wasn't done yet!

We woke up before dawn when the bus stopped moving. Not yet concerned, I told Andrea to go back to sleep and we would figure something out in the morning. She woke me up around 6 when people on the bus were freaking out and the bushes outside our windows were burning. Ohhh, that seems like a good sign.

With all of the people yelling at the same time I had a really hard figuring out what was going on. Eventually we gathered that we were stopped behind a roadblock that was supposed to last for 2 days. Excellent.

So here was the deal: 8 years ago the government sold the rights to natural resources, and now the indigenous groups are the ones suffering. They decided to sync up with the transportation strike to have a strike of their own. They had blocked the road with huge boulders and if anyone tried to move them, they threw rocks at them. They were also burning tires, logs and bushes.

Around 9am Andrea and I decided to venture into the nearest town to try calling the US Embassy. The town was completely deserted, every house boarded up and the dirt streets empty of venders and vehicles. What we did find (after crossing the roadblock) was a mob of angry bus drivers who told us they were arranging a talk with the striking group in the afternoon. One of the nice drivers helped us find a phone and then told us to get back to our bus.

My conversation with the US Embassy went like this:
Me: Hello, I am an American citizen stuck behind a roadblock in Puquio. I want to know what the safety situation is and what the recommended action is.
USE: I am sorry, you will need to call back at 4:30 during American Services phone hours.
Me: Is there someone else that I can talk to right now?
USE: I am sorry, you will need to call back at 4:30 during American Services phone hours.
Me: Ok, can you tell me if the Peace Corps has initiated their emergency procedures at least?
USE: I am sorry, you will need to call back at 4:30 during American Services phone hours.
Me: Alright, so what you are saying is that you want me to sit in a potentially dangerous riot and then hike back through town in 7 hours!!!?
USE: Ummm...let me see if I can find someone for you. <2 minute pause> I am sorry, you will need to call back at 4:30 during American Services phone hours.
Me: Can I at least give you our information and location in case things get worse here?
USE: No, you will need to call back at 4:30.
...at this point I wanted to say “Ok, when you hear about 2 American girls who died in a riot, that was us and you refused to help us!!

At that point (I was standing on some cement blocks and reaching up between bars to access the phone), I dialed Andrea's dad and handed her the phone. As soon as her dad answered, Andrea burst into tears. Not only was she scared by the situation, but she was facing the possibility of missing a good friend's wedding if she didn't make it home. She related the facts and asked him to call the airline (to cancel her midnight flight) and my parents. Then we hiked back up the bus where she never reemerged from the bus.

After hearing that we might be stuck behind the roadblock for 2 days, the bus company decided to stop serving any food. Andrea and I were pretty thrilled that we had packed food and had saved food from the dinner the night before. We also bought more water and juice while in town. We started hunkering down for a long wait.

Eventually the town realized that it could be capitalizing on the roadblock and, in the afternoon, began carting food and drinks up the hill to sell to the hundreds of people trapped on buses. The rioters also got mad at some point and went around painting “Puquio Paro, July 22-23” on all of the buses. We cowered in the bus when the plump old women in long skirts went by with their paintbrushes.

At some point the rioters agreed to let us through at 1pm...and then at 3:30...these did not happen. Buses began discussing sending passengers across the roadblock to trade buses and continue on. The people on our bus didn't want to because we had some old and sick passengers and people with a lot of luggage. Near dusk some people showed up from the other side of the roadblock to switch to our bus and they were denied!! It was at least a 2.5 hour walk from one side of the block to the other. It was terrible.

Angry mobs began to form outside of buses. Occasionally we would see 2 police officers, but they got yelled at so much that they ended up leaving.

Eventually at 6:30 the group decided to let the buses through for one hour and then they would close the block again. We were told that some of the first buses had been hit with rocks, breaking windows, so we closed all of the curtains as well as stuffing jackets and pillows into the windows for protection. The crossing ended up being totally uneventful...we saw lots of fires and hundreds of strikers, but had no problem crossing...and then we were on our way to Lima!!

For more information on the situation in Peru, check out these articles:
Protesters Gird for Long Fight Over Opening Peru’s Amazon
Government investigates reports of illegal logging

Did I mention 'oh geez?'

Sooo...the plane ride to Lima was basically uneventful.

But, from the time we got off our plane in Lima to the time we left Cusco, I don't think we ever stopped fighting people. In Lima it was the airline representatives, and in Cusco it was every hostel we could find! We stayed in 4 different hostels within the first 24 hours. The first place lied about having hot water and internet, so we asked for our money back. To get our money back I first had to be yelled at by the owner's wife, begged by the hostel worker to leave so she wouldn't get in trouble, and then I had to leave the hostel to call the owner. Eventually we were victorious...with the first hostel at least :)

We eventually settled in a magical place with cold showers and no internet...but because of the altitude and the hills in Cusco, we were too tired to find another place! After a few days of shopping, we headed out on a bus to Santa Maria where we caught a taxi bus to Hidroelectrica where we started our grand hiking adventure out to Aguas Calientes (the town by Machu Picchu). We had been told “you just have to follow the railroad tracks and they will lead you straight into town!” Excellent...we thought. After 7 minutes of hiking we came to the end of the tracks...wah!? We then had to scale a small mountain where we came acrosss an Indigenous woman who spoke no Spanish who “told” us that we were now going the right way. Of course we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble by simply taking the tourist train into town...but we wanted the adventure and the significant financial savings!

Shortly after nightfall we straggled into town where we had been told “don't book a room, it costs 3x to book ahead, just get a hostel when you get into town!” Excellent... we thought. Seeing a pattern? We ended up visiting over 30 different hostels and ALL were full. Eventually we settled into a nicer-than-our-norm place and fell asleep in preparation for our Machu Picchu adventure the next day.

We got up at 4am in order to get on one of the first buses. Even as early as we were, we were still on the 18th bus. Who cares, you ask? Everyday the park only gives out 400 tickets to climb Wayna Picchu, the massive mountain over Machu Picchu...and of course Andrea and I felt that a trip to Machu Picchu would be worthless unless we could climb the mountain and get the “standard photo!!”

That's when the fun started... once our bus stopped at the park I scrambled past the lines to buy our tickets (while Andrea held our place in line). Inside the gate, the footrace began. No, literally we all RAN through Machu Picchu ignoring the llamas and the ruins in order to beat everyone else to the WP line. Andrea even had to jump over a couple of people :) Ugh, and then the waiting began!! We had waited in line for an hour when people began turning around saying that there were no more tickets. Andrea and I are very stubborn headed and refused to leave until we heard something official. This worked out well because pretty soon a uniformed man came through line and gave each of us a number...and told us that there were no more tickets. Confused by our new number, we continued to refuse to leave :)

Eventually, after 2 hours in line we made it through! We didn't realize what a hike lay before us. Between the elevation, the steep climb and narrow stairs, we were fairly sweaty by the time we got to the top...great for pictures. We then got in trouble for going “the wrong way” despite having been directed that way, so we ended up summiting the mountain TWICE. Oooof. We then considered hiking down to see a cave, but people started turning around halfway there and they looked absolutely dead!!! So we hiked back to Machu Picchu where we quickly saw the things we wanted to see and evacuated back down to our hostel where we got cokes and were relaxing on our beds when the hotel manager came and KICKED US OUT!! Seriously, what a trip. So we had to go back on the hunt for a new place to stay (which turned out to be easier than the night before)! Oh the craziness.

The next day we hiked back out on the tracks...significantly easier than the hike in (and we didn't get lost...well not really, haha) and caught a taxi to Santa Teresa where we sat for 2 hours waiting for a taxi to give us a reasonable price back to Santa Maria (I eventually secured us a ride with a bunch of other foreigners, but we paid half what they did). Once in Santa Maria we got in a small bus and were assured “this bus is just for you 6 all the way to Cusco!” Excellent... you can see this coming right? We ended up picking up a mom and daughter who sat on me and a drunk man who yelled at the driver the whole way back to Cusco. The driver then dropped us off on the side of some random road and “wished us good luck”...very similar to our adventure in Paracas!

Oh this is where the fun starts, I hope you have hung in this long!!

We had our taxi drop us off as a different hostel from where our stuff was stored because we wanted to find a place that actually had hot water and internet. After finding out that the hostel was full I was busy badmouthing the world when a girl walked up behind us and said “haven't you guys heard? I can't believe you haven't heard!!” Ok... This is where reading my past e-mails will help you! Remember the last time I was in Peru I had to evacuate because of a massive riot in the north and then the road to Cusco was closed thanks to other protests? (8 years ago the government began selling rights to natural resources, and the indigenous people are the ones now suffering...so they are fighting back!) Alright well now the government is trying to enact some laws about transportation and planned a transportation freeze in order to...um...advertise? Who can explain the things that happen here. Anyway, there was a countrywide transportation shut down which meant that our bus (that we had already paid for!!!) for the next day would not be running. AND it meant every hostel in town was full because people were hunkering down in preparation. Oh geez.

Despite having already paid for our bus tickets, this was a big problem because Andrea had plane tickets for the next day. Did I mention oh geez yet?

Frozen adventures!

Oh the things that have happened since last I updated! You would think that I would learn to update more often so that I wouldn't have to rack my brain everytime I write...but really that would be too easy ;) Forgive me, as always this is terribly long. I will have to send this update in pieces!!

The last time I wrote, Andrea and I were in Puerto Madryn...awesome awesome place! After that we headed south to El Calafate, gateway to the Glacier National Park. In Calafate we stayed with a fascinating family of 2 (mother and 9-year old daughter) which was an adventure all on its own! We took the daughter iceskating as our 4^th of July celebration and cooked a typical...Morrocan meal that night! We also saw the Perito Moreno Glacier....incredible! I really can't describe the experience, please check out my pictures for that story!

After that we crossed through Chile for the 18^th time in order to reach Tierra del Fuego and the bottom of the world!! (luckily the Parmesan cheese made it safely across once again) Back in Argentina, we stayed in Ushuaia, the southernmost town in the world. Reaching Ushuaia was easily my biggest goal on my South America trip. Cheeeeeckk!! While there we went dog sledding and visited the famous “End of the World” Prison. What an amazing time! Seriously...dog sledding, who does that!? On our last day it started snowing, and after fighting with bus companies for 2 days, I was afraid that we would continue to be stuck in Ushuaia. Happily our bus made it out, but because of snow and ice it was a very slow journey.

After fulfilling my Ushuaia dream we headed back north again (now we were making a mad dash north in order to make it to Machu Picchu before Andrea flew out). Unfortunately at this point I got super super sick. I was oddly grateful to be sick during this mad dash...can you imagine if I had been sick sooner how much I would have missed out on? We theorized that I had Swine Flu because it was such an epidemic when we were in Argentina. Clearly I never had that confirmed, but I will be having Swine Flu t-shirts printed up when I get home anyway ;)

I had really wanted to see the Lake's District and was excited that the furthest our next bus could get us was Bariloche, smack dab in the middle of the lakes! Getting off the bus we were greeted by amazing views even from the bus station itself. In town we stayed in the penthouse of a hostel...haha!!! No really, they were on the 10th floor in order to make money off the view they could offer from the balconies. Bariloche also turned out to be the Chocolate Capital of Argentina...see, we were meant to be there! :)

In Bariloche we booked plane tickets from Santiago to Lima (refer to racing up the continent remark) but we couldn't get Andrea's ticket paid for (problem with the website)...ohhh if only we had known the drama that would ensue from this! Then we headed out on our mad dash to Osorno/Santiago, Chile.

Haha, as we crossed the border back into Chile once again, Andrea and I got “busted” by cutoms...repeatedly!! First we got in trouble because we had left our sleeping bags on the bus, then Andrea got in trouble for having an apple core...and then customs went through Andrea's bag looking for marmalade. She had no idea how many she had, so she straight-faced lied to the agent that “yes, that is all I have.” Then they saw something in my bag on the x-ray and wanted to know if I had any marmalade and I began to panic about the safety of my Parmesan cheese! Luckily the guy believed me when I said I didn't have any marmalade and he left it at that (after x-raying it one more time). Oh Chile...

No really, oh Chile... After a surprise ride on a full cama bus (seats that recline into full beds...a bus not unlike first class on a plane) we made it safely to Santiago for our flight. We loaded up all of our belongings (and plane-ified our bags!!) and headed to the airport where we discovered that Andrea didn't have a ticket anymore (despite getting a confirmation the night before). With a little yelling and a few tears, she ended up with a more expensive ticket, but still on my flight!...and with both of our bags underweight!!

Rare legless hippos

Check out my videos of discovering the rare legless hippo!

Epic Amber update

Hello adoring Amber fans! (clearly I think very highly of myself) Be warned, due to the time span covered in this post, this is one of my 'book length' posts. But the info is SO good and the stories SO funny!

Well it has been over a month since my last e-mail, so it must be time for another update! I am sad to report that I am no longer in the Galapagos! However, I am finally traveling with my friend who just finished Peace Corps Morocco, and everyday on this trip has been an adventure!

I can not fully express the joy that I got from my time in the Galapagos. I made some incredible friends, saw tons of amazing animals, and got the best tan of my life! It was hard for me to say goodbye, and clearly it was hard for the island as well because it took 4 days of scrambling and cancellations in order to finally fly back out to Quito. Depending on my contacts and what other opportunities pop up, I may be heading back to the island for an ecotourism job in August-ish.

Right now I am in Puerto Madryn in southern Argentina. It is winter here and we are so far south that the sun doesn't even come up until after 9am! It has been quite a switch after 2 months in the Galapagos!!!

After I left the island I spent a little time in Quito getting my visa in order before flying down to Lima, Peru, where I met up with my friend Andrea. We started getting ourselves into trouble almost as soon as she had stepped off the plane.

Andrea has a Zoo and environmental background similar to mine, so we weren't too interested in spending time in the city...we wanted to hike and see wildlife that needed identifying! Because of this, we only spent a couple of days in the capital before heading south to Paracas which is the gateway to Peru's version of “the poorman's Galapagos.” Here our bus dropped us in the middle of the desert and wished us luck. Of course by “wished us luck” I mean, kicked us out and drove off. Luckily someone showed up from our hostel to retrieve us. (I mean 'luckily' quite literally...I was very tempted to run crying back to the bus...seriously, we were in the middle of desert nothing...that didn't seem good)

Once at the hostel we were settling in at the computer when the owner came out and asked us if we wanted to see a penguin. Andrea and I looked at each other like this was some sort of trick question... um, of course we want to see a penguin? So we walked across town (tiny tiny town) where he pulled a Humboldt Penguin out from behind a wall. We stared at it for a minute in shock before we started taking pictures and asking gobs of questions, “What is he doing here,” “Is he a pet,” “Where is he from,” “No really, why is he here?” Etc etc. It turns out that when Pancho the Penguin was little he used to hang around fishermen and now he doesn't know how to fish on his own. At least that is how the story goes. After snapping tons of pictures of us sitting nearish the penguin, the man (now dubbed “Penguin Man”) asked if I wanted to touch the penguin and swooped in and grabbed Pancho and lifted him towards me. Penguins aren't known for being very friendly, and they have very sharp beaks, so I was a little apprehensive, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to touch a penguin! So Andrea readied the camera and I reached out and petted Pancho's back just at the moment that he turned his head and clamped his razor beak onto Penguin Man's arm. Penguin Man screamed and tossed Pancho aside as I ran off and Andrea's picture taking finger froze in all of the excitement. We are pretty sure that no hostel will ever live up to the excitement of Penguin Man Hostel!

While in Paracas we were warned that traveling in Peru was no longer safe and that we should hunker down in the small town. Goals in mind, and finding no information about Peru safety anywhere online, we continued our travels south and headed to Arequipa. Once in Arequipa we learned that there were riots in the north of Peru where indigenous groups were protesting new government laws that were going to be harmful for the environment in the jungle. The riots led to the deaths of 30ish police officers and up to 100 indigenous people. Because the government in Peru controls the news, it is still very hard to get accurate numbers and information from up there. We weren't too worried since we were headed south in the direction of Macchu Pichu, but then we learned that there were rioters (separate issue) in the south as well and the main road to Cusco (gateway to Macchu Pichu) was entirely closed to traffic. After we got this news we decided that it was indeed unsafe for us to remain in Peru, and despite strong desires to see Macchu Pichu, we decided to evacuate to Chile. The morning of our bus out of Peru, we were awakened by an earthquake. We knew then that we had made the right decision to leave!

After Peru we did a day in Arica, Chile, the driest place in the world (0.03 inches of rain per year) but quickly discovered that Chile was WAY out of our budget and we quickly evacuated into Argentina. Luckily we haven't had to evacuate Argentina as of yet. :)

Highlights from Argentina:

Our favorite stop was at Iguazu Falls which may or may not be the widest waterfall in the world. We made a day out of our visit, hiked around the trails, got dunked under the falls in a speedboat, and I was attacked by a wild pack of Coatis. Seriously. A Coati is an animal that looks a bit like a raccoon (check out my picture site). Andrea and I had packed our lunch for the day, because we knew that food would be insanely expensive inside the park. I had our bread double bagged and hanging from my purse because we didn't want it to get squished inside our backpack. As we entered our first forested path, we came across a Coati. We got super excited and tried to take as many pictures as possible before he rambled off due to the noise of some other tourists coming down the path. Further down the way we came across 5 Coatis playing in a tree. After taking pictures, I walked under them when one came running down a tree, across the path, and launched itself up my leg and onto my bag!! I lifted my bag thinking the critter would fall off, but he hung on as I lifted him into the air. Soon he was using his claws and teeth to break into our bread bag, at which point I wanted nothing more to do with him and I whipped off my entire purse and set it on the ground. At this time 5 more Coatis had shown up to join in the feeding frenzy. And then 10 more. Eventually they chewed the bread bag free from my purse and I was able to free myself from the craziness. Sadly we lost our lunch, but boy did we have an adventure! By the time it was over, a crowd of people had arrived to snap pictures and laugh at my misfortune. Andrea and I were less fond of Coatis after that :) Further down the path we saw a family running at us carrying a picnic basket. Crossing the railroad tracks behind them was a pack of Coatis, they were literally chasing this family through the forest!!! We jumped up onto some handrails and tried not to get reattacked.

Although Iguazu was probably our favorite stop, it was also the first stop where we were robbed. On our bus from Arica to Puerto Iguazu, the bus company cut the lock off my checked bag and rifled through my bag (I am not sure that I lost anything other than my lock), and then our hostel stole some of my makeup (and $70 from one of our friends who was staying there as well). At our next stop in Buenos Aires, I dropped some money in our hostel room and it got scooped up by one of the other girls in our room, she also got Andrea's headlamp. Luckily I am now up to 3 bad things, so I must be done!

After Iguazu we spent a day in Brazil and one in Paraguay where we visited a black market. Sadly we visited these countries “under the table”...legal for a day, no longer...but that meant no stamp in our passport!

Next was Buenos Aires where we saw a tango show, got lost in a huge city park and on the subway. I have gotten really good at asking police for help (for example, “can you let us through the gate (instead of making us pay again) because we went the wrong direction on the subway”). Haha! From there we visited a cute little cobblestone city in Uruguay (complete with passport stamp!!) and then jumped on another bus and headed south into winter darkness.

Yesterday we went whale watching and saw Southern Right Whales (or rare legless hippos depending on if you have seen my picture site or not) and today Andrea is scuba diving while I get things done on the internet. Tonight we get back on a bus and head further south into Patagonia! Hopefully at our next stop we will get to see some huge glaciers and more wildlife. That will probably be our last stop before we head to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. By that time we will be wearing all of our clothes in order to stay warm in Antarctic temperatures. We have heard stories of blowing ice pellets from people we have met on the road. We are excited ;)

Anyway, I will try to be better about sending out updates as this adventure continues. I have been good about updating my picture site, so check that out.

I hope that you are all healthy and enjoying the warm weather up there!

:) Amber

Living the island life

Well, here I am in the Galapagos living the island life!

I realize that this doesn't quite fit in with the plans that I laid out the last time that I sent out an e-mail, but things here are very fluid! Everyday life here is a lesson in flexibility.

I finished up my classes at the beginning of April. I ended up taking 11 weeks of classes and “graduated” at intermediate high. I am very thankful that I didn't leave any earlier when my Spanish wasn't as strong, because I still sometimes find myself struggling even at this level!

On the 13^th I said goodbye to Quito, and my good friend Jill, and flew out to San Cristobal in the Galapagos. I am working for a foundation called Hacienda Tranquila, though some days I think “Hacienda Dramatica” would be more appropriate!! Life at the farm itself is great, very laid back and easy, but we have a director in town who is more interested in dating the volunteers and being seen with gringas than he is in the foundation's mission. My first week was filled with other people's drama, people bickering, and problems. I managed to stay out of it, and now we don't have to see the director much anymore so the problems have decreased.

San Cristobal is the 5^th largest island in the Galapagos, and the only one with fresh water on the island. The island has a Giant Tortoise breeding program (each island and each island's volcano has its own species of G.Tortoise and the San Cristobal one is mostly extinct), it also has TONS of sealions, crabs, whales, sharks, Darwin finches, Blue-footed Boobies, Manta Rays, Frigate Birds, and all kinds of other excitement. It is said that the sealion is the face of the island because there are so many of them. The island also has a sign that says “Welcome to Paradise.” :)

When I first arrived, I stayed at a house owned by the foundation...incredibly beautiful house. Insane views of the harbor, surrounded by trees and no neighbors, less than 2 minutes from the beach. After one night of this I was transferred to the hacienda where I will live for 7 weeks. What a switch. The hacienda house is small, very rustic and basic, with views of....cows. When I first arrived the house was beyond filthy, chickens were running through the kitchen, and the walls were crawling with huge spiders and tiny biting ants. I was slightly horrified.

That first week I gave the house a thorough cleaning...it honestly looks like an entirely different house now. Friends who came over to visit could hardly believe how clean the bathroom was. I felt significantly better after the place became livable!! Also, that Thursday one of the girls quit and I moved into a bigger room and began sharing with the only other girl in the house (instead of with one of the guys).

The farm is huge, loads of acres of land. The land is covered in fruit trees: guyavana, tiny sour plum thingies, oranges, guava, lemon/lime cross, and who knows what else. We get fresh milk from the cows every morning, and if you can find them we get fresh eggs from the chickens. I am truly living the farm life here :) Just last night I was outside handwashing my clothes surrounded by calves (they get tied up at night so that the moms are easy to find in the morning for the milking) thinking about how different my life is now. I knew I was done with my laundry when the bulls started fighting 10 feet behind me. Haha, you can bet I moved back toward the house pretty quickly!!

 

My job here is to “work with plants.” The hacienda/foundation only just got its start in January, so things are in their beginning stages here. We spend a lot of time clearly plants with machetes so that native trees can be planted (plants provided by the Charles Darwin Foundation). We also started to build a greenhouse for sugarcane this week. Ooo...and we spend a lot of painful time clearing away Mora with machetes. Mora is basically a cross between blackberries and raspberries and has awful terrible thorns that bite you when you try to hack down the plant. You know you've had a successful day when all the volunteers walk away bleeding!

I also help with the epoterapia program...therapy for kids, using horses. Only thing is that there aren't any kids on the island who actually need this therapy, so it is more about the emotional benefits to all the kids. Right now I just help, but starting next week I am taking over the program.
Lots of animals here at the farm. We have a puppy that was gifted to us by they guy who helps us with the plant work (I hate the idea of gifting animals and though I enjoy having a pet here, he is a lot of work and responsibility), chickens (I am watching them preen in the kitchen as I type this...one of the chicks keeps jumping on the mom's back...the cutest one got eaten by something over the weekend-sad), horses, cows, donkeys, roosters, geckos, small tarantulas, and rats and mice. We wake up in the morning to the rooster crowing, cows bellowing, dog barking, and the donkey braying. Seriously, everyday.

Yesterday all of the calves got vitamin injections and medicine for parasites. You should have seen the gringos chasing the calves around trying to get the needle to stay in their flanks! Haha, it was a great time. The Ecuadorians laughed and laughed and laughed at us. After the cows got their medicine, the puppy got a shot as well. He went a little crazy after that and we were afraid that we had poisoned him. He seems ok today, maybe a little sore from the injection though.

I have time to write today because it is one of the volunteer's birthday and most everyone went out to party last night (I was too tired after chopping mora all day in the sun) and partied a little too hard. They are all passed out meaning that there is no work today. I finished a book, did some cleaning and more laundry, took a nap, and basically wasted time. That's life at the hacienda! We also had some rain earlier, which normally halts all work anyway.

The hacienda is about 20 minutes (by taxi) from port (town), so I think that I will only be coming out on the weekends and one day during the week probably because we aren't allowed to leave until 5pm and a taxi one way costs $5. Out here that is a fortune!! I have a bunch of friends in town now, so if the hacienda gets too lonely I may truck in more often (this weekend 2 of the volunteers leave and then there will just be 2 of us here until 1 new person comes Mondayish).

Life in port is incredible. On my first day I saw sealions, a Blue-footed Booby, Pelicans, and a Manta Ray!! I screamed when I saw it because I had lost vocab in any language I was so excited :) You can swim with sea turtles and sealions here, and the sealions truly respond to people. I saw a girl playing with them one day (it is illegal to touch them), she was doing flips in the water and they were copying her. They all played together for awhile, it was amazing. I will stay on the island this weekend and hit the beaches and hang out with the volunteers before they leave for home.

Hopefully next weekend I will get to visit Santa Cruz (they have HUGE Giant Tortoises) and Isla Isabela (they have penguins!!!).

Well, it is time to cook lunch from scratch (look at me growing up so fast!!) and clean the chicken poo out of the kitchen. Haha, my life!!

Love you all and hope that things are going well for you!

Still here!

Hola loyal readers!

It has been brought to my attention (repeatedly) that I have fallen behind on the updates. I had a good reason at first and after that it was just hard to sit down and think up everything that you all need to be caught up on...I will finally give it a try!

The school in Manta had 5 students during my first week, one who flat out told me that he didn't want to be my friend because he only wanted to do things with Ecuadorians, one introvert, and 2 students who had class in the afternoon (which was my only free time). Although my homestay was physically amazing (pool, wireless internet!!), no one was ever home and I spent all of my time alone. Between being super sick, sweating in the insane heat and spending each day beyond lonely, I was pretty miserable.

My first weekend there I took a trip to Isla de la Plata with the afternoon couple and the introvert (who I eventually convinced to love me). It was a glorious weekend, I never wanted to leave. As luck would have it, Nikki, the female half of the afternoon couple, is a doctor! She helped me get my hands on some parasite pills (you don't need a prescription for anything here!!) which I took on Saturday night...with mixed consequences... But I am getting ahead of myself!

That first day we got up early and drove from Manta to Puerto Lopez where we were supposed to catch our ship to Isla de la Plata (the poor man's Galapagos). The fish market was just ending on the beach so we headed down and got a look at hammerhead sharks, manta rays, and men running with buckets of fish on their heads and birds swooping down in an effort to steal a free meal. Haha!!

Such chaos! It was all great fun until Nikki noticed the puppy with the compound fracture to it's front leg. She spent the rest of the trip obsessing about the dog. She even came up with a plan for us to amputate the leg and take the dog home at one point. We were later told that the police “take care of” these animals. I was glad to not see the puppy again when we passed by that spot again, I didn't want to be part of an impromptu surgery on the beach!

Our trip to the island was fun, we saw tons and tons of attack Blue-footed Boobies, a snake!!, and a shark surfing in the waves just off the beach. We spent about 3.5 hours hiking the island in the glaring sun, so we were thankful to get back to the beach for lunch and gallons of water. After that we went snorkeling off the coast of the island. This was hilarious: the tour company gave us each a pair of flippers and a mask and then most people got a snorkel. Nothing more. Eventually a bunch of us snuck back for lifevests because treading water with a mask on was an awful lot of work. We saw some fun colorful fish and even an eel. Steven claimed that he may have seen a shark (or a shadow) but either way we both headed away from the “deep end” after that.

That night was the night of the parasite pills (which turned out to be ameoba pills...). Most of us were in bed by 9 (we shared a big room with various bunk and full sized beds). In the middle of the night I was having a dream about a shaman and got up out of bed to get away from him. When I got up, my entire left leg was asleep causing my foot to drag behind me. When I went to put weight on that foot (clearly) it couldn't support me and I pitched forward. Since I was still asleep, I didn't reach out to break my fall and fell straight into the bedpost of the couple's bed. The crash woke up Steven (male half of the couple) who was also having a nightmare, so he woke up screaming and kicking. Nikki turned on the light after she had calmed Steven, and I was still laying dazed on the floor announcing “I'm fine, I'm fine,” in my embarrassment, and cussing under my breath. I very quickly went back to bed, where I discovered that I was bleeding. I cleaned up my cuts on my hand and foot and returned to bed in extreme pain. I woke up in the morning to discover that in addition to the cuts, I had broken several ribs. I had never felt such intense pain before, I found myself grabbing my ribs in pain whenever I laughed, sneezed, or rode in a bumpy bus. By saving this story for so long, I can now tell you that I am recovering nicely. I no longer have the shooting fiery pain that I had for the first 3 weeks. I still hurt, but it isn't nearly as bad anymore. I should be all healed up in just a few more weeks, but my amazing sleepwalking/rib breaking story will last forever. :)

When we returned to Manta, I made the announcement that I would be returning to my sweet Quito to finish out my classes. My reasons for going to Manta had been to surf, but between being sick and then breaking my ribs, surfing became impossible. I was finishing my second round of parasite pills (really for parasites this time) when I returned to Quito, and between that and not eating fried foods at every meal anymore (gah homestay!!), I finally began to feel better.

I had originally planned to study for 6 weeks, 4 in Quito and 2 in Manta, but later decided to add a 7^th week in Manta. I returned to Quito for the 7^th week and decided to stay for an 8^th in which I would stay in my apartment (I am done with homestays, I want to eat my own food!) but not take classess, in order to give myself time to finish my coursework for the Seattle school and do my taxes.

Haha, then I finished my 8^th week and decided to take more classes during my 9^th week, and then “shoot, why not get a one-year student visa so that I can bounce back into Quito for more classes whenever I want?” I spent a couple of weeks visiting notaries and the ministry working on getting my visa. I finally got the visa, but it is only for 6-months due to the fact at I am “only” studing a language. However, we are under the impression that if you leave the country and return, you get another 90-day stamp. (this was supposed to have changed, but I guess it really hasn't)

The current plan is that I will study until mid-late April (during which I will be volunteering at a local HUGE park in the mornings with the reforestation team) and then I will head north to the jungle (or 17 minutes from the airport...whichever ecolodge wants me) to volunteer at an ecolodge for 3 months. After that I will return to Quito for 1-2 weeks before heading to travel Peru with my friend Jill who I met here (and with whom I am currently sharing an apartment!) and then I will volunteer at an ecolodge in Peru for 3 months. After that things get hazy, but considering how many times the plan has changed, I don't see any point in trying to plan those last few months.

Since returning to sweet sweeeeeet Quito (can you tell that I like it here?) life has settled in and things are much less exciting. I actually kind of love this, I know how to use the buses, where to buy cheap used books in English, and where to get fresh strawberries and bread for the best prices. I also love being able to teach all of the new students how to navigate Quito. I miss teaching so much!

I visited Banos one weekend (Ecuador's outdoor sport paradise) with the idea to try bungee jumping, but quickly nixed that idea due to the fact that my broken ribs could puncture my lung during the jump. Awwwww!!! Instead we rode horses, bathed in the nature hot springs, and shopped. Banos made it up to me when we had REAL cheese in our eggs at the hostel...suddenly the world was so much brighter. :)

Jill's mom came to visit last weekend which was great fun for me. I declared very early that I was going to pretend that it was a visit from MY family, and this worked out very well for me. She brought me presents (books and M&Ms!!!!), gave me mom hugs, and took a couple of packages back to the US for me (they made it to my parents in only TWO days, that seems impossible after waiting 5 weeks for my ATM card to arrive in the mail here).

Geez, this is getting to be huge long again so I should probably start to wrap it up. Tomorrow (or today when I send this out) I start my volunteer work at the Parque Itchimbia so my next e-mail should be full of stories about that. I am currently being treated for what may or may not be bronchitis and am getting tested for ameobas/parasites with the thought that I didn't actually get it cleared up last time.

Clearly life here is a kick in the butt :) but really I am enjoying my time here in Quito. I am living with my closest friend, obsessing over Spanish, and trying not to think too much about how easy life is in the US. :)

I love you all and think about all of you often! I hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and employed!!

:) Amber

Life IS a beach!

Hey look at me I am on wireless internet at my homestay!!

I made it successfully out of Quito and into paradise (i.e. Manta).

I will try to send out more updates later while I'm sitting next to my pool ;) but for now, here is the health update: For the week before I left Quito I thought that I had malaria again. As it turns out, I do not! I still feel very crappy much to my host mother's dismay...I told her when I got back from the doc that he had said I was sick and now she expects me to be better immediately...but she has also seriously restricted my diet. I am now allowed a bowl of soup at lunch and crackers at dinner. Haha, awesome.

My doctor was a rather very unfriendly man....he asked me a bunch of questions, which I answered...and then he palpated my stomach and listened to me breathe. And then he went outside to get my teacher to declare that I didn't understand what he was saying, so we repeated the exact same things over again. Cranky butt declared that I have a digestive tract infection and put me on 4 separate medications. One of them is a powder that I have to take in water and it is half bubble gum half death flavored. I like it a lot. I'll be on these medications for awhile...I'll let you know when I am healthy and perky again.

Holy cow so we have hardly any students here. It is quite a change from Quito, and it was a little bit stressful the first day suddenly being in a much more formal school and without any friends to laugh about it with. Anyway, I got home from school the first day and discovered no one was home except for the hired help lady. She is adorable and I want to stick her in my pocket and pull her out so she can smile at me and announce that it is hot out...I think she thinks that is all that I understand how to say :) So I sat by the pool and tried to make the internet work (no luck back then), texted everyone I know in Quito, and then went for a swim. All of this made me feel much better. I fully intend to swim everyday :)

I may not go surfing in the afternoons like planned because that beach is a 30 minute bus ride away. We'll see, it could still happen...but it is a lot less work to just stay at my house and swim in the pool :)

Yesterday my teacher and I visited the beach and walked around Manta. It is very different from Quito, lots of small dirty roads...I got lost getting back to school after lunch yesterday. ...I can not even describe to you the heat here, it is powerful awful being this close to the sun.

It is very close to Africa hot here. Not quite Africa hot, but if I go outside I start sweating buckets. Literally buckets. My teacher and I had a good laugh about my sweating today. And by WE I mean HE laughed while my entire body cried from every one of my pores. Seriously, it is a bit of switch here. I have air-conditioning in my bedroom, but it I turn it on, it leaks water all over my desk and belongings. I need to adjust to the heat anyway, so I just I leave the a/c on “fan.”

I got a glorious sunburn today thanks to the fact that I sweated off all of my sunscreen the instant I applied it. I knew it was happening but there was nothing I could do...I just kept wiping the sweat away. Tomorrow I will wear more clothes to protect my burns, thus causing me too sweat more. It is going to be awesome.

My teacher seems nice if a bit immature, but he is the opposite of every other Ecuatoriano man I've ever met. Ecuador and Sud America in general are pretty machisimo while this guy is very timid and wants me to take the lead on things...like walking down the sidewalk which is awkward since I don't know where we are going! Aw my little awkward buddy.

I have a pet gecko here, his name is Bob. Yesterday I touched him, he liked that. He doesn't like having his picture taken, it makes him fall off the wall and make a plopping noise when he hits the floor. I like him.

Well I guess it is time for me to go sweat in the kitchen while the houselady feeds me boiling hot liquids and foods. Awesome.

<3 Amber

Seriously...I have adventures

Wow, can you believe that I am on my 3rd week in Ecuador already? Time here has gone by SO quickly, and yet at the same time I feel like I have been here forever because I am so comfortable here! I am officially over halfway through with classes in Quito. It is almost time to head for the beach!

Classes have continued to be good for the most part. I totally yelled at my teacher the other day :) Somedays classes are super hard!! My teacher has a bad habit of whenever I mispronounce or make even the smallest mistake, he reteaches the entire lesson. Gah, I'm a beginner I am going to make mistakes, I don't need the entire lesson a second time!! Ok ok, I didn't yell yell at him but I was very unhappy with him. Anyway, I'm still progressing and learning but geez the days are so full! I tell my teacher everyday that I don't need so much homework because I have 7 hours of class and by the time I get home I just want to review, but I haven't had time lately because he gives me gobs and gobs and gobs of homework. But I am doing my best to stick up for myself and what I want out of my classes.

We have been on some awesome fieldtrips! Let's see... we have been to El Centro Historico, Jardin Botanical, Museo de Agua (seriously, the water museum), Vivarium (snake house!!!!), Museo de Guayasamin (famous Ecuadoriann painter), Iglesia Basilica (HUGE Catholic church), Museo de Banco Central (history of Ecuador), Museo de Amazonicas, and Barrio Guapulo (near Guayasamin's house).

If you haven't already, check out my pictures to get a better idea of what my fieldtrips included. Some highlights: I saw 2 real shrunken human heads at the Amazonicas museum, I taught my teachers all about Rainbow Boas at the Vivarium, I climbed to the top of the Basilica on crazy ladders that would never have been legal in the US (you really have to see the pics), I waited out a rainstorm on Guayasamin's backporch...here in Ecuador you are allowed to touch things and walk in areas that would never be allowed in the US, I love it :)

I have also done a LOT in my “free time.” I took an evening trip to Papallacta, natural hotsprings, with 3 other students...danced the night away at an Ecuadorian discoteca, took salsa and cooking lessons, all in the first week.

The first weekend I boarded a bus and headed out to Cotopaxi, a local volcano. We females were under the impression that the trip would be hiking 'around' Cotopaxi but we quickly discovered that we were indeed climbing the mountain. That is awesome considering I hadn't even acclimated to Quito yet. (again I refer you to my pictures) We made it to El Refugio at 15,793 feet...which I would like to point out is higher than the summit of Mt Hood. We then ran/leaped our way back down the snowy slopes to our waiting truck in a matter of minutes. It was an amazing trip.

Valerie and I headed back that same night to discover in the morning that we had a new student moving into our house and I was being kicked out of my room! My Mamma came up to my room and declared that she was moving into my room “in 5 minutes.” So I frantically threw all of my belongings into Valerie's rooom and then spent the rest of the day reorganizing our new shared room. Neither of us slept well that night in our double bed. Despite having to share a room, I LOVED having a new sister because all of a sudden my host mother actually starting talking TO me instead of to Valerie about me. She actually asked me to translate things for our new sister, Anja. Sadly Anja no longer lives with us (though I do have my room back to myself again!!) which means that my host family has gone back to seeing through me. It's ok though, sometimes I force myself into conversations and jump up and down and frantically wave my hands until they see me ;) (just kidding about the jumping and waving in case you didn't catch the sarcasm there)

The next week was Obama week! Wow, you wouldn't even believe the excitement here! I organized a party in the evening (by organized I mean I wrote down “obama party” on a piece of paper and had people sign up...) and then the school had a little party for us during the actual inauguration. We all got out of class and set up a viewing party in the main sitting room and the school provided beer and Ecuadorian snacks. It was an awesome time. Also you can imagine that our Spanish was awesome after that ;)

Oh wow, last week was Cuy Week as well! Cuy is Quicha for guinea pig. On Friday a bunch of students and teachers boarded a bus for a town 45 minutes from Quito and we feasted on guinea pig. It wasn't particularly tasty...very greasy and didn't actually have much meat. (Once again, you HAVE to see my pictures) My friend Ingrie all of a sudden got really sick thinking about what she was eating, but the rest of us did a fairly decent job at cleaning our guinea pig carcasses. What a solid South American adventure.

The real fun was this last weekend! (there are not enough exlamation marks in all of the world to express my excitement about this weekend) I went to Mindo, up north in the cloud forest, with a bunch of girls from the school. I went up early early early Saturday morning with my good friend Ingrie, from Canada, and we secured a hostel for all of us and then headed out to repel down a waterfall :)

It was just the 2 of us and our 2 guides in our group. The real adventure part of the experience was just getting to the waterfall. First we hopped in a truck and paid a guy to drop us in the middle of the cloud forest where we then set off on foot up the mountain...across creeks, through thick sucking mud, all under searing hot sun (which was new to me since it rains daily in Quito). We stopped to try some fresh fruit which turned out to be huge orange lemons (apparently I made an awesome sour face) and my guide explained that if you find a fruit you don't know, you put it on your tongue and if you salvate a lot then it is bad (as in poisonous)...um, I think I just won't put it in my mouth thanks.

It took us a good hour of crossing skinny slick bamboo “bridges,” scaling mud cliffs, and hardcore hiking before we got to the bottom of the waterfall. Haha, I think Ingrie about peed her pants when she saw how steep and tall the waterfall was. We climbed to the top and then practiced repeling down a short mud cliff, it was pretty funny. At that point we learned that the second “guide” wwas actually just our guide's friend who had never repelled, so he had a practice as well before we headed over to the waterfall.

Our guide's friend, Fernando, headed down first (sans helmet) and then held the line for me as I repelled down. All the lines were much stiffer than I expected and everything was super sturdy. I was rather disappointed because I wanted more freedom to make big leaps down the waterfall :) but really it was still a great awesome time. When I got to the bottom I hung out with Fernando as we watched Ingrie get ready. He and I chatted in Spanish (hard over the noise of the waterfall) and then he asked me out (to go dancing!) of course I said yes (who can say no to dancing?...especially with good looking latin dancers?) so now Ingrie (and the ENTIRE school) jokes that I have an Ecuadorian boyfriend.

After surviving the waterfall we headed back to our amazing hostel ($8 a night got us a room and an incredible breakfast....and the hostel had hot water, an English speaking owner, good beds and mosquito nets, and beautiful views of the forest) to shower before heading back to the main street to pick up the other girls at the bus stop.

The next day we all headed out to zipline through the canopy. Wow. Seriously, if you haven't looked at my pictures yet...go do it!!!!

Ziplining was incredible. You can bet when they asked who wanted to go first, I was already at the top of the ladder :) We did 11 lines as a group, and then I did 2 extra by myself as the end. I did the first few solo, and then did “superman” with a guide which involves facing away from the guide with your legs around their waist and your arms out in front of you...I had an awesome view of the bottom of a gorge. I did the extra 2 lines because I wanted to do “mariposa” too. (mariposa: butterfly) This move involves facing the guide and then flipping upside down :) It was amazing, so much fun. On one other line they shook the cable so that you bounced up and down in mid air. I literally screamed with laughter, it was insane fun.

Today I became famous. No, seriously!! I was in a documentary for the Travel Channel!! Our school was invited and basically we spent the day on a train being filmed. In the morning we pretended to 'arrive' back at the station on the train and I got to be one of the 4 people to get off the train with the actor dude. We had to do it about 6 times, it was pretty hilarious. He was great fun, joking with us and even yelled at us at one point and we thought he was totally serious...clearly he was not. Sad for you all, the show (Essential Ecuador) will only be showing in Europe, Africa, and Asia. They might put some clips on youtube, so I'll let you know if I find anything out. Anyway it was good fun, and they fed us and gave us presents so it was totally worth it.

This weekend I am heading to Otovalo, a local indigenous market (and maybe a different one on Thursday). I am quite certain that it is also going to be awesome.

I am sad though, because my closest friend out here is leaving for her volunteer position in Columbia this weekend. I will miss her because she is most similar to me...but no worries, we get new students here all the time, and one of the boys who left last week is coming back next week.

Hey I was in a bus accident today!! It was very similar to the last bus incident, but this time we actually hit a taxi! And this time I was sitting, so my knee slammed into the seat in front of me. Once again we were lucky and no one was seriously injured, just more bruises!! My thumb is almost better, though it is still a little tender to the touch-atleast it is normal color again :) No worries once again, because one of the other students is a nurse so she looks out for us!

One of the men in our group got held up at knife-point outside the mall by our school, but it was at night (I don't go out alone at night, and certainly not over by the mall!!) but he actually fought off the guy and chased him away with his umbrella. It was a pretty insane story. Just so you know the area where my school is located is absolutely safe during the day. I am very comfortable, safe and happy here. (But wait...MALL...seriously...nicer than the mall back home, it almost blew my mind the first time I saw it.)

Gosh, this is already book length so I'd better wrap it up. You know me, I could talk and talk forever because I am super excited about everything out here. I'm sure you can tell that I am having a great time and falling in love with everything and everyone here, I can certainly see why so many people never leave Ecuador!