tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80779863240822050112024-03-13T11:56:36.002-07:00Wanderlust"We would look out over the immense sea ... each of us far way, flying in his own aircraft to the stratospheric regions of his own dreams. There we understood that our vocation, our true vocation, was to move for eternity along the roads and seas of the world. Always curious, looking into everything that came before our eyes, sniffing out each corner but only ever faintly- not setting down roots in any land or staying long enough to see the substratum of things; the outer limits would suffice."Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-24553292158493531612012-09-07T12:35:00.000-07:002012-09-07T12:35:22.700-07:00The Month of MonsoonsWhile my big plans to keep everyone updated on my amazing last lazy days in Thailand fell short because the Internet cafe couldn't connect to blogspot, I'm secretly glad because the last thing I wanted to do in the most beautiful and peaceful place in the world was sit in a hot Internet cafe and write about what I was wishing I was doing for that hour.
Charlie and I successfully made it to Singapore, found each other in the airport (we were on different flights- it made for a lonely day of travel), and got to our hostel. The YMCA, shockingly, was pretty nice. Our day in Singapore showed us why- they're standard of living is ridiculous. I saw so many people walking out of Miu Miu, Prada, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, etc carrying LARGE shopping bags, and the food was so expensive! But the city was clean and safe, so we spent our free day wandering and then watched a few Olympic events at an outdoor restaurant in Chinatown.
The next morning we met with Josh, a long time friend and travel companion, in the Singapore airport and got on a plane to Krabi, Thailand. Tiger Air was certainly not the finest travel experience I've ever had, but the service was good and, as a climber/young traveler abroad this is important, cheap! We took a bus from the airport for 500 baht (seems like so much, but in actuality is less than 15 dollars) to the Ao Nang dock and hired a boat to Ao Ton Sai beach, our home for two weeks.
Despite exhaustion and agreement that we'd take a rest day, we couldn't help ourselves when we saw the cliff faces on the beach- climbing was inevitable. We hit the sand running (not actually we were carrying heavy backpacks and it was a million degrees). And so for the next two weeks we woke up late, ate lazy breakfasts while avoiding bees and watching monkeys, then climbed till a late lunch when the sun hit the walls, swam/kayaked/napped/tanned/read until the shade covered the walls again in the late afternoons, then climbed until well after sundown with headlamps. We were definitely not the only ones with this schedule- most of the people staying on Ton Sai, rather than the more popular and much more touristy railay beaches just across the bay (reachable by a 30 min hike), were climbing fanatics as well. Railay certainly offers some great climbing, but has mostly easier climbs. We spent zero days there, even though I probably would have loved it-the boys are far to strong to enjoy those areas. I mostly hopped on the boys' warm ups and spent the rest of the day taking photos, finishing my summer reading, and tanning, which of course is just my version of heaven. Josh and Charlie killed it, both flashing and sending several 5.13s each. I re-worked my favorite climb in the world, Lars and Lars, a 7a (5.11d).
We also spent a day Deep Water Soloing at the Spiderman Wall. I was terrified, to say the least, as jumping from heights into dark water is not my favorite activity. But in the end I actually had a lot of fun. We went in a group of 14 climbers from all over the world and got to talk to some interesting individuals. Charlie and Josh, of course, had no fear and both effortlessly scaled the walls and jumped off from huge heights. A monsoon came to join us on the wall, although when you're already wet, rain isn't the biggest concern. The coolest part of the day though? I GOT STUNG BY JELLYFISH!!! Really tiny ones, and it barely even registered what was happening-it only felt like tiny pinpricks, but I still feel like such a badass now!
My favorite bits about being on Ton Sai, besides the world class climbing and the exceptionally unique sunsets, were the places we ate. If you ever go to Ton Sai, there are a few places you absolutely must try. At Mama's Chicken, a small shack of a restaurant down the path next to the Pirate/Sunset Bar, the pad thai, green curry, and fried rice are all incredible. It looks like a sketchy place to eat, but the food is out of this world. Depending on the day, you pay when you order and sit down to wait before they bring it to you, and other days you pay when you finish following some sort of honor code-ask when you order though, I once sat for an hour waiting and they informed me they hadn't started my food because I hadn't paid, when that day for lunch I had paid after eating...It's Thailand, you just have to go with the flow. The smoothie stall on that same path is MINDBLOWING- no matter what fruit you get the girl who runs it will make it fantastic. My personal favorite was mango, banana and orange. Local Thai is on Railay, another local restaurant that doesn't look appealing and yet has some of the best food I've ever eaten (although Mama's will always have the number one spot in my heart). The restaurant closest to the climbing cave on the beach that has a deck overlooking the ocean has decent food too- I loved the fried rice and the sweet and sour chicken.
On my last day, a monsoon like no other decided to strike just as Charlie and Josh were helping me to hike over to Railay to catch a boat to Krabi with all my bags. I was terrified that no boats would leave that day because when I told a local I'd be leaving that day, they laughed and said "no, storm is here". It was very encouraging. But boats did leave, and I took a tuktuk in Krabi to my hotel, checked in, showered in the first truly hot water I'd felt in weeks, and curled up to ride out the storm in my pjs. Saying goodbye to the boys was hard, I always have so much fun with them.
The next day I was back on Tiger Air (Note: The Krabi airport is tiny, and there are never lines. You need MAYBE an hour before a flight, even less. Not two. Definitely not two. I had to kill an hour and 45 minutes there on my own.).
I spent the afternoon in Singapore with my Mom! Our family needs to start planning on the same itinerary. We went to the Raffles Hotel for high tea, which was incredible. I don't think I've ever seen such an arrangement of tiny chocolate treats. After a champagne toast to an amazing summer, we retired to our own hotel, the Fairmont, and I packed for my big flight the following day. A 3 AM wakeup, a million hours of flying later, and I was safely back at home in LA for a 24 hour layover before heading to school.
Overall, the end to my summer could not have been more perfect. Thailand is one of the most beautiful locations I've ever been to, and I would be devastated to even entertain the idea that I'll never return. Mama's Chicken has not served it's last pad thai to me!Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-20366556361780027522012-08-01T18:23:00.001-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.806-07:00The Finale: South AmericaReal life comes as quite the shock after 3 monthes of traveling. We had no time at all when we got back to Cusco after our trek to Machu Picchu, so I planned on writing a post about it when I got back to LA. Instead, friends, work, and the calling of the sunny sands at the beach got in the way. South America seemed to be a surreal experience.
Now that I'm planning a new trip and new posts I'll be writing, I want to conclude my last trip.
MACHU PICCHU TREK AND THE LAST FEW DAYS:
I had been looking forward to the trek as someone looks forward to a final exam- I was prepared, well studied, and knew it was going to be hard. Despite my family's affinity to the great outdoors, and my own love for climbing, hiking has always been the bane of my existence. I have asthma issues, I trip a lot, I usually end up twisting an ankle.
Needless to say, the day before the trek began I was hoping for the development of some new tropical disease so I didn't have to go.
Looking back, I'm so beyond grateful that I didn't spend those days in a hospital and got through the trek.
Yes, it was physically demanding. Yes, I was the second to slowest hiker in the group. Yes, I did end up twisting my ankle. And yes, I have never had such issues breathing (although no asthma, we were just at 15,000 feet in altitude... try taking one step without panting and I'll pay you good money).
But I've never seen such devastatingly beautiful, untouched nature in my entire life. Every day I could swear I saw something more beautiful than the day before. Even my photos couldn't capture the feeling of being somewhere that you could only find in that place in that moment. Day one of the trek we did an extra hike to see a bright turquoise blue mineral lake surrounded by snow covered mountain peaks, Day two we passed by Salkantay's peak, and the last few days we saw some of the most gorgeous views of the jungle we'd seen on the trip. Once we actually reached Machu Picchu, I was kind of actually shocked to find that I had been so awed by the natural beauty we had seen while trekking that I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be by one of the world's wonders.
Every day, the trek was a struggle. My legs hurt all the time, we never seemed to get enough sleep (especially the first night when our sleep was interrupted by cows grazing two feet from our face and several avalanches from Salkantay nearby), and it was hard to breathe. One day was optional- the hardest day of hiking, three hours straight uphill, three hours straight downhill. My ankle was tender, my calves were on fire, and Eli coerced me into sucking it up and doing it. Even though I was ready to cry by the end of the hike, when we all piled into the train that took us to the town closest to Machu Picchu where we'd get to shower and sleep in a real bed before seeing the great site, I've never been so proud of myself. Each day was a mental and physical struggle, and every day I completed the hike without being (too) whinney and too down on myself.
Machu Picchu, while not as stunning as I imagined it would be, was well worth visiting. The intricacy of the site was astounding- we'd all just learned first hand how hard it was to trek there from Cusco, and the original people there somehow were able to bring those stones up there to build a city. Huayna Picchu was actually the hardest part of the week- imagine the steepest stairs you've ever been on, meant for people with feet half your own size, and then imaging climbing those for an hour and a half without pause after trekking 50-60 miles over the course of four days. OUCH. Again, at the top, I've never been more proud. Thanks to the encouragement of my friends, I hadn't turned down the opportunity to see Machu Picchu from above.
After a full day of exploring MP, we headed back to Cusco to wrap up Carpe Diem business, have our final dinner at a great restaurant off of Plaza de Armas called "greens", write everyone in the group quick letters, and pack for our flight for the next day.
Throughout the trip I learned a lot about myself.
Consumerism had become a natural part of my life while I knew very little about the US government and the destruction it has caused abroad with our foreign initiates to "help" develop other nations (read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, I did while experiencing first had the destruction the damn in Banos, Ecuador has caused to the wildlife and fishing industry). The trek, however, reaffirmed my belief that I can do anything I set my mind to. Even if you're like me and swear that you hate hiking, believe me, I'd do it all over again to feel the pride I did when I reached the top of Huayna Picchu.
THE AFTERMATH:
I still have the scars from the bug bites and from my Machete incident in the jungle, but staying connected with my travels and the lessons I learned there has been difficult.
It's hard to answer "How was it? Tell me everything!" because how do you describe the weirdest but most incredible experience of your life? I struggled, a lot, when I was uncomfortable with the living conditions, when I was sick and didn't have my family around to baby me, and when I missed my friends back home. Traveling with a group of people was way harder than I expected too. But looking back, those hard times were the best times. How do you tell someone living in a dirt floor cement house with people who barely spoke the language you had just started learning was the most incredible 10 days of your life?
I'm still working on figuring out a way to tell people, but I know what counts is that I'll never forget a minute of it.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJa2TaOA6lzx9yoZvHyu6HomLATR-gmsU5LLxzgg0M3BR6oi9zFqp0kKxqNT3GQ3GUrBo67LVr0E3Yl4jDNAOoqErubUN0gWv8OXRvizqZtDqir1jHOdU-9Bp8TM1NvaNDIIxOn7H1hY/s1600/IMG_4850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJJa2TaOA6lzx9yoZvHyu6HomLATR-gmsU5LLxzgg0M3BR6oi9zFqp0kKxqNT3GQ3GUrBo67LVr0E3Yl4jDNAOoqErubUN0gWv8OXRvizqZtDqir1jHOdU-9Bp8TM1NvaNDIIxOn7H1hY/s200/IMG_4850.jpg" /></a></div>Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-9598962798213933442012-04-24T16:36:00.000-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.874-07:00NamasteThe yoga retreat, as expected, was incredibly relaxing, despite the fact that we woke up at 6 and did intense yoga twice a day for two hours each session. We also did some meditation every day... not really my favorite but it was definitely interesting to learn more about.
On my way to Machu Picchu in two days! Probably at some ungodly hour.
The next time I´ll be updating my blog I´ll be packing to go back to the US!
Ciao
EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-55535688074756872542012-04-20T14:39:00.001-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.836-07:00Amazon´s Next Top Model<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9F91SLU3GH5obv5Bzothyhyphenhyphen9YaQV295UFSWKdb7ZmaT8dLYJejb_AUPIV-6-Yc8gZ06Wn6jdgH805Z6cvXlkEEmpvK53LBxIRfXVXwsWtWd3CmIC-g-pKBQPfGq-puKDWzi7DwMC0XF0/s1600/Emily%25C2%25B4s+photos+050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="134" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9F91SLU3GH5obv5Bzothyhyphenhyphen9YaQV295UFSWKdb7ZmaT8dLYJejb_AUPIV-6-Yc8gZ06Wn6jdgH805Z6cvXlkEEmpvK53LBxIRfXVXwsWtWd3CmIC-g-pKBQPfGq-puKDWzi7DwMC0XF0/s200/Emily%25C2%25B4s+photos+050.JPG" /></a></div>Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-16811371999867094932012-04-20T13:32:00.001-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.798-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8K1GOEiVOUUuCr7enexxOEDqOpGrdaUBqowwYEmHUrbOhimejIXRHEKXFbpKN-hu6Bh0s29LbxsscQHUitudQGNM-EVP2kqYVq9H7xSYDWwkoulv65EuCFgh9-LJmGej_CzdxWx64aOo/s1600/Emily%25C2%25B4s+photos+091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="214" width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8K1GOEiVOUUuCr7enexxOEDqOpGrdaUBqowwYEmHUrbOhimejIXRHEKXFbpKN-hu6Bh0s29LbxsscQHUitudQGNM-EVP2kqYVq9H7xSYDWwkoulv65EuCFgh9-LJmGej_CzdxWx64aOo/s320/Emily%25C2%25B4s+photos+091.JPG" /></a></div>Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-72885011773006291342012-04-19T13:02:00.003-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.852-07:00In da jungle, da mighty jungle... Emily slices her hand open with a macheteI SURVIVED!!!<br /><br />Somehow. It´s been a tough week. Let´s just say I´m so happy to be back in a city with a Starbucks and air conditioning. <br />I appreciated my time in the jungle for like... a day. But then it got old. And then it got older. Because the more time you spend in the jungle, the more you sweat, and the more you sweat, the more you start to smell like jungle fungus. I´ve never smelled an odor coming off of clothing that has been so terrible. And I´ve gotten dog poop on the hem of my pants before. The laundry place had to wash my clothing THREE TIMES before it stopped smelling/the water ran clear. <br />The group spent five days in the heart of the jungle working with Camino Verde, an organization dedicated to reforesting and the preservation of the unique rainforest in Peru. Specifically, the group and I were working on clearing a path through the jungle so that the people who protect the area can check for poachers and squatters (a serious issue around the area, because squatters actually have rights to the land if they start planting crops there). Which means some guy hands us all machetes and tells us to hack away at the overgrowth that has sprung up on the old path. <br />Let´s describe day one for Emily-<br />I hit my head TWICE on two different trees hanging over the path on the walk out (the Fall Carpe Diem group cleared a lot of it and we had to hike out about an hour every day to where we began working), then I machete my left hand open. It wasn´t a deep cut, but damn it bled a lot, and I felt pretty stupid. Then, on the walk back, I got caught on Poisones Bamboo thorns and couldn´t get un-caught. Robin, our contact in the jungle, had to come and pry the curved thorns out of my arm. A few minutes later, poisones bamboo slices at my leg. Once we get back to the house and I peel my soaking socks off (we had to wade through a swamp every day), I get bit my a nest of fire ants. I don´t know if they give them steroids or what down here, but they are significantly larger than the fire ants in the US. <br />Fortunately, the subsequent days were MUCH better. Although on Day two Lizzy sliced her foot open... with an ax. Five of our group members had to carry her the hour and a half back to the house and she left on our boat to get stitches at the hospital in Puerto Maldanado. But everyone else remained fairly in tact for the remaining days- only one other superficial machete cut to a hand. <br />We worked hard, sweat a ton, smelled like nothing I´ve ever experienced, and ended up clearing a mile and a half of the path. <br />Other than the humidity, sweat, and injuries, I liked the jungle. The birds sounded and looked incredible, the whole place smelled fantastic (except for us), and we got to see capybaras and monkeys on a daily basis!!! <br />After leaving Camino Verde, we spent a night in Puerto Maldanado, then did a more touristy adventure in the jungle. We visited Lake Sandoval overnight, and got to see more squirrel monkeys, a few spider monkeys (MY FAVORITE), cayman, spiders of all sizes, tucans and macaws, and some otters! I had a minor panic attack when I swatted at something on my neck and it turned out to be the most gigantic cockroach EVER that had crawled up me, but other than that it was fun and totally exhausting. <br />Being in the jungle definitely pushed me more than any other part of our trip, even those ten days we didn´t have a shower. Luckily, we had showers in the jungle, and I was grateful that they were cold because otherwise I would have never cooled down ever. I was pushed physically with the amount of work we were doing, and my comfort level was pushed when I would wake up in the middle of the night in itching attacks because of my thousands of bug bites. But overall I´m glad I went. (Although I´m a little more glad to be back in a city haha)<br />This week we head to the Sacred Valley for a yoga retreat, back to Cusco for a night, then on our trek to Machu Pichu, and then we´re all done!<br />Time has been flying by here, and we only have 13 days left in Peru!<br />So excited to see what these two weeks hold though.<br />Ciao!<br />EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-53335719964516409162012-04-10T13:42:00.003-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.834-07:00Our plane is delayed only 25 hours.Seven hours. Seven hours in an airport, and we´re informed that our flight is canceled. Yesterday was not the best day of the trip. <br />HOWEVER. <br />It was certainly not the worst. <br />WE STAYED IN A HOTEL!!! Not a hostal, a hotel- you read that right. It had the most beautiful shower, two queen beds to a room, a beautiful breakfast buffet instead of just bread and butter, a spa, airconditioning and heat, and a doorman. While some of you back home may say, DUH that´s what a hotel is suppossed to be like, remember that we´ve been staying in 15 dollar a night hostals, and usually we only get sporatic hot water dribbling out of the shower heads. The airline put us up and paid for our dinner and breakfast, athough that didn´t stop Max and myself for ducking out one last time to Jack´s. After two meals each and a chocolate chip cookie split, we were finally satisfied after having access to zero edible food all day. <br />Ivy, Lizzy, Max, Eli, and myself spent the night watching HBO- they were playing The Town (Awesome movie) and got a great night´s sleep on our cushy beds. <br />This morning we all returned to the airport, leaving our hotel at 7:30 (Ivy and I woke up at 7:25, it made for an interesting breakfast) and took off FINALLY at 10:45 AM. <br />We are now in Puerto Maldanado, enjoying the heat and humidity before our six hour boat ride deep into the jungle tomorrow to start our final volunteer project of the trip.<br />It´s so crazy to think that we have 22 days left! It seems like nothing. <br />Expect quite the update after our jungle adventure is finished. <br />Ciao!<br />EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-91306831577567343972012-04-07T13:06:00.002-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.870-07:00And then I got Typhoid Fever...So Mollendo and the end of our free travel week were excelent. I spent two days on the beach in Mollendo sleeping on the beach in the beautiful South American sun and getting as tan as I could while using 100 spf because there was no way I was risking a sun burn knowing I was going to get on a four hour bus the next day. In jeans? Ouch. It was nice being back in my usual LA climate though. We returned to Arequipa after two days on the beach, spent one night relaxing in the city, then woke up at TWO IN THE MORNING so we could take a bus four hours away to trek Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the entire world. We arrived at the Canyon around 8 AM and started our decent- I took the three hour route instead of the eight hour one because of my knees, with Eli, Drew, and Grant. <br />This is where the nightmare begins... I spent the night puking my guts out, and had to take a MULE back up out of the canyon in the morning. Thank god I did not fall off, or I would have fallen to my death... as this was an actual concern, I was clinging to that mule for dear life. Especially when she decided that the next step uphill was too high for her, so she JUMPED. Imagine my expression and scream now, and enjoy it. <br />I also was able to enjoy a horrific digestive problem and had to be constantly near a bathroom untill I reached Cusco. It didnt stop with rest or lots of water, so on Monday I visited a doctor, pooped in a cup, and was told that I had TYPHOID FEVER and needed to stay in the hospital for a few days. After being poked and proded by several needles, which was hell, I was settled into my Peruvian hospital room with an IV hydrating me at all times. Let me tell you, this was not the most terrible thing ever. My hospital roomhad two cushy beds, a whole four channels of English TV (lots of Greys Anatomy, Revenge, and That 70s Show), a jacuzzi tub and 24/7 hot shower, and free calls to the US. This was actually the nicest place I have stayed in South America. Eli, having spent so much time in the same situation, visited often (I have a sneaky suspicion he just missed the hospital and didnt actually just want to see me). My Spanish teachers came to visit every day and help me improve my Spanish. One afternoon my practical Spanish teacher explained a whole tellonovella to me and I was hooked. It had suicide, murder, baby dadies, unrequited love, three brothers in love with three sisters, an evil mother, class conflict. EXCELLENT. Or at least entertaining for two hours every afternoon.<br />I was in the hospital from Monday till Thursday afternoon, finally released with a bag of four different types of pills. <br />Yesterday I celebrated Good Friday with my host family, which included a six course meal, went to a food festival (becuase clearly we hadnt eaten enough) with our Spanish teachers, had Salsa lessons, and hung out with my house-mates. <br />Tomorrow is our last day in Cusco, and early Monday morning we head to the jungle. Lets hope I dont get eaten by some andaconda in the Amazon...<br />That would be the icing on the cake!<br />For all those out there worried about my illness (Grandma, Grandpa, Mom,Charlie...)dont worry! I am doing MUCH better.<br />Love you all!<br />EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-64511937754472839482012-03-26T16:04:00.002-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.842-07:00Arequipa, PeruSo the second half of the week in Cusco, Peru, was just as fun as the first. We learned how to make a typical Peruvian dish, Rocoto Relleno, stuffed peppers and how to SALSA, which I was so good at I caused all of the volunteers hanging around watching our lessons to laugh hysterically and leave the area. Whatevs, it was fun. Our host family is fun to live with, but less emotionally attached to all of us because they have so many kids come through the school and stay with them. Every morning at 8 I get a lovely wakeup call of ¨CHICOS... DESAYUNOOOO!¨ (Kids, breakfast), from our loving and ever understanding host mom. When we asked if we could have lunch an hour earlier than usual because we had to get to school earlier, she gave us a nice ¨No.¨ Eh-kay. She does make us some great lunches of rice and veggies every day, a treat after the potatoes day in and day out in Achupallas. <br />Spanish classes are going well too, learning the basics in a practical way that never was taught to me before. We have two hours of grammer lessons and two of practical lessons- just walking around the city and talking with our teachers. My proffessor has taken me to several markets in order to fufill my daily craving for jugo de pina (pineapple juice). I NEVER liked pineapple in the states, and now if I don´t get it on the daily, I´m pissed. The fruit here is so delicious. <br />The girls and I have decided to find the most fattening treat available in Cusco- so far, we´ve found some awesome carrot cake at Jacks, Waffles and oreo cake at The Meeting Place, and crepes at Papillion. But we´ve supplemented that with a yoga class at the Healing House, even though the teacher was sick and the substitute thought an hour of child´s pose was a good idea...<br />After an awesome night out on the town on Friday night, Seth, Katie, Kai, Lizzy, Ivy, Grant, and myself all went clubbing and danced till the early hours of the morning, we packed up on Saturday and headed to Arequipa on an overnight bus. The bus was actually so comfortable- reclining seats, a light dinner and drinks (tea and soda, don´t go thinking the program changed their rules, although we can always hope right?), and a movie. However, it broke down for about two hours on the side of the road at 1AM, and the guy in front of me decided to take the opportunity to blast music from his phone and then proceeded to start snoring loudly. Once the bus started moving again, it was quite an adventure trying to get back to sleep. I´ll be honest here, I definitely tried kicking his seat several times in order to make him shift and not snore anymore. It didn´t work...<br />Arequipa is beautiful though, and we´ve had a great time here. The girls took a lazy two days- chilling in cafes and around the Plaza de Armas. Last night we found an English version of THE HUNGER GAMES which Max, Lizzy, Eli, Ivy, Grant, Megan, Katie, and I went to go see. After thinking I´d have to wait till May to see it, those who know how I excited I was for the movie will understand my level of hyperactivity when I found this theather. <br />Tomorrow we´re heading to the beach on the coast of Peru to get our tan on. I´m too excited, we´ve been in cold weather for so long. <br />Ciao!<br />EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-72429401876205170382012-03-24T13:55:00.004-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.848-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uQ0AS2KuBX23NabE0BcwMTH25H6NoRAnGRJad44OgIOdnk2HI-Gf0UqXzF9Tw2p90YOum0aEEMvfnPGK9dgKyu9FwxVf5wzrc5fH-Br8-G3IrKdHrwm6_I71alg29pPMr8DSDsbAWYY/s1600/emily%25C2%25B4s+094.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uQ0AS2KuBX23NabE0BcwMTH25H6NoRAnGRJad44OgIOdnk2HI-Gf0UqXzF9Tw2p90YOum0aEEMvfnPGK9dgKyu9FwxVf5wzrc5fH-Br8-G3IrKdHrwm6_I71alg29pPMr8DSDsbAWYY/s320/emily%25C2%25B4s+094.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723582706937290434" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB83eAO6ug8uRNrO_ncXXg-CT0ELIgAQWTYIitgj6r06N54ZZ-nAGp1flnTfMJOEEJFVjucXSOebd2SrHw6MVEa1mKJciI-SxSXt_hTT5NIBlwS4lHJsF54m_5hbinNMn9w9pS42arggk/s1600/emily%25C2%25B4s+106.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB83eAO6ug8uRNrO_ncXXg-CT0ELIgAQWTYIitgj6r06N54ZZ-nAGp1flnTfMJOEEJFVjucXSOebd2SrHw6MVEa1mKJciI-SxSXt_hTT5NIBlwS4lHJsF54m_5hbinNMn9w9pS42arggk/s320/emily%25C2%25B4s+106.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723582713357204962" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLEnpi_EKrDJ2QDRjtLEjE92KTchPMjy2joD-syAj1mw7YuZvDXa7uhmN_TCH-RcbiE054sgXGZIIgEp42H5PR0wWcwx7CS2xzS6Mu8dgcsdnk5tRhKAo6Rc4EWtL0Z1ucrOE_3SH49I/s1600/emily%25C2%25B4s+057.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBLEnpi_EKrDJ2QDRjtLEjE92KTchPMjy2joD-syAj1mw7YuZvDXa7uhmN_TCH-RcbiE054sgXGZIIgEp42H5PR0wWcwx7CS2xzS6Mu8dgcsdnk5tRhKAo6Rc4EWtL0Z1ucrOE_3SH49I/s320/emily%25C2%25B4s+057.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723576929555632930" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfBn4H5KsjDc2kGNd4vZCycgr311S-AQ09K1ZcNR7K3NuvXgBFHqEqnEWOkqf2jTkk3Jb_k6XFqk88WTolvSiOjn12vp3R40MG4eO4IazHhyMOUUbjmnmCyLLiX2RNnt5Hz-AZB3u1P5U/s1600/emily%25C2%25B4s+076.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfBn4H5KsjDc2kGNd4vZCycgr311S-AQ09K1ZcNR7K3NuvXgBFHqEqnEWOkqf2jTkk3Jb_k6XFqk88WTolvSiOjn12vp3R40MG4eO4IazHhyMOUUbjmnmCyLLiX2RNnt5Hz-AZB3u1P5U/s320/emily%25C2%25B4s+076.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723576941385009282" /></a>Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-33135225761477210362012-03-24T13:13:00.001-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.810-07:00My English Class in Achupallas<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LnJ2LVi65J5Itsnsvk_I7o-ZIlfG-NbvwswcTKhULCWf9TzAv4_vECN6mwhB6P-5kAv23_L5IRaK6iLL9crn0J2qSU0wf-WwmSR5P90wcxm2NjHq4Id5VFuNSKFaOd0M0_zJc8078HU/s1600/emily%25C2%25B4s+243.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LnJ2LVi65J5Itsnsvk_I7o-ZIlfG-NbvwswcTKhULCWf9TzAv4_vECN6mwhB6P-5kAv23_L5IRaK6iLL9crn0J2qSU0wf-WwmSR5P90wcxm2NjHq4Id5VFuNSKFaOd0M0_zJc8078HU/s320/emily%25C2%25B4s+243.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5723569587749497682" /></a>Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-4247069718062286962012-03-19T16:04:00.002-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.820-07:00Cusco, PeruI LOVE CUSCO. <br />It´s beautiful, clean (Well... in most parts. Today in the slightly more shady area of Cusco I frequently had to step over human feces. There were quiet a few ¨only in South America moments¨), cheap to live in and eat in for the most part, and everyone speaks super clear Spanish. Gotta love with a country speaks the language properly and without a strong accent, you don´t feel as ignorant as you probably are (hence the woman selling me juice telling me how terrible my Spanish was today... burn, but hey I understood the burn IN SPANISH). <br />We left our Quito Hostal at 4AM, which meant I spent our entire two hours waiting in line at the airport asleep in a corner till our group got to the counter and then someone woke me up. Four cups of caffinated tea later and I was asleep on the plane for a solid four hours. <br />We´ve already established our group Internet cafe, coffee and treats cafe, street vendor for sweet tamales, and yoga studio. My professoras de Espanol, one for practical application while walking around the city and the other for grammer, are awesome and already I´m picking back up where I left off in Banos and learning more! I won´t be fluent when I leave, but I definitely can carry a conversation about life already. Just don´t ask about the weather... I haven´t gotten there yet!<br />We´ve been hit hard though as a group... Eli has TYPHOID FEVER. He´s in the hospital overnight tonight and hopefully will be rejoining us tomorrow but it´s scary to think that he´s gone a few days without antibiotics! I´m crossing my fingers that I don´t get it, that´s for sure. Ironically, Eli is the most anal of all of us about health, washing his hands, eating only ¨safe¨ foods, and Typoid fever is transfered through food or water contaminated with human feces... So I´m avoiding food with poop in it. <br />Let´s hope tomorrow he´s better and that the fruit juice lady thinks my Spanish is a bit better.<br />Ciao!<br />EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-89385204001477784392012-03-16T14:08:00.003-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.863-07:00QuitoBeing back in a city after such an amazing rural experience has been shocking to the system. The first day back I was overwhelmed and even being online was such a foreign feeling because the simple living had been such a shock to the system in a different way entirely. <br />As I´m slowly re-adjusting to seeing the excess all around me, and missing my host family back in Achupallas, I have come to appreciate Quito´s cuisine. Crepes & Waffles= best restaraunt EVER. Although the Cuban place we had girls´ night out was pretty amazing too. We only ordered 12 plates for six of us...<br /><br />Reflecting back on our time in Ecuador, there have been both highs and lows. Lows include discovering your rain jacket isn´t actually waterproof anymore during a nine hour hike about an hour in, getting violently ill, bug bites, a week of group disfunction, missing home, not having access to bathrooms or showers for long periods of time, etc. But the highs- meeting amazing new people, discovering a new family to love and belong to, surviving weird illnesses and coming out stronger on the other end, learning Spanish, dancing in the rain on a beach during Carnival, having my breathe taken away by the sheer beauty of the landscape around me, becoming more in touch with the world and how people in developing countries live, and discovering more about what´s really important in life- so outweigh any negatives. <br />Tomorrow we leave Quito and to Ecuador and start a whole new adventure in Peru. (or should I say tonight because we leave at 4am? it´s sad that i´m getting used to these horribly early departure times). I can´t wait to meet my new host family in Cuzco, get settled into language classes again, and learn what Peru is all about.<br />Ciao Ecaudor, mucho gusto Peru!<br />-EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-42812415795862314312012-03-13T16:48:00.002-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.824-07:00My host siblings!!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMACD-nLdc5Kf6gYjc4YDpcu1rOj7rEqGcjLi0C7RUzKXjrx8yY94D_v_yzojs0cSG9lfE9w1Hx-ZtJfD9xTta7S2hyQLLSl7bZNN8PZ9c3vo5jSkX5ukaGnI6zRcYcxDAtBTZNKyWAyI/s1600/269.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMACD-nLdc5Kf6gYjc4YDpcu1rOj7rEqGcjLi0C7RUzKXjrx8yY94D_v_yzojs0cSG9lfE9w1Hx-ZtJfD9xTta7S2hyQLLSl7bZNN8PZ9c3vo5jSkX5ukaGnI6zRcYcxDAtBTZNKyWAyI/s320/269.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5719535103988246466" /></a>Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-84013441049118268792012-03-13T16:48:00.000-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.859-07:00Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-19749053915688198872012-03-13T15:13:00.002-07:002012-08-02T12:44:55.803-07:0010 Days Without a Shower...For the past ten days I´ve been in Achupallas, an Indigenous rural community 45 minutes outside of Otovalo, Ecuador. I don´t even know how to describe how incredible of an experience it was, but I´ll try here. <br />So starting from the begining...<br />My leaders, Grant and Megan, pull me aside before we arrive and tell me that I have a special situation and that they´re not really sure how it´ll work out. My host family doesn´t have A- a bathroom and B- a bed for me to sleep in. Like, really? Am I suppossed to sleep on the floor? Pee in the woods? FOR TEN DAYS?! <br />I sucked it up and put on a smile when I followed my adorable family home. Turns out that my host mom´s mom (my abuelita) has a house about ten feet away with an outdoor toilet and I´d be sleeping with Katie, another girl on the trip, in her house. They didn´t have a shower, but with the super exciting news about the toilet (or should I say bowl that was about six inches off the ground) I wasn´t too worried about that. <br />Our schedule as a family and as a group was as follows- I was suppossed to wake up at 6:45 and eat breakfast at 7 with my family, go to work by 8:30, at 12:30 we would eat lunch, and in the afternoon we´d do an activity in the community that was normal for the family hosting us for the activity. <br />In reality... I woke up every morning at around 4 because the cat crawled through the rafters into our room and decided to get stuck on the bookshelf... EVERY NIGHT. Then the roosters would keep me up till around 6 when I finally managed to pass back out again. (I.hate.roosters.) Breakfast usually was the soup from the night before- which means potatoes in water with another vegatable thrown in and a ¨cafecita¨ which is whatever type of tea they made. Who knew oregano tea was so delicious? We always showed up at work at 8:30, but Ecuadorian time is a bit different and either the guy running the project, building a community greenhouse, was there or not. When he showed up, he´d direct us on what dirt pile to move where and we did it. I was sore EVERY DAY, but the work was fun. <br />The afternoon activities were always really cool too. We met an 86 year old healer who would NOT let go of my hand because she took a liking to me, we took cooking classes from the best cook around, we learned how to harvast potatoes, we baked bread, and we took Kichua, the indigenous language, classes. <br />I´d return home exhausted between4 and 6, and then have dinner at 7 with my family. Lenin, the 3.5 year old who loved to catch me looking at him and scream with laughter, would fall asleep during dinner every night against the wall. His older sister, Emily, 6 years old, became my shadow when I was back around the houses. And the oldest kid, Kevin, 8 years old, tried to play it cool but when I started tickling him his defenses totally broke down. My host mom and dad were always concerned with whether I liked the food that night or not, whether I was happy in their home, etc. Their first language is Kichua and their second Spanish, so there were a lot of charades that went down and laughter ensued. I couldn´t believe how simply they lived. At first it was just shocking, but now being back in a city everything seems so excessive. Except the shower. After 10 days of not cleaning myself, this morning when I took my hair tie out my hair stayed in a bun... so gross. And you don´t even want to know how gross my fingernails looked. No shower also means no running water at the house. Thank god for Purell. Anyway, my host family´s house consisted of two rooms- a kitchen with a stove and stumps on the ground that were seats for us while we ate off our laps, and a bedroom with two beds. Having a stove was a HUGE deal, most of the families in the community only had a fire to cook over. They had nothing extra, nothing fancy. All of the members of the family had about as much clothing as I have in my backpack. Each of the kids has a stuffed animal and a plastic toy. When I made them animal masks at the school they were THRILLED. After the shock wore off and I saw how comfortable they were even though they didn´t have any excess stuff, I was almost angry at myself for how much clothing and ¨stuff¨ I have at home. I swear, here and to myself, that I´m going to get home and clean out at least have of the things I have in my room to donate.<br />This morning, my family dressed me up in the traditional indigenous dress the women wear and took tons of photos on my camera of me with my host mom. My whole family and I cried saying goodbye and I´m going to miss them terribly. I was the first white person (and American obviously) that they´d ever met or spent time with, and I´m so excited to know that I left them with a good impression. The Tundana Foundation, which is funding the building of the community greenhouse (as well as other community projects in other rural areas) and helps send a ton of indigenous kids through highschool and college with their scholarships, is an amazing foundation. I hope that someday in the future I can return to stay with my Ecuadorian family again and continue to improve the lives of people who have changed mine so completely in just 10 days. <br />Now, I´m off to appreciate a full plate of vegatables. After 10 days of potatoes, I´m in need of some green.<br />Ciao!<br />Emily<br />(Ps- They don´t say adios here, they mostly say Ciao, so now I get to become one of those annoying people who says it all the time.)Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-90907496028840273652012-03-02T19:25:00.000-08:002012-08-02T12:44:55.866-07:00Carpe DiemCheck out the group blog at http://www.carpediemeducation.org/blog/2012/03/adios-banos/ !!!!Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-37557748006233868602012-02-29T17:14:00.002-08:002012-08-02T12:44:55.816-07:00Quick Update!Spanish classes continue!!! I´m learning tons and I officially know the present, past preterite, past imperfect, and the future tense! <br />My host family continues to be amazing and the food is great. Banos has become a home away from home and we only have two days left! Cafe Hood, the adventure store that does laundry, and a particularly comfortable internet cafe have become my hangouts.<br />On Saturday we leave Banos and head to Otovalo and the Tundanga Foundation to volunteer at a tree nursery. I won´t have internet access for 2 weeks but expect full details about my 10 days without a shower or a real toilet after that!<br />Miss everyone in the US, I send my love.<br />EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-48041621290502265272012-02-22T17:02:00.002-08:002012-08-02T12:44:55.828-07:00Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. ~John Cotton DanaQue tal?<br />That means what´s up in Spanish. Look at me learning another language!<br />I´m currently in Banos, Ecuador, living with a host family and taking classes at a Spanish language school. Every day I wake up, eat breakfast with my family, and head to school to teach English for four hours. Then I head home for lunch, a siesta, and then back to school for four hours of tutoring in Spanish. <br />In highschool, I always dreaded Spanish class... I was the worst one in the class, the slowest to understand lessons, and the least likely to be able to answer the teacher´s questions. Here, I litterally get excited for class. My teacher is awesome, and while I´m definitely still in the lowest level, I´m only in class with one other person, Tucker, and we´re learning SO much every day. It´s all coming back to me, and being able to practice with my host family and all the people around me every day helps a lot. I feel like I improve every day, even though I´m slow to be able to come up with sentances still. And I have those awkward moments when I forget that embarasado is ¨pregnant¨, not embarassed (embarasoso)... My host mom luckily got it and after laughing with her momentarily, I learned the error of my ways and now know the difference. Oops.<br />Teaching is way harder than I expected. My teaching partners and I were under the impression we´d be teaching kids and brought a guitar and a print out of the lyrics to ¨head, shoulders, knees and toes¨ to help kids learn to read and speak English through music. When we got to our classroom we were met with... five 16 year olds all ready and waiting to learn the past tense of verbs and all the irregular verbs of English (does anyone know how many irregulars we have? SO MANY). We had to improvise during the lesson and came up with a pictionary game competition- I drew fruits, objects, other foods, etc. and whoever could say the English word first got a point. Tomorrow I have to bring a chocolate bar to our star pupil, Eduardo, for his extensive knowledge of the English words for fruits and zoo animals, as well as for his outstanding capability to interpret my pathetic drawings (you should have seen my elephant... the first guess was butterfly). It gives me a whole new appreciation for my Spanish teacher, that´s for sure. <br />Now in addition to my 30 Spanish sentances I have to write per night I now get to create a whole lot of lesson plans for the rest of the week though! Kai, Eli, and myself bought big sheets of paper to create flashcards tonight for commonly used verbs and nouns and I get to test my drawing abilities once again to make the flashcards more interesting. <br />Living with a host family is also a bit weird. I was very apprhensive prior to meeting them, and now that I know how nice and excited they are to have us stay with them, it´s much easier than expected. But when halfway through my shower the scalding hot shower turned ice cold (you pick one or the other at the beginging), I didn´t know if this was normal or weird so I didn´t say anything. For the past few days it´s been Carnival in Ecuador, so the whole city has been partying late into the night. Fun fact- on the last day of Carnival people dump water over balconies on the heads of unsuspecting passerbys. (Ladies- don´t wear a white shirt you´ll be a target if you ever get to enjoy this celebration). Carnival also means a ton of extra family has been staying with my host family. Yesterday, Kai and I walked in (Kai is my roommate) to the house and literally did not recognize a soul of the twenty people sitting around looking at us, and I thought we´d walked into the wrong house! We both just bubled ¨buenos noches!¨ and ran. I almost peed myself I was laughing so hard when we got up to our room, it was something out of a movie. Our host dad is really into taking us on tours of the city, wants to take us on a hike this weekend with his 16 year old daughter, Jessica, who´s a total sweetheart and has been trying very hard to speak slowly to me so I can understand and communicate (we had a great conversation with her and her mom about our favorite actors and which we´d want to have as our ¨novios¨ (boyfriends)). Other kids in my group are not so lucky and are kind of just coexisting with their families, whereas Kai and I feel a part of the family. It´s certainly been an experience to remember so far, and we´re only 3 days into a 2 week stay!<br />I can´t wait to see how much Spanish I know by the end of these two weeks. And then after full day lessons in Cusco! <br />As the second week of my trip closes, I realize there have been some ups and downs (a second round of sickness RIGHT before getting on an overnight bus while leaning into the gutter in the pouring rain... I´d warn people away from eating a whole lot of rice and then dancing on the beach in the rain during Carnival in Canoa the first day you eat three full meals after an illness... although if you haven´t been sick DEFINITELY dance with friends in the rain on the beach it was the most fun I´ve ever had on a rainy day)- but what is really important is to acknowledge it may not be the best minute/hour/day of your life and you may really be feeling homesick, and then try and think of all the reasons you should enjoy life right then. My friends in the group (which really is everyone) have been helping me learn to do this and live in the moment. <br />I hope I can keep it up throughout the next two and a half months!<br />To everyone back home- I miss you all but I´m having a great time, as I hope you all are too.<br />-EmilyEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-67642338778963882752012-02-18T10:46:00.003-08:002012-08-02T12:44:55.845-07:00¨This too shall pass¨- a not so fun Illness in the most beautiful place I´ve ever seenI spent the last week on an organic farm outside of Canoa, Ecuador, called Rio Muchacho. It reminded me of the ranch I go to in New Mexico, Ghost Ranch, but just plopped in the middle of a jungle instead of the desert. Every morning we woke up to do farm chores around six and I luckily was assigned to kitchen duty rather than pig pen cleaning duty. We´d then eat breakfast- usually just simple grains with fresh fruit and some sort of pastry type thing that the senoritas in the kitchen made, then have a morning activity learning about how to run an organic farm. After lunch which was usually soup, rice, and veggies, we´d head out for farm chores like picking veggies for dinner or mixing cow poop and water and fertilizing the corn rows (my personal favorite.... not) or sometimes we´d make rings out of nut shells we found in the area that the farm then sells to tourists in Canoa. Dario and Nikola, the couple that runs the farm, were so dedicated to the cause it was inspiring. We used Composting bathrooms which didn´t smell as bad as you´d think, all extra food went to the pigs, they don´t create any trash, use methods to minimize water waste, and overall dedicate themselves to the organic cause. It was also really cool to meet the volunteers from all over the world who were dedicating their time at Rio Muchacho. The Ecuadorian guys who lived and worked on the farm thought I was hilarious because of my poor Spanish skills and my lack of farm skills, but I was willing to be the butt of the joke. <br />The farm itself was beautiful. Everything was green and wet all the time, seeing as we were in the rainforest, but we had these awesome cabins that were colorful and made with thatched roofs from tree leaves grown on the farm. There were hammocks everywhere to just relax in, and I loved just staring at the sky during our free time in the afternoons. It was very zen. <br />While I loved being on the farm, the group as a whole had a horrible bout of illness, which was both terrible to experience and totally bonded the group. Everyone had some form of illness coming out of one end or the other... I personally got to puke my guts out into a bucket that formally had housed pig poop for a whole night... but once it was out of my system I felt a whole lot better, only a bit lightheaded and weak. But I´m well on my way to a full recovery. It was bound to happen sooner or later! My groupmates that were not sick (those lucky 4) were super helpful bringing me tea and juice, so I was being babied just enough to not lose my cool and go home (just kidding... kind of).<br />Overall I´m loving my time here so far and I´m really excited, although a bit nervous, for our first homestay in Banos, Ecuador while we´re studying at a Spanish school there for two weeks. I can´t wait to become more fluent, although I´ve been surprised by how well I can get around just by my small knowledge of the language and hand gestures. <br />Off to the beach for now, we´re spending the day in Canoa!Emily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-57999850953163267882012-02-10T20:44:00.001-08:002012-08-02T12:44:55.839-07:00Quotes do NOT seem sufficient when I am this hot...IT IS SO HOT HERE. 90 degrees and 100p humidity... and with the sun being so strong close to the equator we were all surprised by some nice nose sunburns today. Even with massive amounts of sunscreen (I think I applied like four times the whole day) Im now a light pink color. <br />But the food is amazing, the city of Guayaquil is beautiful, our hostel is clean even though the showers are ice cold, and Im already having fun. All the people in my group are here for different reasons, but they´re all great people and seem genuinely dedicated to challenging themselves by roughing it in the jungle, on the farm we will be working on next week, learning Spanish, and facing down malaria by taking our pills before bed every night. We have all already bonded so much I am excited to see where we all are at by the end of these three months. Although we all fully understand at different points in time we will be sick of one another, especially bunking night after night over/under one another night after night annoying each other with our movements... But I am glad there are a few other big city kids on this trip to lean on for support when the B.O. just gets to be too much and the giant spiders cause us to scream as we are trekking through the jungle. <br />Tomorrow is our scavenger hunt as a final part of orientation to the trip to get last minute supplies that we were not instructed to bring. Like toilet paper for the hostels that dont provide it (...wut.). <br />This trip is certainly proving to already be an adventure!<br />Next week we will be working on a volunteer based organic farm, and we wont have access to a computer, and possibly not showers, so wish me luck and check back in a week and a half for an update on how terribly I miss the US and modern convieniances already. <br />Wish me luck!<br />EAJEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-78115290018001547212012-02-08T12:28:00.000-08:002012-08-02T12:44:55.856-07:00“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack KerouacLast day in the USA!!! I'll be heading to the airport around 3AM tonight and my backpack is... kinda... all packed. (Of course I'm still debating which books to bring) I'm nervous but excited for this trip to finally begin! It's been weird being in this limbo at home- ready for the trip, but not on it yet, and I'm just sitting at home while life for everyone else goes on. <br />While I'm not looking forward to meeting everyone at the airport at 3 in the morning not exactly looking or feeling my best, I am just ready to get everything started.<br />-EAJEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-45873806046396182292012-01-29T10:59:00.000-08:002012-01-29T11:09:07.590-08:00"A spoonful of syrup helps the medicine go down" -Mary PoppinsI wish I had a spoonful of sugar for every medication I'm going to take on this trip. I'd upload a picture of the bag of drugs I walked out of the pharmacy with, but I'm worried I'd be arrested if anyone of actual importance saw this blog. I'm going to be taking pills for malaria, "traveler's illness", high altitude sickness, and typhoid fever. I've already gotten the shot for yellow fever, and one testing to make sure my Hep A and Hep B vaccines were up to date. I'm bringing two Z-packs and two packs of some other antibiotics for just-in-case illnesses. <br /><br />Literally... I'm a walking pharmacy.<br /><br />My doctor's appointments are piling up, but I'm now truly terrified I'm going to just die of a tropical disease not covered by any of these meds. <br />And god forbid I get rabies, which according to my travel medicine doctor, is rampant in South America.<br /><br />But don't worry, my friends, the most likely thing that will kill me on this trip is crazy drivers. <br /><br />Wish me luck!<br />EAJEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8077986324082205011.post-21460802366280575432012-01-26T14:24:00.001-08:002012-01-26T17:32:01.320-08:00“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” ― Gabriel García MárquezMy mom teases me that when I was little, I used to declare that I would visit every country in the world before I died. While I realize this not exactly a realistic goal now, I'm certainly going to continue to try to complete as much as I can, whenever and however I can.<br />This summer during my month long trip to Spain, I met quiet a few people who were living my dream- traveling all over year after year, determined to fulfill their own wanderlust. I was so jealous of their freedom and their ability to travel wherever they wanted-when I realized I could do the same, and in fact I should. I decided to consider a gap year between Sophomore and Junior year of college. Over winter break though, I learned of a program called Carpe Diem Education, applied, and decided to go.<br />This adventure, to Ecuador and Peru, will be my first time to South America. I'm beyond ecstatic to be going, but it's going to be very difficult leaving behind my family in LA and my friends who have become my surrogate family in DC.<br />I hope that my trip will be enlightening in ways I can't even imagine now.I want to see how I deal without my iPhone, kindle, laptop, TV... all the modern electronics I rely on day to day here. I'm scared to see how a week of no showering will go- I'm not too excited about that I won't lie. I also expect that living in such a different culture for so long will change me and the way I think about my life, even if it is in the most minute way. Travel tends to open your eyes to the most necessary changes you need to make. <br />I'm going to blog here, mostly photos knowing me, and let whomever finds this journey of self-exploratoin interesting follow along. Enjoy!<br />-EAJEmily AJhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10840158460328865629noreply@blogger.com0