Hola Quito

2008-12-07T15:28:00.000-08:00

my latest painting . . . clouds over quito

2008-11-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

And a few more pictures, while we're at it....
I went away last weekend for a 'girls weekend'. 6 of us set out to shop, eat, drink wine and get in a little hiking at Cotopaxi.

We were really lucky that the clouds moved off the glacier and we had a wonderful view of the volcano Cotopaxi while we hiked around at the bottom.

Here's a couple more pictures from the trip ~ there was lots of laughing and fun ~ and Chris got to stay home and paint!

Here's the very cute place where we stayed ~ they were very hospitable to us and let us hang out around the fire.

2008-11-18T08:47:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our annual Halloween party ~ it was our third one here in Quito. We had some great costumes and it wasn't too rainy (so people could go out on the terraces).

Don't ask what Chris and I were dressed as.... we're not absolutely sure ourselves but it was fun.

We had Angels...

two wild and crazy guys

and a banshee

the hosts

2008-11-09T18:15:00.001-08:00

so i've been managing to get some painting done
as well ...

2008-11-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

We had the excellent opportunity to re-visit Blacksheep with Steve and Dani - and it was (once again) an awesome experience. Here are some pics from that trip...

llamas at the inn

and the epic journey from the volcano back to Balcksheep

dani and sharon making their way around the crater of the volcano - sooo windy

and coming down from the rim into a little village

what a great pic of steve!

and here's the crazy cliff walk (although it wasn't that crazy tis time...thank goodness) that we had to take to get down into the canyon

here's Dani contemplating life in all its glory

a sheep on the way home

and through the town and back to the inn

2008-11-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

This has been a tough time of the year, as it always is for teachers - so that's my excuse for not posting - justifiable or not

a few pics from Deweese Island

so here's some more pics from the summer - hopefully we'll get back to the now soon

Here's the farm in Virginia where we had a fantastic time!

and we, by crazy coincidence and sharon's wiley ways we managed to visit Heather and YJ in Austin Texas - and their beautiful baby Eamon

2008-09-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

hey everyone - we had an awesome stay home and really felt even closer to everyone than we did when we lived there

we're going to try to give everyone a glimps into our experience through a bunch of pictures

we love you all and thanks for visiting...we'll update you on the Dani and Steve visit next - peace and love ~ and as always, double click to enlarge the photo (highly encouraged)

so this is Quito before we left - crazy red sky, no?

i think i'm going to miss the sky the most when we leave this city for good

the next few pics are from our trip to panama - sharon has better pics, but they're not on this computer

2008-05-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

We're still trying to catch up on all the missed blogging ~ so, even though it happened months ago I wanted to post some pictures of my mom's visit to Ecuador back in February.

She came during our Carnival vacation and since that's typically a time when people throw water balloons and spray foam at people we decided to head out of town.

We went to the town of Otavalo which has the largest indigenous market in Ecuador. Here's a picture from a balcony of all the stalls.

We spent our time shopping in the town but stayed at a mountaintop lodge just outside of the town and it was beautiful.

We had a house to our selves and a guy who came around and stoked the fire periodically. We spent a lot of time drinking wind and reading books in the living room by the warm fire.

We ate our meals in the main lodge (which is right behind mom in this picture) and they served pretty decent vegetarian fare.

The place was really gorgeous ~ flowers everywhere (notice all the dahlias?) and we took a long hike around the ridge of the mountain ~ I was impressed with mom's endurance especially since she had only been in town for 2 days and was hiking at over 10,000 feet! We saw some beautiful views and at one point the trail ended in a very nice couples' garden ~ oops! They didn't seem to mind and pointed us in the right direction.

Here's one of the llamas that were hanging around the lodge ~ I think they're so cute. There was also an adorable cat and a tiny puppy.

After this trip I had to return to work so mom came by and visited Chris and I at school.
Here's a picture she took from outside my classroom...

She visit my classroom and got to meet some of my very cute students.

She also spent a day on a tour of the old town Quito visiting all the beautiful churches and squares and learning some of the history of the place.
Her tour also went to mitad del mundo ~ the middle of the world where they have a big monument and museum on the equator (Chris and I still haven't made it there)

We managed to get a few nights of bridge in with our friends who used to play when they were in the peace corps in Nepal.

And for a last hurrah we headed for one night to the cloud forest. We stayed at the eco lodge where Chris and I have been a few times (the pictures might look familiar). We love the owners and they make the most delicious vegetarian food and the place is so relaxing.

As mom and I were hanging out waiting for the communal dinner we ran into a couple who were staying there and we eventually figured out that I had met the guy 15 years ago when I was living in New York City and he was a friend of a friend and had actually stayed for a few nights in my apartment with his girlfriend at the time! Imagine running into each other in a tiny town in Ecuador ~ small world....
We took a wet and muddy hike to see all the flora and some fauna of the area ~ here's mom and our guide ~ it's a big place for bird watching.

We went across the way to the butterfly farm...

If you remember the pictures from a previous trip you have to cross the river mindo to get to the lodge via a home made cable car type thing.

2008-05-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Science marches on...

It seems like they've finally done it. I actually thought I might not see this in my lifetime. They've created a genetically modified human embryo. This means they have inserted a gene into the human genome of a growing embryo.

I didn't think it wouldn't happen - not because I didn't think they could do it - it's actually really easy to do. I just didn't think anyone would cross that line. Basically, this means they can insert genes and change genes at will. Want you kids to be taller? smarter? - have you ever seen the movie GATACA? Anyway, check it out. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article3908516.ece

Vegetarians will now face a new dilema - can they eat meat if it doesn't come from an animal? That's right - they can now grow meat "In Vitro." Meat without animals - YUM! Check out the wikibooks entry for the basics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_meat and the NY Times Blog article for the social and ecological implications. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/can-people-have-meat-and-a-planet-too/?ref=science

The future is now...

2008-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Check out the "Stem Cell Primer" i posted under bio links - it's incredibly well done (with a beautiful example of art and science uniting) and will teach you most of what you need to know to be an informed citizen (and voter)

check out the MEATRIX, too ~ a fantastic tale of what's wrong with today's corporations and why we need to return to the family farm of yesteryear (and an amazing parallel to the movie :)

~ peace and love

2008-05-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARY AND DAVID! - we are so unbelievably happy for you and excited about the wonderful edition to our clan - all we can talk about is when we might get to see Daniel!

and in much less exciting news .... hello everyone

sorry it's been so long - no good excuses - we've been busy with work and the minutia of everyday life, but hasn't everyone

on a first note, i had a wonderful trip home over spring break and my family (as always) was so wonderful and gererous and welcoming and i had such a great time with dad fishing (sooooo good and peaceful) - thanks, dad!

here are our beautiful kitties, getting bigger and staying very healthy - our 'come to our home' vet is going to take care of them at her house while we're gone and we're so happy about that - although we're not sure how we'll live without them for five weeks - and we're really hoping they don't forget us :(

and now that my hip is feeling mostly better we're going to try to summit...and we're quite scared but optimistic - we'll post some pictures whether we make it or not

this is Iliniza Norte
5,126m / 16,817ft

and jon has been sooooo kind as to send down a tripod and a remote, without which i couldn't have taken these photos (thanks, my friend - it has opened up new avenues of photoness) - double click to make BIGGER

I've also found some time among the chaos to get some painting done - as sharon said, "wow, you've really gone in different directions" - as always, it makes me happy (sorry 'bout the shadows)

sharon is doing wonderfully and has come very close to getting her second masters degree, this time in education - how many people have done that!

we're happy and can't wait to get home and see everyone - we'll be here in quito again next year and then we'll see where the world takes us - at this point we're thinking southeast asia, but we know how things change and we know we'll end up where we're supposed to be...

on a tangential note, i just want to thank uncle bob for his wonderful words of encouragement and support last time i was home - as always, he was terse and meaningful

we love you all and send peace and joy

chris and sharon

2008-01-05T17:14:00.000-08:00

Llapingachos in Papallacta...
The last leg of our holiday trip came after heading back from Cabanas tres rios. We had almost a two hour delay after setting out with our driver ~ we decided not to take the bus to Papallacta because the roads seemed a bit sketchy because it had been raining a lot. And sketchy they were ~ there was a mudslide that landed in the road. Our driver told us it was a small one but in that case we were worried what a big one would be like. So, we waited for the bulldozer to arrive and clear a path big enough for a single lane of traffic to pass through.

After that we made it pretty quickly in his truck ~ lots of muddy roads and small bridges along the way. We were happy to arrive and see our cute, hobbit-like cabin with lots of private hot thermal baths right outside.
We stayed in a cabin with a fireplace and here is a view from our little deck that looks out on a bunch of the private baths.

The baths are fed directly by the volcano and really are amazing. They have minerals that are great for your body and skin and are wonderfully hot. We spent a lot of time soaking.

We had about a 45 second view of the volcano Antisana ~ it's massive and beautiful and you can see it's snow capped peak in this picture. It's the only point on the equator where there is snow year round.

There are also great hikes right from the complex ~ all different levels and lengths. Papallacta is higher than Quito ~ over 10,000 feet so it's really beautiful.

We took one of the paths and it was like hiking thorough a magical forest filled with lichen, bromeliads and waterfalls.

We stayed two nights and Chris, Meredith and Michael enjoyed many llapangachos ~ a local specialty involving potato - cheese patties topped with a fried egg and hot sauce (aji).

It was hard to tear ourselves away from the thermal baths to head back to Quito.
New year's eve held the typical Qutio fun ~ burning masks and mannequins that represent the old year ~ although some look like anyone from George Bush to Spiderman. Right on our block families were dousing them with gasoline and lighting them on fire along with many, many fireworks.
And now it's back to work tomorrow!

2008-01-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

After our trip to Banos, we returned to Quito on the 24th. Meredith and I went to the grocery store to buy lots of food for Christmas eve and day and then we cooked and hung out. Chris made a delicious vegetable/chickpea bake for Christmas eve and for Christmas day I made homemade gnocchi with pesto sauce, Meredith made a tomato vodka sauce and Michael made some wonderful stuffed poblano peppers ~ it was a feast complete with homemade sesame cookies ~ batches with and without wheat flour.

Then we headed out again on the 26th (Meredith's birthday). We went to a very small town called Borja that had a hostal right outside it called Cabanas tres Rios (or Cabanas de Larry as the locals call it).

It's in the cloud forest and was mostly for kayakers since it's right on the river. We spent a relaxing few days taking long walks...

reading in and out of hammocks...

and playing dominoes and canasta.

Chris tried fishing on the river but it was super high and rough waters.

We had beautiful views of some of the farms and around us

and the gardens at the hostal were really beautiful and we saw a few different varieties of hummingbirds.

2008-01-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

Feliz Ano!!!
Hard to believe we just spent our second holiday season in Quito. Last year with Susan and Tom visiting and this year Meredith and Michael. They just left on the morning of Jan. 2nd and we had lots of fun and travels while they were here.
We'll probably need to separate all the info and pictures into different posts ~otherwise it's too hard to manipulate all the photos and I'll try to save so that their in the right order.
We started out with a day in Quito ~ a trip to the artesan craft market, an amazing jewelry store and lunch downtown. The next day we headed to a town called Banos ~ a very cute town nestled in the mountains about 2 hours south of Quito.

We took a bus to get there ~ almost four hours but pretty comfortable and no one on the bus to threw up and the driver didn't stop for a 2 hour lunch break or anything like that (which seems to happen on most of our bus excursions). They played a Vin Diesel double feature on the bus ~ I can't remember the names but it's probably not that important anyway, they seemed to have similar plot lines.... they were dubbed in Spanish but who needs language to understand Vin Diesel movies???
Here are a couple of pictures taken out the window of the bus. The first one is the outskirts of Quito.

This next one is a little town we passed through before we reached Banos.

So, Banos is super cute and actually has a lot of vegetarian restaurants (more options for us than Quito). We started off at Cafe Hood ~ right off this park square ~ it's so popular that other people have opened up other restaurants called Cafe Good and Casa Hood ~ but we stuck with the original.
There was also a restaurant called Paisano's and we went there for dinner. We were the only four there and it was a small place that was also the cook's/owner's art studio. We ordered garlic soup, the Vegetarian Plate and the "Concierto Vegetariano" and had a few beers, inhaling the oil paint smell while we waited. The wife of the cook snuck out to the corner store to buy our beers while we waited. It must have taken at least 45 minutes and we were presented with an amazing array of vegetarian dishes that were so delicious and the whole thing probably cost about $15.00 ~ including beers. It was kind of a surreal experience. The cook talked to us for a while after the meal and told us about the time and love it took to cook vegetables as opposed to meat.
Here's a picture of Michael outside a bar/restaurant near our hostal. The town was pretty quiet since it was the day before christmas but this was a great place to have a drink and a snack.

We stayed at a really cute place on the edge of the small town called La Posada del Arte and it had a great rooftop terrace.

We hung out there at night and played canasta and dominoes. There was a great waterfall behind the hostal.

.

Banos means baths and there are a few public thermal baths in the town. They are fed directly by the volcano so we tried them out..... let me tell you, they are nothing compared to our later trip to Papallacta. The baths cost $2 in the evening but it was a weekend and they were super crowded and you felt like if you leaned back you were going to sit on a strange person's lap. So, we didn't stay there too long..
Meredith and Michael took a hike up the mountain and got some great views of the town (Chris and I took a nap and each got a massage ~ $17 for an hour massage).

Chris and I can't wait to go back ~ it's beautiful, very chill, super friendly and great veggie food.
.

2007-12-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone - hope you're having a wonderful December and enjoying the holiday season. We had our staff holiday party last night which was lots of fun. Even though we miss spending time with family and friends it's kind of nice to be in Ecuador during the holidays because it's so much less commercial than in the states.

In the beginning of December we had 3 days off school to celebrate the fiesta de Quito - the founding of the city. So, Chris and I decided to use a prize we had won last year - two free nights at a beautiful, colonial hotel in the old part of the city.

It's not super far but we hardly ever go there and when we do we're not really sure where to take people.

There are lots of beautiful churches...

The old city has a few restaurants with inside courtyards - we were on the balcony of the second floor and are looking down in this photo.

The hotel we stayed in was really beautiful and very close to the main plaza where the president's house is.
Here's Chris when we arrived in our room - it was really nice and even had two floors!

Here are two pictures taken from the little interior balcony outside of our room - there was a little table there where we played dominoes.

We went to a few museums and saw some cool panoramic photos of the volcanoes here.
Here's a picture from when we were walking around and you can see the streets are cute and the panecillo (the statue of the virgin) is on the hill behind me.

Other than that we had coffee (we did find a good coffee shop that made excellent cappuccino instead of the nescafe you find around here), did a little shopping and hung out in cafes. Unfortunately a lot of the places we were looking for "no existe" or no longer existed so we didn't feel overwhelmed with choices of places to go and after two nights we were ready to head home and see our kitties.
It was a relaxing break and now we only have 3 1/2 days of school before our winter break. Meredith and Michael arrive on the 21st so we'll have more to post when we take a few trips with them.
We miss you all and are thinking of you during the holidays!

2007-11-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

some new art .... and it's a ball

peace and love to all ...

and what's so funny about that?

i do not know where it comes from

except the one that Zach came up

with ... thanx, big guy ... you're an inspiration

and things are good here and

we are all the luckiest, aren't

we?

and if you haven't listened to Low Spark in a while, well then I think it's time... and Dark Star if

you're still in the m-groove

and you can ignore this last one if you want, but it will

still be hanging on our wall when you come to visit ...

2007-11-02T16:49:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone - yes, we had our second annual Halloween party in Quito... it was a smashing success! We had to have it a week early because there were two other bbqs/parties scheduled for the 27th.

It's funny but there are some things that are tough to find here - one thing is candle holders. Luckily, Chris is incredibly creative and we bought a bunch of turnips and he punched holes in them and they were our candle sticks!

We had such a great crowd and wanted to show you some of the costumes...

Here's Chris, Ana (the witch) and Brenda (saving time - her husband was wasting time)...

Chris and I were cutting and sewing our costumes together as guests were arriving. Can you tell who I was? I made my head out of foam, even though we tried paper mache and some other things first.

We don't have a picture of Chris' full length but he sewed together eucalyptus leaves and made a skirt and shirt and he was the park next to our house. He had a bunch of moss (or is it lichen?) in his goatee and hair.

The kids at school dressed up on the Friday before Halloween - October 31st is actually an Ecuadorian Holiday called Emblem day. The president, who was elected last year, told everyone they could not celebrate Halloween on the 31st - yikes! Well, we just went out with a couple of friends to dinner for Chris' birthday.
Here's a picture of me and my teaching partner on the day we dressed up in school (yes, I used the same costume).

2007-09-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

2007-09-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

2007-09-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

After waiting and waiting to get pets we decided that we should just go ahead and do it. We got two beautiful kittens in August. They are sisters and were almost 2 months old when we got them.

They are making us very happy and are ridiculously cute and playful.

The dark gray one is Maggie and the black one is Rose.

They love trying to catch the mouse on the computer screens...

2007-09-13T17:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this will work but we are trying to upload a video I took from my camera of the whales. If it does work, enjoy the whales!

I think you just need to press play.

2007-09-12T17:20:00.000-07:00

More pictures from the summer....
Chris and I visited Merdith and Michael in NYC before they moved to their new place.

In Virginia (unfortunately at this point we didn't take too many pictures and didn't take any at the wonderful 4th of July party!)

Geraldine and Matt's in Goochland and a little goat-milking

Here's a picture from our visit to see Maggie, Chip and Stella near Gettysburg, PA

Chris and Maggie

Beth and Zach in the Poconos

Steve relaxing on the porch in the Poconos

Chris behind the wheel (we don't have a car

Chris and Damion...

Chris and Christopher...

Philly, on the roof...

2007-09-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are some more picures from our trip home this summer....

Chris and Timmy Hickey...

Hanging out on Jon's roof in Philly with Eric ...

2007-09-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

While Jon was visiting we went to the beach to go whale watching. We went back to Puerto Lopez - the same place we went on spring break. It was actually cloudy the whole time but we did get to see some whales up close. It was hard to get a good picture because they would only come up briefly - but here's a tail.

After the Magic Roundabout (see below) we stopped at Termas Papallacta - these incredible thermal baths in the middle of the mountains. We had private baths right outside our room.

So what is the magic roundabout, you ask.... good question.

It is a roundabout in England that is really quite insane and then I think they named a children's show after it and then a hostal in the cloud forest of Ecuador... go figure.

Hello Kitty decided to come along for the ride.

We were there for about 15 minutes and suddenly Chris was translating for a group of biology students from England about mosses.

But there was a great porch (with hammocks), a great view and we got there was a wedding reception of two local residents in the main area that we got to attend!

When we got back to town we spent a day in the Old City (UNESCO World Heritage Site). It's full of colonial buildings and cobblestone.

I think this first building is the president's house.

On the hill you can see the panecillo, she looks over Quito and there's a great view of the city from up there.

Lots of places to stop and eat.

2007-08-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

So it has been forever, eh?

we apologize, but we have been quite busy ~ upon returning from the states we had 2 visitors at different times and went on several magical journeys...then 1 week later school started

so we're just going to start posting some pictures (and maybe some comments) and hopefully before too long we'll catch up to the present...so we'll start at the start when we came home to the states, where we had the most wonderful time and got to spend time with all the people we love more than they will ever know! ~ and then we'll come back here to Quito and go to the Magic Roundabout and Puerto Lopez with Jon ~ then we'll go to the jungle with Josh and then we'll come home to 2 wonderful new friends

so here goes...and because it's easier, we'll just post pictures

This is our stay at the Charnitski's and the poconos....

So that's our stay at home, although, of course quite a bit more happenned. We just wanted to stay longer...

So we were home in Ecuador for a bit and then Jon came down. We stayed in Quito for a day or two then headed to the "Magical Roundabout."

2007-06-10T06:24:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone ~ one more week of school left ~ it's so hard to believe!
I just wanted to post a couple quick pictures. The first two are taken in downtown Quito. Chris and I were out and about on Saturday running errands. We're always so struck by the fact that we're in the middle of the city but surrounded by these gorgeous mountains. Make sure you click on the picture to view it larger ~ otherwise you don't get the same effect.

By the way, Chris is standing next to the sign for my favorite store here, Camari. It's a fair trade co-op that sells delicious snacks, quinoa pasta, honey, etc. This area also has a huge fruit/vegetable/meat market that's always a lot of fun to visit.

Here's a picture of a bunch of the teachers we work with. Friday night was graduation and last night was the senior banquet which, I guess is their version of prom. It's held at the Swiss Hotel, which is the fanciest hotel in Quito, and families come and buy tables. Teachers also go (although we slipped out before things really got rolling ~ we thought it was a little weird for us to be there while students are partying). At the beginning of the evening they announce each senior and they are escorted down a runway.

I'll also try to post some more pictures from two amazing field trips I took this past week. The first was with the fourth grade and we went to a rose farm. Ecuador is one of the leading exporters of roses and one of the students' family runs a farm. It was really cool to see how they run the place and get all the roses ready to export.
The other trip was with the fifth grade (since I'll be teaching that grade next year) and they do a unit on the environment and one of the groups works on deforestation. So we went to visit a mountain outside of Quito where a guy is reforesting a portion of the mountain. It was beautiful and he's doing great things and showing other people how they can reforest the land. The kids were so excited to see what he was doing ~ he even has a windmill there.
Anyway, that's about it for now ~ hope everyone is well!

2007-06-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

you have to watch this - the whole thing - do not call me a friend unless you do - you will be satisfied - what a saga - it's called

Battle at Kruger

8:23 - enjoy (and do not bail)

2007-06-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

These four pictures (above) are of our favorite fruit - maracuya - it's pretty unique and there's certainly nothing like it in the states - once you get the seeds out - which is pretty easy - you throw them in a blender with a generous dose of powdered sugar - blend - and strain through a sieve to get rid of the seeds - yum! (sweet and tart) - they even sell maracuya gatorade

The 2 pics below are naranjilla, and like the maracuya you blender with sugar to enjoy ~ they are also unique and delicious (both of these, by the way, are also great with a little vodka and seltzer)

This seed is really cool - if you drop it it can sail like a paper airplane - it's about 4 inches across

and some art ...

this moon-dog one, by the way - is a blatant rip-off of Miro

Peace and love and we can't wait to see everyone!

2007-05-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick note...
As you may know, Chris and I have three terraces off of our apartment. One of the three we use all the time to sit on and look out at the city and the mountains (I'm sure you've seen the pictures in earlier entries). We have a lot of plants out there that chris has grown from seed and we recently bought a hummingbird feeder and a fuchsica plant (hummingbirds are really attracted to these flowers).

Well, we were ready to be patient but I think it took about 24 hours before we got our first guest....

and now we have about three regulars that come all day to drink from the feeder (and sometimes the plant) and chase each other around. They're even getting used to us being around, which is great because we get to see them up close.

This makes us very happy.

2007-05-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from our latest mini-adventure. We had a surprise 4 day weekend (it was supposed to be 3 days but the government changed the holiday to Tuesday). So we decided to take two of those days to head up to Otavalo ~ a town about 2 hours north of here. Otavalo is the town with the largest indigenous craft market in all of Ecuador. In fact, the Otavalenos are an indigenous success story because they are able to make decent money selling their crafts.

Anyway, a bunch of teachers from school rave about this hostel called La Luna outside of town in an idyllic setting in the mountains. It's mostly a backpackers hostel and Chris and I have wanted to hike a mountain close by called Fuya Fuya (beautiful and fun to say).

Here's the view we saw when we stood outside our room in the morning...

And the path that led down to the building where our room was...

When we arrived, we were met by an amazing sky. The clouds were surrounding a mountain.

The skies here constantly amaze us by how beautiful and dramatic they are and by how quickly they change. You can be suddenly surrounded by clouds and mist.

Unfortunately, when we arrived Friday night we found out that the road up to the base of the mountain was blocked by a landslide because of all the rain we've had lately.
Normally, you would drive (or take a taxi) the 10K to the Mojanda lake to hike up Fuya Fuya.

Instead, we hiked about 8 or 9 K uphill (at high altitude) for about 2 1/4 hours and saw this beautiful view of the mountain we wanted to climb, rested a bit (it was a great workout!)

and hiked back to the hostel. It would have been impossible to hike the 20K round trip plus up and down the mountain ~ so we have to save it for next time.

The next day we hiked the 5K into town and did some shopping at the market.
We kept walking and looking at the town to where we were supposed to be...

We also got to see their local fruit/vegetable market and it was beautiful! If only we had a car we would have filled it up.

We came home on Sunday feeling pretty proud of ourselves for getting better at managing the bus system. Instead of heading to the far south of the city where the bus station is, we caught a bus in the north (close to where we live) on the side of the road, hopped on to get the last two seats and enjoy the movie that was playing ~ Rambo First Blood, part II (dubbed in Spanish). It saved us about 45min to an hour. And we were able to figure out where to jump off on the way back ~ after enjoying the movie Collatoral Damage (Gov. Arnold) also dubbed in Spanish.

2007-04-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

So, we have recently returned from an amazing trip to the small fishing town of Puerto Lopez on the West coast of Ecuador.

This was the first trip to the coast for us, so we really didn't know what to expect. One of the things we came to recognize is how much of a third world country this really is.

It is certainly easy to forget while making our way through Quito ~ and even our trips to the high Andes (to the Blacksheep Inn) haven't given us this same impression.

The other thing about this country that we came to realize even more is how kind the people really are. We knew this, yes.
But nothing will clarify this more than a trip across the country (which, by the way, is about the size of Utah - unlike Utah, however, it has one of the biggest mountain ranges through the middle and it doesn't quite have the infrastructure).

We started our trip with a 10 minute cab ride to the airport and a 30 minute flight to Manta. From there we took a 3 hour bus ride to Puerto Lopez. The bus system here is amazing and cheap. It cost the 2 of us 6$ for the 3 hour journey - and when you get a seat, which is most of the time, they are remarkably comfortable, albeit tough to snooze on.

We were ushered in a moto-taxi (the mode of transportation in Puerto Lopez) to our hostel - the Hosteria Mandala. An Italian artist and a Swedish lover of whales opened this hostel 9 years ago. They are sweet and vibrant people with a passion for life. The gentleman

is an artist particularly skilled in woodworking and he has created a beautiful retreat in which everything is a work of art. Check out the entrance gate he carved (above).

Five years ago they planted a garden - and I can't imagine the place any other way. Driving up I was concerned, but the place is incredibly special. The food is divine and the coffee as well (a rarity in this coffee producing country - as said in "The Panama Hat Trail, "The coffee gets worse the closer you get to the source."

We spent 1 day visiting a beautiful beach, Los Frailes and another day heading out to an Island called "La Isla de La Plata." It was something of a hellish place - a big, hot rock. It does have something of a unique ecosystem but it has been through several years of extreme drought.

This place is called the Poor Man's Galapagos, and aside from the obvious reason that it costs a lot less to visit, I can really only see one other reason - and that would be the blue-footed Boobies. Funny thing, I happened to be wearing some blue feet myself and accidentally snapped a photo.

On the third full day there we just chilled out. Of course I couldn't stop trying to dissect the fishing industry in the town. Boats would seem to come in at random times, although I am convinced there is a pattern to it all. I am also convinced that every one in the town knew exactly who was out on which boat, when they left and exactly when they would be back. This place is the real deal and a true journey into the past. When the ships returned, men and boys with their plastic bins swarm the boats - buying the fish right off of the boat. Some men go out for a day, but 2 day trips seem more common. These are tiny boats - like what I imagine in The Old Man and The Sea.

And a final note, we found this great Columbian restaurant (Chris is looking at the map of Columbia in the picture) run by a very friendly couple and they served delicious Caipirihnias and some delicious corn pancakes topped with beans and cheese ~ we were in heaven!

2007-03-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

sharon officially has a teaching job here at Cotopaxi teaching 5th grade - she is such a natural - we knew it would happen, of course, but it's so good to hear the official word!

congratulations to her!

2007-03-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

this is just a quick report - not much new has happened - just the mundane stuff of daily life (which admittedly is probably a little unique living here in quito) - the first thing to note is that we have attached 3 albums of pictures to this blog - click on the "quito pic album 2" link to the right to see them - they're mixed up but still a nice melange of life here that we couldn't include in the blog (as always - remember that you can click on the pics in the blog to enlarge)

other than that it's the teaching and the teaching - i scooped up some tadpoles (guilli - guillis [pronounced gweegie-gweegie]) from a pond in the park with a sieve taped to a broomstick - sharon was impressed - and raised four to frogs so far - i just returned them to their pond of origin - it was satisfying - how i got by this far without doing this (as a bio teacher) i'll never know - when you feed them egg whites they attack them like little sharks - thrash, thrash

i also got some fish - for an experiment - do you see how they look at me - they never stop looking at me - do you see them looking at me? do you?

and we continue on with our lives -

and we never get tired of seeing the sky, the clouds and the mountains

it seems the rainy season has returned - although it should have been here all along - i really do believe global warming has been messing the stuff up hard, yo

we have also had the opportunity to watch Aland and Pat's beautiful dog Daka - check out this hot doggie! - he has the best personality ~ calm and soothing ~ it was a treat to have him around.

spring break is coming up and we're heading to Puerto Lopez, on the West coast of Ecuador. There's an island not too far away (2 hours by boat) that's called "Poor man's Galapagos." should be pretty cool - we'll be certain to take lots of pictures

i think that's all for now - we're really looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone! - we can almost taste the trees and the grass - sounds weird, but being away i really miss the smell of outside at home

peace and joy and love - chris and sharon

2007-02-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,
I know it's been a while but I've been meaning to post a few more pictures from the jungle to show everyone some really cool stuff.

For example, monkeys. There were monkeys all over where we stayed~in fact there was a researcher there studying three of the four types of monkeys that hung around our lodge.

One morning, Chris and I were walking to the main lodge for breakfast and we kept hearing some animals making such a loud noise, and believe me, it sounded like daffy duck laughing at the top of his lungs in the middle of the jungle (loud!).

The researcher later told us that that is the sound they make when they are trying to act tough and protect their territory.

One of the highlights of the trip was also climbing up in the towers they have. One is about 100 feet high (30 meters) and there is a telescope that you can look through to see cool birds and stuff. Not an easy feat if you're afraid of heights ~ and some of the students were. While climbing the stairs you just saw the jungle all around you.

Well, my group saw a very cool harpy eagle and a toad that was a living example of co-evolution (see chris' earlier bio-post). The toad kept changing colors to match its surroundings and its under-belly was orange. When a student picked it up it changed colors to match her skin!

The harpy eagle is the largest and most powerful eagle that can be found in central and northern south america. We knew it was not something you see every day because our guide was really, really excited. Here's a picture of it taken through the telescope ~ make sure to click it to enlarge the photo. Our guide told us it eats small monkeys... and small children given the chance!!

The last day we climbed up a different tower (also 100 feet) where you were supposed to strap yourself to a harness and you could walk across little bridges to some look out points. The harness attached to a cable, which I guess was in case the bridge broke (although the guides didn't wear a harness so I think they were pretty secure). Actually there weren't enough harnesses for the guides and adults so chris went without and the students were saying, "Oh, Mr. Vegetarian doesn't need a harness!" very cute (our groups went separately so I didn't know chris went without the harness until after the fact).

On the other hand, I waited for my turn with a harness since I of course, have been warped by seeing all the brain injury and spinal cord injury patients at the hospital and couldn't relax thinking about my rehab potential after plummeting 100 feet to the ground with the nearest hospital a 5-6 hour boat ride away.
It's wonderful and really amazing to be up at the level of the canopy ~ which is the top of the trees.
This was really incredible ~ I don't have that many pictures yet because I didn't have my camera at the top but some of the students took pictures and are giving them to us.

And.. this picture is on the wall outside of our room. There was a little porch area where we would leave our rubber boots (and we were told to check your boots before you put them on for spiders, etc.) And we had seen a gecko somewhere else so chris was shining the flashlight on the wall and we saw not only a gecko but a tarantula on the wall ~ we checked the ceiling of our room with a flashlight before we went to sleep and it was clear.

Well, that's it for now but we're adding a link to a whole bunch of the photos chris has taken since we've gotten here since we just can't post that many in the blog entries.

More news and updates soon ~ hope everyone is enjoying the snow ~ it's been very sunny and warm here.

2007-02-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

PLEASE double click on the images to see them more clearly. (by the way - posting a blog with images is a nightmare - nothing goes where you want it to go ~ although i'm probably doing something wrong)

The rainforest is a crazy place and mecca for a student of biology. Please excuse the heavy biology leanings of this post, but i just can't help it. The rainforest is amazing.

It is important to note that Sharon and I had a unique experience. We were able to visit a place unavailable to most. We went to a place called the Tiputini Biodiversity Station. As Sharon has already told you, it is seated deep in the Ecuadorian rain forest - one of the most remote places in the amazon basin. This is a place reserved primarily for researchers. Although our high school has been admitted a visit, we are the exception and the only students that have an in. It is truly in the middle of nowhere. This is a magical place. There are a great number of species yet to be identified - in fact an overwhelming number. And every time I looked at some crazy beetle or other insect, that realization screamed through my brain.

Above is a good example of coevolution - albeit a well know one (although i never thought i would see this in person). This is a leaf mantid - a product of extreme pressure and selection. Its back looks just like a leaf.

Nutrients are recycled like mad in the rain forest – mostly by the fungi – it’s for this reason that when people slash the forests to farm, they are wildly unsuccessful – unlike temperate deciduous forests, there is no nutrient store in the ground – there is no humus. The nutrients in a rain forest rarely go below 5 cm into the soil – it’s all just recycled and turned into a new plant or animal too fast.

The diversity and specialization in the rainforest has yet to be adequately explained. Competition forces species into crazy and unique niches and relationships, but the patterns

(mainly geographic isolation / separation of populations of the same species) that typically lead to the creation of new species are rare. This katydid (or whatever it is) has a fungus growing on it. Although this fungus is undoubtedly parasitic to some degree, the benefits outweigh the gains. More often than not, when this little bugger is attacked by a bird, the bird gets a big beak full of fungus. The fungal organism continues to thrive on the hind parts of the insect and the insect is spared. In the rain forest there is a fine line between mutualistic symbiosis and parasitism.

Conga ants are really scary. If you get bitten by one it’s straight to the hospital for you. I was watching this leaf filled with caterpillars.

I returned a day later to find a conga ant ready to make a meal of these guys. Caterpillars are big bags of nutrients. Conga ants are unique in that they tend to work alone, but of course for the colony. I watched this play out for a while and this ant never went out to find comrades. But he certainly took home quite a booty. The orange “horns” that you see coming out of the caterpillars’ heads put out quite an odor. I could smell the strong odor and it was brutal. I don’t think you can see it in the pictures, but the ant after every mini battle had to retreat and clean himself. His front 2 legs were sticky with orange toxins. The specializations, fierce competition and billions of years of evolution have lead to the development of a huge number of complex chemicals. In plants, these are referred to as secondary compounds. These are the molecules that some
pharmaceutical companies are looking to for cures to many diseases.

Eventually he took two of the caterpillars down. He handily cho

pped one into pieces and took the head back to the colony.

2007-01-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

Hello.
We took 13 high school students deep into the Amazon jungle.... and came out of it all pretty well. No one got sick, bitten by some crazy ant (and there are a lot of crazy ants!) or bug or drowned in the river during a storm.

It was really amazing~ so crazy to be in the jungle ~the real jungle. Chris would be reading about the rain forest in a book 'Tropical Nature' and we'd see the very things he was reading about.
Anyway, it's Sunday night so I 'll just post a few preview pictures and we'll post more about the trip very soon.

Did I mention how we got there? We flew to Coca ( a short, 30 minute flight) then took a boat for 2 hours down the Napo River

and then took a bus (Chiva) through the Repsol oil company's land for 1 and 1/2 hours

to the Tiputini River and another boat ride for about 2 1/2 hours to the research station.

The accommodations were pretty rustic since it's designed for researchers, not tourists. No hot water and electricity for only a few hours each day. and everything seemed very moist because of all the rain.

Each day we would split the students into two groups and chris and I would each take a group with a guide and head out for our adventures.

We'll post more very soon but wanted to let you know we made it back safely and loved the jungle.

2007-01-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

And now.... more pictures from our hikes and stay at the Black Sheep Inn..... (click to enlarge)
A friendly chicken

Our morning view...

A farmhouse along the hike

A llama grazing

Directions in the fog

Chris was, of course, taking lots of pictures of plants and flowers

Now we're really close to the cheese factory... It's just beyond this big puddle.

And one last picture with some cool clouds.

2007-01-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
It's Friday night and Chris is painting and I'm looking through pictures thinking, "We really need to post some of these." So, even though they're from our christmas break I think they're worth posting.
We started the evening at the lower school principal's house. There's a tradition of having what they call TGIF's at various people's houses. Which is basically a Friday happy hour party. They have the most amazing view of Quito from their roof and their living room.

So here's some pictures starting with chris in his classroom on the day we took susan and tom to see our school.

And then we have me in my classroom on the same day....
And here's me one morning when chris was at work and I was heading out on some errands.

I also felt like this picture of us was a great one to post because it's very early (after a late night of bridge playing) and we're trying to get a taxi to the bus station to head out on our multi-legged journey to the Black Sheep Inn. You might notice that Tom is carrying (very carefully ~ unlike Susan and I's bananas in our bags) a papaya. He carried it around for a while and ate it in Latacunga before we changed buses.

And there are lots more pictures from the Black Sheep Inn and our hikes there that are worth sharing so hang in there and I'll try to figure it out. I wish I could do captions, but oh well. Here's a picture susan took of me doing the laundry out back... isn't the developing world fun?

Actually I kind of like doing laundry out back and hanging it up on the line. It gets a little tricky in the rainy season though.
We're on the top and fourth floor of our building. Here's a picture of Chris having a conversation with someone on the third floor ( out the window of course).

Here's a picture of Tom drinking sake ~ we went out for sushi in Qutio ~ I know it may sound weird but it was delicious!!

2007-01-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

One more addition to the previous post...

I learned how to make an arrow on a picture in photo shop so I can show you the view from our hike from the Quilotoa Crater lake to the black sheep inn.

I definitely reccommend that you click the picture to enlarge it to see it better. I know it's not the biggest, darkest arrow ever but hopefully you can see it and get an idea of the terrain and distance we traveled. And the crazy thing is this is just a normal trip from one town to another for some people carrying large sacks of rice and things on their backs.

The first picture was taken when we were hiking along the rim of the crater and the lake was below us. We could look out in the distance and find the tiny town and the patch of dark soil that was being cultivated on a very steep hill right next to Black Sheep Inn. That was our landmark to show us where we were hiking to.

The next picture also shows the Black Sheep Inn but it's taken closer to the destination ~ from the top of the canyon when we're about to start hiking down to the bottom only to take a quick rest and hike back up to the top.

The next picture is when we had hiked back up the canyon and were looking back in the distance to where we had come down from the crater. You can see a sandy spot which is where we turned off the rim.

And now that you have a sense of where we started and where we were headed and know that we kept refusing the help of a guide I want to share with you some of the clear, concise directions we were working from,

"There are many trails leading down from the crater rim. At some point you will walk along or across the road to Huayama. There are two Huayama's be sure to go to Huayama, not Huayama Grande which is actualy smaller, but has a new church."
Okay, no problem.....

2007-01-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad & Prospero Ano Nuevo!!

Hello everyone ~ we've been remiss in our blogging but you know how the holidays are....
Where to begin... well, our guests Susan & Tom returned from their travels in the Andes on the day our holiday break started. We got to try out some recipes from our new cookbook ~ it's a vegetarian (and some fish) ecuadorian cookbook.

We made a traditional potato soup (locro) that has a big slice of avocado in it, a quinoa and cabbage soup (yum) and a weird peanut/plaintain baked dish. The thing about ecuadorian cuisine is that you always need to serve a salad because there's not a lot of green vegetables in the recipes.

Anyway, on Christmas day we woke up and passed the morning drinking mimosas with fresh squeezed juice and sat on the terrace enjoying the warm weather.

Later, the four of us went over to a friend's house ~ a teaching couple with two kids and a bunch of visitors. We had a great meal with them and then hopped on the bus and headed home.

The day after christmas we were hanging out and were itching to play a game. Chris suggested pinochle but we didn't have all those cards you need and the rules and stuff.

So, I got on the internet and printed off the bidding rules for bridge and tried to teach the group (with my limited knowledge from playing with my family and cousins). It was so much fun that we played until 4 in the morning (chris and I never stay up that late!) and unfortunately had to get up a little before 7 am to catch a bus for our 4 day adventrue to the Black Sheep Inn.

It's this amazing ecolodge in this remote area that is absolutely beautiful ~ like nothing we've ever seen.

To give you an idea of how remote it is, here's how we got to the inn which is right outside a village called Chugchilan...

We took a taxi to the Quito bus station and took a two hour bus ride south to a town called Latacunga. Then we got on a different and much more 'rustic' bus for a four hour ride to the town where the inn is.

This ride is almost all on dirt roads and winds around driving on the edge of a very steep ridge. At one point a truck came around a curve heading toward us and luckily the bus driver had quick reflexes and stopped and backed up so the truck could pass.

The bus was packed and stopped at lots of people's houses along the way to drop them off and unload their stuff from the roof of the bus.

Here's some pictures of people in the towns we passed and stopped in along the way.

The inn itself is full of backpackers from all over the world and is in a perfect spot for hiking. They serve gourmet vegetarian food ~ we had the most delicious swiss chard soup and veg. shepherd's pie.

It was pretty busy and the first night we had to stay in the bunk house but the following two nights each couple had their own room with a shared bathroom with a composting toilet and a little garden in the bathroom and a fabulous view.

The next day the four of us went on a hike to a cheese factory (yes, a cheese factory) and along a paramo. It was the most beautiful hike I've ever been on. Chris and I just kept saying we couldn't believe the view, it was really stunning. Make sure you click on the pictures to enlarge them to get a better idea of the view.

I'm not sure if we've mentioned this but Ecuador is not exactly the land of delicious cheeses. You basicially have cheddar tipo (type) which is pre-sliced and lots of white cheese (queso fresco). So, at some point some aide workers taught some local people in this area to make some swiss style cheeses in order to help them create a product they could sell. Well, we had tried the cheese at the inn and I was hoping to find the factory open to buy some emmental cheese that was really delicious.

But back to the hike... here are some pictures of the scenery and us taking lots of rest breaks.
At first, we missed the turn to head up the hill but some nice guys who were hanging out pointed us in the right direction and to make up time we took the 'short cut' which is basically straight up hill instead of following the road.

We hiked and hiked and finally found the factory but it was closed. Apparently it closes around 11 am but I can't imagine they get much walk in business after seeing its location. When we started to walk back up the driveway a woman who had seen us walked up and offered to unlock the doors and sell us some cheese. We bought 2.5 kilos of emmental (the smallest amount almost 5 lbs!) and Tom graciously carried it in his backpack for the rest of the hike.

We took a route back that took us along a paramo and we walked through the clouds ~ again it was just really amazing.

The only downside of the hike was that Susan lent me her sunscreen - it was one of those sticks that you use on your face.
Well, let's just say I'm not a fan of the stick - I ended up with a white stripe across my forehead and to read stripes on either side and the rest of my was a patchwork of white and red.
I really looked crazy ~ it's finally started to fade.

The next day about 12 people from the inn hopped onto the back of a cattle truck and rode for about an hour to the Quilotoa crater lake ~ another crazy ride being jostled around like... livestock.

The crater lake hike is supposed to be one of the best in the country and Chris and I were very excited to try it out (we're really getting into the whole hiking thing ~ can you tell?). Susan and Tom decided to walk down to the water and take the bus back instead of hiking so Chris and I and a fellow named Stuart headed out with our map (we decided not to join the rest of the large group on the hike with a guide in favor of going out on our own).
Stuart was a great hiking partner ~ he and chris tried to decipher the directions and we were all going at similar paces and there was just the right amount of chatting and silence.

It was a crazy hike. You start out hiking along the rim of the crater looking at the blue/green lake below. Then you head off and hike along some fields for a while and through a small town.

If I knew how to put a caption or an arrow on these pictures I would to show you how when we were on the rim of the crater we could look out way across the canyon and see where we were going and toward the end we could look back and see where we headed down off the crater rim ~ it looked incredibly far and impossible to get from point A to point B because of the canyon in the middle.

Next we started heading down, down, down into a canyon until you're at the bottom. You have to hike along some very small ledges ~ at one point the path was kind of crumbling away and there was only enough space for one of your feet. Again, it's moments like these that I'm so glad I'm hiking with Chris. He's so calm and helpful just like during the rock climbing.
After you get to the bottom of the canyon you, of course, then have to climb back up and up and up. This is by far the toughest part of the hike. You pass a few villagers along the way who are going from one town to another and they seem vaguely amused at us hikers. The whole hike took about 5 hours. We were very tired by the end and were so happy to make it back to the town until we got to the bottom of the Black Sheep Inn's very, very steep driveway. Stuart looked up the steep hill that was between us and the inn and simply said, "Shit!" It was pretty funny.
We played bridge in the evenings and hung out with some of the other guests and ate the yummy food. We ended up hiring a driver to take us back for the return trip because the one bus that passes through the town passes through at 4 am and then you have to get 2 more buses. So, instead we paid a guy named Lex to drive us and we arrived home in under 4 hours - much better (albeit much more expensive)! It was Dec. 30th and a lot of the small towns put up make shift road blocks and wear masks (usually they're supposed to go up on the 31st) and ask each car to give them around 25 cents to help fund their new year's party. We had to stop several times to pay to pass through the blocks.

For New Year's Eve we decided to stay in and eat and drink and play bridge at home (we quickly turned into bridge addicts). A little before midnight we heard fireworks so we went out on the terrace and watched the fireworks going off in all directions. There's also a tradition in Ecuador where people sell saw dust filled dummies with masks that you're supposed to burn at midnight. This is supposed to symbolize burning the old year and some of the masks are politicians (we saw lots of George Bush and even Nixon masks) and some are just generic masks.

Our neighbors burned one at midnight on the street outside our house so we watched this, fireworks and played music on the terrace and it was so much fun. It was a beautiful night and there was even some dancing (does anyone remember Susan's 'interpretive dance' from the wedding?).

Susan and Tom left a few days after New Year's and Chris and I are back to school on Monday. We've had incredible weather ~ it's been a mini dry season. Although we've heard about all the warm weather on the east coast (we stream NPR on the computer) and we're a little nervous because we just saw "An Inconvenient Truth".
We have two weeks of school and then we go on Chris' biology class trip to the jungle for a week. I am lucky enough to be going as a chaperone. We're going to a research station really far into the jungle, almost to the border of Peru. You take a plane, boat, bus and then motorized canoe to get there. We're so excited ~ it sounds incredible and of course we'll take lots of pictures.

Well, that's about it for now ~we'll try not to let too much time lapse between posts.
We miss everyone and were thinking of all our friends and family over the holidays.

One last picture. It's kind of like our international moment of zen (stolen from the daily show). Susan took a couple of photos of our last sunset for 2006 from our terrace....

2006-12-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hello ~ we have our very first visitors!

Our dear friend Susan and her boyfriend, Tom, arrived last weekend.
A little later than scheduled because it was raining and foggy when their plane was supposed to land (at 10:30 pm) and they were diverted to Guayaquil until the next morning. Apparently you need about 3 KM of visibility and there was only one. The airport is really close to our apartment and it's basically in the middle of the city.

We were so happy to see them and they brought us lots of goodies from home that I had ordered online.
They didn't seem to have much trouble adjusting to the altitude at all and just got right into life in Quito. We've already been cooking lots of great food and having cocktails on the terrace and chatting away each night.

They arrived during the Fiesta de Quito ~ which is a pretty big celebration in honor of the founding of Quito. There's lots of partying in the streets and roving party buses, called chivas andbullfights, too.

Tom has spent lots of time in Mexico and has seen a bunch of bullfights so he wanted to see a few here with the famous matadors that perform during the fiesta de Quito.

Chris and I are not so into the bullfighting (what do people have against the poor bulls, anyway?) and had already planned a trip back to El Monte lodge in Mindo (see earlier posting of the tropical cloud forest) so chris could work on setting up bee boxes for the special bees there so the lodge could have its own honey. He'll post some really cool pictures he took from this trip of some interesting insects.

We also had a mini-bullfight at school where one of the teachers I worked with put on this bull mask and ran around the field. Although our bullfight had no bloodshed ~ the Pre-K kids just tickled him with paper feathers!
Susan and Tom have been exploring the city and buying lots of cool stuff at the markets, and eating lots of Ecuadorian food ~ they're really enjoying the food.

You can check out their blog that has lots of pictures and descriptions of their adventures so far. It's www.baddogpip.blogspot.com
Their website is a little more high tech than ours with lots of links and stuff.

And today they headed south on a bus from Quito to explore some other towns like Banos and Riobamba. From Riobamba they are planning on taking a train ride down the nariz de Diablo (the devil's nose) where you ride on the roof of the train. Then they're heading to the coast and Guayaquil to meet some of the people Tom has worked with through Kiva ~ a microlending company that helps people start small businesses in developing countries.
And from there...who knows but they'll be back in Quito for Christmas, which we are looking forward to since we aren't able to come home for the holidays. We're planning on taking a four day trip together after christmas to an Eco-lodge called the Black Sheep Inn which is supposed to be beautiful (www.blacksheepinn.com).

Anyway, we'll post more soon ~ we hope everyone is well and happy!
xoxo, sharon and chris

2006-11-29T15:35:00.000-08:00

Here's our trek to 1,000,000 feet....
Okay, maybe not that high, but really, really, high...

I thought we were heading out on a kind of rigorous Saturday hike.
Little did I know we were climbing up a mountian whose summit was at 16,000 feet. And at that altitude there isn't much oxygen to breathe and it's snowing and hailing when you get to the top (oops! no one mentioned we might need some gloves!). Oh yeah, and when someone told me at the bunko game the night before that they liked the hike and there was a good 'scamble' at the end ~ I also didn't realize scramble was a code word for rock climbing. But maybe it's best that we went in without really knowing...

We met at the school at 6:40 am (Amerian time ~ when you're meeting at a party and it's 'Ecuadorian time' you're supposed to show up 30 minutes to an hour late ~ see, we're figuring things out) and headed to the Mariscal neighborhood (gringolandia) to meet our guide, Ramiro.

We all hopped into his souped up 70's style van, complete with music console on the roof and headed out toward the mountain.

We live in the 'avenue of the volcanoes' so there's lots of mountain climbing in the area. The big one is Cotopaxi which, I think, goes up to 18,000 feet and you need ice-climbing gear for that one (definitely not ready for that). Mt. Corazon is considered a good training hike for Cotopaxi.
Here's a picture of Mt. Corazon from the van ~ you can see that the summit (the big bump) has clouds surrounding the tip.

Anyway ~ it was ridiculous. We hiked straight up hill for hours, and hours and then climbed up some rocks to reach some more rocks to eventually reach the summit where it was hailing on us.

But along the way it was amazing to see the landscape change. This type of habitat is called a paramo. It's a high altitude grass and scrubland that's located above the cloud forests. It's like a big sponge that catches and releases water. And some of the plants are super spongy ~ it was really cool to walk through. Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what it's like.

Some of the plants looked more like they should be underwater and part of a coral reef.

When we started out it was a beautiful sunny day ~ we were really lucky to have such great weather in the middle of the rainy season. Then, as we started to climb higher we were literally amongst the clouds. You could see them rolling in and catching up with us.

As we got higher, the landscaped changed dramatically. We left the paramo and were climbing a rocky side of the mountain and then had to do a little 'scrambling' and then climbing along lots and lots of rocks to get to the top. Our guide kept saying 'un poco mas' (just a little further) until we finally got there.

So this was an amazing challenge~I couldn't believe how hard it was for me (I was dizzy, nauseaus, etc. toward the top) and chris was plugging away and without his patience and perseverance I would have never made it to the summit. You would have thought we were climbing Everest or something. It sure felt like it.

Here we all are at the summit ready to eat our sandwiches ~ can you tell we're really cold and don't really care about eating our sandwiches. We had to hurry back down the mountain so we could get back to the van before the rain trapped us in (we were parked on a very sketchy, muddy road).

And here's a picture of chris and I on the way back down with the moutain behind us.

Oh, and here's me with the 3 litres of water we each had to carry in our backpacks and a picture of me adding my extra layers while being surrounded by clouds ~ luckily we ran out the day before and bought some wateproof pants.

Hope you enjoy all the pictures - we enjoyed getting home, taking a hot shower and crawling into bed!

More to come soon.

2006-11-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

the other season...

we have two new additions to our little family here in quito ~ but we'll get to that later ~ first the news...

as we live our life on the equator there are two seasons~ we have just entered the second season~ wet.

honestly, i prefer dry but as long as it's sunny and warm for a few hours each day we don't mind the rain so much.

we have learned quickly to take advantage of the dry, sunny hours of the day and will often go for a walk in the park near our house (described previously) early before the weather changes. It's a steep climb into the park (and remember the altitude) ...
here's the entrance that we walk up. then we hang a right at the water treatment area and head into the eucalyptus woods.

Chris is surprised by the lack of mushrooms~ it seems like in the wet season there should be tons of mushrooms in the park ~ especially since there is also sun and warmth, but we've seen very few mushrooms ~ just a little orange fungus coming out of a tree.

but there are rows of eucalyptus trees....

there's a great path off the main road where the sun shines through the trees and there are even a bunch of chartreuse trees..

It's a wonderful place to walk (or run) and we're going to try and take some walks in the a.m. before school this week to prepare for a pretty intense hike we agreed to go on this saturday~ we'll see how that works out... Saturday we're supposed to get up early and hike 'corazon' which is about 4 - 4 1/2 hours up to the top and then a few more hours to get back down the mountain.

there are also lots of bromeliads in the trees in the park ~ they are so incredibly cute ~ que lindo!

and there are lots of tree trunks covered in lichen ~ and chris really loves lichen. Well, here's one or two more pictures from the park and by the way, i have no idea why everything is suddenly underlined!

we love the park.
on another note ~ it's hard to believe thanksgivng is next week. especially since the weather doesn't change much here, it's hard to believe that it's getting cold up north and people are preparing for winter.

We will miss everyone greatly at Thanksgiving and miss being in eaglesmere at the cabin.

We get out of school at noon on Thanksgiving day and we will then head over to a friend's house who has a bunch of people over for Thanksgiving dinner.

And, it looks like we're going to have our first visitors here in Quito! My wonderful friend Susan Holt is coming to visit at the beginning of December with her boyfriend, Tom. They have perfect timing because we have 3 days off after the weekend they arrive and then they'll head out to explore Ecuador and come back to Quito. We'll all spend christmas together and then, hopefully, head to the black sheep inn for a few days. we are so excited for their visit!!

Okay, and now for the additions to our household here in Quito....
first, chris has been growing lots of plants from seeds and from clippings and our first zucchini blossom came out this weekend which means we will soon be eating delicous zucchini from our terrace!
we might be inspired to start growing tomato plants off the back terrace.

and for the next addition... as some of you may know we haven't had a couch of our own for a while. our friend, brenda offered us her sofa bed couch that was in her basement ~ and sofa beds are very hard to find in quito ~ they are rare and expensive. so, we had the couch picked up from her place by the reupholstry people. we started out by picking a neutral color that was not too expensive and then we threw caution to the wind (it was after school and we were both kind of hungry) and picked a swatch of beautiful pink fabric. Well, after they left with the couch we had a few doubts about whether an entire, huge couch would look good in pink ~but the couch was delivered on friday (and i have to say they barely got it up the four flights to our apartment) and it is simply beautiful. we have never owned anything like it. and not only is it pink and beautiful but it's also huge and comfortable and folds out into a bed in case we have guests.

we love it!!

anyway, that's about if for now thanks for all the comments ~ Dani thanks for all the feedback ~ keep them coming and hello to Paula ~ thanks for a hello from the 5B dayroom ~ I think about Mt. Vernon a lot and wonder how everyone is doing!
happy thanksgiving everyone ~ we have so much to be thankful for~ we will be thinking of our families and friends and we love you!

2006-11-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

We've had a quiet couple of weeks since halloween but we wanted to post to say hello.
Here's a picture of one of chris' birthday presents ~ it's a wall hanging from the crafts market of what else.. fish. It's actually kind of different than a lot of the stuff you see and it's really beautifully done.

I've decided it's time to start taking private spanish lessons ~ I have 'survival' spanish and can get by but I need to be able to speak a little more since basically no one in the neighborhood where we live speaks English at the stores, banks, taxis, etc. and it's such a great opportunity to learn.

I don't know if we mentioned this, but the largest park in Quito is behind our house and Chris and i go for walks there as often as we can ~ it's really magical. you walk up a huge hill to get in there and then you're in this eucalyptus tree filled park and the air is wonderful and smells so good ~ we'll post some pictures from the park soon. We've been looking for some cool fungus since it's been raining a bit but there aren't as many mushrooms as you would think in the woods.

We're thrilled to be here in ecuador and appreciate the beautiful views from our terrace each evening. It's really cool to watch the clouds come in and cover the mountains and even surround us since we're up so high.
here's a sample:
We'll post more soon and hope everyone is well and happy ~ and thanks again for all the comments posted .... oh, and T.J. was right ~ chris was a shrimp for halloween. I told him he should have carried around a jar of cocktail sauce so people would know what he was...

2006-10-31T15:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween everyone!
It's Halloween eve and just wanted to send out an update ~ we had our party last saturday night and it was lots of fun (lots of work too, to get everything ready). Here's a picture of the apartment. We bought over 300 roses ~ Ecuador is one of the major exporters of roses and you can buy 25 for $2.00 - $2.50.
So, Chris hung up lots of white roses and then we had tons of red roses in vases all around. We also had a million candles and kept the lights off but you can't tell from the pictures because I had to use the flash. Luckily, it didn't rain because so much of our party space is on our three terraces, which were also covered with candles and the kind that you put in the brown bags with sand on the bottom. Chris made his vegetarian chili which was a huge hit and I made about 40 corn bread muffins which weren't such a big hit for some reason.
Anyway, there were about 25 people here and some with some great costumes. There was even a bit of dancing to 80's music which always makes me happy.
We didn't get a picture of me in my costume but we had lots of packing materials from the move so I wrapped myself in the bubble wrap and I was 'fragile'.
Here's a picture of chris in his costume.....any guesses as to what he is? Just remember his history of dressing up as a squid, luna moth, lightening bug man, etc.

Then Chris' birthday was on sunday and we took it easy ~ cleaning and napping.

We're going to go out to dinner for his birthday this weekend and we actually have a four day weekend and we're staying in town. We're going to try to make it to the botanical gardens and hang around quito.

I have my last two evaluations by our principal for my student teaching tomorrow (Wed.) so wish me luck... I scheduled a massage for friday! Only $35 for 1 1/2 hours at the spa down the street ~ one of the many great things about ecuador.

We'll write more soon and hope everyone is doing great,
xoxo

2006-10-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

2 things

thing 1 – We love the comments and we read them over and over. And the best thing (for me – because I am selfish) is that we don’t feel like I have to reply. Truly, keep them coming. And kudos to our #1 commenter, my dad! (thanks, dad – love and miss you so much) And Milde – I got the latex gloves from the sci department and we’ve already put them in the freezer – brilliant!

thing 2 – Our Skype is driving us crazy. We cannot figure out why no one can hear us when we call. Sharon has spent countless hours trying to trouble-shoot. We have bought new headphones and emailed support many many times. So if you are someone who might expect a call, please be patient. The freaky thing is that it was working beautifully (OK not beautifully, but it was working) and we can’t figure out what has changed. Just know that we are still pursuing a solution and we can’t wait to make many calls and talk to you (yes, you).

2006-10-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

A long, long time coming…

I had been thinking about so many things I wanted to talk about on this blog the week before we left for Quito ~ because we knew the blog would happen sometime and that’s the way my brain works.

But it was such a whirlwind once we arrived. We knew where we lived and where the school was, but not much more. How do we get our hands on potable water? Crap – we don’t have hot water – have to get more propane.

Are you telling me I have to teach four different classes? Are you telling me that 2 of these classes have no curriculum? O.K.

So we have been busy and so many things have gotten buried.

The most important things I remember before I left are things that will never leave me.

I remember talking with Sharon and Susan before we left ~ two days before we left.

And I remember how truly blessed we felt.

And I remember talking about the last month before we left.

And what I realized is that if Sharon (my true love) and I, for any reason, were unable to leave for Ecuador – for any reason at all – our lives were already changed forever.

We had recently gone through the absolutely amazing experience of getting married.

And once again everyone we know wormed their way out the woodwork of their so busy lives to stand by our side and put us first.

I bumble through life trying to be good to beetles and moss and everyone we know (our whole world) ~ and once again everyone we know lifts us up and carries us on their shoulders.

Again ~ the people in my life ~ you people ~ my family and my friends ~ you continue to astonish me with your beauty and generosity ~ and you inspire me. Thank you and know that we love you and we do miss you so much.

“…joy and amazement at the beauty and grandeur of this world, of which man can form just a faint notion.” ~ Albert Einstein

2006-10-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 15
Just a quick update for the week....today is election day in Ecuador. We're not sure who won yet but it looks like one of the frontrunners is 'a candidate of the people'. He is running on an anti-poverty ticket and has ties with the indigenous populaton here ~ probably partly inspired by the last election in Bolivia. We even heard a report about the election and the candidates today while we streamed NPR over the computer. It's been a quiet weekend - lots of things are closed and no alcohol is sold on Sat. or Sun. when there's a presidential election.

Also, last Thursday at school we had an earthquake drill. I was teaching one of the fourth grade classes all week because the teacher's wife had a baby last weekend. So, we went through the procedures and all the 'what if...' questions and during the drill and I had all the fourth graders under their desks...

Well this morning (sunday) Chris and I were at school early doing some work and we were each in our classrooms when all of a sudden the room started shaking. It was kind of like a huge truck passed by the window (although I wasn't near a street) or there was a huge wind from a major storm. After it stopped, I went out to find chris and he was headed to the bathroom ~ his room was on the first floor and he didn't know we'd just lived through our first earthquake. While we were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine (it's officially the rainy season now so you really need to enjoy the sun when it's out) there was a little more shakey-shakey. So, it was kind of exciting but definitely a very minor earthquake. Apparently when you live tucked in between active volcanoes you are also suceptible to earthquakes.

That's about it for now ~ did I mention that chris and I are reinstating his tradition of celebrating halloween by hosting a party? We have two weeks to get ready and we'll definitely post pictures of our costumes and the decorations.
hope everyone is well and very happy,
Sharon and Chris

2006-10-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Weekend away...
Last weekend we had a three day weekend so we decided to take a trip to the tropical cloudforest. It's about 2 - 2 1/2 hours from Quito and it was our very first trip via bus (so far we have gone on trips with other people who have cars). A few other teachers had reccommended this place - it's called El Monte Sustainable lodge in a town called Mindo that's small but growing as a destination because of the great bird-watching, butterflies, orchids and waterfalls.

So... we got up early on Sat. morning and took a taxi to the bus station ~ which was really more like a small parking lot with two buses in it. We thought there might be only one bus (at 8:00) in the morning to mindo(it's sometimes hard to pin people down on details such as price and schedules) and we knew it would be busy because of the holiday weekend. We stood in line to buy our tickets and suddenly someone shouted out "mindo!" and a bus started pulling away out of the parking lot. We saw someone hop on so we ran over to it and hopped on too. There was a young guy manning the door and he seemed to be agreeable to us jumping on the bus without tickets so we looked around and there were about 5 empty seats. As soon as I sat down a man assured me that the seat was 'occupado' as were all the others.

The guy at the door of the bus gave us and another couple some cushions so we could sit on the floor and put our feet in the stairwell (actually one person basically got to sit on the huge dashboard console of the bus). Then the bus proceeded to stop a few more times outside of Quito and about 15 more people got on the bus. So, actually, even though we were on the floor we felt lucky to not have to stand in the aisle and we were very happy that the ride was only 2+ hours and there were amazing views along the way. When we arrived in Mindo, we immediately bought two tickets to return to Quito on Monday with reserved seats.

A person from the lodge picked us up at the bus station and drove us 10-15 minutes down a dirt road. We pulled over next to another car and a white horse and saw that the way to get across the river to the lodge was by a small, hand-powered cable car.
Here's a picture of Chris and I travelling across (one at at time) with our stuff...

The lodge was really wonderful ~ they have six cabanas and they are right on the river so we didn't even need our noisemaker to sleep at night.

They had their own organic garden and served gourmet vegetarian food (and a little bit of chicken and fish if you like that sort of thing). The food was delicious ~ definitely the best we've had (except our own) since we've been in Ecuador.
There was a main lodge where you eat, family style and hammocks, chess, books and a fire at night. Chris found a book (in Spanish) on beekeeping and started talking to the owner about volunteering to come down and start a beekeeping/honey project. At this altitude there are special non-stinging bees that are supposed to make delicious honey.

We went on lots of hikes and walks ~ the price included a guide to take you around and show you all the local plants (right up chris' alley) and he took us out at 6:30 to see the birds before the noise of the day started. We also went on a great, steep uphill hike through the forest to a larger, machine powered cable car that can take you over to the next mountain to hike to a bunch of waterfalls.

2006-10-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Well I wanted to give some updates on events of the last few weeks. Two weekends ago I went on a girls' weekend trip with 8 other teachers. We headed north to a town about 2 hours from here that has what is, I think, Ecuador's largest indigenous market. There's also a town 10 minutes from there that sells all leather goods (jackets, shoes, bags, etc.) ~ it seems like the towns here like to have a theme and sell all the same things.... leather, woodworking, livestock, etc. Anyway, we had a great time shopping, eating and drinking and there was even a little hiking. Here's a picture of the group at dinner.

And here's a picture of the market in Otavalo. It's really huge on Saturdays and you have to do a lot of bargaining (in Spanish, of course) because they always start by quoting you the gringo price. There are a ton of ponchos ~ I've actually bought three ponchos because they're more than just a fashionable item here, they really keep you warm in the mornings before the sun heats everything up. I tried to get chris to wear one but he's sticking to his fleece, for now anyway. They have alpaca blankets and sweaters, bags, rugs, jewelry and lots of other fun stuff (lots of great gifts....)

2006-10-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

got clouds?

2006-09-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Academia Cotopaxi
As promised, here are some pictures of the school where we work. It's a little less than a 15 minute walk to school from where we live and it's preschool through 12th grade. There are about 550 students in all (including early childhood) so it's not too big. The campus is kind of divided between the upper and lower school but nothing is too far away ~ Chris and I can stop in and say hi during the day or run into each other at the copy center.

Here is a picture of chris in his classroom - like we mentioned, the labs were renovated over the summer so it's pretty large and it's great that he's moved in ~ now he just needs all the boxes unpacked so he can find all the supplies for his labs....

This is one of the fourth grade classes I work in~ reminds you of elementary school, eh? Each of the two fourth grade classes have 19 students, which is really large for this school ~ which is where I come in to help.

I took this other picture (below) from the window of my classroom. The green is the lower school field where they have recess - and play lots of soccer, and then we look out at the mountains (sort of a theme here in Quito). In between the buildings we can see planes landing and taking off all day because the airport is right in the middle of the city.

2006-09-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hola,
I wanted to post a few pictures we took from our terraces so you can enjoy our view with us. We spend the most time on the terrace that looks out over the city. It gets the afternoon sun and is a great place to hang out in the evening. Chris is starting to fill it with plants which makes us both very happy.

Here's another part of the view - luckily we're on the 4th floor so we get to see the city and the mountains.

Here's a plant on our terrace and the house across the street (and hello kitty).

This picture is of our short, one way (una via) street. There's a guard who's there during the day who keeps things clean, keeps it safe and kind of manages deliveries and anything else that's going on during the day. You can also see the edge of Qutio's largest park - Parque Metropolitano, which is right behind our house ~ it's a great place to take walks (although it has lots of hills) and breathe fresh, clean air.

2006-09-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

first stab at posting

Hola amigos y amigas ~ ya estamos!

Things are good and Quito is a city. We are well and the transition has been remarkably easy. The folks here are very kind and patient with us as we bumble our way through their language and their culture.

This picture is one of the views from the hotel we stayed at the first night here.

Academia Cotopaxi is the name of the school at which we work. It takes its namesake from a local volcano (Cotopaxi) which we can just see the top of on clear days.

Because of her brilliance, Sharon is well on her way to being a full fledged teacher. She has already been promoted to a "paraprofessional" and should be through with her student teaching by January. As you all well know - she's amazing.

We miss everyone at home but are truly excited to be here and feel this is an important step in our journey through this very short time on this Earth.

2006-09-17T17:02:00.000-07:00

We had quite a time of things getting our butts out of the states. As many of you know, we had to jump through a lot of hoops and get rid of a lot of stuff (yard sales and Craig's list and give aways). Susan was really amazing and put us up for a week before we left - but she did a lot more than that. Susan - you are an unbelievable person and although I knew you had to be - I never really understood until we stayed with you - thanks for everything. One of the conversations that we had before we left went something like this ~

If something happened and we were never able to go to Quito, our lives would still be changed forever.

We have never experienced such an outpouring of unconditional love and support. Our families (near and far) and friends just kept telling us that they were there for us and that 'whatever we needed - anything at all' they were there for us. Our wedding was amazing, and this support rivaled that celebration. We cannot even begin to express our gratitude to all of you - to the Strommers and Jon for the party and so much more - to Kitty and Susan for giving us the best week ever before we left and letting us know how much we are loved - and of course to our families who never let us forget how much they love us and never, ever stopped taking boxes and boxes without ever thinking twice.

And once we arrived here... how wonderful that the first (and so far only) piece of mail we received was none other than Quinn's Finan Family Newsletter. It made us feel so at home to have that paper in our hands and read all about the goings-ons.

The first few weeks were quite a whirlwind ~ we moved into our apartment on the second day and we couldn't be happier. We're on the fourth floor (that's quatro piso en espanol) and have three terraces (okay the third one is actually a bit of overkill) we can sit in the morning and afternoon light. The one we sit on in the afternoon and evening has a nice view of the mountains and the city. We have a great, open kitchen and have been doing lots of experimenting with the fruits and vegetables here. It turns out Ecuador is a pretty good place for vegetarians - lots of lentils, quinoa, and some other cool legumes called chochos and some type of corn called choclos that are very fun to eat. A Spanish teacher at the school gave a little workshop on what to do with a lot of the fruits here so Chris has been juicing and making some delicious fruity margarita-type drinks.

We're figuring out how to run our household - things like getting our big water jugs filled and gas tanks - there's a few tricks to all of this since you have to have things delivered when you're not home. Luckily, our maid is awesome and immediately started taking care of business and there's a guard for the street who's around during the day. Also, the people at the school have been so wonderful ~ they really help you every step of the way. They took us around the city every day for the first week to shop for household stuff, set up internet, cable, apt. leases etc. and they even have messengers at the school who can take your money and bills out to be paid ~ funny thing about Ecuador, there's no mail service to people's homes (so where do the bills go? - we don't know) but we do get mail delivered to the school.

Speaking of the school, it's a really special place and it's been great so far. We walk to school together every day. We've had three full weeks with the students back. The science labs were being renovated over the summer so Chris just got into his classroom this past week. He is teaching four classes (that means four preps!). I've been working in the 4th grade with two wonderful Canadian teachers and I've gotten to do a lot of direct work with the students and the administration has asked me to do my student teaching right away so I can be a co-teacher for the fourth grade. The people we work with are great - funny and sarcastic and a very social bunch. There are a lot of like-minded people here that we have a lot in common with (makes sense since we all ended up here) and it's been very easy to start to make ties and get to know people. There's alway something going on and we went with several other teachers to a rainforest resort last weekend. It's a really nice community and we've started exploring the city ~ there are lots of fruit & vegetable markets, indigenous craft markets and a touristy area called 'gringolandia' that has lots of restaurants and bars.

Well, we can't quite fill you in on the last 5 weeks in one posting, so there will be more soon. But so far it's been very exciting and fun and we're starting to develop a routine and become part of the international/ex-pat community.

We hope everyone is doing well and look forward to your postings and news. We love you all so much and feel so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives.