Cable Cars and Hiking

This Saturday we took a cable car called the Teleferico to a viewpoint above the country's capitol, Quito. It was a little surprising to see that it costs $3 for Ecuadorians to take the cable car, but $8.50 for non-Ecuadorians, such as myself and Amanda. But it was well worth it because the view was amazing!! We were not prepared for the intense gusts of wind and extreme lack of oxygen at the 13,300 feet elevation we were at. However, we still hiked around for a couple hours to get an even better view of the city and the 14 peaks of the Andes we could see that surround it.

Chocolate and Birdies

My class got to go on another amazing overnight field trip to the Mindo area where we birdwatched, heard a lecture about chytrid fungus in frogs, swam, hiked and went on a tour of a local chocolate "factory". There were hundreds of hummingbirds surrounding the lodge area at all times; you could easily find 6 hummingbirds on one feeder. These guys were not afraid of humans at all and they would zoom right by your head. We also saw many toucans and parrots in the forest through the scope our professor brought. The second and third collages are mainly form the chocolate factory tour. They grow all of their own ingredients organically in a small garden such as ginger (3rd pic bottom right) and coffee (3rd pic top left). However, they buy their cocoa beans from farmers that live in the lowlands about 1.5 hrs away because the cocoa beans will not grow at the about 2,000 feet elevation on Mindo. About 70 years ago Ecuador was the highest producing country for chocolate. There is one picture of cocoa beans in the garden (2nd pic bottom right), but these will never develop enough to properly use. The company is called El Quetzal, named after a bird native to Mexico, which is where chocolate first was made 3,000 years ago. The Olmecas mixed cocoa powder with water or milk, no sugar, and used it as an energy drink that everyone could consume. The Mayans and Aztecs then added vanilla to the drink and considered it a sacred beverage that only kings and Gods could drink. Cocoa beans were so cherished that they were used as currency and called the Golden Bean. A man from Holland heard about this drink and invented the hydraulic press which led to him being able to create the first chocolate bar, which we love and enjoy today. There are two types of cocoa that can be cultivated, one is called Nacional, and the other is a hybrid called CCN. The Nacional product is more difficult to grow, but is of a higher quality. El Quetzal solely uses the Nacional product and pays their farmers extra. To get an idea of the difference, in placed like Belgium and Swiss, in order for a chocolate bar to be considered premium it must have at least 12% of the Nacional strand in it. In comparison, the chocolate bar sold by El Quetzal with the lowest percent cocoa is 67%. We got to try all of the different products the company makes and I am definitely sold.

BUGS

I couldn't help myself I had to post a couple bug pics from Mindo, so hopefully you appreciate them! Everyone loves butterflies and there were butterflies galore in Mindo, the biggest ones we saw were bright cerulean and got as wide as my face. This little guy really liked Jamie's stinky socks for some reason. Below this picture is a picture of leafcutter ants!!! I was extremely excited when we happened across a line of these guys in the forest. There were hundreds of them carrying leaves that looked 10X bigger than their body. We didn't get a great shot but you can get the idea! Leafcutter ants are fascinating because they harvest plant material and bury it underground to cultivate a fungus that they can then feed off of. They have an extremely complex society, only second to humans, that involves many roles for each ant such as waste management or guard. These little guys can form 100 feet across underground colonies in just a few years with eight million of ants living there.

Weekend in Mindo

Saturday morning we spontaneously decided to make a trip to Mindo for the night, an amazing cloud forest that is full of birds and butterflies. First our day started off with getting on the bus heading the wrong way so that added an hour to the trip. But then we got on the right bus, took a taxi, took another bus and took another taxi and ended up in Mindo. The 2 hour bus ride only costs $2.50 so not too shabby. It's a big place for ecotourism and adventure so there's lots of hostels everywhere. We found a great one with two medium sized beds and a private bathroom for $10 each (they charge by person not room here). We found the most delicious pizzeria here, and even though were only in Mindo for less than 24 hours, we still managed to go to this restaurant three times. As you can see from the pictures we went white water tubing and horseback riding. I'm a little afraid of heights so I got to ride the pony, who ended up being my best friend. The only downside to this trip was that we had to return today, Sunday, because we have school tomorrow. I would definitely love to go back and visit this place again.

Field Trip to the Zoo

Today we headed off to the Guayllabamba zoo for a class field trip. We watched the jaguar and pumas be fed through enrichment activities. For the pumas, chicken was put inside a hollowed watermelon with a couple small holes in it. For the jaguar, his horse ribs (yes they feed their animals horses) was put up in a tree and he had to find it. They do different tasks with the animals everyday to keep their brains active and endorphins flowing. Many of the animals here were rescued from the illegal exotic trade. There were way more super cool animals, but I was too focused on staring at the animals to take any pictures, therefore there are no pictures of the tapirs or tiny adorable monkeys or Andean Condors, etc. I also decided to include a couple floral tree pictures because every tree in Ecuador has beautiful flowers that bloom year round, it's really quite spectacular.

Quito - The City Tour

Who knew the city of Quito was so beautiful? All of the buildings here have so much intricate detail put into them that they generally each took 100-150 years to build. It's amazing to see this culture that dates back to the 16th century, when in the US old buildings are from the 19th century. The picture of the church (first photo, top left is the outside view) was the most beautiful church I have ever seen. It was built by the Jesuits and is called The Church of the Society of Jesus. Inside we were not allowed to take pictures, so I took a couple from the Internet. Every square inch of this place is hand carved and plated with 24 karat gold, some parts of it are even solid gold. There were so many beautiful buildings to see that it was hard to just choose a few to post, but I hope you enjoyed your virtual tour of Quito, Ecuador - the capital of Ecuador.

Mi Escuela Bonita

Today I was able to take some pictures of my beautiful campus. It is a small, private liberal arts college with a focus on the arts. As we toured the area we saw many statues made out of clay, wood, glass recyclable materials, etc. The style of modern art was used often. To give an example of their creativity notice the life size chocolate man statue below. The reflective glass made taking pictures difficult, but you get the idea. Along with the usual classes, business, economics, etc. you can take woodworking outside or meditation in the Japanese style building. Each of the buildings are named after famous scientists or philosophers such as Socrates, Darwin and Newton. Classes officially start tomorrow, which for me is Wildlife Conservation Management, and I can't wait to hear from the best how Ecuador has preserved so many of their unique species.