Last Day - Cotopaxi Volcano Hike

Cotopaxi in the Andes Mountains, located about 17 mi south of Quito, Ecuador.   It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of 5,897 m (19,347 ft) We leave the amazing Haciebdo Latio high in the mountains in Patate, Ecuador and make our way up 12,000 ft to have lunch in the foothills of Cotopaxi.  Today we finally have sunshine and big fluffy clouds.  The clouds surround the peak so we don't see the summit clearly until we are on the drive home.
Carlos sings for us at lunch, then we hike around the lake.  That evening we feast in a super restaurant overlooking all of Ecuador before heading to the airport for our flight to Atlanta.

click on the title to see the pictures!

Puyo, Ecuador The Village Trip

We travel to Puyo, don knee-high rubber boots and hike into the hills to help plant balsam trees which is a natural renewable source for the community arts and craft industry.  The saplings take about 5 years before they can be harvested and dried and then carved into amazing colorful wooden crafts.

  The village prepares a banquet of fresh foods, including freshly prepared home-raised chicken, pork, beef, and lots of wonderful vegetables including Chinese potatoes and Plantain and Yucca.  Fresh white pineapple tops the meal for a really sweet dessert.  After lunch, the men and boys in the village challenge our boys to a soccer match, while the girls play games and try out the play apparatus.  The village girls under the age of 13 prepare a special dance for our delegation.  We are told that at age 14, girls are expected to marry and have babies.  The older village girls ask our girls delegates where their husbands are?

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Ecuador Spa and Jungle Trek

Click on the title to see the pics from our journey into the jungle.  We stayed at a fabulous hot springs, then hiked to a waterfall, and drove into the jungle to spend the night where the wild things are!  A tarantula in the boys room, lemon ants on the trail, a slippery rope swing and a Shaman cleansing for Brendan.

Death March and the Beach!

Santa Cruz Island
After hiking form 0-4000 ft in the rain and mud, we enjoy lunch outdoors, a swim in the hammocks, some impromptu soccer, then head to our hotel to clean up. afterwards we take a walking tour of the flamingo area, and another tortoise reserve before heading to the beach for some much needed wave action! Carlos models the latest in beach fashion
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Floreana Island

After a grueling 2 hour boat ride where some (mostly me) got violently ill from the constant pounding of the boat on the 12 ft waves, we land on firm ground.  We take a jeep ride up a long bouncy hill to the nature reserve where we then hike to see our first giant tortoises!  Amazing!  These gentle giants really do look prehistoric!


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Puerto Ayora, Santa Gruz Island, Galapagos

We flew to the islands, then took a ferry to santa Cruz.  we head to lunch, and them hike through a giant lava tunnel.  After checking into our hotel, we suit up for our first snorkeling where Christina get a suprise swim-by with a sea lion.  After snorkeling, we enjoy a yummy meal with amazing desserts.
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Day 3 - Quito to Octavalo, roses to guinea pigs

Check out the fun on Day 3 - We see roses, eat guinea pig and much more.. click on the title to see pictures.

Santa Cruz to Quito - Charles Darwin Center and Lonesome George

Leaving the Islands we first visit the Charles Darwin Center  on Santa Cruz to see Lonesome George and Diego.  Once in Quito, we stop for grocery shopping at the local chain and load up on comfort foods.
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Isabella Island - school visit and Lizards

Click on the title to see the pics I've posted on Facebook
Happy 4th everyone! Celebrate our freedoms  and appreciate all that we have!

Getting My "Sea Legs"

Hello all!
I have to admit that it feels good being in one's own bed and seeing family, but I miss all of you. It is always great to reflect after a great program. Hope everyone is doing well AND hope to hear from you from time to time.

Happy 4th!
Molly

Tortuga Island - Iguana fest!

Delivering books to the Island School

Welcome to the Jungle

Wow - where to start...
We've not had internet for the past three days - stayed in some very remote areas of the jungle.  So many amazing stories to tell!  Let me at least start with some lists of foods we have eaten
(in addition to the Guinea pig....)
lemon ants, steamed worms cooked in leaves, lots of plantain at every meal as well as 63 different varieties of potatoes - I think we've tried half of them.  Yucca, fresh pineapple, quave, hearts of palm fresh on the trail, blood from trees that bleed (medicinal jungle juice), quicho - made with bottled water and NOT fermented, various green things from the jungle, fresh radishes, cukes, and lots of onion hot sauces.  Home grown eggs, chicken, beef, and pork - and of course on the idlands fresh fish every day along with soup of the day, celery, avocado, potato, and other's that tasted great too.
Now between eating, we managed to get some serious hiking done.  Our hike in the jungle included a rope swing - those brave enough to try it enjoy being Tarzan for a few seconds.  Unfortunately Steven and Daniel slipped off and got to experience the jungle's cushioned floor.  Abbie and Christina got stuck knee-high in thick mud and scenes from old movies and quick-sand went racing through my mind as the more they laughed, the deeper they got stuck.  Thanks to the 11 yr. old Jose that came on the walk with us, for her hand dug out the boots for the girls.  Christina liked it so much she had a repeat performance on the way back to the lodge.  the rain held off until late at night, but we were all fast asleep in our jungle huts.  We are really enjoying having a hammock on our porches - a great place to chill out.
so many pictures to post, but with this very slow internet that fades in and out, very hard to do so. 
All seem to me managing the intensity of this adventure.  The homesickness for the most part is gone, although everyone is looking forward to dry clean clothes in a couple of days.  Tomorrow we hike in the highlands - which will complete the 4 geographic areas of Ecuador.  The jungle has been amazing.  Did I mention the mosquitoes are as big as dogs here?  We are using our Deet and our sunscreen.
 If possible, pictures to follow...

Galapagos

We visited the Charles Darwin Center this am and got to see some of the different turtle that are being bred.  We met Diego,  a turtle from CA that is the resident Don Juan of the center.  He's got a long neck and a rather small body for being the father of so many offspring.  Nearby, we saw some rather large land iguana that were bright yellow in color and pretty motionless, save for an occasional blink.  The finches are flying all around, and in each pen yard are different tortoises from the many islands.  We see a feeding platform  with a large group of males, then we check out Lonesome George - who has two females with him, but he's just not interested!
After another short ride, we are able to get out and walk the lip of a volcanic crater before heading to the dock to catch the ferry to the island where the airport is.  Our plane ride to the mainland was uneventful and we got back just after noon Gap time, 1:00 Ecuador time. 
Marco our guide met us at the airport, and Carlos had arranged for him to bring us some pink banana - a local specialty.  We mad a quick stop at the local grocery store to load up on junk food, and good Ecuadoran chocolate and Lexie picked up some Jif PB for the bananas - which she shared with all of us.  Carlos had never tried PB on bananas - I think we converted him!
We've spent the next three hours climbing through a pass in the Andes over 14,000 ft high, then back down to about 10,00o where we have settled for the night.  It's a beautiful hot springs spa with the waters just a few feet from our rooms.  Boy did it feel good tonight.  It's raining and cold out, but the hot springs are steamy and crystal clear.  Our rooms all have heaters in them, and big cushy comforter quilts.  tomorrow we hike again, probably in the mud and rain - just when we finally got all our clothes dry!  No one seems to mind.  Good food, god company and beautiful country  - wish you all could be here to enjoy with us.

Hello from the Islands

This will be a short update with more to follow when we return to the mainland.  We've had an amazing time here on the Galapagos Islands.  It has been most challenging, and very rewarding.  We've seen giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies, penquins, sea lions, iguanas galore, sharks, flamingos, finches, warblers, pelicans and so many more wild life I can't list them all! We spent the night in Santa Cruise in a charming hotel the students dubbed the "Dr Suess"house,  We  spent our first day doing a little snorkling where we spotted our fist sea lion, and lots of Sally \Lightfoot crab.  We ate an amazing dinner and had time to re-group for the next day's trip to Isabella Island.
Next day, After a grueling 2 hr boat ride on choppy waters in a twin engine 26 ft cabin cruiser, we landed on Floreana Island for a hike to a Tortise preserve, and lunch,.  We had a little rain, but the weather was cool enough to hike through the wooded area.  We got up close to many tortoises, and got lots of good pictures.
 When we got back down, we again loaded on the boats for another 2 hours of rough riding to get to Isabella Island - our home for 2 nights.  We were pretty whipped, but were happy to be gounded.    The rains came and we have learned to embrase being wet.
The next day we hiked 4 miles up to 4000ft to the caldera in the rain and mud.  We got to the top only to find the beautiful promised view was fogged in.  We slid down the mountain with many of us landing in the multiple mud puddles.  We all looked like mud-monsters!  But that didn't stop us from going to lunch at a beautiful outdoor camp area, where we woofed down lentals, potatoes, rice, corn, chicken, and fresh oranges.  We spent a little time when the sun came out, playing some soccer.  We got back to the hotel, did some fast washing up  and headed out for another hike in the city to see the flamingos and another turtle preserve.
We spent some time relaxing in the ocean, and playing some additional soccer on the local town fields.
Today we took that same 2 hours boat trip completing the triangle of islands back to Santa Cruise, but not before we did more hiking to see the igauana on Tortuga \Island and some amazing snorkling where we spotted sea turtles, starfish, and lots of crabs.
Tomorrow we are off the the Darwin Center and then hop a plane back to the mainland.  We will be heading to the spa tomorrow evening.  We miss our families but are having a fabulous time.

going out of internet range for a bit

Don't worry if you don't hear fro us - not sure what we will find on the Islands - besides George.  We will post when we can.

Guinea pig for lunch...

Yes we did have guinea pig for lunch!  Fried in the traditional way.  About a thrid of the students tried it.
Not sure if you can catch the gasoline sign - gas is $1.40/gal here for regular $1.99 for premium.  It's a good thing, since the Andes are one long drive up followed by another long descent.  We saw 4 of the active volcanoes.
In the morning we visited a traditional Ecuadorian Rose farm and watch as they packaged beautiful long stem roses for deliver to Russia, Germany and the US. 
After a wonderful dinner, we went to the town''s music festival - then home to crash and re-pack for  our flight to Galapagos.

Heading to Galapagos tomorrow

Wow We have been so busy I've not had a moment free to post anything.  The rest of yesterday was amazing. We so enjoyed the middle of the world and our science experiments.  When we go back to the hotel, we had some free time,  The students could go in groups of 3/4 to explore, or could enjoy the hot sulfer pool at the hotel.  Jason is our master swimmer and gave us the update on the pool.  It's nice being in the water, but cold when you get out! 

After a little free time we piled into the bus and went to Archie's to make our own pizza.  What a mess we were!  After a game of dingle, dingle dongle we put on hata and aprons and started pounding our dough.Some really put their whole self into that task.  Believe it or not the pizzas tasted pertty good.

We got to be and had room checks about 10:30 with a 6:30 Wase up call scheduled for tomorrow.  We ALL were tired!  What an excellent adventure today

Day 1 additional pics Archie's Pizza dinner - we made our own!

WE all don hats and aprons and flour up our hands  for a night of making pizza's at Archie's.  As prt of the process, some delegates deiced to use an ancient Ecuadorian method of rubbing the dough with their faces and cheeks.  the pizzas were the best ever.  We followed up with some excellent gelatto.
 We aren't going hungry at all!

Day 1 Narrative part 1

Day one starts with a beautiful buffet breakfast on the rooftop restaurants which was directly above my room.   I know how hard the staff worked making all those pieces of fruits, cheeses, breads etc as they began the process about 4 am, singing and chopping and clattering dishes around above my bed. Thank goodness for a couple a glasses of strong tea at breakfast. 

We assembled at 8:00 for a PowerPoint presentation by Carlos and Marco, where we learned about the wonderful diversity of Ecuador.  There are 4 distinct regions, the Galapagos, the shoreline, the highlands of the Andes and the jungle.  Each area has unique climate and terrain.  The altitude goes from 600 ft above sea leave to 30,000 feet.  The expedition to find the Spanish gold began in Ecuador.  Although it was never found, the Ecuadorians are very proud in their part of this quest.    Quito was founded by the Spanish.  Originally Quito was called San Francisco.  The Jesuits established the Catholic religion here.  We will see three of these areas in the next two weeks.  Carlos tells us that Ecuador is “like a banana”  - long and skinny.  The Andes run the length.  Quito comes from the word meaning “Middle”  There are 1.9 million people in Quito.  It is the second highest capital city in the world.

After a brief meeting and some safety ground rules for the students, we load into the bus and spend the day exploring the old city downtown.  We stop to see one very ornate church, then go to one that rocked our socks off.  The church of Jess Christ the Campany or Iglesia de la Compania was built in the early 1600’s by the Jesuits.  The inside is the most amazing site I’ve ever seen in a church, with over 1 ton of gold decoration.  It is most ornate.  Carlos gives us the history of the artwork, and the restoration of the church and we all are overwhelmed by the glitter before us.  We can’t take pictures in the church, but we all came home with a post card of this amazing site.  I’ll try and scan that to share when I return.

We walk around the park, and up to the President’s house.  We enter the foyer to the courtyard to get a glimpse of the grandeur.  Carlos tells us that there were 8 presidents in 10 years so the government doesn’t have a stable record.  He assured us that the newest president was good for the country and will be there for a while.

We climb back into the bus and head to the south side of Quito and up the mountain to the Angel statue where we can get a 360 degree view of the city below.  We are fortunate to have such great weather.

 

Travel Day -- (looking back)

It was a day for delays and bad weather.  The Cincinnati group and I were 2.5 hours delayed, Ms. Molly was totally rerouted and Brett got caught in Chicago, arriving too late to Atlanta to fly on with the group.   Our wonderful Meet and Greet team will meeting him in Atlanta where he will spend the night and join our delegation the following day.  We arrive in Ecuador, and security is somewhat laxed.  We get through customs, then immagration as as we are leaving with our screened baggage, on3 zealous worker decides to stop all Aericans and double check their luggage claim tickets.  Luckily only one was missing.  When the entire group got through and Riley was stopped, I frantically hunted through all my paperwork to find the missing baggage claim.  He was NOT going to let her luggage go through without it.  When he was distracted, we shoved a baggage claim in his hand from another flight (and student) and took off as quickly as we could before he realized the tag and the claim ticket didn’t match.  Wow!  Close call.! 

We made it to the outside where we found Madeline waiting.  She lost track of the group, and did what you are suppose to do when the group gets lost.  Stay put.  We joined her and waited for Carlos, our wonderful Delegation Manager (DM) to return and get us.  He walked us to our bus where we met Marco our driver.  It was just a short ride to the hotel.  We had a little confusion at the hotel, since they had Sloan’s name on the roster as being male – we juggled around the rooms, and got everyone finally in theirs by midnight.  Christina had a bumpy plane ride, and ride to the hotel.  Once we got her settled in a room with Lucia and Lexie, she was able to settle her stomach and get some sleep.  All  is well.

Day 1 Quito and the Middle of the World cont

 Church of Iglasia de la Compania