This is the End

My last few weeks sure flew by fast in Ecuador! After the bus trip with all the exchange students, I went to school for a few days, that when June started, I stopped going to school for my last 2 weeks to enjoy as much of Guayaquil that I can. It was nice being able to sleep in late and walk around with my exchange friends, but after a while not going to school would get boring! Most days I would go to crossfit, a VERY intense exercise class that i've come to love. My last Friday, the 14, I went to school for the day to see all my friends, which was really fun! That night my best friend from school threw me a going away party for my let full night in Ecuador.

I got to go to the beach 1 last time before I left! My friends took me to Salinas, a beach that's about 2 hours away from my city. 

Saturday I did some last minute shopping, and finally started packing. I have no clue how I fit all my items from the year into 2 suitcases and a backpack! My last night I went to the airport to see off 4 exchange students who were going back to their states in the US. After that I stayed out with my friends a little bit for my last hours. 

I had to wake up very early this morning to catch my plane at 7am. 

I'm currently writing this on my flight from Miami to New York, and we should be landing in around 2 hours. I still can't believe

my 10 months is up in Ecuador, because being in the airpot today reminded me of when I was coming to Ecuador, which only feels like a few months ago.

This year has been the most amazing experience in so many ways, and i've met people and gone on adventures that I will never forget. Fue una vida en un ano, no un ago en mi vida. Te amo Ecuador. 

Final Trip (written 10 days before posted)

The last trip was through most of the larger cities in the Andes Mountains. All 150 exchange students came to my city, Guayaquil, and there we had a Rotary event with all the Rotarians who could come from all cities in Ecuador. We all came in with our flags in order of countries, a few exchange students made speeches or little presentations about their experience in Ecuador. 

Lake in National Park Cajas

standing on ancient ruins

The next morning we took off to Cuenca, than Riobamba, Banos, Quito, Ibarra, Cotacachi, and Otavalo. All the cities are in the mountains and beautiful in their own way. At each city we would go to the typical tourist attractions, like the line of the Equator in Quito. We spent a lot of time in the bus traveling, but nobody really minded because it's always fun when your with 150 of your friends.

rainbow over Cotopaxi Volcano

Hanging with llamas after having
a lunch made of them. 

My favorite day was when we were staying in Ibarra, which is a little city 1 hour north of Quito, and we took a day trip to Lake Cuicocha. It looks like a GIANT crater that was made in the mountains that got filled in with water. It was so beautiful, and we got to hike to the top and look down on the lake. The hike was really hard for all the kids who are living in cities on the coast like I am, because of the high altitude change! 

Volcano Cotopaxi

On the last day we went to Otavalo, which is another little town next to Ibarrra, and there is the biggest market i've ever seen. They say that you need at least 5 hours to see everything. All markets in Ecuador receives their goods from Otavalo, and when they arrive, they raise the price, so Otavalo is the place to go to get the cheapest things! On the last day we had to say goodbye to everyone who isn't from our own cities, because people started to leave Ecuador a few days after the trip ended. When everyone was leaving we would take out our flags of Ecuador and everyone would go around signing them, sort of like yearbooks at the end of the year. That day was the day that it hit most of us that the year is actually ending, because we are so used to our life and schedule here, it seems strange that we have to leave it all. 

at the top of
Lake Cuicocha

My friends from Germany
and I standing on the line
that separates the 2
hemispheres

Galapagos

Noah,  this post is veryyyy overdue! Sorry it took so long to finally write it, but here is finally the overview of my 5 day trip to the Galapagos!

yes, this was the color of the water. 

We started out in the airport of my city, Guayaquil, and all 75 of us took a quick plane ride to one of the small Galapagos Islands called Baltra. From there we took a beautiful boat ride over the turquoise water to our hotel where we stayed for 2 nights.

Dolphins! 

On the way to the hotel we got to see sting rays, flying fish, and
dolphins swimming and jumping out of the water right next to our boat!

The island we were staying on was really small, but was nice because we could walk around. There were sea lions everyone!! They would be laying in the middle of the street or on a playground napping as they please, but don't get to close, because they like to bite.

Chilling out in the sun

The first night at the hotel we just all hung out and bought up about what we have been up to in our cities since the last time we saw each other in December, or as late as October. The day after we took a boat taxi to another little island that was discovered by germans yearssss ago. there we got to see the famous giant tortoises! The older one, George, had just died a few months before, so we didn't get to meet him unfortunately. At this island we got to climb to the top and get a beautiful view.

Every day we took a few hours to snorkel is different spots, and see an amazing variety of exotic fish. I got to swim next to sea lions, and eve caught a ride from a sea turtle by grabbing it's shell and having it pull me through the water! On our second to last day we went to a special rock formation that sticks up out of the water that was formed from lava. Here, in the canal between the 2 formations, giant speckled sting rays and hammer head sharks come to swim, so of course we went to swim with them! This was terrifying but so cool at the same time! I saw a few sharks and 1 sting ray, and some of the braver guys swam down to touch the tail of the sharks!

Update

Sorry i've been doing a bad job lately of keeping up with my blog! I have so much to write about, but as my time is coming to a close, I feel like i never have to time to write about it! I will have 2 big posts coming up within a few weeks, one about my trip to Galapagos in March, and the other about the end of the year trip, which I am leaving my house in a few hours to start! We will begin this trip in my city, Guayaquil, and go up through the Andes Mountains and all the cities there. But while you guys wait for those posts, I will give you a little update on my life here.

Dr. Suess decorated lobby

My amazing 2 1/2 month summer break came to an end April 16 and I returned to school. I don't mind being in school, because I get to see my friends every day, some of which I hardly saw all summer because I was traveling in Ecuador, and they were traveling in the US! I'm only in school here as a senior for 2 months before I go home, so for these 2 months i'm not focusing on doing all the exams, more of learning as much spanish I can from every class. This wednesday in school we started something call Las Campañas, which is when the senior and junior class each pick a theme, and for 1 week decorate their half of the school lobby to their theme, dress up, and do game type things. At the the end of the week, the students form the younger grades vote for which class did best. In the past classes have done the circus, Harry Potter, leggos, ect. This year my class selected Dr. Suess, and we are battle the junior class who selected Madagascar. Because of the trip i'm leaving for today, I was only able to experience Las Campañas for 2 days, but those 2 days were so much fun.

Last weekend I went to the city of Cuenca for the weekend with my friends to visit some exchange students there. For me, Cuenca is one of the prettiest cities in Ecuador because it's in the mountains, so the climate is sunny and fresh in the day, and a little chilly in the night, which is a nice break from the heat of my city, or so I thought! I've become accustomed to 85+ temperature in my city, that I was always freezing when I was in Cuenca! I had to sleep with multiple layers and 5 blankets to be warm at night, while my friend who has been living there for 9 months only needed a blanket and normal shorts and a t-shirt. The magnitude of it's beauty makes up for the coldness. All the streets there a made of cobblestone, and this combined with the architecture of the buildings gives ti a european feel. It was also nice to see real trees, other than just palm trees that we have in Guayaquil. It was nice to visit, but I was glad to get back home to my city after the weekend and be warm again!

As of yesterday, I have exactly 1 month left here in Ecuador, which is crazy to me! The time here has gone by so fast, I can't believe i've been for 9 months. I remember before I came to Ecuador, the trip here felt like a dream and would never happen. Now, my 2 worlds have switched roles. My life back home in Vermont feels like a dream, and I honestly find it hard to picture myself back there sometimes. I'm excited to be home and see my family and friends, but at the same time I realllllllyyyyy don't want to leave my life here! I have such an amazing family and friend groups here. I've met so many amazing people, some of whom I can't imagine my life without them.  June 16th is going to be the most bittersweet day of my life.

Parent's Visit

I finally got to see my parents on February 27th, after over 6 months of only seeing them through a computer screen on Skype. They arrived tired at the airport in Guayaquil at around 6am, so we let them sleep for a few hours, which they needed because I had planned a very busy 11 day trip for us. In the afternoon my host family made a typical lunch plate from my city for all of us, than we spent the afternoon doing a few of the touristy things in my city. My went to Las Penas, walked along Melacon, and went to the Iguana Park. This was my parent's favorite part of the day I think. At night we went to a nice Italian restaurant at Plaza Lagos with my host family and host grandparents.

 

The next morning we woke up and drove 2 hours away with my host family to our mountain house in a town called Pallatanga. There we just relaxed for the day and night, made some s'mores from the ingredients my family brought, which was the first time my host family had even eaten s'mores!

Looking at the crazy road
we would soon be
driving on

Chiva bus tour

The next morning we started our journey to Banos, and boy was it more of a trek than we thought. The GPS brought us to the bottom of a valley, driving next to a river that looked like it had flooded only a few days ago, leaving us to drive on  a slippery mud road. We pulled over for a bit because up at the top of the mountain we saw an orange crane building a road, on the side of a VERY steep mountain. We laughed about how crazy and unsafe it would be to drive up on that road, than about 1 hour later, our GPS lead us to that exact road! We had no clue where we were, hardly saw any people to ask directions, because our GPS was confused too. We were so high up in the mountains that we were in the clouds, so all we could see was whiteness, hardly any of the road. We were all very scared we would run out of gas, get more lost somehow, someone would try to rob us, ect. Lucky about 2 hours later we miraculously ended up back on the Panamerican highway, 45 minutes away from our destination! When we got to Banos, we resting for the day, because we needed a break from all the stress! The next day we went on a Chiva tour for a few hours in the morning before we had to pack up and leave for Quito. A Chiva is a type of bus, which our typically used at night that doesn't have doors, and they play music and have lights going, so it's live a driving party. They also use these buses during the days to do tours. We got to see countless amazing and powerful waterfalls, and my parents went zip lining!

Statue Panecillo

view of the Quito. Panacillo
is off to the right

After the waterfall tour, we drove about 4 hours to Quito! The first night we had dinner with some friends we met in Banos at a restaurant with a beautiful overlooking view of the city's lights. We stayed in Quito for 2 nights, and during our time we walked around enjoyed the parks, went to an artisan market with over 150 different sellers, and went to Panecillo and Teleferico to get to cool views of the city. Panecillo is a statue that was built on top of a giant hill, which people say looks like a little loaf of bread, which is how it received it's name. The Teleferico is a gondola ride up to 9,000 meter elevation with a 3 mile trail to walk on and take pictures of the city. After being in Guayaquil, which is at sea level, for 7 months, walking around at a 9,000 meter elevation was pretty difficult for me.

horseback riding

parents at the spa

Llamas 

After 2 nights in Quito we drove 4 hours to a town called Riobamba to sleep for the night, than 4 more hours the next morning to arrive in Cuenca. Cuenca was my favorite part of the whole trip because the city is very old, but really beautiful. All the houses are decorated pretty and the streets are made of cobblestone, so it's a lovely place to just walk around and enjoy the sites. During most of our time all we did was walk around and see the city, and one day we went horse back riding in the mountains! This was awesome because we got some great views of the towns surrounding Cuenca. On our last night, my parents enjoyed a few hours at a spa, while I went to meet up with some other exchange students who are living in Cuenca for the year.

Cajas National Park

After Cuenca we drove though the National Park called Cajas, which was beautiful. We drove past a pack of 5 llamas that were just walking in the middle of the road!

Sunset at the beach 

We finally got back to Guayaquil, grabbed out shorts and bathing suits, than drove to our beach house 1 hour away for the night. We got there right before the sunset, than enjoyed a nice dinner and relaxed for the night. We spent the next day at the beach, luckily only my dad got a little sun burnt. That nigh right before sunset we drove back home for my parents last night in Guayaquil, and my host family prepared what seemed like 100 crabs for dinner! That was my first time ever eating crab, and loved it! This quick tour of my beautiful country was great for us, and my parents were already talking about how they want to come back!

Update

Sorry that I haven't written in here of months! As of 1 week ago, I've been here in Ecuador living the dream for 7 months now! I can't believe how fast the time is going, and I really wish that it would slow down. It scares me so much to think that I will be home in Vermont in less than 3 months. I am absolutely loving my life here and in no way do I want to give this up and go home in June. Since my last post I have finished the school year and entered my summer break! It's so nice being able to sleep in till 1pm on some days! I started tennis lessons with my host sister, but after a month we stopped. To keep busy, one of my exchange friends, Cleo from Germany, and I started doing cross fit, which is a VERY intense and difficult hour long exercise class. My parents visited me 3 weeks ago, and I also went to the Galapagos! I will write about each of those trips in other posts.

There is a phrase that a lot of people use when they talk about their year abroad; It's not 1 year in a life, it's a life in 1 year. This to me sums up the exchange perfectly. When you first arrive, your like a baby. You don't know anybody, can hardly talk, and never know whats going on around you. As you get further into your exchange, you grow up. You go to school, meet friends, feel like you have a family, and start to be able to communicate with people. Throughout the whole exchange you are constantly growing and figuring out who you really are, which in the real world, can take your whole life to do. I refer to back home as the "real world" because to me, my life in Ecuador and in Vermont are completely separate. I'm 2 different people in each world, and in no way is my experience here like a vacation, but it is not anything like back home. By the end of your exchange, you are done growing. You have memories and experiences that you will remember for your life, friends and family that you will never forget. A life in 1 year.

5 Months!!

Last Sunday I officially hit my halfway point here in Ecuador. I've been here for 5 months, and only have 5 left :(. These past 5 months have gone by incredibly fast, a lot faster than I want them too. And I know that these next 5 will fly by and be over before I know, which really makes me sad. I am loving my experience here right now. I remember when I first started thinking about doing an exchange over a year ago, my heart was set on only doing 1 semester. I thought that that was the perfect amount of time, and 10 months is just way too long. Thats almost an entire year! But now that I'm here, I can't imagine having to leave right now if I was only doing 1 semester. At the beginning of every exchanger's experience there are a lot of ups, but a lot of downs. That something that almost every exchange student can agree on, but lately, my life here is clicking perfectly together.

Friends from school

Exchange students

I love my family here so much. My host mom has been so helpful and sweet, and my sibling and grandparent always keep me laughing. There have been a few events this past months when I wasn't enjoying myself too much when I was out doing something, and all I wanted at those moments was to hug my host mom and to have her comfort instead of begin the situation that I was. These are the moments that I realize how amazing my mom here is, and how lost I would be without her. I have a great group of exchange students in my city, and we always get together to enjoy Guayaquil together, because we are all in the same boat here, so we have so much in common. It's impossible not to get along with the other exchange student. I take my last exam this friday, than I'm done with school for 3 months until May. I'm very excited for summer, but at the same time i'm gonna miss a lot of my friends in school that I became so used to seeing every day. I love going to school so much now, I almost wish it wasn't ending, but I know that I will be seeing my best friends from school a lot, because all they talk about now is taking me with them when they go to their beach houses!

Cuenca

Everything is so perfect right now, and I love Ecuador more and more every day. I have a very busy summer coming up which I'm really excited about! For Carnival which is on February 11, some exchange students from my city and I are going on a road trip up the coast for 4 days. All I know about this holiday is that its a giant water balloon fight in the streets all day long, and sometimes they point oil or chocolate syrup in the balloons as pranks. Sounds like we will be pretty messy by the end of the day! Than not the 27 in February my parents are coming to visit me!! When they come they will get to see my city, our mountain house, the beach, we will go to the highlands and the capital, and of course Cuenca. I'm very excited to go there because everyone who has been has told me that its the most beautiful city in all of Ecuador because all the roads are brick and the houses are very old and antique. This city is very calm and relaxing, which explains why it is one of the most popular cities in the world right now to move to when people retire. After that I have my trip to the Galapagos, than to Peru to go to Machu Piccu in April!

Cuenca

I will stay very busy this summer, and the time is going to fly by, so all I can do is try to enjoy every moment of it.

Holidays

Feliz Navidad/ Feliz Ano! My holidays were a little different than normal this year, but really fun! Christmas is the same as back home, but we celebrate it on the 24th at night. at 8pm we opened up presents with just my siblings, aunt, mom, and grandparents. Between 9-10 about 25 or more relatives showed up at our house to celebrate christmas and eat a turkey diner at midnight. After diner and dessert, we talked more, until I went to bed around 3am, but most of the relatives and my grandparents stayed up till between 5 and 6. We don't do too much on the actually christmas day except for sleep in, than at night we went to church, which we had been doing all week. 9 days before christmas, right after dinner we would do something called Novena, where we sing songs or parts about christmas from the the bible and say what we are thankful for. It was a really nice time to take 15 minutes of your day to be with your family thinking about why we have christmas, and not just the presents.

Market to buy paper
mache dolls and fireworks

After setting the paper
mache dolls on fire

New Years here is celebrated with the family for the most part, which is very different from back home. During the day we went to a street market to buy big paper mache dolls of different movie or TV animated characters, and also almost $100 worth of fire works. Starting at around 10:30 we set of fireworks and sparklers, and all other families in the city set of their fireworks around the same time, so everywhere you look the entire night you will see fireworks in the sky. At midnight, we ate 12 grapes in a minute for good luck, a glass of champagne, than for the most important part of the night. At midnight, we put the 2 paper mache dolls, of Scratch (from Ice Age) and Yogi Bear, in the middle of the street, poured some gasoline and fire crackers on them, than set them on fire. The burning of these are to represent the burning of the old year, to make room for the new year. finally after not eating since lunch, we had another turkey diner after midnight. After that, I went to a small gathering with some friends, not returning home till around 7am, which is completely normal on this night.

picture of me with the 2 year
old son of the maid who works
in our house

Christmas and New Years were awesome, but my favorite part of the holidays were the 2 little extra trips we took. A few days after Christmas, my grandparents, brother, cousin, aunt, and I drove to our house in the mountains, a town called Pallatanga. Its a very small and quite town, and our house is a 5 minute drive from the center. This was only my second time coming here, but I absolutely love our mountain house. Its so calm and so beautiful. I also love how much colder it is there, I can actually wear pants and a sweatshirt and not sweat to death! There is no wifi, so we never use the internet, we just relax. I am never bored there because I can be entertained by just looking around at the mountains and how surreal it is.

walking on the beach at Montanita at 8am

The other trip we did was to the coast, which is only 2 hours away, to pick up my host sister who had been visit a friend at her beach house. After picking her up, we stopped at a place called Montanita. Montanita is famous in Ecuador, and a very popular tourist site. Its only 6 blocks by 6 blocks large, and its right on the beach. There are a ton of little restaurants, bars, discotecas, markets, and surf shops. It's very popular in the night to visit for parties, but we went in the morning, around 8am, so we got to walk around the blocks and on the beach, which was very calming. Because it is very popular for partying at night, it was very dirty during the day, but that didn't really bother me. It reminded me of Ecuador's version of downtown Burlington, because everyone was so happy and friendly and the vibe there was very positive. Everyone there were either american tourists, hippies in their 20's or the locals working.  I was sitting on the side curb waiting for an empanada with my family and a local guy came and sat next to me and started asking where I was from and about myself (seeing my blonde hair and white skin it was obvious I was foreign). This guy was in his mid 20's, obviously a beach bum without much money, but he was the coolest person i've ever met. In the past 3 months he has been visiting Peru, Uraguay, and Bolivia, and he show me pictures of all the countries. The entire time my family was looking at me like I was crazy for talking to a stranger like that, than made me leave as soon as I was ready, completely interrupting his story. I would have loved to stay and talk with him. This was one of the times I realized how different I am from my family. I know that Ecuador is more dangerous than Vermont, but I am very independent and wish I could spend the whole day talking to people there and hearing about their experience, and my family wishes that I would just keep my head down and walk forward to avoid danger. I can't experience anything if I never pick me head up to look at what Ecuador has to offer me.