Out and About in Ecuador

This blog includes a couple pictures from some very different events. One bunch of photos is from a field trip that I went on with my Cultural Diversity of Ecuador class to a town called Salasaca. This town was once considered indigenous, but we learned that much of the indigenous population moved to the Galapagos when the economy was strong there, and a lot of the rest became generally more modernized and forgot about some of the old culture and customs. In Salasaca, we met up at a small hostel with our tour guides, a family that still likes to share their cultural heritage and their art as well. We took a tour of some of the sacred sights where they gave small tokens of gratitude to the earth and the other gods that control success and fertility. Our guide and his mother showed us the process of creating woven goods out of sheep fur too! 

The second group of photos was from a day of rock climbing in this beautiful valley that some friends of a friend new about. These particular Ecuadorians knew their stuff! They were doing some impressive routes, and using some interesting tactics. We drove for more than an hour to what felt like the middle of nowhere, and parked in someones driveway. A women came out, and we payed her a couple dollars to use her property. Then we walked through to the forest in the back and arrived at the huge climbing walls with bolts already set in places. It was yet another great day full of new experiences. 

There are also a couple pictures from the time that my friend Rachel and I went together to the beach in Cojimies. After a long 5-hour bus ride and a couple other shorter ones, we found the hostel that our spanish teacher recommended, and I am not kidding when I say that the hostel was pure paradise. The picture with the girl posing on the beach was taken on the porch of my room at the hostel. We played in the bath-temperature ocean, ate delicious sea food, met very nice people and tried to learn how to surf with a friend we made the night before. These memories are especially important to me because this town, among many many others, was gravely affected by the recent earthquake. I still don't know what happened to all of the lovely people we met, or the hostels we stayed in. I don't know if they have houses to live in, I don't know if they lost any friends or family, I don't know if they currenlty have food or fresh water. The earthquake that occurred was such a terrible tragedy, I still cannot physically imagine the damage that was done to these communities. Even if you are reading this blog a year after the earthquake, they are still going to be needing help! So please take a couple minutes to donate whatever you can to one of the many organizations that is geared towards helping aid the coast of Ecuador.  I will probably be writing more about the earthquake in future posts so stay tuned.