Vince en Ecuador!

Que estuve haciendo y estoy haciendo en los ultimos semanas

2006-12-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

Greetings! Here is a picture update of the rural stay and the rainforest as well as some pictures from a bullfight that I went to yesterday as it´s the Festivals of Quito right now celebrating the founding of the city. It was okay, the ambiance was nice and everyone is drunk, but the killing of the bulls each time was sad and violent. Basically they get stabbed about seven times with knives, swords, pikes, and spades. Also threw in a picture from another soccer game I went to, where I sat in the "White Death" section where the most hardcore fans are. You have to stand the entire game ´cause no one sits and sing and dance and jump or else people will push you or spray you with fire extinguishers. Intense and interesting, but the game was kinda lame being a 0-0 tie.

In other news, the semester in Ecuador is winding down and I´m ready to be heading home in a little over two weeks. Weird to think about going home after being here for four months, but it´ll be really good to see family and friends again! I´ve sincerely missed a lot of people while here. For my last weeks here I´ll just be working on my research project on Ecuadorian Futbol, but I really need to actually start that... in a few days. To the pictures!

My host father during the rural stay, Pedro and one of his baby twins.

The most beautiful lake I´ve ever seen in my life. Pedro took us out on a day hike (after hitching a ride out to the hillsides) and showed us around. What I really loved about this lake was that it was just there by itself, not a big tourist thing like Machu Picchu or like going to Yosemite. Stunningly gorgeous.

Pedro again, chatting with a neighbor farmer. Nice view of the farming community in the background.

I spot a monkey!

The first time I´ve seen a Tucan NOT on a Fruit Loops box.

Pretty view of the sunset. This is the first day when we arrived at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station after an entire day of traveling by plane, boat, bus, and boat again.

A river we traveled down.

Shot of the rainforest itself from an observation tower at around 4 or 5 AM. Woke up early to see birds, mostly just saw fog.

At the Liga-El Nacional game with the Muerta Blanco fans.

Drinking wine from the traditional bota from Spain in the nosebleed section of the Plaza Del Torros.

A Matador pulling a fancy behind-the-back Ole!

The same Matador but with some more of the crowd in the shot.

Thanks for reading and looking and joining along V-Chizzy´s Travels. Drop me something, no one has commented for like three or four posts and I know you´re still coming ´cause I have the sitecounter, punks!

Por fin!

2006-11-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

Finally! I am back in Quito after a month of intense traveling where I had to keep a bag packed the entire time and went from Lima, Cusco, and the Macchu Pichu hike in Peru to the week in the farming community of Morocho near Cotacachi where I did stuff like milked cows, farmed crops in the field, worked the garden by pulling weeds and uprooting trees, herded sheep, goats, and pigs and took a really nice hike around this lake and the surrounding hillsides. And then after that I hit up the Rainforest/Jungle in the Selva. Saw a buncha monkeys and birds and insects. Got bit by an ant the size of my pinky and saw beetles the size of my first. Lots of colorful, pretty birds and swinging Spider Monkeys. Took boat rides down the Amazon River and was reminded of the movie Anaconda as I stared at the murky brown river water. Tons of mosquitos too though and got lots of bites that annoy. But the travels were good. Learned a bit more about the world and myself.

Oh, and just random stuff. I have officially registered for Spring 2007, MY LAST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE. Waaaah. Gonna take an extra class to soak up as much knowledge as possible before Pitzer ends. For fun, here is my schedule. Take a class with me!!

SPAN033 PZ 01 Intermediate Spanish Barcenas,M Email PZ BH 209 -MTWR-- 10:00a 10:50a

POST196 PZ 01 Senior Seminar:Politics of Water Sullivan Email PZ AV 224 ---W--- 02:45p 05:30p

SOC 155 CH 01 Rural and Urban Social Movements Calderon,J Email PZ BD 208 --T---- 02:45p 05:30p

PHIL036 PO 01 Environmental Ethics Birondo,NN PO PR 102 -M-W--- 11:00a 12:15p

HIST100U BK 01 Pan-Africansm/Black Radical Trad Lemelle,SJ PO PR 101 -M----- 07:00p 09:50p

And now the current semester is going to close soon... only about three weeks left. The rest of the time the only thing left is to write my 30-page DISP report on Ecuadorian Soccer. I will post some pictures from the rural experience and the Amazon soon, but for these next few days itll be just REST, meaning: sleep, reading books, music, movies, junk food, and comics.

Peru y Machu Picchu

2006-11-15T09:09:00.000-08:00

Whew! Just flew back from Peru yesterday and I am one tired motherfucker. The Incan Trial was rough but we made it and were rewarded with the stunner of Machu Picchu in the stone cold reality of its ruins rather than in a framed view from a photo or idealistic fairy tale image in my head.

It was mystical, a lost city in the clouds surrounded only by green mountains and oh yes, a grip of tourists by midday which kinda ruined the mysterious quality of the setting but luckily we were able to view and explore earlier on before the crowds came. But we all had superiority complexes to the people who took the train in through the mountains. Random fact, but I was also surprised to learn that the ruins were only discovered in 1911.

The trek there was just as beautiful. Lots of pretty sights: forests, rivers, lakes, trees, other ruins, valleys. But it was also very difficult and disheartening at times. We had two people who vomitted from the altutide sickness and exhaustion. You'd look up and see the peak and have that in your head as the goal. And then when you reached it you realize the clouds just covered the rest of the upwardness that is five times higher. Though it was cool to look down from a perch and realize you can see the TOP of a cloud because we were above them at times. We took to the fucking sky and walked above it, yo. Luke Skywalker, eat your heart out.

The trial is basically a climb over several mountains, our highest peak was Warmiwanuska at 4,215 meters on the second day. The sucky thing was that it wasn't simply a big up and a big down over the mountain range, but up and down over and over several peaks and mountain passes a day. It is a taxing enough journey that they provided us with Coca leaves to chew and make tea during meals to give us energy. Yeah, same plant from which cocaine is derived.

I was going to post a grip of pictures of the sights on this here blog, but looking at them after I uploaded them I stuck my tongue out in disgust. Some things just cannot be captured. I guess it's like the difference between taking a car ride through a lovely landscape and walking or biking it. Staring out the window is hardly comprable to gazing and experiencing it because with the window, like a picture, there is a frame. There are boundaries. It's very different from being IN it. It was impossible to photograph because you couldn't fit the entire sight in that little shutter window or digital screen.

Some more numbers on the whole ordeal though. 44 kilometers total in three days horizontally, so about 27 miles. Except all of it is uphill and downhill while carrying your backpacking backpack so rough stuff and probably more for total distance if you wanna get technical.

Once we got there we took a bath in hot springs in the pueblo Agua Calientes with beers which was SO nice after dozens of collective sore muscles and over a dirty dozen of people who have been sweating pounds and couldn't shower for the entire hike.

We also spent a couple of days in Lima and Cusco, two cities in Peru, but didn't really have the time to explore but we hit up a few museums and sites that ranged from boring to pretty neat. But I wish we coulda checked out Peru more.

Another spiffy tidbit is that we took a short little one-hour class on Quechua, the language of Andeans spoken plentifully before the Spaniards came and conquered a lot of Latin America. Did so because once you leave the big cities less people speak Spanish. So just wanted to say Nukaka Vincent mi kani, Califoria manta mi kani. And something fun and cheesy is that someone asked how do you say "I love you" in Quechua and our professor said that there is no word in Quechua for "love" because in their culture love can only be showed only through action. Kinda nice to think of it as a silent sweetness like waking up to see someone has harvested the potatoes for you rather than a simple, easy word.

Okay, so I'm a sellout because I'm still gonna post up a few shots that honestly they do no justice to the beauty but I'm too much of a dork.

Peru te amo! Next stop: Living in Cotacachi with a rural farming family for a week starting at 8:00 AM tomorrow. Too intense!!

Venta-Uno y Cuenca

2006-11-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

Had my twenty-first birthday pass in Quito, Ecuador last week. ´Twas splendid.

I still got to eat sushi for my birthday ´cause Lan treated, yay Lan! Just had a very chill evening with my family of drinking and playing these two Ecuadorian card games that I now play pretty often they´re my new Poker.
It goes: My cousin Dayra who lives with us, my mom Ruth, Lan, our friend Monica, and me wearing the Liga soccer jersey my bro gave me. All in all an awesome way to pass the occasion.

And then also this past Wednesday was my last day of Spanish class in Ecuador! Yayay! I think I´m going to keep taking Spanish for my last semester at Pitzer to keep it all going. It´ll be rough waking up early at Pitzer for class EVERYDAY (language classes suck, why am I doing this again?) but I wanna make sure my Spanish gets as good as it can be. But for now, no more classes during this semester in Ecuador. On the menu for November is heavy traveling and December is the big DISP (30-page annoying paper). So celebration was in order and por eso: a long weekend trip to Cuenca, a charming colonial city an annoying 10 hours or so away from Quito. It was a chill weekend, they had a festival because it was the Independence Day for the founding of the city so there was music, markets, grips of people, performists and artists in the streets, all that good fun PLUS a sweet river running through the middle of the city. With that and all the cobblestone streets, grand churches, and architecture I felt like I went back in time. Just spent the weekend relaxing, walking, exploring, and being un-sober. Good times.

People outside the U.S. sure love to bash Bush. Roughly translates to: "Bush is a terrorist. No imperial wars". Hear, hear.

Flying out for Peru on Tuesday for the MACCHU PICCHU trip. Hella excited. Be back in Ecuador after a week. Wish me luck, the hike is gonna be brutal.

Feliz Dias

2006-10-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

Hey all, just wanted to post an update and say I´m still alive and kickin´. I ditched school today because I had no choice ´cause it´s the big Twenty-One. But anyway, things are just chill and I want to thank all the people who have sent me emails and messages through other mediums for all the well wishes.

And now, just wanted to post up some random pictures to what I´ve been up to since I haven´t posted in a while. Hope all´s well!

New hiking shoes! Vermillon from Columbia, Lan´s present. Yayay!

Academia Latinoamerica. The school I study Spanish at... but for only two more days and then school´s over and I´m going to travel in Peru (including Lima and Macchu Picchu), a rural homestay in Cotacachi, and backpacking in the Amazon. November´s gonna be busy...

Shot at the Liga-Emelec game I went to about a month ago. Now it´s the playoffs and Liga´s in it so I´m excited to go to playoff games soon. Liga plays their first home playoff game this Wednesday against hated Quito. OOOoHhhH...

Random pic of me in front of a church I went to in Old Towne, Quito.

Lan sportin´ a new Otavalo wristband. This is from two weekends ago when we visited Otavalo, the most famous indigineous market in Ecuador. To my fantasy freaks, this is the village where I drafted basketball and had to bail for that bus (with three whole minutes to spare!).

This weekend I traveled to Ibarra, a small colonial town and had Rosalia Suarez Pail Ice Cream, which rocks. It´s prepared and whipped up in these steel pails so the ice cream tastes a little different and gets ice cold but doesn´t give you brain freeze. Good stuff.

Preciosa, our dog, chilling with me while I´m reading comics in my bed.

Baños

2006-10-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend was the trip with Lan to Baños, a small town that literally translates to ¨bathroom¨. But rest assured, it was much more beautiful than the name implies. I arrived on Saturday after a 4 hour bus ride from Quito and loved it right away. It´s surrounded by mountains like being in a donut-hole, but they´re all really close so it´s cool. Here are some shots around town:

We got in, had some lunch and got served alcohol, which was nice because alcohol was prohibited in Ecuador this past weekend as the country had its presidential election. Interesting note about Ecuadorian politics is that voting is mandatory for everyone so stores aren´t allowed to sell alcohol during the weekend of the election because they don´t want people to vote drunk I guess. Anyways, afterwards we went to a famous hot spring bath (where the city gets its name) called Piscina de la Virgen. Very relaxing with cold night air (and it was raining which also made it kinda nice) and the steaming hot spring water.

The real fun started on Saturday though, when we embarked on a 44-km (a little over 26 miles) bike ride through the Rio Pastaza Canyon to check out the sights and waterfalls along the way, especially the Pailon al Diablo. But first the fresh fruit double pancakes on the roof terrace cafe of the hostel:

Then rollin´ out:

Some sights on the way:

Me and my bike. The first one is just screaming to be a Facebook picture but I don´t log on much anymore:

At last we reached Pailon al Diablo, what my cousin told me was the best waterfall in Ecuador:

We then had lunch at around 2 or 3 after biking all day near the waterfall at this small restaurant that was build there:

After we tried to bike back to town but it was too tiring so we hitched on the back of a truck and they took us back to town. But dayam it was a great day, biking through that canyon and taking in all the sights from the seat of a mountain bike. And Lan wanted to take a bus tour before! These pictures don´t do the marvelousness justice. I guess you will just have to come with me when I come back to Ecuador some day. All in all, the world is beautiful.

Nostálgico

2006-10-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Ten things from home I miss:

1. Being with people. My family, my friends, my homies, even acquaintences.
2. Sashimi, sushi, and the godly pairing that is wasabi and soy sauce.
3. Not having to wake up at 7:00 AM everyday for class. And living on-campus at Pitzer and being able to wake up five minutes before class and have it be a walk across the mounds away.
4. People don't stare at me everywhere I go whispering, "Chino..."
5. Wienerschnitzel runs with my sister.
6. Going on adventures across the 5-Cs.
7. Strangely enough, Netflix. Even more strangely, Pitzer's campus and our old cruddy dorm rooms.
8. Driving while listening to music really loudly and singing and jammin' to it.
9. Predictable weather and sports video games.
10. You, most of all.

Fulbright y Futbol!!

2006-10-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhh!! Fulbright applications are due this Friday!! It's been annoying trying to put together my application while abroad but I think it'll be okay, just need my references to submit my letters for me on time and go through my 12th drafts of essays. I'm applying for a Teaching English Assistantship in Taiwan, for those who are in the dark. U.S. Government pays for travel and living expenses along with a salary for one year. Damn too bad there are only 12 spots in the entire U.S.

Other than stressin' on Fulbright Fellowship, things have been continually good in Ecuador. I went to my first ever professional soccer game on Sunday and it was nuts. People insulting and throwing stuff at fans for the other team and the like. I got one of the goals on video 'cause it was a penalty kick and I was gonna post it up but it's too big and I don't wanna wait for the UL. Game ended in a tie, 3-3. I'm gonna try and go to next Sunday's bloodbath between Quito and Liga, mortal enemies. Since Ecuador only has a few big cities there are 2 teams for some cities and Quito and Liga are the two Quito teams. My team's Liga since my family is die-hard Liga. I think it's pretty cool how universally loved soccer teams are here. You'll rarely see old ladies and 10 year-old boys going crazy and throwing empty water bottles at people over the same thing.

Mindo es Lindo

2006-09-26T16:31:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Here´s the update as promised. These are pictures from my weekend in Mindo, a little village near the mouth of the Amazon. It was really beautiful there and I stayed at this cute little wooden hotel which had all of two rooms, hammocks, and a bird garden for only $16 bucks. Yesss.

On Saturday we went to go see the butterfly conservatory, which has a bunch of butterflies (naturally) and we got to see them from larvae to cacoon to butterfly (the best part). I remember when I was there thinking how cool it´d be just to live there and help save certain species of butterflies from extinction. These ones aren´t that pretty but they look cool ´cause they have owl eyes on their wings as a form of natural protection from predators.

Rollin´ out on a Saturday hike.

Happiness.

Prettiness.

Chilling in a hammock at night, listening to the forest ´cause basically the hotel was just a little wooden house in the middle of one.

Sunday morning we went hiking to go look at some waterfalls. En route we had to take this cable car thing over a big ´ol valley. It was kinda freaky but also fun.

My current wallpaper.

A waterfall we saw.

Me on the cable car. But yeah, very fun. Great scenery, tremendously relaxing, makes the city look like a toliet. This gets me hella excited for November when I´ll take a flight down to Peru to visit Macchu Picchu and go hiking for a week into the ACTUAL Amazon, which will be waaay more dense. Damnit, I need new hiking shoes. NEW HIKING SHOES PLEASE. Much love, Vince.

Centro Historico

2006-09-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Yay!! I had such an amazing weekend! It started on Friday afternoon on a spectacular day, when Lan and I decided to take the Trole to Centro Historico aka Southern Quito aka Old Towne. Here are some pics from the day:

Just hanging out where the city was originally founded with all the old Spanish architecture, buncha churches, and good food. But the real highlight of the weekend was our trip to Mindo, a little village at the doorstep of the Amazon about two hours outside of Quito by bus. Lan and I left Saturday morning, stayed overnight, and came back this afternoon. It was so pretty there. Subsequent post to follow shortly!

Tres cosas que RULE

2006-09-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Super Punch-Out!, Bingo, and David Cross. Damn these three things rule.

Vamos a la playa

2006-09-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend mi bronx took me to the beach up in Northern Ecuador near the city of Esmeraldas to Topasun Beach. It was about a five hour drive each way but it was muy divertido. Now it´s Monday and I´ve returned to Quito, back to the daily grind. But here are some sights to share with y´all:

The area driving to Esmeraldas. Que bonito!

So apparently bulls (I first thought they were cows, unfortunately not) show up at the beach all the time.

Me and my bro Esteban.

So this is like the Ecuadorian sashimi! It´s called cebiche and it´s especially tasty at the beach ´cause it´s really fresh. It´s this dish that consists of raw clams, shrimps, tomatoes, onions, and dashes of salt, pepper, and mustard. DAMN it was fabulous. Chuta madre, que rico! Had it 2 ouuta the 3 days I was there.

My buddy Poncho, but we like to affectionally refer to him as Gollum. The resemblance is uncanny!

Yawn. Morning beach shot. So chill.

The posse and two random girls we met at a discoteca whose names I´ve forgotten (Lo siento chicas). But otherwise from right to left it goes Esteban, Gollum, Fabby (for Fabian), and me.

La primera semana

2006-09-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

¿Que pasa chicas?

Buenes tardes from an internet cafe at the corner of Mariana de Jesus and Ave. Amazonas in the city of Quito!

Everything has been a nuts for the first week and finally now during my first weekend in Ecuador I´m starting to settle in. The first couple of days were boring, just chilling at a hotel and going through boring orientations about health and safety. Speaking of which, it takes six locks to get into my house. I´ve got the keychain of a medival dungeon master. I guess it´s a pretty sizable problem.

My family here is chock-full of awesomeness. I live with my mom, her cousin (kinda like an aunt to me), and my brother. My mom´s name is Ruth Lara and she´s a director of human resources at a dental office. Mi hermano, Esteban, works at a cell phone company and hooked me up with a free cell phone to use here in Quito. Esteban´s a really chevere guy who does a buncha coke and estacy. He took me out on the town last night and it was tiring and un-sober. I ended up taking a taxi home at around 4 AM ´cause that guy is just too crazy for me.

Schedule here´s pretty busy. Got Spanish class from 8:30-1:00 every weekday and then seminar once a week. I walk to school and the Pitzer office for seminar, and I enjoy them tremendously because it allows me to digest the city more (Walks are up to 30, 40 minutes each way). I´m also doing community service volunteer work with special kids in poorer families for about 4 hours a week. My español is coming along slowly but surely (Catfish to some). It´s frustrating at times but also really encouraging when I take new steps and can string together more and more words and setences. My goal is still to end up being fluent at the end of the semester but it´s looking a lot harder than initially anticipated. I´m also watching Simpsons episodes dubbed in Spanish with likewise subtitles to try and make free time more productive.

The city of Quito itself is amazing. I decided I must live in a city now, fuck suburbia. It´s so nice to be able to walk everywhere and take public transportation rather than having to drive half an hour to do stuff in SoCal and pay ridiculous gas prices (Gas is around $1.35 a gallon in Quito, FYI). My mom´s office is a ten-minute walk from our house, how sweet is that. I want to have a work-home distance relationship like that! I have no Internet connection in my house, but it doesn´t matter I can walk to a net cafe like ten minutes away. And while walking the streets of Quito you can look at the pretty mountain view and everyday it´s clear so you can see everything (unlike in Claremont ´cause of the LA smog). The city is actually nestled on the mountainside and clutters up alongside the ridge. It´s actually a really amazing sight when you can get views of it from taller buildings or being at higher levels. The altitude took some adjusting (2,800 meters above sea level -- around 12,000 feet) but I´m alright now. Some other kids had altitude sickness when we first got here and it can take two weeks for your body to double its red blood cell count. The eating custom of Ecuador is pretty sweet: you eat a normal breakfast, a huge lunch, and people usually skip dinner or have like toast and coffee. I´m liking it! And the food´s amazing too. I´m trying a buncha new fruits and dishes, it´s all as tasty as Oreoes when you´re stoned.

Anyway, that´s a lot of the basic stuff. I love Ecuador!! How are things going on in the States?

Leaving on a jet plane

2006-08-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Going to sleep now and TAKING OFF TOMORROW. The next post will be from Quito. Bye everybody! Have a great semester/fall/four months!! I love all y'all and I'll miss you!!!

(Green Bay) Packing!!

2006-08-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

PACKING LIST FOR THE 4-MONTH ADVENTURE (shoot I hope I'm not forgetting anything):

- clothes (shirts, hoodies, pants, shorts, boxers, socks)
- laptop and power cord
- mouse
- headphones
- cds
- listerine
- towels (small one, big one, washcloth)
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
- digi camera and cables and charger
- sunglasses
- backup glasses
- journal
- water bottle
- pens
- cologne/axe
- moneybelt
- condoms
- gifts for family
- documents (visa, vaccination book, health papers)
- traveler's checks
- sleeping bag
- photocopies of documents (in other bag)
- contact info for home
- motorcycle diaries dvd
- simpsons dvd
- sandles
- bathing suit
- flashdrive/mp3 player
- spanish dictionary
- pitzer ecuador handbook

Coming Soon...

2006-08-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

Damn, it's just a little under two weeks before I head out now. I'm not quite feelin' it yet, that I'm gonna be gone for four months. Not quite sure if I'm ready for it... I spent the summer studying Spanish and I've learned a bit, but I'm sure it's all gonna fly outta my brain the second someone fluent strings two sentences together and I'll stare blankly with a "WTF" look on my face.

When I start packing and shit and it gets under a week I'll really start feeling it. Until then, check out the fucking fabulous real-time date/clock on the sidebar over there --->

Even though you can figure out what time it is with very simple addition I still think that clock is damn neato.

WORLD CUP MADNESS

2006-06-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

OLE! OLE! LET'S GO TRICOLORS!!!

Soccer.

2006-04-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling I'm going to be a huge soccer fan after my stay in Ecuador. Since I love being a sports fan and won't be able to follow my Packers, Lakers, Blue Crew, or Kings firsthand, I might get swept up in the national soccer fever. So don't be surprised if I come back to the States screaming, "Luis Suarez is a GOD!"

The Shit To Know.

2006-04-17T02:22:00.000-07:00

What's up everyone. Okay, so if you don't know already: I'm going to Ecuador! I fly out on August 27th, and I'll be back before Christmas on December 21st. So it's going to be a roughly four-month adventure into a place that I can't even imagine what'll be like. I'll mainly be staying in Quito, which is the capital city that hovers about 10K feet above sea level making it the 2nd highest captial in the world. (Insert marijuana joke here). I'm there for around two months, and then I go up to live in the mountains with a rural family for about a month where I'll conduct my independent study. Oooh, I'm so excited. But kinda scared 'cause...

Ooh yeah, I don't speak more than four words of Spanish. Eep. Hopefully it'll work out (I hear the language institute there is nuts and I'll be speaking it fine in a month and fluent in a semester?) and be an amazing experience.

This blog will be a connection from you to me, and I'll let you in on the latest escapade I'll be escaping towards. But as far as my side goes, this will be a forum where I'll be able to hear from all the love back home, so make sure you leave some for me. Comment heavily, don't be shy, 'cause I want to hear from everyone back in the States.

Anyway, that's basically the gist of it all so bookmark the site, and come back to check it post-August and hopefully it'll provide you some entertainment during those procrastination periods. Peace!