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Report for January Saturday after New Year´s a farewell party was organized for on of my exchange friends from Australia. Michael´s host family organized a farewell party for him. There I encountered with other exchange friends and other friends (most who attended Michael´s school). There weren´t many people at the party however it turned out to be very entertaining. That Tuesday I spent at Michael´s house because the Thursday following it he would leave to return to Australia. Michael played the guitar to entertain us. A few people shed tears and to tell you the truth I wanted to cry, not because he was leaving but the fact that I too would have to leave this paradise in about 7 months. Well, I tried avoiding that fact. I guess you can say that January 2004 was party month because on 10th January, I joined with a whole bunch of other peeps to celebrate one of my best friends´ birthday which would actually be celebrated on the 18th if we hadn´t gone to the Amazon Rainforest. The party was organized by April´s host mother with me behind the scenes inviting the people, like girls from my school. Our hopes for a successful celebration turned out great and the best part of all was that April enjoyed herself. The worse part of this month was the night of January 11 when I came down with a terrible fever and cold. I had slept at April´s house from the night of the party and before going to bed the following night I had a horrifying fever and my body ached, my eyes burned, my nose was stuffy, and my throat had been sore. Yep, I had the Ecuadorian virus. I woke up on Monday morning as hot as a piece of clothing right out of the dryer. It was awful. I wouldn´t normally want to take pills or get injected but I felt so bad that I went to the doctor and had to be injected in the rear end. He also prescribed some remedies that I had to take in moderation. I spent 4 days just trying to get rid of the virus by means of 3 injections, 3 different pills and a whole lot of love. Wednesday, 14th January arrived and I wasn´t the normal Anthonyia that I was before the party. Well, the trip to the Amazon Rainforest would be that Friday and having already paid, I wasn´t going to miss that for the world – the WORLD. I had one day to pack my luggage (my backpack) – I was wise this trip and only took a backpack unlike everyone else who took a suitcase and a backpack. I had to begin packing to change host families also because the day following my arrival from the Amazon I would change host families. 11:30pm on Friday, 16th January 2004, a group of 11 exchange students from Manabi left with a chaperon in bus to travel to Quito. We arrived at 8 am more or less and had to take taxis to the airport where we would meet with the kids from Guayaquil and travel by plane to a city called Coca. We ate breakfast at the airport seeing that we had plenty of time before the plane would leave. It was heart-thrilling to meet with the other exchange students once again. Our flight left and my ears didn´t get adjusted to the altitude, so that part of the trip wasn´t at all very fun. We arrived in Coca and our tour guides from Yachana Lodge (an Ecotourism organization where we spent our 4 nights and 5 days) were waiting for us. We rode to a restaurant in this Safari-type bus. There we had lunch and later left in motorboats for Yachana Lodge. It was a 2-hour ride up river. We arrived at Yachana Lodge after 2 hours of sitting and I could tell that we would experience a life-thrilling time. First of all, I could tell that the people there were very hospitable because of how they awaited with smiles that welcomed us to find trust in them. The first day was quite easy. We met with our tour guides Delfin and Juan who had split us into two smaller controllable groups. I was placed in Delfin´s group. Our first exercise was a 3-hour hike through secondary and primary forests with several stops here and there to learn more about the plants and to look at insects and animals that our guide spotted from far away. Our guide was amazing; very swift and precise at his job. Brief history of Ecuador´s part of the Rainforest: A very densely vegetated that reaches an elevation of approximately 5,000 metres. Where we encounter a lot of green (rich in leaves) with animals hiding behind every other tree. Some of the towns with indigenous habitants are Tena, Macas, Coca and Nueva Loja where you find an entirely different way of life compared to that of the Coast or the Sierra. The most popular sports of this region are rafting and kayaking. A paradise behind pure and unmanageable waters. The owner of Yachana Lodge (from Kentucky, USA) who lectured us on “One person can change the world”, also told us on “One person can change the world”, alsot told us that he had been living in Ecuador since the 1970´s and has been the owner of Yachana Lodge for some 18 years. He says the best part of being a part of this Ecotourism project is knowing that the people behind him supporting him every minute are natives of Ecuador. At Yachana Lodge I had the best food I have tasted here in Ecuador. I guess it was because everything was so natural and healthy. That was the first time I thought healthy food tasted great. One morning we went birdwatching with one of the tour guides and the only reason I actually saw a bird was because I borrowed the guide´s binoculars. Apart from the good we visited a Medicine Man called a “Shaman” in their native language Quichua. This medicine man gave us a brief introduction to the different materials he uses in order to perform his healing process. He performed a cleansing ceremony on each exchange student who went on the trip. Later on we practiced using blowguns to hit a papaya on a stick placed about 3 metres from standing distance. On my second try (as I was not going to give up until I actually hit the papaya) I hit that papaya without a doubt. Using the spear to hit a tree trunk about 2 metres away was a bit more difficult and therefore after about 7 tries I got my spear to make good contact with the tree trunk. We later met up with a native who taught us to weave baskets out of Panama Hat Palm leaves and to make ceramics from a clay found at the bottom of the river. We watched locals dig for gold in the soil in order to survive and support their families. They would dig and sift this soil all day completing 100 trays each day to reach 10 grams of gold which could earn $40. For fun we´d use our life jackets, jump in the river and let the swift current carry us back to Yachana Lodge after a long day. Hiking to a vantage point to see the sunset, having the locals teach us to dance “Kumbia” and then rocking ourselves to sleep in hammocks ended our days in the Amazon Rainforest. Unbelievable is the first word I´d use to describe the experience, even thought it only rained for about an hour during our stay. I recommend everyone (persons of all ages) to visit the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador and it probably isn´t very easy in person so browse the website to get an idea of a natural paradise – www.yachana.com The latest news is my change
in host families. Yes, it has been 5 months. Time is really going by
quickly and I am having a heart-thrilling time of my life. The hardest part
of switching host families, though, is waking up to totally different faces
every morning after seeing the same faces for 5 months and getting
accustomed to sleeping in the same bed, eating the same food, and speaking
with the same people for 5 MONTHS! For me, changing host families was like
starting my exchange all over again. Having to get accustomed to a
different way of living, “starting a new page” really showed me culture
shock. It was so strange the first 2 days to seem like I was learning the
language all over again. My host mother is helping me eat more healthy, in
a few weeks she will start teaching me how to stitch and cook her way. I am
starting a guitar course on February 2. So far, after changing host
families at 12 noon on 22nd January 2004, I have visited our family´s farm,
I went to a wedding and reception of April´s host sister (with my host
family) and we went to a reception of First Communion of one of my cousins
(by part of my new host mother). My 3-month vacation from school has begun
and I already know that I am going to be really occupied with the culture –
the culture of life! |