The Freedom Climb

Throughout my time here, I have become involved with several different organizations and foundations, one of which is Dunamis.  Dunamis is a ministry that focuses on teaching life skills to women who have been victims of rape, sex trafficking, domestic abuse and labor trafficking.  The girls from ACF visit Dunamis three times a week.  Dunamis holds workshops to teach the girls the basic skills of jewelry-making, sewing, and beauty, hoping to increase the girls' chances of finding a job and decrease the girls' chances of returning to prostitution.  

Every year, Dunamis holds "The Freedom Climb", a challenging hike on one of Ecuador's mountains with the goal to raise awareness of the human trafficking problem in Ecuador.   This year, we hiked Guagua Pichincha (the mountain that the TeleferiQo is on).  This hike was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done - I swear we were climbing at a 90 degree incline.  I was so proud to see all my ACF girls finish, as I know it was even more challenging for them.  Overall, a great hike with great people for a great cause.  

With Mar-loes and Melissa - two of my closest friends throughout this experience

The Dunamis team + me!

The End at 3,936 meters!

Congratulations after finishing the hike

An Adventure Weekend in Baños

As my time here is quickly coming to an end, I have been super busy: visiting some final places on my bucket list, working my final days at the shelter, and beginning to say many difficult goodbyes to my friends and family here.  With that being said, get ready for multiple posts with some updates on my past few weeks of adventures!

First, my trip to Baños.   A few weekends ago, Melissa, Bijan (from Timmy global health) and I traveled to Baños (known as the "Adventure Capital of Ecuador") for a long weekend.  Baños is a half Andean/half Amazonian town at the base of the Tungurahua volcano.  We arrived on a Friday around noon and immediately went to the market for some lunch (add that to the list of things I will miss from Ecuador: $2 delicious lunches!). After lunch, we started out on hike #1.  We hiked to the top of a mountain in order to get a view of Tungurahua and it was a success!  We finished off the day with some meat and cheese fondue - so yummy!  The next day, we decided to rent bikes to visit the multiple waterfalls just outside of town.  The pouring rain didn't stop us :)  By noon, we had visited all the waterfalls and still had plenty of energy, so we decided to keep riding for a little longer.  Three hours and 60km later, we reached Puyo, Ecuador's largest jungle town.  After a little rest, we caught a bus back to Baños as we couldn't even imagine sitting on those bikes for a minute more.  Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early to hike up to "La Casa de Arból" (the famous tree house of Baños), where you can "swing at the end of the world".  

Tungurahua Volcano

"Swinging at the end of the world"

Quick Trip To Mindo

I know this is long overdue, but better late than never right :) 

Over Easter weekend, my friend Melissa and I decided to take a quick trip to explore Mindo, a cloud forest reserve.  As Mindo is a little less than 2 hours from Quito, a day trip was entirely possible - we just wanted to do some hiking and get out of the city for a bit.   After arriving early Saturday morning, we hired a truck to take us up the mountain to a cable car (a very rickety cable car), which we would use to cross over a canyon to get to the waterfalls.  Once across the canyon, we spent the morning hiking through jungle-like forestation, and lots of mud, to about 7 different waterfalls.  It was absolutely gorgeous, especially how green everything was.  Plus, as Mindo is known for its butterflies, it was fun to see how many we could spot along the way.  After a full 4 hours of hiking, we returned to the center of Mindo for lunch.  We then caught our bus home to Quito, early enough that I could help Matele with some final preparations for Easter lunch the next day! 

Passing over the canyon in the cable car

Melissa and I

Semana Santa en Quito

Easter has definitely been my favorite holiday spent here in Ecuador.  Holy Week, or Semana Santa, is a very big celebration here. This past week has been filled with events throughout Quito, plus lots of family time :)  

I went to several concerts in the old town - an Andean orchestra outside in the Presidential Plaza, a children's choir and a Mexican musical group both in churches of the Centro Historico (including the Compania - possibly one of the most extravagant churches in Quito).  I loved hearing live music - the orchestra especially made me realize how much I miss orchestra and the cello!  

On Good Friday, or Viernes Santo, I went to the Old Town for the processions.  Some of you may have heard or seen photos of this, especially of the "KKK-like" people.  I'm so glad I had the chance to experience this religious tradition.  I went to the "Jesus del Gran Poder" processions (the most popular and largest), which lasted for about 3 hours and went all about the Old Town.  This was maybe one of the most intense parades I have ever seen.  The  streets were filled with cucuruchos, people dressed in all purple with the large cones on their heads.  The cones are a symbol of humility and the color purple symbolizes pentinence; these people walk in the parade as an act of faith to god for all to witness.  While it took me some time to get accustomed to thousands of "KKK-like" people flooding the streets, it was not this that shocked me the most.  People also walked dressed as Jesus bearing HUGE crosses (remember - Quito's Old Town is full of hills), wrapped themselves with barbed wire, cacti, nettles and thorns, and even lashed themselves.  Some dressed as Romans and walked along side of those dressed as Jesus, whipping them repeatedly.  And, almost everyone walked in barefoot - it was a very, very hot day.  You could see their immense pain and exhaustion as the people passed.  After the processions, I went to Chiri's (the sister of Matele) house for Fanesca - the typical Ecuadorean meal of Semana Santa.  It is a soup made with 12 grains to represent the 12 apostles and fish to represent Jesus himself.  The soup is soooo delicious - maybe one of my favorite parts of Semana Santa :)

On Saturday, a friend and I took a trip to Mindo, the cloud forest about 2 hours north of Quito, to do some hiking.  Since this was not related what-so-ever to Semana Santa, and I'm waiting to get some photos from my friend, I'll save this trip for my next posting.  

Today, we celebrated "Pascua" or Easter much like my family does in the States.  Matele's family came over for a wonderful lunch of hornado, a typical Ecuadorean dish very similar to pulled-pork but so much better (Matele made this because I had mentioned that we usually have ham at home).  We even had an Easter egg hunt in our apartment.  And we finished off the day with a night-time Easter service. 

Weekend Adventures: Cotopaxi and Papallacta

After catching the "travel bug"  while my parents and Hannah were here, I have decided to use my final months here visiting the final places on my Ecuador bucketlist.   

Two weekends ago, I visited Cotopaxi National Park, the home of the Cotopaxi volcano, the second highest volcano in Ecuador and one of the tallest, most active in the world.  The park is about an hour and half bus ride from Quito, so a friend and I planned for a day visit.  After waking up before the buses were even running, we arrived at the park around 8 in the morning, just as the gates were opening.  We rented a 4x4 truck to drive us around the park for the day.  Our first stop was the refuge, a small hut at 4,800m and about a 45 minute hike up the volcano.  This is the farthest point that people can hike without official guides, as after this point the climb gets very technical and full of glaciers.  Our next stop was a beautiful lagoon, where we did a nice easy hour hike.  Before leaving, we did one final hike along the valleys formed by the lava flow and eroded from storms.  Overall, it was great to get out of the city for some fresh mountain air.  

This past weekend, I visited Papallacta, thermal volcanic hot springs.  After palm sunday mass, a few friends and I headed off to the springs for a day filled with relaxation.  The springs are far up in the mountains.  The resort we visited had about 15 different pools, all different sizes and temperatures.  Plus, a river ran right through the resort, so if you were very brave, you could hop into the freezing water as a little refresher before getting back into the spas.  

Now, I just need to visit Mindo, a cloud forest reserve, and Banos, an adventure town at the base of volcano Tungurahua (the one that has been erupting for the past 2 months now) in order to finish my Ecuador bucketlist!  

Cotopaxi Peak

The lagoon

Hitchhiking home!  Kidding - we were just getting a bus :)

The Eberts Visit Ecuador: Part 2

Hannah arrived one week after my parents and more adventures followed, thus Part 2: Hannah's Visit.

After arriving at 6am on Saturday morning, we headed to Otavalo(the artesian market) for a day full of shopping.  We ended up buying about 10 different textiles - I guess that's what happens when you bring an art major to the market.  We spent Sunday exploring Quito's old town, visiting millions of museums, and eating lots of street food and ice cream! 

Monday morning, we headed off to the galapagos (yes - I've now visited the galapagos twice).  Upon arriving, we took a 2-hr boat ride over to Isabela island, the largest island of the galapagos.  There, we spent 3 days biking, visiting turtles and flamingoes, snorkeling through lava tunnels, and tanning on the many beaches.  On Thursday morning, we took the 2-hr boat ride back to Santa Cruz, the most populated island and where I stayed with my parents.  Here, we visited Tortuga Bay, snorkeled with lots of sea-life and fishes, and visited Las Grietas (look it up - it's a beautiful place).  

We left the galapagos saturday morning, and instead of returning to Quito, we headed to Guayaquil (Ecuador's largest city, about 2 hours from the coast).  We spent about 3 hours in the city and were more than ready to leave, so we got on a bus and headed to Olon, a small fishing town right on the coast.  We spent 3 days here, tanning (or more appropriately burning) on the beach and drinking lots and lots of fruit milkshakes.  One day, we went to Los Frailes, one of Ecuador's most beautiful beaches.   On Tuesday, we headed further up the coast to Canoa, another small fishing coastal town.  We spent another two days here before heading back to Quito, nice and fried from all the sun.  

We spent Hannah's last day in Quito, relaxing in the parks and getting $5 haircuts!  For her final night, we went to the same jazz restaurant that I took my parents for one last typical Ecuadorean meal.  She left early Friday morning.  

Now it's time for me to get out of vacation-mode and back to volunteering-mode.  I have 2 months left in Quito and I plan to make the very best of all my time left here!

Textiles at Otavalo Market

The Eberts Visit Ecuador: Part 1

I've spent the last month spending time with my parents and Hannah, exploring the Galapagos, all about Quito, the coast, and Santo Domingo.  So here it goes - part 1 of the adventures: my parents' visit.

My parents visited for two weeks in total - we spent the first week doing "touristy" things in Quito and the Galapagos and the second week in Santo Domingo working with Timmy Global Health on a medical brigade.  

Week 1:  Matele, my host mom, threw my parents a welcome dinner for their first night in Ecuador.  My parents were able to meet my "Ecuador family", and lucky for me, they all speak English except for Matele.  We spent the next day wandering throughout Quito's Old District, checking out the many beautiful churches.  Monday morning, we headed off bright and early for the GALAPAGOS!!!!  We spent the next four days in the Galapagos.  We kayaked at the beautiful Tortuga Bay, visited the giant tortoise reserve, and snorkeled with sea lions, sea turtles, sharks, manta rays, and many tropical fish.  We had a fantastic time, just wished we had more days to continue exploring the islands.  Thursday, we returned to Quito and spent the evening at local restaurant listening to live jazz music - possibly one of our favorite meals the whole trip!  Friday was used for exploring more of Quito - we rode the teleferiQo up to the top of Volcano Pichincha (too bad it was quite foggy), followed by a visit to Museo Guayasamin (an Ecuadorean artist - look him up, we really enjoyed his work).  Saturday, we took the 2-hr beautiful trip through the Andes to Otavalo, the enormous outdoor market.  This trip marked the end of our "vacation", it was now time to start to work. 

Week 2:  Saturday evening, we met up with the rest of the volunteers for the medical brigade.  In total, there were 3 family physicians (including my parents), 1 dentist, 2 women's health pa's, about 10 student volunteers, and 3-4 translators (including myself).  Sunday morning, we headed down to Santo Domingo.  In spirit of Carnaval, after lunch and before getting down to serious brigade business, we had our own water-balloon and silly string battle.  After that, it was all business :)  We held medical clinics Monday through Friday at different sites throughout the clinic.  I LOVED translating for my parents.  It was cool to see them "in action".  Plus, it was pretty great to relax with my parents after a long day at the clinic! 

Overall, it was a wonderful two weeks with my parents.  I loved showing them bits of my life here in Quito - hopefully they enjoyed the time as much as I did!

Overlooking Quito

The beautiful Tortuga Bay

Check out my facebook for LOTS more photos from my parents' visit!