All Caught Up

Back into the Rhythm 11-Oct-2009

Its been almost a week back in Quito, with nothing major to report. My family and I are starting to finally understand each other (although this morning there was some confusion over what type of eggs I wanted and I ended up with poached eggs rather than hard boiled) My bother invited me to a terrace party for one of his friends on Friday night and my other brother likes to show off his guitar talents, so whenever I am doing homework around the house, there he is rocking away. Last week we only had two days of classes, due to a trip to an organic farm and a late arrival from the Oriente. This weekend seven of us told the teleferico, a cable car which ascends to about 4100 meters up the face of Quito's closest volcano, Pichincha. This is known as a “base camp” for those who are trying to summit the peak. Base camp is approximately half way between Quito and Pichincha's summit. Being a mile higher than we were used to made the ascent very difficult. According to our mountaineering guide, a fit, relatively acclimated climber can make the ascent in 3 hours.

A note for my mother, who is very anti-mountaineering, there is no technical element to this climb, meaning there at no time the need for axes, crampons, front pointing, or any type of roping or harnessing. It is as safe as a walk in the park. The trails are well marked and there is a medical staff on call.

That being said, about 2 hours into the climb there is fork in the trail, one way leads to the quicker, Pasa del muerte and the other the ruta del Pichincha. We elected the latter. The climb was not technical but strenuous and when we were about 30 minutes from the summit when a friend said she was having trouble seeing and felt light headed. She sat down for a moment and when she stood back up she collapsed and started shaking. My friend Elliot and I are both trained to treat these kind of situations, we treated her for shock and gave her a chocolate bar to help raise her blood sugar. We then covered her with all of the clothing that we could spare, elevated her legs and helped her drink some water. In about 20 minutes she had recovered and told us that this had happened twice before and was probably a combination of the thin air and small breakfast. We decided that this was a sign for us to turn back. By the time we touched down we all had sun burn lines from our sunglasses and hats and also had burned more calories than any previous day here in Quito. So we hopped on a bus for the local pancake house and ate our weigh in pancakes. Despues, we congregated at Andy's house to watch Ecuador take on Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier. In the last 30 seconds, Uruguay scored and pulled ahead, 2-1. The game ended and I'm surprised that there wasn't rioting in the streets. After the game I collapsed in bed and slept for 13 hours.

We have another week in Quito, then a week from Tuesday we fly to the Galapagos for a week. This is what everyone has been waiting for. The only thing that separates us is the busiest week yet of the program. Our grant proposals, Field investigation reports and Field Journals are all due this week.

We also have to commit to own Independent Study Projects before we leave for the Galapagos. I was considering a project in Puerto Lopez, working with children an elementary school, assisting a teacher for a month, but there was another person who had their heart set on the same project, so I pulled out. Now, half due to my choice and half due to Sylvia's forcefulness, I am 90% sure that I will be living in the Amazon for 4 weeks with an indigenous tribe, I will have to bring all the food I can and can only fly in by a dual engine-12 person plane on days when it is not raining. While there I will be working with community leaders on an ecotourism project as well as offer free english lessons during the evening. Still not committed, but it may look as if I have no choice.

On a final note, I apologize to my family and friends, who I have not been in contact with recently. It's hard to get to an international phone and also to an internet cafe. Both of which depend on my family, who at times doesn't have time to make the drive. I'll be calling this week, I owe the folks at Carleton another call, same goes for Hannah and my fam.

One last story, I left my house on Friday night to meet some friends. When I left, my parents and two family friends were playing cards, as they do every Friday and Saturday night. When I got back at 1:30aam they were still playing and after we talked for a bit, we both realized that neither of us had eaten dinner. So naturally we all made dinner and ate as a family at 230am. It was a little strange.

14-OCT-09

Not much report of late. Ecuador was bumped out of the World Cup Preliminaries, we leave for Las Galapagos next Tuesday and return the following Tuesday. Our spanish class has taken a turn for the better, we have stopped reviewing grammar and now simply speak about important Ecuadorian themes. Every night we have to go home and talk with our homestay family about 21th century socialism in Latin America, Ecuadorian poverty, surmounting climate change and environmental destruction. Because of this, my Spanish has improved more in the last 6 weeks than in all of the previous 6 years of formal classes.

Also, today I had a bad case of homesickness. The language, the stress, the culture shock all hit hard. I only tell this to you all so that you all know that, despite the adventure, I miss you all and am thinking of you. Especially my family (except for Carly). And mom, I have not forgotten your birthday and will try to find a working international phone tomorrow or the following day. I love and miss you all.

Oct 18, 2009

Again, sorry for the tardiness of my posts (if anyone still bothers to read)

Warning: Social Commentary/Ranting, skip to next paragraph if you don't care.

The longer we stay in Quito, the more apparent all of the isms our directors told us about become apparent. This city is filled with racism, classicism, sexism and homophobia. The racism is terrible towards anyone from anywhere in Asia, Colombia or the coast of Ecuador (people from the coast are known as 'monos' or monkeys) but by far the most hated group by the mestizo population is the indigenous population. As usual, the natives in here in Ecuador share the same, sad history of exploitation and discrimination. They have been subject to the three C's (colonization, Christianization, and civilization) since the first Spaniards arrived. Their land has been parceled of. In fact when the first Westerners arrived, one of the arguments used to justify the terrible treatment of the natives was that they were not the same race as Europeans because they had no sense of private property. This justified slavery and extermination because they were not human, but animals. On the flip side, with respect to land ownership, the various indigenous tribes did not believe you could own something that you depended on for survival. Anyways, the natives to Ecuador and all of South America have a long, sad history of mistreatment. In the past it was conquistadors today it is the oil companies. (except for a few remote tribes who have literally speared so many oil representatives that they are left alone) In the West's “civilization” of the indigenous population, which finally had reached the majority of native tribes by 1980, tens of thousands of natives had no choice but to be integrated into the western society. Because of this you will never see a mestizo begging on the street, only an indigenous individual. Now, they are the peddlers, the beggars, the poor. They are the ones no one will hire. The ones who make less than a dollar a day. Ecuador is a very machismo society: if a young man is sitting on the bus and an old mestizo lady walks on, he will give up his seat without thinking, but no one stands up for indian (a PC term in Ecuador). It was this treatment of the natives which helped lead Ernesto 'Che' Guevara to become a revolutionist in Argentina. (watch the movie, 'motorcycle diaries' to see what I mean) Anyways, everyday I find myself thinking more and more on the same thought: All that separates me from the young indigenous beggar boy on the corner is the circumstances we were born into. We are both humans, its just that I am a rich gringo with a home and my own car and he has nothing and is hated by some of his fellow countrymen and women. Out of all the places and situations that I could have been born into, I got mine and he got his. Neither of us had a choice, it just happened to us. But other than where we were born, nothing else makes us different from a biological perspective, then why are our lives so opposite? To borrow from the ideas of Che- How can we be divided, when there is so much that unites us?


Two big events happen this week and one happens this tuesday:

First, I have officially committed to live with the indigenous tribe Sarayaku for three weeks, starting November 7th until my birthday on the 28th. As I said before, I fly in on a dual engine, 12-person plane carrying all of my clothing, field equipment and food for three weeks. The main focus of my project in to assist three community experts in a classification system of local tropic plant life, while incorporating traditional uses and significance to the community. This is one part of a multifaceted attempt to bolster ecotourism in the community as a means of income rather than allowing the oil companies to rape the land and pay off the locals. Turns out I will be creating a website, which may be difficult due to the isolation and therefore limited internet access. At night I will also be giving informal english classes. I forgot to mention that Spanish not only my second language, but the community's as well, most men speak spanish and a few women do, but the primary language is Quichua, a local dialect of Quechua. It should be an adventure. If I am not back in Quito by the 28th, it means the airstrip in Sarayaku is flooded and I won't be out for a couple of days.

Second, Dylan and I attempted to summit Cotopaxi this weekend. We left Quito on Friday as early as possible to become acclimated. Quito is about 2800 meter above sea level, we where driven 2 hours to Cotopaxi National Park (4300 meters) and then had to climb to base camp at 4800 meters with all of our gear and food for the weekend. The climb took us up the base of the volcano. Because of the volcanos geology, the soil was very loose and made climbing very difficult. By the way, Cotopaxi's base camp, El Refugio, is at 4800 meter, that's 16,000 feet, just about higher than anywhere in the lower United States and the summit of Cotopaxi, 5900 meters (roughly 20000 feet) is one of the highest points on Earth. Higher than anywhere in the United States and even “higher” than the summit of Mount Everest, in the sense that you are farther from the center of the earth and closer to the sun and stars. This is due to the odd Equatorial bulge which circles the planet. The summit of Cotopaxi is only out reached by Chimborozo, another Equadorian volcano and another Mountain in Argentina, Anaconaqua.

A side note for my mother- Cotopaxi is a relatively easy climb. The is no danger when you are with a guide and there no actual “climbing.” You do need crampons and an ice ax for the walk up the glacier, but the climb is extremely safe. Fransico, our guide climbs Cotopaxi roughly 40 times a year and has been doing so for the last 20 years. That's at least 800 ascents.

Needless to say it was the highest either Dylan or I had ever been. We got to El refugio around 6pm and ate a light dinner and went to bed. Our guide, Fransico, woke us up at midnight to start the climb. Dylan was not feeling well because of the altitude and the cold. 100 meters into the climb and Dylan decided to turn back. The trail is very clearly marked and we were still less than 30 minutes into the climb so our guide gave him the go ahead. Fransico and I climbed alone, until we reached the snowline of Cotopaxi. Here we strapped on our crampons and walked with the assistance of our axes. After another hour and a half of lung burning climbing, we were at 5300 meters and looked backed down the mountain only to see a headlamp in the distance, wandering back and forth, 500 meters below. It could only be Dylan, we were the last group to leave and there wouldn't be anyone else at El Refugio until morning. We sat and watched. Now we had to decide: climb for another 2 ½ to 3 hours and summit around 6:30 in the morning or descend now, arrive at base camp in an hour and see if Dylan was lost. We concluded that Dylan's safety was worth more than a summit and started a rapid descent to see if he was okay. As I said, Cotopaxi is extremely safe with a guide and on the trail (they have a perfect safety record). However, without a guide or off the trail, it can be dangerous. From 5300 meters, we could see Dylan's lamp walking away from the Refugio. The refugio is lit from 6-9pm every night, so at 3 in the morning it looks just like another odd rock formation.

Turns out Dylan had lost the trail and was with out a guide. By the time we finally descended it was 4:30 am. We arrived at Base Camp as Dylan walked into view. He had lost the trail and tried to over correct himself. The good news: besides slight altitude sickness (probably onset by 3 years of smoking) Dylan was fine and spend the rest of his time throwing up what little he had in his stomach. The bad news: in two weekends, I failed to summit two mountains due to a companion being sick. During our stay at Base Camp and during the ascent, I had not shown one symptom of being affected by the altitude. My stomach was strong and I had an appetite (the first symptom of altitude problems is no appetite and usually throwing up) and I wasn't the slightest bit dizzy, lightheaded and had no headache. This means that my body was using the little oxygen in the air efficiently. During the climb I was tired, but I have no doubt that the summit was within reach. When we turned back at 5300 meters, we had just finished the most difficult part of the ascent: a series of ice switchbacks that take about an hour to traverse in which you only gain about 100 vertical meters. We were 600 vertical meters from the top and about 2 ½ to 3 hours away. From where we were, you could see the summit very clearly if you turned off your headlamp and you could also see the relatively easy climb ahead (minus the last 100 meter, said to be the hardest, mentally, due to the extremely thin air, 6 hours of climbing, with little to no food, and about 3 hours of sleep. I guess I will have to wait to experience the summit. Maybe when the program is finished and I have a free 2 day block. Still 5300 meters puts me higher than anywhere in the lower US. Next time I will summit, sin duda.

My advice: don't climb mountains with people who smoke.

And finally the big thing on everyone's mind is happening this Tuesday: Las Galapagos. We leave 6am from Quito international for Guayaquil (the air is so thin in Quito that a plane is too heavy if it is fully gassed up and therefore needs to flight to a close, lower city to fully fuel up. (Also this causes planes to have to land very fast in Quito, they accelerate rather than maintain or slow down for their landing, this put the facts that Quito International is in the heart of Quito and is one of the world's shortest runways makes landing and taking off from Quito nothing but horrifying) From Guayaquil we fly to Las (not Los) Galapagos where our group is divided in half: half live with a family for 3 days and half tour the islands for 3 days by yacht, then we switch. We are REQUIRED to snorkel every day and be swimming with hammer heads, green sea turtles, Galapagos penguins, manta rays, Galapagos iguanas, millions of fish, sea lions, dolphins and who knows what else. We return on the 28th and I will try to have pictures ready for the internet.

As with our entry to the Cloud Forest, The Amazon and Quito, we have already begun learning about all of the terrible things ecologically speaking about the Galapagos and things we shouldn't buy. A quick summary: Cloud Forest: don't waste electronics or buy mitsubishi, don't buy non fair trade coffee, bananas, or cacao. Quito: never buy roses, ever. Amazon: reduce oil use, don't buy mahogany wood, recycle every paper product and when you do buy paper or wood, make sure it comes from a certified forest. Here's what we have so far from the Galapagos: don't buy shrimp (also, turns out that they are the dirtiest animal you can eat), sharks are good and not to be eaten and don't visit the Galapagos without giving something back, tourism is destroying one of the most important conservation hotspots in the world. I promise I am not this preachy in real life.

One last thing: I have finally begun to understand the rhythm of my family. Every Sunday we have nasty Ecuadorianized-Americanized-Chinese food (it is about as far from authentic as you can get) along with grape and banana ice cream, while Chinese techno plays in the background. It is the only meal we eat in the dining room and my family always has a different guest. Then after we are done eating they tell dirty jokes and then explain them to me. Talk about culture shock. Also, my family has watched the movie Ice Age 3, 4 times in the last 4 days.

Finally, two months from tomorrow I will be in the United States. In the words of the late Ecuadorian artist Ozwaldo Guayasmin:

Siempre me voy a regresar. Mantengan encendida la luz.