fiestas de quito

It's the time of the year when Quito explodes with celebration.  These guys already like to party, but during the Fiestas de Quito, they party harder.  The festivities started on a small scale in November, but they culminate on the 5th and 6th of December.

Bullfights are a very popular part of the fiestas, though killing the bull is now prohibited.  So they just taunt the bull to the point of exhaustion, stab it, and then take it out of the ring to kill it behind closed doors.  I would prefer that the bull be put out of its misery.  I wish I had photos/video of the bullfight I went to yesterday.  The stadium was packed with people in Panama hats (which are actually from Ecuador) drinking sangria out of goatskins and yelling.  The actual bullfight was interesting.  It starts out with about 6 guys teasing the bull to get it to run around.  Then, men on horseback come out and stab the bull from the horse.  Then two separate guys come in and stab the bull from the front (an amazing feat of agility, I must say).  Then, finally, after the bull has been stabbed at least 5 times, the main bullfighter comes out--he's the "artist."  He does some nice, graceful swooping motions with the cape to tire out the bull.  By this point, blood is running down the side of the bull's back, his tongue is out, and he's breathing heavily.  And then the fighter stabs the bull one last time, and the bull is led out of the ring by red flags on poles.  To his death...

María Elena and Orlando ready for the bullfight
Azucar in the background!

And a wonderful 21st birthday to finish off the Fiestas de Quito.  Mario took us to breakfast at the Magic Bean, a wonderful gringo restaurant in la Plaza Fosh. 

sooo full

con mi hermano Mario

And the birthday continued with a sushi lunch with some friends...I don't know how I fit so much food into my belly!  And then back to the house for some cake and cuarenta!

un cumpleaños maravilloso!

photos from the amazon

Hello friends!  I'm back in Quito after a month-long field trip to eastern Ecuador's Amazon.  We stayed the entire month at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS).  I saw some of the most amazing, rare things in the world, but I sadly don't have photos of most of it.  Here are some good ones I did get:

giant strangler fig tree  these parasitic trees literally strangle their host...so there's a smaller tree that used to be inside that huge one

golden orb spider

painted grasshopper

José, my favorite guide, and a spiny palm

you can't touch caterpillars in the amazon...

tree frog

a pygmy marmoset, one of 10 monkey species found at TBS

a classic emergent tree, the ceiba

the scariest of all Amazon's creatures!

toad

caterpillar

helicopter beetle

TBS canopy walkway

way up there in the canopy

beautiful moths eating minerals on the riverbank

seining for fish in the Tiputini River

ants harvesting wax bugs (that white stuff)

huge wasp building a nest right by our cabins...great

super mega bat, a fruitivorous bat

a naked man hanging from the tree!
nope, just a 3-toed sloth

anaconda

hello mr. spider monkey

another pygmy marmoset

pretty fungi

sweat bees!  crawling all over me because i was stinky

canopy tower...some great views and birds up here

black-headed parrot from the canopy tower

swamped canoe at the lake

common piping guan from the canopy tower

leaf cutter ants

champagne fungi

I followed Amy, a primatologist at TBS, for a few hours one morning.  I was supposed to help her with a playback experiment with titi monkeys: we were planning to play the calls from another troop and record the response of the troop we were following.  Unfortunately, the troop we were following responded to a nearby troop's calls before we could run the experiment.  We couldn't follow through because we would have no way of knowing if the titis were responding to our playback or the calls of the other calling troop.

titi monkeys calling that morning...that's amy recording the calls, ellen and eushavia look on

It's good to be back with my host family in Quito.  I'm trying to stay busy and active so I don't get bored.  I have one more test and a presentation, but other than that study abroad is over.

highlights

some highlights from the past week:

• saw another tayra! but this time, it was scrambling down a tree
• birding at the canopy tower with Eushavia--saw black-headed parrots, scarlet macaws, blue dacni, white-throated toucan, etc
• slept on the canopy tower (40 m tall) with Amelia, Eushavia, and Estéban...rough night
• walked to the lake with Ellen and Eushavia, only to find the canoe swamped and out of comission--saw a cocoi heron and a bunch of hoatzins, a crimson crested woodpecker, golden mantled tamarins
• playing soccer, ninja, and PDQ in the pouring rain (plus thunder and lightning!)

4 more full days in this special place!  sad, but also excited to move on!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm thankful for this adventure and the ones to come.  Even though I'm not with my family on my favorite holiday, I feel the love.  Eat up!

hello!

Less rain this week, but the river is still high and Lago trail is still flooded up to my chest.  But other trails are drying out, so the majority of the forest is accessible

I did a lot more exploring in the forest this week.  Yesterday morning, I went on a 10 km hike with Eushavia, Joe, and Richard.  It took us just under five hours; we walked fairly quickly, because we went without a guide.  If you go with a guide, it often happens that you walk only a kilometer in a few hours.  We wanted to go at a faster pace, and didn’t mind skimping on animal sightings.  But we walked right into a large group of wooly monkeys! They were very threatened by our presence, stared us down, and started to move around which caused large branches to fall from the canopy.  There were a few tree falls that interrupted the clear path of the trail, but since we had four people, it was easy enough to send three ahead to find the trail, and leave one on the known trail to ensure we wouldn’t get turned around.

I’ve also been collecting data on the leaf cutter ant colony near the lake.  I went there at night with my partner Amelia a few days ago.  The walk to the colony is 2.6 km, and we can make it in under an hour.  The colony is a few hundred meters off the trail, and you can usually just follow the ant highway to their lair, which is a few square meters and over 17 years old.  We had big plans for the data collection, but it turned out that the ants were crawling along much faster than we anticipated, so we had to re-structure our methods and make do.  One of us would watch the ant highway for 1 minute intervals and count how many foraging ants (ants carrying leaves) would pass a certain point.  We also counted how many foraging ants were carrying hitchhikers (little ants that ride on the foraged leaves).  The other person would tally how many times the observer said “leaf” (indicating a foraging ant) or “hitch” (a foraging ant with a hitchhiker).  So far, the data is looking good, but we still have some more collection to do in the morning and at midday.

This morning, I went out to the lake again with Amelia to collect some data on the leafcutters.  We left camp at 4:30 AM (oooph) and worked until 1 PM.  It was a long day, but we got a lot of good work in.  We even went for a little paddle on the lake, and I got to see the big fish that lives there!  By the time noon rolled around, I was covered in sweat bees, who were just munching away on the nasty smelly bits in my shirt.  Yummy!

Just 10 more days here!

news from amazonia

Friday was a good day for me!  My face was magically all back to normal, and now I can get out there and see whatever there is to see!  Yipee!

That day, I went to the lake, which is about 2 km from camp.  We took one of the station’s boats.  On the trail, we came across a highway of leaf cutter ants, and followed them back to their colony, which was (for lack of a better term) very cool.  I want to do a big project on those guys!  The ants don’t actually eat the leaves that they carry back to their colony; they use the leaves to cultivate the subterranean fungi that they do eat.  The leaves that the workers carry back to the colony often have other ants, called hitchhikers, that ride along.  These hitchhikers supposedly protect the worker from a parasite fly.  There are other hypotheses as to the function of the hitchhiker, and I’m planning to look more into this.

Saturday, around midday, it finally stopped raining.  It had been raining for over 16 hours.  When we arrived at Tiputini, the river level was about 3 m, and now it’s at 9.1 meters.  That’s why they call it the rainforest I guess.

After lunch, I went back to the lake with Eushavia and Ali to check on my precious leaf cutters.  We took Guacamayo trail (3 km), which was partly underwater.  It wasn’t too bad; none of the water got into our boots.  When we finally got to the lake, we were unable to find the colony.  I am easily turned around in this forest--every single tree looks almost the same to me.  I am working on setting landmarks and making better mental notes of where I am coming from.

We eventually gave up and started walking back to the trail, where we found Meyer (a TBS guide) and three of the station’s visitors.  Mayer insisted on showing us where the nest was, and he lead the way.  We were, of course, very close to the nest when we were looking for it.

Instead of going back to camp on Guacamayo, we decided to go on the Lago trail, which runs along the Tiputini river.  The trail is in varzea, the area around a river that often floods.  We figured it would be a great adventure, and indeed it was.  All of the bridges on the trail were completely submerged, and the water was up to my belly button in some places.  Don’t worry, there were no anaconda encounters, though there was an incident in which a guan (a chicken-like bird) startled us.  We returned to camp half-soaked and muddy.

Recent wildlife sightings:

• 3-toed sloth
• 2-toed sloth
• anaconda
• pink river dolphins (2 separate sightings)
• curassow
• hoatzin (a chicken-like bird)
• scarlet macaws
• crested owls
• laughing falcon
• spiny devil
• click beetle
• assassin bug
• red howler monkeys
• wooly monkeys
• spider monkeys
• dusky titi monkey
• super mega bat (meter wingspan)

As expected, life continues elsewhere in the world.  There is internet here ($2/24 hours), but it is slow and doesn’t work if it’s too hot, or if it’s raining...  But I do get to check my e-mail here and there.  The biggest news from the outside world is that my host sister is pregnant with twins!!!

More in a week or so...

updates from tiputini

11/02/2011

We arrived on Halloween to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station near Yasuní National Park in western Ecuador’s Amazonia.  The journey to get here took about 10 hours, and we passed though a checkpoint for Yeopsol, the oil company that’s trying to drill in the area.  The humidity level had certainly increased a significant amount by the end of the trip, but it is not unbearable at the station.  The climate is totally manageable.

The station sits on the bank of the Tiputini River, and is surrounded by intact rainforest.  The Yasuní National Park is just on the other side of the river.  In the first few hours of being at camp, I saw river turtles, tons of butterflies, kingfishers, oropendulum, flycatchers, swallows, red howler monkeys, bats, and more insects than I can really recall.

It has only rained once while we have been here, and it was a pretty impressive downpour.  Lucky for us, we are here during the dry season.  Of course, that means it’s just less wet.  Which means it’s still really wet...

The first few days are filled with group activities to orient the group with the surrounding trails and forest.  There are about 40 km of trails around the station, and each trail is named after an animal or a plant.  After we have visited a trail with a guide, we are allowed to return on our own (with a buddy, of course) to do research or to just visit.

11/03/2011

I went to the canopy walkway system this morning with Fralin (a guide at the station), Eushavia, Alison, and Julie.  The tower gives you access to 5 bridges that cross the top of the rainforest canopy, and has an amazing view of the top of the rainforest.  This is a place that most people don’t usually get to visit in the rainforest because it’s difficult to access.  We didn’t see many animals (a common piping guan and a nun bird), but it was fascinating to see the way trees and plants grow at the canopy level.  It’s very buggy up there, which makes it difficult to stick around for more than a half hour.

During lunch, I felt something on my finger.  Stupidly, I grabbed it without looking at it.  I immediately felt that it was larger and harder than a mosquito, and a slew of profanities went though my mind.  Then the wasp stung me.  Ouch!  I looked down, and saw the stinger, and asked the cook if he would kindly remove it from my finger.

Lovely swim in the river with Eushavia.  There is a calm whirlpool that we can swim in without getting swept downriver by the current.

11/04/2011

My lips are experiencing a pretty bad case of heat rash.  They are super bumpy and it’s uncomfortable to say the least.  The rest of my face has also exploded in heat rash.  Oh goody!  I remind myself that it will go away with time.  Good thing I have a month for my face to go back to normal!

I went with Eushavia, Julie, and Ali to the canopy tower this morning.  We saw 3 Salvin’s curassows on the trail to the tower.  Up at the top, we saw a fork-tailed woodnymph (hummingbird), blue-and-yellow macaws, and euphonias; and we heard some toucans yipping like puppies.

UPDATES FROM TODAY (11/7)
It seems as though I am allergic to the climate.  Unfortunately, my limited time at this wonderful place has been defined by an ever-irritating heat/humidity rash.  Today, I went with Eushavia to the medical clinic at the oil camp about three hours away from Tiputini.  I saw the doctor and he gave me yet another anti-histamine and Caladryl lotion to put on the rash.  He told me to stay out of the sun and to avoid sweating for 4-5 days or until my face goes back to normal...
I took the pill and put the lotion on my face as soon as I could.  My swollen lip has already gone down, and my itching has be temporarily tamed.
But the day hasn't been all bad.  We saw a great black hawk, a great blue heron, a tyra, and a capibara from the river.   Tyras and capibaras are mammals, which are rarely seen in the Amazon.  And we saw a rainbow!!!
We shall see how it all plays out--hopefully, it will be quick.
Updates to come in a week or so...

happiness and a tremor!

My host brother (Mario) is currently in the US for work and play.  He drove through Chicago yesterday and met up with my parents!  And Sally was there too!  Of course, in true Tassie-fashion, about a million photos were taken of the event.  Here's one:

It make me so happy that my two lovely families are meeting.  And we will all meet again in December!

October 29, 2011 09:00: EARTHQUAKE!!

Actually, it was just a small tremor.  But it was enough to shake me up and scare me.  I was trying to fix the internet, and all of a sudden, it felt like the world just lifted me up and then dropped me.  I was like...What the...???!!!! A book fell off of my desk, and I stood under a door frame...is that what you're supposed to do?

After it was over (it only lasted a few seconds), I went to go see if María Elena was ok.  The phone began to ring off the hook: "Did you feel it?"  " Yes, how scary!  Are you ok?" "Yes we are fine, I'm going to call ____ now!"    I tried to call Alison, but the lines were all tied up and I couldn't get through for a few minutes...

But now the internet works!

I'm off to the rainforest  (near Yasuní Biosphere Reserve) for a month on Monday.  I'm going to try and post every week, but I don't expect to be able to upload any photos until I get back.  See ya later!

mindo and musings

Phew, I´ve got to catch up!  It´s been a busy week of writing and preparing for the presentation I gave today.  So now I can finally talk about Mindo!
I went to Mindo last weekend (about a 2.5 hour bus ride from Quito) with all the kids on my program.  Yes, that´s 13 of us--which is a large group to coordinate...

We had a lot of fun!

Eushavia and me in the tram headed to hike to some waterfalls

The group mentality is what drives me crazy about traveling with so many people.  For example, when we got to the other side of the tram, instead of consulting the map on where to go, we all just followed someone blindly down the only path with a sign.  Well, the walk turned out to be about an hour (which was fine with me, but some were complaining) and it only led to one waterfall.  Granted it was a beautiful waterfall (see below), but we could have gone down a different path (unmarked, but on the map), walked for the same amount of time, and seen 5 different waterfalls.  Frustration.

waterfall!

Of course, we went ziplining!  I can now say that I´m not really a fan, but maybe that´s because I had two near-death experiences.
That´s an exagerration...  Let´s just say I got really shaken up out there.  The first incident, my glove  got caught between the pulley and the line, and I lost my glove (not my hand, thank goodness).  So my glove plummeted to the ground below, and the guide had to come rescue me.  The second incident occurred because, on some of the routes, the guides would bounce the line just to hear us scream like crazy people.  On one particular line, they bounced me so hard that the track of my pulley was bounced off track of the line.  So there was a moment (which seemed a lot longer at the time) in which I though I was going to die.  I had to be rescued again by the guide, who had to get me a replacement pulley.  I was probably their worst customer.  Ever.

see you on the other end!

haha, ziplining with Natasia...hello double chins

 

getting stopped is the worst part 

On the last line, I caught a bug in my mouth!  I think it´s good luck for something...

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After all of that excitement and scariness, I went to El Quetzal, the chocolate factory in town and took a tour!  It smelled and tasted amazing!  I´m too embarassed to disclose how much chocolate I purchased at this location, but it´s not all for me!

beans drying after fermenting

pods drying out

ginger! they put it in the chocolate

ají for the chocolate

what comes out when cacao nibs are ground

pressing cocoa butter (the yellow stuff) out of the cacao

what´s left when the cacao butter gets pressed out...YUM

Ali, tucking herself in for bed...she still got a spider bite...

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Some news from Quito:
Mario, my host brother, is in the US for work, and tomorrow he is supposedly going to meet up with my parents in Chicago!  My families are merging!  And, they´ll merge again in December when my family comes to Ecuador to visit!
My host sister, Carmen, is pregnant!  I just wish that I could be here to meet the little one!  Oh well, another reason to come back!

Things are getting a bit monotonous here--I like having a routine, but I need a little bit of variety too!  I find myself writing almost the same paper, over and over, and I´m getting pretty tired of it.  The class leaves for a month-long trip to the Amazon on Monday, and I am sooo excited! It´s going to be a sweaty, wet month, but I´m really looking forward to the change of scenery and the freedom to roam around in the forest.  I´m hoping that I´ll get a few chances to post here and there.

Look what countries are reading my blog!

But I wonder who I know in Russia...

Thanks so much for reading!!