Lots of news and tidbits for you!
Valentina, the littlest of the family, has taken a liking to me. I let her color with my pencils in my notebook (we're working on straight lines), and I let her have some of my lip balm from time-to-time. She is very sweet, and calls me Sarita, but without so much emphasis on the r.
Valentina.
The view from my bedroom window.
My cousin Luke is currently in Ecuador working, so I got to see him last Thursday for the first time in about 4 years! We met up in the Mariscal and went to what few quiet bars we could find. It was super great to catch up with him and hear about his antics (living in Sierra Leone, for example). His sister recently had a beautiful baby boy (!!!!!) so that was also a topic of conversation. It looks like he will be joining my class for our field trip to Cotopaxi on Sunday to do some filming.
The class trips began this weekend. Yesterday, Papallacta, and tomorrow we go to Cotopaxi. It is so magnificent to get out of Quito and see some more of the country. Of course, these day trips are only teasers for our larger trips that will start soon!
As we drove out of Quito, we made some stops along the way. This bridge overlooks the Río Chiche, a river that has carved a steep V-shaped valley out of the volcanic tuff. Volcanic tuff is a typical Andean substrate because of all the volcanic activity in South America. Tuff can travel extremely far, depending on how large the particles are. Later on, we saw a more U-shaped valley, which means it had been created by a glacier, instead of by water erosion. Bungee jumping is popular at this bridge.
We visited the polylepis forest in low páramo. Polylepis means many layers--this accurately describes the amazing trees here. Their bark is like a million thin pieces of paper overtop of each other. This is great protection from fires.
The forest was very damp and cold.
The forest is also known as the Elfin Forest.
The whole group in the Elfin Forest.
Amazing moss
Kelly points something out to Richard in the mid Páramo. Here, there are no trees, and small shrubs and cushion plants dominate. The wind was already pretty strong at this point, so we all hunkered down close to the ground to see how the plants are able to survive because they are mostly out of the wind. You can see the clouds rolling in the background.
As we made it to the top, the shrubs disappeared, and cushion plants were the only plants around. Snow and ice were everywhere, and coated the plants. It's amazing how the plants survive in such a hostile environment!
Very, very windy and cold at the top (or were we at the top? I don't even know because I couldn't see anything past a few meters in front of me). I was almost blown over by the gusts!
Our bus, barely visible in the cloud.
Un venado! A rare sighting!
Tomorrow, the class is going to Cotopaxi. More photos to come!
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