Finally... I made it to the beach
Well, it has been quite some time since I last updated. I can't even remember what I did really the week before I went to the beach, because well, the beach was THAT fabulous. Before we left for the beach though, school was pretty fun. We learned a lot about tropical diseases because that is what we spent this past week studying. Anyway, so we left Thursday night on an overnight bus to Guyaquil. It was supposed to be 8.5 hours, and ended up being 10, I think? Well, it wasn't so bad, until the bus driver and her friend decided they would play music, sing, and talk at 12:30 AM! I fell asleep with my fingers in my ear, and a TOWEL over my head, because it was freezing. What a night's sleep, huh? Well, we arrived in Guyaquil (Ecuador's largest city), and needed to catch another bus to Montanita (our destination.) Well, there was no direct bus, so we took a bus first to Salinas, which was about an hour away. We walked through the Guyaquil terminal with some lady and her kid. She told us she would walk us, otherwise "We'd be robbed." We followed her immediately. :)
So we took a bus to Salinas, jumped on another bus. And 13 hours after leaving Quito, we were finally in Montanita at 10am. It is THE CUTEST town ever. It's really small, with a bunch of surfers, hippies, etc. People just come there, and decide to stay. They make a living by making jewelry, clothes, purses, etc. It was heaven. We found a hostel for $10/night with a view of the ocean, a hammock in front of our door and I fell asleep every night to the sound of waves. There are crabs everywhere on the beach. The first day we spent on the beach, of course, and I was constantly applying sunscreen as it was really, really warm, and we are, remember, on the equator. :) I think by far my favorite thing in Montanita was the batidos. They are smoothies essentially, with whatever fruit you want, milk, ice and sugar for $1. They are heaven in a glass. I had at LEAST one every day. My favorite combination was peach, banana and pineapple. No one had coconut, but apparently that is even better! :) I went on this trip with three other people from my program, Britt, David and Katie. That night we went to this seafood restaurant and we shared 3 dishes. Lobster, shrimp and ceviche with fish. All of them were really good, and for all three dishes, it cost $25. :) Night life in Montanita is pretty crazy. People are up until 6 am, drinking and dancing. I definitely did not stay up that late, but we met two guys from England that night, had a few drinks, and called it a night fairly early, as Katie and I had decided to go surfing the next day.
So, Saturday, Katie and I went surfing at 9am. It cost $12 for 2 hours, which included a lesson, a rash guard, and the board. One of our instructors is a professional surfer. Pretty crazy. Afterward, Katie said to me, "I think it's really cool. We just took surfing lessons in Spanish." It was funny, because I had been thinking the same thing during the lesson. It was a blast. I can't wait to go back to the beach (next weekend and the weekend after to other beaches... Katie and I are really excited to surf again!) So, we spent the day on the beach again, laying around, walking etc. AT one point, Katie and I walked along the beach to find a group of Ecuadorian guys playing beach soccer. We joined them for about 20 minutes. I realized how much I miss soccer already. :) It was so much fun... I think they were surprised to see girls who could play soccer, haha. All day long on the beach people come up to you trying to sell you jewelry, coconuts to drink (it's just water basically, and NOT very tasteful!), popsicles, etc. There are groups of people playing the guitar, singing and dancing, and much more. It's really a fun/entertaining atmosphere. The sunset at Montanita is SO SO gorgeous. It was incredible. We spent Saturday night sitting on the beach as the sun went down, just in shock that we were in such a beautiful place. That night we went to this really small restaurant called the Happy Donkey. This guy cooked on a grill that was right in the middle of the dining room (if you can call it a dining room) and cooked us swordfish. When I read in Lonely Planet that the seafood on the coast is delicious, I didn't know how right they would be. I'm REALLY glad I found a recently liking for seafood, because it was to die for. That night we went out, I had my drink of choice, Pina Colada, and we danced at a club. WE met a guy there named Javier, who taught us some Salsa dancing. IT was really fun. Girls don't have to do much work... Just let the guy spin you. We have it so easy sometimes, don't we. :) The next day we woke up again, and spent the day on the beach. Unfortunately, we had to head back to Guyaquil at 5pm, because the next day (Monday) we had to meet our class in Santo Domingo for our field study on Tropical Diseases. We stayed in a REALLY ghetto hostel ($6/night) and it reminded us of a jail cell. Ha. Luckily, we got in late, and woke up early, so we weren't there for long. So, although I spent 3 full days in Montanita, it wasn't nearly long enough. I HIGHLY recommend this place. It's so relaxed, really safe, and has a really, really fun night life. I'm planning on going back the first weekend in march!
This past week we spent in Santo Domingo studying tropical diseases. We went to a few plantations, one of which we got to try many different fruits, including pineapple (YUM)--the guy cut it up for us with a machete, it was pretty hilarious. In Santo Domingo we stayed in a nice hotel with a pool, and the food was FABULOUS. It was the first place that we didn't have chicken, potatoes and rice for every dinner. They served us dessert after lunch AND dinner. :) Ahh, the life. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick Mon-Wed with a really upset stomach. Luckily it didn't go beyond being upset though, and now I'm all better! The next day, we went to a small town which has a high Malaria transmission rate, and we watched them do a chemical treatment on the walls of homes. This is the most effective treatment, but a lot of people don't cooperate, because it means that people have to move aside all of their furniture and wait outside for 30 minutes. Anyway, it was really interesting to see. This program, SNEM (National Service for Malaria Eradication) does this service for free which is pretty incredible. It was really interesting for me to find out all of the different breeding grounds mosquitos find their way into. We definitely saw some larva of mosquitoes that are able to carry the malaria parasite. SICK. There is also a problem with Chagas in these areas, which is another vector-borne disease, but carried in little beetle like things. Trust me, you don't want to see these little buggers. This past week, we went to another town that has a high transmission rate of Malaria. This town was extremely, extremely poor. One of the saddest things we saw there was these plastics that were in the town, and being used on the homes. They are plastics that are brought into town from greenhouses, so therefore, are completely covered in pesticides. They are "rinsed" in the river, and then sold to the people in the town, who use them in their homes. This is HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE for health, yet these people don't even know. It was really, really sad. The next day we went to the local hospital, which is a well known hospital. The most frequent illness here is anemia. The most disturbing thing to me in all of this, is that so many of these diseases, are EXTREMELY preventable. You wouldn't believe the poverty that I've seen. We then went to the Malaria Eradication center for a seminar, and we also talked with the entomologist. This guy was nuts. They capture mosquitos to study them, obviously, in order to see which types of mosquitoes are plauging which areas. Anyway, to keep the mosquitoes alive, they need food right? So, sometimes, when they can't find the right animals for the mosquitos, the entomologists (two of them), let the mosquitos get their fair share of blood from their HANDS. He said not to worry, these mosquitos don't have the parasites, although the other entomologist got dengue last week. He ensured he got it at his house, not in the lab... Hmm?
Anyway, so I learned a ton this past week. Montanita though, was by far my favorite trip so far. Katie (my neighbor/classmate/really good friend here), her parents and aunt/uncle arrive tonight) and tomorrow we're headed to Otavalo, supposedly the best market in Ecuador. I'm really excited. Tonight we made Katie's dad a cheesecake with a recipe off a box. (Yes, in spanish with Ecuadorian fruit...) for his bday. I'm excited to try it! Well, I miss you all and love you very much. Keep up posted with life, email me!!!
Oh ya, I got accepted to University of Rochester last week!!! So, that's exciting. I'm still waiting to hear on three more schools. Rochester starts in May, which would be a pretty quick turn around after I get back to the states. Anyway, take care!
So we took a bus to Salinas, jumped on another bus. And 13 hours after leaving Quito, we were finally in Montanita at 10am. It is THE CUTEST town ever. It's really small, with a bunch of surfers, hippies, etc. People just come there, and decide to stay. They make a living by making jewelry, clothes, purses, etc. It was heaven. We found a hostel for $10/night with a view of the ocean, a hammock in front of our door and I fell asleep every night to the sound of waves. There are crabs everywhere on the beach. The first day we spent on the beach, of course, and I was constantly applying sunscreen as it was really, really warm, and we are, remember, on the equator. :) I think by far my favorite thing in Montanita was the batidos. They are smoothies essentially, with whatever fruit you want, milk, ice and sugar for $1. They are heaven in a glass. I had at LEAST one every day. My favorite combination was peach, banana and pineapple. No one had coconut, but apparently that is even better! :) I went on this trip with three other people from my program, Britt, David and Katie. That night we went to this seafood restaurant and we shared 3 dishes. Lobster, shrimp and ceviche with fish. All of them were really good, and for all three dishes, it cost $25. :) Night life in Montanita is pretty crazy. People are up until 6 am, drinking and dancing. I definitely did not stay up that late, but we met two guys from England that night, had a few drinks, and called it a night fairly early, as Katie and I had decided to go surfing the next day.
So, Saturday, Katie and I went surfing at 9am. It cost $12 for 2 hours, which included a lesson, a rash guard, and the board. One of our instructors is a professional surfer. Pretty crazy. Afterward, Katie said to me, "I think it's really cool. We just took surfing lessons in Spanish." It was funny, because I had been thinking the same thing during the lesson. It was a blast. I can't wait to go back to the beach (next weekend and the weekend after to other beaches... Katie and I are really excited to surf again!) So, we spent the day on the beach again, laying around, walking etc. AT one point, Katie and I walked along the beach to find a group of Ecuadorian guys playing beach soccer. We joined them for about 20 minutes. I realized how much I miss soccer already. :) It was so much fun... I think they were surprised to see girls who could play soccer, haha. All day long on the beach people come up to you trying to sell you jewelry, coconuts to drink (it's just water basically, and NOT very tasteful!), popsicles, etc. There are groups of people playing the guitar, singing and dancing, and much more. It's really a fun/entertaining atmosphere. The sunset at Montanita is SO SO gorgeous. It was incredible. We spent Saturday night sitting on the beach as the sun went down, just in shock that we were in such a beautiful place. That night we went to this really small restaurant called the Happy Donkey. This guy cooked on a grill that was right in the middle of the dining room (if you can call it a dining room) and cooked us swordfish. When I read in Lonely Planet that the seafood on the coast is delicious, I didn't know how right they would be. I'm REALLY glad I found a recently liking for seafood, because it was to die for. That night we went out, I had my drink of choice, Pina Colada, and we danced at a club. WE met a guy there named Javier, who taught us some Salsa dancing. IT was really fun. Girls don't have to do much work... Just let the guy spin you. We have it so easy sometimes, don't we. :) The next day we woke up again, and spent the day on the beach. Unfortunately, we had to head back to Guyaquil at 5pm, because the next day (Monday) we had to meet our class in Santo Domingo for our field study on Tropical Diseases. We stayed in a REALLY ghetto hostel ($6/night) and it reminded us of a jail cell. Ha. Luckily, we got in late, and woke up early, so we weren't there for long. So, although I spent 3 full days in Montanita, it wasn't nearly long enough. I HIGHLY recommend this place. It's so relaxed, really safe, and has a really, really fun night life. I'm planning on going back the first weekend in march!
This past week we spent in Santo Domingo studying tropical diseases. We went to a few plantations, one of which we got to try many different fruits, including pineapple (YUM)--the guy cut it up for us with a machete, it was pretty hilarious. In Santo Domingo we stayed in a nice hotel with a pool, and the food was FABULOUS. It was the first place that we didn't have chicken, potatoes and rice for every dinner. They served us dessert after lunch AND dinner. :) Ahh, the life. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick Mon-Wed with a really upset stomach. Luckily it didn't go beyond being upset though, and now I'm all better! The next day, we went to a small town which has a high Malaria transmission rate, and we watched them do a chemical treatment on the walls of homes. This is the most effective treatment, but a lot of people don't cooperate, because it means that people have to move aside all of their furniture and wait outside for 30 minutes. Anyway, it was really interesting to see. This program, SNEM (National Service for Malaria Eradication) does this service for free which is pretty incredible. It was really interesting for me to find out all of the different breeding grounds mosquitos find their way into. We definitely saw some larva of mosquitoes that are able to carry the malaria parasite. SICK. There is also a problem with Chagas in these areas, which is another vector-borne disease, but carried in little beetle like things. Trust me, you don't want to see these little buggers. This past week, we went to another town that has a high transmission rate of Malaria. This town was extremely, extremely poor. One of the saddest things we saw there was these plastics that were in the town, and being used on the homes. They are plastics that are brought into town from greenhouses, so therefore, are completely covered in pesticides. They are "rinsed" in the river, and then sold to the people in the town, who use them in their homes. This is HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE for health, yet these people don't even know. It was really, really sad. The next day we went to the local hospital, which is a well known hospital. The most frequent illness here is anemia. The most disturbing thing to me in all of this, is that so many of these diseases, are EXTREMELY preventable. You wouldn't believe the poverty that I've seen. We then went to the Malaria Eradication center for a seminar, and we also talked with the entomologist. This guy was nuts. They capture mosquitos to study them, obviously, in order to see which types of mosquitoes are plauging which areas. Anyway, to keep the mosquitoes alive, they need food right? So, sometimes, when they can't find the right animals for the mosquitos, the entomologists (two of them), let the mosquitos get their fair share of blood from their HANDS. He said not to worry, these mosquitos don't have the parasites, although the other entomologist got dengue last week. He ensured he got it at his house, not in the lab... Hmm?
Anyway, so I learned a ton this past week. Montanita though, was by far my favorite trip so far. Katie (my neighbor/classmate/really good friend here), her parents and aunt/uncle arrive tonight) and tomorrow we're headed to Otavalo, supposedly the best market in Ecuador. I'm really excited. Tonight we made Katie's dad a cheesecake with a recipe off a box. (Yes, in spanish with Ecuadorian fruit...) for his bday. I'm excited to try it! Well, I miss you all and love you very much. Keep up posted with life, email me!!!
Oh ya, I got accepted to University of Rochester last week!!! So, that's exciting. I'm still waiting to hear on three more schools. Rochester starts in May, which would be a pretty quick turn around after I get back to the states. Anyway, take care!
posted by Mariah at 6:06 PM
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