@Peru

My program officially ended on the 12th, with a goodbye dinner and a beautifully awkward performance of Stand By Me in our typical fashion. The 15th I took off to Peru with a friend and I´ll be heading back to Quito the 23rd.

The gang

First stop was Cusco, a city that underimpressed me when I landed. Somehow, with all the stories I´ve heard about Cusco, I was expecting a city entirely made of ancient ruins, impressive and overwhelming. Instead, it was a mostly 2 or 3 story city skyline, very muddy (we´re in the rainy season), but overall a friendly, tranquil and pleasant place. Funny story - I ran into a girl buying train tickets who I had met three years ago when I was visiting Reed College. And I met a french couple in the airport in Lima, flying to Cusco and proceeded to run into them in Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, and twice so far in Lima - including this morning!

I must have some weird psychic connection with these people. The world is so small!

We didn´t stay long in Cusco, leaving the next day for Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo was really impressive structurally, but also because it was the site of the last battle in which the Spainards lost - apparently they attacked the fortress, but the Incas diverted the water drains and flooded them out.

Ollantaytambo, weary on the way down

I still can´t comprehend how they got these rocks up the mountain

From Ollantaytambo we took the train to Aguas Calientes, the stop off point for Machu Picchu. Let me just say that I hate PeruRail - they have a monopoly over the trains and tourists are required to ride it and they charge a fortune. Aguas Calientes was also a pretty icky place. It only really seems to house tourists before Machu Picchu and therefore is super expensive and touristy (if you ever travel there and want the cheapest hostel possible, ours was Las Caminatas, for $8 a night, but it seemed to share a building with a warehouse or some industrial plant...)

But, in the end, Machu Picchu was worth every cent. My friend and I got up really early and were in the complex by 6am. We stayed all day until about 4pm when we headed back to Aguas Calientes to catch the train back to Cusco. Due to the rainy season, it was completely covered in fog, but as the morning continued we got to see Machu Picchu in its full glory, with about three hours of wonderful sun and even a few rainbows. I´m still in awe.

Cerca 6am

Cerca 9am

The sun comes out!

 

 With a few more days in Cusco we visited most of the museums on the boleto turistico, including a popular art museum filled with super creative nativity scenes (llamas) and a chocolate museum with free tastings! Be jealous, Dad. Speaking of llamas, Machu Picchu was FULL of them. Very domesticated and friendly, they just wanted to eat their grass and be merry...or so I thought until they all decided to follow me along a precipice and let my just say that it is very scary.

Se Yeon loves llamas

My attitude was a little less positive

Now I am in Lima, enjoying the ritzy neighborhood of Miraflores. It´s so full of expats that the grocery store down the block sells all the same things as any grocery store I´d go to in the US. The walk on the cliff above the ocean and all the parks the municipality has built are really beautiful and safe, though. And, on an even higher note, it´s impossible to get depressed about not being home for Christmas when it´s super hot and sunny and I´m wearing flip flops.

A la discoteca

Dancey, dancey, dance, dance.

Pasado Pisado, Comando Tiburon feat. Mach y Daddy

Tu Cuerpo Me Llama, Reykon ft. Los Mortal Combat

Sube Las Manos Pa' Arriba, Pitbull

Danza Kuduro, Don Omar

Una Vaina Loca, Fuego 

Te Amo, Makana 

Algo Me Gusta De Ti, Winsin y Yandel

Casa Matilde: Take 2

Some info on the house

Today was my last day at my pasantía, so it's time for a little look-back.

The past few weeks have been more interesting because I've gotten a chance to see more of the administrative and political side of the organization. Casa Matilde runs both the Safe House where the women and children can stay and has an office in the north, where they do administrative, financial, investigative and political stuff.

The office works really closely with (and gets funding from) ACNUR, the United Nations Commission for Refugees. A few weeks ago I went to a conference hosted by them and ONU Mujeres (UN Women) on houses like Casa Matilde in Ecuador. There are only five and they form a national network that shares experiences, resources and ideas.

It was super boring in the way that conferences are always boring. BUT, it was also pretty cool to listen to this woman from the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion go off for thirty minutes on domestic violence and where it comes from and how Ecuador needs to do more to stop it. (Although this and this are pretty cool.)

Giving out the vaccinations

This past sunday was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Casa Matilde set up a stand in a park near the house. There were lots of other organizations with stands and a kind of comical teen garage band messing around on stage. We gave out fliers and information and "vaccinations" against violence (sugar water as I had to assure a few worried parents). It was great to watch kids and teens reading the pledge to find alternative, non-violent solutions to their problems and to speak up when they experience violence in their lives.

Fellow intern, Alexia

"Do you know what domestic violence is?" 

Hehehe

Thanks given (in photos)

Thanks, Quito, for always keeping me on my toes and having adventures waiting.

Thanks, awesome playground in Cotocachi, for letting me be a thrilled 5 year old again.

Thanks, lovely family friends, for all the food, love and cariño.

Thank you, Sucio, for letting me hold you. I know it insulted your cat superiority.
 (Also thanks for looking just like Cappy)

Thanks for all the little pieces of advice that get me through tough times.
("It's hard to fall but even worse to never have tried to climb.")

Thanks to these lovely ladies, my hermanitas, for always linking arms and treating me just like a sister.

Thanks to mis compañeras (+ Anschel) for making this semester even better. 

And finally, thanks to my wonderful family. I can't wait to come back home to this. 

The Struggz on the Bus Go Round and Round

Coming home on the bus, I got up to move toward the door as we neared my stop.

In typical rainy-night-in-Quito style, the bus was packed and I couldn't find anything to grab onto.

In typical clutzy-Eleanor-style, the bus jolted to a ridiculously fast stop and I fell into the guy next to me, who, like dominoes, knocked over the old woman next to him, who then sat into the lap of a pregnant woman.

Eleanor, official wrecker of havoc.

Classy in Cuenca and Other Tales of Fall Break

Last week was vacation week (much needed) and a group of us did the long haul down the coast to Puerto Lopez and Montanita and then south to Cuenca. 

Puerto Lopez, a twelve-hour bus ride away from Quito, was well worth the effort. It was a cute little fishing town, and we stayed in a magical hostel. We met three other Americans, who ended up staying with us in Cuenca, an Australian who our friend ran into later in Otavalo, and two Dutch guys who we ran into again in Cuenca. Small, small world.  The town itself was really sweet and it was relaxing to spend a few days in the water, not worrying about independent studies or air pollution.

Sol Inn, where the magic happens

On the beach!

Happy waterbabies

Montanita, our next stopping point, was less my style – very touristy with a few too many dirty dreads…

Like this guy...

BUT, I loved Cuenca. I love Cuenca so much more than Quito. It is beautiful, with a river and bridges and lots of cute cafes and restaurants. It is clean and the air isn’t as polluted as Quito. And, the best part, it is safe to walk around in at night. Over the trip I realized how much I’ve really missed being able to leave the house at night and feel safe. In Puerto Lopez we went to the beach at midnight and danced in the water. In Cuenca we could go to the plazas to listen to music and not have to worry about getting a taxi home. Also, it was the city’s Festival weekend, so it didn’t hurt to have concerts, parades, and shows and markets everywhere.

The streets lined with flags for the fiesta

Sunny days by the riverside

Street performances everywhere

Swinging over the city

Classy in Cuenca

The only bad part of the trip is that I got sick (like usual) in Puerto Lopez . I have to tell my sick story because with the other students our main topics of conversation include how much we hate catcalling, where we want to travel, and our stomachs. I think my stomach is becoming my new best frenemy because she betrays me so much.

So, my stomach story:

We went out to Isla de La Plata (Poor Man’s Galapagos) for a day trip. Isla de La Plata is a good way to get a quick glimpse of what the Galapagos might be like – and it’s full of blue-footed boobies! On the way there somebody commented that the white rocks were really pretty and our guide laughed and said, “Everything white is bird poop.” The island is COVERED in bird poop.

Anyway, partway through our tour I got really sick. We were halfway around the path when my stomach got angry with me and I knew the end was near. Desperate, I went up to our guide (who looked very much like Crush from Finding Nemo) and asked where I could go to the bathroom. He told me to go off the trail somewhere and to watch out for blue-footed boobies because if I stepped on their nest they’d be really pissed…

He does, doesn't he? 

The boobies and their nests

So I went off into the underbrush, crushing it down and getting an allergic reaction on my knees, and had to do my business. This for someone who’s never really been “camping” before (if camping means you’re too far away from a bathroom to use it…) but I laughed thinking about my own addition to the bird poop covered island.

On the island of disaster

Anyway, glad to be back in Quito, refreshed from break week and ready to make the most of the next 5 weeks of the program!

Full disclosure: Almost none of these photos are mine. I'm not that talented! 

Muisne, in fotos

The expert...

 My very unsuccessful imitation...

Hammock-love forever. I must find a way to string one up in my dorm when I get back to Swat.

High fives for making it through the mud-pits of death to do some reforestation.

 What do Eleanor and Maura do when they decide they are tired of the 5k walk to the mangrove? Hop in the next camioneta! 

Bellavista was really, really pretty. Also, really wet.