July, July, Julyyy

Hello all!

It has been some time since the last post, but as my time in Ecuador is nearing to an end of sorts I feel like I'm going to leave this country kicking, screaming, and crying like a little baby. We'll see what happens in the next two weeks of my stay, whether the cards will turn and I'll somehow have a stroke of bad luck or I'll just keep falling harder for this marvelous country.

In terms of lab work, we came back from our last and final trip to the field. Usually, I'm not super emotional, but I ended up crying when I left Borbón. It was kind of like my body had no option other than release some burst of emotion and tears seemed to be the first response. Other than the emotional departure, we've been in the lab everyday (as usual) and we will be ready to extract the DNA and have everything ready to bring back to the states by August 4th. This means that I'll have about 10 days to do some fun traveling!

Tentative travel plans include:

1) Beaching it up the entire time

2) Going to the Amazon and hiking for 4-5 days
3) Staying in Quito and indulging in the dance life.
4) Going to Baños, which is like a mini-Amazon. haha.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Amazon since it's about a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Some fun things I've done so far areee:

Drinking hot chocolate and eating pastries at Cafe Modelo, which is the oldest cafe shop in all of Quito:

Went to the Museum Yaku (i.e. museum of water) with a bubble room and all sorts of fun water gadgets to teach kids about ocean currents, 3 phases of matter, a photo exhibit and moreee.

You could draw on reusable paper using a paintbrush and water. We represented our environmental love:

They had cool projections of large bodies of water too:

We also went for a steep hike at Quilotoa (a famous/still active volcano). It was super chilly:

We had a day off of work so we went to the beach, but it was cloudy and rainy...still Atacames was a ton of fun, eating fresh fruits, making sand mermaids and laying out on hammocks. :)

Here is another typical dish we would eat for breakfast (desayuno continental). It includes patacones (double fried plantains), scrambled eggs, blackberry milkshake, and tea or coffee. Yes, you can't avoid the weight gaining with a breakfast like that...

Until later, hope you enjoy the pictures and the glimpse into my Ecuadorian life. It's amazing! Oh, I also saw Transformers 3 in spanish, without subtitles...wooo! Hmm, I'm looking forward to spending the rest of my time here working hard, dancing, running/taking advantage of the altitude, and enjoying the scenery. Hope you're all having a blast too!