January 13, 2012
The Learning Curve
At first when I was here, I was nervous about getting the right stuff. Then I hit a point where I was kind of in a groove, learning a lot and feeling that I had knocked off a lot of what was on my list plus some bonus surprises, and felt good about it. Then yesterday I got to that point where I realized I have so very much *more* to learn. And how can I ever do justice to a topic that I know so little about?!
[The head of the risk management secretariat for the province of Tungurahua explains evacuation decision-making to students of risk management from a university in Quito.]
I also realized that I probably won't have a chance to hike partway up the volcano. I'm to the point in my trip that limitless time is now limited--I've only got three days left here, including today.
[The virgin on the hill lights up as the sky goes dark.]
Did I mention the hostal's affinity for cheesy 80's R&B? "Secret Lovers" just gave way to "I Miss You." Gah. Has nobody told them? Should I be the one?
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January 12, 2012
Reactivated?
Apparently there was an explosion and ashfall last night at about 1 a.m. So I might see the volcano erupt (again) this time after all.
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January 11, 2012
A Little Time for Fiesta
In case you felt sorry for me, here's a shot of the folks I went hiking with Sunday afternoon:
[Volcano seekers. Unfortunately, the volcano was in clouds so we just had to imagine it.]
On Monday, I cruised all around the volcano (the 180 degrees of it that has a road, anyway) to take pictures of life and structures around Tungurahua in the context of the volcano. Unfortunately, it was in the clouds all day.
[Corn damaged by ash.]
Yesterday, I got a bunch of material from the risk management group here in Banos, which will be enormously helpful. And last night, I decided to join my roommates and some folks they had met on a volcano night tour. I was curious about what the tour would be, since the volcano is quiet right now.
We started off on a party bus (a chiva) with flashing lights and loud music. Which is all you really need for a party.
And were dumped at an overlook with a view of Banos at night and the volcano, calm but visible with a white shawl of snow. We drank a warm cinnamon beverage which was delicious so long as you didn't add aguardiente and chatted and wondered when we'd be heading back down.
They conveniently dumped us off at a club with a free drink ticket that kept us there long enough to do an orange shot together (the only option with the drink ticket) and to enjoy some more loud music and flashing lights.
And then we were on our way. My way was straight to bed. No picture necessary.
Posted by beth at 3:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
January 8, 2012
I Don't Need Friends Until the Weekend
Ah, the joys and annoyances of traveling.
Anyone who has traveled the hostel circuit will know what I'm talking about. Every night a new suite of 'friends,' every day a sampling of the same conversations: Where are you from, what are you doing, what do you do, how long are you traveling. Except I'm in kind of a particular situation. I'm at a hostel, but I'm working. And while I made friends my first two nights here, I had two nights with the six-bed room to myself and then a large group of college students from Quebec working on social projects flooded the hostel, and my room, and while they're very nice and we exchange pleasantries in English, they're not going to become my new hostel 'friends.' So, if I want to not eat dinner alone or if I want to converse with someone or if I want to have someone to go for a drink with, I have to actually put myself out there and make an *effort* to make friends. 'Friends.' (Don't be too fooled by the quotes--I really genuinely like the people I was hanging out with at the beginning of my stay, but the relationships are very transient.) And, quite frankly, I don't need friends until the weekend, when I'd like to go out so I can get a few shots of nightlife in Banos without being that awkward creepy kinda weird gawker.
Let me back up. I'm back in Ecuador to finish the project I started a year and a half ago. It's turning into my master's project: I'm going to take a look at how people live around an active volcano. It's pretty damn cool, but because I'm me, it's providing me no shortage of anxiety. Will I get what I need? Am I in the right places at the right times? Am I talking to the right people? Am I doing a good job? For instance, I'm not enamored with my photographs. But they'll have to do.
So I'm staying at the same LOVELY hostel for two weeks, which is great--it's in a good location, not super crazy, is clean and has a kick-ass patio with a good breakfast. (They make the bread in-house.) It's nice to have a home base right in the tourist center of the area. But it's a little weird to be surrounded by passers-through when I'm here with a goal other than to see the waterfalls, to check out the hot springs, or to close down the bars.
This morning, I went to mass. I wanted to go out last night to get pictures of nightlife, but I didn't have any friends last night--I was in a lull--and I couldn't be bothered. When I say I "wanted" to go out I really just mean I wanted the pictures. I didn't want to go out at all. I wanted to curl up in my bed and go to sleep. And that's what I did. I'm taking the gamble that I'll have friends next Saturday.
That gave me the opportunity to go to mass this morning. 8 a.m. mass. I interviewed a priest a couple days ago and wanted to get shots of him in action. When I interviewed him, in an office, he was lively and animated and talkative and friendly and candid--he's 74 and born and raised here in Banos. He told me to be careful with my camera because--not everyone--but some people may want to steal it. Better to not give them the temptation. So more than being a Father, he seemed like a father.
Today, in mass, he was almost a different person. He was more serious. He also seemed to have a hard time coming to the words--not that he didn't know what to say, but that he was having a hard time speaking, and kept putting his hand to his collar, as though he was feeling uncomfortable physically. I was afraid he was nervous or having a heart attack. Mostly, he was just a little removed, not connecting with the people like he had connected with me in the office. So this was my favorite part of the mass: At the end, everyone was crowding up to the front--I had no idea why at the time, but it was to be blessed by holy water. The priest was still back behind the altar. He broke out of his speech. "Don't leave your places. Stay where you are. Don't leave your places. It's not safe. Someone could rob you." As people are pressing in to be blessed. Ah, there's the father.
And now, a confession. While I don't really need friends until the weekend, and they're kind of a distraction, I wouldn't mind having a friend for part of today to have someone to do something with. An excuse for a bike ride or a hike, to nowhere, with no intent of taking pictures or doing interviews. Just to go, and to have some pleasant company.
Posted by beth at 2:50 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
January 1, 2012
Quito to Banos - What Time Change?
Whew. Stiflingly hot in my room. I'm pretty sure that added to my weird sleep this morning. Woke early--maybe 6:45? Sun beating on me from a window right next to the bed. Then back to sleep a bunch and had a hard time waking up and adjusting when I did finally wake, before my alarm, at 10:30 or so. But now I think I'm okay with the world. Here we go!
---
The weather is ridiculous. It's hot! This is not the Quito I remember!
[Indeed, it was not the Quito I remembered. It was unseasonably warm. Except it had nothing to do with the season. It was just plain hot. That's all there was to it. It was strangely hot. I really did wish I was wearing shorts or a skirt instead of pants. This is very unusual for Quito.
I went to a park called El Ejido that's in a commercial center in hopes of buying a phone. But since it was Sunday, and a holiday, everything was closed. But this also meant the park was packed. It was fun to walk through and watch the people.]
It feels breezy. A lovely day--a day in the park! I don't even need this awesome jacket. Maybe the whole trip. I need a skirt, and sunblock! And sunglasses. And a hat.
[It's a good think I brought the jacket. I wore it every day, including that evening. Banos, as it turns out (I couldn't remember), can be chilly too.
After the fruitless but nice visit to the park, I headed out for Rosi and Modesto's house, where I stayed last time I was in Ecuador.]
I am just beside myself that I've learned the metro bus system. 25 cents! Why did I not know this before? It's brilliant!
[We had plans to have lunch at 1:30. I was running a little late, but felt like I was doing pretty well, considering I don't know the city that well.
At their door, however, they greeted me with "We were so worried! We thought something happened!"
Okay, I was a little late, but Rosi did say between 1 and 1:30 and I said 1, so I didn't think 1:15 was that bad. They fawned over me a little more and I apologized but was a little confused. I mean, come on.
We sat in the living room to chat. So good to see you, they said. How are you? We were so worried! Something must have happened. We waited and waited, and we're sorry but we ate.
You--you ate? What, you waited 5 minutes, and then scarfed it all down in another 5?
And then I figured it out.
"What time is it?"
Yep. I'm an idiot. I was going off my iPhone, which had updated the time in Houston, but not after. Because I had it in airplane mode so as not to get charged for any service. And I hadn't bothered to 1) look up the time change from Boulder to Quito (I know, I know...) and 2) thought to but forgot to ask the woman at the hostel what time it was as I checked out.
Which means a few things. I didn't get to the hostel at close to 3 a.m.--I got there at close to 4 a.m. And I checked out an hour late, at 1 p.m. And, of course, I was an hour and 15 minutes late to see Rosi and Modesto instead of just 15 minutes late. It also meant I was an hour behind my intended schedule to get to the bus for Banos.
[Rosi in her living room. Note the wax nativity on the right, catching that great light they get through their dreamily big window.]
[I took this for my mom. All the pieces are handmade.]
I left their place at around 4:30 (the for-real 4:30) to get to the bus terminal. The first cab wanted $10! No way! So I got out. The next cab wanted $20. I paid him $13. Sigh.
At the terminal, I was told there would be no bus until 10:30 p.m. I dejectedly took this to mean that everything was full until then, since it was a holiday weekend. But check back with the other companies, they said. Good, I thought, something might open up.
Funny thing about Ecuador. They have more than one bus company. Curious, no? And maybe it's even more curious that in a country (the U.S.) that frowns upon monopolies there's only really one bus company. Anyway. They have more than one bus company, all leaving from the same terminal. I was proud of myself for understanding this part of the system.
But when I was up walking around and found that there was a bus leaving for Banos at 7 (hooray!) and then I got on that bus and there were fewer than ten of us, I felt like I was back to square one. I'd originally thought that a spot opened up on a full bus, but apparently a whole bus opened up. Do they just add and take away buses at will? Did a bus driver wake up from a nap and say "Hey, honey, I think I'm going to drive to Banos. Call the company and make me some coffee, will you?"
[Strolling in the Quito bus terminal at night.]
Well, whatever. Getting on a bus at 7 was much better than having to wait until 10:30.
The bus was in cruise mode. I forewent the bad action movie shown in the front of the bus to listen to some of my interviews from last time on my iPod, which is also how I spent much of my flights. (When I wasn't waxing poetic about the clouds.) I think we were in Banos by 10:30.
And I went to my hostel. The one I had found by looking not-very-hard online, and had called to say I'd be in late. (Turns out there are still pay phones in this world!) And I buzzed the door. And it was opened by.... the guide Judah and I had last year to take us to the jungle. When it was just Judah, me, and the guide. (Awkward.) The one who told us he had five women who didn't know about each other. The one who explained to us that a drum was an instrument, and that you hit it with a big stick to make music. The one who was supposed to speak English but didn't. I almost wanted to run. Either away, or in to my room to e-mail Judah and tell him right away so we could burst out laughing. I held it in. If he recognized me, he didn't let on. And as it turned out, he wasn't the regular night guy. I think I only saw him two more times in my stay there.
I dropped my stuff in my room and went out to walk around with my camera. Banos has a little bit of everything everywhere, but it makes life simple for tourists by concentrating things in small stretches. There are two blocks of concentrated family restaurants and artisan shops, leading from the church square to the town hall square. There are two blocks of bars, perpendicular to and halfway down the restaurant strip. One block has both the supermarket and the --nonsupermarket? (There's also an open-air market a few blocks away on the weekends, blowing my simplicity theory to poop.) Since this was still a holiday weekend--Monday was a national holiday--the streets were hopping. Including the bars, funnily enough. I learned later that by law in Ecuador no alcohol can be sold, in bars anyway, on Sundays. But apparently it's more of a night-before-we-start-the-week thing than a Sunday thing, because the bars were definitely open that Sunday night. And definitely closed on Monday.
[One of the town's main attractions.]
[Busy Banos.]
[The bar strip.]
[The town hall? Or a party?]
Small kids were still running around with their parents when I headed to my new home an hour or so later. Welcome to Banos.]
Posted by beth at 11:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
December 31, 2011
Take Off
[From my trip journal. Mostly! I was very into exclamation points on the voyage to Quito. Left Denver at 8:30 a.m., flew to Houston then to Panama City then to Quito, scheduled to arrive at the latter at 11:10 p.m.]
Oh, good morning. 8:30 a.m., time to take off for Houston. It's December? It doesn't feel like December. It's new year's eve? It doesn't feel like new year's eve. Hmmmm. I'm also running on a few hours of sleep--four? So that might have something to do with it. I drove to the airport this morning, not preferable but fortunately not too bad, into the sunrise, from darkness to the light, the sun threatening to rise into my eyes but the timing was such that I turned to go north, the godlike clouds lined gloriously in a yellow-pink sky beside and behind me, and before the sun could peek above the horizon and blind me I had parked, and then I was done.
Sleep to Houston? Probably sleep to Houston.
---
Nope, didn't sleep to Houston. Woke to turbulence, felt a tap on my arm, talked for the rest of the flight to the woman in my row with her two kids, one three months old and the other two and a half years old. She was nervous in the turbulence, needed to talk. I was nervous too. It's been crazy windy lately; bumpy ride for a while getting out of Denver. [Judah said there were wind gusts in Boulder up to 72 mph that morning. Miserable for flying...]
Are you excited? Judah asks. Or maybe it was Mom. Uh.... nervous. Why so nervous? So many unknowns! [I was nervous about getting to my hostel in Quito and getting to Banos the next day and getting to my hostel in Banos, which in hindsight all just seems very silly. I was also nervous about getting all the 'right' material, which seems not as silly. Not only was I nervous about getting all the 'right' material, but also I was nervous about not knowing what the 'right' material was. Mostly that. "I think that's my fundamental fear--that I don't know what I need to do." GPS fieldwork, I might add, is much more straightforward. Here are the sites. Occupy them. Organize the data. Bring the data and the instruments home. Boom! Much simpler.]
---
Okay. So. (Somewhere over the ocean.) I woke up over the water and decided, for that moment, that it was too beautiful for me to feel anxious. The sun way out there shining bright but diffuse light--through thin clouds or moisture--over colonies of tiny cloud-puffs clinging to the ocean, the light yellow-white and the sky at the horizon almost yellow-pink, even though the sun is still far from setting.
And then, food--what a bonus!
And now tea!
For a long time I thought there were thin veils of moisture flowing over the wing, like small continuous fronts of fog generated one after another by our movement through the air. But now I'm thinking they were reflections of the thin clouds above, all along.
And periodically huge sun rings, like now, a rainbow of yellows and oranges all the way around the sun, brightest directly to each side and below, on the ocean. Does anyone else see this? Long shadows cast by the low-lying clouds. What was casting shadows on the ocean before? Were they oil rigs?
You just wouldn't believe how fantastic it is outside! We're approaching land--now over it--and there was this amazing moment in which a small delta was lit pink! by the sun--and then immediately we were over a higher cloud bank, puffy and popcorny, purply at the tops with yellow light soft between the puffs! It was amazing! Has a cloudy landfall ever been so grand?
[I sound like I'm just on some happy-drug, but it really WAS incredibly beautiful, a palette of seemingly unreal light and texture, constantly changing, one surprise after another.]
---
WOAHHHHH! What? These crazy thin eery lacy see-through setting-sun-orange ghost clouds just moved as a crazy ghost cloud film, all stretched apart and hollow looking, over the normal living clouds and land. Super nutso. This place is crazy.
And poof, the sun is almost gone in a bank of thick clouds, the light now blue, and it's extinguished fzzzzzzz in a blue-grey world. It comes back orange-pink in windows of poofing light backed by a pale blue-green pre-sunset sky, and then smudged out again by grey. Something of it makes it through to make the clouds almost purple--or is that a competing color force? Like the drive this morning, yellow through the windshield and black in the rearview mirror as if I was purposefully driving away from it, fleeing the night for the light.
And, I think we're done. Goodbye, sun. Thanks for all the wonderful afternoon games. Tomorrow, or the next day, I'll see you again.
---
[The sun leaves, but the trip's not over. Not even close.]
FOREIGN--what is foreign? It's this foreignness that makes me nervous about traveling. Different systems: different language, different currency, different cell service, different standards or customs. All challenging.
Wish phone coverage was equal everywhere--I think that would make things feel much simpler and closer to home.
[The novelty of being in a different place. Systems are *not* the same everywhere. And we can't always be 'connected.' But these things are changing amazingly quickly. Once I bought a cell phone, the day after arriving, things felt much simpler. Also, I had my computer. With a WiFi connection. I could voice chat with Judah for free. So could most of the other travelers I met (but not with Judah)--which was a lot, since I stayed in a hostel this time. Most travelers, these days, have small laptops or tablets. It's amazing. So they're chatting with friends back home, checking in on Facebook, posting to blogs, and making reservations for lodging--all online. It's pretty amazing, whether you think it's good or bad. Oh, and Ecuador uses U.S. currency--this is a huge commonality that makes traveling there easier (for me).]
What's left of the sky? Just sparsely dabbled popcorn clouds up close, tall broad anvil clouds in the distance, and a small fire burning fierce scarlet at the far horizon. And then, up high, one single light. It must be a planet. Hello, Venus?
We're descending into Panama City. Really? Still one more flight to go? I already feel like I've been traveling all day. I guess because I have.
---
Panama City airport! How deliciously familiar to be in the warm humid decay of the sub-tropics, the airport music upbeat merengue... Ojala that I was getting off to bask in the stench of damp overheating, eternal sweaty Central American party.
[This is pretty funny, given how I felt about stopping in the Panama City airport on my way back at the end of the trip.]
P.S. I stink.
---
I wish I was getting in in time--like, yesterday--to be in Banos for New Years. Apparently they burn effigies. If I had listened to my interviews from last time before planning my trip, I would have known!
[I was thinking at that point that maybe I would catch some in Quito. Land at 11:10, get taxi, make it to hostel just in time for midnight?]
---
Okay! Descending into Quito. To do now: Get out! Find taxi! Negotiate with taxista! Get to hotel! Get in hotel! WHEW!
Pockets of fog in the hills leading up to Quito make the populated valleys look like glowing fuzz.
---
Sounds like we're in a holding pattern, waiting for better conditions. Ah, Quito. New Years in Guayaquil?
[Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador, on the coast. Flights that can't make it into Quito land in Guayaquil.]
---
I have to pee. And suddenly I have gas. We're still circling. The valleys are still glowing poofs. We seem to be getting close...
Oh. Five more minutes and we're off to Guayaquil. New Years in the air?
---
Yep! I guess so. Feliz ano 2012. A few happy new years and then some clapping, which woke up the girl next to me. Captain just came on to say happy new year and 15 more minutes of circling.
So. Happy New Year. 2012 in the air. Wouldn't it be cool if we could see effigies burning from up here? I'll look for bonfires.
---
Guayaquil. Is this the end of their service, or do they fly us to Quito tomorrow?
---
Okay well. Now 15 minutes on the ground in the plane and we're headed to Quito. Just like Judah! Hopefully it will work. It would be much more convenient than staying the night in Guayaquil.
[Potentially long story short, the same thing happened when Judah came down to meet me in 2010. Except I was waiting for him in the airport with no idea that this was not all that uncommon. Pretty stressful, and confusing. For both of us! And I hadn't given him my local phone number, because why would I?]
---
And... made it! 3 a.m.! In my hostel! In my jammies! On my bed!!!
Posted by beth at 10:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
November 9, 2011
Backyard Nature
My mom's the queen of frosted leaf shots. They're absolutely beautiful. Don't think I'm trying to outdo her by posting this one.
But, when a frosty morning yields something so lovely, how can I not take a little for later?
Posted by beth at 3:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
November 8, 2011
Damn You, Coffee!
Did I mention that coffee is an appetite suppressant? Remember how I was pouring oatmeal when I saw the coffee? I poured oatmeal and shaved almonds into a bowl, put the water on, and then got so wrapped up in my miniscule amount of coffee that I completely forgot about my breakfast. And had to leave to catch the bus.
Fortunately, class has been cancelled. Chip and I figured that out at 9:29 when we were still the only ones here. And then we realized we'd been talking about media law cases for the ten minutes we were waiting for class to start. Dorks.
Posted by beth at 4:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
It's a Better Day Already
Coffee. I grew up repelled by the taste, as most of us do. "It's an acquired taste." Right? How many times did we hear that growing up about coffee and beer, and how many times have we now said it in our adult lives? When I was a kid, I was wise. If it's an acquired taste, I said, and it's bad for you (applying this to coffee and beer both), then why would I ever acquire the taste?
Right.
Smart, right?
But, of course, things change. The social pressure of they hype, and figuring out what all the hype is about, or acquiring the taste little by little, or shifting into adult tastebuds or whatever. I began to like beer in college. (Although it took a while. Honestly. I'm a nerd. A social nerd, but a nerd.) I began to like coffee just within the last couple years.
Coffee. I still don't crave the taste, but I crave.... it. The experience. The treat. (I don't drink it every day. But even if I did, right, there's that ritual aspect to it.) *The smell.* I walk past a certain mega coffee shop every other morning on my way to class and I take it in. I love walking past. I relish walking past. I look forward to walking past. It smells like a better morning.
This morning, all of about ten minutes ago, I poured oatmeal in the kitchen and saw the small amount of coffee left over from what Judah made this morning. He almost always does this--he calls it a 'Beth-amount.' I usually don't touch it though, for whatever reason. I drink tea. I don't drink anything. Coffee. Eh. It's more of a weekend thing.
But this morning, awaking a little anxious and seeing Judah out a little depressed (it's a work day, after all), I went for it. I poured the Beth-amount of coffee into a small mason jar and took a sip as I walked to the office.
And my immediate thought, not contrived, not consciously constructed, not with pause or deliberations, was
It's a better day already.
Coffee. I don't think that with tea. I love tea--I drink it all day, spicy sweet black tea, earl gray, chamolmile, mint, rooibos--but I just don't have that same reaction. Unless it's a Tanzanian-style black with sugar and milk (special, nostalgic) or a chai latte (special) (or is it the milk? smell? caffeine?)
Anyway. I'm TA-ing an intro advertising class and I think this just proves that I should be writing copy.
It's a better day already.
Catchy, right?
Posted by beth at 3:16 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
November 5, 2011
Booked!
I'm going back to Ecuador! Just bought the ticket... yikes. It's always both exciting and nerve-wracking for me to book a ticket. I'm going on a trip! Oh, shit, I'm going on a trip... I hope I got the dates right... and now I have to prepare...
December 31 through January 17, the week classes start, because that's where I found the cheapest fare. Under $700--whew. Hopefully I'll get funding for this, but until (and unless) I do, I'd sure like to keep it on the cheap.
Why back to Ecuador? I have to produce a 'professional project,' the CU newsgathering master's degree version of a thesis. Like a thesis, but much cooler. Because it's a piece of potentially creative communication. (Not saying it's more important than a different kind of thesis--it's just more fun.) I will be producing an online, interactive piece about living on a volcano, using the photographs and interviews I collected at Tungurahua last year plus updated material I'll collect in January. Very exciting. If I pull it off the way I envision it, I think it will be very, very cool.
Posted by beth at 2:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
