Week of Adrenaline...

I think I had the most interesting week ever this past week. It all began when I got held up by a guy on the street. Overall, I'm actually kind of proud of how I handled the whole situation...I think. Once I realized the guy had no knife or gun it was a lot easier to be confident, even after he decided his weapon would be a piece of cement rock.  End of the story, he didn't get anything out of me. What ensued after that night was what was really painful...

The next day I explained what happened to my boss at the hotel, and he decided he was going to teach me how to defend myself with his martial artist "expertise." He explained to me that I can actually defend myself with as little as a rolled up magazine. A hit to the eye and to the groin is all I need to do...as he then showed me how to do- a little more 'hands-on' than I would have liked and he ended up hitting me right in the eye with the corner of the magazine. I ended up in the doctor 4 days in a row with a cut across my cornea and a choice between a contact or an eye-patch...wonderful. Apparantly a magazine is a great weapon-- at least against a small white girl in a hotel library! A glue-sniffing ladrone--not sure how well a magazine will work, I wouldn't recommend it.

During all of this mess my best friend came to visit for a week, which was awesome! We went all around Quito doing her Christmas shopping, checking in the sites, and almost getting robbed. To be fair, there were signs warning tourists "robbery zone," but I couldn't help it-- I mean, what robbers go to a "robbery zone" to rob people? I imagined they would try to be a little more discreet than that! But lo and behold, the sign held true and if a policeman didn't step out of a building at the time we did, we may have been cut.

After Quito we went to Banos where we did all kinds of fun activities- rafting, biking, hiking through waterfalls, zip lining...unfortunately we both ended up getting tag-team sick. She was sick for about a day and a half, I ended up being sick for about 3 or 4 days. We still had a great time though and fit in just about everything we wanted to do.

Looking forward to November, where I have a 3 day vacation from work for the Saints day Nov 1, Day of the Dead Nov 2, and Cuenca Independence day Nov 3. Going to be a good month =)

Workshop on Indigenous Rights and Rights of Nature

This weekend ended up being all that I had hoped for. I'm not sure how much I helped out legitimately, but it felt great to be there anyways! The trip started with a long bus ride to Puyo in which I slept most of the time. When we arrived we went to the store to pick up some food basics (cookies and milk), got some rubber boots to trek through the mud, and then got picked up for another 2 hour ride to the edge of a road leading into the community. From there it was a half hour walk to get into the actual village.

We got in Friday around 5 or 6pm, so we had just enough time to have a small meeting about what was going to take place on Saturday. After that we went to dinner, and I'm still not sure exactly what it was we ate since we both forgot our flashlights and it was extremely dark. I think it was some kind of cow soup. At any rate, out of hunger it was delicious!

Saturday we started the meeting (and when I say we, I mean my co-worker and the indigenous leaders). It was really encouraging to see how excited and emotional everyone was about the threat of petroleum companies coming in and exploiting their land. The meeting went on for longer than 10 hours. At the end of the meeting it seems that everyone agreed that it was the best decision to create a legal proposal to protect their lands before the companies come in for the "consultation process."

When we got back to Puyo Sunday morning, we had just enough time to run up and grab some food to go before catching the bus back to Quito. Leave it to me to get whatever the lady behind the counter recommended. When we got to the bus we found out I had gotten a traditional dish called Menudo which is a soup with the different insides of animals...heart, lungs, intestines, who knows what else. I was so hungry I ate almost all of it, and now I can say I had it. I can't say I would order it again.

Anyways, now I'm back in Quito in the office getting ready to teach English to the son of the receptionist in the office. I'm training for a half marathon in the end of November so started running again and I feel great! Stopped taking kickboxing classes and now looking for a new studio- the trainer ended up being a creep who doesn't know what 'no' means. Lucky I know how to punch now, hehe. Until next time bloggers!!

This weekend...

I think it's a really good idea to put a map of the world in your house. I remember when I was little spinning the globe with my eyes closed and stopping it at an unknown point and declaring "that's where I have to go!" Well, not much has changed. When I think of all the places I want to visit, I sometimes get really overwhelmed. But, I met a guy in the hotel this week who has been able to make a living out of his love for travel and adventure and he assured me that with the will to go, I will go. After that we decided we were going to climb Cotopaxi, one of the largest active volcanoes in the world. I think that is on the schedule for next week Thursday. It's an amazing hike because we actually begin the hike at midnight, meaning we arrive (all conditions permitting) at the summit at 6am, just in time for sunrise.

For practice we climbed up Pichincha, a local mountain in Quito which I believe summits at 4,500 meters. We were about 30 minutes from the summit before a massive storm hit and we had to turn around. The altitude makes it incredibly difficult to breathe and move fast. Luckily for me, I have had the time in Quito to acclimate to the altitude a bit making it a little easier for me. We got back to the railway car thing soaked and sore from all of the giant chunks of ice that were showering down on us. To continue with our luck, the railway car stopped in the air for about 30 minutes, 4,000 meters above the ground. When I got back to the hotel I don't think I've ever enjoyed a hot shower so much!

This weekend is going to be huge for me because I am going into the Amazon to witness a workshop on collective rights for a meeting of indigenous people. An oil company is threatening to expand it's block of territory which would affect the Quichua, Achuar, and Shuar nations living on that land. According to international law (which I believe has been ratified by Ecuador), consultation and consent of indigenous people before extracting oil or mining on their land is necessary. BUT, most indigenous peoples do not have the full access to knowledge of their rights, therefore the point of the workshop is to teach them this and if they decide to take legal action against the oil company, to help them organize that as well. There will be a lot to write about on Monday!

Outside of all of this everything in Ecuador is going great for me. My spanish has improved in ways that I still have a hard time believing. I don't end every day with a headache and a stupid English comedy to relax my brain. I'm taking kickboxing classes which makes me feel really powerful and I love releasing all of my aggression with an adrenaline rush. I miss everyone at home a lot and I can't wait to be back in December, but I am also really excited to re-pack to come back in January!