Q4 24+3

rest of second week

Well, I have to catch you up on lots of exciting things. So, on Tuesday, as I stated previously, I hiked up Fuya-Fuya with friends. I just wanted to clarify some details. We hiked up 500 meters, which is about 1,500 feet, to the very top of the mountain, which is about 14,000 feet. Despite being surrounded by clouds for most of the day, I quickly discovered that you still get sunburn through clouds.

On Wednesday morning, I woke up in a bit of pain from my sunburn. Most of the day I spent doing research on my presentation (Health Systems in Ecuador). Wednesday night, though, I think was the highlight of our stay here so far. We traveled by bus to a small town named Iluman, where we went to see a cleansing ceremony by a Yachac. Atscko, a fellow student, volunteered to be cleansed. She had to dress in a sports bra and some shorts. The ceremony began with the Yachac praying in Quechua. He had Atscko rub some scented oils over her body and some water with herbs. He also spat some alchoholic fluid on her that she had to rub into her skin. He used some plants, one called Ortiga, with really small leaves, and used them to "beat" her. He also cleansed her with some eggs and placed an incense fire under her. The yachac also spat fire at her by drinking some alcohol and spitting it over some candles. It actually singed her hair and burned the hair off her arms! In conclusion, she received a necklace. These necklaces used to be used in marriage ceremonies and were a symbol of the union between husband and wife. In Atscko´s case, it is a symbol of her "marriage" with positive energies. The plants and eggs that were used to cleanse her body of negative energies get buried somewhere sacred, like near a river, to make sure that no one else finds them and then absorbs her negative energies. I took lots of pictures of the whole ceremony, so someday you can see what I am talking about.

On Thursday, we visited a small village called Mojanda and went to their local community clinic. We met with one of the directors who gave us some history about the clinic. I couldn´t believe that this place services about 1200 people (600-700 families) on an annual budget of only $7000 and in only a six room building! Each family in the community is asked to donate $1-2 dollars for services. The remainder of the budget they get from donations from the US. They do everything from pediatrics to ob/gyn. Some years they also get an MD from the states to come for a year and help out. It definately seemed like a worthwhile cause.

After the clinic we visited Casa Mojanda, which is a resort on the side of one of the many mountains surrounding Otavalo. The resort is run by an Ecuadorian-English couple. They also started and help to run the Mojanda clinic. It´s a great place to escape for some peace and quiet and to just be surrounded by nature. Just wait til you see my pictures!

Friday morning we headed back into Quito. Luckily, we didn´t encounter any road blocks this time. We arrived at our new hotel and unfortunately, they screwed up our reservations. We were supposed to have suites that had kitchens in them, however, they already had those rooms occupied. So, we each got doubles to stay in and we have full access to the kitchen in the hotel so we can cook some food for ourselves. Overall, I think the accomodations have been pretty nice. You just have to get used to some of the local customs, like not flushing toilet paper-you have to put it in a waste basket. We also have to be pretty careful about brushing our teeth with purified water and not tap. You have to be really careful, especially when you go out to eat and remember not to eat salads or anything uncooked and not to get drinks with ice. The first thing I´m going to do when I get home is have a huge glass of water filled with ice! I´m also going to eat lots of apples and grapes and veggies! (Can´t eat anything you can´t peel!)

Saturday morning we got up early to go on a tour of the National Park of Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is Ecuador´s second tallest volcano and one of only seven active volcanoes in Ecuador. Ecuador actually has about 400 volcanoes in total. Cotopaxi is also the tallest active volcanoe in the world. We had a tour organized with a couple geologist who gave us lots of information regarding the park. They also do research on the volcano and told us that they have various methods (seismographs etc..) to get information about the volcano´s activity. Apparently the volcano hasn´t erupted since the early 1900s but thay have been getting data from the inner core and it has been quite active. They believe that the volcano will erupt again within the next 10 years and they are working on methods of evacuation because even though it´s about a 3 hour car drive from Quito, the lava from the eruption would flow down to Quito in less than an hour! When you get to the park, you can actually drive up 2000 meters to get to the hiking area. From there, we hiked 300 meters to the very bottom of the glacier. The top of Cotopaxi is actually a glacier and is covered with ice. Every year, it has been receding due to global warming. At the very bottom of the glacier, we were at an altitude of between 15,000 and 16,000 feet. There were amazing views everywhere you looked. On our climb up, we could see the remains of what once was a huge lake. The lake is actually 1 million years old, but it has been drying up due to changes in temperature. We asked if there have ever been excavations to look for fossils, etc, but since it is a national park, there can´t be any work done in the area. On our way to the glacier, we had to climb over and through tons and tons of rocks. These rocks have all been there since the last eruption and are essentially pieces of the top of the mountain that were blown off with the eruption. It was a great way to spend the day and of course, I took a ton of pictures to show you all!

Today, Sunday, I took the day off and just wander around Old Quito with 3 of my companeras. We climbed up the top of the basilica of Quito where you have views of both old and new Quito. I again took some great pictures.

Tomorrow, I am starting to work in the hospital. I will be working in the Hospital del Sur on the southside of the city with 3 other students from my group. I will fill you in on the experience later this week.

Posted by at February 15, 2004 03:38 PM