Daytrippin' in Podocarpus

And while I am posting, I might as well update on our past week and post up some photos from our day trip to Zamora to visit the Podocarpus National Park.  Last week was pretty much the same as always- Adam went to the UTPL to visit with some of the engineers up there, had a few meetings at CASMUL and the Tourism Office and I did the same ol' same ol', though it was sad going to all the centers without Eri!

On Monday I finished the scrapbook for Eri and then she came over and had dinner at our house (I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes since she enjoyed that the last time we had a potluck). The next day I went to the Centro Comercial without Eri. It was fine but the kids and I all missed her. Then I met up with Eri on last time for coffee and empanadas de verde at a friend's house while Adam made lasagna with Stacia and Liz. On Thursday I did an origami workshop at a school and had to play Eri's role of standing up in the front demonstrating while some of the CPD staff went around to help the kids- we made dolphins and Santa Claus...I have to go back to the center 2x this week, so we are going to make pistols, boxes, frogs and the kusudama.

Here are a couple page samples from the scrapbook I made Eri. The cover said La Gran Aventura and it was over 30 pages. It was a bit of a last minute crunch because the guy binding it for me didn't have it ready until 3pm and I was still short 10 pages! Yikes!

When the weekend came, Adam and I were glad to take a day trip out to Zamora since we hadn't been up until now. Plus it was nice for Adam and I to spend some alone time since we had volunteers crashing overnight at our house since Monday. We enjoy having volunteers over but sometimes it is nice to have our own time, just the two of us.

This is a row of ants walking along carrying leaves back as food. We saw tons marching along on the trails.

Cascada Poderosa (Powerful Waterfall)

And we saw tons and tons of gorgeous butterflies of all colors and shapes and sizes. I couldn't capture them all but I got a few shots!

View of Zamora from their riverwalk

Ok I have to run. A mosquito is buzzing around my head hoping to get a drink!! I can hear it buzzing!

Trip to the coast and Adam's 28th!

Even though Jason has gorgeous photos on his blog to show off our fun weekend in Puerto Lopez, I decided that I should share some here as well. My photos aren't as crystal clear as Jota's...but that is why I will eventually purchase the same lens. =D

I've mentioned that on the busses there are often people that come on selling various products. Some just come on and yell what they have..."Pan de guineo!!!" (banana bread) or "Helados helados helados!!" (ice cream ice cream ice cream) or "Fresas uvas fresas uvas!!" (strawberries grapes strawberries grapes). Other times we get the nice, long sales pitch. Our bus trip had tons of people selling all the above (we enjoyed a couple slices of banana bread and I was tempted by some of the other sweet treats) and most special of all- manteca de culebra (snake lard!). The price says $2.50 but he was selling it for the special bus price of $1! Cures coughs, colds and muscle aches!

I love looking out the window when riding the bus on the coast. Although the views in the sierra are gorgeous (rivers, gorgeous green mountains, cows on the hills, windy roads), we get a different view on the coast- passing homes made of caña, people selling coconuts and coconut juice on the highway, and hammocks hanging).

When we arrived in Puerto Lopez, we weren't expecting muddy roads, cloudy sky and chilly weather!

But that is what we got! For some reason we were envisioning hot and sunny weather...clearly we didn't read the guide books or talk to the other volunteers who live on the coast to find out what weather is like in August!

We stayed at the Hosteleria Mandala and got the Pulpo (Octopus) Cabaña. Janet and Jason stayed next door in the Seahorse Cabaña! Fun!

All around Puerto Lopez (and a good chunk of the coast) there are motorcycle taxis. One of our mototaxi drivers had so much gel in his hair, it didn't move at all when we were driving on the highway...impressive!

This was right outside our hotel. The sign says we were 5565.17 km (3458 miles) away from Los Angeles...that's a long ways away! (From LA to Loja, it is 3653 miles)

Our meals in the coast consisted of a lot of seafood, since we don't get it that often in the mountains. Here's Janet with her yummy grilled corvina!

We also got to see some of the fisherman bringing in their catch. The frigates were flying all over waiting for the opportunity to steal a meal from the open crates.

On our walk along the beach, we found a ton of sand dollars. There weren't starfish like when we visited Stefanie a year ago in her site in Palmar.

Jason getting his morning coffee and Adam hanging tight in the hammock

Funny story- this guy is sanding his boat and Jason suddenly said, "What your step." We realized that he was getting his electricity by connecting his wire (which was running across the road) to the power lines using hooks (maybe coat hangers?)

Watermelons, pineapples, and unknown type of melons!

Fresh catch of the day!

How they sell bananas on the coast

Always with the camera

Our main goal heading out to the coast was the see whales. And whales we saw!

Two whales cruising between the boats

Yes, that is a whale with his head up and his fin waving to us!

Jason and Janet NOT throwing up (because Adam threw up 3 times on the boat)

Everyone whipping their cameras out. And simultaneously Adam was throwing up on the other side of the boat, poor thing!

Adam finally feeling well enough to get a piña-coco batido (milkshake)

We also were able to get a birthday cake for Adam. Janet wanted to put 28 candles on but the pack only came with 16 or so.

Adam looking pretty proud for blowing all of his candles out in one shot

Before we left we also visited Parque Nacional Machalilla

Nice hike but poor Jota hurt his foot doing something so he was a little limpy. 

So pretty much our trip was amazing and we had a great time seeing whales, celebrating Adam's birthday and walking on the beach!

Tengo mucho comezon!

I am sooo itchy! I have mentioned on and off in various blog posts that I have an allergy to Ecuadorian mosquitos, according to a dermatologist I visited in Quito and the Peace Corps doctors. I have always been "sweet meat" and typically bug bites take forever to heal on me, but prior to coming to Ecuador, I never broke out into hives as a result. Well, since being here, starting in Week 2 of training, I have had perpetual hive problems. I have taken so much Zyrtec, gone through tons of hydrocortisone and even had a cortisone shot! I have used all sorts of ointments and always have repellent on hand (including little plug ins and a portable Off fan). All it takes is one mosquito bite and my whole body breaks out. So unfortunately, even though we live in Loja where mosquitos are non-existent, we usually have at least one mosquito that gets into our house periodically and I inevitably wake up to one or two mosquito bites. A few days later, my body explodes. Another unfortunate thing is that it takes about 2 weeks before all the hives go away, and during that time period I will typically get another mosquito bite, which then leads to getting new hives.

I am also not the only one that complains of hives and being itchy. Eri and several of the other Japanese volunteers also have this problem and have also been on Zyrtec and rubbing on creams, ointments, and even lime juice! There must be something in the Asian blood (just kidding, I don't really think so, but it is strange!). Either way, that is how I am feeling today. Extremely itchy.

And for your enjoyment, here is how they typically look (if they are really bad, they fill up with fluid and look like bubbles, gross!).

My arm is all itchy!! Sadly this is on my left arm, which up to now has been relatively unscarred by the hives. Once they heal up, they usually leave scars. Fun!

These are the ones on my knee...itchy!

And currently on my wrist...I think it kind of looks like there is a worm in there (letting my imagination run wild! Pretty sure it is just hives taking on new shapes!)

I haven't resized my photos from our whale watching/trip to the beach, so until then, you can visit Jason's blog for some pix! Jason's Blog!

Another week in review post!

Lol, I am glad to know that people were concerned because Adam and I hadn't posted on the blog and I wasn't on Gmail all weekend. We got a few emails asking if we were ok! Yes, we are alive.

Not this past weekend, but the one before, we had a girls' night at Liz's house where we ate and ate and ate and talked and talked and talked! It was a great time and Liz made challah bread that we used the next morning for french toast. Delicious! We also made enchiladas which was a nice little treat. Don't worry, Adam wasn't all alone in Loja. He went out to the waterpark in Catamayo to celebrate Tony's birthday and then a couple of the guys crashed at our apartment (essentially they had a boys' night). On Sunday we played board games (Risk and Ticket to Ride) at a missionary couple's house here in Loja.

Liz slicing her challah bread that had pretty knots on top

Mmm...slice of veggie enchilada with a teeny bit of canned green chilis on top

As always, beautiful views out in the countryside

During the week it was pretty busy too, given that it was Eri's last week of work so we had to send her off with a bang! Monday, Eri and I made crepe paper flowers with the girls at Dorotea Carrion. They all sprayed perfume into the flowers and wow, it was hard to breathe in the room! That afternoon, Liz accompanied me to the Orfanato where I printed coloring book pages and the kids got to pick which characters they wanted to color (choices of Dora, Ben 10, Spongebob, etc.). They had just waxed the floor and covered it in what smelled like diesel, so it was also hard to breathe in that room! Let's just say that Monday was not a good day for the lungs! =D

Emily coloring Dora...but using the brush to even out the color of the crayons. 

Tuesday I made a batch of snickerdoodles for our last workshop (well, Eri's last workshop...Elizabeth from CPD told the kids we would keep going) with the kids at the Centro Comercial. The room we usually work in ended up being occupied for a meeting so we had to work in the stairwell! I had burned a portion of the cookies but luckily the kids liked the cookies "mas crocante" (crunchier) for some reason.

Right after we finished up at the Centro Comercial, our colleagues at the CPD office said that we had to go meet them at the office because they had a despedida (going away party) planned for her at the main INFA office. We met some of our colleagues there and made our way to the main INFA office. Poor Eri had an appointment at 5pm with another office in town, and dinner plans with friends. However, in the end it was nice that they had planned something, although with little notice. And no, this wasn't a surprise party that was planned, just something that they forgot to tell her I think!

That night, I made carrot cupcakes for our Dorotea Carrion despedida for Eri on Wednesday...and these also didn't turn out great. I didn't put enough flour in the batter so only the second batch came out! Boo. On Wednesday morning we had a great time eating cakes (the girls made a chocolate and an orange cake) and Eri taught the girls the dance to Waka Waka. And of course, more photos!

The good batch with the little Japan flags and the bad batch. 

The spread- popcorn (cangil in Ecuador), jello, cupcakes, and cake

The girls singing a song they prepared for Eri

Afterwards, Eri made her last trip to the CPD office to say her goodbyes and check to see that she didn't leave anything behind. I think it was a very weird experience for her to see the office for the very last time!

Eri in front of the office entrance

On Thursday I spent most of the day working on Eri's goodbye scrapbook because I had to drop it off at this print shop (I'll post a few pages later). The owner knows Eri and I from the origami workshops and had given us extra paper before, so I decided to ask if he could bind/sew the scrapbook together for me. He kindly did it for me for free! In the evening, we met up with Julisa, Yolanda and Karla for another mini despedida.

So that was last week! I'll continue with another post about our trip to Puerto Lopez to celebrate Adam's birthday by going whale watching with Janet and Jason. Super fun!!