I have now been in Ecuador approaching 2 weeks. At times it feels as if I’ve been here for far longer than that and at times it feels like a shorter amount of time. 2 weeks of already being here means I only have 14 weeks left in Ecuador, which I’d rather not think about in general. I say only because there is so much to do in this rather small country. I’m incredibly excited to go live on the Galápagos Islands, but at the same time I wish I could spend a little more time on the mainland because there is so much I will not get to see. Cuenca, for example, is a 10-hour bus ride away from Quito. However, I have been able to do a lot in a short amount of time, so here it goes: Since last updating I have enjoyed salsa dancing in Quito. That was an exciting night that involved squishing most of the members of GAIAS into one of the Ecuadorian student’s old Volkswagen van. I also went hiking in the highlands of Ecuador as the first field trip of my Tropical Ecology class, enjoyed some jazz in a restaurant/lounge/bar that is directly across the street from my university, and my friends and I successfully navigated to and from Otavalo, which is a market of traditional Ecuadorian wares about 2 hours north of Quito.
Last Friday we made another trip as a program to the páramo of Ecuador. The páramo is an ecosystem that exists in the highlands of Ecuador. There is the sub-páramo, the grassland-páramo, and the super-páramo. Technically there is also the nival zone, where it is all snow and very few organisms live. We went to Paracocha and started around 4300 meters high (roughly 14,000 feet) in the super-páramo. Up there exists very little vegetation except the cushion plants and a few brave wildflowers that can hold as many as 30 species in a single cushion. Up close to the top was also this cool lake that looks like a footprint. Of course, there is the local legend that giants walk through the Andes. As we began our 11km hike and many meters descent of altitude, we discovered more signs of life.
There were many lakes along the way from the glaciers that have carved out the valleys. Not all of the valleys were carved out by glaciers, however, since some of the mountains were once volcanoes, a number of the valleys have also been carved out by the lava flow of those volcanoes. As we climbed to lower altitudes, the vegetation changed to more dead grasslands (hence the name grassland-páramo). These grasses are not technically dead, but are only growing at their centers in order to conserve energy in a harsh environment. Along the way there are these small plants here and there that have beautiful flowers. There were also a few trees that had plants growing on their branches and plants growing off of those plants. And I recognized the Andean relative of the strawberry plant that apparently gets tiny, tiny berries. 
We did not see any wildlife on our trek other than a few birds and an insect here and there. However, there was plenty of evidence that suggested that various organisms do indeed live in the highlands. There were plenty of droppings from bunnies and deer as well as scat from what a professor believed to be a mountain lion. There were also clearly defined deer tracks and fox tracks along the paths that we were walking.
We ate lunch in by a lake and were able to use tall grasses as chairs that also supported you as you leaned back on them. Towards the end of our hike, we saw a couple of waterfalls and we were able to see the glacier Antisana. We went from being able to see a glacier, to relaxing in hot springs about 10 minutes away from where we were hiking. The hot springs were a complete tourist destination, but it was still relaxing to get into a warm pool after hiking for about 4 hours.
The next day, Saturday, we tried to go to Otavalo. Sadly, we were not able to make it because the taxi driver of the car that I was in did not know where he was going and then there weren’t any more buses running… it was a whole big mess. We did go to a tasty Mexican restaurant, but that is a story for another time because I think I will have to devote at least one entry to the food alone (although I have yet to try cuy, guinea pig).
Finally on Sunday we were able to make it to the city of Otavalo and find the market. The market makes me think of a flea market in the United States, although I have never tried to barter at a flea market. All kinds of things were available at this place. Alpaca sweaters, socks, scarves, hats, hundreds upon hundreds of scarves, bracelets, necklaces, hats, paintings, jerseys, wooden carvings, wooden flutes, traditional drums, incense burners, incense, tapestries, blankets, clothes, glassware, bowls, plates, gourds with burned decorations into them… Apparently Sunday is the less busy day of the market, which I could see with the amount of customers, but the amount of stands was still a bit overwhelming. It was an overall good day, except that I was sort of sick on the way home and a 2-hour bus ride when you are sick is not the easiest thing to deal with in the world.
My class, by the way, is going well seeing as we have only taken notes so far. I do have a fair amount of work to do to get a group presentation done because we are very busy starting this Thursday and going all the way through next Friday. In the meantime of that presentation, I will be heading to the Cloud Forest and the Tiputini Biodiversity Station as well as (hopefully) Cotopaxi, which is one of the volcanoes in Ecuador.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and learn a little about Ecuador with each post. By the way, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. Good luck to everyone with the snow! (This is the glacier known as Antisana.)
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