Don't Miss the Forest...

First test tomorrow, hopefully itll go alright. After that its off to Mindo for the weekend for some intense birding and whatnot

This weekend was fucking incredible. It started on friday when we took a long journey that ended up with us in Pappallacta Hot Springs. On the way there we got to take a good look at some Andean Forest and Paramo to start off our learning of the different ecosystems in Ecuador. The Andean Forest was incredible. So many small, twisted trees that go on forever. The Paramo was cold and intense. The Hot Springs were so much fun. It was great to have a relaxing day before we go full throttle on the learning from now until the end. On Saturday we went to Otavallo, an Indian market, and bought some crazy awesome shit. You have to bargain for everything and it made the experience so much more fun. I got a sweet Alpacca blanket that is soft and warm as anything, as well as an Alpacca sweater and alpacca crew neck. Before we got there we went to a lake in a crater called Cuicocha which was beautiful. Sunday we went to Cotopaxi Volcano. We did our first project there, and even though its not for credit, it was still a lot of fun. The Volcano is amazingly gorgeous and huge and the elevation is intense. The highest we were was around 4600 meters or somewhere around 13,000 feet. Overall it was an amazing weekend. Got closer with some people. Birded as much as I could. Saw some amazing things. And its only gonna get better from here

My classes are pretty awesome. Our spanish teacher is really chill and kind of looks like an Ecuadorian orthodox jew. And my ecology class is amazing. Our teacher is widely known and respected and has the most amazing life. Hes so nice and chill and everything I want to be when I finish school. I learn so many new and interesting things every day. For example, that the brown part on the inside of a sunflower is a whole bunch of mini flowers that produce the sunflower seeds. Theres so much more that Ive learned that I cant remember right now. He was saying something today about how white women cant give birth over a certain elevation because theyre body physically cant form a placenta. I love everything about this semester

Friday was awesome with the party. Saturday our entire group went to old Quito, visited an awesome church thats all gold inside, Saw the giant virgin on the mountain top and ate delicious food. At the restaurant we were eating at, the clowns that travel with Patch Adams to help bring joy to many people were at the restaurant we were at. They were fucking with us pretty hard which was pretty funny. We had this amazing potato and cheese soup with avocado that I think i could eat every day. We also went to this archaeological museum focused on the Incas which was one of the most interesting things ive ever been a part of. Their culture was/is so fascinating. Today we went to the Equator and touristed around pretty hard. It was a lot of fun to blatantly be touristy and take stupid yet awesome photos. We went to the tourist version of the equator and the actual equator, which was much cooler. Overall it was an awesome weekend and next weekend is gonna be even better