Day 5!
We arrived to the airport very early this morning. I sat in there going through my pictures while we waited to find out our gate. This was the shortest flight I had ever been on in my life. It was 40 minutes at the most. It was so warm when we walked outside! It reminded me of how it is when you walk out of the Orlando airport in Florida. We waited for a while to get a ride to the hotel and when we finally got there we were not able to check in yet. Because of this we decided to go for a walk around the city. We went to the pier/boardwalk type walkway near the water. There was a shop with some different stands/vendors within it. We ate at a restaurant not too far from there towards the other end of the city. Later Sydne and I made our presentation on Transportation and Energy in Ecuador and after dinner, Nick and Shannon made their presentation on the Geology of Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. We decided, after the presentation, that we would hang out and rest because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.
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Day 6!
Today was another bust day. Our tour guide, Edwardo was awesome! He had so much knowledge of the area and kept things interesting all day. First we stopped to learn a little bit about rice agriculture. Rice production makes up 15% of agriculture in Ecuador. (Borja & Williams, 2004) Some of the areas were covered in snail shells. This is because snail kites, a crane like bird have a special beak that can remove the snail and shell closure without breaking the shell itself. From there we stopped at a big fruit stand on the side of the road. We got to try all kinds of fruits. We had guayaba (cotton candy like, inside a long, green pea like pod), sapote (looked like a small pumpkin but had the texture and coloring of a mango inside), pineapple, mango, and bananas. The pineapple was my favorite thing. It was so sweet and juicy, better than any other pineapple I have ever had. This was such a nice experience because not to far down the road we passed the farms where the fruit was grown. An interesting fact Edwardo told us was that it is normal to stop and get fruit or flowers to bring to someones house. If you are visiting someones you bring them this token of gratitude. Next we went to the Mangrove forest which was really interesting. Mangrove trees grow their roots above ground. In the mud below crabs live and feast on the droppings from above. They crabs only consume 30% of what they take into their holes. The rest breaks down and adds to the organic material in the muck. This is a symbiotic relationship between the trees and the crabs. We got into long canoe and went for a ride down the river to see all the birds. I am so sad that I did not bring my own camera to take pictures because I was taking pictures on Eddie's camera. There were so many birds! it was beautiful! There were pelicans, spoonbills, cormorants and opreys. I had never seen so many birds in one place. After we got back to the van we were on our way to the Howler monkey trail. It was a nice walk in the woods but the mosquitoes were ridiculous. I came out of there with so many bug bites on just my legs! I was so surprised because I put so much bug spray on I thought they wouldn't even come near me. We didn't see any howler monkeys but we sure did hear them! Lastly we went to the Cacao & Mango Farm. This was my favorite stop. The food was absolutely delicious and the process of making 100% chocolate was so interesting. The ceviche with plantain chips was my favorite part! I could have eaten it all day. After lunch, our tour guide and farmer, Nefima showed us around her families farm. We got to see every aspect of cacao production. Their family uses graphing to makes specific species of trees to get the product they want. They sell their trees and make a good profit. I had never heard of doing this type of thing with trees before. The process of making cacao goes as followed: Pick the pods, remove the seeds and dry them in the sun for 50 hours, roast them for 10 minutes, then ground into a paste and from there you can make the products you desire. She made a lemongrass hot chocolate type drink for us and it was really delicious. I think overall this was my favorite day by far!
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Day 7!
Today was our last day in Guayaquil. This city has been so different from Quito but I like it just as much. We did not have anything planned for today so we all slept in late then went to the Iguana Park not to far from the hotel. There were so many iguanas! It was like the equivalent of pigeons at a park in New York. People were feeding them and touching them even though they were not supposed too. After that we went to the boardwalk again and just wondered around until we had to pick up our laundry. Later we had a Emily and Reshma's presentation about Biodiversity in the Galapagos. Tomorrow we leave for the Galapagos Islands and their presentation has made me so excited about everything we were going to see! I cannot wait!
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Sources:
Borja, I. and Williams, G. 2004. The Economic Structure of Ecuador's Rice and Corn Markets. TAMRC International Research. Im-04-04
Borja, I. and Williams, G. 2004. The Economic Structure of Ecuador's Rice and Corn Markets. TAMRC International Research. Im-04-04