So I just wrote a post, and some how it was deleted. Any who, I have one more day down south before heading back to the Northern Hemisphere. I'm going to hit up the historic center one more time and vist one of my host families in Northern Quito. I am sorry I haven't been in the best contact but over the last month and a half I traveled down through Peru and Back. I saw the Macchu Pichu and many great things along the way. I went with people I met here in school and others that I met along the way. I have a feeling I will be back here so I am not too sad, I am missing the family, friends, and social life that I have. See you all soon. I will try and post some pictures but you all know how I am with this blog thing. Love to you all. xoxox
Mere

Hey Family,
Sorry I have not contacted you guys since March. There are no excuses but it was hard to find the energy with school, classes, friends, a new family, and new events. I finished up my project on the coast studying development projects and hanging out on the beach for a month. I returned to Ibarra to give my presentation and reunite with the group. After we all said our goodbyes, about six of us headed back to the coast to hang out at Los Frailles beach, one of the most secluded beaches as voted in National Geographic. I am currently traveling with my Jessi, we arrived Latacunga this morning the capital of the province Cotopaxi where we are going to do some hikes before we split off from eachother. I am meeting a friend in Cuenca to spend a few days before heading off to Guayaquil and then to Peru to possible do the Inkan trail. I will keep you updated. Love to all.
xoxo,
Mere

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,
I know these are few and far between but I’m trying and I will try harder. Our last excursion was to the Amazon outside the town of Tena in the province of Napo. We did all typical things you do in the Amazon like take motorized canoe rides up and down the Napo river (aka the head waters of the Amazon), played with the pet monkey of the owner of the lodge, listened to several speakers about shamanism, conservation, pottery, and did a visit to a local indigenous community. We went to an eco-lodge that was owned by a former Peace Core worker. He has pools of turtles and fish on his land because he is trying to reintroduce sources of protein into the local people’s diets. They have depleted their sources of protein by using dynamite that is sold under the table at hardware stores to “fish.” He provides the pools and the first year of stock in the communities agree to stop dynamite fishing. Muy interasante no?\ I moved in with my new family in Quito and all of them are really nice, my host mother hugs me every time she sees me or I’m leave to go somewhere. My father is a civil engineer who works a lot. My 22 year old sister Daniellita has a one year old and I also live with the 6 year old grandson of their son who I have yet to meet. Every thing in this family has –ito/a added to the end meaning little. Augacita, Cafecita, everything. Classes started and we listen to 2 speakers talk about various topics from indigenous communities, women’s movements, economy, the poor, the U.S. embassy, etc. My Spanish is getting better but it is really frustrating at times because I really can’t convey my personality with my limited Spanish vocabulary. Last night I went to a synagogue with the Jewish people in the program, quite the mixture of cultures and languages. Hebrew, Spanish, English, Quiteno culture, and this jewish-ecuadorian sub-culture. When we arrived they needed a copy of our passports, check us with metal detectors, and they have 24/7 security. After, we were invited to a Shabbat dinner at this really old woman’s house and there were Jewish travelers from all over the world. Been taking a few salsa lessons, found another place to take painting classes if I have time, been going to this little market that is a co-op of all sorts of strange products from Ecuador. Write you all again when I get back from the coast, I leave this Wednesday (if I didn’t already mention that). I’m going to get my identification card to day and hopefully later go to a place with micro-brews, all they drink down here is Pilsner. Love you all.
Mere

Dear Family and Friends,
Thanks for following my blog. A lot has been happening here. I don’t know if I mentioned before but I am staying in a suburban valley just outside of Quito and this is where I take my intensive Spanish course. The first 4 hours are communication and the last hour is history. Other than that life hasn’t been too academic… Week days I go hangout with my classmates and go to the market to buy things that I need or random fruits. I am pretty exhausted because I have homework every night and constantly thinking and interacting in Spanish really beats you up. Last weekend I went to a celebration for the Immaculate Conception. The women there dressed me up in indigenous clothing, went to mass, and later went to a hacienda. The food was quite interesting I ate pig skin that still had hair on it and was pretty good and yaguarlocro a traditional soup that has dried cows blood and cow intestines in it. I have been going out with my host brother and his friends and I bring some of my friends from school. His friend has his own bar/coffee shop where we can just hang out. Juan Pablo is a good singer and all his friends are musicians to some extent. I hiked a small mountain close to town after school with some of my friends. The past couple of days the group and I went to Intag a cloud forest north of Quito in the Imbabura province. It was awesome, but it was a pretty rough ride because the rain has been causing a bunch of landslides. We hiked about an hour into the place where we were staying. It is owned by a couple trying to protect the forest from foreign mining investors. The cloud forest is a biological hotspot that contains several dozen varieties or orchids, epiphytes which are plants that can absorb nutrients from the air using their roots, and high fern diversity. They have their own organic garden with pineapples, bananas, plantains, carrots, radishes, varieties of fruits, tomatoes, etc. They also grow their own shade-grown coffee, process it, and roast it on this little reserve. I bought some at only $4 per lb to bring home for tasting and such. We listened to several groups speak about the mining companies and their effects on the local community, the history of Ecuador, and a women’s group spoke. The women have created a group that weaves bags and other goods out of a type of agave and sells them to support their families so they don’t have to move to the city to look for jobs. We also were able to go on hikes in our free time and also had a guide Roberto that taught us local flora and fauna and their medicinal uses. The cabins we stayed in had no electricity but had running water and it was about 10 people per cabin. On the way home we stopped in Otavalo, an outdoor market that sells textiles and many other amazing hand-crafted goods. I have a paper do this week and am planning on going camping with my host sister and her friends. I love you all very much, keep in touch. Xoxox.

I want to apologize that this is my first post since I arrived in Quito. It is a little difficult to find the time to sit down and write because so much has been happening. When I first arrived it was fun getting to know everyone in the group and it seems that everyone gets along very well. We spent the first night in Quito and after went to an awesome hostel named Racho Alegre for about 3 days where we had a salsa lesson and were introduced to a fusion of modern and indigenous music. The town called San Antonio is also called el Mitad del Mundo because it is the so called center of the world aka the equator. Later in the week we did something called a “drop off” where we had to figure out the buses in town to get to a particular town. We were supposed to go to a town called Nanegalito but there was a landslide a few weeks prior and the buses were limited so the group and I traveled to a town called Paulagua that is in the crater of a volcano. I am unsure if the volcano is active or dormant but here we walked up a street pretty much in the middle of nowhere to grab another bus that ended up being nonexistent. However, we did find a museum that had artifacts and displayed art of a few local artist that was pretty awesome. Later we caught the bus back to Quito to meet the rest of the group after having lunch. The food here is pretty awesome! Fresh fruit juice of fruits I have never had before with every meal, lots of rice, various types of meat, fresh bread, fresh everything…YUM! So after returning to Quito we listened to a panel of Ecuadorian students answer our questions and a group of us went out to a region called el Mariscal which is where all the gringos and travelers drink and stay when they are visiting. I didn’t stay out too late because the next day we got to meet our awesome host families!!! We had a few hours before we needed to get on the bus to meet the fams so a group of us took the trolli-bus to a part of historic Quito to see the Bascilica del voto Nacional. I think I can add pictures but I don’t know so if they are not here please google it because it is AWESOME. We were able to pay a few dollars and climb to the top of the tallest towers on these tiny ladders, a heart racer for sure! Next, we returned and had to buy flowers (which are super cheap $1 for 12 roses) and dress nicely to meet our families that live in a valley called Los Chillos outside of Quito. I was incredibly nervous but my family is so nice and helpful with my Spanish. They have had 6 students before me so they know what they are doing. It is composed of a single mother, Nancy and her 3 kids Juan Pablo (23), Marco Antonio (27), his wife Johannah, and Anita (21). The town of Sangolqui is really close to Cotopaxi and has an awesome view, Anita studies Ecotourism and know a lot of great places around the area so hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can climb to the top of the highest active volcano in the world! (just kidding mom) and check out some other outdoors activities in the region. The first day we went to a party in Quito for the birthday of one on Nancy’s friends where I was served pork chops, a thin steak, 3 varieties of sausage including blood sausage and a variety of vegetables. Later Anita and I went out with the son of one of the women there, Andres, to watch a soccer game and later went to a place with a lot of young Quitenos where you could buy a beer and smoke the hookah. My family loves Italian food and I had brought up the fact that I could cook a little bit, so today we went to the market to buy ingredients for lasagna. Little did I know I was cooking an entire lunch for 10 people, and to make spaghetti sauce I had tomato paste! It turned out pretty good, I used the pre-cooked pasta and it was a little undercooked when it was served and everyone liked it or at least they said they liked it and we all ate it for dinner also. School starts tomorrow and I will be taking the bus with my friend Mindy and her host mother Sandra. I am really enjoying myself here and remember that I love you all. I will try and update you soon but for the next month INTENSIVE SPANISH!!!!!!!! Xoxox
Meredith