I figured I would update everyone on whats going on in life right now, it seems like its been awhile! I am still at my internship in Otavalo in the Hospital, I have been observing doctors and nurses in Emergency, Surgery, Gynecology, and the Birthing Center and I will be going to Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in the next 2 weeks then I head back to Quito for a week then off to Bolivia! Time is sure flying by! This week was crazy, a friend and I did tons of [...]

This past weekend I went to Banos! It was so much fun, and everyone has been asking me what we did in Banos… the answer EVERYTHING! We got there on Friday night and ate some great Filet Mignon and then on Saturday we walked around the city, took a tour of the waterfalls in an open-aired party bus then hiked up and down a mountain to see the waterfalls, had a 2 hour massage and facial for only $35!, rented a go-cart, drove that to the hot springs, then had [...]

Wow this past week has been crazy for me! My friends and I went to “El Rey León” or The Lion King in 3D (and yes in Spanish).  It was super fun listening and watching the movie and all the songs in Spanish, but knowing what they were saying in English too.  I have been incredibly busy finishing classes here and working on tons of homework and essays! On the 24th of October I will be starting my internship in the ER and possibly also in a Psychology Office, but we’ll [...]

Back in the swing of things…back to my “reality” of classes and family time! The trip this weekend was fantastic – just a short 2 hour bus ride away from Quito! We tried out some different types of food – Ecuadorian-Mexican and Ecuadorian-Chinese, both a little different than what you would get in the U.S., but delicious. Otavalo is known for its huge market, and we definitely took advantage of that all Saturday morning! It was fun to look at all of the scarfs/jewelry/crafts and was a good test of [...]

This weekend I went to Otavalo which is like a huge marketplace/town where I bought tons of awesome souvenirs and stuff.  I got some really nice Alpaca sweaters which is a great purchase here since the weather is chilly (like 50) in the mornings and then reaches about 70 every afternoon.  I found out will be doing my internship in Otavalo as well in a 24-hour Emergency Room at the Hospital de San Luis de Otavalo.  The city is super pretty and the main population there is indigenous people.  At the market [...]

Some pictures from the week. Many are of Cotacachi. I see her out my window every day and get really excited when there aren’t clouds covering her peak. In the indigenous cosmovision, all parts of nature have a gender (i.e. Mama Cotacachi, Taita/Papa Imbabura). The most wise and respected Yachaks of the community are the ones who assign gender to the grand landmarks. The genders can change or be more masculine/feminine depending on time, weather, and current characteristics of the natural feature. I rode a horse in el Parque Carolina [...]

Jueves (14/4): Completed a couple of interviews with people. A friend made a Chinese soup with shrimp for lunch. My tutor and I tried to meet in Ibarra to talk about my paper, but we couldn’t find each other and the cafe we agreed to meet at was closed and buses took longer than normal. It was three hours and an entire 90 centavos needlessly spent on buses (round trip, mind you). Viernes (15/4): Did more interviews. Had a meeting with Emilia from CIMAS to talk about how my internship is [...]

This makes almost two weeks with my new host family. How time passes quickly. My family is indigenous, large in numbers, and full of love. Here it comes bullet-point style: -Luzmila is my mom, Humberto/Imbaya (as he’s more commonly referred to in house) is my dad, Shyri is my 25 yr old brother, his 10 month old daughter is Ishanti, Maiya is my 20 yr old sister (she usually is in Quito though), Itumi is my kick-ass 12 yr old brother who calls me ñaña. Abuela and Abuelo also live [...]

This past week flew by!! I figured out, with the help of my tutor, my question of investigation for my internship (and the theme of my 25 page page paper, in spanish, due at the end). I’ll elaborate more on that later. I watched the neighbor cow be milked by hand and enjoyed hot chocolate from her milk the next morning for breakfast, and colada con avena the following morning. I played fútbol with my host family one afternoon—I was so clumsy in comparison to the others, but they were encouraging anyway. [...]

Our program is divided into 4 tracks, one of them being a Public Health group, which I am in. Last Wednesday–Thursday we took a trip to Otavalo and Cotocachi to observe indigenous medicine practices (un parto vertical y práctica curativa por Yachac) and to observe the interrelations of health systems (medicina occidental y indígena). Our first visit was to Hospital San Luis in Otavalo. This hospital is the only intercultural hospital in the area and has been making an attempt to integrate/co-opt/absorb/accept (the word choice depends on your viewpoint) indigenous medicine [...]

Went to Otavalo this weekend! There are many more photos from the others in the group… will post the good ones when they are loaded on the facebook. Día Uno: garbage trucks play fun tunes ate lunch at a beauuuuuuuutiful vegetarian restaurant that was totes spanish inspired: cafe con leche, tortilla española, live band, beautiful flowers, fun conversations (vampires, birds, vacations, music, etc.) crazy big market!!!! so many beautiful things and fruits and veggies for sale! lots of bartering. I got an alpaca shawl and sweater with llamas on it. Will return [...]

It has been exactly two eventful weeks since my last update, so rest assured that I have not been kidnapped and know that this could take a while to read. Monday, October 25, was my moving day. All of the students with internships in the northern sector climbed aboard the bus with suitcases and backpacks to begin a long morning of placement. After all of the Otavalo students were placed, we met up with our families to be taken to our new homes. My host mother, Tania, first took me [...]

The most popular attraction in Otavalo, about two hours from Quito, is the large open market. On Saturdays it is always crawling with visitors, but my buddy Mike and I headed there last Thursday.  It was empty—so much  better for quickly making our purchases. I got a hammock and several pieces of art by a local who uses a technique in which he extracts the brown from walnuts, mixes it with water, and paints. After visiting the market we wanted to hike to a famous tree in our guidebook called [...]