Conclusion

Today was yet another travel day. We wake up to a delicious breakfast at our wonderful hostal and head out on an hour and a half bus ride. We then hop on a boat which takes us to a unpopulated island where we drive to the airport. The plane ride was a smooth one and we arrived safely into the wonderful Quito. We take about two hours to set up our on assignment which was one of our final exams where we have to surround about 10 photos around a central theme. We all gather in the room, and I am the very first person to present my work, and all the leaders commented on how solid and great my pictures were! It made me feel like quite the accomplished photographer. The best part of the day was about to come up. We go to the last restaurant of the trip and I get a delicious cheese empanada  as an appetizer. Then, before our very eyes, a huge plate of fried guinea pig is placed in front of us. We are all forced to take a bite and I actually thought it was so good! However one bite did it for me, for the thought of simply eating guinea pig was too much. After this nice dinner we grab an ice cream, i personally got a cookie, and head back to the hostal and pack up for our early morning flight! The early morning flight was a rough one, as we all had to force ourselves out of bed. Actually well all woke up to the sound of a woman being mugged and scared us all half to death! We were afraid to go outside and walk to our bus right after this occurrence. The long flight ride finally ended and we reunited with our parents.

Day 18- Final Real Day

The next day was our final real day. We started off the day by visiting the Darwin Center and touring the national park. We saw some wild iguanas sun bathing on the beach and got to take many good pictures. We then traveled along the park and visited the tortoise center where they are bred by the leaders of the organization. We saw baby tortoises and and young tortoises ready for the wild! However, some of them were kept in captivity. We saw many colorful iguanas in some of the exhibits as well. Later that day we walked far and wide, a mile and a half to the destination,  and visited one of the prettiest beaches on the island. We all hung out, took pretty pictures of each other and the landscape, and enjoyed the fun in the sun. It was a pretty relaxing cool down and wrap up to the trip as a whole. Let me just take a moment to break this happiness however, and exclaim a very important piece of news. The last of its kind in that species, lonesome George the tortoise, died today. It was very sad for all of us and impossible to bear. We got to see him earlier that day but we weren’t sure if that was he dead or alive. We felt very privileged to see him on his last hours. This pretty much concludes the trip! Tomorrow and the next day are purely travel days first back to Quito then back home to Houston! It’ll be so great to see everyone again!

Day 17- Santa Cruz, Tortoises

Today is our first day in Santa Cruz! We started off the morning with a choppy boat ride which led us to this new island. We started off with a little town walk and shopping, and then went out to the highlands where we saw many wild tortoises. The tortoises can live up to 200 years and grow bigger by the year!

Day 16- Snorkeling, birds

The first full day of the Galapagos was sure jam-packed and busy! We started off by instantly boating out to a rock called kicker rock where the true snorkeling began. On the way, we captured the many sights of what it means to be in the Galapagos. We took many pictures of the one and only, blue-footed booby. We saw special endemic birds, which means they are only found in the Galapagos. Finally we arrived to the snorkeling sight and were ready to snorkel. We were soon let in to the wonders of the sea world. We saw many sea turtles casually swimming around, many exotic fish, a couple sharks, starfish, and sea lions! Later that day, we continued our snorkeling after a nice lunch break with a stop to the spot where the birds dived and fed on the many fish. We got to see many pelicans and boobies and others dive down in the water, which was great for underwater pictures. We wrapped up the day with a nice little town walk later in that afternoon, shopping on the many local good Galapagos has to offer! 

Day 15- Galapagos, Sealions, Snorkeling

So our first day in the Galapagos was wonderful. We arrived and dropped our bags off at the hostal after a nice lunch, and went to try on our wetsuits and flippers. I was already a step ahead since I already had my own snorkeling gear! We snorkeled that day away for our first time and saw a sea turtle and thousands of sea lions. They were to die for. None of us could get over how cute they were. We planned on smuggling some home, we were joking of course. The excitement ended shortly after that as the day neared to an end. We were sure ready for a full day of fun the next day!

Day 14- Stressful, Rainy travel back to Quito

This next day brought a lot rain, grogginess, and cold. Today was a travel day and we were bound for a 5-hour boat ride back to Coca. Our boat got drenched, or at least the side of my row and we were left cold and shivering! Our boat shut down twice which delayed our day and canceled our plans to visit a local community of the culture. The day started to pick up and we arrived to Quito safely, read for the Galapagos!

Day 13- Piranha Fishing, Sunset of the Amazon

As our final day in the Amazon finally came around, we were all ready for our last and final adventure in the famed jungle. The best part of the whole Amazon was about to come. First up, was piranha fishing. This was like music to our ears and we were ecstatic!  We caught so many fish, probably because Sam, who does fishing for a living, was on our boat. I caught a pretty sparkly white and orange fish and felt so accomplished and proud of myself! Like you’d think that this was the first of many to come, but fishing for piranhas is a lot harder than it sounds. As the day neared toward the late afternoon, things started to slow down and get a little freer. For the rest of the day we were basically left to do whatever we wanted, that was within the rules obviously. Some people went back out to fish, but me and some other friends decided to have a little cool down and go for a risky swim in the Amazon! Clearly I survived that since I am writing this right now, and it was certainly worth it! This was a great wrap up to our Amazon stay and we were sure ready to head out!

Day 12- Whooly Monkeys, Hike

So today was fairly similar. We started off the day with a hike and learned even more about the Amazon. Libio taught us how to juice out the finest aliments from the Amazon, on of which acted as a body cleanser. We all got to try a tiny bit. He took the reeds from a branch, conducted detailed steps, and made us all natural matching bracelets. He also showed us the way to make a backpack out of reed leaves. I got to keep this due to the fact that I had nowhere to put my water bottle. After lunch, we set out to an island about an hour away and were in search for yet another species of monkeys. After careful searching, we came across the perfect spot filled with a whole monkey family. We saw momma, poppa, and even the little baby holding on to the back of the mother! Knowing monkeys, they got a little feisty and started staring us down and throwing anything they could find at us. It wasn’t that bad though! I captured some wonderful pictures yet again today.

Day 11- Deep in the Jungle

Today we started off with an early morning canoe ride seeing many cool birds that was perfect for pictures. We continued the day with a refreshing hike, listening and learning everything there is to know about the jungle by our wonderful guide, Libio. He taught us how to make anything you can name out of a huge reed leaf. He showed us how if one were to take a handful of a piece of a termite hive that you can make fertilizer out of it. He showed us how to climb a tree, energized our day by enacting a classic energizing ritual by the movement of a certain tree branch around our heads, and let us in on all the top things you can do to survive the jungle. When we arrived back to the camp, Ms. Bottoms gave us a little photography lesson on three subjects: framed photo, repeating element, and environmental portrait. After lunch and a glorious siesta, which means nap in Spanish, we all headed out in canoes in search of monkeys. We saw many cool monkeys, but they were sure hard to come by. We had three opportunities to spot the speedy little things, but I missed a lot of them. It actually made me very frustrated! However, my time finally came and I captured some great pictures. On our way back to the cabins the sun was just setting and we got some great photos of the sunset as well. It was a pretty productive day, if you ask me.

Day 10- The Amazon River

First day in the Amazon y’all. What else is there to say? Today was just your typical travel day. Once our flight to Coca finally landed, we took a 5 hour boat ride into the deep depths of the Amazon jungle. We were greeted by a friendly lodge and paired up into twos, which determined our roommates. Our life in the Amazon was just like the life of the locals who live along the river. We lived in log huts with a roof made of reeds, no air conditioner, and just a bed and a net to keep us safe from all those nasty bugs. It was fun to get a little piece of what the locals have to endure everyday.

Toucan!

Toucan time!!!!

Day 9- Back to Quito

So today was a relaxing travel day. Not much interesting going on here! It started off with us waking up in the buggy Mindo, my legs are completely torn apart by the bugs there, and packing. The leaders formed a nifty little scavenger hunt for us where we had to take good pictures of certain things in the town of Mindo. Lunch was the usual, beans, rice and meat. We have had that for the past week and are ready for a change. Now its time for the two hour bus ride back to Quito. We went to a little shopping market and I bought of lot of good things for my family, friends, and I. Dinner was phe-nom-in-al. It was the biggest switch of our lives where we feasted on delicious sandwiches and French fries. Oh and lets not forget, for an appetizer they served us bruschetta bars, fried cheese sticks, and fries. Let me just add that the sandwich had a coat of garlic sauce with cheese, tomatoes lettuce and probably a lot more. After that we had a nice little ice cream outing where for once there was actually normal ice cream! I got oreo. For the past week I tried all kinds of Ecuadorian flavors that were quite different. Still yummy too! Now we are ready to fly to the Amazon and find new adventures that cross our path. See you in the Amazon!

Day 8- Community Service

Today we were back up that mountain to meet with the scientific couple for community service. We cleared that way for a campsite, built some new stairs, and painted some new signs! It was great to help out and make someone’s day just that much better! This was Massimo’s last day, which was very sad because he is just so awesome and knowledgeable and we couldn’t get enough of him! He gave us one last lesson and let us in on his life and this was it and we said our last goodbyes!

Day 7- Hike, Waterfalls

This day our tasks were switched and my group was the group to hike up to a series of beautiful waterfalls for swimming and picture taking. This was so wonderful and refreshing and a great opportunity for us to take many beautiful pictures. Later that day we had another one of Massimo’s critiques on an assignment he gave us. It was in preparation for our big final assignment where we are supposed to formulate a general theme around photos that fit the theme. 

Day 6- Mist Netting

So these next two days were kind of whack! We split up and half of us hiked a mountain to this bird catching place where this awesome couple that lives in a log cabin in the middle of no where, catches and studies birds for biological study for a living. We got to see birds super up close and watch the scientists measure their varying measurements. This was the prime time for picture taking and for us photographers to go wild. I was really excited to get acquainted with the many colorful birds of Ecuador, because I just love birds and think they are so gorgeous. This day was a rough one though for us because not many birds flew into our net due to whatever reason. We still got to see many cool birds however. After a gruesome hike back up to the town, the most scrumptious pizza of the town greeted us. We ate that up like no other and were ready for any big adventure that was to be thrown at us. After this we all got all of our best photos together for one of Massimo’s critiques.

Day 5- Birds, town pictures

Hello readers! Get ready yet another update of the life in Ecuador. To start off this day number 5, June 11^th, I seized a voluntary opportunity to catch a bird watching session early in the morning. Our group as a whole was planning on going to this bird sanctuary later in the afternoon, however, one of our leaders, Sam, is quite the “bird nerd” as he likes to call himself, and took some of us to catch the rare birds in the early morning. The bird shoot was amazing, knowing that I love birds. After we got back, Massimo was ready to fill us on some insightful new photography tips. The bird sanctuary was ready for us yet again as we all went together later that afternoon. From hummingbirds of all colors, to toucans and exotic birds, it was nice to fix my mistakes from the early morning shoot and receive satisfying pictures. After this our leaders gave us the opportunity to walk around town and soak in the culture of the town. We took many pictures of the town as well. My group of 2 and I met this little boy and we kept on calling him funny, but he denied it every time and said, “No!” “Tu, tu, tu!” After a good load of town pictures, the leaders surprised us with a little chocolate making lesson. We learned that the seeds from a fruit called cocoa were used to make the one and only, chocolate. The fruit around the seeds was absolutely scrumptious and made us all sad that they didn’t sell them in America. Maybe they do, we still need to investigate. The seeds were then steamed on a pot over fire to dry out the centers. Peeling the seeds was next. We all fuddled with the steaming seeds working off the shells one by one. The next step was to grind the seeds in the grinder until it reached a nice gooey pulp. The pure chocolate was then mixed with milk and delicious brown sugar to make a fondue in which we dipped fruits of all kinds. So yummy. Dinner was probably the last thing on our minds, but we chowed it down happily and had a nice sleep that night.

Day 4- Outdoor Mindo, Butterflies

So today definitely didn’t fail to surprise and thrill every single one of us. The day started off with a beautiful crisp light filling in the whole of our cabin! Those typical dreadful minutes when you know you have to get out of bed but yet wallowing in bed feels just so much better, were eased with the unique and exotic singing of the Ecuadorian birds. We were then greeted with probably the best breakfast of the trip yet. With a hardy meal sitting in our stomachs were went up to one of the main cabin’s sitting areas and talked in great depth about the photography language. Even though we have all heard the same things over and over, it still refreshes my mind as I reach closer and closer to the top of the photography field. Massimo, our wonderful professional leader, arriving straight from Italy, taught us about light metering and how to expose different lights in different ways, something that was never strong in my mind before. It was such a wonderful feeling to accomplish his lessons with beautiful satisfying pictures, when we ventured out later that morning. After nice lunch out, we all went to a butterfly sanctuary filled with all the butterflies you can get. We were able to put special butterfly food, basically banana, on our fingers which lured the beautiful butterflies our way! Some of us got the idea of putting it on our noses and letting the butterflies sit. This was a great place to seize our ambition for photography and grasp all the practice we could get. Our next stop only added to glory of such a day. We all went to the famous Mindo tubing rides and white water rafted all the way down the river. Mixed feelings definitely aroused from excitement to pure fright. One girl in our group Madeline, was absolutely terrified. I, on the other hand, thought it was so fun! We were all in a big cluster of connected tubes and bumped and bounced like no other. After a relaxing sit in the hot tub at our hostel, we ventured out to have probably the best dinner yet. As a whole, my 8 friends and I, ate at least a total of 40 pieces of pizza. We were hungry, and sure were ready for another round of jam-packed fun the following day.

Day 3- Equator, Mindo Bound

So today was our last day in Quito and we were Mindo bound! So excited! We got to stop at the equator spot and walk the line. Perfect place for pictures. We then went into a little bug museum where we got to hold the most exotic bugs of Ecuador.

Day 4- Outdoors, Butterfly Mindo

So today definitely didn’t fail to surprise and thrill every single one of us. The day started off with a beautiful crisp light filling in the whole of our cabin! Those typical dreadful minutes when you know you have to get out of bed but yet wallowing in bed feels just so much better, were eased with the unique and exotic singing of the Ecuadorian birds. We were then greeted with probably the best breakfast of the trip yet. With a hardy meal sitting in our stomachs were went up to one of the main cabin’s sitting areas and talked in great depth about the photography language. Even though we have all heard the same things over and over, it still refreshes my mind as I reach closer and closer to the top of the photography field. Massimo, our wonderful professional leader, arriving straight from Italy, taught us about light metering and how to expose different lights in different ways, something that was never strong in my mind before. It was such a wonderful feeling to accomplish his lessons with beautiful satisfying pictures, when we ventured out later that morning. After nice lunch out, we all went to a butterfly sanctuary filled with all the butterflies you can get. We were able to put special butterfly food, basically banana, on our fingers which lured the beautiful butterflies our way! Some of us got the idea of putting it on our noses and letting the butterflies sit. This was a great place to seize our ambition for photography and grasp all the practice we could get. Our next stop only added to glory of such a day. We all went to the famous Mindo tubing rides and white water rafted all the way down the river. Mixed feelings definitely aroused from excitement to pure fright. One girl in our group Madeline, was absolutely terrified. I, on the other hand, thought it was so fun! We were all in a big cluster of connected tubes and bumped and bounced like no other. After a relaxing sit in the hot tub at our hostel, we ventured out to have probably the best dinner yet. As a whole, my 8 friends and I, ate at least a total of 40 pieces of pizza. We were hungry, and sure were ready for another round of jam-packed fun the following day.

Landscapin'

Cool little pic with the Quito background!

Little nugget

Just a little snap shot day in the life of our Day 2 Quito experience. Such a little nugget he is!

Day Two- Otovalo

Day two was a little bit of a switch from the jam-packed day one. We started off the day with and early morning two hour bus ride two a slightly impoverished town called Otovalo. This is where we could finally put our photography techniques to the test. We were set in one of the largest markets in the world, where we got to shop and take pictures. Our goal was to find a common theme to take a picture, like bright colors, or kids, or workers, which was mine. Another goal we had was to catch three pictures of the elements of art. These are lines, color, shape, space, value, and texture. Picture taking plus shopping, really made the ideal combo for me since those are probably my two favorite things. The most capturing element of the day however, was the culture and the way of the natives. From little kids, mothers, teenagers, and old citizens, we got an idea of the culture as a whole. From time to time we would come across extremely decrepit old women, begging for money. They were very nice, but we were not supposed to interact sadly. Our journey continued as we passed by the local food market, where things got a little graphic. We would stumble upon fresh bloody animal meat, and animal carcasses. Fruits were impossible to miss and vegetables just the same. I got a unique taste of lychee, this unique little fruit. Now this throws me on the path of the food. I have tried quite the variety of exotic, bizarre foods. Today i tried a little piece of goats blood with one of our leaders, taylor. Yum! We all got to dig in and knock ourselves out with a little organ soup, well thats what we like to call it, and some beef with yuca, most likely a derivative of the potato. The thing about our stay in Quito that really gets me is the way the general people conduct their lives. People crowd the streets walking from store to store as if the whole town were a market. Venders would walk around with their goods and try to persuade people to buy their wares.  At night music would fill the air and horns would sound, since honking is apparently a general popular thing to do.

Day 1- Quito Eterno

Where to start! With apprehensive, yet ecstatic feelings, our group of 9 stumbled into the foreign lands of the wonderful Ecuador, ready for our little adventure. The first thing that we all noticed was the weather patterns and how cold it was! The 60 degree weather completely set the tone for the trip as a whole, making everything so pleasant. In the morning of our first official day, we had a little group meeting, setting the standards of what it truly means to be a National Geographic explorer. Rules and regulations were covered and made us feel influenced to start the day. And we were sure in for the ride of our lives later that day. We started it off by taking a gondola ride up to the top of a chain on the Andes Mountains and hiking even further to the top. The sight was spectacular, let me tell you. I felt like i had the control of Quito at

Galapagos Islands

Can you say gorgeous? Clara life for the next 3 weeks! Go NatGeo photography!

Starbuck Treats!

Just some practice for my upcoming Galapagos photography trip!