Two hemispheres at once

Our first "touristy" stop was... The Equator. How cool to be physically present in two hemispheres at the same time. Although this was my second journey to South America, it was the first time I traveled to the Southern Hemisphere.

Post shaman cleansing

We jumped right into our Ecuadorean experience the first day of the trip when we participated in our first (of several) shaman cleansings. The first shaman cleansing was many things: unexpected, frightening at times, silly at others, hot, cold, painful, sticky, and refreshing. It is not an experience I could share with anyone except others who have had the opportunity to do the same. What a memory.

Who needs fossil fuels?!

We woke up early our first day in San Clemente (and every other morning of the trip, for that matter) to help our home stay families plow a small soil plot. The process was even more difficult than it looks- the cows took verbal commands, but not in English, the solid wooden plow was extremely heavy and awkward, and the fertile soil was deep and lumpy. As we each took our turns plowing, we upturned grubs which the family dog was quick to scarf down (we later got to pan fry them and do the same).

Bean pickin'

After some sweat, laughs and clumsy falls plowing, we moved on to a more subdued task of pickin' and peeling beans.

All the colors of the rainbow

This is an assortment of the beautiful beans

Cross stitching

One of my favorite memories was sitting out in the lawn with the Karanki people. We spent a few hours helping them plow and pick beans, and our reward was a lesson in cross stitching. Some of us caught on faster than others, but we spent the afternoon laughing over our needle struggles and language barriers; laughter is truly the universal language, and I'll always remember these women's giggles. These women create truly beautiful tapestries and we all bought a few to bring back home with us.

Just another delicious lunch

We were rewarded almost every day in Ecuador with... food. Amazing, fresh, hand-prepared meals full of color and love.

Yum

Dirty feet after a hard days work

Even though I wore shoes, the fertile soil of the highlands stained my virgin feet.

Minga! Road building

A minga is a community effort to complete a task. Because it is a collective effort, a minga turns what could be a long, difficult task into a fun social gathering. This specific minga was to build a new road to my homestay family's home.

Bright blue millipedes

We took several breaks during the minga as we kept finding fun little creatures.

Discovering wildlife

The tiniest frog I ever did see...

Braid chains

After completing the road, we all dressed in traditional attire and participated in a celebratory ceremony that blessed the new road. The evening concluded with hours of dancing and live music.

Traditional attire

Traditional attire with my professor

Calla lilies the size of my face

Saying goodbye to our first family

After a couple of days with our Karanki friends, it was time to thank them for their more than generous hospitality and say our goodbyes.

Hiking to Imbabura

With our only instructions being: bring lots of water, and dress in layers, our 5 hour hike to the summit of Mount Imbabura (15,190 ft.) was, up until that point, the most demanding feat my body had faced.

Staring off into the Andes

Ascend for 15 minutes, take a break. Repeat for 5 hours.

Climbing Imbabura!

After 2 hours of our 5 hour summit, we were already in the clouds.

High altitude plants

Watching the changing vegetation kept my attention and sanity.

View of the Amazon from our plane

After our stay in the highlands, we took 3 small planes into... THE Amazon Rainforest. What an amazing plane ride.

Rough landing

This was one of three planes that we took.. and my first steps on Amazonian ground.

Footwear for the week

With 6+ inches of mud at all times, we were all extremely thankful for the provided boots.

Cruisin' on the Amazon River

After an hour-long plane ride into the Amazon, and a 20 minute trek, we took a motorized canoe up-river for an hour to reach our final destination.

Tinkiias

Our final destination and home for the week.

Shower time

Cockroaches the size of my face

Just hikin' in the Amazon Rainforest

A 12 mile hike in humid and foreign conditions made for quite the learning experience of what my mental and physical boundaries are made of.

Under the safety of a mosquito net

Achuar vs. Ithaca

Our last day with the Achuar tribe, we participated in a "game day" that consisted of soccer, volleyball, and a whole-lot of other fun.

Girl time is a universal language

Lunch break on game day- get this hot hair out of my face!

Hammock relaxin'

For our final destination, we headed back into the highlands.

It's cold on the equator!