short fat guy online

From: Joe
Sent: Saturday, January 17 2004   22:00:20
Subject:  Two Life Changing Trips

¡Greetings amigos!

As you all know, because I’ve mentioned it before, a group of Kzoo students, including Jill, Vonnie, Sus, and myself, did the Incan trail!!  Really, all I can say is that it was the most amazing 4days 3nights of my life.  Ever single person on this earth must do this.  They MUST.  All of you Kzoo kids that are young and fit and full of life, YOU MUST DO THIS!

I really can’t describe it, it was a full experience.  I will say that we were in a group with 4 other people, plus our guide Augustin, who was tight.  The other people were 2 bros from Cali, Mark from New Zealand, and Alex from Bulgaria.  We definitely bonded, even though our personalities weren’t exactly the most compatible.  Anyway, for those of you that aren’t familiar with the trail, its a 4 day 3 night hike from 82Km outside of Cuzco, Peru to Macchu Pichu, a total of 42km, most of which is up and down hill.  Along the way you visit many, many different Incan ruins.

After returning to Quito for about 13 hours, all the Kzoo kids with Nelson (program director), headed to Las Islas Galàpagos.  The Galàpagos, a set of islands located 600km from the coast of Ecuador, are maybe the most beautiful set of landscapes I have ever seen.  Beaches with sands of all colors, waters of every shade of blue.  We did a lot of snorkeling, which always included playing with the sea lions, where they swim around you, dive at you, and spin all around.  We also saw some sharks, rays, many fish, and some bottle nose dolphins that chased the boat.

To have these two trips back to back created a fairly intense couple of weeks, so I apologize that this is so short, but its really something that has to be experienced.  I’m sure all the study abroad kids understand.  Now I have a day to relax in Quito (tomorrow) and on Monday we leave at 7h30 to go to the jungle for a month, at which time I will have no contact with the outside world.  I wish all of you well, and I’ll see everyone in the US.  I hope everyone has an amazing end to there study abroad programs (long terms), and they return safely to the States.

Love always,

Joe

From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, December 17 2003   06:48:22
Subject:  Montanita

Hello again friends,

Classes are winding down here.  I have one more final and then I’m free from this terrible university.  I guess I shouldn’t complain, we did take some amazing trips with my classes and got to see Ecuador in a way that would be impossible for just any tourist.

Speaking of seeing Ecuador, last weekend I had the amazing luck of being able to go to Montanita, a little beach town just above Guayaquil, peopled entirely by hippies.  Basically, Montanita is a surfer town, but actually not terribly popular with tourists, either because it isn’t well known, or possibly because the waves are so freakin’ huge that they verge on dangerous.  Anyway, my group of about 7 friends and myself headed down, taking a bus 8 hours through the night.  After being stuck in Quito for so long, it was amazing to see bright blue waters and smell the salt water washing up on shore.  After finding our hotel we ran straight to the beach and swam the day away.

While the swimming and the beach were awesome, there was an even cooler part.  After walking north about 10 minutes you come to this rocky point that looks like it was created by a lava flow.  Walking around this point for about 15 minutes on painfully sharp rocks (my sandals had broken earlier in the day) you arrive at a little rock that juts out a bit further than the rest.  If you walk up onto this rock, the waves rush at the “mini-cliff” in front of you and break in huge walls of water that come crashing down on top of you.  I have never felt the pure power of the ocean so much in all my life.  When I brought people back to the spot I had found, Corinne got so excited that she ran up without me being able to warn her about the waves.  Well, sure enough a large one came as she was walking out there and knocked her flat.  Honestly, it looked like she was flying.  I ran over and looked down at her, and she was lying there just smiling.  That’s how amazing this place was.

Anyway, I could go on and on about Montanita.  Let’s just say it was my favorite single spot in all of Ecuador.

I hope everything is well with all of you, and that you are all having equally amazing experiences.

Love always,

Joe

From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, December 3 2003   06:33:05
Subject:  Hesperia, Thanksgiving, and a birthday celebration

Greetings friends,

As I’m sure we are all aware, last Thursday was Thanksgiving, a wonderfully American holiday that has absolutely no meaning here at all.  However, because there are a large number of gringos in our group, the director of our program gave us 150USD to spend as we wished on making ourselves a Thanksgiving dinner.  So, with money in hand, we split up who should make what.  I wanted to make vegetables (boiling or steaming I can do) but someone snatched up that option right away.  So I asked, what can I make guys?  The reply ... stuffing.  That’s right, stuffing.  This would be no problem at all if they had Stove Top here, but there is no such thing.  How did I handle this you ask?  Ingeniously.  I found a few recipes online, combined them all, and produced what might have been the most amazing stuffing to ever be created in the small country of Ecuador.  Thursday arrived, and I with stuffing in hand (actually in a box my padre helped me make) walked to Susanna’s house for Thanksgiving dinner with our program directors and the Kzoo kids.  It was wonderful, so don’t you worry about me!

Last weekend, after Thanksgiving, we took a bird watching trip to Hesperia, a forest at 1400m on the Western slopes of the Andes.  This place was beautiful!!  The family that owns the preserve (the goverment doesn’t do anything here) was incredible.  We ended up seeing 52 bird species, 2 monkeys, and a snake, which may or may not have been of the deadly variety.

Moving right along to the last topic of the email, last night I went out with the Kzoo peeps for a b-day.  It just so happens to be fiestas de Quito this week, so there is a week long party in celebration of ... well, Quito basically.  Anyway, for this young lady’s birthday we purchased a few Cervezas and went out into the streets to party with the mobs.  Good times I assure you!

I hope everything is going well you folks.  I’ll be sure to keep you all informed, but I don’t have any interesting plans since I have about 500 papers to write before next week.  Wish me luck!

Love,

joe

From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, November 26 2003   06:29:05
Subject:  Quick Update

Hello friends,

I know its been a fair while since my last email update.  Sadly, due to time constraints, I must keep this fairly brief.

Last weekend we went to the volcano Cotopaxi, climbing up to the refugio, just below the glacier that caps the mountain.  We then walked about the glacier a little bit, climbing and sliding down.  We threw snowballs, sang Christmas carols, and had a jolly good time.  I never thought that I would actually see snow falling while in ecuador, and it brightened my spirits.  Its nice to be able to visit snow without having to live in it.

This weekend I have a trip for my ornithology class, which I’m sure will be painful, due to the stopping every five seconds to look at some other species of finch.  Before that, however, is Thanksgiving, as I’m sure all of you know.  Of course, there is no such holiday in Ecuador.  Luckily, our great college, Kalamazoo, has giving us 150 dollars to buy food and beverages so that we can cook a Thanksgiving of our own.  We will be having dinner at Susanna’s house, each bringing a dish to pass.  Hopefully, my madre here will help me with whatever I have to make.

Thats it for now.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  To my family in particular, have a great holiday and think of me as you carve that wonderful turkey.

love always,

joe