B.K. I'm going to Turtle Island!

That's right, tomorrow morning at 7:00 I'm going to the 5 islands where Charles Darwin himself became famous because he landed on an island, found lots of animals and plants and started screaming "THEY'RE GROWING INSIDE ME!!!" Later he was quoted for evolution, or something like that. Anyways, in all honestly, I'm not that excited. Seriously, you should be lecturing me about how I am not taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity being given to me to go to a secluded natural reserve where I can stand at a foots distance away from a sea hawk without it killing me or flying away. I mean, there's a 300 year old turtle named Lonely George who's just waiting to die as the last of his species (Apparently there's like 13 species of sea turtle, who'd'a'thunk'it?). I sin against all biologists for my lack of interest in the islands, but you know, I'm sure things will be different when I get there. Shoot, there ARE penguins! They're not real penguins and they look more like puffins in my opinion, but I'm sure some scientist out there said "look, a penguin! Let's key it!" So that's something to look forward too I suppose. Who knows, I might even buy a t-shirt. For someone else.

Yesterday There Was an Earthquake

I survived two, count 'em, TWO earthquakes! They happened around 11:00 in the morning, and at the time I was just waking up on a couch. At first I thought it was just really crazy wind beating against the glass door, but thenit occurred to me, "hmm, there is no wind outside." So now I need to make a t-shirt that goes along the lines of "I survived..." wait a tick...they don't name earthquakes. Great. Omgosh but wait it sounds preeeetty cool in spanish. I can see it now...

That would be SO sweet and money inspiring. Actually, the quake wasn't nearly that bad, it was maybe a 4.0 on the richter scale...even if I have no idea what that means. But I mean STILL, who would of thought that Ecuador was on a fault line!?! I mean besides all of those people who saw Tungurahua coming. Speaking of Ecuadorian volcanos, I might be going back to that one this coming weekend in the city of Banos - by far my most favorite city of Ecuador to date (ie: the one that I was pretty much trapped in a mountain for one weekend past). There I will buy buckets of $.25 Guayaba candy...which is kind of the quintessential delicacy for every person who ever was addicted to Fruit Roll-Ups as a kid, keep my bicycle off of mountain paths, and maybe even hug a cougar.

Revelation:

I have been to two countries outside of the United States in the past 21 years (not including Canada, although they are just as much a country as any one else). And what has come to my attention is the idea that everyone wants to be the United States. I can't generalize this with every country, but I feel like there's a great majority of city-states that desire to be westernized and, well, american. I see this on television, where the majority of movies and tv-shows are broadcast in english with spanish subtitles, I see it in the clothing lines, I especially hear it in the taxis and on the buses. The big thing with Ecuador is that there is still an overwhelming amount of national pride, which is something I admire because it's never been something that I've worn on my sleeve for the states. But all the same, popularity seems to coincide with wealth, and nations are no exception.

And politics:

The first round of elections in Ecuador ended yesterday too. So come November, the people of this country will have to decide between one cantidate who does public healings in the name of God and has been rumored to pay people for their votes at the voting stations; and another who wants to supposedly change the national currency (again), and has been rumored to be in cahoots with an over-zealously corrupt president from 2 elections ago. To quote my ecua-mother, "poor country, poor poor country." Yay government.

B.K. The October Effect

I was told before I left for Ecuador by a, 1, Crystal D. that the month of October would happen and I would not like it. Eventually during this month, the majority of my companions and myself would start to miss things from back home, get frustrated because it wouldn't seem like we would be advancing that much with our language abilities, and pretty much tired all around in general.

Well I know a couple people that this "October Effect" has already hit relatively hard, and see it happening to myself as well. I was walking down the street last week and smelled autumn; I don't know if it was the combined smells of street food, ecuadorians, and car exhaust or what...but I remembered auburned maple leaves lying across the lawns at messiah college, the onset of snow and calm in the air, and big puffy jackets adorned by the masses. It made me want to go home and drink hot chocolate. But then a honking taxi was quick to pull me out of my daze and encourage me to stop standing in the street.

I am excited to go home, I can't deny that. But at the same time I have a lot to look foward to in the next 2.5 months. There will be trips to islands, waterfalls, and maybe even canyons, relationships to fortify, and hundreds upon hundreds of photographs to take. The thing that I'm more worried about is when the December Effect takes hold, and I won't want to leave. I hope you are all doing well and feel more and more loved each day. Go buy someone a cookie.

B.K. The City of Guayaquil

-smells like poop-poo
-sells clothing for very cheap, kind of one of those "everything in this store has something wrong with it" deals.
-sells really good sandals for next to nothing
-has a pirate ship, WITH a hearty crew
-includes populous that will try to get you into their car so that they can take you for a ride through the city...or back alley-ways where you might get robbed (We salute your valiant attempt Wilmer!)
-has some REALLY good artists on the boardwalk
-has some REALLY trifling restaurant attends on the boardwalk when it comes to table space
-comes fully equipped with chicken empanadas
-reminds me profusely of the movie Bladerunner
-pales in comparison to the city of Cuenca
-held "la feria" on sunday, where you could go and buy all sorts of kitchen appliances for blowout prices. gnarly.
-had fiestas of independance yesterday...somewhere
-is not the solution to world hunger. We're still working on that one.

I have a very interesting discolored patch of skin on the left side of my chest. Maybe it will not kill me. More details inside specially marked packages of Trix cereal.

Kernals of Wisdom

The great equalizers of life are faith and death. I was privledged to be born in a country that gave me inherint rights and a blue passport. Others are born into slavery and famine in the countries of Africa. But we can all find a common richness and comfort in our faith and inevitably we will all die. The issue with faith is whom will be more likely to have a deeper, more intimate understanding of their faith given their lot in life?

100 years from now, no one is going to care how comfortable my life was or how much money I had.

There is a saying in Tibetan scriptures: "Knowledge must be burned, hammered and beaten like pure gold. Then one can wear it as an ornament." So when you receive spiritual instruction from the hands of another, you do not take it uncritically, but you burn it, you hammer it, you beat it, until the bright, dignified color of gold appears. Then you craft it into an ornament, whatever design you like, and you put it on.

People are afriad of the emptiness of space, or the absence of company. It could be a terrifying experience to have no one to relate to, nothing to relate with. The idea of it can be extremely frightening, though not the real experience. It is generally a fear of space, a fear that we will not be able to anchor ourselves to any solid groud, that we will lose our identity as a fixed and solid and definite thing.

Sometimes imodium is not the solution.

"Surrender" means acknowledging the raw, rugged, blumsy and shocking qualities of one´s ego, and giving them up; opening up one´s self completely, trying to get beyond fascination and expectation.
_______________________________
In other news, I drank a $.55 liter of milk today. What was the manliest thing YOU did in the past 24 hours?

B.K. Good morning October, I was lost in the woods last week.

Here marks the beginning of the 3rd month in my adventure in another world. Right now I am sitting in a 3rd story computer lab on campus, listening to the delightful chords of a flute from across the great wall that divides this campus from the rest of Ecuador that is playing one of those wonderful sort of classical ¨good morning to the world¨sort of things that were composed by Johann Sebastian Bach or maybe even Bethoveen.

But it wasn´t always this way.
Last week at this time, I was waking up from one of the more tumultuous experiences I´ve yet to have in a foreign country...and let me tell you, there´ve been about 3 of them. But this one, was by far the most entertainingly scary.

It all started last Saturday, when Kristen said to me...

Kristen - "Hey Trevor! Hannah just invited us to go to BANOS, where they have all sorts of fun sporty things!"
Trevor - "Let's roll!"
(2 hours later)
Kristen - "Hey Hannah, we're ready, let's go!"
Trevor - "Hey who are those guys¿"
Hannah - "ECUADORIANS! Here's David, Ephraim, Jonaton, and my german roommate Julianne.
All - "Hi!"
Hannah - "okletsgonow!"
(5 hours later)
All - "Yay Banos!"
Julianne - "Hey guys tomorrow lets get bikes for the day so that we can go and see the waterfalls w/o taxis!"
David - "So sweet!"
((Sunday Afternoon))
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "Ok, $4, $4, $4, $4, $4, $4, $5 for each bike"
Trevor - "Hey why do I have to pay an extra dollar for my bicycle!?!
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "Because it is special and blue!"
Ephraim - "LOL!"
(A few minutes later after our heros have been flying downhill through the city, dodging cars and children)
Hannah - "Oh my gosh nature is SO pretty!"
Jonaton - "Guys I think this is the way we need to go in order to get to the waterfalls, up this ominous path"
Kristen - "Sweet lets go!"
Jonaton - "And then before the waterfall there should be a bridge that we can go BUNGEE JUMPING off of!"
Hannah - "How much does it cost?
Jonaton - "ONLY TEN DOLLARS!"
Trevor - "Yay!"
(30 minutes later while getting on and off their bikes to go over mud and rocks on a steadily rising course...)
Julianne - "Oh wow I am SOOO happy that I wore sandals today"
Ephraim - "I kno!"
Jonaton - "Careful guys, the path gets pretty narrow up here, you might want to get off your bikes."
(Moments later)
Julianne - "OMG IM FALLING OFF A CLIFF!"
David - "OMG"
Jonaton - "OMG"
Ephraim - "OMG"
Trevor - "OMG"
Hannah - "Let me take a picture!"
Julianne - "OW OW OW OW blood and adrenaline and lots of jagged pointy rocks"
David - "I don´t like them either!!"
Trevor - "Wow that was a close one"
Jonaton - "Ok giez lets go!"
Kristen - "Look out it´s a cow!"
Hannah - "Where did that come from?"
David - "I don´t know, poke it with this stick to get it out of our way!"
Kristen - "ahh it´s pooping!"
Jonaton - "HAHAHA!"
(After another 2.5 hours, our heros stumble across a little hut inhabited by a little man and woman)
Hermit man who lives in the mountains - "Oh my gosh guys, you must be stupids to have bikes up here"
Trevor - "I kno!"
Jonaton - "Hey do you know where we can find a bridge around here"
Hermit man who lives in the mountains - "Sure dudes! Just keep following this path for another hour, it's there!"
Trevor - "Thanks dude!"
Hermit man who lives in the mountains - "Totally!"
(One hour later)
Ephraim - "OMG where are wee?"
Julianne - "In a cow pasture of course"
Trevor - "EWW I TOTALLY JUST FELL IN POO"
Hannah - "H4rH4rH4r!"
Cow - "H4rH4Rhr$4!!!¨!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Jonaton - "Ok guys, we´re running out of day light, I say we keep going in this direction because that man said..."
Kristen - "Let´s go!"
(A few minutes later, while traveling on a narrow and barely lit path)
Jonaton - "Ok guys, there´s no way that we´re going to get back to civilization on this narrow and dimly lit path..."
Trevor - "...while only having a single cellphone flashlight"
Jonaton - "So you guys stay here and we'll go find food, water, and help...you know, things we don´t have!"
David - "OK!"
(Moments later, Jonaton and Trevor abandon the rest of the group to go find necessities)
Trevor - "Watch out a donkey!"
Jonaton - "I´ll hit it with this stick!" "Hahaha! That showed it!"
Trevor - "UGH I HATE MUD!"
(Meanwhile)
Kristen - "UGH I HATE COLD!"
Hannah - "It's ok guys I brought this blanket made with space age technology"
Julianne - "Will it feed us?"
Hannah - "No, but it WILL keep us warm...or me warm, provided that Im in the middle because it´s mine"
David - "Dude, 15 lb bikes in the mountain are not cool)
Ephraim - "I kno!"
(Meanwhile...1.5 hours later)
Trevor - "Yay, we found the bridge across the river that separates us from civilization and edible things!"
Jonaton - "I´ll call the red cross for help!¨"
Red Cross - "Hello red cross, how can we save you again?"
Jonaton - "Hi we´re tourists that are stuck in the mountains of banos and we need help to get out of here"
Red Cross - "..."
Jonaton - "Hello? Hello? son of a gun..."
(Minutes later after Jonaton calls back to prove that he wasn´t making a prank call after all)
Red Cross - "Ok, just checking, we´ll be there in 10 minutes"
(40 minutes later after Jonaton and Trevor have climbed a mountain to reach the main road and a small town)
Red Cross - "OK we´re here, all 14 of us, now let´s go find the rest of you!"
Jonaton - "What?"
Red Cross - "That´s right, you expect us to find these people by ourselves?"
Trevor - "mmmmm...."
(Meanwhile)
Julianne - "Hahaha! I don´t have any tampons!"
Hannah - "LOL!"
Kristen - "OMG LOL!"
David - "...what?"
Ephraim - "HAHAHA!"
(1.5 hours later)
Kristen - "we are save'ed!"
Red Cross - "Ok guys, lets go!"
(45 minutes later)
Red Cross - "OK, lets leave the bikes right here"
Jonaton - "But they aren´t ours"
Red Cross - "That´s ok."
David - "...but we rented them and have to take them back to the owner"
Red Cross - "That´s true"
Jonaton - "And we can´t just go back and expect them to let us stay another night without them!"
Red Cross "okletsgonow"
(1.5 hours later)
Kristen - "Yeah we´re back in BANOS!"
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "WHERE ARE MY BIKES!?!"
Ephraim - "We left them in the forest on the mountain where we were, the red cross told us to."
Red Cross - "Yessum."
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "Oh ok."
Hannah - "Can we have a room for the night?"
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "Sure thing."
Hannah - "Can we also have a discount?"
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "OH MY GOSH ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS!?"
Hannah - "I uh..."
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "LOL got ´cha! Sure, you can each have a discount :)!"
(The next morning around 8.25 a.m.)
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "YOU HAVE 3 HOURS TO GET MY BIKES, GO NOWW!!!"
David - "It´s 8 a.m.!"
Jonaton - "We went to bed at liek 4!!!"
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "Oh ok, you guys can sleep in until...how about 1?"
Jonaton - "Gee thanks dude!"
Owner of Hostel who Rents out Bikes too - "No problem!"
(And then around 1 o clock, our two ecuadorian hero liek men went off to move all 7 bikes from the woods to civilization through the use of a cable car that just so happened to be located nearby the bikes.)

In this, I salute the Red Cross of Ecuador and kick every mosquito in the mouth. I am so happy that Malaria is not a real disease.