Day 9 (Thurs, Nov 26 - Thanksgiving Day)Thanksgiving was another day of hard work under the hot sun, but after that we were lucky enough to be taken to a small town about 50 km east of Puembo where a small resort had harnessed the awesome power of natural hotsprings to make relaxing bathing pools. We had to climb high into the mountains and steer clear of the guanta flowers, which we were severely warned against due to their hallucinogenic qualities. Regardless, the pools were exceptionally warm (check out the steam in the picture) and the river nearby exceptionally cold from the glacial meltwater.
After a couple hours at the springs, our metabolisms led us to our Ecuadorian version of Thanksgiving dinner. In place of a turkey, we experienced guanabana, a gigantic fruit that looks like a green ham that is still in the netting.
This was in fact a far better meal than those poor little Cuy we had the day before. Bri's chicken had its neck snapped only moments before she ate it! I think we can all agree that this was quizas a Thanksgiving dinner a lo bestia. There was great food, hot drink, and awesome company.
Day 10 (Fri, Nov 27 - Black Friday)
We were disappointed this morning when the luscious mora jam at our breakfast table was replaced with what we think may have been a far inferior mango jelly. Additionally, perhaps vindictively, mantequilla (butter) was stolen from the table to serve our grilled queso sanduche making in the evenings (our rooms came with a grilled cheese maker... we are told it is a common treat here).
On to field work... We kicked out 2 SuperSting and 4.5 WADI (one failed attempt) surveys. While the first surveys were running, we enjoyed a plethora of natural fruits: limon (lemon), mora (big blackberries), guava, tree tomatoes, and chirimoyas (tastes kind of like pear). The second SuperSting survey was run through an Ecuadorian man's crops (lemon trees, alfalfa, avacado trees, and cucumbers) for which the SuperSting was placed next to a large pile of chicken poo (a surprisingly excellent bug repellent/distraction).A lunch of seco de chivo (goat) and yarguarlocro (cow stomach soup with fried blood) was somewhat delightful... for most carnivorous enterprise members. It was followed by what was likely our tenth ice cream run of the trip (ice cream treats here are cheap and delicioso).
Field work ended with our return to the site of the first survey to retrieve a missing stake for the SuperSting (luckily we have a short Colombian woman to search low and hidden reaches of the survey site for us). Dinner was embellished when Nick attempted to explain to the Ecuadorian University students Andrea and Maria Fernanda what the KBC was using the word "cervezaria" (the suffix "-aria" means a shop for the word to which it is added, e.g. ferreteria, which is not a ferret store (which would be "huronaria" were it to exist) but rather a hardware store, the root word being "ferrous" or iron, as in ironworks) (Sorry for the excessive use of parentheses).
Most importantly, Gierke has agreed to a game of Thumper... should make for an exceptional Friday night.
On the ride up the termals (hot springs), we encountered a unique ecosystem and water storage system called the Paramo. Some choice pics:
Gracias!
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