hey guys. just came back July 16 at around 8pm & traveled since 5 am XP. i wanted to make a topic right before i left but didnt have time. we were the very first students to do this for Nat Geo (info about it). i did conservation. the whole thing was pretty awesome. so much to say so im just gonna list the highlights (activities not in order & may be missing some): Quito
- slept over my grandparents house the night before i left
- 4 hr plane ride
- now winter
- didnt feel 100% right because of altitude
- forgot my fanny pack at Laguardia with really important stuff in it but was given a cool Ecuador bag when i got there & some money from the counselors
- Lots of beggers
- stayed at hostal there
- so many people got sick (i wasnt one of them)
- people there were awesome (locals & the group)
- only camera i now had there was messed up a little but fixed itself eventually
- walked around & took a bunch of pics (over 1,000 in total when trip was over)
- went on a tour
- made facebook on there eventually
Mindo
- went to a much smaller town & stayed at a hotel (water was SO cold :( )
- summer there
- hiked through cloud forests & saw waterfalls
- learned about an oil spill in the Amazon which is a HUGE problem that so little people know about (affects 3 countries, goes through 11 national parks & 7 active volcanoes, 7 tribes wiped out, indigenous people getting cancer & no chance for survival, Ecuador $22 billion in debt, goes on for 504 hectacres, govt in denial doing nothing, cops using force on peaceful protesters, going on for over a decade & none of this was ever on the news) cant find a good site on it -_-
- rooster woke me almost everyday around 4am 
- met an awesome dog there which i named Jackal but was also known as Gump
- woke up early to see birds & took alot of really good pics of humming birds
- painted & played with kids but there was a bit of a language barrier 
- hands were stained for days from turpentine
- had a whole pie of pizza
- went tubing along a rapid river - so glad i wore a wetsuit
- visited equator but not really because measurement was inaccurate (got a souvenir there)
- went to a butterfly garden
- guy did the Irish jig which he taught himself
- did group poses which turned out really funny (we won ^-^)
Cotopaxi
- went horseback riding to see active volcanoes
- built a bridge
- camped outside & got my period the first night
- went ziplining
- played mafia
- hiked up Cotopaxi but couldnt make it because of problems breathing
- awesome talent show that wasnt taken seriously over half the time
- picked up trash)
Galapagos
- met expert
- discovered huge flying crickets which creeped me out a bit
- snorkeled with sea lions & penguins
- saw a sea turtle & shark
- had a really cool toure guide
- met Lonesome George who came over his homo/asexuality for 20 seconds until he slipped which killed the moment
- saw tortoises mate & heard it
- saw baby tortoises at breeding center
- long walk to the beach & didnt wear a bathing suit there
- saw a ton of marine iguanas
- saw blue footed boobies dive into water
- only one who wore a dress last night there
- hung out on the beach
- long hike (7 hrs) through lava fields, around a crater & crawled through lava tubes (which hurt but was really fun)
- island hopped between 3 islands which was really bumpy & long
Quito (just for the night)
- showed on assignment projects even though i wasnt done drawing for the kids book
- everyone else dressed up except me even though we didnt go out to eat
- woke early to go to the airport
- played a game about how much we knew our counselors & our group knew sooo much
did laundry once too unfortunately so Everything was disgusting
it was so hectic when we were at the airport to go home that i cant even explain it all. the experience was just so amazing. id like to upload my own pics but cant right now so ill just show some of the photos the counselors took:
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-locale=en_US&pq-path=2/3" target="_top">http://http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-locale=en_US&pq-path=2/3 (look for National Geographic Student Expeditions: Ecuador group A) too much link to fit
im sure im missing some more so might add more later.....man that was long
alright just do this for pics:
http: //www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp? Uc=rbsnpfp.5ad8w8m1&Uy=- mbugxd&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode% 3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV= 495440571520_949484055209&mode =fromshare&conn_speed=1 just put that in the search bar without the spaces, mkay? that should do it (its too long to link together, sorry)
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