Feriado

This weekend was an extended three-day affair due to “Feriado.” Essentially, Friday was the day Guayaquil obtained its independence (a long time ago, forgive me as I do not have the date) and so everybody* takes the day off (*this more or less means the more affluent of society). Many people use this extra time to visit family in other parts if Ecuador or just to relax. I didn’t have a trip lined up but looking back I wouldn’t trade my experiences of the past few days.

Friday I hit the local mountain bike trails in the Parque Metropolitano for the first time in a couple weeks. Dennis and I got out there at 8am and went hard for over an hour, it was great, although quite muddy due to the recent seasonal switch.

Saturday I found out some very sad news (see previous post) and then went for a 7-mile run with Dimas. When things really hit me I’ve found engaging in some form of strenuous exercise both takes my mind off the issue at hand and subconsciously allows me to process it. Needless to say the run was a good thing for me.

That night Dimas and I went to the first world cup qualifier game for Ecuador’s national team. They were supposed to dominate Venezuela but ended up losing, 0-1. It was a rain-soaked extravaganza and I had as much fun watching the people as the game! The next morning I saw Carlos (a guard friend):

Me: Como va? (how’s it going?)

Carlos: Mal. (bad.)

Oops, right, I’d forgotten the nation was in mourning over the loss. Professional sports have ceased to hold any really value for me except mild entertainment for some time now but I tried to sympathize with the grieving man as best I could. Ecuador being a smaller country it’s much easier to cultivate a huge national pride in things such as sports teams.



(Me an hour before kickoff, get there early or stand in the back where the drunks go to piss.)


Today, Sunday, I took the Teleferiqo with my friends Larkin and Anyel up to a point high above the city. This though, was only the beginning of our adventure. We’d been told there was a further hike available, about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to the top. There were off and on clouds so the views weren’t what they could be but it was still incredibly beautiful. Just after cresting the top (at around 16,000 ft after 2.5 hours going strong, the hour estimate was way off) it started hailing, hard. We had to scramble down a sketchy enough when dry rock face in a hailstorm; I guess the upside was we didn’t get wet? After the brutal hail it cleared a bit and we were rewarded with some breathtaking vistas. Upon returning home I planned to take a small nap before hitting up some reading and ended waking over two hours later, guess the weekend’s activities had caught up with me:)




(A view of Quito from on high)




(Me at the top, in a cloud more or less)




(Coming down... one way or another:)




(A view once the clouds backed off some)


Tomorrow I’m back at the lab where we will have two new ELISA Chagas test kits to help us screen serum samples for T. cruzi antibodies from the town of Arajuno in Pastaza province. This should give us an initial idea of what we’re facing in at least one area of Pastaza (it’s a huge province though, the largest in Ecuador). We will also continue with the Onchocerciasis project. We just last week finished sorting the approximately 25,000 flies into aliquots of 50 (the optimal number for the decapitization process) and will proceed with the head separations soon. Also on the radar, for Tuesday, (Ojala!) I will be starting an immunology class with Dra. Bertha Estrella. More on all this as it develops.

Take care.