We've been quoting Finding Nemo everyday... I feel right at home.
So instead of going to the Tropical Ecology class the other day, we hiked up a mountain called Ilalo. I made the decision of boycotting sunscreen until the Galapagos because it smells funny and it was also cloudy and rainy.
I'm pretty burnt now.
Anyway, it was a great hike and we learned more than we could have in class. The ground was covered in little spiders, which kind of freaked me out a little, but I'm definitely working on that! I also tripped a few times, fell on my butt sliding down a mountain and stepped in a fresh cowpie. I'm so pretty. The plantlife is pretty different from any hike in New England I've ever been on... sooo many prickly plants. From the highest point we got to, we were able to see a lot of Quito, the Cumbaya area, and really take note of all the logging and other human activity that is destroying the country. It's pretty pathetic. The government is so corrupt and the wealthy people in Ecuador are building their mansions everywhere and dominating the gov't. There was a bunch of logging done on Ilalo on the mountainside, and the people building the house changed their minds and started the project somewhere else. The soil is so infertile... It's been 7 years and nothing has regrown. Disgusting. Anyway, saw some pretty cool plant life and I will update with more pictures. There is this crabbe grass, though, which is an invasive species and coats the forest floor of the mountain, which is a problem because it's competing with the native species.
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