For Cody

My friend Cody passed away this past Sunday, January 23rd in an accident in Ecuador. This is for him.

It must have been back in November when I first saw Cody Hankerd. I saw a tall blonde guy sitting at the fountain in the middle of the UEES campus, and I thought… hmmm. Definitely not Ecuadorean, but I have no idea who this is. I was excited that there were more international students though. I ended up meeting him not long after at a salsa class on campus. We went through the “hey nice to meet you where are from” etc, but didn’t talk much beyond that. A few nights after, I saw him and his friend Ramon, also a new international student, playing basketball. I was pumped because Ecuadoreans are all about fútbol, and not so much básquet. I asked Cody the next day how often they played, and if I could join. Being the gentleman that he is, it was no problem. From then on we met up a few nights every week for my last month to play. I brought my friend Ana Belen with me, and Cody and Ana ended up hitting it off pretty well. The three of us would spend the beautiful warm evenings after class playing out on the court. Some nights others would join; Juan, Ramon, Juanki, Victoria, Marcos, and even random people who wanted to play. Some nights it was just Ana, Cody and I, and a few times just Cody and I. We would talk about life back home, or what he could look forward to for his next months in Ecuador. I would give him some advice about Ecuador and when Ana was there she would help him with his Spanish. He didn’t know very much but he learned so quickly. Cody was a firefighter back in California, and got a scholarship of sorts to come study Spanish, which would in turn help him on the force. He would talk about his brother, who left for Afghanistan in December, and how proud he is of him. How hard it was not being there when he left. And of course being me I talked plenty, and he was a willing listener. I wish I had had more time down there, but I went home right before Christmas. We tried coordinating meeting up besides for basketball, but it never ended up working out. Our time together was spent on the courts. Those evenings were some of my favorites, so relaxing. From the month I had with Cody, I figured out that he was a really good guy. Trustworthy, motivated, patient, and loving his life in Ecuador. My heart goes out to his brother Sean, and his family.

Time to wrap it up

No he escrito en casi 4 meses… sorry. Estaba ocupadísima por allí. No puedo escribir todo que me pasó en octubre, noviembre y diciembre, pero elaboraré un poco. Al fin de Octubre terminé con el primer bimestre. Después tuvimos casi dos semanas de vacaciones! Primero, fui a Baños Ecuador con Bree, Belinda, Kristi, Clara, Sarah, Hayley, Andrea, Erik, Sou y Micheal. Era mi parte favorita de las vacaciones. Baños es un pueblo en las montañas donde puedes hacer cualquier deporte de aventura que deseas pero super barato. Un día fuimos a la Amazonía cerca de Puyo, y era increíble. Por $30 conseguimos un guía, fuimos a una reserva de monos, subimos por el bosque a una cascada, comimos un almuerzo típico, tuvimos un viaje por bote en un río, y disfrutamos con un “swing” loco. Al fin del día sentábamos en una montaña mirando sobre el río y un valle, una vista que quitó la respiración con la belleza y tranquilidad. Después de Baños, viajamos a Cuenca, pero sin los chicos y Andrea. Ella nos encontró allí un día después. Quedamos allí solo para una o dos noches, para descansar antes del viaje a Mancora Peru! Mancora es un pueblo de la playa, con el sol, las olas, los hostales baratos, y la relajación. Celebré mi cumpleaños el 31 de Octubre allí, y para el resto relajé con mis amigos, tomando el sol, nadando, “surfeando”… tranquilo. A veces había drama, pero así es la vida. Regresamos bronceados a Guayaquil para un bimestre de 6 semanas. Para las últimas semanas, pasé el tiempo con clases (Español y La Historia de la Cultura Ecuatoriana), la pasantía (pero solamente 2 días cada semana), jugando básquet, saliendo con mis amigos extranjeros y ecuatorianos, haciendo actividades voluntarias para la Navidad etc. Me fui el 23 de diciembre, y llegue a casa para la Navidad. Para el resto de mis aventures, miren a mis fotos por Factbook. =]

I have not written in almost 4 months… sorry. I was so busy there. I can’t write everything that happened to me in October, November and December, but I will elaborate a little. At the end of October I finished with my first bimester. After we had almost two weeks of vacation! First, I went to Baños Ecuador with Bree, Belinda, Kristi, Clara, Sarah, Hayley, Andrea, Erik, Sou and Micheal. It was my favorite part of the vacation. Baños is a small town in the mountains where you can do whatever extreme/adventure sports that you desire, and it is really cheap. One day we went to the Amazon near Puyo, and it was incredible. For $30 we got a guide, we went to a monkey reserve, we hiked through the forest to a waterfall, we ate a typical meal, we had a trip down a river in a canoe, and we had fun with a crazyyyy swing. At the end of the day we sat on a mountain looping over the river and a valley, a view that took the breath away with the beauty and tranquility. After Baños, we traveled to Cuenca, but without the boys and Andrea. She met us there a day after. We stayed there only for one or two nights, to rest before our trip to Mancora Peru! Mancora is a Beach town, with the sun, the waves, cheap hostels, and relaxation. I celebrated my birthday there the 31st of October, and for the rest of it I relaxed with my friends, tanning, swimming, and surfing. At times there was drama, but that’s life. We went back to Guayaquil tanned for one more bimester of 6 weeks. For the last weeks, I spent the time in class, at my internship (but only two days a week), playing basketball, going out with my friends both international and Ecuadorean, volunteering for Christmas activities etc. I left on the 23rd of December, and arrived home for Christmas. For the rest of my adventures, look a my photos on Facebook. And if you ever want to know anything about travel in Ecuador, let me know. You should definitely go! =]