Sweet death...

An International student died Thursday. His name was Cody. As hard as it is for you to read this it is even just as harder to write this, but I feel like people should know. Cody was a nice boy I met him around October and he seemed cool. He talked about friends and family, why he came to Ecuador, how he got to Ecuador. Really the basic you go through when you are meeting someone for the first time that is traveling. This pass Thursday him and his girlfriend went to Banos, a place where a lot of us International students go. It like and activity driven place. One could do white water rafting, rock climbing, bridge jumping, almost any activity one could think of it is a possibility at Banos. Cody and his girlfriend decided to rent a 4-wheel drive and take it for a ride. It did not seem out of the norm for either one seeing as how Cody drove on these roads all the time, I recall from a conversation with him. The roads are dangerous and still needs a lot of work. It is a one way on each side a cliff on one side of you and mountains on the other side. As they were driving on this curvy dangerous street Cody could not make the turn and they fell off the cliff. His girlfriend rolled down the cliff and Cody, well he broke his neck and died instantly. I have tried over and over again to ask what went wrong. Was he drinking, or doing any drugs, but the answer was NO. He was just taking advantage of being here in Ecuador and taking advantage of things we all don't really get a chance to do in the States. For me I think it could had been either one of us. Anyone of these International students could had been their that night. I can understand that our parents worst fears are us leaving the country and coming back in a body bag. That is how his parents will most likely receive him unless they come and get his body themselves. My point is this, as international students we have a mind set that things like this won't happen to us, and we don't think the last time we said bye to our parents would be the last. We get here and all we tell ourselves is this is South America lets live it up. This is South America we need to have as much fun as possible. All of this is true, but we need to not lose sight of why we came here in the first place. Like I said Cody did not do anything wrong and I wish I did not have to tell this story but it is something that impacted me greatly on my study abroad trip that I must share. This is not to scare anyone thinking of studying abroad it is just to give a warning. When you go to another country you are tempted to do any and everything but do know that sweet death has not characteristics, or people picked out. It can happen to all of us. R.I.P CODY, YOU WILL BE MISSED 2011....

New Years in Ecuador

First off Feliz Nuevo Ano!!!!! My fellow readers I must say that this New Years is nothing anyone could ever experience in the states! I never seen this type of New Years party in my young life. I went to Montanita, my favorite beach/party town. I have a blog about Montanita if you need a refresher on such a great place. There is a tradition here in Ecuador that when bringing in the New Year they burn these life size dolls called Ano Viejo. When translated literally it means old year. They buy these dolls and dress them up and when it strikes midnight there are fires on the beach, on the streets with these dolls burning. It is a sight to see! There are all type of characters; Woody from Toy Story, Micheal Jackson, Simpson's, even presidents from the United States and Ecuador. Most people put fireworks in the dolls and when they go in the fire there is this big explosion of fireworks and dolls blowing up. I did not know what to do with myself, but enjoy bringing the New Year in on the Beach. One thing I found amazing beside the burning dolls was that there was maybe a group of 20 surfers that brought the New Year in surfing. It was the most liberating thing for me. Everyone did what made them happy and I could not do anything but respect that. I will never forget this New Year, for Ecuador is the only country that burns dolls for the New Year, to my knowledge. I can say I was apart of that. I cannot forget the people who run around two days before New Years dress live devils making this loud noise. Its kind of scary, but a tradition none the less. They do these little dances for the tourist its so funny! If you cannot find a reason to go study abroad let it be bringing in a new year in another country be one of your reasons.