Ecuador – CEDEI

Professor Sisa Pacari on Indigenous Communities and Traditional Medicine

March 2, 2018

Professor Sisa Pacari has been teaching at CEDEI for decades on and off. She is an integral part of the institution.Two of her standout classes are Quichua, the indigenous language of many Ecuadorians throughout the country, and a seminar on Traditional Medicine. During her language course, which has an Intro and Intermediate level, Profe Sisa uses only Spanish and Quichua to teach her pupils the intricacies of this language that has been used in this region before the Spanish arrived.…

Eating Ants in Ecuador: My First Week

January 31, 2018

Alec Tripp

Cuenca, Ecuador, Study Abroad

It’s going to be QUITE difficult to recap this past week and a half, as it’s been filled with so many incredible experiences. I’ve been blessed with a great group to make lifelong memories, and I look forward to what lies ahead. I arrived in Quito a day early (after some stressful flight delays) and got a quick glimpse of the capital city before I met the rest of my group. Ordering for myself in a foreign country was a…

New Years in Ecuador: Effigies, Bonfires, and Fireworks

December 30, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca, Ecuador, Holidays

Yellow underwear. 12 grapes. A suitcase. An effigy with a mask. Men dressed up as Chola Cuencanas (Cuencana grandmothers). These are only a handful of the rituals that make up New Year’s Eve in Ecuador. Around the country, the night before the New Year, Ecuadorians will be celebrating visibly. In fact, celebrations often happen before the actual holiday. In the weeks leading up to El Año Nuevo, the New Year, shops sell masks of all different sizes and expressions. The…

Saraguro: Sacred Beauty

December 20, 2017

Martina Maya-Callen

Ecuador, Study Abroad

The Wednesday before heading to Saraguro, one of the CEDEI professors gave a lecture on natural medicine. This charla assisted us in understanding the process and the theories behind the different plants and uses. Immediately after arriving to Saraguro we went to this beautiful overlook of the city. At the overlook, I started to feel very lightheaded; my vision became very blurry and overall I just felt like there was something wrong, but I continued walking. By the time that…

El Cajas: Getting Unplugged

December 14, 2017

Martina Maya-Callen

Cuenca, Ecuador

One of my favorite parts of living in Cuenca is the beautiful mountains that surround the city. What is even better though is the ability to go visit them! El Cajas is a national park filled with magnificent scenery. I never knew that trees could twist and turn in so many directions; I honestly felt like I was in a Sci-Fi movie set with the trees. There are so many lakes and mountains that my eyes were stunned at the…

Biology and Ecology Internships: Ecuagenera Orchid Farm Ecuador

November 26, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca, Ecuador, Study Abroad

45 minutes outside of Cuenca, down the highway toward Gualaceo, there is an unassuming building on the left-hand side. The white building has large images of flowers–orchids–on the windows. It looks like it’s just a store, a place to go and buy flowers. But to take the spontaneous risk, to ask the bus driver to stop and descend the steps to go explore this place, is one of the best decisions you can make. Cuenca and its surrounding towns are…

Daily Life in Cuenca Tips

October 23, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca

Wisdom Collected from Students and Staff How can I make calls to the US/use the internet? At various locations around Cuenca are cabinas, which are places that have phones and computers available to the public for a small charge. To make a call to the US, you first need to put in the US IDD, “011” then the area code and number. Calls to other countries have their own IDD. Calls typically cost anywhere from 3 to 12 cents…

5 Things to Know about Life in Cuenca

October 16, 2017

Kristen Sawyer

Cuenca, Ecuador

As in any city, there are customs and rituals that are different compared to daily life in the States or European countries. The observations on this list are small things, noticed over my two years of living in Cuenca. The topics vary from extended mealtimes to excessive high heel use. These customs are so woven into the fabric of daily life, that you may not even realize how commonplace they are until you pause during your daily stroll and really…