Ecuador: What I learned

 From climbing up quite a bit of mountain every day...

...I learned to value my body in terms of its strength and abilities.

From going five weeks without makeup...

...I learned to not be afraid of what I really look like.

From spending 40 hours a week with kids...

...I learned how crazy, wonderful, inspiring, creative, and loving children can be.

From making new friends...

...I learned that there are kindred spirits to be found in all corners of the Earth.

As with every journey I take out of my comfort zone, Ecuador taught me that I'm stronger than I thought, and my heart is bigger than I'd imagined. I learned that there is so much more for me to learn - about art, about language, about making the world a peaceful and happy place for all of its inhabitants. It was a life-changing five weeks, and it left me with a lot to think about.

Comida

We ate SO MUCH in Ecuador. We needed it!

Here's a lunch at school:

White rice, tuna with onions and tomatoes, potatoes with eggs. This was just the second course (soup starts every meal!) 

My last breakfast in San Clemente:

Scrambled egg, thick tortillas, herbal tea, fresh banana shake

My last dinner in San Clemente:

Potatoes, onions and tomatoes, faba beans, spinach, avocado, beef

My last meal in San Clemente, at a community potluck:

Beans, potatoes, bread, plantain, rice, salad

Everything was local, organic, fresh, delicious. That said, I never want to see potatoes or white rice ever again.

Belleza

San Clemente is a naturally gorgeous place. Here are some pictures of what I saw every day.

Check out the crazy cloud action below:

below: The view from the schoolyard. The city of Ibarra below and mountains in the back. The peaks in the center are all the way in Colombia.

Volver

After a long time away (from home and from the blog), I'm finally back!

I spent the last five weeks in the small community of San Clemente, Imbabura, Ecuador helping run a non-profit arts and culture camp for children ages 6-12. To read more about the camp, purchase artwork, or make a donation, click here. I'll also link to San Clemente's ecotourism website.

The prospect of blogging about my experience in Ecuador is sort of daunting. I have spent the 48 hours since my return talking nonstop about San Clemente and the kids at camp to anyone who will listen. I experienced and learned so much there that I couldn't possibly summarize it at all accurately here in nice digestible blogposts. But I will try!

Thank you for reading and welcome back to my bloggage :)

a few from finland...

Hello everyone!

I finally (sort of) got my camera into working order, so I thought I'd share a few images from my trip to Finland and Karelia. I leave for Ecuador in the morning, so I don't have time for a proper post now, but I wanted to leave you guys with something. Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more dreams dreamt in dresses when I return in mid-August, including lots of posts about my time in Ecuador!

xoxoxo
Isabella

Helsinki, Finland

By chance, I met an Argentinean boy and we went on an adventure to find some famous graffiti.

Karelia, Russia

We visited the area in which my grandmother grew up. It was part of Finland until the Winter War. The U.S.S.R. forced the Finns out and relocated Soviet citizens to inhabit the area. It is a naturally beautiful place, but it is currently very poverty-stricken.

We hiked through the wild woods to find the land that my great-grandparents owned until 1944. My grandmother's childhood home was destroyed decades ago, but the stone cellar is still there.

We visited my grandmother's elementary school (NOT the building above!!) It is now a museum where people can go to learn about the lives of Karelians before the war. These clocks were near the entrance.

The church where my grandmother was confirmed:

My mom is stylish.

 I am silly.

Helsinki again

An exhibit of African art at the Kiasma museum:

 The artwork behind me is entirely made of discarded metal!

Multia, Finland

We returned to my mom's hometown, where my grandmother still lives, to celebrate Midsummer.

 My 89-year-old Mummo, me, and my aunt Anne

here i am!

Hello hello!

I'm back from Finland with glorious jetlag and tales to tell! Alas, my camera battery is malfunctioning, and I'm going to have to figure that out before I really begin posting again. In the meantime, I'll be commenting like crazy, and for those of you who know me in real life, I promise to alert you on facebook once I have a new post here.

Don't forget me!! :)

Love,
Isabella

this flight tonight

My mom and I are leaving for the airport in one hour! I am a last-minute packer. Here is what my suitcase currently looks like. Also visible: bits of my rug/curtain/pile of rejected items.

Since I won't be blogging for a couple of weeks, I wanted to do one last post before flying away. But I have to be secretive about it, because my family knows I'm procrastinating! So here are my little secret self-portraits in my travel clothes. 

Hat: from a little shop in Buenos Aires
Dress: the best hand-me-down EVER from Gwen : )
Camisole: Gap
Sweater: Anthropologie
Tights: my mom's
Shoes: Clarks

Sorry for the TERRIBLE photo quality. You're welcome, however, for the Sesame Street band-aid and the lipstick smooch on the mirror. (Click to enlarge)

Here, I am looking smugly at my own digital image in the camera.

I got some more travel reading! The above were both recommended to me by Emily - thanks, friend! I can't wait to read them. I found them both in the used book cellar in our town's bookstore - the only place in this town that hasn't gone completely INSANE.

I also got some new journals. I am a constant journal-er, especially when abroad. 

This one will be for playwriting (the beginnings of my thesis are forming) :

And this one I just thought was lovely:

I have more than begun to tell my story (I have about 40 journals from my lyfe, all stacked up in my closet at home for someone to read one hundred years from now), but whatevz, I like writing.

So I'm bringing ten dresses, four hats, three books and three journals. Probably excessive...but these are the objects I desire. Plus, changing clothes and writing lists/scenes/thoughts are excellent boredom-survival activities - just in case I somehow get bored at my grandmother's house.

All right, bloggie babes, here I go! 

Love,

Isabella

xoxoxoxo

to finland, to finland!

I leave for Finland tomorrow night!! I haven't been back since 2009, so this is very exciting.

When I get back to the states, I'll be sure to post photos of adventures, outfits, etc. For now, here's a list of what I'm looking forward to:

1) Seeing people I haven't seen in a long while. Well, DUH. This is the most important part of the trip but the least fun to read about on a list. My whole extended family, including my 89-year-old grandmother, will be there!

2) Food. Great salmon and potatoes, of course, but I have a huge sweet-tooth, so I get most excited about the candy and fruit! The best chocolate in the world, delicious wild berries, and my favorite pear-flavored ice cream - nowhere else have I found that delicious fake pear taste!

Fazer chocolate

Wild blueberries and cloudberries

Green pear - yum!

3) The midnight sun! We'll be there while the days are the longest. It gets dusky outside, but the sun never really goes down.

4) SAUNA!! Real sauna, wood-heated, dark, hot, steamy (I know what you're giggling at. Really - no funny business.) It's the best way to relax and get really clean.

 

Hitting your back with a bundle of birch leaves and twigs in the sauna supposedly improves circulation. And it smells good!

5) Juhannus - the midsummer holiday. I've never actually gotten to Finland early enough in the year to celebrate it. I can't wait! Bonfires, good food, and staying up late are involved - my kind of holiday.

6) Moomin paraphernalia! If you don't know about the moomins, here, go educate yourself : ) I've had the calendar every year for the past three years (funny that I waited until I was an adult and in college...), and I can't wait to get one for 2012 and see this stuff everywhere! The moomins are just so full of JOY.

7) Helsinki. We'll mostly be in the countryside, but we'll have a few days in the capital, and I can't wait to spot Hel Looks -worthy people and hopefully visit my favorite art museum, Kiasma.

There you have it! I'll post a bit more before I leave, and I promise lots of fun midnight sun pictures when I get back : )