 Alexis in Ecuador |
Chantilly High School 2008
Chantilly, Virginia
I spent this summer experiencing a number of firsts. Although I normally work as a camp counselor during the summer, I took the summer off to explore many new places and to begin intensive training that will lead to my desired career in the world of Dance.
First stop . . . Ecuador. My family and I traveled to Ecuador for three weeks. Originally from the capital city of Quito, my father returned to his homeland for the first time in almost 10 years. This trip was particularly important to him. You see, my sister Mikaela and I had never met our Ecuadorian family. It was wonderful and overwhelming at the same time. Aunts, uncles, first and second cousins--they were so numerous but so wonderfully welcoming and loving. During the trip, we toured many locations of interest. We went to the Mitad del Mundo,
Spanish for Middle of the World. In short, we straddled both sides of the equator.
While there, we visited the monument, visited the local volcano called "The Crater," toured a site where they had us do experiments related to gravity and the center of the earth, and saw reconstructed huts of the Colorado Indians and viewed how they lived, how they shrunk heads, and how they kept guinea pigs for food. (One first that I refused during our visit was eating guinea pig, or called "cui," which is a delicacy in the Ecuadorian highlands!) We visited the historic center of the capital city Quito, including the Compania, one of the hemisphere's oldest churches that is lined with gold inside. We toured the Panecilla, a famous statue overlooking the city. We rode the Teleferico, which is like a ski lift that takes you to the top of a mountain where we had a breath-taking view of all of the volcanoes that ring Quito.
We spent four days of our trip visiting the Galapagos Islands, learning about Darwin's theory of evolution and the wildlife on the islands. We arrived on the island of Baltra, which used to be a U.S. military base during World War II. We stayed on Santa Cruz in the city of Puerto Ayora, where my parents renewed their wedding vows from 18 years ago. We sailed to San Bartolomé, where we climbed an inactive volcano and saw and swam with sea lions and penguins. The next day, we went to Seymour Island, where the blue- footed boobies nest along side the frigates while sea lions bask under the low underbrush and land iguanas sun themselves on rocks. We also visited a neighboring island that is so small that it is not charted on maps. There, we saw flamencos living in the wild, remnants of U.S. artillery along the beach, and got first-hand knowledge of the painful bite of the topanga fly. While here, I ate fish for the first time in my life!
Our final trip was to Banos, a village right on the edge of the rainforest that has magnificent waterfalls and healing hot springs, and sits at the base of the very active Tungurahu Volcano. We passed the awe-inspiring Cotvolcano, the largest in the world when measured from the core to the peak. While it was too misty and rainy the day we visited to see the Tungurahua Volcano clearly, we were quite fortuitous in timing our visit, since it erupted only two weeks after we left! We did travel in a basket on steel cables over the Devil's Cascade and hiked the surrounding terrain.
We arrived home and then I went to . . . New York City! I participated in the Rockettes' Summer Intensive program. We worked hard each day at Radio City Music Hall, learning the famous Rockette jazz and kick routines. We had guest speakers who talked about sports medicine, wellness, and life as a Rockette. They taught auditioning techniques and critiqued each individual participating in the program. I felt honored to be selected for the program. The Rockettes toured cities auditioning potential candidates. I auditioned at the Kennedy Center, which was one of their venues. They select groups for four classes. The classes had a representative from 49 states, Canada, and Japan. I plan to return next year since those who participate in the program are invited to return the following year. At the end of the program, the group performed a variety of numbers from the Rockettes' Christmas Spectacular. My parents joined me toward that end of the week and attended the show at the American Airlines Theater on Broadway. I was very excited about the summer-intensive program. Since I plan to double major in dance and accounting, this will be a very important part of my dance resume for college.
All in all it has been a very busy, exhausting, and highly educational summer.