Trip to the Quito Zoo

So I've been really behind on these posts. Just having too much fun here to sit down and type up a journal entry. Anyway, my first week of class is over with! We only had class on Monday and Tuesday, and then a field trip on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday we had off so that we could take our own trips around Ecuador.

So the Zoo was fun. Not exactly what I was expecting, but oh well. The class I'm currently taking is called "Wildlife Management and Conservation." I don't remember if I've mentioned this yet or not, but the way this semester is set up, I take one class at a time for 3-4 weeks, and then begin the next class. So I'm only take this class right now.

The point of the zoo trip was to discuss the illegal animal trade and how common it is in South America. All the animals in the zoo were animals that could not survive in the wilderness, due to injuries and such due to the illegal animal trade. The first hour or so was just listening to different people speak and going through power point presentations. These were interesting, but all we really wanted to do was look at the animals, naturally. So this is why it wasn't exactly what we expected in our zoo trip.

Toucan's are pretty popular here. I saw several of these guys.

 Giant Tortoise. I'm sure I'll be seeing much more of these guys once we get to the Galapagos.

 Jaguar. These are the common predators of Ecuador. I'm hoping to see one of these during my week in the Amazon!

Who knew there were kanagaroos in Ecuador? Sike, there's not. Not 100% sure why this was here.

Anyway, I went to this nearby town/village called Mindo this weekend. Once I get back from lunch, I'm going to add details from that trip. It was a highlight of my trip thus far. It was amazing! Get ready for that post.