Cotopaxi

So its long due for another blog... dont even know where to begin-so i'll start by telling you of my mini- impromptu adventure this weekend with my ñaña (sister) :) there weren't too many mishaps during our trip as there has been in previous travels (which i still need to fill you in on 2 more) but Ecuador wouldn't be ecuador without having atleast couple

maybe half of it is our fault for deciding to do this trip on a whim and then even better-planning it 100% dependent on my best friend: lonely planet (travel guide book) all i knew was that i had to get the heck out of quito because

a. time is dwindling down or en espanol : el tiempo esta volando (time is flying) I only have 2 months left=8 weekends

b. i had just spend 25 hours-let me repeat-25 HOURS at the university this past weekend (Friday-Sunday) participating in a mandatory model united nations for my international relations class (I represented Argentina in the model UN conference over IAEA regulations and nuclear terrorism....that is all I am going to say on that matter)

c. why not :)

so molly and I had been discussing a trip to a mountain-and not just any trip to a mountain we wanted to escalar one (to CLIMB one)

***molly and I are always a little ambitious with our plans

first thing that discouraged me was that is was around $200 per person for a guide to take you to the summit of cotopaxi but later on a friend of ours informed us that her Andinsmo class (mountain climbing class) at the University was taking a weekend trip to another mountain called Cayambe, and that we should come it. It was only $20 plus renting our equipment....the list of the equipment was the following

Ropa de abrigo (gorra de lana, impermeable, chompa de abrigo, guantes de lana). Tendremos mucho frio.
· Comida para el fin de semana.
· Sleeping y Aislante
· Bloqueador solar y gafas
· Necesitan llevar líquido para estos dos días.
· Linterna.
· La ropa, sleeping
· Estudiantes extranjeros el Censo y los nacionales la cédula
· Medicamentos básicos. Para dolor de estómago, de cabeza, dolores musculares y, curitas.
· Medias de repuesto y camisetas.
· Botas de Plástico para nieve
· Crampones
· Arnés
· Mosquetón
· Los DOS cordinos
· Piqueta
· Carpa. No duerman solos que hace mucho frio.

I didn't even bother finding out what some of the words meant after seeing how long the list was AND after seeing the word "pickax" and "harness" and "warm clothes" including "hats, and gloves" no thanks

i had imagined mountain climbing as a nice hike-without having to use a pickax... who am I to go climbing Ecuador's 3rd highest peak without any experience lol acutally i might have done it (lol) but the teacher wasn't allowing any non-students to go along on the trip

**molly got to go because she registered for the class at the beginning of the year- key word:registered does NOT mean she goes to this class if i'm correct she's been to 2 classes all year haha i cant wait to find out how she did

but since i couldnt' go i was back to the drawing board and on friday night sophie ( my sister) and i decided we are still going to go to Volcan Cotopaxi - the earth's closest point to the sun, and see the snow! and we would leave first thing the next day...where to stay? what we'll do? no supimos (we didn't know)

but we did know we wanted to get there by El Boliche which is (as quoted from the lonely planet p 150), "Just outside Parque Naccional Cotopaxi's western boundary, the Area Nacional de Recreacion El Boliche is a recreational area popular with Quitenos on weekend outings. It's also the destination for the weedend TRAIN from Quito. Although touristy, the train has wonderful views (from the roof, of course!) The train leaves Quito at 8am on Sat and sunday and arrives at El Boliche around 11am.....If you plan to ride on the roof, bundle up-it's freezing in the morning..."

so sophie and I leave our house at 615 am and take 2 taxis and one bus to get to the train station: "estacion tren chimbacalle" and we packed warm (kind of forgot how to do that lol) and we arrived early- everything was going smoothly- too smoothly for ecuador traveling...

that's when sophie and I looked around- while waiting outside the station waiting for it to open-and realized that everyone around us had tickets......mmmmmm...

but i figured just like a bus station or any other train station on this planet you could buy tickets at the station......NOPE

we were quickly informed that we had to pre-purchase our tickets through a travel agency in Quito but lucky us someone in line had two extra tickets!!!!!!!!!! but don't worry-the guard or ticket collector wouldn't let us swap tickets he wouldn't let us in do to "security." WHAT!!! .....since when??? and since when do two "gringitas" look like terrorists??? anyways i was really impressed with sophie who argued with the guy in spanish-who didn't budge-and then she may have swore at him in english and stormed off.....

not that that helped us any. we are now in god knows what part of quito at 8 in the morning-ready to go with warm freakin clothes... we decided we had to still do something-we were packed, here, and didn't wake up early for nothing. so we said, "let's just pick a place..." so we sat on the train station steps and looked through lonely planet some more and came to the conclusion that the majority of places in ecuador recommends bringing a swimsuit-not sweatpants and sweaters

so we did the logical things and went to the bus terminal in quito to get a bus to Latacunga-the market town just outside the base of Cotopaxi. It actually worked out perfectly bc when we got there-the next bus leaving was just in 5 min-so we bought our tickets for $1.50 and ran for the bus

got there-looked around-and said this cant be it...we were thinking beautiful mountain and nature-instead we were dead center in the middle of a huge bustling indiginous market surrounded by not too much of a town. Actually lonely planet informed me that Latacunga has more barber shops per capita than any other town in Ecuador................... :)

so we literally opened lonley planet to "sleeping" picked the hostel with the best review and took a cab there. we ended up at "Hotel Rodelu: Just off the parque Vicente Leon, Hotel Rodelu is the sharpest hotel in town. the rooms are comfy, with lots of wood paneling, indigenous motifs adorning the walls, TV and telephone."

we ended up paying $40 for the room-which is ironic because I still think that is nothing- in the US a Super 8 is $80 and a decent room is easily $100 but not in ecuador that was an expensive hotel-most hotels are $10-15 a night

but we got hot water, 2 beds, fluffy towels AND cable TV (unfortunately in Spanish) lol but thank god for the TV and beds bc that is ALL we did Saturday (and eat at the hotel's restaurant) bc we could not get a tour until sunday-and being that the thing to do in Latacunga is get ur hair cut-we slept and watched TV lol

Sunday we definitely didn't get the luxury of being bums....we met at our travel agency ("I tours") at 8:30 am ready to go-as ready as I could be to hike part of a mountain and go mountain biking (atleast i wasn't wearing flip flops lol)

two men greeted us at the agency: one was younger-in his 30s, fit, handsome-definitely had to be our guide....not the other guy who was easily in his 50's with a beer belly and a neon jump suite.......NOPE the older guy with the beer belly and jump suite was named Luise and he was our guia (guide) hahaha we watched as the other guy waved as we drove away in the jeep with the bikes loaded on back....

Luis actaully ended up being a blast-even though he didn't speak a lick of english (which was great practice for us anyways)

but climbing the mountain let me tell you was NOT a blast in the first 5 min i kept thinking, "mountain climbing is NOT for me.." lol not to complain but the wind was frigid, it was early in the am, and we were doing rigorous-no-IMPOSSIBLE physical exercise

there literally should be a sign saying: "climbing this may kill you...if your legs don't cramp and give out-your lungs will." lol

it wasn't THAT bad and i did end up enjoying it but i honestly was no naive for thinking, "How hard could it be? climbing a steep hill???" yea right

its hard- no matter how in shape you are, if you are not aclimatized to the altitude you are going to feel like you are walking with 100lbs of bricks in your shoes and that every step you take your destination takes two steps back....lol

We didn't even climb that far...at least it didn't look like it but it sure felt like it we actually drove from the park enterance all the way through the park and up the base of the mountain (The drive through the park was beautiful!!!! We were discouraged at first my all the niebla (fog) and overcast but the higher up we got, the better the views. We even got to see a rare sight-caballos salvajes-or wild horses!) We drove all the way up as far as cars could go to the Parqueadero which was at an altitude of 4500 meters. All we were going to do was climb to the refugio, or refuge, at 4800 meters. Piece of cake. The big yellow refuge nestled in the mountain seemed like it was a hop skip and a jump away. I literally appeared right there-just in the near distance......

about an hour or so later we finally made it to the damn refuge i couldn't breath and sophie felt light headed and our 50 year old guide was just dandy There was no way we were going to reach the snow cap (even tho like I said it looked sooo close) but we made it and got to have our packed lunch (complete with oreos!!!! lol) inside the refuge

its amazing how many crazies there are out there that do that for fun there were people of all ages ready to go with all their gear who were just stopping in for some hot choclate or tea. They were from everywhere too. I heard german, and spanish (obviously) and some languages i didn't even know. Then I got excited when i heard some english and turned to meet a family of a dad and his two daughters from colorado who were here on a 2 week vacation. The best part was that they had just arrived the night before! and they were already scaling a mountain!!!! people like that make the rest of us look bad lol

after lunch the fun part came-going gown (bajar) instead of going up once we made it back to the car we got all our gear on-we looked ridiculous!!! definitely not sexy with all of our mismatced gear: black sweat pants, navy blue sweatshirt, north face, scarf, our guides enormous neon mittens, funky helments, knee pads, and elbow bads lol and then we literally rode down the mountain until the parks enterence squeezing our breaks the whole way for dear life lol

once our tour was finished and my legs were completely numb, our guide took us for a treat in his home town (which was on the way back to the bus stop to get us back to quito.) He kept bragging about these "ecuadorian pizzas" famous in his home town. He said they were really small with cheese and onions...thats all i really understood-which was obvious when we got there-and when i say "there" i mean a tent and a grill on the side of the road-i saw not the "ecuadorian pizza's" at first but the remains of a decapitated pigs head.....teeth and all turns out they were using the pigs fat to fry the "ecuadorian pizzas" which turned out to be corn tortillas (kinda like a hashbrown) with onions and cheese in it. yummmmmyyy...but it is rude to turn down food so i at them-weren't to bad apart from thinking about the pigs head nearby....

and then we finished up eating our yummy snack by watching a street game of pelota nacional (national ball) we were informed it was a popular game that is only played in Ecuador. It reminded me a lot of pickle ball/tennis but the street was used as the court and the key difference was that their paddles or rackets were a whopping 10lbs!!! i literally could barely swing the thing (hence why we watched instead of played lol) and the ball was a big rubber blue ball that seemed just as unusually heavy.

After a great and successful trip, we of course had to travel back to quito which is never my cup of tea. Something usually always goes wrong-and of course-we just waited for the bus at the bus stop in Luise's town instead of loading at the terminal in Latacunga....so we didn't get seats-we had to stand for the 80 mile ride hot and crowded ride home...... lovely

but it was definitely vale la pena (worth it) but i dont think i will be scaling a mountain anytime soon :)

Mindo

February 6-7

My program went on our 2nd excursion to Mindo, Ecuador and it by far was one of my favorite trips! Mindo esta localizado en el noroccidente de la provincia de Pichincha, enel camino hacia el norte de la costa ecuatoriana Se podra observar elbosque nublado (cloud forest) y la increible biodiversidad de esta zona de la provinciade Pichincha.

I actually think that pre-planned excursions are the way to go-everything is planned, no issues with buses breaking down, you are always gauranteed great hostels, food and activites, and everything is pre-payed for. :)

This was our intineray (nuestro itinerario):

Sabado 6. 8:20 a.m. Nos encontramos en la puerta principal de la USFQ para salir a Mindo a las 8:30 a.m. Muy puntuales. Puntuales means punctual in Spanish. haha Definitely did not happen. We left at 9:15 am instead. La hora ecuatoriana!

Sabado 6. 10:30 a.m. Llegada a Hosteria El Descanso en Mindo, recibirsus habitaciones y dejar sus pertenencias en las habitaciones.

Sabado 6, en la manana. Visita al jardin de las mariposas y tubing en el rio. Almuerzo en Mindo.
--Of course our first time actually doing any outdoor activities-and our first time visiting a cloud forest-it would rain-and i mean downpour. Probably 1 of the 4 times it has rained since I've been here. But it was amazing all the same. The butterflys were beautiful. You actually could put some sort of banana juice on your finger and they would land on you however i had bathed in bug repelent before leaving so they didn't come anywhere near me. And then tubing was an absolute blast. The raft literally was about 8 or 9 big rubber tubes tied together with rope (lol) we looked like nerds freezing our butts off in our swimsuites and helmets (they made us wear) in the middle of a chilly rainy day and im pretty sure it was the coldest water i've ever felt-but you got num and it was a blast our guides on the raft would always yell "FUERTE FUERTE" which means strong for whenever there was a strong current or a big dip We were soaked at the end-especially with the rain but we had lunch right away (chicken, rice, and vegtables-suprise!!!) and we all went in the diner in our towels and swimsuites because our clothes got wet in the rain- one ecuadorian who was eating in the restaurant actually asked if he could take our picutre haha

Sabado 6, en la tarde. Caminata y canopy.
--since it was nasty weather we did this the following day. and instead we all got to take some R&R before dinner and I took the most amazing 3 hour nap!!!

Sabado 6, en la noche. Cena en Mindo.

--we actually ate at the same place-and had the same chicken, rice and vegtables lol But dinner and that night were really neat because the whole town of mindo had no luz (no electricity) for the entire night- the restaurant actually had a generator but our hostel did not so afterwards we all went out to buy candles and matches so we could sit and play cards and talk by the candle light

Domingo 7, 8 a.m. Desayuno en Mindo.

--one word: huevos!!!! And then one of my favorite moments of the trip, on my way back to my room after breakfast one of the caretakers of the hostel was actually holding a hummingbird because it had mud on its wings and couldn't fly and he let me hold it and then set it free (since he cleaned his wings) he said it was a sign of good luck to hold a hummingbird :)

Domingo 7, en la manana, canopy y caminata a cascadas de mindo y si desean puede nnadar en la cascada.

--canopy or "zip lining" was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I've had. There was a course 12 cables, some up to 500 meters long. The further along the course, the higher up you got and the more steep the cable was. It was absolutely breathtaking once you remembered to breath and not think you were thousands of feet above a cloudforest hanging by a cable. I've never seen so many trees. I actually admit that I was the only one who couldn't go by myself the first time. I couldn't bring my feet off the groud so one of the guides had to go with me haha but little by little i got more brave and at the end i ended up doing the mariposa (butterfly) where you go upside down on the cable and then superman which is literally like it sounds-face down instead of a sitting position. It was a rush. Then at the waterfalls-the water was like ice-but we still all got in. There was actually a slide and a cliff to jump off-i did them both. I was definitely daring that day. On the way back into town instead of walking in our wet clothes we traveled Ecua-style on top of a bus through the cloud forest-which was almost more scary then jumping off a cliff or zip-lining lol Throughout the day I had to laugh and say-"my mom would NOT like these ideas lol" (Sorry mom)

Domingo 7, al mediodia, almuerzo en Mindo.

--we all maxed on pizza which was amazing after a diet of nothing but chicken and rice

Domingo 7, en la tarde, salida para Quito.

=GREAT TRIP

Home Is Where the Heart Is

ok first off before I say anything else- I am almost sure I saw my breath this morning at 8am on my way to class!!! very well could have been an illusion considering my brain doesn't funcition very well at that ubsurd time of day-especially after walking up that damn mountain :) but thought it was interesting-definitely caught me off guard but dont worry-at the worst it was a frigid temperature of maybe 50 degrees F-and worked its way up to 61 degrees F brrrrrr lol get out the winter coats....

the weather is something i definitely can't complain about but I do admit at some times I have no problem finding other problems

my mom wrote me today-scolding me about my lack of consistency with my blog (my apologies- i believe me falta (i am missing) two which i plan to catch up on very soon but in my defense this is the longest i have ever kept up with any ritual to date) she also continued to say that she thought in ecuador my life would slow down and that "i would take time to smell the roses..." even though salome and edwin do own a huge rose plantation and there are always fresh roses in the house-let me tell you ecuador is kicking my butt.......

along with roses i have been able to enjoy: pink eye-TWICE, mosquito bites (and i swear the mosquitos are on steroids they itch sooo much), sun burn and diarrea WELCOME TO ECUADOR lol

i have been home sick lately probably due to all the thinks mentioned above i lost it the other day (this past sunday) and the weird thing is i had a great day-i had a great weekend ...

on friday me sarah and molly (LOVE THEM) went to the supercines movie theater in quito to see "El Dia de los Enomoradas" or in english: Valentine's Day (cute movie) which was amazing because in the supercines movie theater there is the option of the "sala VIP" (VIP room) which is like a balcony above the theater and you get to sit in extremely comfy oversized leather lazy boy seats WITH a recliner pure genious!!!!!!! and on top of that the VIP sala has a waiter to bring you your concession snacks and drinks lol quite the experience!!!

on saturday the three of us met op with some other friends to go see my first soccer game in quito! it was against the quito teams Espoli and Deportiva Quito it wasn't a lega game (the most popular team in ecuador) so it wasn't too packed but nonetheless the fans that were there were loco soccer definitely isn't a sport here-it is a way of life
and then after the game we did the unthinkable---we went to chili's the chipotle chicken alfredo????AMAZING lol i'm not ashamed to say it originally we were going to join our friends at some shwarma place but considering our last trip during carnaval (which i will tell you about in my next blog) was similar to the exorcist due to food poisoning....american food sounded just fine lol

And on sunday was my favorite day-we celebrated salome and edwin's granddaughter, Isabela's 7th birthday at our house we acutally had celebrated on her original birthday on the 10th but since it was a school night-we didn't do much but we did order in chinese!! who would have thought that ecuador would have half way decent chinese food???!? (definitely NOT imperial palace or rainbow garden tho) :) and we had cake and sang happy birthday (IN ENGLISH which was weird but i guess that is the think to do) and then it is tradition here for the birthday person to take the first bite out of the cake just with their mouth before cutting it

anyways we celebrated again on sunday outside with a group of about 20-25 people-the whole family and friends of the family it was a great day and it reminded me a lot of home ....before the party i accompanied salome and edwin to their church for an early morning service-the church was beautiful but it reminded me of being home at faith church and then when the whole family was over- we went to the park in our barrio (neighborhood) and played a game of soccer later on...it reminded me of being with my family at home with all my cousins :( so when the day was done and everyone left and i was in my little casita (house) alone talking with ron I lost it completely lost it just how much i miss everyone completely hit me dont get me wrong i love it here (mosquitos and all) but you really dont know how much you have until you're gone i have to admit i didn't know it was going to be this hard missing everyone

but the good news is my dad gets to come visit in a little over a month!!! I couldn't be more excited! He is coming April 2nd and is going to stay with me during my spring break here (Semana Santa-Holy Week) It is crazy how time flys its weird there are some days-especially the days we have beans with salchipapas (hot dogs) and rice for lunch (DISGUSTING) I think that 3 months is forevvvveeeerrr but then on the flip side: i counted and i only have 12 more weekends!!! and only 8 of those are free because 2 of them are planned trips with my program and then the other two are with my dad

8 weekends doesn't seem like that much-especially when i still have so much that i want to see and do and learn but i do know i will be in much need of home sweet home by the end

i already started a list of things that i want my dad to bring me when he comes the list is:

#1-A sandwhich-any sandwhich-from jimmy johns (#5) or spicy Italian from subway or panera mmmmm my number one craving that you can't find anywhere in ecuador
-another one of my bras bc i left one of mine at one of the hostels i think-i cant find it so i only have 2 right now grrr
-FRUIT SNACKS
-starburst they dont have them here either
-more sunblock (more like SPF 80)
-A&F green bag
-Gummy life savers (berry)
-My black shorts- I cant believe they told us not to bring shorts!! it is ecuador!!! it is 80 degrees EVERYONE has shorts
-imperial palace :)
-more underwear-im getting bored of mine here hahahahaha
-someone to thread my eyebrows
-SUPER POWER bug repelent-or maybe just the mosquito exterminator in general
-chicle (gum)
-the book spanish for dummies lol
-my boyfriend
-and if there is room in his suitcase, some olive garden :)

Montañita- Part II

Montañita-there really are no words that can do it justice. After we arrived-and we practicaly kissed the ground when we did-i literally felt like we had arrived on this new planet or atleast a place tucked so far away that no one really no it actually existed other than in movies or our dreams. i clearly showed how far out of the way this little town is-8 means of transportation i believe to get there- the good news (buenas noticias) is that it might have been worth it lol (depending how you look at it) looking at the town-or more of a paradise consiting of a beach and about 4 streets it was definitely worth it. It was...

hot, paradise, tourist central, crazy, beautiful, too good to be true, hippy land, care free..... extremely hot

there were only 3 types of building in the town: hostels, restaurants, and bars. And it had the rule : no shoes no shirt no problem We stayed at the hostel Casa Blanca complete with breakfast, two double beds-one in the loft, bathroom with hot water (which was key because not every place offers that) and a small balcony with nonetheless than a hamock
One of my favorite things-i mean other than the beach, the waves, the weather, the amazing food (the restaurant Ola Ola was my savior) and strawberry daqueris- lol was the fact that every other person you met was from another country-literally our neighbors in the hostal were from Argentina, Germany, and Chile. And my favorite was a guy we met who said he lives in the galapagos islands-and was here on vacation???.... Last i checked the Galapagos was the destination for a vactaion but clearly vacation is year round here. And i couldn't have loved it more

We napped on the beach, read a little (i had to stop reading dear john because i was crying too hard), jumped in the water to cool off, and then napped again...pretty rough Also, probably one of my highlights of my trip was that on our last day there we got private surfing lessons! So much harder than I remembered in Hawaii. I definitely blame the surf board because it was so small and the waves (olas). They weren't olas-they were tsunamis!!!! (*this beach is world known for surfing competitions). I think i might have got up 4 or 5 times-ok maybe 3 or 4 in the two hour lesson. I spent more time taking in water up my nose. But it was so much fun-and i somehow managed to get a pic that makes it look like i know what i am doing. It was also comical to see all of us "practicing" how to get up on the board on the beach. People actually stopped and stared haha Our lessons ($13 per person for 2 hours) were compliments of our new friend "Rico Suave" haha he is prolly 22 or 23 and lives in montonita. his job is teaching surfing lessons and occasionally working at a tiki bar with his dad.....tengo celos (im jealous) I told my own dad that if there ever was a place to wear his hawiian shirts and swim and have a hut on the beach this is it. You could make a living selling hotdogs on the beach.

However if you're looking for sleep this is not the place. Music-LOUD music blasted all through the night and i mean all night these people put a whole new meaning to partying. Idefinitely couldn't keep up-I told molly we should have trained going there. lol People either didn't sleep or would take a nap from like9-11 after dinner and then would go out-until 7 in the morning It didn't stop. The town was more alive at night than in the day. And it didn't stop. I'm pretty sure we got called lame for going back to our rooms at like 3am. Lame. haha To get an even better idea of what it was like we had to wake up super early on sunday to be sure to get a ticket for a busride back (because we didn't think to get one as soon as we got to the beach-but that is fo later) but anyways....we got up at 6:30am (after 3 hours of sleep) and walked a block to the bus station in our pjs-and i am not kidding. I felt like i was in some sort of twilight zone-EVERYONE was still out. There were still people waiting to get in the bars.......the small tiki bars lining the streets were just closing up-i had nooo idea. The sun was just coming up!!!! and i also had always wondered where all these people stayed at night because there was a TON of people and it was a very small town with only a few hostels-then i realized the answer...either they dont sleep OR they crash on the beach. There were atleast a 100 people sleeping on the beach-some even with tents. lol

once we got to the bus station-our nightmare travels started-again. You'd think we would have all our mala suerte (bad luck) behind us after our trip here. nope. First off-the sign at the station said it opened at 7am-but no one was there. Welcome to ecuador. That is when i lost all my patience (prolly due to a lack of sleep). And on top of it there were a couple of ecuadorian guys who clearly had just gotten back from the bar were trying to talk to us in spanish. And we were trying to ask them when someone will be here to sell us tickets......it is soooo hard to talk spanish in the morning. So-we went back to bed until 9 and then came back thinking worse case scenario would be having to leave at a time a little earlier than we wanted-we were wrong.
worse case scenario= ALL the buses being full

we had no ride back. but then this guy was yelling "Guayaquil! Guayaquil! Guayaquil! Quiere ir a Guayquil??" (Do you want to go to Guayaquil?) Of course we did!!!! That was our halfway point where we could get another bus to Quito. The guy said he was taking a van-first come first serve-and it was leaving in 30 min!!!!!!!!!! crap!!! (actually that is not the exact word that ran through my head) lol we were in our pj's still and had planned on leaving around 3pm-not 10am. So we literally ran back to our hostel, threw our stuff in our suitcase, and ran back to the bus stop where we were crammed into a 12 person van-hot stinky van full of people with hangovers-but it was a way home. That was until not even into the next town-the police stopped the van and turns out-the driver didn't have a valid business license. So.....everyone got their luggage and got out of the van. And the van left. and there we were. On the side of the dirt road with our luggage-just outside of Montañita....12 hours away from home.

Looking at the glass half full instead of half empty-everything worked out-and all our bad look could have been really really bad luck. We got instructions from one of the passengers who spoke fluent spanish-told us that we would just wait for the next public bus that passed by and take it to the next town and buy a bus ticket to Guayquil from there. We only waited about the longest 10 minutes of my life for the bus.. But it came and from there-we had a smooth-even though that word is probably out of the question by now-trip home. Lesson learned: always book return tickets ASAP and dont wait to the day of.

We learned a lot that trip-valuable traveling lessons - other than sufing : ) Like how to pack for example (none of us thought to bring a beach towel lol) You might not agree but it was an amazing trip : )

Montañita-planes trains and automobiles

The title acutually should be buses, taxis and automobiles-
but you'll understand that later....

so it has been a week since I returned from my trip to Montañita. but i promise you my memories of this trip are anything but dull. I will do my best to re-tell my adventure but i might be a little bitter ,considering now, i am still paying for the lack of sleep i got on the trip due to the fact that i am fighting a bad sore throat and for the first time in my life, pink eye. Genial (great). But the trip for lack of any better words was a learning experience. And the first lesson I learned that I can tell you is whenever people say "getting there is half the fun"-they are lying. needless to say i am glad i waited a week to write this because if I hadn't told my mom and let her digest it-she might have had a heart attack reading this : ) (love you mom)

Thurs (Jan. 21): I have spent 3 weeks in ecuador already and my friends and I-sarah, molly and and whoever else wanted to join, are pumped in our ecuadorian culture class and we are having a hard time paying attention to anything else than our list of what to pack. Ecuadorian culture was my last class-and after that I would go home pack my sunblock, shorts, and swimsuite and head west to the pacific coast to Montonita. It would be our first solo excursion-and what better choice than to a beach in the middle of january???!! Sounds great-sun, sand, the ocean?? I didn't mention that it was 12 hours away....

THursday 6pm: me and sarah walked to meet molly and charolette (the only one who didn't bail at the last minute) at the entrance of the university where we would then go to supermaxi the local grocery store to buy snacks for the road. It was off to a great start when i saw sarah who had a HUGE-no GIGANTIC is a better word- hikers backpack thrown over her shoulder like she was going camping in the andes for weeks. And i wasn't much better since I did not bring a backpack to ecuador-i was wheeling around my carry on from the plane. Needless to say the last place it looked like we were going was the beach for a weekend.
630pm: we stopped at mcdonalds (for the first time) and got a cheese burger to go and at supermaxi i bought a bottle of water, animal crackers, and gummi lifesavers for the road lol From there we got on our first bus....the first of many as I would soon understand

We then took the verde (green) bus to the ria coca station in Quito, where we then took a taxi to get to the north station, where we then took a trolley ride- got off at the wrong stop-so took another trolley ride to get to the south station in Quito......this is when it finally sunk in and molly said, "wow guys I guess I really didn't really wrap my head around the idea of 12 HOURS...i mean i know how long it is...but i really didn't comprehend how long its going to be on a bus...."

9:00 we managed to buy tickets ($8) for our bus ride to Guayaquil (8 hours), where we we then take a bus to Montonita.
9:30- our bus left. And our bus was packed. Kids as young as 2 were sitting on their parents laps. And it was HOT-more like humid and our windows wouldn't open...so everyone was sweating buckets. Oh and there was a cage with two puppies in it right in back of me too lovely.
1am Friday: We make a bathroom spot in the single most shady spot I have ever seen in my life. No joke. And to top it off there was no toilet paper.
Back on the bus it starts to rain- the further west we get-and i am not exagerating at all-my sleep is interupted my drops of rain on my head because the roof is leaking....
2ish AM Friday- Our bus stops in the middle of nowhere and next thing you know police-dressed up like the military-are telling everyone off the bus and to bring their purses with them. They didn't really check our purses but more just checked everyone's id's and passports-and THAT is why you always carry a copy of your passport
3:20AM: Our bus breaks down. I repeat our freakin bus breaks down. In the middle of nowhere. In the middle of the night. In ecuador. At this point there really are no words. And you think that the bus driver might come back and tell the passengers, "Hey. Sorry we're having technical difficulties and we're doing our best to fix it, but in the meantime another bus is on the way......" NAh. They never said anything. All I knew was a bunch of male passengers got off the bus obviously to try and "help" fix the bus. And all I heard was countless attemps of the engine trying to start.....no luck. We waited for about 2 hours until another bus came and we were hurried off the bus. It is a miracle our luggage made the transition with us....
7or8AM i can't remember: We made it!!!! Not to our final destination but atleast to Guayaquil.....made some phone calls, got a drink, and went to the bathroom before buying our tickets and finding our way around to get to our next bus that would hopefully take us to the beach.......
It actually was TWO more buses that got us there....and one of them I wouldn't call a bus...more like a rusty trolley...idk something with wheels and an engine that resmbled i vehicle that might have one day been a bus....but regardless of how....we got there. We arrived in Montonita at 11:30am on Friday after 8 means of transportation and I don't like to even count the hours....

Anyways...the story gets better-and worse : ) I'll have to write the rest of our adventure in my next post tomorrow I need to get to bed because my throat is killing me and unfortunately I have class tomorrow.......
xoxo

Otavalo

We had our first excursion this weekend!! And i finally felt like I had arrived!!!!!!!!! I had an absolutely amazing time. I actually wish I could just keep traveling for the entire semester...who needs school anyways??????(Sometimes I feel like I might as well not be in class considering sometimes what they say goes right over my head anyways lol) but (no mom i am not dropping out of school lol) classes are going ok...some days are better than others my english class is always good haha tejido (weaving) just go really hard because now i am working with 2 colors and not just one and considereing i'm no an artist nor do i speak fluent spanish-its kinda difficult to pick up but enough about classes-

this weekend a group of about 20 of us (our program consists of students from penn state and illinois) left on a bus to Otavalo-a city about two hours away. We made quite a few stops on the way. Our first stop was at the mitad del mundo-the half of the world!!!!!!!!!!!! I got to balance an egg-and it stayed up amazingly! Our second stop was at a Bizcocho-a bakery that is very common all throughout Ecuador which serves a type of biscotti/biscut. so we all sat down and had bizcocho (also the name of the food), some hot choclate and cheese (real healthy I know). And our final stop was at a lookout (I'm not sure of the name or if there even was one) but I do know it was beautiful seeing all mountains (even tho i wasn't keen driving a bus through the mountains on the really skinny roads) side note I got to pet a llama that was hanging out at the stop lol it was kinda cute : ) and on the last stretch to Otavalo-we gave an Indigenous girl a ride the last part of the way (idk details ) but she sang a couple of songs for us on the way in her native language-which isn't spanish-there are acually lots of indigenous languages but the most common language which is spoken in the Andes is Quichua. She also sold homemade scarves and bracelets-how could I say no???? lol so i bought a bracelet-which was the beginning of my shopping extravaganza!

I knew that the Otavalo market was big-one of the biggest in Latin America-my I literally had no idea how BIG!! It went on for blocks and blocks. There was stand after stands of crafts, art, food, jewlery-anything you could ever want. Overwhelmed would have been an understatement. We had two hours to shop and I made the mistake at first to just look and then tell myself I would come back later if I couldn't find a better deal. The problem was you couldn't ever find your way back. It was nuts-scarves, jewlery, yarn, meat, fruit, paintings, panchos, sweaters, pants, blankets, bags, cualquier cosa! it was a lot different than shopping in a mall (besides the obvious) because you had to barter with the indigenous people-and be able to say no because they were worse than telemarketers! i ended up getting quite a few things-i had a huge problem with all the colorful woven bracelets! i also got an awesome painting, a few scarves, yarn for my tejido class : ), and a purse among a few other things!!!! but i am definitely going back! Two hours wasn't even enough to get your bearings.

After shopping we proceeded to have lunch which you never would guess was: soup, meat, vegtables, and some rice-just like every other ecuadorian meal! : ) After lunch the bus took us too our hostel-which I had always imagined to be a poor alternative for a hotel for broke college students. But i was wrong!!! It was absolutely beautiful! It was called the Casa del Sol and it was a big colorful Spanish house built on the mountain overlooking the city of Otavalo! The sign atctually read: Mas que un hotel-una casa con identidad (More than a hotel-a house with identity) Me and sarah were roomates and we got the cutest room complete with a balcony and fireplace. The Casa del Sol was actually also in walking distance of the Peguche Waterfall-where molly, sarah, and I decided photos weren't good enough-so we decided to go for a dip and actually stand under the waterfall. We obviouosly got soaked-and even though we had to walk back sopping wet and our shoes for the next day we're soaking (minor details you never think of when deciding to go under a waterfall) it was prolly one of the best experiences I've had here so far!!! We then finished our eventful day with dinner at the hostel which again-was soup, meat, vegtable (which are usually served cold here-which i'm not sure about) and rice. lol but we did get to try a traditional ecuadorian drink called colazo (?)-a warm cidery tasting drink.

The next day was just as eventful-we woke up to an amazing breakfast and then we went on a walk to an indigenous families home-which was a huge wakeup call. That is the problem in Ecuador that I had heard but never saw first hand-there is no middle class. We literally walked down the street from a beautiful chic bread and breakfast and ended up at a shack-literally a concrete box with dirt for floors and sheets for doors and pigs tied up outside. The family was so kind and welcoming and showed us how they made their crafts that they sell at the market (which is as far as I know their only source of income). It was incredible and shameful at the same time we had a plush bed and breakfast and their kitchen was a pot on a fire pit on the dirt outside..definitely something to think about...

we finished our excursion at otovalo going to another indigenous home-which seemed to be a lot more wealthy. they were a musical family who made and sold instruments (and played them). the man made a wooden instrument right in front of us-he made it look as simple as building a paper plane then he demonstrated all the different instruments (tons I have never even heard of) and then lastly his family came out and they played a song for us.

Don't worry there is still more lol

Our very last stop was Cuicocha Lake-which is a crater lake at the foot of Cuicocha volcano. It had some of the clearest and cleanest water I have ever seen. We took a short hike around part the lake (to go around the whole lake is a 4 hour hike), had lunch and went on a boat tour of the lake. *Randomly at the boat dock there was a indigenous musician who was playing the theme song from titanic on his windpipes lol not exactly the theme music i would have imagined for ecuador lol

The cherry on top of our long trip was dessert before we headed back to Quito. I got bread pudding-definitely wasn't Timpones breadpudding : )

Aguita

Aguita is Leni's secret remedy for colds-actually for la gripe y toz-throat and cough. It's hot water with spices and I detect lemon aswell. I don't know what it is-but I do know it's helping along with my cold pills that I brough from home lol I've been fighting this cold/nasty cough at night for this whole week now and everytime I think its gone-it just comes back. So I'm glad I don't have classes on friday! TGIF! And then the weekend is finally here! I've made it through my first full week of school at USFQ (complete with confusion and one meltdown lol) !!!
But being here I can say that along with ur moments of complete frustration (mine always come when someone is talking to me and they might as well be speaking French), there are also moments of excitement that balance it out.

I had a few of these moments during this week after my tuesday night meltdown- one was when I made it up the hill/mountain without wanting to die! I actually walk it twice on tuesdays and thursdays becasue I have 3 morning classes and then walk home for lunch and then go back to school at 3 for my aerobics class-so needless to say my butt is going to be in shape!!!lol
Another plus is that my classes are finally set-after like 8 changes and i am liking them! My FINAL schedule (about time) is:

MONDAY:11:30-1pm Photography; 2:30-4 Advanced Spanish Conversation
TUESDAY:8:30 (not ideal)-10am Intro. to International Relations; 10-11:30 Tejdo (basket weaving); 11:30-1pm Intro. to Ecuadorian Culture; 3pm-4:25 Aerobics
WEDNESDAY: SAME AS MONDAY
THURSDAY: SAME AS TUESDAY
FRIDAY: nada, zip, nothin : )

And I have managed to make a couple ecuadorian friends!!!lol Its not to hard considering I am the only Gringa in my photography class, tejido class, and aerobics class. Now the key is to be able to hold a convo with them for more than 3 minutes lol

Wednesday after my photo class which I really think I am going to like, I got my censo which was my last step-after all of my applications and visa and passport and customs papers and registering for USFQ-it was my last step to officially seal the deal that I can stay here for the semester! We went in groups because the office was in Quito and I had a little bit of de'javu because Maria's son took us in his car-the same one he picked me up in the night I arrived in Quito. : )

After the censo my friends Sarah, and Molly and me found an awesome place right by the university that has $3 pizzas! and i honestly was quite impressed-I didn't know how ecuadorian pizza would be but we dominated 2 small margarita pizzas! -we need our energy for walking up these mountains everyday lol

Thursday I had my first tejido class-I was behind since I just added to my schedule at the end of the week-and the teacher speaks 0 english. So it definitly was one of my frustrating moments when she was telling me the supplies I needed. But I somehow managed-I set up my board, followed her directions IN SPANISH and somehow wandered in the right direction to the hardware store she was describing where I bought my string I was pretty excited lol and then somehow even more miraculously I managed to weave a couple rows correctly! its a start-but i have a feeling its going to get more complicated with designs and different colors

Last night I went out to Quito to La Mariscal-or better know as "gringolandia (Gringo-land) which is a strip of restaurants dance clubs etc. with Sophie and Sarah and Molly and a few other people from our program. We danced at a place called the Next Level to a unique mix of reggae, merangue and US 1990 music lol

and now im going to be a bum and probably watch marley y yo (marley and me) with sophie and rest before our first excursion tomorrow! Everyone in our program is leaving for Otovalo (a town with one of the biggest markets in Latin America that sells a huge variety of Andean crafts) tomorrow morning and staying to sunday night! I'm really excited to go SHOPPING! lol I also cant forget to buy some yarn for my Tejido class : )

Side note-weather has been HOT!-still no rain so to conserve energy, the goverment shuts off la luz (power/lights) for a couple hours each day at random times. : ( but other than the energy shortage im loving the weather despite the fact that I sometimes forget the sun here is sooo intense I got fried on my chest the other day just from walking to and from USFQ! Maybe that is why all the ecuadorians are dressed head to toe in sweaters, jeans, and UGG BOOTS they loovvvee boots here lol I really want to ask them sometimes if they know its in the 70's???? If it was this hot at UofI everyone would be laying out on the quad in their swim suites!!! Hear they act like its January in the midwest-you go to Quito at night and people kid you not have winter coats on!!!! crazies

TTFN : )