The Spring Break within Spring Break

I’m back! Sorry for the delays in posts but I realized I’m not quite as dedicated to this blog as I hoped to be.   However, I figured that this blog will be my best bet for remembering my time here in South America and also stopping now would give Adam Gallagher one more thing to rip on me for – I can’t give him that satisfaction.           

The Saturday after we returned from the Galapagos, we took a trip to a big indigenous market called Otavalo.  There were just blocks with every inch of space completely covered in tents selling basically anything you wanted.  You would walk down the streets and as soon as you turned to take a second look at a good, the venders would be all over you.  The most fun part about it was that you were able to barter for everything you bought, and it was like a game to see who could get all their stuff for the cheapest price.     At one point, I wanted to buy my mom a hand painted dish and the guy was asking for 14 dollars for it.  By the end of it, I used my magic to get 2 for ten dollars total.  Also, I got some blankets down from 30 dollars to 11 dollars each and alpaca jackets, one of the comfiest pieces of clothing I’ve ever worn, from 28 to 12 dollars.  Needless to say, I’m the bargaining master.   Later that afternoon, we went to a restaurant that laid right in the summit of a volcano.  Although it wasn’t active, it was pretty awesome looking.

Later that week, I finally went out with my host sister, Majo.  She also is 21, but rarely ever goes out and is pretty shy. Anyways, she asked me to go to a barbeque with her at her friends house, luckily it was at house of another host family so I knew at least one other person there, even better that he knew English.  It was weird first getting there because greeting everyone is awkward in Ecuador.  You have to go up to everyone you see and greet each person individually with a kiss on the cheek, and half the time I couldn’t remember if I had already been introduced to them or not and so I’m pretty sure I attempted second kisses, which led to surprises on the receiving end.   However, by the end of the night we settled down and was able to even make jokes in Spanish (I’m either quite funny in Spanish or they were just laughing at me for how ridiculous I sound).  Things got really interesting when Majo whipped out the cards and we started playing Kings, especially when we got to Never Have I Ever – I may have admitted to being a druggie whore, but I would not have known.  This actually surprised me though because after two months here I feel like I can understand almost all of the conversations that I have with people, even if my speaking hasn’t improved that much, yet at this barbeque I found it really difficult to understand what was going on.  I’m thinking that it’s either cause they were all young kids just talking extremely fast or they were mumbling because they were drunk.

            Thursday night, I went to another Liga game, but this one was better because it was a night game and an international game against an Argentinean team.   We sat a lot closer to the really crazy fans this time, called the Muertas Blancas, who never sat down or shut up the entire time.  They actually brought their own fireworks and flares into the game and would shoot them off each time Liga did something good.   We were able to see another 3 sweet goals and finally learned that chants that everyone cheers after them, which made us feel like we were really part of the crowd.  From that game, we went to the bus station to begin our journey to Playas for Carnaval, a huge South American where everyone gets the following Monday and Tuesday off from work and parties throughout the entire weekend.  

The 8 hour bus ride from Quito to Guayaquil was probably one of the most miserable rides of my life.   I sat in the seat directly behind the driver, and the entire night I had to listen to his horrible radio music that sounds like a soundtrack from a horror movie.  I maybe slept 10 minutes the entire trip.   From Guayaquil we took another 3 hour bus to the city of Playas and made our way to our house for the next five days.   It was a really nice house that had three cabins, that fit 10 people altogether, (but we had another sleep on the floor) and had a nice pool, a place to grill, and a direct path to the beach.  For most of the days it was just basically beach days, hanging by the pool, swimming in the waves, tanning, and making fires on the beach.   But other nights things got pretty crazy.   One night we went to the Washington kids hotel, the other kids who go to the school we go to in Quito, and basically our groups just didn’t get along well with each other.  We ended up breaking a couple chairs, their screen door, one boy in our group ended up punching a girl in the throat because she called his shirt ugly and threw a drink in his face, cooking all of the food in their fridge, and many other unmentionables.  Although I was not a part of this recklessness, it was an interesting experience to be a part of.  Understandably, we were not invited back, and we got a phone call the next night saying they actually were kicked out of their hotel and had to find another hostel to stay that night.    Another night when we went into town, a guy in our group climbed over the railing of the second floor of a bar we were on, and fell through it – we tried to escape sneakily, and somehow managed although we were basically the only white people in the entire city so we didn’t blend in well.  Later in the night, my sandals broke, and one of my friends danced on the streets for money so I could buy new ones, which we then proceeded to barter for.  He had some pretty impressive dance moves I guess, because he made 10 dollars in probably about 10 minutes. 

However, the real dance moves did not really come out until the last night we were there, which turned out to be one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had.  We started the night with our usual transportation into town,  hitch hiking in the back of pick up trucks that would drive down the main road.  From the back of this, we had a huge bag of water balloons that we would launch at anyone in sight – even when we would pass the cops and they would do nothing.  At one point, one of the guys took off his shirt and was swinging it over his head when he lost it,  only to retrieve it five minutes later when a random taxi drove up next to us to hand it back to him.   When we got to town,  we soon realized that we were out of place because of one thing thing (other than being white) – we didn’t have huge foam cans to carry around and ambush people with.  The other two girls and I managed to talk our way into getting them for free, and that’s when the real fun began.  My first target was the street-performing transvestite made us his center of his stand-up routine the night before – on a mission, I went into his circle, sprayed him in the face and sprinted away.  Ahh, the sweet taste of revenge.   Right after that however, I was ambushed from behind from some Ecuadorian who smudged black paint/tar/charcoal, who knows, over my face.  At the time I thought it was a normal Carnaval activity, but now recalling the event, I can’t seem to remember anyone else that night but the girls in our group who had this happen to them.    Finally we made our way to the beach side of town, where we saw a small stage.  Naturally, we all jumped on stage and started a dance party.  Yet, this stage only gave us a taste of the stardom we wanted, so we moseyed down the beach about a hundred yards to see a humongous stage with about 400 people surrounding it and lights and music blaring.   As we got closer, we could here the MC addressing the crowd, “and that was our last contestant…who do you think is the winner?”  Immediately, one of the boys sprints over to the stage and yells, “one more contestant, we have one more contestant here!”  While the man stares at him confused,  the other boys hoists myself and the two other girls onto the stage, which stood probably 12 feet off the ground.  About 5 minutes later, the boys joined us, and there were 8 gringos simply owning the stage.  I was told later that night that I had busted some of the best dance moves I ever have – now if only I could remember what they were.  In total, from the two dance contests, we won prizes of 24 beers, but more importantly was the stardom.  As soon as we jumped down from the stage, each of us were encircled by Ecuadorians following us around and asking us for photos.    Although there was a Backstreet Boys concert back in Quito that night, we felt like we were the real stars in Ecuador.

            Now I’m back in Quito, with only a week and a half left here, then its off to Peru.  It’s crazy how fast time has gone by, but hopefully we can make a few more great memories before we move on to conquer another South American pais. 

The Origin of Species - Galapagos Trip

Chuck Darwin once said, “But when on shore, & wandering in the sublime forests, surrounded by views more gorgeous than even Claude ever imagined, I enjoy a delight which none but those who have experienced it can understand,” and although I’m not quite sure which Claude he is referring to, I could not agree more with this statement.  As I try to reflect on the past couple days, I know my words will not do it justice, however I’ll try.

First, we arrive directly into 85degree weather onto the island of Balta, which I think is basically just used as the airport island with nothing much more on it.  As we walk onto the dock for the dinghys that will take us to our cruise ship, everyone whipped out their cameras to snap photos of the sea lions who were taking their midday siestas right in our path – little did we know that the excitement was a little dramatic as we would be seeing much more of the loveable creatures later.    

Never being on a cruise, it took a little bit of time to get used to the swaying motion of the book; as a matter of fact, I don’t think I ever got used to it.  I, being the graceful person that I am, twin to Sarah Thrashintino, was stumbling all over the place, and showering was more than a little dangerous for me.  The worst was in the dining room where while you were eating you saw the land disappear into sky, and back down again, over and over and over again.  Fortunately, I never got sick, or surprisingly, fell to the floor, even while managing to get free drinks by flirting with the bartenders. Ahh the perks of being an American girl.  

Each morning at 645, Big Brother would come onto the PA system, playing dreamy music, and apologize for waking us out of our dreams.  They would then warm us that breakfast is in 15 minutes.  More or less a snooze button was pushed after that announcement, because at 7 another announcement woke us up for real, and we went out to enjoy a delicious buffet with omelet station, tons of fresh fruit, and the best cereal I’ve had in Ecuador, I really should have gotten the name.   Then at 730 we would begin our first expedition of the day.  Each expedition would lead us to a new island.  At lunch the ship would move to a new location, and overnight, we would make our longer trips to further islands.  The afternoon we landed in the Galapagos, we made our first trip to the island of Bartolome.   It was one of the relatively newer islands, only about 800,000 years old and it was basically just a pile of lava.   However, it gave some really great views of the other islands and the ocean and gave us our first introduction to the lava lizard, which is deceivingly fast for being so small, and also the hideous land iguanas which remind me of tiny dinosaurs.  After returning to the ship, I instantly realized why I would love the staff…waiting for us was little fried chicken fingers, or so I thought.  They were really fried fish, but man, oh man, were they delicious.  Yet somehow, after each expedition, they seemed to outdo themselves, moving up to steak, chicken, pepper, and onion shiscabobs, and eventually fondue, even with white chocolate! 

We began our second day with a trip to Isabela Island where we saw a plethora of more land iguana, and huge tortoise hiding in the bushes, some sea turtle nests, and a bunch of Darwin finches.  In my brevity about talking about these creatures, I may seem to down play the incredibleness of seeing these spectacles, but that’s simply to make a long story short.  We could also see the island from which the book we are reading from class is based on, Daphne Major. It really brought reality to the book which hopefully will make for an easier read.

Later that afternoon we travelled to Fernandina Island where we encountered the land iguanas’ evil twin, the marine iguana.   Now, I call the marine iguana the evil twin not because they ever did anything too spiteful, but instead because I think they will give me nightmares later.  They were literally everywhere.  And since the lava was black and the iguanas were black, at first glance you couldn’t even see them.  But, when you look closer, you realize that everywhere you looked you were completely surrounded by these crazy scary looking reptiles with spikes on their backs that slither when they walk.  If for any reason they decided they wanted to attack us, we would have been smothered within a minute.  Yet, the Attack of the Marine Iguanas is merely a phantom of my imagination, and the most menacing thing they did was spit at you if you walked to fast in front of them.  It was actually very surprising home much these animals, along with mostly any animal we came across, did not care that we were there.  They never had to adapt to being scared of humans, and as a result, they just view us as any other species that live with them on the Galapagos.   Needless to say, this helped for some great photo opportunity; if you don’t believe me, see Figure A, my profile picture. 

Fernandina was also the island that we learned that our excitement of seeing the one or two sea lions upon first arrival to the Galapagos was a little dramatic.   Here you could see sea lions where ever you looked – sleeping, fighting, eating, and babies flipping and playing in the water, it was amazing.    The baby sea lions remind me a lot of little puppies and it took all the strength I had in me to resist picking ne up to cuddle with it.

Another interesting animal we found was the flightless cormorant, a bird that has lost his ability to fly and simply swims around looking for his food.  In my opinion, I think these birds ended up picking the short straw in terms of evolution…who would ever want to lose the ability to fly?

On the third day we headed over to Santiago and here we saw even more iguanas and sea lions, finches, fly catchers, and hawks.  However, what made this island really memorable was that the little birds, I think they were the fly catchers, would come up and land right on your head or hat or camera.  They had no qualms about it whatsoever.   Also, here we were able to see tons of sea turtles swimming around.   In the afternoon, we moved onto Rabida Island, which had beautiful red sand, and was also full of many iguanas and sea lions by the shore.   Before we left Rabida Island, we went on a dinghy ride around its shore.  This was the best time to catch a glimpse of all the exotic and unique birds that live there.  We saw blue footed boobies, crazy birds that dive their whole bodies from super in the air like missiles, and who had bright sky blue feet.  We also saw some little penguins, which I am still confused how penguins live in 85 degree weather, but I guess that’s a good question for Mr. Darwin.  There were also some herons ( holla William Smith!)  and pelicans which were actually extremely freaky looking.

            That night we had the “Neptune Party” where anyone who wanted to participate (lured by a free drink if you do) would get to dress and act out a play showing how Neptune, God of Sea, deals with this ship crossing the equator 4 times without his permission.  Following that, our guides decided to host an extremely inappropriate yet extremely hilarious couples game show, which included trying to guess which man was yours while blindfolded by grabbing various butts and testing out kisses.  Next they would have to pop balloons in comprising positions.  Apparently, Neptune is a crazier power  than I assumed him to be.   

            The next day we traveled to the Charles Darwin Research facility on the island of Santa Cruz, the only island that we went to that we saw human civilization there.  The main attraction of the research center was Lonesome George, the last remaining member of the Pinta Island Tortoises. We did found out however, that the research facility is pimping him out to two woman tortoises that have 80% of his genes and thus will make babies very similar to him.  Yet, even though both of these ladies have done their part and laid some eggs to keep the species from extinction, they staff did not find them in time and the eggs were attacked by funguses.  Imagine the guilt trip that staff will have if these species goes completely extinct. The afternoon was also filled with more tortoises that were humongous and old—  they can live up to 200 + years and never stop growing their entire life.

            The last day we went to Bachas and the highlight of this trip was seeing the flamingos.  At first there was just one flamingo far off in the lagoon.  Then we look up into the sky and see three humungous birds gliding through the sky, circling the lagoon where we were standing.   After a couple loops around they prepared for their landing and skidded to a stop right in front of us. Without sounding cliché, it was picture perfect.  We ended the trip by taking a little dip in the crystal clear water and headed back on our way to Quito.  Unfortunately, it was only 60 and rainy when we got back, but I guess I can’t really complain when there is snow in Buffalo!

Saving the best for last, I waited to talk about the snorkeling.  Before I went, I was skeptical about how cool it would be, seeing as you couldn’t really dive to see because the snorkel was only yeh long.  Wow, was I mistaken.  The first day we went snorkeling,  it was it crystal clear water and you could see down so deep there was no reason to even dive.  I followed around schools of fish of gorgeous colors, and saw one scary looking fish who scales look like that from the Rainbow Fish book you read when your in 3^rd grade or so.  The second attempt at snorkeling, I managed to catch glimpses of sea lions, more fish, and penguins, and was actually able to follow around a sea turtle.  I tried to take a picture of it, but we’ll see how that comes out when I get the film developed.  On the next snorkeling adventure, we actually went “deep sea snorkeling” which really means you flip out from a dinghy instead of walking off land but this expedition was when the most fun happened.  I probably saw about 15 sea lions and was able to dive with them, tumble with them, and blow bubbles at each other’s faces.  It was amazing.   We also were able to swim with the white-tipped sharks, but those were vegetarian so there was really no reason to be afraid.   The sharks we saw at night, the Galapagos sharks, were a different story.  They are descendants of the great whites, but much smaller. Luckily, we didn’t swim with them, but it was a great sight to see sharks, sea lions, and  pelicans all fighting over the same flying fishies, that could leap 20 yards in a single leap, from the safe distance of the ship’s deck every night.

So here I am, 4 weeks into my semester abroad and have once again been on two of most amazing and memorable trips of my life -  what can I say, I’m living the life…

Sometimes I regret telling my family, “comeré todo que tu haces.”  Basically, I did it because I figured it would be easier than searching through my Spanish-English dictionary and listing off all the food that I would not touch in the Estados Unidos, but recently I realized it may have been worth the trouble.  This realization came after forcing down cauliflower quiche, sautéed mushroom dishes, yuca soup, an overflowing plateful of lima bean-esqe lentils, and countless other meals I was afraid to ask what they were.  Yet, the staff at ACLAS, the school I’m currently at, tells us that it is extremely rude in this country to not finish what is on your plate, so with a smile on I persevere.  But, don’t let this paragraph fool you; I was being a bit dramatic.  Most of the time I do enjoy the food I have here, especially the homemade ice cream and pizza….pizza, pizza, pizzzzza!

            The soccer game was not nearly as dangerous as it was made out to be, at least not in the sense of the rowdiness of the crowds.  The beer on the other hand, is a different story – we should have realized it would make us sick when the pitchers were spray painted Tupperware containers you would use to serve lemonade at your house.  Nevertheless, we were able to see three fantastic goals by Liga, including a header from a corner kick, which made the crowds go absolutely crazy.

            Much of the last week was pretty relaxed.  I went for a run for the first time since I’ve been here because they say to wait at least a week to get used to the altitude in Quito, which is at 9895 ft.  I probably lasted about 10 minutes and even that made me feel like I couldn’t walk the next day.   Wednesday, I went to a casino, which almost didn’t let us in because they claimed they smelled alcohol on one guy’s breath, even though he only had one beer.  Yet, living with the elite of Quito has its advantages – one friend called up his sister who made a couple of calls and all of sudden they were ushering us in.  Confused about why they wouldn’t want drunk people in their casino in the first place, the sister explained to us that they considered themselves a classy hotel and didn’t want the ruckus.  Yea, okay, a “classy” casino with $2 minimums.   The best I was during the night was 14 dollars up, but ended up 20 bucks down— I really have to work on my card counting skills. 

            Saturday I resumed my adventurous activities by climbing a dormant volcano, Mt. Pichincha.  We begun by taking the Teleferico, which is like a ski lift, from the base of the mountain up 3000 feet, and then continued climbing from there.  At first it didn’t seem too difficult, but before I knew it I wouldn’t be able to walk 5 minutes without stopping – I like to think it was the lack of oxygen from the altitude than me not really being in shape.  Most of the way there was walking paths that you could follow, but as we continued higher and higher, the terrain became harder and the paths started to disappear.   At one point, there was a steep section of just sand that you had climb up to reach the last leg of jagged rocks that would bring you to the top.   At this point, I was out of water and out of food, and seriously thinking I was going to pass out  - I felt like I was in one of the movie scenes where the person is in the desert clawing there way through the sand, hallucinating about an oasis of water.   But then I saw Alfredo, this random old, bald man who appeared out of nowhere to help my friends and I navigate through the mountain, calling to me and I knew I couldn’t give up. As soon as I got to the rocks, I got my second wind, and climbed through the rocks, which given a wrong step could send you tumbling to your death down the steep cliffs on either side.   Reaching the most amazing feeling ever.  I would have to say the whole four hour climb was not really an enjoyable one, but in the end was worth the feeling of accomplishment.  At the summit, there was an amazing view of the huge city of Quito, which turns out to wrap around the mountains.  An even cooler feeling was standing literally in the clouds.  Of the ten people who came, only 4 made it to the top. 

….And almost only 3 of us made it down.  During the descent, I got a bad footing and started falling down the cliff on the side of the mountain.  At first I thought I could catch myself, but learned very quickly that instead I was simply gaining speed.   With huge jagged rocks and boulders everywhere, I had no clue what to do, and really thought that I was going to tumble at full speed head first into a boulder, or at least break my bones bouncing of these rocks.  Luckily, I when I went down I miraculously avoided slamming into any of the huge rocks, and just skidded along tumbling on my butt.  As it turns out I survived, with no broken bones, but only gashes and cuts covering my bottom! 

            But now Sunday, a very lazy day, I must get back to reading The Beak of the Finch, to prepare myself for an epic cruise through the Galapagos Islands which begins Thursday!

Gringos in Ecuador

I never realized how awkward it is for Sarge when I’m looking him straight in the eyes, talking to him as if he understands me, when in fact he really has no clue what is coming out of my mouth.  Now, after two weeks in Ecuador, I can understand his awkwardness.  His situation of course is different than mine because he actually cannot hear a single word I say, but I would have to argue that my situation is comparable.  Living with a host family is great – they cook me breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, each meal with a fresh fruit smoothie made on the spot included, and since they have the best fruit I have ever tasted here, the smoothies are well worth the awkwardness of trying to hold a conversation throughout the entire meal.   I get my own room with a WiFi connection, and my parents don’t really care where I go or when I come home as long as I tell them what I’m doing – this latter part is again a struggle in itself.  But while the mounds of delicious food is great, if you haven’t caught on yet, the language barrier poses a minor problem for me.   It was pretty bad at first, and I felt like a complete idiot, but now, its not so horrible.  I feel like I can understand most of what they say to me, I just have trouble trying to respond back.  Yet, if the improvement I’ve seen in the last two weeks continues, I should feel pretty confident by the time I leave, fingers crossed.

            Despite the fact that Quito is one of the most dangerous places for robberies in the world (and one of my friends have already gotten robbed) I would have to say that the people I’ve met are some of the most welcoming and hospitable people I have ever met.  Even take a look at the robbery -  the girl had most of her money, besides 2 bucks, tucked away in her bra and it was pretty obvious she had things stashed there, but the robber did not even notice -  consequently, we can conclude that he was at least a conscientious robber who didn’t stare at womens’ chests.  In seriousness though,  the first day I was walking to class my sandal broke and immediately my friends dad who I was walking with knocked on the tailor we were passing and asked her to fix it.  Two minutes and 50 cents later, my shoe was as good as new!  Thankfully, because I would have stood out more as a gringo, the pet name Ecuadorians call us Americans, not only with light hair and light skin, but walking around with only one shoe on – basically wearing a sign that says, “rob me now.”   

            On the topic of gringos, our favorite place to go is La Plaza Foch, or Gringo Landia, where all the gringos go to get there party on.   Its basically just a huge strip and bunch of side streets of bars each with their only advertiser standing outside nagging you in Spanglish come in.  Inside Gringo Landia it’s supposed to be relatively safe, but step a few blocks out of its territory and you have reason to worry  - I feared for my life when the taxi driver ripped by telling us we were there, and finding out we were still 8 blocks away – these guys can spot our ignorance from a mile away.  Also there are nice salsa bars which would be cool if I knew how to salsa dance.  However, after a few drinks, I’m determined I know everything and decided to test my inner gracefulness.  Had it not been for three different guys teaching me three different ways to salsa, I may have learned by the end of the night, but needless to say I’m still a failure.  Good thing they’re offering lessons at our school, that way I’ll go back and really show these Ecuadorians my stuff.  

            I had my first day of actual classes on Thursday and they don’t seem like they will be too bad.  In my Spanish classes, we are only allowed to speak and ask questions in Spanish, and if she catches you speaking English, you have to get up and dance in front of the class.  Punishment?  I think not… it merely gets me warmed up for the nights activities! My econ one seems pretty interesting and not an overwhelming amount of work and my bi-dis one just seems like it’s going to be a chaotic debate between the economists and the environmentalists over the oil crisis in the amazon todos las dias with nothing getting accomplished.  I’m also doing community service two days a week where I work with disadvantaged kids, ages 4-6 old, after school.  I’m hoping that being around these kids who speak absolutely no English will help my learning curve grow even faster.

            Sunday I’m going to the Liga de Ecuador vs. Barcelona game.  Don’t get too excited, but its not Barcelona de Espana as all of my friends and I thought at first, its Barcelona de Guayaquil.  It’s supposed to be a huge rivalry game though, which the staff at our school, ACLAS, warned us not to go to because it’ll be dangerous.   If I survive, I’ll let you know how it is. 

The Most A-maz-on Trip Ever

¡Hola Chicos!  I have arrived safely in Ecuador and although I have only stayed in Quito for one night, I already have a feeling that this will be the best semester I’ve ever had.   

After 24 hours of traveling, I walked off the plane in Quito into 75 degree weather – much different from the 2 feet of snow I left in Buffalo.   I little nervous to be in a new place I was pumped to see the familiar faces of my professors, but unfortunately that didn’t last long. The only greeting I got was “Hi, glad you made it safe. Your family is over there. See you tomorrow.” And sure enough I’m rushed over to meet my sister, Majo and my dad, Miguel. I barely got out an hola before I was informed that speaking English was prohibited which made for an interesting night of trying to tell them about myself.  Thankfully I had photos and I was able to have somewhat of a conversation about how Sarah and I look identical  - yet another time when the twin card comes in handy.  Mostly, however, it was a lot of awkwardly staring at each other until we realized that we didn’t understand each other, but nonetheless they seem like a very nice family.  My host sister is even 21 so hopefully she’ll be fun to hang with, but somehow I don’t think she’ll be able to keep up with this Hobart crew that plans invade and conquer the entire city of Quito.  Also, the best thing about this family is that they also have a really fat dog, Mocha, who grunts exactly like Sarge – what a calming noise.

            The next day we began our bus trip to the Amazon rainforest.  Our first stop was Baños where we decided to begin our adventures my renting dune buggys and riding them across the city.   Somehow we ended up on the highway,  playing live Mario Kart through tunnels and curves that had 200 yard drops without guardrails, literally  almost killing  each other.  After going to Tabaq Part 2, a three floor restaurant/dance club with no one dancing but us on the third floor, my life was yet again threatened by what the bartenders called Bob Marleys,  a red, yellow and green flaming shot that is apparently given to free all Americans who come in.  Unfortunately no one told me you were supposed to blow it out before you took it, and I really think that I inhaled flames through my straw.   On a thrill-seeking high, I wouldn’t let the adventures stop there – the next day I went “puenting,” basically bungee jumping off a bridge.  This is where I learned there are absolutely not safety standards in Ecuador.  After driving 25 minutes from our hotel and passing numerous legitimate places with signs on the way, our bus stops in the middle of a road next to two guys sitting on a bridge next to two orange construction cones.   Obviously really safe -  we didn’t have to fill out any papers, probably because these guys would just book it if anything happened,  and cars were racing on both sides of the road as we jumped – but I’m here writing this so that means I survived.

            Earlier that day though we hiked up Tungurahua Mountain and it gave us a gorgeous view of Quito.  On the way up, some natives heard us talking and called us over to their house, telling us they wanted us to see their orchid farm.  Huge understatement.  We walked in and not only was it filled with tons of gorgeous flowers but also tons of fresh fruit, and even a guinea pig farm, which was actually kind of disturbing because they were so cute.  They let us try all the fruit they had – que delicioso!   Then later that night, we rented a party bus and drove up the mountain again and were able to see the city lit up at night.  The party bus was fun, but it wasn’t til Kei$ha came on that things got crazy – they really shouldn’t make party buses with danceable roofs.   

            The next day we went on a bunch of little hikes to different waterfalls and the last one we were able to swim in.  The scenery was surreal and it was indescribable how beautiful it was.  At lunch, I discovered my favorite Ecuadorian dish, I think I may like it as much as Adam loved fafella, but don’t worry I won’t talk about it nearly as much.  Later we found out the reservations at the hostel we planned to stay at cancelled, so we had to continue you on to our next hotel, which turned out to be more like a 5 star resort on its own island that we had to canoe to get to.

            Here we were able to take a hike through the rainforest.  Pushing through the 87 degree and 92% humidity weather was worth it, but unfortunately, the closest thing to a cool animal that we saw was a poisonous spider.  It was kind of a disappointment. After the hike, we went swimming in the Napo River and then we built our own rafts from basal wood and used them to raft back to our hotel.   Now, if I ever get stuck in the middle of the rainforest without a canoe, I will be able to save myself.  My jungle skills were further improved when we were taken to the Quichan village and taught how to shoot blow guns.   It took me three tries, but I was able to hit the fake bird, proving again, that I am the next Bear Grylls.   On the way to the village, we were attacked by little children trying to sell us pieces of grass they picked up by the sides of the road.  I ended up buying one because the girl was so adorable, but that turned out to be a dumb idea because then I became the main target.  Good thing I only had 25 cents on me at the time, otherwise I would have had to pull out my alter ego, the bitchy twin.

The same night I went with a couple kids to go play basketball with some of the local people.   I was expecting a good game, based on how some of my friends got hustled out of 30 dollars the previous day play Ecu-ball, Ecuadorian volleyball,  but when we showed up there it was a bunch of old men.  Needless to say, the boys I played with were like Shaq compared to these 5 foot 5 men, and we alienated them.  Should have told Ecuador not to mess with a New York State Champ!

The next day we woke up to a huge thunder and lightning storm and immediately I thought that our white water rafting trip was cancelled.  Yet, our tour guide, Gustavo informed us that apparently in Ecuador lightning won’t strike you, however he was not able to give a reason why, and told us the trip was still on.   Fortunately, by the time we got there, the storm had stopped, so we did not have to test the reliability of Gustavo and his story.  The rapids were amazing and pretty rough, tossing me out a couple times, and there were no rules so we were able to throw each other out of the rafts and pirate each other rafts which made for some good fun.  But, the absolute best party of it was the rafting guide – I think I’m in love. 

Our last day at la Casa del Suizo we went to an animal rescue center where I was finally able to see the animals I wanted to see the entire time….the monkeys!  They had tons of other animals, like caymen, anaconda, ocelot, these huge guinea pigs like things, but the monkeys were definitely the coolest because there were some that were loose so I was able to get 1 inch away from one and see the just strolling about the place like they owned the place.

After la Casa del Suizo we downgraded to a little hostel in a small town that had only 300 families in it. Although the dormitorios were a downgrade, the service definitely wasn’t.  Continuously throughout dinner, we were called upon  to take shots of some type of moonshine that the hostel owners made.   Then, as we were sitting out in the living room playing cards, and guitar, and singing, he brought out more bottles, and got chants going.  Apparently no one in our group can stand up to peer pressure.   Our entire group was hammered by 11, and the night ended up with our beds all pushed together and a spooning chain containing a good portion of our group.

But, all good things must come to an end, but at least it ended on a high note.   The last day we went to Papallacta, which is right near another volcano, and we went to a hot springs that is naturally heated by the volcano.  It was basically a spa where you just sit in really hot water while the bubbles massage your back.  Perfect cure for a hangover.  After hanging out there for a couple of hours, I had to return back to reality with my family back in Quito, and classes start tomorrow.    It sucks that it’s over but an entire week of amazing adventures during the day and wild parties at night was more than enough to welcome me to Quito!  Here’s hoping the rest of the semester turns out like this!