Mindo Weekend

Well this weekend was one different from the past month. After eating lunch on Friday at Rusty's (a hamburger place outside of campus, opened by an American) 7 of us girls headed to an amazing ice cream place by my house. It was my second time and the rest of the girls first time, we will be back. After that it was just a hop, skip and a hike to my house. It was still sunny so Lauren, Willow, and I got some tanning done in the park. After heading inside and discovering my dinner looked less than appetizing we all headed to a cute coffee shop for sandwiches and coffee drinks (even though I don't like coffee it was great!). Willow then walked home and Lauren and I waited and packed up for the weekend until 7:30 when Anne, Cris, and Richard picked us up to drive to Mindo for the weekend.

It was about an hour drive to Mindo and as we rolled into town on the main street there were NO lights and just a few places still open with candle light. Uh o... did this town not believe in electric? get me out now. Turns out that a tree had fallen in the forest (did it make a noise?) and knocked out a power line, power would be back on tomorrow. So now we had to find a hostel to stay at, we checked a few places before we found this SUPER cute hostel, or it looked pretty cute in the dark, for only $12 a night per person- including breakfast and a pool. After we settled our sleeping and living conditions we headed out for dinner and found one place with electricity. Here we got simple sandwiches that look about 30 min to serve us. By this time it was about 11, and being Richard's birthday the next day, we surprised him with a cake and midnight then we all went to bed.

Saturday we got up early, ate, and headed out to view some waterfalls. We took a basket zip-line over to where we would start our hike. Yup, even after I swore off hiking I was at it again. Although it was WELL worth it. We chose the path with 5 waterfalls. It took awhile to get to the first one but the rest came soon after that. Out of the 5, we could swim in 2. The first swim-able waterfall was amazing. We got to walk/climb/crawl up the strong river current to the waterfall and fight the water as we tried to touch it. After some falling and swimsuit mishaps we headed off to the next. The second swim-able waterfall was much smaller but just as strong as the other, or so we would find out. Since it was smaller we though maybe we could stand under it. Being that water is my thing I took the lead, walking closer and closer then BAM I lost my footing because the ground dropped off and I was suddenly under the waterfall not being able to touch. So basically I started drowning and all I could do was hit the bottom, push off, and get pushed back down again by the force of the waterfall. Some how I got out coughing and spitting up water but still in once piece. Anne then decided it was a good idea to test out what I just did too, only twice. She too experienced the same results. Lauren then got very mad, 1. because we told her to "just try it" and 2. she didn't want to be left behind to explain what happened to us to our parents. After just seeing our lives flash before our eyes and the water being freezing we headed back up the trail, across the way in the zip-line basket, and to the car. After the waterfalls we went to a chocolate factory, met up with the other SNC girls, and learned about the chocolate process, and even got to sample some! We were all pretty tired so we napped, showered, and got ready to celebrate Richards birthday. We headed out to dinner then to a quiet bar for about 2 hours. Us 3 girls headed home after that and Cris and Richard went dancing. Walking home I found a dollar on the ground, SCORE, and we also thought this man was following us but turns out he lived on the same road our hostel was on. Anne, Lauren, and I sat up and talked for awhile until we discovered a live cockroach in the room. Lauren is apparently deadly afraid of bugs, which I did not know, so I laughed a little as she freaked out and said she was "just going to pack my things and go". After Anne spent awhile watching the thing and trying to get it in a good position to kill it I started to help out. After a good 15 min we killed it and the peace was restored.

On Sunday morning we went tubing down a freezing river filled with rapids. Being so scared and so cold, it was a great time. After the tubing, drying off, and changing we headed back to Quito. I finished some homework I had been putting off then went to bed.

Today class was boring as usual but now that there is only 17 days until we head back to the U S of A everything is coming to an end. We have about 2 big trips planned and then some smaller ones. I have 5 finals and a paper left and that's about it. I've been thinking about packing up my things and I get more and more excited for home everyday, but also each day I feel a little sad to leave all these things I've become used to.

Climbed up and to the left to get to the waterfall

This was the "deadly" one. 

The cockroach

     

Third times a charm

This weekend we stayed in Quito again, which I don't mind at all. Gives me time to catch up on homework, cleaning, and things. Friday after class Lauren, Anne, and I headed off to our favorite nail place for our weekly manicure (after all they are only $3). During our pampering sessions we heard some guy yelling at the top of his lungs at some officers. Everyone within hearing distance stopped and stared. From what we would gather he was driving during his Pica y Placa time, which is when certain people can't drive depending on their license plate number to keep traffic down. The fines for driving at this time are huge, hence his yelling. Us girls all agreed that if he was talking like that to an officer in the USA he would be arrested. Things eventually calmed down and my nails were then finished. Afterwards Anne headed home and Lauren and I headed to the mall to meet Willow. We walked around, window shopped, ate some noodles, and got cinnabuns. Yum! Then it was time to head home for an early morning.

Saturday morning Willow and I headed off to Otavalo (shopping!). It was my 3rd time and her 2nd, she was looking for more gifts and I was looking for anything that caught my eye. The other SNC girls were off to climb a volcano and hiking and I are just not best friends, shopping sounded better. So after spending my life savings, sorry mom, we headed home. That night I was fortunate enough to snag the TV and couch/bed upstairs and I enjoyed myself some Princess and the Frog and fell asleep to The Avengers (wonder who I get it from, mom).

Sunday I skyped everyone on the face of the earth. Ben about three times, mom, mom with many other family members, and even a Piggly Wiggly friend Shayna. It was nice to see some familiar faces and kept me busy on the very rainy and hailing day. After all it is the rainy season now and it has rained everyday for about a week now, no we aren't floating away...yet.

Today was just another Monday, presentations, talking about confusing stories, eating at American restaurants, the usual. I've got another 25 days here and it's going crazy fast. I've got one for sure trip planned and hopefully I'll get to go to the beach one more time too. Finals are coming up soon too!    

A weekend of slumber

Well this weekend was one spent in Quito again. I am quit sick of packing overnight bags, over stuffing my backpack, having to lug it around, and then unpacking usually wet, dirty clothes. So, because of this, I've been staying home.

Friday after school I went to lunch at this amazing pizza place with Willow, Anne, and Lauren, and proceeded to spend the rest of the weekend with them. After pizza we of course went and got some ice cream, nothing better than chocolate and peanut butter. Then we got our toes done, mine are now hunter safety orange, I love it! We went and bought some more movies, I got the Avengers, Lincoln, and The Princess and the Frog. Ready to watch them with me Ben? I hope so. We also registered for classes for the fall at SNC and we all got what we wanted! As we should, being seniors and all. The night was spent eating the 2 packages of oreos and popcorn we bought on our daily stop at Supermaxi earlier and watching the ever great movies Bridesmaids and Crazy Stupid Love. Then it was bedtime.

In the morning we ate a delicious simple breakfast left out by my host mom, stopped at our favorite store to replace my broken sunglasses and a "lost" belt ($10 total), then headed off to meet some friends and drive to Papallacta hot springs. On the way there DJ Willster filled the car with American music and voices belting, something I miss a lot here since I have to ride the bus all the time. Once we arrived we found a hot springs and soaked in the naturally heated water b

y the volcano and hid from the cold mountain air. After playing some games with the super cold bath and super cold bath we took some time to talk and realize that the water we were sitting in was filled with floating hair and dead skin from other people. So the best bet was not to look or think about this "clean" water. After soaking for a few hours we headed back to Quito and stopped at a pizza place to eat. The girls (7 of us) must have been super hungry because the room was filled with constant laughter because everything seemed funny. We ordered 2 huge pizzas and 2 huge containers of Sprite and went at it. Then since the girls had to leave a bunch of stuff at my house to have lighter bags for the day trip we all went back to my house, decided that it was already late and that we still had movies to watch so everyone again spent the night in my mansion. Or so I've been told. Since my host sister decided to hog the TV all night we just ate the rest of our snacks and talked. In the morning we ate another great breakfast and then finally got to watch the movie we wanted and then it was time to go home and get some homework done.

As this week closes and the next begins we realized that we have 3 weeks of classes left and one week of finals and then we are out of here. I'm extremely excited and extremely scared and I anticipate these emotions both to rise to the extreme but every day I've reminded myself to take it one day at a time. Tomorrow marks the 100th day of living here, hard to believe that. And it also marks the one month count down. As the days drag and speed on I realize that sometime in the future I'll have to come back.      

A Quito a Quito!

Well this weekend we all chilled around the fabulous Quito. Thursday I had 2 tests and a quiz so naturally Friday after class was spent rewarding myself for getting through the week. I went to a salon near Anne's house and we each got our nails and for only $3, so we might (most def.) will be back. After that we trecked over to my house and on the way stopped at a store kinda like Macy's only smaller and cheaper. I bought a purse that I've been eyeing since the first month and also a coin purse to match so that my camera could have its' case back that I had been using as a wristlet. Friday night Anne, Willow, Lauren, and I went to a Western restaurant for pizza in celebration of one of our Ecuadorean friends birthday. Naturally we were late and felt really bad for being late on her birthday, only to realize that she too, and the rest of the gang, were running behind. We like to call it the "Ecuadorean hour", where all Ecuadorians are late, basically no matter what and it's ok... according to them. The pizza was great and so was the company but we all headed home around 9 because of the draining week at school.

On Saturday Shanna, Lydia, Anne, and I spent the day being tourists, jokes on you, we've been here 3 months! We took a double-decker bus tour (like those in London) and toured the city like we had no clue what anything was. There were 12 stops on the bus and we had the chance to get off at any of the stops we'd like, but we'd have to wait another hour for the next bus to pick us up. So the first stop we got off at was the basilica. This was an amazing sight to see with all the Gothic-Roman architecture spread across the building. After taking in the view of the second floor, and lots of pictures, the hike to the top was on. We got to the gift shop about 3/4 of the way up just fine but when we exited the shop we saw a long wooden bridge to a flight of stairs that was basically a ladder going straight up. The stairs were tiny and the only thing you could do was look where you were grabbing. After this we had 2 more of these stairs/ladder type things to climb only outside the building with wind and sun to knock you right off onto the cement below, very far below. I never have been too fond of heights but this made me realize how much I don't like them. After being coached with some encouraging words from my friend Lydia below I made it to the top, even if I wanted to give up about 100 times. The view from the top was amazing, we could see Quito as far as the eye could see, we never really realized how big the city was. After this we hurried down in fear of missing our bus, and for me just in fear. We rode the bus to the Virgin watching over the city and look lots of pictures again and then headed back to where we got picked up. This was a well worth it trip and a great way to spend out Saturday.

Sunday was my first futbol (soccer) game in Ecuador! We went to La Liga (our team) VS. Barcelona, a team from the South of Ecuador. This rivalry was huge, so huge that the two teams had to buy tickets at completely separate locations, sit in sections where we couldn't even see each other, enter at opposite sides of the stadium, and police officers were EVERYWHERE. On the way in Lauren and I had to basically throw our belts away because they could be used as weapons. We were told that we could get them back later, but we threw them into a huge bag with 60 million other belts got a sticker that matched one on our belt and walked away never to see them again. After the game we asked about them and the people we were with said it's very hard to find them again, so without looking we walked to our car. To say the least I was not happy and now my pants will be falling down for the next month. The excitement for the game was constant and people were always cheering and singing. La Liga finally did make a goal, the stadium went crazy and Lauren, Anne, and I got knocked over by crazy fans. In the end it was a super cool experience and La Liga did win, thank heavens in favor of our safety. Exiting the stadium was chaos, being pushed and squeezed, and watching the Barcelona fans be caged off until we all left, we couldn't even leave at the same time. We were told that before all these precautions were put into place for these 2 crazy sides lots of people got hurt and there were lots of problems.

The rest of today will be spent doing some homework and getting ready for another week.