Cotopaxi

Well on Wednesday we didn't have class because of Labor day... SO what better to do than go shopping?! We headed out to the Quito market, basically a mini Otavalo, for the first time and got to see all the wonders that were "hand" made. There were a handful of booths doing tattoos and piercings... seems legit. And lot's of booths selling anything you could imagine. Since I had already been to Otavalo for gifts 3 times I didn't buy much. For lunch we went to the famous Foche, but on the way I found a $10 bill on the ground! Score! So lunch for me was free. After lunch it started raining, naturally, and we went back to the market for cover and more shopping. At the time to go home it was still raining and only Willow was smart and brought an umbrella so walking to the the bus station a few blocks away was especially...wet. She let me share with her so by the time we got to the station I was half drenched and half wet, sharing an umbrella is not as cute as they make it seem in the movies. We took the bus back to the closest stop to our house and by that time the rain had let up, until I starting walking home. As time went on it got heavier and heavier, being from the Dutch community, Cedar Grove, I was too cheap to pay the $1 taxi ride home so I walked, in the pouring rain. By the time I got home I was so wet that I had to change all my clothes, yes even my underwear, and dry off with towels. Not a single part of me was dry.

This Saturday we went to the active volcano Cotopaxi. Willow and I go to DJ the car ride there and back, singing at the top of our lungs for about 2 hours there and 2 hours back. The closer we got the higher we were, colder, and less oxygen there was. Even a few steps up-hill made you breath heavy. We drank some tea that was supposed to give us energy and help us from getting altitude sickness and it seemed to work. Lydia, Willow, Lauren, and I decided not to climb up to the check in point so as the others climbed we kept busy by taking pictures and seeing what we could find/get into trouble with. We danced down the mountain, found snow and had a mini snowball fight, Willow practiced using her mountain goat hooves (aka her feet), and we even scoped out a bathroom if needed. Eventually it got really foggy, then it rained, then hailed, we saw a fox, and then the blue skies came back with burning sun. While the weather was against us we sat in the car, ate everything in sight, and laughed about everything. We weren't sure why everything was so funny that day, either the tea, lack of oxygen, or maybe that hat Lauren got from a strange guy was drugged. Still not sure. Once the group made it back we had a picnic out of the back of the car and then headed to the lagoon on the way out. Driving home we stopped at a farm, saw cows...woo, alpacas, sheep, a goat, bunnies, some guinea pigs that would later be eaten (yeah they really do eat them here) and even some ducks and other bird-like animals. Whitney decided it would be a good idea to fall into the poop stream running through the farm and got poop-water on her shoe/pant leg, so then it was time to go home.

Considering finals are coming up this week I've spent all Sunday writing up notes. I wrote 20 pages of econ notes in about 8 hours and now it's time to study for my 2 finals tomorrow. I have 4 tests and a presentation left this semester and hopefully a trip to the beach, something things around Quito, and then I'm home!