Best day EVER!!!

Okay, I'm missing my last two weekends but I will come back to them.  I have to tell you about today!  So, it started around 6:20am when I got up and threw on running tights, leggings, sweatpants, t-shirt, and a long sleeve shirt with two jackets, gloves and scarf in a bag!  I was beginning my journey to Cotopaxi (one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world)! The beginning of the trip wasn't all that interesting.  We met the others on our tour (I went with Michelle and Mridula from school) and headed for breakfast.  After that we bought chocolate (to help with the altitude...wonderful excuse!) then we drove to the parking lot of the mountain.  Honest.y at this point I wasn't feeling too great.  Those of you who know me know that carsickness is an often occurrence for me and here were winding up a mountain. I wasn't feeling up to a hike at that point but I couldn't turn back so onward I went.  Our hike started at 4200 meters above sea level (13,776 ft).  At this point there is already bits of snow and the wind was FIERCE! Most of our track was in loose gravel bits with snow here and there.  Our first hike was only 300 meters (984ft) but it took us a good hour and a half maybe? That ought to tell you something! I had to go a bit slow bc I was already feeling sick and the altitude was taking effect. I felt quite dizzy for those first 300 meters so I stopped frequently to take deep breath sand press on.  The majority of the time you couldn't see much other than a bit around you but then all of a sudden you'd catch a spot where the clouds moved and my word the view was incredible!  Breathtaking (literally ;) ! And then about 30 seconds later it was covered in cloud again! My face was being pinged with snow but my legs were working so hard they were hot.  The sensation was crazy. We lost a few of our group on the way up to the Refugio (no worries, no one died they just became sick or had seen enough and went back to wait in the van).  I felt incredible once we reached this point bc I really wasn't sure if I could make it.  Here we had a chance to warm up a bit with some hot chocolate and snacks.  Then after a bit a few of us decided we wanted more...

So there was 6 of us that decided to go the next 500 meters to reach the glacier of the volcano. By this time I was feeling MUCH better physically.  The trick at this point was watching your steps.  I only had my normal tennis shoes...not the snow boots I needed!  So there were definitely a few times that had our guide not taken my hand...I'm not sure I'd be writing you right now.  But all went well.  Our goal (of the group) was to make it to the 5000 meter mark which would have been a record for all of us and WE DID IT!!!  The last 15 meters were by far the hardest/scariest for me bc my shoes were not gripping to the ice/snow but again thanks to Pedro, our guide, I made it!  You can't imagine the view.  It was beautiful beyond words.  Of course I have tons of pictures but even then, they don't do it justice!  I'm telling you at this point I could barely talk solely bc I was so taken aback by it all. 1- I had just hiked up a snowy mountain without the right gear and reached an altitude of 5000 meters (16,400ft).  2-the view was unbelievable and 3- I was just so stinking proud of myself!  I felt like I could conquer the world...or at least another volcano!  And this wasn't even the highlight.  The best part about it all was going down...there was no easy way to get down...it was all ice and snow on a steep hill so what was the best way to go back? By sledding on our butts of course!  SOOOOO AMAZING!  We only went about 30 meters or so maybe but that was one of the funniest 20 seconds of my life.  We all ended up in a big dog pile at the end and we could literally do nothing but LAUGH!  It was such a moment filled with JOY and ACCOMPLISHMENT! The unfortunate side to that was the other folk were prepared with their waterproof hiking pants and I was not!  Needless to say, I went the rest of the day with a real wet backside! But totally worth it. So, from here we hiked back down to the parking area (going down was so much faster but quite a bit scarier bc you had no grip whatsoever).  Once we arrived to the van we geared up with helmets and jumped on bikes to continue our journey down the mountain.  This was actually quite scary to me.  We were riding down the winding roads that made me sick on the way up. The road is wet gravel basically and it's all steep downhill.  I LITERALLY was squeezing the break as hard as my hand would allow and I was still going almost faster than I felt comfortable going.  Praise God I didn't have any accident bc it wouldn't have ended well.  There were a few times I started to lose control but I was able to remain calm and gain back control.  Definitely an experience.  I originally didn't want to do the bikes but my friend did so I gave in.  Glad I did! 

And the day isn't over.  The last delight was on our way to eat. We loaded the bikes and continued the rest of the way in van.  Along the way we saw a rainbow.  Now most of you may be like 'whoopty doo, everyone has seen a rainbow' but NO!  Not like this one.  First of all the colors were brilliantly colorful and the best thing was the rainbow was on the ground right in front of us!  We saw the end on both sides...right there!!!!  It was the PERFECT ending to the PERFECT day!  I can't wait to upload the pictures but until then, here are some pictures of my pictures...

At 5000 meters!

At the bottom of the glacier...

Dog pile after sliding down the glacier!  

How I kept warm, part of our hike, and approaching the glacier!  

Honestly this week has been amazing and this was the the best way to end the week! 

Other highlights from the week...Wed i went to a language exchange and met new people and practiced my spanish- after that we celebrated Ladies Night by went dancing with some folk from school.  Thursday I went to a soccer match with my professor and then hit up salsa dancing that night.  Friday I had coffee with a local to practice my Spanish and was practically proposed too...part of the culture I haven't quite gotten used to yet.  After that we had another incredible night of dancing with a different group from school.  Saturday was nice and chill- got some souvenir shopping done and was able to rest up for today's adventure!  

I've got one week left and I plan on enjoying every second of it!  Believe I was born to travel! Lovin this!

Jungle Fever

Good news everyone!  Since I'm writing this it means I did not get eaten by an anaconda or cayman while living in the jungle!  Hooray! Let me first start by saying the jungle was AWESOME!!! We took an overnight bus (8 hours of not good sleep) to meet our jungle guide.  From there we had another 2 hour bus ride to get to the river.  And then we had a 2 hour motor boat trip down the cuyabeno river! I will admit that I was a nervous wreck on that dang motorboat! Every time we turned I thought for sure we were gonna tip and I would fall in and be eaten by some crazy exotic animal.  It took my friend Michelle talking me through it and about 30 minutes before I finally was able to relax and trust our motorist! The cool part was when we stopped to see some squirrel monkeys crossing the river by jumping from tree to tree...above our heads!  Soooo cool! We saw several monkey species, birds, and an anaconda (but it was a small one and it was cuddled up in a branch so there was no danger...unfortunately!) we arrived at our lodge in time for lunch and then we headed out to swim in the lagoon and take a nature walk.  Swimming was freaky bc the water is literally black.  You can't see a thing! But it was so refreshing! Afterwards we did a night walk to look for insects and such.  Mind you, it was pitch black by this time so all we had were flashlights.  We saw lots of insects and spiders! The guides are amazing at what they can spot.  So many of the creatures have such incredible camouflage that to any of us they were impossible to see but our guide was all over it!  We then had a moment where we turned off all our flashlights and just stood in the dark...wow.  I could never survive in the jungle.  We couldn't see a thing!  Talk about creepy! After that we headed back in to our lodge for dinner.  Our lodge 'supposedly' didn't have electricity (but we think they were hiding it) so everything was lit by candlelight. Two of the guides invited Mridula and I out in a boat to star gaze.  This was by far a highlight! The sky was FULL of stars...more than I've ever seen before! There were two hearts being formed which was cool and we saw a few other designs! 

Some of our other adventures consisted of another nature walk to identify plants that are used as natural medicines for the indigenous people living in the jungle.  We got to swing on some crazy tree vines like Tarzan and we saw some other animals/insects.  We also got to see some dolphins.  We really only saw the top of their heads but it was still pretty cool! We took one night to search for caymans.  There was one that basically lived under our lodge but then we were able to find another one out in the wild! Our next day was cool bc we got to spend time in an indigenous community.  The bad thing about this day was it rained the entire 1.5 hours in bus and even though we had rain ponchos, they were completely water proof so I was a bit damp to say the least.  In the community we had one lady who 'hosted us.' With her we went and picked Yuca (a potato like veggie) and then watched the process of how they make yuca tortillas all from hand!  The process is quite incredible and time consuming.  We only made about 5 tortillas(they were huge) but normally she does about 100 at a time and it will last them about a month.  Once I get pictures uploaded you can see the process there. I could say a lot about this experience but I'm running a bit long as it is so if you're curious, just ask and I'll tell you more on how they live.  

After time in the community we went and visited a Shaman (a healer of sorts). This is also quite an interesting part to their culture.  Basically the Shaman heals the people by either a 'spiritual cleansing' of song and ritual dance or he prescribes some medicine that can be found in the jungle.  The interesting part is that in order to do either of these, the Shaman drinks a hallucinogen so he can 'see into their spirits/body'. He does this about 3-4 times a week.  Anyone who wants to be a Shaman can try...it takes about 20 years in all.  They start their training around age 12. Basically through out time if they can drink the drug and 'control' its effects, they earn the title.  

Our last morning started super early with bird watching before breakfast.  Then we packed up and headed back.  There were definitely tarantulas living on the ceilings of our huts, big ones at that!  But they never bothered anyone.  We slept in mosquito nets but it was more to protect us from the spiders, frogs and whatever else that could have landed on us!  I actually slept pretty great every night in spite of the potential death by tarantula! ;) 

Overall, the experience was incredible!  So glad I had the chance to go.  I was hoping to see a few more cayman and a monster anaconda but it wasn't in the cards this time around!  Pictures to come once I've arrived back to the states! 

Thanks for tuning in! 

Altitude makes a difference!

Hey everyone!  I thought I'd fill ya in on the past week.  Last weekend was incredible! The fun started Friday night.  We set out to go salsa dancing with a family friend (of my host family) and a brother.  We were under the impression that these fellas could dance.  So we walk around a while looking for a good place and don't have much luck.  This was our clue that maybe they didn't do this too often.  So we finally decide on a place and quickly learn that not one of the 4 guys that was with us could dance. I give credit to Pablo (oldest and shortest of them all) because he was moving the entire time...I'm just not sure you could call what he was doing dancing!  When it came to salsa...whew...he was a chicken with his head cut off.  I totally loved his enthusiasm and passion and the fact that he was having fun; contrary to the fact that the others were just standing around.  So after a bit we kindly ditched them and went off on our own.  Due to the long night, Saturday was a day of rest!  I claimed a me day and it was perfect! I was pretty lazy u til noon.  I then headed to a nearby park area and was able to worship a bit and take a nap outside.  The weather was perfect...until the sky became dark and I trout I better pack up.  So I ended up in a little cafe, had myself a sandwich as I studied some Spanish! Came home, watched a movie, ate dinner, and then some of the girls in my house and I had a little pow wow of chit chat and such!  It was great!  

Sunday started off fantastic as well. We ate our usual breakfast of eggs and bread and then Michelle, Mridula and I started our journey to the teleferico (gondola). The teleferico takes you up a mountain to about 4250 meters above sea level! Then beyond that is an optional 3 hour hike (one way) to another mountain.  Well, I hate to report we did not make it all the way to the top but we hiked for about 2 hours.  We were quite content with the place we reached.  It was incredible how the altitude really effects your endurance.  There were times when we had to stop every 3 minutes to catch our breath just because our lungs felt like they were collapsing (due to the altitude...and maybe a bit due to the fact that we are out of shape but mostly the altitude ! ) the views were definitely worth the pain and suffering! We were able to see most of Quito- including Cotopaxi...a snow covered volcano! The way down was a bit more dangerous than the way up since our trail was steep and made of loose dirt.  There were several close calls where one of us slipped and the others gasped in hope all was well.  Luckily- no injuries for us! By the time we made it back home, we were filthy and exhausted! We were in for the night. 

Monday after classes a couple of us went to the museum of Guayasamin (Ecuadorian artist). Part of the museum was his house...SOOO cool.  He died in 99 but they have preserved his house wonderfully.  His house is full of work from other artists that were either gifts or purchases.  They have even kept his clothes in his closet! The house was absolutely amazing,  we saw the studio where he used to paint.  He also sculpted, designed, and many more talents.  A lot of his work captured pain and suffering of those he visited in other countries or the suffering he himself experienced as a kid.  The whole experience was super cool! Plus the tour was in Spanish so it was good practice! 

Tuesday was nothing special that I recall.

Wednesday was ridiculously horrible in terms of Spanish!  I was on the verge of explosion the entire 4 hours of class.  It was a combination of being tired and being overloaded!  For this of you who have learned Spanish- I'm studying the imperfect subjunctive formation and my oh my am I confused!  So, Wed afternoon I had chocolate therapy and Wed night I had dancing therapy! Sure enough, Thursday and Friday went much better! Tonight we are playing it it kinda chill.  Tomorrow is Independence Day for Ecuador so we have lots of activities todo tomorrow-concerts, museums, etc. all for free!  And here is the exciting part...I'm taking a week off from classes and going to...

THE JUNGLE!!!  I will be spending 4 days and 3 nights in the Amazon.  It has been forecasted that I will see caymans, anacondas, tarantulas (bigger than my hands), monkeys and much more!  Please pray for my safety!  I am so very excited! So, my next update will be about my crazy jungle experience!  Stay tuned...

Birthday bust but back on my feet!

Well, I thought I was getting better at this blogging thing but it seems as if I've dropped the ball for the last 2 weeks.  Allow me to catch you up...

The day of my last post happened to be my ecuadorian moms birthday.  To celebrate, all of us in the house went in on flowers, balloons and cake.  Well here in Latin America you just can't find your typical birthday cake.  So the cake we ate ended up being two layers; bottom layer was a really dry white 'cake' and on top of it was a weird (nice way of saying disgusting) gelatin substance.  Of course we all ate it out of obligation but no one liked it!  The next thing I knew, Monday morning (my birthday) I had stomach pain so bad that my body was involuntarily resorting to the fetal position!  I was in bed for the following 2 days!  I can't guarantee it was the cake but that's where I'm placing blame! So, due to that random stint of illness the week wasn't so productive.  However, good news is I finished the Intermediate level of Spanish!  To celebrate my professor took me around town on Friday and showed me good places to eat, shop, walk, etc.  it was a fun last day with Isabel (my teacher).  Friday night there was a decent group of us from school that decided to go out.  We were celebrating my birthday and the last weekend of two of our fellow students!  It was a night full of dancing! 

Since Friday night ran late (230 am) Saturday morning was nothing but rest in bed! Once we finally gained the energy to get out of the house, I went with a roommate and classmate to see the Basilica.  The Basilica is about 150 years old and its incredible!  The craziest thing is that it took approx 450 years to construct...and it's not even finished. You can climb to the tower and get a great view of the city but you have to have enough courage to climb the metal rod 'stairs'. But the view was worth the life threatening trek it took to see it! 

Sunday was quite a fun day for me!  I have an interesting connection here in Quito.  I went to college with a girl whose parents actually work at the Nazarene Seminary here!  And - those of you who know Judy Blair, her daughters husband is the son of this same couple! So, thanks to Judy, I was connected with them and went to church on Sunday.  It was a quaint little service (in Spanish).  We then went to a fantastic steakhouse for lunch! It was great to meet such a caring couple!  Carolyn (the wife) is a nurse so she's a good connection to have here! I'm looking forward to connecting with them again before I leave! 

This week in school has bee pen AMAZING!!!  I got a new teacher and I absolutely love her!  Her name is Estefania. She makes me talk the entire time which is very different than my last teacher.  I think I may stick with her for the rest of my time here! 

It's week has been good.  Monday I was able to go to a museum with some friends and we also saw a church where practically the entire I side is painted with gold leaf!  Unbelievable, really!  I was not allowed to take photos but I did buy a postcard.  It doesn't do it justice but its the only option!  Wednesday several of us went out dancing again and we had a blast!  Met some locals from the website couchsurfing so that was great!  Hopefully I'll continue meeting people so I can practice my Spanish! This weekend is a bit up in the air but I'll keep you posted!  

Thanks for waiting patiently for this post!  I'm missing home and can't wait to return yet I'm enjoying every second I'm here!  

Goodnight! 

Fui al Mitad del Mundo!

Good news?! Ecuador is getting better every day! These last few days have been exciting and quite fun...a bit lacking in Spanish but entertaining none the less.  Thursday at school we had 'activity day' where we took an hour making ceviche and sharing it with others and then we spent an hour doing a Zumba class (taught by one of the students!). For the ceviche, all the students were divided into three groups.  Each group made a different type of ceviche: 1-cevi(chocho) which is made with Lima bean type things, very popular here, 2- cevi(pollo) which was my group and we used chicken, and 3- cevi(camarones) which had shrimp.  Being completely unbiased, our groups tasted the best! ;). What I found interesting was that we used orange juice/soda and ketchup in our ceviche.  This may be normal but it seemed strange to me. Overall it was a fun activity! 

Friday afternoon several students and I went to 'old town' for some giant empanadas.  And when I say giant, I mean GiGaNtIc!!!  I would say they were the size of 7 hands.  Now, they were just  sugar empanadas with a bit of ricotta type cheese in them, but they were tasty...and HUGE!  We also tried some of the local liquor which is a cinnamon based hot liquor.  We had a blackberry flavor which was quite delicious! (No worries everyone, portions were small-no one was actin a fool) hehe. We continued to just walk around the area which was a bit touristy but nice.  We settled in a little cafe for coffee and then called it a night.  It was very quaint and refreshing! 

Saturday I was a super tourist as I walked on the equator line!!! Tis was really quite cool.  I was thinking while taking my many Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world) poses how amazing it was that I was there.  Had you asked me 10, 5, or even 1 year ago if I ever thought I would go to the equator, I would have given you a crazy face...but there I was! I am so thankful for the opportunities I've had in my short (almost) 27 years of life!  Anyway, we went to a museum while we were there which had several experiments that 'proved' we were on the real line.  I'm still not sure if they were real or rigged but either way, they were cool.  I was able to balance a raw egg on the head of a nail, I watched water swirl in opposite directions in the two different hemispheres, and was unable to balance due to the forces pulling me from both the north and the south.  (Pictures/video will be posted upon my return to the states). It was quite the fun filled day! And to top it off, me a few others went out dancing that night! I had a blast and fell a little more in love with this city!  

Today I was able to relax at home for a bit before venturing out to a mercado of artisan goodies! I didn't buy anything but got a lot of good ideas for gifts!  Yeah!  Today is also my Ecuadorian mothers birthday so the other girls in the house and I planned a little party.  We had balloons, cake, and flowers for her after dinner! I think she really enjoyed it!  

Anyway- that's the latest with me.  I'm heading into week 2 of classes.  I didn't switch teachers bc frankly I feel bad and the school automatically switches after 2 weeks so I figure ill be patient.  I did make some recommendations to my teacher though, so hopefully she'll take them to heart and change my class a bit!  Here's to hoping! 

I'll keep you posted on the days to come. Miss you all! 

Is it September yet?

So, I'm half way into my 3rd day in Quito.  I must admit, it has been a rough few days. Monday I practically was on the verge of tears all day long and at some points I couldn't hold them in.  I attributed this to the lack of sleep and the immediate start of 4 hours of intensive Spanish class. However, my third day isn't much better.  Granted I am controlling the tears a bit more but they're still there.  Why? I'm really not sure.  I do miss home (wish I could be in Mexico with my parents right now). Also, I'm not adjusted to the teaching method in the school.  We don't use books so its hard to practice the things I'm learning.  Also, my teacher talks a ton! Which is good and all for my understanding, but my biggest deficiency in Spanish is speaking, not listening! Now, contrary to popular belief, I don't have much to say most of the time, which makes it hard to practice speaking BUT this morning I was really excited to explain the dream I had.  So, I started class with that and it went well, however after, my professor shared a dream she had once...which took over 30 minutes!! (I may be exaggerating a bit but it felt like forever!) I kept trying to give signals that I was ready to get to the class material, but she kept talking...grrrr.  Also, I feel that when I make mistakes, she laughs at me! NOT a recommended gesture for a teacher! Another thing that makes me anxious to be home is the fact that I will be eating the EXACT same breakfast for the next 8 weeks...and I mean the exact same: 2 scrambled eggs, bread, coffee, and a blended fruit drink.  EVERY MORNING!  I will not want to eat eggs in a very long time! Anyways I am going to start focusing on the positive things bc otherwise these 8 weeks will be miserable! So, tonight there is a group from the school gong out - Ladies Night is what I hear.  Tomorrow, part of our class time will be used for making ceviche! Also, tomorrow night there are Salsa lessons and then time for dancing! Also, I'm hoping to do some sight seeing over the weekend! If things don't get better (Spanish included) I maybe wrapping up here earlier than I planned.  So please keep me in your prayers that I begin to enjoy my time here, I will learn a ton, and that my breakfast changes! :) thanks everyone! 

#2 was my #1!

Yesterday I did not post bc my roommates and I stayed up late watching a movie, so I didn't have my ritual blog before bed moment.  Yesterday was rather uneventful.  We did start the day off swell with real Crepes! I had a mozzarella/tomato/pesto crepe and a Nutella/banana crepe! Both were superb! Afterwards we traipsed off to the Gold Museum.  The museum was actually quite big...7 levels.  Unfortunately I was super tired so I didn't spend too much time reading all the explanations and history of it all.  I feel once I've seen one gold museum, I've seen them all (I don't mean to be insensitive to the different cultures and tribes...I'm just not into the history stuff!). We still spent a couple hours there, or so it felt, so I went back to the hostel and had a nice long nap! Then of course we got up and went to eat.  At the restaurant, there was a movie playing, Inside Man, so we all had the genius idea to watch it once we returned tour room.  My three roommates all have Netflix so we watched it from there. Chelsea and I snuggled up in one of our beds while we all watched the same movie on all our own devices...a little comical. Anyway, that leads to today. We didn't really have plans today-other than souvenir shopping! However it turned it to be a phenomenal day! Sunday is the day to be outside in Bogota! There we people everywhere! There were people on bikes, roller blades, walking; tons of dogs and kids...the weather was outstanding and we fund some decent artisan items! But he comes the best part of my day...as we were walking along, observing the various activities taking place (juggling acts, ppl singing, costumed creatures , etc..we came across a guinnea pig race! There were 6 pigs lined up and about 14 construction hats (with openings cut out) sitting at the other end.  It took us a minute to realize what was happening but basically you were to place money on the hat you thought the pig would run into.  So, in hopes to just get rid of the last Colombian coin I had, I placed 500pesos (around 25 cents) on hat #2.  Totally thinking I just wanted to see these creatures run...no expectation of winning...BUT I DID!  The first little pig he chose sprinted straight into hat #2! I totally freaked!  Could not believe it!  So, I got my 500 pesos back in addition to an extra 1900 pesos!  Woohoo!  I was on a high for lithe rest of the day!  I can see how people get addicted to gambling! Wow! But I was on cloud nine for most of the day after that!  Once I calmed down and the rest of us finished shopping we headed back home.  Chelsea and I snuggled up for another Netflix movie while the other girls slept.  After our ip movie we both slept for about an hour.  Then it was time to eat again before I hopped in a taxi to start the next leg of my journey! Our hostel hostess pointed out to us that all we did was sleep, get up and eat, come back for rest, then went out again to eat ...every day, same routine.  Oops! Hahaha. But we enjoyed every bit!  I was sad to say goodbye to my travel partners but I'm sure we will meet again! For now, it's time I get focused and learn me some Spanish!  Here it is almost 1 in the morning and I have to start school in the morning...yikes! Better get to bed! Night!