Why sometimes, I've dreamed up 6 impossible things before breakfast

Six impossible things before breakfast.  

That takes a lot of thought every day, but one thing is for sure--I have yet to have met a stranger since I have been here in Ecuador.  Those of you who know me know how much I love people.  It's refreshing to be surrounded by so many people with the same wanderlust as myself.

Once again, I'm in back in Quito.  Oh the wonderful world of the city.  Lolz, not.  Okay don't get me wrong, I like Quito, but it's tough to spend 5 days on the coast and willingly drag yourself back to a city full of nothing but buses, public transit, ladrones (robbers), and smog.  I'm happy to be back with my host family and her wonderful meals all the time, but other than that...well, take me back to the coast already.

The adventure started over a week ago when I was scrambling around to find a bus ticket.  Carnival is busy and everyone is traveling, so tickets sell out fast and they don't have more buses running just because it's a holiday.  Nonetheless, I got up early last Wednesday so that I could go to the office of the bus company in northern Quito.  A short cab ride from where I stay, it wasn't too bad.  I was dressed nice because I had a meeting at the embassy afterwards, but I was planning on taking the bus.  When I came out from my room for breakfast, my host mom immediately said "Por favor, no lleva eso a la oficina del bus; la oficina es en un parte de Quito que es más peligrosa de aqui." In other words, please don't wear that to the bus office, it's in a part of Quito that is more dangerous than here. Needless to say, I took a taxi instead.  My driver took me to the office where I was told they were sold out of tickets for Thursday night through Sunday morning.  Well how in the world was I supposed to get to Puerto Lopez?!  I had reservations for Friday night until Tuesday morning and now I was about to be there for MAYBE one night max.  Obviously in panic and slowly cursing under my breath in Spanish all the way back into the cab, my driver was trying to calm me down.  Tranquila, mija!  Calm down, baby!  So he took me to another bus office.  This one was even more intimidating than the last, but turns out they didn't have any either.  My only option was to go to Quitumbe, in the southern part of Quito and about 45 mins to an hour away.  Taxis are cheap here but I didn't have the time.  Still panicking in the backseat, my driver is hammering me with questions about when my meeting is and I'm just trying to cry by myself or something.  Long story short (not really that short) he's nice enough to accept a copy of my passport and drive all the way to Quitumbe to purchase a ticket for me!  He called me about an hour after I left my meeting at the embassy and told me he had my ticket and met me back at my apartment.  It's a beautiful thing.

Happy to have met a few awesome people at the embassy in Quito and to have a bus ticket, my Wednesday went pretty well last week. 

Thursday rolled around and I had class, so went to school, came home directly after and packed up to prepare for my trip, and took a taxi to Quitumbe.  Since my ticket was bought alone, I had to travel alone.  Which is fine!  But nerve-wracking all the same.  The taxi ride is kind of lengthy with a little bit of traffic so it was about 45 minutes there.  My taxi driver asked all kinds of questions.  I keep getting asked if I have a boyfriend and if my boyfriend is the one who taught me Spanish, which is kind of funny all the same.  Anyway, I got to Quitumbe and after wandering around a while, I met a nice boy named Milton in the bus station and he helped me find my way to my bus.  Milton, if you're reading this, I owe you one!  I ended up next to a really wonderful lady on my bus too who knew quite a bit about the coast.  A VERY long, humid, ten hour bus ride to Puerto Lopez, but I made it.  Upon arrival, everyone except me seemed to have a place to go.  Did I mention it was 5 AM when I got to Puerto Lopez? And still dark outside?  Clutching my things, a little Ecuadorean man named Don Maca approached me.  HOLA, GRINGITA!  What are you doing for your holiday here?  Who are you waiting on?  Want to go to Isla de la Plata??!?!  At five AM, the only Spanish words I felt I could muster were SALE.  Sale, go away.  Nonetheless, he provided some entertainment til my friends got there about 45 minutes later.  We paid a $10 down payment to go to Isla de la Plata for the following day.  Most of Friday we spent wandering around the beach, lounging in the hammocks, and relaxing and settling in.  We headed that night to Galvan's.  Galvan is the husband of Sandra, who runs the hostel that we stayed in.  The man can cook and ALL of the fish was amazing and fresh.  Needless to say, Friday night was a blast.  We met a couple of guys from the Outer Banks, NC and they showed us around a little bit.  

Saturday started early with la Isla de la Plata--also known as the Poor Man's Galapagos.  DEFINITELY worth the $40 trip to get out there but boy was it hot.  With no shade.  And only a slight breeze.  Nonetheless, we happened onto some blue footed boobies and sea turtles.  Hot, exhausted, and sunburned, we wandered down to Galvan's for dinner again.  Basically raw tuna/flash seared, SO good though.  Then we enjoyed some black marlin.  Never heard of it but wow.  You wouldn't believe how good it is.  Also a wonderful thing?  Pilsener is a dollar and Ecuadorean rum is $8 a bottle.  2 liters of diet coke? $1.50.  Bonding with others from our hostel, we also met a random fairly timid man from Playa Ayampe as well.  Roberto.  He was entertained by Laura and I, hahaha.  We left Galvan's around 12:30 AM and headed in to sleep.  We woke up late the next morning and hit the beach, where we also enjoyed those frozen coconuts.  In case you were wondering, those are ONLY frozen coconuts.  They pull them out of the freezer, use a machete to hack off the top and carve a small hole, and then stick a straw in it.  Hydrating nonetheless.  We headed back up and showered, only to realize how sunburnt we were from la Isla de la Plata.  Exhausted and sunburnt, we took a nap and headed back down to Galvan's.  More seafood. No complaints from me.  Fresh as usual.  But no drinking that night, absolutely exhausted and chugging water from the morning til we went to bed at about 10 PM, Laura and I were sufficiently hydrated come Monday morning.  We decided to stay out of the sun so we hammocked all day and enjoyed the people we were surrounded by while Sandra taught us how to make Colombian arepas (best things in the world).  Returning to Galvan's for our final night, we enjoyed yet another great meal and met even more people.  Sufficiently happy, induced by a little bit of Pilsener and rum (how else would it be on the beach?) we returned to the hostel with Jeff and Ben (Outer Banks guys) and Graham (random tall surfer from New Hampshire who has a striking resemblance to Michael Phelps...) to find the hostel owner (also named Sandra) and Sandra (Galvan's wife) sitting on the porch by the reception desk with a few people.  Needless to say, Laura and I got the party started.  Bringing home some diet coke and Ron (the rum) we had the entire hostel sitting on the porch, chatting it up and enjoying each other's company.  Belen and Andrea were my favorites; they are from Guayaquil and so great.  Then Matias from Argentina of course.  Others started showing up from surrounding hostels and I quickly realized how thankful I was to be somewhere as wonderful and open as that.  Galvan returned to a party on the porch after he finally got his restaurant cleaned up, only to continue to drink and be merry with everyone else.

HAPPY CARNIVAL!  

Because there's no better way to spend it than with a bunch of travelers on a beach somewhere, right?

Laura and I dragged ourselves to bed around 4 that morning after venturing to the beach for a little bit and continuing to meet people.  Rolling out of bed around 9 AM the next morning, we were the first ones awake at the hostel aside from Galvan, who happily cooked us breakfast.  Slowly moving around to get packing Tuesday morning, our friends started to wake up.  A mixture of groans and "how are you feeling?" on the way to the water jug was the typical morning greeting.  Spending the day with our friends and meeting another new traveler, Paul (from Germany), Laura and I were sad to leave.  Dreading the ten hour bus ride, we sadly said our goodbyes and promised to return, maybe for la Semana Santa.  Galvan said goodbye and gave us purple agate as a thank you for being so great during the trip.  Ten hours on a sticky, humid bus back to Quito and we arrived around 4:30 to Quitumbe this morning.  Alas, we are back, but I miss the beach and our new friends already.  See you soon, Playa Ayampe.  Until then, school and more school and other things because there is a reality outside of studying abroad.  By the way, those of you that have been asking, I only have class twice a week!  I have a four day weekend every weekend to travel, so I have been taking full advantage.  Especially because hostels average only $10 a night here.

Enjoy the pictures and I'm sorry there aren't more to share!

I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.

-Alice in Wonderland

Less than 100 days

Less than 100 days left.  That's right.  Time is FLYING here.  Well, it feels like it passes slow but in reality, it's not.  I've done so much the past two weeks so I hope you all are patient enough to read through all of it.  Nothing has topped the Otavalo trip yet, but Mindo was fun.  Last week, I went to Mitad del Mundo with Laura and that was pretty cool but not something I think is a necessity when you come to Ecuador, especially if you only have a week or so here.

I guess I could start with the fact that I was offered a dream internship in Colombia for the summer, although it is unpaid.  Chances are I will try to look into it but I would really like something paid.  Then again, nothing can beat international experience, especially with a second language under my belt.

This weekend, I went to Mindo with my friends Bo and Kendall and we had a blast.  The bus ride there was interesting; the bus was pretty full so Bo and I had to sit in the little rumbler seat behind the driver. We made friends with the driver and his two friends; they wanted to go eat with us later that night but the restaurant we agreed to meet at in Mindo was closed.  Mindo is only about two or three blocks worth of a town--tiny and kind of a hippie town, with a number of world travelers passing through.  Friday we enjoyed dinner at Mindo Café, where I had fried shrimp.  To say I was in heaven would be an understatement.  We talked and had a blast and got everything in order while we ate, then went to a little shack across the street to buy some fresh fruit juice.  We walked back to our hostel, la Casa de Cecilia and decided to relax for a while.  Our rooms were semi open-air and really great. We were practically in a tree house all weekend with hammocks hanging out right outside of our doors in the open-air hang out area.  We were relaxing in the hammocks when one of the guys staying on our floor came upstairs--turns out his name is Damien and he's only 21, from Canada, but plans to travel the world.  He has seen all of Canada, the United States, and Central America so now he has moved onto South America.  This morning, he left our hostel at 6 AM to catch a bus to Colombia.  It's kind of sad to say bye to all the new people you meet on trips like this. 

Saturday morning, we all woke up and ate breakfast together, including our new Canadian friend. Fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, eggs, and lots of fresh bread.  Seriously breakfast was so good.  Afterwards, the girls and I got ready and went zip lining.  The most expensive thing we did all day, it was $20 for 10 lines but WELL worth it.  We made friends with the guides, go figure.  They helped us figure out what to do on the zip lines and what to do around Mindo for the rest of the day.  After leaving Eddy and Danilo, we hiked up to the waterfalls and took the tarabita across the way.  It was like being in a cable car on a zip line.  A little sketchy, but once we got to the other side, we began the long hike to the waterfall.  Although a very long, tiring hike, it was definitely worth it.  The waterfall was beautiful and although the swimming hole was not exactly a swimming hole (the tides were pretty strong) we were able to relax and cool off for a bit.  Afterwards, we hiked back and started to get to know one another a little bit more.  It's pretty cool what a hike in a foreign country can do for three girls who met only 3 weeks ago.  

After FINALLY finishing our hike and returning on the tarabita, we went and had almuerzo.  For only $5, I had a drink and a MASSIVE plate of what appeared to be shrimp fried rice.  It could have fed me for probably three days straight.  Afterwards, we tiredly walked back to our hostel and showered up, before relaxing for about half an hour, and going on a chocolate tour at Al Quetzal.  Mindo is actually famous for it's organic chocolate and my God, they have the BEST brownies in all of South America!  Apparently they have a store in Michigan too, so if any of you all are interested, definitely google Mindo chocolate in Michigan.  We toured the place to see how the cacao and other fruits were grown, processed (but not actually processed like American food, it's all organic), and handled before being put into the markets.  Seriously though you guys, these chocolate brownies were HEAVENLY.  Goodness.  Anyway, we returned to the hostel in a chocolate coma, waited about another hour and a half, then went to get dinner.  Cheap dinner once again, but as always, a ton of food.  Waddling our way back to the hostel, we met more travelers.  Although I didn't think it could get more interesting than Damien, we met an Australian named Luke who's traveling South America right now, two Germans--Fabian and Christina, who taught us how to play a card game called shit head, and then an Englishman named Tom.  We all sat around and played this game and laughed for a while.  Everyone somehow knew English, only making me feel even worse for only being bilingual.  Luke brought up a pretty cool fact while we were playing--that you tend to find like-minded people in hostels like that in the middle of South America.  Not many people choose to see Ecuador.  Anyway, Christina was sweet like all of the German exchange students my Aunt Nancy once had and Fabian was even more high energy than me.  Luke was one of the younger ones, about 22 so closer to mine and the girls' ages.  Anyway, after a few rounds of shit head, Fabian turned on his "space music" as he called it, and we just laid in the hammocks until everyone was pretty much asleep--so we all decided to turn in for the night.

The Germans left fairly early this morning, along with Damien, around six AM.  So we all said goodbye last night.  Pretty sad to say goodbye to them all, it was hard.  I'm not good with goodbye, just because I love people.  I added them all on Facebook because I think relationships with foreigners is one of the coolest things you can gain from being abroad.  Luke and Tom had breakfast with us though and we talked about Wales and Melbourne and how in the world we all ended up in the same hostel.  We got cleaned up and packed and from the hostel, Luke, the girls, and I all went back to Al Quetzal for one last taste of South America's best chocolate.  What a beautiful weekend full of beautiful people.  I'm biased and Luke was my favorite, but I like meeting people who are just down for whatever and as talkative and personable as I am.  The bus ride back to Quito was much easier--we actually had seats.  When we got back to Quito, we all said goodbye to Luke and went our separate ways.  Kendall and I meandered to McDonald's to grub before we returned to the world of nothing but soup and rice.  $5 for mcnuggets!  But they definitely aren't the same here.  We walked back through Parque Carolina to my place and Kendall took the Ecovia back to hers.  To say the weekend was successful would, yet again, be an understatement.  Those of you that know me know how much I enjoy meeting people, so you know that I enjoyed this weekend a ton.  Even funnier--we met a couple of Canadians on our hike back from the waterfall and one of them said "AH! I knew you were from the South, I could hear it in your voice!"  It's always funny to me when people tell me that because I have never felt like I had a thick accent.  Nonetheless, we all had a good laugh out of it.  So a weekend filled with adventures of zip lining through the cloud forest and tree tops and hiking to waterfalls and really really REALLY great people, I have yet to be able to complain about being in Ecuador.  Nonetheless, here are a few pictures and things from the past two weeks.  Enjoy!  And for those of you who have been asking, I finally have a real address for you all to send letters to, so just message me if you want the address!

Don't be dismayed by goodbyes.  A farewell is necessary before you can meet again.  And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

-Richard Bach