Back it up...
Well, I have pretty much skipped over an entire month, and a few weeks… needless to say, I’m having a great time. I know I have SOME time on my hands, I’m just not sure what I have been doing with that time… Anyhow.. to get you up to speed.. a very short version of the missed month:
Antisana - The family of one of my students owns a hacienda in the highlands, about 30 to 45 minutes from Antisana Ecological Reserve. They invited me to their hacienda for a day. Antisana is a volcano that is located in the Northern Volcanic Zone of the Andes south east of Quito. It is part of a Condor reserve so I was able to see some Condors and the nests that they carve out of the side of mountainous rock. I was also forced to wear a real poncho and highland hat. The mother cooked some delicious food in and old wood burning oven and made everything from scratch.
Baños - This short summary can’t even come close to telling you how amazing my time in Baños was. It was Semana Santa (holy week) which gave us 4 days to enjoy Easter in style. Baños is a little bit of everything. It has volcanoes, waterfalls, and is only a short drive from the jungle. We stayed in an environmentally friendly hostel owned by a couple from Australia and New Zealand, they had fresh baked bread, fresh fruit and homemade granola for breakfast every morning. We went hiking, dancing and canyoning (repelling down waterfalls). It was amazing, and I wish I had more time and space to write all about our adventure.. but there is so much more to tell.
Molinuco - The school that I work for, loves doing these things called “Social Clubs”. Seems like it would be self explanatory, but usually these clubs are not very social at all. We organize these events with fun ideas and food and usually no one shows up.. however, Adry (aka. Carolina) organized a trip to Molinuco, a park with waterfalls and hiking trails. There weren’t tons of students there, but there were enough for a nice day in nature..
Tonsupa - After our amazing adventure in Baños, we had the travel bug. We had to get out of town.. so we headed to the beach. We hopped on a midnight bus to the beach. It was a little ridiculous to think that we would sleep on a 6 hour bus ride to the coast, but we knew we would have the whole weekend for relaxing. Beaches are usually jam packed on holidays, but because it was just any random weekend it was like a ghost town. It was clean and quiet, but I got bored.. I never really was that good at just laying on a beach, I needed some action.. so I convinced Adry to take a boat tour that was not worth what we paid for, but still, I liked it.. we mostly chilled by the pool at the hotel or the beach, ate, and slept. It was relaxing.
blue footed boobies
Cotopaxi - I had been wanting to go to Cotopaxi for a long time. Over brunch with adventurer and cousin Pam, we discussed the possibilities of going and decided that since she only had a few weeks left, we should just go! I have been giving private English lessons for a few weeks and decided to also invite my student, Gabriella, to go. It was a blast. First, we took a wrong turn, inside of the park. The roads are not like roads at all, they are like tracks made from a few cars that drove there before. We almost rolled down the side of a cliff, we saw rabbits, we thought we would never see civilization again.. but we finally found the right trail. The air was so thin, and it was so cold! It took about an hour to walk a mile to the first refuge where we drank hot chocolate.
Otavalo and Cayambe - Adry and I took a Sunday jaunt to Cayambe and Otavalo. On the way, we stopped for a delicious local dish called Locra. It’s a cheesy potato soup with avocado.. mmm so good even for breakfast. Cayambe is known for small pastries called Biscochos. They taste like biscuits except they are crunchy. We bought a couple for our co-workers and moved on to Otavalo. We checked out the markets and walked around a bit and then headed to this nice, peaceful hotel/restaurant on the lake and ate some incredibly delicious food whilst overlooking the lake. On our way back through Cayambe, we noticed a large makeshift arena where “bullfights” take place.. why the quotations?? Well, in Ecuador, the bulls are the ones injuring the people.. they basically put angry bulls in the center of a rickety makeshift area, get really drunk, and then let all the drunk men run into the arena and get hammered by the bull.. people get seriously injured!! I haven’t gotten a very solid reason behind this bull… but I’m working on it.
Ok.. Now you are updated until my last two weeks.. which include a visit from mom, Cuenca, Jose and Quilotoa.. but that is all for next time.. Hopefully soon..
Xoxoxo miss you all!