Swinging through the Trees

Welcome back! Sorry it’s been so long! Nothing has really happened here in the last couple of weeks but I will do a quick summary:

Two weekends ago a few of us decided to make a trip to Mindo. Mindo is only two hours by bus and it is the most fantastic place out here! There are way too many fun things to do once you get there: rafting, tubing, kayaking, zip line/canopy tour, butterfly farm, bird watching, repel down a waterfall, plenty of hikes with beautiful waterfalls, and of course great food! We definitely had a full weekend ahead of us. Unfortunately, almost as soon as we got there on Saturday it started raining which turned into a down pour and ruined our plans. We did manage to find a really cool hostel with a wonderful owner who gave us lots of tips, but we didn’t stay the night like we planned to so we promised her we would see her soon and bring more friends/customers. We also did the canopy tour which I Loved! We took a taxi up to the place – which was actually us sitting in the bed of a truck bouncing around like crazy for 15 minutes. Once we got there we joined a group of European girls and began our adventure!

It was so much fun soaring through the tree tops like that, even in the rain. Plus we had the bonus of two really cute guides who liked to goof around with us. All of us had the chance to do a “Superman” or “Mariposa” (means ‘butterfly’) with one of the guides: Superman meant you just wrapped your legs around their waste and did the zip line horizontally instead of vertically; and Mariposa was when they flipped you upside down and you rode the line looking up at the sky. I did the Mariposa and had a complete blast! It was a super cool feeling. After the canopy tour our taxi driver took us to a little restaurant for some barbeque. Then we decided to catch the last bus home for the night because we were all soaking wet and freezing and didn’t want to waste Sunday in the rain either. We will be returning to this adventure paradise!

This past weekend we stayed here in Quito. Saturday a few of us went to the Ejido park to do a little shopping in the market. This market is not nearly as big as the one in Otavalo and it’s a little bit more expensive, but we still had fun walking around in the sun and shopping.

I bought a purse/shoulder bag so I don’t have to carry my big backpack with me whenever I want to go somewhere. Also my friend Sally and I bought big floppy sun hats because we look really cute in them and they’ll be great for our beach trips :) Sunday we all went to a Sports Bar to watch the Super Bowl. Go Packers! Luckily we got to watch the game in English so we didn’t have to translate “touchdown” or “quarterback” but because it was a Spanish broadcast we didn’t get to see any of the commercials. Apparently they weren’t even that good this year so we didn’t miss out on too much?

Since Sunday I have been sick. Not fun. At first it was a sore throat with a slight cough. Then it turned into an added stomach and head ache. I am very blessed though because my host mom has been taking good care of me! She has been making me interesting drink mixtures – like coca-cola with brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon all heated up over the stove – to help calm my tummy and reduce my cough. Although she also is very good at making me feel 100% guilty for being sick because I took showers at the “wrong time” and made my condition worse. Even though I dried my hair and have been wearing an unnecessary amount of layers, my choice of shower time was my downfall. Who knows! I have spent a good majority of my days sleeping since then. Yesterday I felt much better but still had this awful cough, so this morning my mom sent me to our University’s health clinic to get some cough syrup. Quick side note: ever since bird flu and swine flu, cough syrup is no longer sold over the counter unless it’s a natural kind. The doctor gave me some wonderful cough syrup (not the taste but it sure is helping!) and wrote me a note to get me out of my classes today. I was surprised he wrote me the note because back at Hope you have to literally be on your death bed to be excused from class, but I’m not complaining!

Until next time mis amigos!