ecuador, you're killin' me

So now the story of the grand adventure that was Thursday and Friday. I must start with this -- it had already been quite an experience getting our tickets for Thursday night. They were sold out from the office in La Mariscal, so I had to take a taxi about 30 minutes outside of Quito to buy them from another terminal. After figuring out rafting details, leaving to go rafting at 6:30AM, rafting for 3 hours, getting stuck in traffic on the way back to Quito, and rushing to pack, I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we finally sat down on the bus to Canoa at 11:00PM on Thursday. Little did I know...

2:30AM. I wake up to a silent bus. It's dark, and everyone else seems to be sleeping. The bus is off. At first, I thought we were being hijacked, so I put my little backpack purse under my rain jacket and zipped up. Then, the bus driver came back on the bus, and people started talking. I thought the bus had maybe broken down because the driver still hadn't turned it back on. After bajaring from the bus for a little bit and seeing lots of other stopped buses around us, we realized something else was up. So, we asked and found out that there had been a landslide up ahead and that we couldn't pass. We would wait until morning to see what it looked like and if we could pass. So we slept.


6:30AM. We wake up to a ton of talking. It's finally light out, and apparently everyone's walking to see the landslide. So, Alice Ann & I decide to walk to see it, and this is what we find:

...at which point Alice Ann & I looked at each other and said, "There is no way we are getting through." We headed back to the bus where everyone was arguing and no one was making a decision on what to do. Classic Ecuador.

7:45AM. The bus driver finally makes a decision to turn back around, pass by Quito, and take a different way to the coast.

10:30AM. We pass by Quito (almost 12 hours after we originally left it).

12:30PM. We stop for lunch and almost die of heatstroke waiting for everyone to get back on the bus. We ask around to see how much longer to Canoa. The answers we get range everywhere from 30 minutes to 5 hours. Classic Ecuador.

3:45PM. We make our last stop before Canoa, and the bus driver spends 20 minutes deciding if he wants to take us the next 30 minutes to Canoa. Another Ecuadorian classic.

4:30PM. We arrive in Canoa and literally run off the bus with excitement.

spring break, finally!

I say this jokingly because really, this entire semester has been one, long "spring break." But, we do get an actual spring break here too! It started on Wednesday afternoon and lasts until next Monday morning.

We started off the break right with a day trip to go whitewater rafting about 3 hours away from Quito. We rafted down the Lower Río Blanco, which were Class III rapids and totally different from rapids in the U.S.! Here, the rapids are like huge waves that you go up and down. I considered it more fun and maybe a little less dangerous because the rapids weren't surrounded by huge rocks here like they are in the States. It was also, of course, different because the directions were yelled at us in Spanish ("Adelante!"). It was super fun, and I got to take one more step toward crossing my "Raft a river on every continent" goal off of my bucket list!

Before we left shore!

We spent the weekend at the beach, of course. My friends Alice Ann and Shannon and I decided last minute to take a trip to Canoa, which you know by now is a beach that we love. After admitting to my host parents that I was once again leaving the house to go to the beach (Me: "Y mañana me voy..." My dad: "Oh, ya te vas? Qué raro!"), we got on a night bus to go (back) to our favorite beach. And this is where the adventure began...an adventure that I have to take another blog post to explain.

Anyway, we arrived in Canoa at 4:30pm on Friday (note: we left Quito at 11:00pm on Thursday, you must read the next blog post to find out why) and immediately changed into our swimsuits and ran into the ocean. The room we had asked our friends to save at our hostel had been taken, but we found some empty mattresses and figured we could crash wherever in the hostel. It was three of our friends' birthdays that night, so we celebrated at the hostel and then at a party at one of their houses. Saturday was spent soaking up all the sun we could, drinking Oreo batidos, walking along the beach, and hanging out with the friends we've made the past two times we've been. Saturday night, there was a reggae band that played in the hostel, so a ton of people came out for that. Because we had arrived so late in Canoa, the bus tickets for Sunday night (when we would normally leave) were sold out, and we had to scrounge all of our resources to find a way back. Luckily, Alice Ann's host dad lives in Tosagua, a town about 2 1/2 hours away, and he was able to buy us bus tickets back to Quito from there. So, Sunday afternoon, after even more sunbathing and Oreo-milkshake-drinking, we took a bus to San Vicente, taxi to Bahía, and bus to Tosagua, where we hung out with the dad until our bus left at 10pm.

*If you see my pictures on Facebook, the album title "tiki tan wata" comes from our friends trying to pronounce a surfing movie called "Thicker Than Water." Just FYI.

With Fabian, one of the cumpleañeros

We love Canoa & sunsets. And sunsets in Canoa.

Mentirosa, our friend's beach-loving dog

Hanging out on the porch with Sofía

Dinner at the Surf Shak

Now, after 27 hours of travel in the past 3 days, I'm now safely and soundly back in Quito!...until tomorrow, when I fly out to the Galápagos Islands!

fotos del río

Here are the pictures from Tiputini, when we floated down the river (that is also home to anacondas, alligators, and piranhas!). Thanks to my wonderful friend Rosa for these!

take me back

Back (sadly) from another weekend in Canoa! We headed out on Wednesday night and got back early this morning (except for some that left Saturday night). It was an amazing weekend filled with surfing, dancing, and lots of sun. We stayed at the same place as last time, of course, so we got to hang out with all the friends we made last time, and we met even more people this time around. Some of the highlights...

1. Surfing
I tried surfing again! Still didn't make it on my feet, but I made it to my knees, so I'm on my way to being an expert. My goal for next time is to ride an entire wave on my feet.

Our friends Fabian & Cesar surfing

2. The sunsets
The sunsets on West Coast beaches are incredible because they happen over the water. Pictures don't do it justice...

3. Secret playas
There are a couple of playas that are hidden behind cliffs that we explored over the weekend...

I want to live in this house

4. A great group of people
Alice Ann's friend Elizabeth from Virginia was visiting, and she helped make up a really great group of friends this weekend!

the homestretch

Writing from the Mister Bagel café in Quito. Ashley & I came here to enjoy their delicious bagels (my chocolate chip one with honey & nut cream cheese was to die for) and to prepare our art presentations that we have to give next week.

It's kind of crazy how soon I'll be leaving. I think it seems sooner because I have every single weekend from now until then planned out. This weekend (actually starting tonight) will be another weekend in our beloved beach of Canoa. Next week, we have 3 days of school before spring break starts! Next week is also Semana Santa (Holy Week), so there will be parades and good food to eat in Quito next weekend. My friend Shannon and I are planning a day trip for next week to Tena, where there is apparently the best rafting in Ecuador. And the next Tuesday (the one after Easter), we're headed to the Galápagos for four days! When we get back, we'll have one more weekend in Quito before our last week of classes at USFQ. And that Friday, my sister arrives here! We're planning on going to Canoa (of course), Baños, and spending time in Quito. She leaves the 14th, and I'll be headed back the day after. Loco.

In the midst of all that, I actually do have some schoolwork to do, including final exams, final papers, and presentations, all of which I should be working on now instead of writing this. Back to work!

monkeys & oreos

I'm settled back in Quito after a long weekend in the middle of the Amazon rainforest! I went with a group of 18 other USFQ extranjeros to the university's biodiversity station in Tiputini from Friday to Monday, and it was an awesome weekend filled with canoe rides, monkey sightings, and floating down anaconda-filled rivers.

FRIDAY
We started our journey at 7:30am and took a 30-minute flight from Quito to Coca. That was followed by a 2-hour canoe ride down the Río Napo to Pomeya, where we got off at a scary-looking, security-guarded place. We then took a chiva (open-air bus) into the Yasuni National Park, where we were prohibited from taking pictures. We finished off our journey with a 2-hour canoe ride down the Río Tiputini, arriving at the station around 4:00pm. We settled into our cabanas, ate a delicious dinner, and got an orientation from Diego. The station only has electricity from 10am to 1pm and from 6pm to 9:30pm, so when the lights go out at 9:30pm, everyone pretty much goes to bed or hangs out in the library that has light 24/7.

Canoa ride with my friend Tyler

Our cabanas

-- huge aguacero (downpour) overnight --

SATURDAY (rained all day)
We started the day with 6:30am breakfast and then broke into groups to start our hikes. Our 7-person group was led by one of the older guides, Mayer, who has been working at the station since it opened in 1994 and made all the paths that take you through the jungle. He took us to the 150-foot canopy tower, which we climbed to have a perfect view of the canopy of the rainforest. We used binoculars and a telescope to scope out some cool birds flying around. Because of the rain, we didn't get to see any monkeys.

The 150-foot tower we climbed

The canopy

The canopy

Bird watching through the telescope

Group pic with our guide, Mayer

After lunch and naptime, we rode in a canoe a little ways down the river and then hiked to the laguna (lake), where we saw even more birds, but didn't get to see any snakes or alligators. After another nap, we ate another delicious dinner, stashed a few more packs of free Oreos, and hung out in the library.

The laguna

Riding in a tiny little canoa

SUNDAY
After another 6:30am breakfast, we headed with Mayer to another 150-foot canopy tower, but at this one, various hanging bridges connect different towers. We wore harnesses, just in case. At one tower, we, one-by-one, climbed up a ladder to a tiny platform (probably about 3 feet by 3 feet) to get an even better view of the canopy.

The hanging bridges we crossed

That's me...on a tiny platform 150+ feet up

Another one of the bridges we crossed

After lunch and yet another nap (and more Oreos), we all headed together down to the river and rode in the canoe about 20 minutes away, where we then jumped out (with lifejackets) and floated down the river for about half an hour. This is the same river that the guides told us was home to anacondas, alligators, and piranhas. Excellent. I unfortunately didn't bring my camera on this adventure, but my friend Rosa took pictures, and those are coming soon.

After yet another nap and another delicious dinner (and, of course, more Oreos), Alice Ann and I hung out in the library, reading, while some others went on a night hike. Lucky for me, Shannon took my camera with her and was kind enough to capture pictures of all sorts of bugs and spiders on it.

MONDAY
After our last crack-of-dawn breakfast, we packed up and headed out to begin our day-long journey back to Quito. We rode the canoa down the Río Tiputini, hopped on the chiva, and rode our second canoa to Coca. We had some downtime in Coca before our flight home, so we hung out by the river and took pictures with the monkeys, turtles, and birds that lived there. I even got to hold my first monkey!

Little monito!

A pareja of monitos

Holding a monkey!

We got back to Quito around 5:30pm -- sweaty, dirty, and smelly. We thought a natural stench would keep the mosquitoes away all weekend (which it did), so needless to say, we were not smelling too good. And if we smelled bad, our wet and dirty clothes smelled 1,000 times worse. Despite the jungle grunge, it was a great weekend!

it will set you free

Serve God, love me and mend

This is not the end

Lived unbruised, we are friends

And I'm sorry

I'm sorry

Sigh no more, no more

One foot in sea, one on shore

My heart was never pure

And you know me

And you know me

And man is a giddy thing

Oh, man is a giddy thing

Oh, man is a giddy thing

Oh, man is a giddy thing

Love, it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you

It will set you free

Be more like the man you were made to be.

There is a design,

An alignment to cry

Of my heart to see, 

The beauty of love as it was made to be.

la vida en la playa

Back from another beach weekend here in Ecuador!

I've always loved the beach, but I've never loved it quite as much as I love it here. I think it's the style of life at the beach here -- so incredibly chill, it's hard to describe. The friends we made in Canoa this weekend spent their days doing the following: waking up to an incredible view, doing some chores around the hostel (they worked there), heading out to catch some waves, watching the bar, eating some empanadas, surfing some more, hanging out the cool gringos (us), getting some ceviche for dinner, then partying/bartending all night long. What a life.

Canoa was agreed upon as our favorite beach (followed very closely by Montañita) simply because of the people we met. We ended up purely by chance at a great hostel that had just opened (actually hadn't even opened yet, but they made do), owned by a 60+ American named Len from Kentucky and operated by some pretty awesome Ecuadorians. We were their first guests, so they loved having us. On Sunday, we even lucked out on some free surf lessons! It was an incredible weekend, and last night, none of us wanted to board that bus back to cold, rainy Quito. But we'll be back soon enough!

View from our hostel window - could it get any better?

Wood & cliffs down the beach

The girls on the cliffs

Alice Ann & I got hair wraps!

On the beach at sunset - favorite place to be