Quilotoa, Tena, Lima...

I`m sorry I haven`t written in a while. I have 2 1/2 weeks left in South America and things have been a little crazy! I am in Lima right now with my dad who is here for a medical mission. He leaves on Monday nite and I continue on to Cuzco to go to Machu Pichu. Pretty excited about that!

As far as the past few weekends, I did a little more traveling (surprise, surprise!). I went to Quilotoa Lagoon which is a crater lake formed from an erupted volcano a long time ago. It`s a gorgeous greenish-blue color. We hired a guide to take us since the locals have ripped down the trail signs and it`s hard to find the way without one (they want the business, of course). It was a pretty difficult (bien dificil) hike from the lagoon to the village Chugchilan where we stayed but totally worth it! To get to Chugchilan, it`s a bumpy 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Latacunga. And the only buses leave there at 3 am and 4 am. Finally got home on Monday at 10 am....yikes!

The next weekend I went rafting in Tena (class 3 rapids). I highly recommend rafting in Tena (a town on the border of the jungle) and with Rios Ecuador. They are so well organized and really take care of you. Two adventures on the rafting trip I must share. One, the boat hit a rock in the rapids and another guy and I fell in. I think I blanked out for a minute because I didn`t realize what happened. The other guy basically saved me from the whirlpool that I was stuck in. Two, our guide Juan Pablo took us to this gorgeous cave and we covered ourselves in mud. It was like nothing I`ve ever seen before, maybe something out of a movie - a made-up place, but this was real!

Classes finished on Wednesday, May 24th. I`m done teaching!! Now, it`s vacations until I get home on June 13th.

What`s next for me? I get back to Texas on June 13th and will be home for 10 days. After which, I`m heading to Israel to study for 2 months. Then it`ll be time to find a job - anyone know of a good job in Austin or Houston (more interested in Austin - gotta get back to Jackson)?

One Reason I`m Looking Forward to Leaving....

The crappy systems here!!

My mom sent me a package about 3 weeks ago...some clothes for the unborned child of my housekeeper`s daughter and some guide books for my trip to Peru and Bolivia. What we didn`t realize is that when you put a declaration value on a package to this country you have to pay taxes. You would think it would be easy to pay for this BUT, NOOOO, I`m in Ecuador (developing country that it is).

In order to get the package (which I didn`t end up getting today because the post office closes at 1 pm for lunch), I had to go to the post office with my package slip and two copies of my ID. Then, I had to pay $1.25 to get in line to look at my package. After that, they called me to the back room to open my package to see what`s inside (duh, my mom wrote it on the slip on the outside). Then they sealed it back up. At this point, since there was a declared value, I had to fill out a form and take it to the bank (5 blocks away) to deposit the money. Of course, the men in the post office insisted it would only take 10 minutes at the bank. BS!!! I was in line for an hour waiting to deposit $14 (the tax amount) into their bank account. Ok, so that`s all done now except I have to go back tomorrow to get the package.

Systems...I`m looking forward to some of the better systems in the US!!

I Have Aged

Yesterday was my 27th birthday! I had excellent celebrations with my students and friends. The day began with a sweet phone call from my parents singing and cards from my host sister and the housekeeper. I left the house and caught a bus immediately. The bus driver offered me the seat up front by him - he must have known it was my birthday. In Spanish class, some students of our teacher came to do a presentation about roses (one of the main exports of Ecuador, besides bananas). The rest of the day I walked around with red roses :).

Classes started at 2 pm. My first class (of teenagers) came to class with a chocolate cake singing `Happy Birthday` and we had a little party. Then they gave me some chocolate to enjoy. My second class (of teenagers) came to class with Viennetta cake singing `Happy Birthday` and so commenced my second party. They also gave me chocolates to enjoy. My last class (of adults) brought ham pizza. Oops, I don`t eat pork so they got to enjoy my pizza.

This turned out to be ok because I went out to dinner with my friends to a place that was all you can eat tapas and drink wine. Needless to say, I stuffed my face and got a little drunk off of white wine.

It was a great birthday and thanks to everyone who wrote me such sweet emails! Miss you all!

Much to my surprise...

There are people out there actually reading my blog. Since no one was commenting, I thought I was just writing to myself. But then I got a couple of emails about the fact that I haven`t written in a while.

So what have I been up to?

Two weeks ago, I went hiking for 9 1/2 hours in Pasochoa. Two other teachers, a secretary at my school, 10 other people I didn`t know, and I camped on Saturday night under the stars and took off hiking at 6:30 AM (the original plan was to start at midnight but no one came out of their tent then). Although I had some altitude problems and my knee was killing me (probably because of my surgery two years ago and lack of exercise), I made it 95% of the way to the top. I was really proud of myself. Maybe I`m ready for Machu Picchu now (I`m going in about a month)??

Last weekend, I traveled solo down south to a small town called Vilcabamba (Monday May 1st was ¨Labor Day¨ here). Some years back it was declared the town of eternal youth because there are a bunch of people they think are over the age of 100. It`s very popular among tourists so I went to check it out. I stayed in this wonderful hostel called Izhcayluma which means something but I can`t remember what. I relaxed, got a massage, and went horseback riding all day Sunday into the Podocarpus National Park (needless to say, I was and still am in some pain). I highly recommend a visit to this town and hostel for some R&R - and I met some really nice people along the way!

What`s next....I have 3 more weeks to teach and 2 full weeks to travel in Peru and Bolivia (I will also be traveilng on weekends - one weekend for hiking and another weekend for rafting). Plus I have this weekend to relax and start to celebrate my birthday.