Just out of the Jungle...

and ready to come home. I leave on Thursday at 7. See you all soon, ill post later

Its just a ride its just a ride, no need to run no need to cry...

Endless blue skies, can you say paradise?

I'm on vacation from blogging until i return to the states. Ive been at the coast since wed and after this I'm headed into the jungle! I'm working on my tan, ill post later.

Yea, Though I Raft Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Will Fear No Evil...

On Monday, the 7th, we stumbled out of our deep slumbers early, not eager to leave the comforts of our beds, yet still filled with excitement for what lay ahead. We decided we wanted to change hostels because we found this nice one, Casa Real, closer to the hot springs on the other side of town that offered a balcony with a hammock. We were told that we had to be at the location where we arranged for our rafting trip at 10 to 9 am. So, we had to hike all out things over to the other hostel before then and grab breakfast while we were at it. We dropped our stuff off at Casa Real at 8:09 ish and we decided we had enough time to go to Casa Hood for breakfast, you know its not like 40 minutes isn't enough time to grab a pancake and run.

We arrived at Casa Hood and the place was relatively empty except for a few people and an older gentleman who was seated behind the table Becky and I choose to sit at. We placed our orders rather quickly, but like most places in Latin America, service is... quite slow. So we sit and wait. One of the street vendors who sells little paintings came into the restaurant trying to sell his stuff. The funny thing about South and Central America is that these people have a tendency of shoving the things in your face and slightly begging you to buy their things. I swear they always approach the gringos because they think we have all the money. It gets annoying though, oh after the thousandth time it happens, or maybe the third time in one meal. Anyways, the older man who was sitting behind us was naive enough to attempt and buy one of the pieces.

"Whats it cost?" growled what sounded like a grumpy old man now.
"20 dollars," replied the younger street vendor."What!" contested the old man, "I´m not paying twenty Da*n dollars for that! You´re ridiculous!"

I nearly coughed up my morning cup of coffee hearing him reply in such a manner. One it was unexpected and two, the tone of his voice was awfully rude. The look on Becky´s face was priceless too; like a look of shock mixed with non-belief of what just happened. This whole time i thought wow, that's a really grumpy old man and a rude one too, no wonder why everyone hates Americans. It was now 8:36 and still no sign of our pancakes! I was beginning to worry because i didn't want to miss our trip, and since we had already paid for half of it to hold our spots, i didn't want to lose that money either. Finally our pancakes came out around 8:44 and wow did we inhale them. I received mine before Becky did and so i got up to pay the bill while she was still eating. We literally finished eating in like 3 minutes. We jumped up and used the bathrooms and ran out of there.

Out on the street i asked Becky what was up with the guy who sat behind us. She explained how the guy bought the box the vendor was selling for $20. I then realized that the look on her face was dis-belief that the guy actually paid that much. In honesty, the box was only worth like $5 maximum. That guy got ripped off, kind of deserves it i guess. He kept saying that 20 dollars was too much and in the end he bought it for that much.

We walked over to the building where we booked our trip and the lady there lead us all the way back across town, nearly to our new hostel, to where all the equipment and their main office was. There were two other people there when we got there, a younger black man and his girlfriend who was white. She was from Denmark and he was living there, but not from there. Two other people arrived, a tall, older black man in his late 40´s i would have guessed, and his girlfriend too. He was loud and obnoxious and of course, American. From Miami to be exact, but his girlfriend was from Colombia i think, and they both are living there currently. Another guy showed up who looked a lot younger than the rest, maybe 20-23. He looked like he was of European descent or Europe for that matter. Its funny because when traveling you run into and meet the most diverse people ever, and half the time it doesn't cross your mind that if someone is white, they might not be from the States. He was French, name Florence and turned out to be 27! Becky and I couldn't believe it. Two other girls arrived who were from Britain named Torah and Emily. It was one worldly group i´d say.

We waited around till about 9:50 and finally piled into the Chiva, a big truck with no sides to it and about 6 rows of benches in the wood cabin thing that was put on the back. We started driving out the same road we went on with José the previous day, you know, the one that went along the edge of the mountains and looked like it could give way at any time. Yeah, that one. Talk about fun.

We arrived at the site called San Francisco, were we were going to launch the rafts. We all got suited up with our gear, life vests, helmets, wetsuits, and all. We were then given a 20 minute presentation on safety and all the command that we were going to hear while rafting. Ive been through it before and so it was slightly boring, but its always good to have a refresher. We started carrying the rafts down to the river bank, an old rusty cable suspension bridge that looked like it was abandoned stretched over head giving a eerie, "you´re in the wild away from civilization" feel to it all. From here the river looked massive, the water racing over the rocks and forcing its way, every which way around any obstacle that would come before it. I was really excited because the river looked like it was fun, and I also wanted Becky to enjoy it too.

We pushed the blue raft along the rocky beach and into the river, each one of us hopping in while William, our guide, held onto the end. Williams leg dug deep into the sand near the rivers edge as he pushed off from shore; all of us leaving the safety of solid ground behind while the raft began to drift with the current. We paddled our way over to the north bank where a waterfall was cascading down the rocky cliff above. William told us to hope on out and we all did. The raft was beached on some rocks in front of the waterfall, so that it wouldn't go anywhere and we walked over the rocks, each one slipping and falling over the little hidden depths between the rocks under the water. We were able to stand underneath and feel the full power of water pounding down on our bodies. Leaning my back against the black rock wall from which the icy cold water fell, and feeling the water push the rocks and sand out from under my feet. Sinking slowly and feeling the cold emotionless forces of nature and their brute strength force me down was actually, diminishing, showing me my weakness and human condition. It was a simple reminder that I'm not in control of the many forces around me..

We hopped back into the raft after a minute or so and continued down the river. Over a few rapids here, around a big rock there. It was all pretty exciting. Then... the real rapids came. I guess i should have assumed it would have been an insane ride when we were back in the office and decided to do the Bigger and Faster part of the river, which would be more fun but take less time, however, i don't think i could have been prepared for what was to come. William pulled the rafts over to the south bank of the river and got out to make sure that the rapids down the river weren't too big and dangerous because it had been raining the previous days. While he was gone i was taking in the beautiful environment around us. Rafting in between these towering peaks of green, through the forests of South America along the edge of the Amazon, there is nothing better. It started to lightly rain as i mentioned that it was kind of nerve racking that William had to check to make sure the rapids were safe. He returned to the raft and explained how he needed our help with these rapids and how our raft could basically be pulled underneath them in a heartbeat if we get stuck in one of the holes. You can imagine the feeling i had as we pushed off the bank and back into the river...

"Forward my friends," yelled William, "Forward faster, Faster, FASTER!!"

Our raft was thrown over the rapids like the floaty toy it was compared to the river. Rising 5 feet into the air over a "big wave," water splashing my face and eyes, i paddled as fast as i could, paddle barely touching the water due to the front of the raft being raised high into the air. CRASH, water flowed into the front of the raft as the front as the front went underneath a rapid, the strength of the water pulling it under. Another wave flowed over the side of the raft that Becky was on! "FASTER," yelled William over the drowning sound of the raging rapids around us. It was exhilarating and fun, and then, it got worse. The raft was turned perpendicular, more or less, with the rapids and i felt my side fall from under me. The raft nearly turned on its side going over a rapid, it literally felt like the raft folded in half, both Becky and the other guy fell onto the left side of the raft and I was in the water holding onto the raft with only my left foot underneath the strap on the floor. The water flowing over my head and whipping everything around, the force of the raft resurfacing pulled me back into my seat, but i feared the worst. I thought that our guide was gone, i could sense that someone was missing out of the raft. I whirled my head around to see the Danish girl gone, in the river behind us about 30 feet. Thinking about rescuing her instead of paddling i stopped and turned to watch her, I'm sure everyone was doing the same. "Keep Going!" William yelled, "Forward please, forward!" I turned and paddled forward while he threw out the safety rope and pulled her back to the raft. She got back in but it wasn't over yet. Over rapids, around holes, and dodging rocks we went for about 15 more minutes before we had a break.

We paddled to the south side of the bank where a tributary joined our river. We were able to get out and wade in the water up the tributary. There was a bridge that we all jumped off of underneath and then a little further up a large rock and some other little rapids where the whole group went and stood in the middle and took a photo. We each floated down the tributary from that rock and then started to return to the rafts when, a problem came up. Something was wrong with the van, where all of our stuff was. Only the guides went up the it at first and theories on what happened started from the British girls that maybe someone stole all of our stuff while we were playing in the river, because there were a few people and cars on and around the bridge at that time. It thankfully wasn't that, they only locked the keys in the Chiva! We sat around for about 30 minutes trying to break into the car and no one was able to do it. The whole time the guy from Miami is talking his mouth off and mis-translating what the guides are saying. Basically, he was annoying as explosive diarrhea ready to run down your legs and up your back unexpectedly, however, given the choice, id choose the diarrhea over another rafting trip with him. A part of me didn't want to return to the rafts, in honesty, i was tired and scared of the next leg. Seriously, this river was INSANE and there were constant rapids meaning you were almost always working. The next leg of the river was by far, i think, the most aggressive and with the largest rapids i have ever seen. We were almost paddling the entire time and when William yelled out to paddle faster my strenght only gave out on me. These rapids though, i kid you not, were at least 10 feet tall. The raft went over the crest of one wave, peaking and then hurtling down to the trough of another. Before me was a wall of water that appeared like it was going to engulf the raft. It didn't however and we were thrown into the air and over the waves again. These were seriously class 4.5 rapids.

After all those rapids we paddled up to another river that fed into ours and we were able to put our raft into a little pocket where the water was still in between the two rivers and just sit. We could see up one river and up the other and the forests around. There is supposedly over 150 different types of orchids in those forests. We finished our trip a little more down the river by climbing up a little waterfall and pulling the raft up with us. About half way up there was a pool of water and it was a perfect lagoon to take a little rest in. The water was nice an there was sand not rocks, however there were little rocks that got stuck in my Keens. We carried the rafts on our heads, through the forest up this hill and i slipped and then breathed in a bug or something. It sucked.

Once at the top we waited for the Chiva and the annoying Miami guy just had to open his mouth. "Those rapids were nothing, maybe a class 3, Ive done bigger..." By now i think that everyone was getting annoyed of him. We all hopped into the Chiva when it came and it started to pour down rain, it was pretty cool because it was like a rain forest rain, not like a Mexican rain storm. We arrived back at a restaurant we stopped at to get the rafts on our way out for some lunch. The funny thing was the french guy, and two Brits, sat with Becky and I at one end of this long table, and the annoying Miami guy was at the other far end. He even mentioned during lunch about the distance and sarcastically asked if we didn't like him... there was an awkward silence after that, we all just kind of looked at him and then continued eating... He also made one other comment that was just... really out there. He raised his voice and said, "All we´re missing is Jesus." That one caused a little confusion...

Anyways, over all it was a great day and very interesting. I really enjoyed it and Becky liked it too, even though when the rafted folded in half and we lost that other girl, Becky fell onto the other girl´s paddle and bruised up her leg. We took it easy the rest of the day, and the next day, and the rest of the week for that matter. We came back to Quito on Wed and stayed until Sat. We went to Otavalo on Saturday and ill post about that later. That's all for now folks.

Sleep, don´t weep, my sweet love...

Did you hear?


comments = Love


Becky is the only reader that loves me.

I'm going to go jump off a bridge now... ;)

P.S. (the anonymous option is available now.. leave your name please :)

Time is contagious, and everybody is getting old...

There is nothing better that typing out a blog while listening to some good old music. Its slightly nostalgic for me and some what feels like I'm taken out of my life for a second, and seeing it from the outside while listening to the soundtrack play in the background. Anyways, where did I leave off? Sunday right after jumping off a bridge. My memory card finally filled up after 2 months and 525 pictures or so, and therefore i couldn't take video of our jumps, but there are photos.

We drove for about 10 or 15 minutes along the rocky mountain side road that looked barely strong enough to hold a bull and here we are putting along in José´s car. The surroundings were beautiful. The giant mountains of green popping out of the ground below creating a sort of canyon with the river flowing rapidly below down the center. The lush tall grasses sway in the afternoon breeze as though there is no cares in the world, and the clouds glide down the slopes blanketing the forests is mist and light rain. This is Ecuador, this is nature, my home, where real life is. We arrived to a dirt parking lot next to la Palión del Diablo, which i still had no clue what it was. From the explanation José had given me it sounded like a deadly rapid or something. We had to walk down this dirt trail through the forest. We passed several beggars along the way and a hut that had a Boa constrictor in it. I hate snakes, and José had to go and touch it. I could just imagine it launching its diamond shaped head, fangs all glinting in the sunlight ready to claim its victims life. But it didn't, and we walked along. There were these amazing views of cliffs and rocks that just stole your breath away for a minute. We reached the bottom where this hut building was and it cost a dollar to go and see el Palión del Diablo. I cant exactly remember how i finally figure out what the Palión del Diablo was but i think it was the signs with pictures that gave it way.

We payed a dollar to get into the up close viewing area and it was totally worth every cent. As we were climbing through the jungle once again i noticed that everyone that was walking by was completely wet, dripping with water as though they jumped in the river or something. Well i found out soon it was because of the massive raging waterfall. That's what the Palión del Diablo was, a waterfall. No wonder someone would die trying to raft down it, the sheer size of the waterfall, volume of water, and speed at which it feel was enough to make the surrounding rock walls and caves rumble, as if the water were proving its might. I have imagined waterfalls so grand and impressive but never had i thought that i would actually be standing at the base of such an amazing piece of natural wonder. The entire river flows through el Palión del Diablo it appears and there were little paths that lead even higher towards the top of the waterfall. But there is a little catch, you have to crawl in a crevasse/cave path that is literally 2 feet high and goes along the side of the cliff next to the waterfall. Talk about a combination of fears, first i have to worry about what if the hundreds of thousands of tons of earth and rock above me fell and trapped me or killed me instantly, which could have happened i guess since Baños does lay at the foot of an active volcano, which we watched erupt from the car on our drive in the night before. I don't know much about geology or stuff like that, but i think i understand that active volcano means earthquakes, and if that rock wanted to shift even the slightest, i would surely die.. If, if, and more if´s. I tell you, i could not live my life by "if´s" So that's why i climbed into that crevasse, and crawled on my hands and knees through the wet and muddy rock to see such a once in a life time view. I really don't like small spaces for the record, but it was totally worth it. We emerged to be maybe 10 feet away from the waterfall, you could feel the strength of the falling water run through you, and not to mention hit you in the face here and there. There was a side walk way that lead up behind the waterfall that you could go behind but, you´d get wet. There is the reason why everyone was soaking wet coming back, how could you not go behind a waterfall? Becky and I handed our stuff to José and ran up behind it. All you saw was a wall of water, flowing as though it knew its part to play and preformed wonderfully at it. It was amazing... and wet! It was really cold after standing in the mist of the waterfall and getting wet from behind it, so we turned back. There was this little girl who kept getting in the way though, she cut me off on the way up there and now she was standing in the way of getting down and she wouldn't move, she just stared at us at though we were foreigners, i mean could you imagine!? Just kidding, José told her to move and she did, but she was definitely liked cutting people off and running in front of them. We walked back through the jungle and saw some really cool plants and flowers of all different sorts. We finally piled back into the car and drove back to Baños about 30 min away, more or less. We we arrived we bid fare well to José who had to go back to Quito because of classes and Becky and I ventured off and booked a white water rafting trip for the next day. hehe. it was fun, ill post later about that.

Now thats what im calling "Good Family Bonding"

We awoke early, well, not really. It was about 9 when we all finally managed to get out of the Hostel and to La Casa Hood for breakfast. Casa Hood is this chill little restaurant that has a very indie-hippie feel to it. Brightly colored with vibrant reds, and deep blues, sunshine yellows, and hand painted art on all the walls this place has a definite home like feeling too. Its cozy and friendly. Becky and I both ordered whole wheat pancakes, the size of our heads, that came with banana, grapes, yogurt, and your choice between maple and strawberry syrup. They were delicious!

We decided that we would go for a drive with José and look at all the waterfalls that are outside of Baños. We all hopped into the car and started driving through the mountains. Oh did I forget to mention that Baños literally on the base of an active volcano? We saw it erupting on the way in last night! The mountains here are so amazing. If you can imagine it, think about Jurassic Park, but better. The mountains rise out of now where and are massive green mounds of majestic beauty. They surely have been carved and decayed slowly over the centuries given the river that flows through them. I have thought so many times these past two days, and i am quite serious about this, but I'm sorry... you have not lived your life until you have visited the Andes here in Ecuador. They are truly inspiring and motivational.

Inspiring and motivational enough to JUMP OFF TWO BRIDGES!! And that is exactly what i did. Hehe. So we´re driving along and José says, "here is where they jump from bridges, lets go look." So we park up the road a little, across the street from a broken water pipe that was spilling water everywhere, and we walked down to the two bridges to watch the other people jump. We arrived amongst the crowd starring at this little Asian woman standing on top of the ledge of the higher bridge. She looked horrified. She finally had to climb onto the other side of the stone railing and jump backwards. The whole crowd gasps as she falls, flipping upside down and swinging underneath the bridge. A cheer breaks out and she becomes famous for the next 5 mins until everyone gets on the tour bus and leaves. I turned to Becky and said, "We have to do this!" José yelled for the guy whose in charge and two seconds later he pops up with a harness for me, and before i know it I'm strapped into those 5 words i said to Becky moments before.

The little bridge lay before me first. It looked a lot easier because off the bigger one you had to literally dive into the depths below. So i climb over, thinking that: "i have nothing to fear but fear itself. These people depend on this business, they cant let me die, besides, I've seen two other people jump before me, its safe... right? It has to be safe, I'm already over the railing and leaning over the edge, i cant turn back now. 1, here it goes. 2, don't touch the rope, you gotta do it Hawaiian style arms out! 3, JUMP!" I swear i was in the air it felt like for 2 seconds before i touched that rope and dropped below out of site of the crowd on the bridge behind me. The video shows different... It looks as though i immediately jump and then throw my arms out and grab the rope and then drop, but whatever, does it really matter? I jumped off a Fuçkºñ¿ bridge! Bungee jumped that is...

I swung back and forth over the river below, leaning back and taking in the victory of the fall and with my heart racing, i was ready for more, and it was coming. The bigger bridge was about 15-20 higher than the other and it was positioned about 20 feet from the lower bridge so there is a nice view of the faces of everyone that jumps off the big one!

I ran up the steps under the bridge and ran around to the bigger bridge, all the while panting, and when i was walking up to the position there was a group, or maybe a family, and was standing there cheering me on. "You can do it" said the Dad, "Good luck" his daughter said to me. "Is your heart racing after that other bridge?"

"Of course," i replied.

The guide showed me how to jump/dive off the higher bridge and then he lead me up the stone railing onto the ledge. "Ready my friend?" He yelled at me while i was focus on focusing on nothing. I replied yes unwillingly. "OK, ready..." "NO, Wait!" I jumped down from the ledge asking where do i put my hands, he never mentioned the hands! It apparently doesn't matter where the hands go.. Ok fine. So i get back up. "The further out the better," is what they told me, and i took that to heart. One, sh¡+. Two, you can do it i thought to myself. Three....... I leaped with all my force forward, bending at the knees and lunging off the ledge of the bridge. The other bridge dropped out of view as my body fell, head first, towards the river below. All i remember seeing is a swirl of green and tropical plants, a rough tug on the legs and shoulders and then the view of the rapids flowing below me upside down as i swung with the force of the fall out of sight behind the other side of the bridge.

What an amazing rush! It didn't hurt at all! Almost every single person who jumped before me looked as though they didn't do a complete flip so when the rope pulled tight it whipped them like a rag doll through the air, throwing them underneath the bridge and into the air on the other side. I made sure that wasn't going to happen and i launched like a said before. Swinging back and forth underneath the bridge i yelled out from below, "Otra Vez!" It would have been totally worth it! I have now officially bungee jumped and jumped off a bridge, wait, two bridges!

This experience is one of those that you can not think about, and you just have to do it. How often are you in South America, one? And two, how many times do you find such cheap bungee jumping!? It only cost 25$ for the two jumps! That's insane!

Becky was next... And she explains well, her thought process in her blog.. here is a link.

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&friendID=79476795

José´s jump is covered in Becky´s blog too.

A little later Becky, José, and I went and visited "El Pailon del Diablo." Its this massive waterfall, most massive i have ever seen in my life, and ill post later about it because i have to run now. I'm in an Internet cafe with Becky and I don't have money on me to pay for the bill so it´s her time I'm on. Ill post later!

So i was sitting, wiating, wishing...

Today, I rolled over in my bed pulled the curtains back away from the window to reveal the first cloudless, clear, blue sunny sky since i have been here. Don't get me wrong, the weather has been rather nice, there are just always clouds and at least one rain shower a day somewhere in Quito. Luckily for me, the rain has stayed away. Becky and I however started to pack because we are headed out to Baños around 1 with José.

We never managed to make it to the Teleferiqo, which is this big Gondola type thing that goes up the side of the mountain Pichincha which lies just outside our window. It would have been the perfect morning to do it too, but we packed instead to go to the hot springs. I think its a fair trade.

So currently, in the mean time, Becky and I are sitting in the lounge of the Hostel having a pleasant chat with the cheerful older women named, Olguita (Olga). She the owner of the hostel and was absolutely fascinated with my iPhone, she kept repeating herself, "Oh my god, i can not believe this. Never would i have imagined such a technology. Oh my god...." I showed her the maps application and found her hostel on it and she was just astonished. It was really cool showing her it and seeing her reaction, I'm sure i just gave her bragging rights tomorrow night at tea with her friends. And then, in the middle of the laughter and excitement, SCREECH... CRASH!!

Immediately, Olguita jumps up and says i wonder what happened, i want to see, then followed by Becky, "me too," and then me, "me too!" We all ran outside into the sunny warm heat while Becky and I both hope that it wasn't José coming to pick us up, since he is "on his way." We get outside and there is a cop car in front of the hostel; he must have been there before the accident though. Becky told me that Ecuadorians don't like getting the cops involved with accidents so that is some bad luck having an accident right in front of a cop i´d say. It looked as though the smaller white car was rear-ended by the other guy. A younger guy emerges from his poor little car holding his neck; you know he got whip lash with that kind of impact. The two men walk up to each other and greet formally shaking each others hands and it looks like they wanted to be cool about the whole situation because of the cop. I however couldn't help but to grab my iPhone and snap a couple shots, while the entire time i feel a tourist and like the accident is some big tourist attraction. Becky so kindly commented about that too. We came back inside rather quick but there was a nice crowd that had formed outside by then, and now, Becky and I are sitting, and waiting for José. That's all.

Oh I almost forgot... Happy Independence Day!!

The clouds slowly roll over the peaks of the slopes, floating down to the city below. A light northeastern breeze flutters the table cloths on the deck of Pim´s restaurant as the sunlight gracefully slips, and twilight settles in. The restaurant, so dimly light, ready for the candle lit dinner of it´s guests while sweet love songs play on the sound system in the background like My heart will go on from Titanic, and many others.

Across from the tables there are windows, big clear windows that peer over the view of Quito below, and the silent noises of the city. The atmosphere calming. The mood music soothing. The perfect place and time that creates an ideal proposal. The city stretched out below like a spilled jewelry box of all sorts of little gems and treasures. Each one with its own light and sparkle. You know, the kind that puts a twinkle in your eye. Hundreds and thousands of little crystals. Red, blue, purple and Gold. It would almost be quite appropriate to say the city appeared like the stars in the sky, like the arms of the Milky way, condensed yet long, spanning unfathomable distances across space and time.


The clouds are move now, across the city scape, covering the view of the lights; moving deathly slow claiming each twinkle for its own. On the grassy hill next to the restaurant the breeze picks up into a light wind. The clouds move more steadily now as the wisps can been seen passing just over head in the street lamps from behind. A Virgin emerges out of the fog just enough to be seen, and then vanishes again, leaving a faint impression of a memory behind. The chill in the wind is priceless. It calls memories forth of autumn, and spring time, old friends and memories. The reminiscent feeling never leaves, its there every night; clinging to the chill and caressing the mind.

Oh how i love it. All the moments that pour into my head. A night ride on a sailboat, as the full moon rises over the outlined pine mountains of the lake with the water reflecting what it can of the scene above. The soft whisper of the water rolling onto the shore, as we stare into the night sky, pondering our existence. Or the memory of a fire-lit massage, under the stars, so they can bear witness.

The countless memories, and the many more to come...

Now listen up here´s a story, about a little man that lives in a Blue world..

So yesterday Becky and I woke up early so that we could go to "La Mitad del Mundo," the Equator. José told us the day before that we could go easily by route of the "green" bus. So we don't think much of it. We left the hostel, and emerged into the Ecuadorian heat, which mainly feels like a nice warm spring day with the nip of a breeze to it, and we walked down one of the main streets to where José told us to grab the bus. Becky and I sat at one of the stops for a good 20 minutes, and about every 2 minutes a nice big blue bus would pass us by. Becky finally decided that maybe we weren't on the right street and she started texting and calling José to no avail, while i pulled out my iPhone and started googeling things.

What we came up with was that we were one street off (apparently) and that we had to go up to Américas ave. which was just one street further up. By this time both Becky and I are thinking great now we have missed the bus because it might only come by once every 15-30 min. So we sit, and sit and sit... what do we see... blue bus, blue bus, and oh look another blue bus just passed. In the mean time with my handy little iPhone i manage to find out that its not a green bus that we are looking for, its actually a Pink and White one. Hmm, after being there for around 1 hr now and not having even seen such a bus we start doubting there is a bus around there for the Equator. We waited just a little longer, and then gave up our conquest for the middle of the world and headed, with our heads down, back to the room but wait, whats that... MOVIES!

Hehe one thing that is great about Latin America (L.A.) is the massive amounts of cheap, decent quality movies one can encounter here. If the store is bigger too, you´re in for luck! The other day I found the 4th season of Lost, my favorite t.v. show, and since ABC does not let viewers outside the US watch the series online in HD, i had to buy it. Today though, i was on a quest to find Becky some of my favorite movies (The Fountain & Atonement) which we could not find in the little store by our place, and after passing over the shelves for the 50th time, The Fountain jumped out at me! I was excited , but we have yet to watch it. We got back to the room and popped in a movie called Over Her Dead Body, which is about this girl who dies on her wedding day and comes back and Haunts her ex fiance. It was pretty funny. I also bought the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. I actually just watched it and i liked it.

Yesterday after watching Over Her Dead Body, we had José take us to the Equator. Its only about a 20 min north of Quito. I got to balance an egg on a nail and i technically was in both hemispheres at the same time! It was cool and i took lots of pics that I'm trying to upload now. We went to this really cool crater called, Pululahua, which is inhabited. Its the highest inhabited volcano in the world apparently. It was really cool because as we were driving up the mountains the clouds were rolling down and it got dark all of the sudden and cold. We also stood on this ledge and looked down as the clouds and winds tore up the towering sides of this huge crater. I swear i almost got pneumonia standing out there it was so cold.

We got back to the room and i took a little nap and then we went out for Pinchos, which to me is basically meat and potatoes, but it is one of the local types of foods. I had a BBQ chicken breast pincho which was amazing! I love the little bowl of spices that they always have on the tables here, its so tasty! And Aji, don't let me get started on that salsa. Its really good! Anyways, we saw a commercial for these chocolate covered ice cream bars that i had to have one. I don't know why, but that commerical made me desire one! It was either the exotic girl draped in flowy blue fabrics, or the way she bit into the chocolate, idk.. probably the blue dress. So, therefore we forced José to walk with us around to every convenience store to find one, the first 2 didn't have them, and then we finally found them in something of a department store. Becky and i needed the chocolate for our night of watching Atonement. It was great, we plopped down, ate chocolate and loved it! Anyways, Becky and i have been really lazy and haven't left our room today, so we are going to go grab some grub. Ill post later.

Sorry i take it back..

i actually like Papaya.. (sry Cass...)

In Mexico the Papaya was this interesting pinkish color that had this weird chemically taste to it. I didn't like it at all but it was served for breakfast every morning, so i lived with it until the watermelon, mango, and cantaloupe arrived. But here is Ecuador the papaya looks like a mango. Its yellow like a mango and taste mistakenly familiar. Today at breakfast i thought i was eating mango and Becky contested and said that it was papaya, i really couldn't believe her but she is the expert here I'm not. Anyways, the yellow papaya is the good one, its more sweet and doesn't taste "unique." The mangos here though apparently are more pink and they actually are the ones that i was told in Mexico dont taste as good as the yellow ones, however the skin on the outside looks a lot cooler because its a greenish-red color at times. So, words of advice, eat the fruit that is more of a yellow color, its better.

Its interesting, very interesting, well actually not too surprising at all really. I'm at this café in a part of Quito that Becky calls "Gringo-landia" because of the high percentage of white people who reside here. Anyways, while i was on the phone every other person who walked by was of a white complexion and every Ecuadorian girl who walked by stared like someone was having sex in the booth. The phone booth i was in had one walk that faced the sidewalk and it was a full widow. Secondly, when i got off the phone they started playing Apologize by One Republic, and then Bejörk ¿sp? Its just funny to me.

Last night Becky and I planned out our month and it looks really exciting, i cant wait to take some photos of these places and explain them. Its going to be great! I also found the 4th season of Lost on DVD here and i had to buy it. The complete season only coasted me $9 hehe. I missed the season finale and in México my host sister would watch the episodes with me, so therefore i had to buy it. The season finale was.. well yeah.. its Lost if anyone knows what that means.. pretty much you're lost.

I got an email and apparently my brother watched a bank robbery in Seattle and filmed it with his phone and then was interviewed by King County 5 News. But here is the link to that, http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=259602 It wont work here so i havent seen it but i think it sounds interesting from what i hear. Its interesting knowing whats going on at home while I'm abroad, its nice because i wont be too out of it when i come back but it also feels kind of weird because I'm so far away.

Anyways, Becky and I are headed out for su-shi with José in a minute (I've been craving su-shi ever since i made some in México with my friends) and then we are going to go to the Artisans market after. I hear its really good and worth it. Ill post later.

P.S. Becky is reading my blog right now on another computer and its funny watching her reactions. I didn't know that you could tell the bus driver to stop when your friend isn't on the bus with you, like Scott in Tepozlan. Who would have thought. It was actually really funny watching the whole scene play out with my sitting across the isle watching as Courtney waves her arms through the air at the closed window and knocks on it trying and grab Scott's attention who is like 50 ft away. Their reactions were priceless. That's all for now.

I´d swim across lake Michigan...

My Bad guys... i changed the settings on my blog so now you can post comments without having an account. So feel free.

I'm just getting over some sickness that i had yesterday. Jose thinks that it was a stomach infection from contact with some of the local water, i really don't know what it was. I just hurt and felt like i was burning up all the while i was shivering. I'm also adjusting to the high altitude here so i have a mild case of altitude sickness. I'm however feeling much better now, water and sleep and advil makes miracles.

Yesterday, Becky, Jose, and I went up to the Virgin of Quito, which is this huge statue of the virgin who is standing on top of a snake. It was on top of this hill that is in the center of Quito i think, and you can just see the new parts of Quito stretch into the distance one way, and the rest stretch out the other way. Quito is not too wide but its quite long, apparently at least 40 km. The view was beautiful at the top and there are these mountains that lay just to the east of the statue that are gorgeous. I took lots of photos and a video too.

Just so everyone knows in the family, i have officially meet Jose. He´s a really cool guy and jokes around a lot. I think he is nice, and I'm happy for Becky :) We just roughly planned out our month together and it looks like its going to be a Blast! I cant wait. We´re starving though so were headed out to grab a bite to eat now. Gotta go.