First week in Ecuador: traveling the beautiful country!

The first night (saturday) in Ecuador we stayed in Quito, and the next morning we went to a museum in Quito and then traveled to Otavalo. The museum was of Oswaldo Guayasamín's paintings, who is from Quito. Otavalo is a town north of Quito known especially for its weavings of textiles and their market. While we were there, we got to meet a few different indigenous people in their homes and hear about their lifestyle and history. It was incredible, I will post some videos/pictures from those experiences. This was the first full day and already our group was bonding wonderfully together. 

After the market the next day (monday), we headed back to Quito (the capital city). On the way, we stopped at the equator! I have now had half of my body in one hemisphere and the other half in the other hemisphere, nbd ;) It was incredibly hot, and interesting. That night in Quito, we had dinner at a nice restaurant (thanks to North Park) with Covenant Christian missionaries. It was awesome to hear about various ministries and how to get connected to missionary work in Ecuador. After dinner, we celebrated Sarah's birthday upstairs at the bar. This was a memorial experience with fellow american (family) tourists buying us drinks. 

The next day (tuesday), we were off to the Amazon! We stayed at an ecolodge for 3 nights in Cotococha (literally meaning Monkey lagoon in Quichua). On the first full day in the jungle we took a boat ride on the napo river to an animal rescue center called the "amazOOnico" were we saw lots of interestingly beautiful animals and danced in a rain storm. Becky and I met one of our best friends Dani, who lives across the river. After a hike with our awesome guide Alfreado and Dani, we swung on a rope into the river and ate arroz con pollo on the bank of the napo. After lunch we went to an indigenous community where they demonstrated the finding of gold in the sand of the napo, preparation of types of food from the yuca-a root that tastes kind of like a potato, ceramics and painting, and blow darts. Even though we were soaking most of the day, it was awesome!!

The next full day in the jungle (Thursday), we took a hike to a beautiful waterfall were we went swimming and jumped off the waterfall-don't worry, not the top, and then went tubing down the river back to the lodge. After descansa y almuerzo we went to a mariposario where we saw all types of butterflies and humungo beechos (bugs).

Happy Friday! (although I would have never known what day if it wasn't for this nifty watch-thanks ma) After becky and I lugged our bags through the rock paths in the rain, to breakfast, we said chow to la selva and headed south. We stopped along the way at puyo and baños, and then stayed at a beautiful Hacienda. We had a wonderful dinner and some bailando as well! ¡que rico!  

The next morning (today!), Becky and I woke up early to again haul our lovely bags up multiple steps and runways, and then of course we took pictures with the vacas and such. After breakfast we were on our way to our new home, Cuenca!

Yet of course, on the way we stopped in a small town for a tire problema. But everything was okay, because we purchased esnacks :) and presumably there were chicos lindos that we talked to and I got to give my "jungle princess crown" (made by Alfreado out of a plant) to una chica, adorable. Through more "la gente" y "20 preguntas" games as well as songs and craziness and sleeping, we arrived in Cuenca! Everyone was anxious, even if we said we were only excited.

In CEDEI (our school) they set us students up in a room and our host families were concealed in the other room. They pulled back curtains (seriously) and por supesto, they bring in a women and have a drum role, and it's my host mamá! So I joined the anxious families as everyone else waited to be united. 

I mentioned previously shortly about my host family, and I'm sure there will be more to come! I hope you enjoyed, and managed through, some details of the past week, although there is much more if you are interested :) ¡hasta luego chicos!