another amazing week in ecuador! i'm still behind in my blog, but here is what went down last week...
last saturday, 14 friends and i hopped on a bus en route to papallacta, the "thermal baths place." for the first time ever (in the history of ecuadorian travel) we arrived early! we hopped off the crowded bus and instead of walking 3 kilometers entirely uphill to our hostel, naturally, we jumped in the back of two pick up trucks that took us right to the front door of our hostel for 50 cents each. doesn't get much better than that! and our hostel was the cutest thing ever. picture a stone bungalow surrounded by 5 beautiful jacuzzis and adorable little cabins - yep, that's where we got to spend the weekend! we immediately got in our bathing suits and hiked up the road to the official papallacta thermal baths. everyone was a little annoyed that it cost $8 to enter the baths, but i wasn't complaining because the lady only charged me $3 - the 12 year old price - i never thought i would be 20 years old and still love being mistaken for a child, but i was stoked! so the cool thing about these termas/hot springs is that they are located near the papallacta river and completely naturally heated by volcanoes!! my only complaint? they really need a sign that tells you the approximate temperature of each bath because my about burned my leg off when i accidentally went for a dip in the HOTTEST THERMAL BATH. anyway, the place was gorgeous and it didn't even matter that it was slightly drizzling because we were perfectly content in the baths. we got a delish lunch right down the road. papallacta is known for its fresh trucha, or trout and they are not lying when they say "fresh." the fish still had its head, teeth, and everything completely in tact. another time i am happy to be a vegetarian - i really cannot imagine biting into something while staring straight into its eyes. basically, we spent the entire afternoon, evening, and night relaxing in different thermal baths at our hostel and i had the prune phalanges to prove it. the next day, after an absolutely scrumptious and absolutely free breakfast at our hostel, we took one last dip in the jacuzzi then wandered around the town of papallacta wasting time. we weren't able to go horse back riding or get back massages, but i just see it as another reason to go back to papallacta again in the future...
so that was the wonderful weekend! normally, the weekend adventures are the most exciting part of my week. well this week, wednesday stole the cake. (warning: if you are my facebook friend you have probs already heard this story and you can stop reading now. but the following story is definitely blog worthy).
so this past wednesday night started out like any other wednesday night - my girl friends and i went to ladies night at club bungalow and then went dancing at the salsa club. these hangouts are in la mariscal (aka grinoglandia, and therefore home to many robbers and pickpocketers looking to steal from the "rich foreigners") and a couple of my friends had their bags slashed in la mariscal the weekend before, so we were being extra careful. anyway, as i was leaving a salsa club with my friends, a guy ripped my purse off my neck and took off running down the street. i immediately ran after him screaming english profanities and weaving in and out of taxis. after about 2 blocks of straight sprinting, i caught up to the robber and knocked him to the ground. and this would be a good time to thank all my sports coaches. i dont think the robber knew he was messing with a girl who had been running suicides all her life. so continuing... the guy crumbled to the ground and i snatched my purse back. but as i took my purse back, still screaming at him, the jerk ripped my necklace off my neck. i have no idea why he did that - i was literally standing over him and had complete control over him. i immediately snatched my broken necklace out of his hands but i lost the key pendant in the process. about 30 seconds later, my two friends (who had been running after me translating what i was yelling in english to spanish) and 10 random ecuadorian men who i had never seen before, rushed to my side. the next few minutes are a little blurry but i do remember looking up and seeing the thief naked in the corner because the ecuadorians made him strip to see if he had any other stolen goods! my friends and i kept yelling pare pare! aka stop because i really didnt want the ecuadorians to hurt the guy i just really wanted my pendant back. long story short, the police showed up soon after, but by this time the ecuadorians had already taken the thief to an alley. oh and then the police offered to give my friends and i a free ride home. yay! but in typical ecuadorian fashion, the police started hitting on us and were complete creepers, so we had to escape the police car and get a taxi home. woahhhh weirdest night ever, huh? i don't think i have ever been so mad, sad, scared, yet excited in one situation! i was, and still am, really upset about my necklace. this was my favorite necklace that i wear all the time. caitlin gave to me when i was graduating 8th grade as the "keys" to high school! anyway, the good thing is im okay and this occurrence has made me famous at the university! yesterday, my friend and i were telling the story of our wild wednesday night when a girl overheard what we were talking about. she came over to me and said "you are the girl who tackled a robber? wow nice to meet you!" ... my sister erin called me an absolute idiot for chasing after the robber. looking back, yeah i guess it was kinda a stupid move on my part, but hey, i still have a broken purse, my phone, $20, house keys, the copy of my passport, a great story i can tell forever, and im famous. so consider yourself warned - dont mess with this gringa!
chau!
shannon
fresh trucha. cant you see the fried teeth?
the thermal baths at our hostal!
julia + me + jacob + self timer = :)
papallacta. que linda!
last saturday, 14 friends and i hopped on a bus en route to papallacta, the "thermal baths place." for the first time ever (in the history of ecuadorian travel) we arrived early! we hopped off the crowded bus and instead of walking 3 kilometers entirely uphill to our hostel, naturally, we jumped in the back of two pick up trucks that took us right to the front door of our hostel for 50 cents each. doesn't get much better than that! and our hostel was the cutest thing ever. picture a stone bungalow surrounded by 5 beautiful jacuzzis and adorable little cabins - yep, that's where we got to spend the weekend! we immediately got in our bathing suits and hiked up the road to the official papallacta thermal baths. everyone was a little annoyed that it cost $8 to enter the baths, but i wasn't complaining because the lady only charged me $3 - the 12 year old price - i never thought i would be 20 years old and still love being mistaken for a child, but i was stoked! so the cool thing about these termas/hot springs is that they are located near the papallacta river and completely naturally heated by volcanoes!! my only complaint? they really need a sign that tells you the approximate temperature of each bath because my about burned my leg off when i accidentally went for a dip in the HOTTEST THERMAL BATH. anyway, the place was gorgeous and it didn't even matter that it was slightly drizzling because we were perfectly content in the baths. we got a delish lunch right down the road. papallacta is known for its fresh trucha, or trout and they are not lying when they say "fresh." the fish still had its head, teeth, and everything completely in tact. another time i am happy to be a vegetarian - i really cannot imagine biting into something while staring straight into its eyes. basically, we spent the entire afternoon, evening, and night relaxing in different thermal baths at our hostel and i had the prune phalanges to prove it. the next day, after an absolutely scrumptious and absolutely free breakfast at our hostel, we took one last dip in the jacuzzi then wandered around the town of papallacta wasting time. we weren't able to go horse back riding or get back massages, but i just see it as another reason to go back to papallacta again in the future...
so that was the wonderful weekend! normally, the weekend adventures are the most exciting part of my week. well this week, wednesday stole the cake. (warning: if you are my facebook friend you have probs already heard this story and you can stop reading now. but the following story is definitely blog worthy).
so this past wednesday night started out like any other wednesday night - my girl friends and i went to ladies night at club bungalow and then went dancing at the salsa club. these hangouts are in la mariscal (aka grinoglandia, and therefore home to many robbers and pickpocketers looking to steal from the "rich foreigners") and a couple of my friends had their bags slashed in la mariscal the weekend before, so we were being extra careful. anyway, as i was leaving a salsa club with my friends, a guy ripped my purse off my neck and took off running down the street. i immediately ran after him screaming english profanities and weaving in and out of taxis. after about 2 blocks of straight sprinting, i caught up to the robber and knocked him to the ground. and this would be a good time to thank all my sports coaches. i dont think the robber knew he was messing with a girl who had been running suicides all her life. so continuing... the guy crumbled to the ground and i snatched my purse back. but as i took my purse back, still screaming at him, the jerk ripped my necklace off my neck. i have no idea why he did that - i was literally standing over him and had complete control over him. i immediately snatched my broken necklace out of his hands but i lost the key pendant in the process. about 30 seconds later, my two friends (who had been running after me translating what i was yelling in english to spanish) and 10 random ecuadorian men who i had never seen before, rushed to my side. the next few minutes are a little blurry but i do remember looking up and seeing the thief naked in the corner because the ecuadorians made him strip to see if he had any other stolen goods! my friends and i kept yelling pare pare! aka stop because i really didnt want the ecuadorians to hurt the guy i just really wanted my pendant back. long story short, the police showed up soon after, but by this time the ecuadorians had already taken the thief to an alley. oh and then the police offered to give my friends and i a free ride home. yay! but in typical ecuadorian fashion, the police started hitting on us and were complete creepers, so we had to escape the police car and get a taxi home. woahhhh weirdest night ever, huh? i don't think i have ever been so mad, sad, scared, yet excited in one situation! i was, and still am, really upset about my necklace. this was my favorite necklace that i wear all the time. caitlin gave to me when i was graduating 8th grade as the "keys" to high school! anyway, the good thing is im okay and this occurrence has made me famous at the university! yesterday, my friend and i were telling the story of our wild wednesday night when a girl overheard what we were talking about. she came over to me and said "you are the girl who tackled a robber? wow nice to meet you!" ... my sister erin called me an absolute idiot for chasing after the robber. looking back, yeah i guess it was kinda a stupid move on my part, but hey, i still have a broken purse, my phone, $20, house keys, the copy of my passport, a great story i can tell forever, and im famous. so consider yourself warned - dont mess with this gringa!
chau!
shannon
papallacta. que linda!
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