once again another amazing trip this past weekend (and im leaving tomorrow night for the beach!)... i live a tough life, huh?
but before i tell you about the fabulous weekend trip, can i please tell you about the friday night from hell? so last semester, my host family had a girl named nichole who met an ecuadorian, fell madly in love with him, bought an apartment with him (and promise rings), and a couple months later, found herself getting a restraining order against him. the only good thing to come out of this mess? she has a fabulous apartment in downtown/old town quito. from her balcony, you can literally see all of old town quito, beautiful mountains, and it is quiet! so this past friday, nichole and her brother, who are delish cooks, decided to invite us all over for dinner. i left my house at 5:15 and walked down the street in the POURING RAIN to catch a cab. the lady at the cab place informed that they were absolutely no cabs answering their phones since it was rush hour on friday in the rain. i decide to wait in the rain because surely a taxi would come around. 30 minutes pass by. no taxi. i went back inside to change my clothes that were completely drenched and to call (using the house phone bc of course my cell is out of minutes) my friend who was waiting for me at the bus stop and tell her to go ahead without me because i honestly thought i wouldnt make it to the party. so then i went back outside and finally a tax came around. oh but of course the driver had to be in another part of town in 20 minutes so he couldnt take me. why did he even stop? so luckily another taxi came by, but splashes me in the process. he agreed to take me to the bus stop, oh but when he found out i only had a twenty dollar bill he made me get out. 10 minutes and 12 inches of rain later, a taxi came along and was totally willing to take me to the bus and accepts $20! well the bus stop is like a 20 minute walk away, so i figured a 5 minute taxi ride WELL NOT IN RUSH HOUR! literally it took us 30 minutes to get to the bus. okay so i got on the crowded bus and realized i had my phone, camera, and passport in my pocket! dont ask me how all my important valuables ended up with me on the bus after dark. basically, i rode the bus for 40 minutes, not knowing which stop to get off at and just hoping the name will ring a bell when i see it, and end up missing the stop. nichole finally called me (again, i had no minutes on phone and therefore no way of calling anyone), i got back on the bus, walked up two blocks of sketchiness, just barely dodged a man who was tossing buckets of water out his window, and finally made it to nicholes house safely but just 2 hours late. but im on ecuadorian time right? and it all worked out okay bc they were still cooking, and being a vegetarian, i got to get my plate first yayayay!
and on to the weekend... ten friends and i hopped on the bus for MINDO on saturday morning. mindo is a quaint little cloud-forest town northwest of quito. my host family said it would take over 4 hours to get there, but we (and especially my bladder) were all pleasantly surprised when we arrived in just over 2 hours! when we got off the $2.50 bus, we were greeted by claudia, the owner of our hostel. she seemed super cool and sweet, but we realized she was a little creepy when she watched us the entire time we ate breakfast. but when we saw the adorable hostel "el rocio" we realized it was worth putting us with the crazy hostel mccookerson. no but for real, this hostel was precious! a cute outdoor patio for eating, beautiful flowers and luscious trees surrounding, 10 cute dogs, and the entire upstairs of the hostel (complete with hammocks and bunkbeds and a porch) all for us! all for $10, i love you ecuador.
we immediately changed and headed out to the canopy to do ziplining!! it cost $10 and they told me it was 13 cables, so i just assumed that meant we did one zipline 13 times. oh man was i wrong! we ziplined for over 3 hours, riding down 13 different zipline cables, while overlooking the rainforest. the only downside was it was pouring rain, pouring rain like ive never seen rain pour, pouring rain as in there was not a single dry inch on my body, the type of pouring rain you cant even imagine until you experience it. but im not lying when i say this ziplining experience one of the coolest things i have ever done! and when we were done and freezing cold, they called us a taxi to ride back to our hostel in. but we were so dirty and soaking wet, the man wouldnt let us sit in the car so all 10 of us had to ride in the bed of the truck, dodging tree branches, in the rain. and i STILL think that was one of the most fun things i have ever done! oh and funny story: my friend katy lost one of her shoes while flying 100 feet over the rainforest. it was pretty hilarious to witness but whats even crazier is the ziplining crew found her shoe (just so happened it fell precisely on the only path in the rainforest) and delivered it to the hostel later that night! hahahaha.
the next morning, after enjoying an awesome breakfast FOR FREE at our hostel, some of us went horseback riding. i like horses and its really relaxing riding through the canyons of mindo and i love getting my moneys worth, but really, i will never ride a horse for 2 hours straight ever again. not only were my stirrups 2 feet to short and my saddle made of jagged steel, the horses had already been ridden earlier that morning and were gettin a little fiesty. apparently i got the horse that all the other horses despised. i dodged the other horses' many attempts at ramming me and thankfully made it without being bucked off my horse! after horseback riding, we made a quick stop at the mindo chocolate factory "el quetzel" and bought what was supposedly one of the best brownies ever. the brownie was pretty tasty, but any brownie for $3 in ecuador would be tasty, and i truly think my homemade brownies would give el quetzel a run for their money. and after that, we boarded the bus and headed home to quito! in between ziplining, and horseback riding, and brownie tasting, we did get a good feel of mindo, tested out some of the restaurants and bars, and hiked around a little bit, but there is just so much to do in this cute little town that i definitely want to go back. if you come visit me, i will take you to mindo!
so ive already been in ecuador for a month now and if you cant tell im having a pretty ridiculously amazing time here. even when im hiking uphill for 30 minutes from the bus stop to my house, im loving life! and im stoked that i still have 4 more months here :) oh so blessed!
chau!
shannon
view from breakfast at our hostal
in a "cable car" zooming over the rainforest
ziplining! perfect form.
before the horses attacked....
but before i tell you about the fabulous weekend trip, can i please tell you about the friday night from hell? so last semester, my host family had a girl named nichole who met an ecuadorian, fell madly in love with him, bought an apartment with him (and promise rings), and a couple months later, found herself getting a restraining order against him. the only good thing to come out of this mess? she has a fabulous apartment in downtown/old town quito. from her balcony, you can literally see all of old town quito, beautiful mountains, and it is quiet! so this past friday, nichole and her brother, who are delish cooks, decided to invite us all over for dinner. i left my house at 5:15 and walked down the street in the POURING RAIN to catch a cab. the lady at the cab place informed that they were absolutely no cabs answering their phones since it was rush hour on friday in the rain. i decide to wait in the rain because surely a taxi would come around. 30 minutes pass by. no taxi. i went back inside to change my clothes that were completely drenched and to call (using the house phone bc of course my cell is out of minutes) my friend who was waiting for me at the bus stop and tell her to go ahead without me because i honestly thought i wouldnt make it to the party. so then i went back outside and finally a tax came around. oh but of course the driver had to be in another part of town in 20 minutes so he couldnt take me. why did he even stop? so luckily another taxi came by, but splashes me in the process. he agreed to take me to the bus stop, oh but when he found out i only had a twenty dollar bill he made me get out. 10 minutes and 12 inches of rain later, a taxi came along and was totally willing to take me to the bus and accepts $20! well the bus stop is like a 20 minute walk away, so i figured a 5 minute taxi ride WELL NOT IN RUSH HOUR! literally it took us 30 minutes to get to the bus. okay so i got on the crowded bus and realized i had my phone, camera, and passport in my pocket! dont ask me how all my important valuables ended up with me on the bus after dark. basically, i rode the bus for 40 minutes, not knowing which stop to get off at and just hoping the name will ring a bell when i see it, and end up missing the stop. nichole finally called me (again, i had no minutes on phone and therefore no way of calling anyone), i got back on the bus, walked up two blocks of sketchiness, just barely dodged a man who was tossing buckets of water out his window, and finally made it to nicholes house safely but just 2 hours late. but im on ecuadorian time right? and it all worked out okay bc they were still cooking, and being a vegetarian, i got to get my plate first yayayay!
and on to the weekend... ten friends and i hopped on the bus for MINDO on saturday morning. mindo is a quaint little cloud-forest town northwest of quito. my host family said it would take over 4 hours to get there, but we (and especially my bladder) were all pleasantly surprised when we arrived in just over 2 hours! when we got off the $2.50 bus, we were greeted by claudia, the owner of our hostel. she seemed super cool and sweet, but we realized she was a little creepy when she watched us the entire time we ate breakfast. but when we saw the adorable hostel "el rocio" we realized it was worth putting us with the crazy hostel mccookerson. no but for real, this hostel was precious! a cute outdoor patio for eating, beautiful flowers and luscious trees surrounding, 10 cute dogs, and the entire upstairs of the hostel (complete with hammocks and bunkbeds and a porch) all for us! all for $10, i love you ecuador.
we immediately changed and headed out to the canopy to do ziplining!! it cost $10 and they told me it was 13 cables, so i just assumed that meant we did one zipline 13 times. oh man was i wrong! we ziplined for over 3 hours, riding down 13 different zipline cables, while overlooking the rainforest. the only downside was it was pouring rain, pouring rain like ive never seen rain pour, pouring rain as in there was not a single dry inch on my body, the type of pouring rain you cant even imagine until you experience it. but im not lying when i say this ziplining experience one of the coolest things i have ever done! and when we were done and freezing cold, they called us a taxi to ride back to our hostel in. but we were so dirty and soaking wet, the man wouldnt let us sit in the car so all 10 of us had to ride in the bed of the truck, dodging tree branches, in the rain. and i STILL think that was one of the most fun things i have ever done! oh and funny story: my friend katy lost one of her shoes while flying 100 feet over the rainforest. it was pretty hilarious to witness but whats even crazier is the ziplining crew found her shoe (just so happened it fell precisely on the only path in the rainforest) and delivered it to the hostel later that night! hahahaha.
the next morning, after enjoying an awesome breakfast FOR FREE at our hostel, some of us went horseback riding. i like horses and its really relaxing riding through the canyons of mindo and i love getting my moneys worth, but really, i will never ride a horse for 2 hours straight ever again. not only were my stirrups 2 feet to short and my saddle made of jagged steel, the horses had already been ridden earlier that morning and were gettin a little fiesty. apparently i got the horse that all the other horses despised. i dodged the other horses' many attempts at ramming me and thankfully made it without being bucked off my horse! after horseback riding, we made a quick stop at the mindo chocolate factory "el quetzel" and bought what was supposedly one of the best brownies ever. the brownie was pretty tasty, but any brownie for $3 in ecuador would be tasty, and i truly think my homemade brownies would give el quetzel a run for their money. and after that, we boarded the bus and headed home to quito! in between ziplining, and horseback riding, and brownie tasting, we did get a good feel of mindo, tested out some of the restaurants and bars, and hiked around a little bit, but there is just so much to do in this cute little town that i definitely want to go back. if you come visit me, i will take you to mindo!
so ive already been in ecuador for a month now and if you cant tell im having a pretty ridiculously amazing time here. even when im hiking uphill for 30 minutes from the bus stop to my house, im loving life! and im stoked that i still have 4 more months here :) oh so blessed!
chau!
shannon
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