Ecuador

Well I can now say I´ve been to the southern hemisphere! Even if it was just Quito, haha. :) Ecuador was awesome and beautiful, though surprisingly FREEZING. Of course, I´m probably just too accostomed to Panama heat, but I was very very very cold. At night anyway. But it was so wonderful to see Alicia and travel a little bit of Ecua-land. Her site, Mindo, is very different than mine. Large and quite touristy. And with a large high school that´s actually organized. We went ziplining while there which was awesome. I´ve never been before, but it was super fun. We were really high with amazing views and just surrounded by some stunning jungle. At one point the four of us (me, Alicia and our 2 guides) got stuck in the middle of a cable line when we stopped to look at a small waterfall below us. Being the one on the end I had to pull the four of us back to the platform, hand over hand on the cable. Holy god that hurt. I´m pretty sure they did it on purpose too cause how could they not know we would get stuck when you actually stop on a cable line? But it was still super fun and worth it. On Friday we stayed at the home of one of the teacher´s in Alicia´s school in a town called Ibarra. They are a very nice family and very welcoming. Then we headed to a huge artisian market on Saturday morning in Otavalo where it might be a good thing my ATM card wasn´t working and hence I had no money or I probably would´ve spent most of it there. But I did get 2 beautiful scarves (thin ones that I can still wear out in Panama) and of course a shot glass to add to my collection. On Saturday afternoon we picked up Jenni at the airport and headed to the equator memorial thing. Took lots of fun, silly pictures. Then, being that Jenni, Alicia and I were all finally back together, we went dancing of course! That was a blast. Then I flew back to Panama on Sunday. And I didn´t get robbed! :-p The trip was awesome. And it was cool to share PC stories and life with Alicia. Ecuador is beautiful and I hope to make it back there someday to do more exploring. And next time I´ll remember to bring warmer clothes. I got back to my site yesterday and Loki grew so much in only a week! He´s gonna be bigger than I though, as his paws are finally showing his future size. And his fur is getting much lighter as well. He´s so cute! Gotta go get him vaccinated and neutered this week. Woo hoo. :)