Okay, so here are some pictures finally! Taken with the lovely Hannah Goldberg´s Camera (since my lovely camera decided to crap out yesterday right before we went diving with sharks. yeah, i dont want to talk about it, im not a happy camper!) but anyways, this morning we had a free day so Megan, Hannah, Ginny, Tim, and I went to la lobaría--a place to see black marine iguanas, sea lions, and sea turtles. It was amazing. In these first three pictures there are tons black iguanas in the background. the last one is just a cute picture from machallia that i found on the camera and wanted to post.

Feels Like Home.... almost.

So today we drove on a real blacktop paved road! It had painted lines and everything!! It made me a little homesick.

The driving here is the funniest thing. Our bus driver, Juanito, is amazing. Our bus (Tricia and I named it Azul) has gone through the most ridiculous places thanks to the skills of Juanito. It has trekked to the jungle, through giant puddles, over rickety bridges, and through the tiny cobblestone streets of Baños, Montañita, Quito, and the five million other places we've been. As as testimonial to how amazing Juanito is, here is his best moment thus far: We were late for an activity and the bus was trying to navigate a narrow road. There was this little car parked directly in the way. After an attempt to get around it (foiled by the edge of a roof we were close to hitting). Juanito got out, opened the door of the car, hot wired it, and moved it out of our way. Needless to say, we made it on time--and Juanito became the God of all motor vehicles.

So not we are in Quito! We know the streets, the restaurants, and the good internet cafes (hence this post). It almost feels like home! Well, except for the fact that we are back to cold showers with tubs that don't drain.

Yesterday we were at Cotopaxi and we actually got to climb the glacier as high as our guide would let us go. The view was incredible. It was freezing cold and it started to storm so we had to turn around go back to the lodge, but it was okay because we were all dying--the trek to the lodge was about an hour, straight uphill, at 4800m--and that was just to the lodge. But anyways it was amazing.

Today, we went mountain biking and rock climbing. It was a lot of fun, and a nice rest from the extreme sports we have been doing (puenting, glacier hiking, ect.). So anyways, everyone is going to dinner and they are waiting for me to finish up here sooooo ¡!ciao!¡

JUMP JUMP JUMP JUMP!

So I don´t even know where to begin. I don´t even know where I left off.

We left Montañita and came to Baños where we had the most amazing shower. We voted the Hostel the best shower in Ecuador. We spent the night in El Marques Posada, and then left early in the morning for our tour of the jungle. On the way there, we mountain biked over 30 kilometers (about 11 miles) along the Avenue of the Waterfalls. Not only was the view incredible, but we would pass random waterfalls that just flowed through the road! There were no baracades or fences--just natural flowing water alongside of a ¨highway.¨

After the bike ride, we went white water rafting down the Río Blanco(I think?). The boys were all in a team and of course, they flipped their raft twice completely, and each one of them fell out an additional 5 times. They took it like champs though. It was insane white water rafting there because on one side you had insane mountain elevations, and on the other there were these amazing planes where my guide told me the Incas were known to have lived (I´m pretty sure thats what he said--it was in spanish).

If that weren´t enough to tire us out, our guide said we had some extra time. He told us that we could go to a monkey reservation. We were all ready to pass out at that point but who says NO to a monkey reservation in Ecuador? The reservation was nothing like we expected. We walked into this fenced in area (it was pretty big) and adorable tree monkeys started climbing all over us. No joke, we literally held them like babies in our arms. They would swing above us and then land on our heads, and climb from person to person. It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. This cute little anteater was chillen there too so we got to pet an anteater! Who does that?¿!¡

After that we were completely ready for bed. In our wooden huts. In the middle of the jungle. There was very little running water there and only electricity in the kitchen so everything was by candlelight or flashlight. The bathrooms were also outhouses. Cleaner than I excpected though (but I mean I didnt have high expectations)! So then we woke up and we went for a 5 hour jungle hike (Meg Greg and I chose the long/hard hike). We literally treked through the jungle going uphill, downhill, over trees adn plants and under them, once in awhile stopping for lessons on the medicinal and edible plants that we passed. There were tons of different guides and I´m 100% confident we had the coolest. For one thing, he takes this leaf and it has two little sacs that he tells us taste like lemons when we suck the juice out. We all try it and he makes sure we tasted the lemon (offering more if we didnt). Then, he opens up one of the little sacs. I swear like 20 ants crawled out of it. HE MADE US EAT ANTS!

We were all glad he tricked us. The other groups all had to lick ants off their own hands. I liked not knowing. After that we did a ton of other things-- including taking something for a stuffynose that hurt realy bad but cleared all of our sinuses! At the end of the hike was this huge hidden waterfall that we had to swim through an alcove to get to. We jumped of a tree towards it and dove through it. Then we took another hour hike home where we scafed down the ecuadorian tacos they made us!

So then we went to this artisan shop (where I dropped 20 bucks on presents-- which is like buying 98 waterbottles here because everything is so cheap). Then we canoed to the next jungle huts we would be in.

I´m going to skip a lot and just go to the cool part here. WE JUMPED OFF A BRIDGE!

We went puenting off of a 100ft drop. Greg went first. We all screamed for him (he screamed too haha). Meg greg and I went backwards. Probably the weirdest feeling ever. We all felt funny because usually you are talking someone down from jumping off a bridge, whereas we were screaming for everyone to go. pushing yourself away from solid ground into nothing, and plummeting down towards trees and a rapidly flowing river is the weirdest thing I have ever done. I almost wouldnt believe it if I hadnt gotten it on tape. It was insane.

Apparently jumping off a bridge isnt cool enough for one day, so we had to go waterfall repelling too! BEAUTIFUL and an amazing feeling. We went for about 4 hours yesterday and I could do it for 8 more today. I cant even describe how cool it was to lower yourself through a waterfall with water pounding against you. We went over 4 waterfalls repelling, ziplined down one and slid down 3 more.

Today we are resting at a spa day with isv. An additional 25 dollars for a 60min stone massage with all the extras.... I love Ecuador.