Oh how fast the time has passed...

I cannot believe that over three months have past since I arrived in Ecuador! Tomorrow night I will be returning to the United States after an adventurous and intriguing three months in the beautiful country of Ecuador. I have learned so much about the people, the politics, the land, and the language here, but I have become more confused about how time passes. At times, like my first week or two here, the time crawls along. Then there are some weeks that fly by so fast that you can barely remember the days that made them up.

The past ten days have certainly flown by, but I have great memories and photos to remember them by. On the 13th, my parents and Garett arrived in the airport here in Quito around midnight. After waiting for hours in the airport for their arrival, I was quite excited when they showed up...they spotted me right away in the crowd of those awaiting the arrival of their guests. Although not the only gringo in the bunch, I was jumping the highest and waving the most. I smothered each of them in hugs...and thus began our adventure.

For seven days we traveled Ecuador. With the help of a member of my sponsor Rotary Club here in Quito (a German man who owns a travel agency), I selected a route and hired a guide to show us as much of the country as would be possible in 7 days without killing ourselves. The Galapagos was out of our budget and would not fit into our time frame and since SC has plenty of beaches of its own, I opted for a combination of city, mountains, and jungle. We stayed one night in Quito, and then bright and early met our guide...Edisson, or fast Edy as we jokingly called him, and head out.

Our first stop was the beautiful Papallacta fresh water thermal pools about an hour and half outside of Quito. The resort where we had reservations had 16 of its own pools, full of either cold water flowing from the mountains or hot water heated by the surrounding volcanoes. On clear days, like the following morning, you can see amazing views of the Antisana Volcanoe. Unfortunately, Garett and I had only a short time to soak in the pools before Edy had to bring us back to Quito because I had to be there the following morning to extend my Visa and avoiding paying a large fine. Bad news...we didn't get to hang out int he pools as long as we wanted. Good news...we got back in time to watch the Ecuador soccer game...a qualifier for the World Cup. More bad news...Ecuador lost. Good news...we had fun anyway.

From Papallacta, we had a 3 hour ride to a jungle border town called Misahualli. There, we visited a small town park full of tiny monkeys. After a quick stop, we headed about 30 minutes further into the jungle to our resort called Cotococha. There, we had our own cabins over looking a river and surrounded by tropical plants...luckily with hot showers, but without electricity. We spent two nights in the jungle lodge. On our second day, we took a long canoe ride, stopping again to visit the monkey park and then a little further down the river to an animal refuge. Here, volunteers work to rehabilitate injured or domesticated wild animals, and if they can, re-release them into the wild. Many of the animals were once captured and kept as pets and then abandoned, captured, or turned in but were unable to survive in the wild. We saw various types of monkeys, a jungle cat, toucans, parrots, the smallest monkey in the world, and the largest rodent in the world (the capybara). After an interesting tour there, we continued down the river a bit for a picnic lunch and chance to swim. After lunch, we traveled back up the river and visited an indigenous community. We were given a demonstration of how the indigenous women form and decorated ceramic pots using all natural materials, including minerals for paint. We also witnessed, and tried out our aim, at shooting a small dart waited down with a small piece of cotton through a long narrow tube. The instrument is a weapon used by indigenous cultures to hunt prey, or back in the day---enemies. The type of the dart or needle is rubbed on the back of a poisonous frog to give the weapon extra potency. Our target...a balsa wood parrot. I missed.

After a fun night in the jungle getting to know our fellow travelers from Australia, India, and the Netherlands, we headed out the next morning. Our first stop was the Paillon del Diable, or the Devils Caldron...an impressive waterfall on the route from the jungle to my favorite little town of Banos. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do a hike or rent go carts, but I was at least hoping that my parents and Garett would give cuy, or roasted guinea pig, a try since it would be the best opportunity to do so along our trip (the best cuy comes from another city called Ambato). Unfortunately, they wimped out when they saw the poor little guys roasting away on sticks, with their little paws and teeth still clearly visible.

From Banos, we headed to the foot of Ecuador's largest mountain, Chimborazo. Once an active volcanoe, today it is snow-capped and quiet. To climb it, you need to be an expert with all the requirred picks and snow gear and required days of training and acclimitization. Instead, we checked into the Hacienda we were staying in and then had a nice dinner and went to bed. The next morning, we went for an easy hike through the surrounding farmland, learning about the plants, indigenous culture, and the mountains of Ecuador. We learned north of Chimborazo, there are no mountains taller and then if you measured from the center of the Earth to the top of Chimborazo, it would be the tallest mountain on the planet, due to the bulge of the Earth at the Equador (the Earth is not a perfect circle). From there, we had a long car ride to Cuenca, the cute colonial town in the south of the country.

Cuenca has many beautiful old churches, cobblestone roads, and interesting Spanish style architecture. In 1999, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Quito also has this title). It is also home to some of Ecuador's only Inca ruins, although they are just small remants of a few walls, and only two hours from the largest Inca ruins in the country (called Ingapirca), and a short distance from the Caja Nacional Park. There, we toured the city, visited the churches, witnessed the difference in the indigenous cultures (the women here dress completely different then the indigenous women in the rest of the country), and observed Inca artifacts in a small museum near our hotel. After two nights there, we took a short flight back to Quito.

In Quito, we visited my school and the historic center of the city. We picked a good day to visit the school because that day, they were preparing a delicious drink called colada morada. It is a drink prepared for the Day of the Dead, the 2nd of November, when the people visit the graves of deceased loved ones. They believe that on this day, the spirits of the dead can best return to visit so they bring the beverage, a bread called Guaguas (Babies in Quichua) de Pan, and sometimes the favorite dish of the dead person to eat in the cementaries. We got to try the bread and delicious drink (a hot drink made from slowly cooking pineapples and other tropical fruits then adding them to a slow cooked blackberry and sugar mixture). It was great. We tried to take a gondolah ride up to hike the mountains around the city and check out the views but it was closed for maintenance. Instead we visited the old city and the central plaza. We had lunch then a relaxing afternoon (naps for the men, shopping for the women) before having dinner with my host family.

After watching Liga, my favorite soccer team, play and tie in an important game, we got a few hours of sleep before my parents and Garett head to leave the hotel (at 4 am) to head the airport. They should be arriving in Charlotte any minute now! As for me, I had lunch with friends one last time today and tomorrow night, I myself will head to the airport to catch my 11:30 pm flight. By 9:30 am Friday morning, I will be back stateside. Amazing how the time flies!