Ecuadorable

We finally left our beautiful nature palace of Mindo this week. It was a bittersweet goodbye as I enjoyed lounging around in hammocks and having a hot shower, but I am also ready to get on with the rest of our adventure. There are so many more amazing stops along the way and I just have to enjoy each one while they last.

We are currently in Quito. Normally I am not a fan of cities, but you just have to like Quito. It has the architecture of Europe, the crowds of New York and the personality of Latin America. Just today as we were sitting outside eating lunch we saw two people walking by on stilts. It’s casual.

As many of you know, we aren’t allowed to have phones on this trip so the only way of communication with the outside world is through Internet. In Mindo we had to go into town to get WiFi, but in Quito it is everywhere. Now this is a good and a bad thing.

The good thing is I have been able to communicate with several people back home and got to have several of my gap year friends meet my high school friends. And I won’t deny that it is nice to be able to stalk people on Facebook and see who is still dating who. But Internet isn’t always all smiles. It’s also very stressful. There are very few computers and and so many of us who all have equal desire to speak to loved ones. Needless to say I will be slightly relieved when we move in with our host families on Bua.

Other than slight Internet drama, things have been smooth sailing. I am a little antsy to get started with the education and service part of our time here. So far there has been a lot of down time and while I do enjoy it, it’s a little too tempting to simply sleep the day away. I’m excited to find the purpose in every day.

I still have no regrets in taking a gap year. These past couple of weeks are already way better than sitting in a college dorm room.

We are leaving on Monday for Bua and I’m not sure when we will have Internet next. Stay posted