A Great Weekend

Woohoo, this weekend was awesome.

Our trip to Papallacta was very relaxing. (Except for part of the bus ride where we were on what should have been a one-lane dirt road with a rock wall on one side, a cliff on the other, and a semi truck barrelling down towards us. Somehow the drivers of each massive vehicle managed to figure it out, but it was craaazy!) We did a short hike when we got there, which was kind of like walking through a fairy land with all sorts of vegetation and a beautiful river set in between huge green mountains. Then we went to the hot spring baths to hang out for awhile. Awesome! There is also a spot where you can jump in the river that comes down from the mountains, which I´m going to guess was about 45 degrees. We did that twice and then immediately ran back to the hot springs. After our baths, we got dressed in our comfy clothes and headed down the street for dinner. There are a couple cheapy restaurants in the town that the other vols said were delicious, but my host brother invited me to eat at a nearby hotel, which was more expensive but a great choice. Trout is the main cuisine there, so I ordered trout with a garlic sauce that was amazing. It also came with really fresh vegetables, wine-soaked cabbage, and seasoned potatoes. The mora-guanabana juice was also fantastic. Our meal was about $10 a person, which is total baller style in Ecuador. Usually our almuerzos cost somewhere between $2 and $4 with everything included.

Today I had more delicious food, thanks to the same host brother, Alex. After we played basketball, we decided to save the pan de yuca and yogurt for another time and went to one of his favorite restaurants. We ordered pizzas, salads, and desserts to go and took them back to Alex´s apartment to share. We had a perfectly seasoned and not too heavy white pizza; a pizza with sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, and garlic; a salad with mango, ham, carrots, and several different types of lettuce; and a mexican-style salad with tortilla chips, black beans, and cheese. For desert we got 2 cheesecakes: almond-macadamia and blackberry. HEAVEN. It was another expensive meal ($25 for four of us, oh my god) but it was absolutely the best food I´ve had in Ecuador and still some of the best food I´ve had anywhere so far in my life. Sure beats an almuerzo of chicken and white rice, which is the standard here.

Basketball was really fun again today and I actually scored some points, which of course made the day even better! I was sad to miss a trip to Ibarra with Jenny and Pablo (my host parents) today, but such is life. Now I have the rest of the day to relax and I think I will watch some good old American TV - we have super cable here! - and read for awhile. The upcoming week is our last of orientation! It´s hard to believe that I have been her for almost a month already. My friend Jess and I, along with our field director, are going out with a bang though. Next Thursday we are all going to a salon that Alex and Javier (again, my host brothers) run/own/I´m not quite sure...to be haircut and makeup models. Should be really really entertaining!

I´m going to attempt to make some more phone calls, since no one out of 5 people answered the first time around. RAWR! But keep reading. Miss you guys! Come visit! Ecuador rules!