I was floating 'neath a tropic moon And dreaming of a blue lagoon Now I'm crazy as a loon!! Quote from Muppet Treasure Island. That's probably my favorite song in that movie. Right, so this will probably be my last travel blog, since I get back in 20ish days. Take a look at all those beautiful pictures. I hope you guys do. It takes about, 2 hours or more to get them all on here. Right, so, Galápagos. Where I engaged in a staring contest with a seal and lost. Underwater. I lost because she blew bubbles at me and [View Full Entry]

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Well, again it's been a long time. This blog is going to be covering a visit to Quito and Ibarra, and then another visit to Ibarra, seperated by about a month I think. Ibarra if you didn't already know, is my favorite place in Ecuador. The city is so beautiful, the people are so nice, the accent is so cool, the food is so good, the arts and crafts around the province are the best in Ecuador, my best friends in Ecuador live there, I have a second house there (feels like it), it's cool during the day, cold at [View Full Entry]

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So, It's been a while. I've definitely neglected to write a blog on the trip down the Ruta del Sol for a long time. No matter. It's time. Let's see, where to begin. The Ruta del Sol is a large stretch of the coast of Ecuador that begins in Puerto Cayo and ends in Salinas. It's a big attraction to tourists and Ecuadorians, people from the sierra drool when they hear about it, and people on the coast...well, most get to enjoy it quite a bit. It has a lot of really, really nice beaches, most of the touristy beaches in [View Full Entry]

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Well, I guess that this blog is long overdue, I was intending to write it before I left for Chile, but I guess I'll have to combine them into a "Superblog." Now that I look at the photo selection, I'm going to name it a "Monsterblog." Man...I hope you guys enjoy all those photos I put up. Took me like 4 hours...though a 4 hours well spent. Internet here is sooooo slow. You guys had better read this and enjoy it...don't be fooled by the multiple pages of photos. Make sure you check them all out. They're all pretty cool. [View Full Entry]

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Hey! I suppose I should wish you all a "Merry Christmas," but I keep forgetting it's December. It just doesn't feel like Christmas down here. Try as I might, I just have no joy, no thrill that Christmas is coming. No singing, no snow, no getting ready for the Christmas concert at school right before break, no skiing, no hot tea, no cozy fires (oh, there's fires here, but they smell bad). Instead it's hot, dry, and...sunny. There's some cool stuff that's happened in December though. I managed to get to Quito for the "Fiestas of Quito" the first week of [View Full Entry]

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I guess things have been pretty busy here as of late. There's the same Christmas hype here that there is everywhere else. I think decorating was on the 7th. Pretty early. I'm already seeing commercials with Christmas themes. I doubt there'll be Thanksgiving here though. That's a shame. I'm going to miss the food I think. But hey, I've got my mangoes. There's mangoes up the wazoo here. There's probably about 10 different kinds too. Each has it's own distinct characteristics. They're so good. Only in season October until December, so, lots of mangoes all the [View Full Entry]

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I suppose it's too late to wish everyone a happy Hallowe'en. I believe they celebrate Hallowe'en here in Ecuador, just a different way. The coastal region has vacation the whole week of Hallowe'en and celebrates with fiestas, costume parties, stuff like that. I'm not sure about trick-or-treating here, I didn't see anyone going around asking for candy. The problem is that it's too dangerous at night here for little kids to go walking around by themselves. Also, all houses that you'd go to to get candy are surrounded by walls. I doubt anyone would answer the door t [View Full Entry]

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Hello everyone, I've just gotten back from about 4 days in the Napo Province of Ecuador. This is part of the Oriente region of Ecuador, a chunk of the Amazon to the right of the Andes. All of the YFU students (about 45 or so) met in Quito on the 10th. Buses here are great, you pay 9 dollars for a fare to Quito. The trip is about 9 hours long, but it isn't too bad. The "ejecutivo" bus system means that you won't be mugged, stabbed, have your baggage taken, stuff like that. Plus, there's air conditioning, usually you can [View Full Entry]

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Hello all you eager readers, I'm sure you're all DYING to read what I have to write...speaking of dying, there's probably a murder in Manabí just about every weekend. I get to see them in the paper I read every Sunday. What makes them so...noticeable...is the photos. Blood, blood, and more blood. No censoring in any papers here. Let me see, the last guy I read about was sitting in a chair by the side of the road in the evening when a car pulled up and men jumped out and shot him ten times, some sort of love affair/revenge/angry [View Full Entry]

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<img=image_url_here> Well, haven´t written in a while, I´ve finally uploaded some photos, but, they´re on a computer at a Cyber, so, I hope they last. Last weekend was a blast, on Friday I went to Manta with my best friend her in Portoviejo, Anna, and her family (who are basically my family too), and we went to one of the beaches there (though, it was dark, so we didn´t do any swimming). Word of advice for anyone that travels to Ecuador: never go on the beaches at night. Really dangerous. Don´t do it. You can see groups of people and individuals [View Full Entry]

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