I will update soon, but for now I will provide you with pictures from my 4 day trek on the Inca Trail to MachuPicchu. [View Full Entry]

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This past week has been a whirlwind of activities. My mom arrived on Tuesday night and we had a blast going out in Quito all week. This week at the day care center we did a number of fun-filled activities, including pasta necklace making and play dough making. On Thursday afternoon we left for our weekend getaway to Banos. This weekend´s activities in Banos rivaled the day I jumped out of a plane. We arrived on Thursday evening and checked into our hostel, ¨Verdes y Blancos¨ and went out to dinner at a restaurant that epitomizes what we have been calling [View Full Entry]

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The last week has been hectic... Spanish classes started Monday, so it was four hours of intense Spanish ever day. Did a number of cultural events during the week, including Salsa lessons, a cooking class, and a cultural dance performance. I feel like a down-right Ecuadorian! This weekend we took a trip out to Mindu, which is about 2 hours from Quito. We got there at about 9 Sat morning and checked into a hostal with a group of American girls we met on the bus. Anns, Man, and I then grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to a tour agency [View Full Entry]

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Before I delve into my most recent experiences, I want to recap my last week in Chichico Rumi. Our last week in the jungle flew by. We started a new project in Putachincta on Monday: building a chicken coop. This was no small farm chicken coop. This was a two room chicken mansion. We built the entire thing from the ground up, including the outer structure, the roof, the cement walls, the doors, the fencing, the wood panels… It was quite a project. We had a lot of help from a number of the men from Chichi and Putachincta, which [View Full Entry]

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Sunday morning, the girls and I woke up early to see the rest of our group off as they headed back into the jungle for another 3 weeks. That afternoon, we once again packed up our backpacks and headed to the bus terminal. We managed to get tickets for a 12:15 bus to Bahia, a town on the coast. Though we were told the trip would only take 8 hours, we arrived into the dark and deserted town of Bahia at about 10 pm. We had the name of what we hoped would be a good hostel, but when we arrived [View Full Entry]

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Since my last posting, we have since left the rainforest, returned to Quito for a few days of rest, and have been traveling the coast for the last week. Our first stop was Kanoa, a quiet surf town about 9 hours from Quito. We spent 3 daYS HERE, soaking up the sun, surfing, and lounging in the hammocks outside our bungalow hostel. We stayed in a really cute place called Hotel Bambu, located right on the beach. Met a number of interesting people from several countries, including Switzerland, Germany, and the US. We met a few American girls who had been [View Full Entry]

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We are back in Tena again after a long week in Chichico Rumi. The week was absolutely amazing. We arrived in the village Sunday afternoon, and used our free time to tube down the river. In order to do so we had to take a water taxi up river to a small town where we got our tubes. The "water taxi" is basically an extremely unstable covered canoe with a motar. This is also our daily transportation to work, which can be an interesting ride when there has been a lot of rain and the river is strong. So, after getting [View Full Entry]

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HOLA! We made it here alive! The flight over went very smoothly and ended up meeting Annie and Amanda right at customs after my flight landed. We met our driver outside the airport and got a lift to our hostel- a very cute place right iin the middle of the city within close proximity to bars, restaurants, discotects, and other stores. After settling in there, we set off to fins the Yanapuma headquarters. We only got lost once! We finally got to meet Janakke and the others who work at Yanapuma, and planned out our trip to the rainforest. That night, [View Full Entry]

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Three Days unitl departure! Packing, shopping, and preparing for the trip of a lifetime! [View Full Entry]

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