Last 3 Days in Ecuador

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On Friday Evan and I rode what I thought was the Trole down to Old Town. Well, it wasn´t the Trole, it was the Ecovia - some other public transportation route that I didn´t know about. Luckily I realized this and we got off, asked for directions but ended up walking a whole bunch to get to old town. Poor Evan was still recovering and it was hard for him to walk so much. We finally found Sarah and Ashley so we went on a back-pack hunt for Sarah. She found a really nice back-pack and then Ashley and Evan bought duffle bags too. They ate lunch at a fast-food place where Ashley realized someone had slashed her pursed and even cut through her water bottle. Her debit card was still there but later she figured out that they got her ipod. It really sucked but luckily they didn´t get her debit card. I was going to buy a back-pack too so Sarah and I went to look for one and Evan and Ashley went to go to the bank. I ended up not getting one and when we met up with them they told us that some crazy drunk old man had fallen on Evan and they both fell over. He was totally harmless but they said it was scary for a little while. They helped the guy up and then a woman started putting Evan´s hat on the guy but Evan got it back. We took the trole and bus back to Sarah´s house and ran into her mom on the bus. On the bus I texted Vanessa (my host sister) to see if she had the money yet and I told her we were around the house so I could pick it up. She texted me back saying they were at the beach on vacation. Then 2 minutes later she texted me again saying she had taken $10 out of the $20 she owed me for the bowl that I broke. WHAT?!!!! I was so unbelievably mad. My fury was raging and I couldn´t believe her. In the first couple weeks at the house I was helping dry the dishes and I dropped and broke a bowl. I felt so awful and cleaned it up. I persisted and kept offering to give them money or buy a new one or anything but they insisted that it was ok. It was just a regular white bowl. No big deal. I was so embarassed but they told me it was fine and I didn´t need to worry. They have probably 15 more of the same bowl. So now, when in reality Vanessa owes me $30, I told her she could give me back just $20. She has owed me since the end of October and kept telling me that she would get the money soon from her dad. Of course, she still could not ask her mom because it was about her secret boyfriend. I could not believe that she actually brought up the bowl and tried to make me believe that it is worth $10!!!! I didn´t respond to her because I was so mad and I know exactly why she did it. All of the host familys have received the evaluations we wrote and I talked about the lack of hot water, just water, toilet paper and wrote that the school needs to let students know that it is normal for an adult daughter to sleep in the same bed as their mom. It is completely fine but I just had a bit of a hard time figuring it out and some people can feel really uncomfortable about it. I am almost sure that she read that and is mad and is now trying to make me feel bad. But that is what the reviews are for. I wrote good things too and they should not be holding the evaluation against me.

That night we went to Sarah´s house to play Monopoly and order pizza which was great because it got my mind off of what had happened. I think it is just awful that Vanessa had to act like that but I am so done with them that I am not calling or saying goodbye at all. I am going to talk to CIMAS about it because I think they need to know what can happen if students are still in contact with their host family after the get back the evaluations. By now I don´t care about the $20 but I just wish she had not dealt with it in that way. Oh well, I am done!! That night of Monopoly was so great and we played until the very end of the game. I beat them all at the first one so of course, how can that not make someone happy? We took a cab back to the hostal and I just kept Monopoly on my mind.

On Saturday morning we all met by the park and walked to a bus station to go to Mindo but the last bus had left an hour earlier. So we took a cab to a main road and in under an hour we successfully hailed down a bus to Mindo. There were only 3 seats left so Evan, Sarah and I traded off sitting. After 2 hours we were dropped off at the top of the hill and took a truck down to the main part of town. We went right away to buy our tickets for zip-lining and took another truck up to the place. We zipped with another U.S. family and they had young kids so I again could not be so scared. It was amazing!!!! I would go back again and again. We got great pictures and we were all able to do tricks. Also, we had helmets. Yes!! I love helmets. As usual, the two tour guides were hitting on Sarah and Ashley the whole time but by now, we are all used to it. One tour guide accidentally hit one of the little girls with the caribeener on the head and she had a huge bump but she was fine. I did superman on the last line which was really long and fast. I loved it! We took a truck back down and went to the waffle place. The woman there was making christmas cookies so we bought some. We bought our tickets to return to Quito and had our own seats this time. At night Evan and had spaghetti and hot chocolate and went to bed.

Today is our last day and we just came back from the market. We are going to have pasta again and then go to Sarah´s to play more Monopoly. Then we are all coming back to the Mariscal to have hot chocolate and say goodbye. Sarah and Ashley are going to the beach tonight to celebrate Christmas with some other students. They will have such a great time. Tonight will be time to pack and say goodbye to good old Quito. I had an amazing experience here and at the same time, I am so happy to come home. I hope to see everyone soon. Thanks for reading this and I hope everyone enjoyed my adventures. Ciao Ecuador, Aloha Washington!!

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