most INTENSE thing of my LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't know where to start. I can't really express how crazy this was and I don't think words or pictures can do it any justice...let me just start off saying that I still have very little feeling in my fingertips of my first three fingers on my right hand...

have i built it up enough..??? we went CANYONING!!!!!!!! =which means we went repelling down remote waterfalls and hiked through the cloud forrest to find them! With wet suits, helmets and harnesses we were ready to go. Didn't realize how DANG cold it would be and made it that much more intense. That was the coldest I have ever been for a long period of time. For maybe a little over 4 hours we were in the water sliding down rocks, repelling through waterfalls and jumping off rock ledges through canyons. A large group in my program signed up for this outdoor adventure class and we had NO IdEA what we had in store!

The class is put on my these two brothers and last class we went sport climbing up rocks and practiced repelling for our canyoning adventure. Canyoning is amazing and the brothers started their own busniess one day after realizing they could do what they love for business! These two brothers Xiaver and Pedro have always been outdoorsy and loved climbing and searching for adventure. They would go hiking and go through this canyon with water flowing through it deciding where to jump off ledges, where and when to repel or to slide down the rocks. They decided to put anchors in some of the natural rocks and take people on guided tours for money. It's pretty insane knowing the the only people that go through this canyon are the people guided by these two brothers or their other two friends now in their business. I can't imagine when they initially made the course and being the first to decided ...ok now lets jump off these rocks into the water.."you go first see if its deep enough.." ..or repelling down huge waterfalls when there was no rock anchor.. These brother are INSANE and I wouldn't have it any other way~! We have the best outdoor adventure class there will ever be!!!!!

The big bummer is Bianca's waterproof camera broke and we have no pictures to capture our glorious excursion...but it actually makes it more special knowing that we only have that time to share with eachother and we will always have those memories...(and plus the rest of our group that went today had a camera..) 

 here's pics from this weekend.. and 

                   my little asian FLO

the post canyoning group..

Xiaver and Pedro..the crazy brothers

by my house

friends:)..little movie and concert night

outdoor live concert..HUGE all of cuenca's youth attended..

felt like the seventies..crazy hippie band...even too hippie for me

today spa day with the girls:)

the cave pools ..with hot and cold plunge

mud bath!

hot box for the bod!= amazingggg

beautiful weekend complete.

2 month marker!

                Can you believe it! I've been here for 2 months! It has flown by and I don't want the rest of it to fly by too fast!! Some of the North Park group is leaving in a few weeks so that will be sad...but other groups will be coming in and out of CEDEI. We went to Giron this past weekend and it was an adventure. Evertime they tell us that we are going on a hike we never can be too sure what to expect! Sometimes the hike is literally a walk around some old inca ruins that required no level of cardio vascular fitness what-so-ever...other times a "fifteen minute" hike through the jungle turned out to be a mud slide for your life..! haha The hike through the jungle was very difficult probably because of the mud, humidity and exceptionally steep slopes that we attempted to make our way up in the galoshes that were provided...(like rainboots.) Giron was more comparable to the jungle hike we had in Cotacocha. I was expected again a "fifteen minute hike" like they mentioned to us before and we hike up some carved out stairs...no big deal..than it started to get a little more damp. There was a beautiful waterfall that we were hiking to and the water at times streamed into our path. We made it to the top not a challenging task at all and we found a small bridge going right in front of the waterfall and the mist and wind from the cascada was incredible! We walked over the bridge and there was a brilliant rainbow right before our eyes! No picture or description can capture that moment. We separated into 2 groups on the way back down. The group that didn't want to go through the jungle and the group that did! Of course I went with the jungle crew...not to mention that I wasn't thinking that we would be tromping through any mud and had decided to wear little sandals..hahah luckily they had straps on the heel. We were hiking through sinking sand mud, walking though streams, slipping down wet mossy rocks and just havin a grand ol time.
We made it down with mud everywhere. A lot of the group fell in the mud and we all got soaked from the waterfall mist. It was more like a hose than a mist...haha

We stopped at some old battle field where Ecuador had won its independence before that and to a little museum explaining the different important military leaders...anyways
Than we had a wonderful coordinator set up our day to stop at this resort type place and go swim for the day! We payed to get in but got to use their pools in the middle of a valley overlooking the mountains. The weather was perfect and it was nice and hot. The pool water was perfectly refreshing and they also had 2 waterslides!! haha Now these are what we call Ecuadorian waterslides.Long story short..the slides look like normal water slides but the water running down one of them was by a simple hose..and not only a hose but to start the water flow onto the slide most times a little boy would come over and suck on the hose to syphon the water from the other pool of water in the adjacent slide....hahahah
My group didn't understand why he was sucking on the hose so I jumped in and did it as well after the boy had left and there was no water flowing.. I guess they didn't know what syphoning was! haha it was pretty ghetto but great. The slide of death that was a pretty fast had two injuries in our group. Bianca smacked her head so hard in the middle of the ride that when she came up grasping her head and talking about having a concussion..others were definitely deterred. Linley a sweetheart hit her tail bone really bad at the end of the ride and ended up causing her to have a previous injury flare up even worse...But all in all I guess you know that you're having fun when people are getting hurt...right?....haha or you just know that you are in Ecuador ..on makeshift waterslides..hahha

My pics are from when we had a baking party and than a birthday surprise for our coordinator Lisa! We made delicious desserts..described in a previous blog..

cake con tres leches...mi mommy makes ^

surprising Lisa!

old cathedral

                                                             coolest old organ

my new people's market...:) $ 1.10 ;)

museo de china

old cathedral

mami at the huge fiesta for the recently married couple and they're going away shin digg

didn't capture all the people but there was about 50 or more people and TONS of food!~!!!

at my grandpa's BEATIFUL country side house! ..its common here to have a country house for vacay and weekend visits!:)

ps GOt my hair did!! have a little red in it now!;)

viernes feliz!

hola hola hola!!  (^ one of Guayasamin's paintings..)
me encanta espanol!!! Mi examen fue bien! Hoy fuimos a museo de china y aprendimos sobre muchos problemas con gobernierno de china.
We went to a museum today and learned how the government in China is torturing the followers of Falun Gong. The believers are being tortured and their houses raided if the government finds out that they practice Falun Gong. I couldnt believe the stories I heard behind all of the paintings we saw and the date on them is very recent. This is still going on today in China and many children are being orphaned because their parents are sent to jail or killed.  A lot of times the persecuited will be killed by doctors removing their organs with no anesthesia, this is their way to market their organs while torturing the Falun Gong followers. It was hard to hear about such awful things going on and we all had no idea. We are so ignorant about so many happenings all over the world.I´m glad that we could visit and learn about these hardships. Its so hard to see passed our own bubble sometimes. Continually being aware of the struggles around the world  puts things into perspective.

I stopped by the huge cathedral afterwards and got to see the end of one of the services. Tallie and I  have gone in their before to have some quiet time together. Its such a cool opportunitiy that we have to be in the largest Cathedral in Ecuador--and possibly the largest one in latin america. Its enormous arch ways hold up the intricately decorated ceiling and stain glass window on both sides of the cathedral. There is a Baroque style pulpit area that is all in gold and has pillars of gold that are embellished with unique designs. There is a large <Jesus on a cross in the center. There are different sections of the church on either sides of the pues by each set of stain glass windows they are different areas deticated to different figures of the church. There are candles and nuns that live in the back of the cathedral. The marble and stone imported from Spain that holds up the building is breathtaking. As you walk in it quiets the onlooker and forces you to look up and observe all of the detail in every part of the cathedral. <it is beautiful.

We are headed to Gidron manana and we are also going to stop at this crazy nice hostel to hang out and swim for the day. <im not really sure why they call them hostels i always think of a hostel as a really poor quality one room type of stay...I just got assigned an insane amount of papers to write a presentation and a final from my art history class...so I have to find time for that somehow! We want to go to Banos on sunday this hotspring lodge -message place....so <i dont really wanna miss that!!

Love you guys!
im in a cabina at the moment my internet at my house is down. My sister Gabby uses my internet at home and she´s bummed too..she always gets excited to use my computer to go on facebook haha..they don´t have internet on their computer bc Gabby said they haven´t paid..jajaja
i asked how my computer gets it and she said its from the neighbor! haha ( no i get the neighbors name as my password thing....) hahha
Gabby and <i have bonded more:) she tells me things that her mom doesn´t even know about and i let her use my facebook...hahaha its deep. lol
isa the older one is better we learn to be nice and courteous and thats all that really needs to happen. i found out that they have had about 9 other american students before and the girls are just kinda forced to live with it..its a source of income for the family. ...they get paid each month to have a student..sucks for the girls they have to share a room! Marcela is hilarious shes been dying her hair for the wedding they are going to tomorrow..my dad´s niece is getting married and its a BIG DEAL..haha they have been rushing around all week for it. Gabby hates the dress that she has to wear and <i feel really bad for her..it looks like a valentines dress its red and white ..and pretty hideous..lol
Took a nap today was going to nap for like half an hour ..turned into 2 hours..haha it was great.
off to giron manana! water fall hike!

check out msnbc! the pics are amazingg
msnbc

MANDE?..............=what?

So don't know where to start from! Lots has been happening and I feel like my spanish is slowly progressing..:)! The class is finally now into things that aren't just review for me anymore!:) I need to add some pics but I am a little busy at the moment! I have an art history presentation tomorrow and a spanish test! We had a little birthday celebration for our coordinator of our group that has been leading all our trips and what not (Lisa!). We baked for her a chocolate cake...verrrryyy different that in the US we used coco powder mix like from hot chocolate and it actually was more than good it was INCREDIBLE! as well as the cake con tres leches! My mommy makes that here and so we bought the stuff for it and made that too. Lisa has been having a hard time because her grandmother that she was close to just passed away... Luckily her boyfriend from the states happened to be here for her birthday so at least she has some one close to home for comfort. Please pray for Lisa and her family. She decided not to go home for the funneral which was a very hard decision but it would just be very stressful for her in the end. Pray that she can find peace and comfort in this time. She can watch the funeral online so at least she can feel like she was there.
Please pray for my grandpa Mitch he had a stroke and is struggling to regain full body function as well.

Yesterday was an incredible day of sunshine and showers. In the afternoon around lunch it started raining sooo hard I had to take a cab home. There was thunder and lightning like CRAzyy! The thunder was sooo loud and the lightning right after! At home.. Bruno (the dog)gets really scared and my mom yells spanish profanities at him as he attempts to get the whole house muddy. Its pretty hilarious. My mom doesn't like the thunder and lightning and they are afraid the lightning will strike the house so they unplug everything...haha (they do have a tin roof on the shed next to the house..)
We went rock climbing this past weekend and it was fantastic! It also was rainy but than cleared up as we started to climb. We practiced repelling and sport climbing. We learned how to tie a figure 8 knot supposively the strongest knot. ..hey hey..never knew I'd come to Ecuador and become a boyscout..? haha anyways the climb was way harder than I thought. Indoor walls are way different and a natural rock ..especially when there is a little moss and rain is challenging! But we had a great time.

That was saturday..friday was the Foam Extravaganza. INSANE> the club that we went dancing at had foam pouring down onto the dance floor. We were basically dancing in a bathtub of suds. It was great. Unfortunately my friend had his dreads ruined from the foam and my phone was drowned in the suds. So two very unfortunate events but TOTALLY worth it. ( I had to buy a new phone..and tyler had grown out his hair for a year for those dreads..)..but so worth IT...haha

I went to church on Sunday with my mom and sister it was HUGe and the Valentines day is really celebrated here. On valentines day the boys in our group all bought us white roses. It was sweet. There are a million street vendors that sell flowers everywhere and fruit and things so its not hard to obtain a little somethin for yo hunny. I went out to dinner on Valentines with my family..BIG DEAL! They never never go out and it was nice to see them all dress up a little and we went into centro historico (main part of town) and got din din and dessert.

I need to put up pics but I will later! wouldn't mind prayers for my presentation and test manana! Love you guys!:)

Danza!

So you gotta listen to these!! This first one Danza...basically the theme song to our lives. We hear this like no other! The second one is just a cool song my sister was listening to.


Danza


Pacho Marchan

yoga mon!

Viernes! Happy friday!! Took capoeira Brazilian fight dance class again last night! Jenny and I got there at 7:30 like we had the last 2 times and this time it ended about an hour early. There was another teacher there and he took it way easy on us...we were a little bummed because we wanted to sweat a little but it was cool just to get to hang out and talk with the guys anyways. It's so fantastico to observe the way they move and have such a rhythm and art to it. They have fight-dance competitions all over Ecuador and hold class on Saturdays in the park. They were these interesting looking pants and sway side to side as their default step. After capoeira I took the bus again back to my house. The guys after class walk us up to the street (which is a very good thing there can be sketchy people out) they are all gentleman and watch out for us. One of the highschool boys takes the same bus as me so it was nice to have a guy on the bus with me. (A gringa just pulls more attention than just a normal girl here) We missed the bus because I was on the phone at the time..yeeeks! and We were saying bye to Flo and Jenny who we met on calle Larga (on of the main streets of the "night life"-a lot of bars, restaurants and cafes) So me and three of the boys waited for the next bus to come ,two of them are brothers ages 14 and 16 and their friend, we walked into the brother's mom's shop right off the main street. She has a little souvenir shop and ended up giving me a little ecuadorian pin to remember her by. People here are so humble and welcoming, she just met me and gave me her phone number, name and son's number...haha. Maybe she's just trying to find a girl for her son..or just super friendly haha.
Today i had spanish class at 8am till 10am than latin american art history from 10:30-12:30. We had a test in art than watched a movie on how the the new world and the old world mixed cultures. I walked home for lunch and made a little veggie stir fry with some curry, aji and other spices. My momma had rice and some beef already made. I put some of her sauce and meet in mine and had a little beef and broccoli stir fry it was amazingg. Reminded me of home.:) ( Tippy's food or a chinese restaurant) I rarely eat beef but when I do I know its good quality. They don't have all those hormones in their animals and the milk here is real milk too! (good but vERRRRy rich)
I went back to CEDEI -our program building for our friday dance class. Danny the teacher is extremely flamboyant and fabulous. He is a blast! Our group is big and split into two dance classes right after eachother..i love it so much I stay for both classes. Danny uses me to help teach the class a lot and I would def feel a little uncomfortable if I didn't know that he was gay..haha. When we do the "sexy dances" haha you gotta use the hips and arch the back....nuff said.
Its sooo sooo much fun! It's the best feeling too when the dance is hard and in the end you get it!! Accomplishment!! After dance class I went and met up with John to have another "life chat". He is extremely introverted and only likes to talk to people one on one. He's really interested in my faith and always wants to discuss my beliefs. I went for a little while and our friend chris came just as I was leaving. Pray that John will find truth and that he will thirst and hunger for righteousness. Chris is also searching for more. Pray that Chris will find God and hold on to his faith.
YOGA!!! After a short little chat I ran back to one of my favorite cafe's CAFE AUSTRIA and met up with Flo, Tallie and Danny-our dance instructor. We got to catch up a little before the girls and I headed back to our building for some yoga. We have two girls in our program that are amazingly yoga savy. One of which is an actual instructor and the other just has taken a millllllion classes and is basically a teacher. Kerry taught our yoga class tonight. It was sooo relaxing and perfectly appropriate for a Friday.
Tonight there is a foam party at a local dance club!! So might check that ouT!!! The clubs are only fun if all us girls go. We don't dance with the creepers from the club only if we go with friends do we dance with them.
We have our first PE-excursion class tomorrow. We are going rock climbing! And Sunday Chris set up a    zip line adventure. Its super cheep here and will be beautiful!!

gotta love that inca!

Our usually lunch wednesday and inca lounge karaoke at night! I look forward to wednesdays especially when I have my alternating week with more classes. It was so fun and Tallie and Flo sang again last night. They sang Halo and it was so fun to see them up in front of everyone. Its a fun place to be all the gringos migrate to Inca and it feels like the U.S. Last night there was this old drunk man trying to woo me. It was hilarious. He was dancing and waving me up and offering us food and drinks. He was ridiculous. Had 8 oclock classes and Thursdays I'm always a little tired but its worth it for the music!
We are going exploring today and gonna check out another park. Yesterday my class...(of three students) went to an aborigines artifact museum, it was really interesting. In my art class we have been working with clay, making collages, and drawing. We have a few days of practical work and the rest of the class is history of art. Its so different having classes of 3 and 5, its so personal!
I was counting up the weeks and I'm on week 7!! Crazy!! I've been in Ecuador for 7 weeks! Insane! LOve love love itttttt!! and I absolutely LOVE getting mail. Its like a little piece of home for me.:) I truly appreciate the love and effort put into a letter.:)

Saraguro

Saraguro more from our weekend:) 

Where we stayed!

before the 4 hour hike..lunch time

hike # 2 waterfall the following day

piggyy

bianca

jared

bryce

our little guide!:)