waka waka ayy ayyy

Went to capoeira last night it was HARD CORE! We did training drills and such. I'm not so good at the slow handstand cartwheel type things and i always look like a fool but hey! its great. lol My capoeira buddies are slowly fizzling out on me..!:( Jenny no longer wants to go and Lisa broke her foot..but a friend Kellie (cute little blondie with curly hair) came with me last time. She really liked it will prob keep going. Last night I went with a new friend Leah. She arrived this weekend with a big new group from Ohio. There are 3 guys and 9 girls. They will be here the rest of the time we're here and will stay in Ecuador for a little while after we leave. Leah did well, but i felt bad because her first impression of Capoeira was probably a little intense.
Went on a run! Thats right I can run again!!:):) My knee is much better and doesn't hurt like it has been the past 6 months! Praise God!! I went running this morning bright and early at 6:30 with my friend Luis. He works at CEDEI ( our program) as the door/security guy. It was great he ran super fast and it was tough for me but I got to push myself and speak spanish! He was practicing his english so it was pretty funny I would ask him questions in spanish and he would answer in english..haha it was comical.

After our run Luis apparently kept running for another hour!! crazy but I went and walked towards CEDEI and was kinda lingering because my class didn't start for another half an hour. I heard music coming from across the street and realized it was a church. I stumbled in and sat in the back next to an older man. It was perfect. I sat and journaled in the back while the church sang beautiful spanish hymns. It was the best way to start my day.
Later in my 8'oclock (everyday) spanish class my friend Jessica was in tears and left class. Please pray for Jess her parents are getting a divorce and it just happened last semester.  She doesn't know where she's going to live  when she goes home and having to pick who to live with can't be easy. The divorce is finalized either this week or next week and today is her mom's birthday..:( Can't imagine trying to go through that..let alone being in another country. Pray for her strength and for her to feel comforted at a time like this. Luckily she has two of her best friends from her school that are also in our semester program.
After class I sat and read outside. The sunshine was gorgeous today. I'm reading Eat.Pray.Love. and really enjoying it. I also have started re-reading Abba's Child. (one of my alllll time favorite books in the world) My friends lent me these books and I'm sooo grateful for that!:) I walked around for a little bit con mi amigo entonces went out to lunch with some girls from the group. We went to this tucked away little Columbian food restaurant. It was splendid! The owner was such a nice guy.
* embarrassing story*
so I was eating my meal and of course I load the spicy on to it so I'm already looking pretty water eyed and red faced ...than because we have 8 girls crammed at one table my plate room is kinda limited...hahha so I go to fork the next bite and of course the entire plate flips onto my lap and the floor.....hahaha it was probably like my 4th bite.
The owner was so nice he gave me the same dish free of charge and came with a damp rag to help a sister out. haha Loved the spicy aji because you can't find that much in Cuenca, it's becuase it was a Columbian place they had different styles of food and spoke differently.

Yesterday
sooo sooo great. For my world lit class my professor had Ruthie and I ( the only students in her class) over to her house. We arrive at the hotel/hostel and walk up to the private HUGE apartment. Its gorgeous and has high windows and ceilings. The colors are so vibrant and the kitchen feels clean and refreshing. We watch 'Frida' the movie and have lunch. This was a wonderful class. The movie was great and the food was delicious. Not too shabbyyyyyy.

Last week
It was my mom's birthday here on friday! We went out to dinner (BIG DEAL). I've only been out to eat one other time with them and that was Valentines day. We went to the same place both times...hahah. Its called Fruitilados and its a food and dessert bakery place. I got a banana split.:)yummm. I gave her my present when we came home which she loved! I painted her a little something the first week or two i was here and saved it. Than I got her some inexpensive hand soap ( which I secretly just wanted because the downstairs bathroom had been lacking soap for the past few weeks....), and some Victoria Secret love spell lotion. They will kill for that stuff! In Ecuador everything is cheap except for the imported American stuff; Victoria Secret, Bath & Body works, name brand clothes, blow dryers, peanutbutter...haha and technology stuff. So she loved it and I know how valuable that stuff is here so hopefully she felt appreciated.
saturday-
can't say enough how beautiful Cajas is!! We went camping this weekend and had a great time. The 3:30 am hike was by far my favorite and it was so much fun! I didn't have a headlamp and was hiking by moonlight!! We kept an extremely fast pace and booked it up that mountain. It was hilarious all trying to stay warm at the freezing temperatures at the top waitng for the sunrise to come. My hands felt like they were going to fall off!!! But that's something that will be remembered! When we all had to suffer through  it together it just made the sunrise that much more worth it!

doggy piles. mountain conquering. camping.:)

most epic hike ever.
woke up at 3:15 hiked by moonlight. only about every few of us had flashlights/headlamps...it was freezing we made it to the top in an hour! Our guide thought it would take us 2-2 1/2 hours to hike it but we proved him wrong! We got to the top and had to wait a little over an hour and a half to watch the sunrise. It was about freezing temperature and we all ended up in a huge doggy pile at the top of the mountain trying to stay warm. It was hilarious. The sunrise was absolutely gorgeous and totally worth the freezing cold and the early morning wake up. I can't even describe the colors of the sky. It was a little display of creativity by Jesus.:)
There's always so much to tell and its so much easier to just post pics..but now i have to pay to put them up!!:( I have lots on facebook and will try to find a way I can post them here.
I have a month from today left in Cuenca! :(:( and one week in Peru! can't even believe how time flies!!!!
love you all:)

time is racing!!!

The weeks are flying by and I can't believe that i've been here for 3 months! We celebrated one of the girls in our group-Linley's birthday yesterday it was so great. Everyone loves her and it really showed.:) We ended up having 4 different cakes we made for her, balloons, a surprise gathering, a birthday dinner and karaoke! It was great! Her mom also made her a cake so she had 5 different ones yesterday! haha. We went out to lunch yesterday our usual wednesday lunch date and I found another birthday buddy!!:) My friend from Minnesota that goes to school in Chicago was born on August 1st!:) SOOOO awesome! She is just one year younger. So funnny finding out I freaked out! She said she's super big on birthdays and celebrates her half birthday every year too. hahha She said while she was at college her parents sent her half a cake on her half birthday..haha ( or maybe a full cake I can't remember..haha)
We're going to Cajas National Park again this weekend! This time its a scheduled and planned event with the group. The pe class that is part of it will be staying the night and camping. Cajas will be FREEEEZING at night. But for the 3 people that are training to climb Cotopaxi this will be good to help acclimate to the elevation. Xavier one of the guides that we've had for most of our adventure classes will be taking those that are in training to try and simulate the Cotopaxi hike as close as possible..meaning they will be waking up at 3:30 am and climbing an extremely challenging peak. I'm not doing Cotopaxi but I joined them this past weekend for the training hike...I'm thinking about going with them this weekend as well just for fun! I'll see if Xavier will let me. It'll be INTENSE!!
Got a package from a dear friend from home!!!!!!!!!!!!!! michael geiger you are the  BESTTTTTTT!!
totally made my day. I drank from my jar today and felt oh sooo happy.
anywho i'm going to capoeira esta noche and i need to start my trek up to the centro! chau!

Cajas!!

Fuimos a Cajas!! Fue muy lindo!! Seis horas de caminata!!

We hiked Cajas today! We took the long hike and got to see sooo muchhh. It was beautiful! We hiked for a bout six hours and made it to the bottom at about 3 o clock. We just beat the rain. SOO lucky. We got back to Cuenca and the rain was pouring down!!
I tried adding photos but i guess i've added so many that I'm supposed to pay now!:(.. So I will figure that out and see if thats worth it!

Turi and movie night:)

Today was great super chill!!
A bunch of us got together and went on a little hike than explored a bit and grabbed some lunch. We went to Turi, which is a look out over the city of Cuenca and it has a really pretty church at the look out point. We stayed in tonight and had a little movie night tomorrow about 5 of us are going on a 7 hour hike to Cajas!! Excited and I need to get some rest!

Goo goo for Galapagos

soup:) comes with every almuerzo. and they put popcorn in it!! yummm

fresh mora juice (blackberry)..soooo goood

****Tsunami Evacuation-Galapagos!!!!!****

home safe no one was hurt!
more to come later!
so we experienced a tsunami evacuation!! That's a first...for me anyways. We were basically held captive in the highlands of the Galapagos island Isabella and went CRAZY. We were there for like 14 or more hours..and this farm was the looney farm...haha
We ended up being fed like royalty however along with the other huge group of gringos. The others were from Russia and Slovania...haha We ended up performing songs in english for them..haha they had no idea what we were saying but the old folks would just sit in there white plastic chairs bobbing their heads to the beat and clapping. It was quite hilarious.
There were a few little kids that we ran around with on the farm and beautiful horses out front. We went on small little walks throughout the day and slept. Than ate. Than slept some more. Our guide that took us to the volcano that morning for our planned hike wasn't surprised when the national park was closed and we weren't able to do the hike. I had actually been planning on going scuba diving that day, apart from the group.  I had met up with the dive masters and got my wet suit and gear fitted. All I had to do was go in the morning at 8:15 to pay and dive!
I woke up the morning of the tsunami checked my phone and my friend had sent me a text about some 'terremotto de japon' and looked at it and fell back asleep. I woke up again about 7 o clock to my father from Cuenca Xavier calling with in extreme panic and explaining to me in mumbled and slurred spanish that there was a earthquake in Japan and there will be a Tsunami warning that will come and hit the Galapagos later in the afternoon..
Next thing I knew Esteban our coordinator informed me that I was not going scuba diving..haha
I was bummed.
We got the debriefing that we had to evacuate our hotel and pack a small bag, we may need to stay the night in the highlands. We left and couldn't go on our planned excursion so there we sat at the crazy farm. I will never forget that place..haha
We visited a camp site that is huge!! Lots of people had evacuated there. It was beautiful with tons of gringos and just local people as well. There were barbecue's and a soccer game. It was part of a little park with tortoises and amazing plant life.
anyways there's soo much to say ...but i took a milllllion pics
811 to be exact! the galapagos was beautiful....
I'm off to start some homework for my new world lit class and my continued spanish part 2 class.
Than off to Capoeira (Brazilian fight dance) class tonight!:)

CaRniVaL

back from carnival.
it was insane!
more from this weekend...to be continued
home safe.
galapagos on tomorrowwwww!!!  This is in Montanita...a 6 hour bus ride to beach paradise!:)

surgery?...NO!

So went to the doctor today..about my numb and tingly fingers..and I officially have carpal tunnel syndrome..:(
carpal tunnel syndrome

The median nerve in my wrist in the carpal tunnel is being compressed..could be from various reasons..carpal tunnel syndrome is 3 times more common in women because women tend to have smaller carpal tunnels. It is one of the most common surgeries done in the U.S to simply release the carpal ligament and stop the pinching of the nerve and it enlarges the carpal tunnel. Of course under daddy's orders I'm not going to get the surgery here. So i will just have tingly fingers for the next couple months...haha

dolla dolla bill ya..and SuSHI day!!:)

I think I will have to get used to the states when I realize a dollar can get me nothing...
Here I can't begin to let you know how much stuff I can buy with one dollar. Large water bottle= 30 cents. pan (home made bread..that they have every block)= 18 or 25 cents. bubble gum= 40 cents bag of cooked veggies=50 cents...the list goes on..a meal at one of my favorite restaurants=$1.10 some almuerzo places lunch= $1.50 its craziness. Taxi=2 dollars...woa!..haha manicure= 3 dollars...pedicure= 4 dollars....hair colored= $ 25...massage for 2 hours= $ 17...now this is the LIFE!
I'm gonna miss the crazy good fruits here there's this one called the granadilla....out of this world! consistency of boogers or fisheggs...but tastes like sweet heaven.It has sweet little crunchy edible seeds in it and it is magical. It looks like a little orange kinda and you have to suck out the sweet goodness from inside...next is sapote..its looks like a weird brown kinda oval coconut on the outside..but its kinda soft ..you can cut it and on the inside its bright orange. It tastes like a mango slash pumpkin ..almost. its soooo goood. Has seeds that are big  like an apricot.

mami and sapote

valentines day when we went out for din din..big deal! the family never goes out!

*

My dear friend Lisa has not been having the best of luck lately...She's our coordinator that lost her grandmother not too long ago. This past weekend when her group went cayoning..(they went sunday..we went saturday) She after jumping off the rocks into the water broke her foot. She fractured it in two places and will be in a cast and on crutches for the next six weeks.. Cuenca, with cobblestone and lots of stairs where she lives ...not so fun on crutches! Pray that Lisa will be able to make it through mentally and that she will have all of us to fall back on when she needs it. Today we went to SUSHI!!!!!!!!!!!!.. for lunch!! Than we helped her with her laundry and took it to the cleaners with her.

I  HAVE BEEN CRAVING SUSHI SINCE I GOT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was so so so good!!! So happy we found it! Its right by the river and is super close to our school!:):)

lisa and tallie

me and flo (today at lunch)

little sashimi...but sashimi nonetheless!!

tempura yummmm

gimpy

thought i'd sneek a little pic while in the cab..we take these a lot when we need to be somewhere fast or somewhere far..or i take the bus only 25 cents (bus)

Today we had to be back at three so we grabbed a cab.

yesterday

yesterday was AWESOME. Hung out with my friend Paul, who is a veteran spring semester student. He was here last spring and has definatley gotten around Cuenca to say the least. He knows the city pretty well and is a spanish and french major so he can speak pretty fluently. I met up because he is friends with this guy in the San Fransisco market where you can get good deals. Everyone in the market will get around the same prices but if you know the right people you go behind all the open market vendors and upstairs into a wharehouse type deal. We went and met Unberto, our salesman.:) I got some beautiful baby alpaca blankets that are soo soft I never want to stop petting them. hhaha. I will definitely be going back there.

After we cruised over to Paul's to have a little cafecito and ran into some friends. Cuenca is a lot smaller than I thought! I saw this girl Dana who was in a yoga class that I took and than Paul's neighbor was Tinto another guy that was also in the yoga class and his son Tomas! We hung out outside of Pauls house and this swiss guy that was walkin by ended up joining us for a little cafe. So there were three languages being thrown around as we sat in Pauls place above the river. We enjoyed the small breeze that came through every so often as we sat close in a small european style apartment. His place had a small balcony over looking the river and has a great view of Cuenca and some of the mountains. I want to come back and paint at his house. We went downstairs to Tinto's house and I got to see all of his work He loves to write but is a fantastic artist. He has some incredible paintings. The colors he uses are brilliant and the faces of the people he has in his portraits are so precise. He said that he gives his son lessons and I am welcome to join anytime! I'm super excited. They go to the same yoga that Jenny and I went to every Tues and Thurs. 

On my way out I ran into the intructor of our yoga class...haha he was headed to Tinto's house. So I literally saw everyone that went to the yoga class..haha I guess its just friends that go to it..( We thought we were unnoticeable ...two gringas just hoppin in on the class)

Not sure how often I'll go to their yoga its five bucks every time...But I already paid for a month of capoeira so I def went to that last night! I'm getting better and am thinking about it more while i'm not there..!!!! ahh addicting!

We leave for Montanita..this beack town on Friday for the huge 4 day festival. Basically its a lot of water and craziness. I'm a little scared.. This place is known to be a crazy party place even when its not Carnival. Carnival is the biggest party of the year. So people in Montanita..that party till eight in the morning alrready...will just not sleep enitrely I guess...haha We get back on Monday and ....

Next Wednesday.... we are headed to the Galapagos~!!!!!!!!!!!!!