Back in Quito with some hard news about my friend

Here I am back in Quito staying with some great friends Bill and Rodolfo who once again opened up their doors to me. I stayed with them for a few days right before my study abroad program started.

My week of traveling with my friend was a lot of fun! We had many adventures with some interesting experiences. After spending our first few days of traveling in Baños doing many outdoor activities like hiking and biking, we headed to a beach called Montañita and spent the rest of our week there. We had a nice relaxing time even though there was not any sunshine there. We even took a boat tour to an island known as the "Poor Man's Galapagos". On this trip we got to see many animals like whales an blue footed boobies. It was amazing! Seeing the whales was unlike anything I have ever experienced. We got to see them jump, and interact with their babies. It was so beautiful!

On Saturday after our week of traveling, my friend Raissa and I had to part ways. She had to head back to Quito to prepare to start another study abroad program that she was going to do this fall. This was really sad and hard for me because Raissa and I have become super close friends over the past 2 months and she has been by my side through every step of the way here in Ecuador.

After Raissa and I parted ways, I headed to Otavalo to visit my host family and friends there. Otavalo is the city where I did my 2 week internship at the Youth House. I had missed Otavalo a lot and really wanted to return to visit my friends and family there. I arrived in Otavalo after a 15 hour long bus ride from the coast. My host family happily let me stay with them while I was there, even though they were not being paid for it since my study abroad program ended. I was feeling sad and a little bit alone since parting with Raissa, so spending time with my old  host family and seeing how they are happy to let me be a part of there family, without expecting payment, was a really nice feeling. It was clear to me that my host family in Quito only wanted me to stay with them for the money, so I am so happy that I have a genuine host family in Otavalo that I can visit and spend time with. Relationships are really important to me so I am glad that I have them to keep up a relationship with.

Today has been hard because I found out that my friend Raissa is not well. She is currently in a mental manic state and is in the psych ward here in Quito. She will be in the psych ward for 4 days while under evaluation, and then a nurse is going to escort her back to the US on an airplane. Obviously I am so worried and  upset about this. I just want her to be okay. I have been talking to her dad to get news on what has been happening. I am hoping that I will be able to go visit her in the hospital, but I am not sure if that is an option. I can't believe that this has happened to my best friend and I just pray that she gets through this and will be okay.

I am also really sad because my dog in the states had to be put to sleep :(

Onto the next chapter!

Yesterday was officially the last day of my study abroad program! It´s over! I can´t believe that I am onto the next chapter of my time in Ecuador. I packed up moved my bags to the orphanage this morning. My friend and I are traveling around Ecuador for a week before I am headed to the orphange to start volunteering there. School at the orphanage starts on September 5th and that is when I will begin helping in the english classes. I am SO excited to begin voluteering at the orphanage. I have been to visit a few times and the kids there are so precious and seems so friendly. They are so precious and I can´t wait to start working with them!!

Unfortunately, my time with my host family ended badly. On my last day, either my mom or my sister stole money from my room that I had sitting on my dresser. I am positive they stole it because my money was sitting there when I left for school and when I got home it was not there. My mom also demanded that I pay her for the shower that broke while I was living there even though it had nothing to do with me breaking it. Yes, it broke while I was there (the hot water stopped functioning in the shower) but not because of anything I did to it. I am sad that it ended this way and that they stole from me and clearly took advantage of me.

But for now I am just hoping to enjoy my week of traveling with my friend! We are currently in a small town right now called Baños. It is nestled in between mountains and a volcano and is a town known for its hot springs and all the active things there are to do here. Today my friend and I soaked in the hot springs and went for a beautiful hike. Tomorrow, we plan to rent some bycycles to go for a bike ride to some waterfalls! Tomorrow night, we are taking an over night bus to the coast  and plan to spend the rest of our week visiting a few different beaches. At one of the beaches, we plan to take a day  trip to an island known as "The poor man´s galapogos". It is suppose to be similar to the galapogos as far as the animals that it has, but way cheaper to visit! Obviously it won´t compare to the actual galapogos, but it should still be really cool! I plan to end this week in Otavalo before heading back to Quito. I want to visit my family and friends in Otavalo, I miss  them a lot!

Photos of my two weeks in Otavalo

The kids at the youth house where I interned

Puppets that the kids made in one of the classes that I worked in

The good friend that I made, Maricruz!

The park where I loved to hang out 

My little brother in Otavalo! We really bonded. 

A famous cemetary that we visited on the border of Colombia 

My mom and brother and sister 

Visiting a lagun

Maricruz and I before going out clubbing 

In Colombia! I went for a day trip with my family to Colombia-

Eating lunch in Colombia

My handsom boyfriend when he came to visit me in Otavalo

A statue in Otavalo 

My beautiful Otavalo 

Some girls in the art class I helped in

A drawing one of the kids did

One of the art projects we worked on 

Gabrielito!

La Casa de la Juventud, which translates to Youth House. Where I did my internship!

Indigenous music class 

A mural of Otavalo 

Me and Apauki, one of the little boys that I really bonded with at the Youth House

The end of my time in Otavalo

My internship at La Casa de la Juventud in Otavalo has ended. My internship ended up having good timing because it ended the same day that all the summer classes ended for the kids so I was able to be at the end of the summer celebration in which the kids in all the different classes displayed everything that they had worked on over the summer in their classes at La Casa de la Juventud. This included musical performances, guitar recitals, ballet and modern dance performances, a display of all the art work, a puppet show, and more. I am so glad that I was able to be here for that! I will miss the kids and the staff that I worked with here so much. I had such a wonderful experience working with all the kids!

I had a really fun night last night at a birthday party for the brother of my good friend Maricruz. Her brother owns a club here in Otavalo and he threw a private party to celebrate his birthday. It was a lot of fun! I was the only “gringa” at the club which was a little bit overwhelming since the men here go so crazy for the white girls. I had a great night with my friends dancing and hanging out. I spent the majority of today with Maricruz and her family at their house. I sure am going to miss them!

Tomorrow I have to return to Quito to finish up my last week of my study abroad program. I am sad to have to leave Otavalo! I will really miss my friends here, my family, La Casa de la Juventud, and the cute little town of Otavalo!

I have taken a few photos on my american cell phone of my experiences here in Otavalo. When I get back to Quito, I am going to transfer the photos to my laptop so that I will be able to upload a few!

Life in Otavalo

For the past week I have been living in a different city with a new family because I am doing an internship here for two weeks. It is a learning experience that is a part of my program. I have been having a wonderful time here and love the city that I am living in! The city is called Otavalo and I honestly like it much better here than in Quito. Quito is so big, and polluted while Otavalo is much smaller and more quaint. It has been much easier for me to meet and make friends here because it is a smaller city and I just really like the community here. It is a much different feel than Quito. There is a very large indigenous population here in Otavalo which I really like. I also really like my family here. I have two young siblings who I adore and my parents are great.

My two week long internship is at a place called La Casa de la Juventud, which basically means youth house. It is a place where youth can take art and music classes for free. I have been helping out in the classes and have really been enjoying it!

My boyfriend, Leandro, came from across the country (he lives in a city in southern Ecuador) to spend three days with me here in Otavalo. We had a wonderful weekend together just relaxing and enjoying every moment we had together. I am not sure when I am going to see him next because in a few weeks he is going to Thailand and will be gone for a long time...he says that he is going to Thailand for a month and then will come back to Ecuador for a month and then return to Thailand for five months. But with Ecuadorians, you never really know what is going to happen so I honestly do not know if I will see him again, so saying goodbye to him today was difficult. But I am thankful for the time that we did have together!

I wish I could post photos of Otavalo, my internship, and my time with Leandro, but I do not have a camera here since mine was stolen last weekend! My friend has a few photos on her camera that I can share once I can get those photos from her, so hopefully I can put those up soon!