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!