Mountains and salsa dancing

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Trip Start Aug 31, 2007 Previous
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  Quito, Ecuador
Monday, September 24, 2007

Week 4 already?! This past week was full of many very entertaining adventures, and some new pictures as well.  I bought a new camera on Monday and so I have been able to take pictures of my home here in Sangolqui. 

Thursdays we tend to not have classes, which has given us the opportunity to explore places surrounding Sangolqui and Quito.  This past thursday, myself, Sunneva, Steve and Caitlyn decided to hike up Mount Ilalo a mountain that I wake up to every morning that has a cross at the very top that lights up at night.  We had a bit of a slow start, with much difficulty getting to the mountain itself, but after a very interesting ride in the back of a truck, we got to our starting spot.  It was the most strenuous hike I have done so far, although only 2 and a half hours, it was entirely straight up and no trees, only farmers plots so very very hot as well.  The view from the top as you will see from these pictures were fabulous.  We had a glorious view of Cotopaxi from the summit, the world´s most active volcano, which is an hour away from here.  Some of us really want to climb it closer to the end of our time here, after we have more practice hiking.  The most hilarious part was about 10 minutes from the top when we were SOO tired, we realised that there was an untied bull about 40 feet away from us.. a little intimidating especially after the bull ring nonsense.. but we stealthed away from it and all was well.

Saturday I went for a Lojan lunch with my host family, my host mom Irlanda is from Loja, the province bordering on Peru, and we had a typical lunch at their house and it was so delicious.  Lunch here always starts with a soup, and the soup was this delicious cream of zucchini with beans and cilantro, next was chicken rice and salad, and a pastel (cake a word i learned early on.. also postre.. which means dessert.. essential to my spanish vocabulary) with strawberries and peaches.  Lets not forget the amazing different types of fresh fruit juices like blackberry, strawberry, pineapple, date, so good.  My host family´s extended family is very welcoming and friendly and so patient with my spanish.  My host brother and sisters cousins were there as well and we watched them play in the dirt and chase each other around the house. 

That afternoon myself Emma, Natasha and Sunneva took a bus to Quito for a night out on the town.  We stayed in the most beautiful hostel called the Secret Garden which had many dorms and many travellers and a rooftop terrace to hang out in, eat, and drink on overlooking Quito.  Had dinner at a really good mexican restaurant, there aren´t many restaurants in Sangolqui that offer food other than typical Ecuadorian meals so we were extremely happy with the mexican food and strawberry margaritas. We met a few really great people at the hostal and we met up with them that night at a bar where we danced and danced until really early in the morning, and I started learning how to salsa - way harder than it looks. 

Still learning Spanish, and we have our first test on Friday for our Andean Society class..all about the Incas.  Things are going well, and hope all is well back in Canada. Missing everybody!!

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one view from my bedroom window	sitting on the lawn at school	Our school!	My bedroom
the tv room	the living room	the dining room	the kitchen
dana	back of the truck	saint sunneva	pretty flowers
about half way up overlooking sangolqui	We made it!	the cross at the summit	caitlyn and the view of surrounding farmland
me.. very tired	enjoying sun, being tall and views	cotopaxi! how amazing	cotopaxi and surrounding mountains
cotopaxi again	climbing down in the early evening way easier

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