I realize that it has been awhile since I have posted anything, and I apologize to those that have been checking regularly for an update. However, no more waiting because the post has arrived! So much to tell in such little space. Let me start with a couple of weeks back...
Two weekends ago we took a trip to Cajas National Park, which is located about 40 minutes outside of Cuenca. This by far has been my favorite experience yet in Ecuador. The
hiking was relatively easy besides all of the mud that was on the trails due to the rain that continued to pour. We all had boots on, but still got plastered with mud while being drenched at the same time. However, this added to the experience. I actually ended up getting a little more wet than everyone else. The adventuresome part of me told me to walk through the stream we were crossing while everyone else was walking on large rocks. I somehow forgot that streams have pockets on the bottom were there isn't stream rock. Luckily the new camera was safely packaged in its case inside my backpack. Needless to say, the remaining hour of the hike I was pretty wet. In total, we hiked for about 3 1/2 hours.
Then we went back to a regular week of school, with the anticipation of the approaching week of Carnaval. This is suppose to be a time of "purification", which results in people eating and drinking way more than the should. Water is also a major part of the festival here in Cuenca. However, most people don't stay here in Cuenca for the vacation. Four girls from my group and I took this time to head to the coast. We spent Carnaval in Montañita, which is located on the Western coast of Ecuador. We spent the Saturday through Tuesday morning
living in a small little beach town that comes to life every year at this time. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure there were
more tourists there than natives. While were weren't busy frying our skin on the beach,
I enjoyed swimming in the ocean
and diving into the waves. It was a nice time to relax and read in a hammock, enjoy the beach, and wander around seeing
what the street venders had to offer.
But man is it great to be back in the mountains...
