So the weekend of January 29th and 30th a giant group decided to go to Baños, a town known for the healing thermal baths that are naturally heated.
We got there at around midday on friday, and immediately after finding an awesome hostel, we signed up to go "puenting" (Which literally means bridge-ing) It's a form of bungee jumping, but the cord isn't stretchy, so you don't bounce back up, you end up swinging. It was so much fun!! The bridge we jumped off was 90 meters tall, and it was an awesome experience. I don't know if I've ever felt so alive as I did those few seconds in free fall haha. I was so proud of everyone in our group! Everyone went, even though we have two girls that are absolutely terrified of heights. One of the girls, Shanshan, ended up jumping incorrectly which was so scary!! You're supposed to dive head first off the bridge so that your body will automatically make an arc in the air, which minimizes the shock of hitting the end of the rope. But Shanshan was so scared about jumping, that her body wouldn't let her jump correctly and she ended up pencil diving off the platform. Thank goodness she was ok except for some minor pain in her neck! honestly I was far more scared watching Shanshan try to jump than I was to jump.
After the bridge jumping, we all went to the thermal baths, which were kind of a disappointment really. Even though the water was all naturally heated, it ended up being in these man-made pools, not exactly the esthetic that we were expecting.
The next day, we got up early to go Canyoning. We ended repelling down five different waterfalls with a guide far more legitimate than in Mindo. We had wetsuits and helmets and we actually signed something for the first time here in Ecuador (crazy!) It was a really fun experience, and we all were exhausted by the end. However, we managed to rent atvs when we got back to town (after a short lunch intermission). We took these atvs the the top of the surrounding mountains, to a cafe called Cafe del Cielo (cafe of the sky). There I believe I had the best mocha I've ever tried in my life, and enjoyed it with a view of all of Baños. It was so beautiful! The scary part was going back down the mountain and realized the brakes on the atv I was riding weren't exactly up to stopping me while going down hill. I don't think I've ever been more terrified haha. Those were some of the fastest curves I've ever taken, all while riding an atv for the first time.
After the adventures of the day, we all went out and had dinner and enjoyed the night life of Baños. It was a really fun weekend!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Otavalo
Hey all,
It's been crazy busy for a while now, so sorry about not writing in so long!
So the weekend of January 22 and 23rd the whole program took us to a small city called Otavalo which is know for it's absolutely giant market. There, a lot of the native Ecuadorian people sell textiles and things of the like. There is a lot of Alpaca, flutes, and scarves. An interesting (and difficult) part of this trip was having to bargain with everyone. It's not that bargaining is actually difficult, I get the logistics of it. But when someone offers you two dollars for a beautifully hand woven scarf, it's hard to scoff in their face and insist that it's only worth one.
So the first day we were in Otavalo, we all did silly tourist activities in the market like asking the native people to translate certain basic phrases from spanish into Quichwan. It was difficult to say the least. Plus, everyone was really irritable because all we wanted to do was go look at the things in the market, and buy everyone we know and their mother gifts, but they had us doing ridiculous gringo activities all day. Oh well right? hahaha It was still an amazing trip and everyone still bought a ton of gifts there.
after visiting the market, we all went up to this lake that sits in the bowl of a volcanoe. The lake is called Cuicocha, and it is breathtakingly beautiful. After eating lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake, a portion of the group took a boat tour, and the others (including me) hiked partway around the lake.
The last thing we did before leaving the area that Otavalo is in, is we visited a curandero. A curandero is a healer that specializes in banishing the bad spirits from someone. So, on the way they asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to do this, and my friend Zang volunteered. What ended up happening, was this healer guy ended up spitting a bunch of liqueur onto these leaves, then light hitting Zang all over her body several times with the leaves. Then, he took two eggs, and shook them around her body. This is the most important step, because if you can hear the water in the egg moving around, that means there are bad spirits within the person that need banishing. So, since he could hear the water moving, he decided to chew flowers, then drink a little wine, and spit the concoction all over Zang. Literally all over. Then, he drank more liqueur and spit fireballs at her. All in all, it was a lot of liqueur, all over Zang. Kind of a hilarious end to the weekend for sure.
It's been crazy busy for a while now, so sorry about not writing in so long!
So the weekend of January 22 and 23rd the whole program took us to a small city called Otavalo which is know for it's absolutely giant market. There, a lot of the native Ecuadorian people sell textiles and things of the like. There is a lot of Alpaca, flutes, and scarves. An interesting (and difficult) part of this trip was having to bargain with everyone. It's not that bargaining is actually difficult, I get the logistics of it. But when someone offers you two dollars for a beautifully hand woven scarf, it's hard to scoff in their face and insist that it's only worth one.
So the first day we were in Otavalo, we all did silly tourist activities in the market like asking the native people to translate certain basic phrases from spanish into Quichwan. It was difficult to say the least. Plus, everyone was really irritable because all we wanted to do was go look at the things in the market, and buy everyone we know and their mother gifts, but they had us doing ridiculous gringo activities all day. Oh well right? hahaha It was still an amazing trip and everyone still bought a ton of gifts there.
after visiting the market, we all went up to this lake that sits in the bowl of a volcanoe. The lake is called Cuicocha, and it is breathtakingly beautiful. After eating lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake, a portion of the group took a boat tour, and the others (including me) hiked partway around the lake.
The last thing we did before leaving the area that Otavalo is in, is we visited a curandero. A curandero is a healer that specializes in banishing the bad spirits from someone. So, on the way they asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to do this, and my friend Zang volunteered. What ended up happening, was this healer guy ended up spitting a bunch of liqueur onto these leaves, then light hitting Zang all over her body several times with the leaves. Then, he took two eggs, and shook them around her body. This is the most important step, because if you can hear the water in the egg moving around, that means there are bad spirits within the person that need banishing. So, since he could hear the water moving, he decided to chew flowers, then drink a little wine, and spit the concoction all over Zang. Literally all over. Then, he drank more liqueur and spit fireballs at her. All in all, it was a lot of liqueur, all over Zang. Kind of a hilarious end to the weekend for sure.
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