Weekend in Baños

First let me just say that my Macalester email account is driving me CRAZY. Apparently it is acceptable to have a server that functions 50% of the time. What the hell!? So if I don´t respond to your emails in a timely manner you´ll know why. Also, if I actually do lose my mind while I´m here, I´m blaming it on stupid OCS because I feel so cut off without email!

Also, (Uncle Carl, this one is for you) if any of you were thinking of visiting Ecuador I think you should know that it is BYOTP. That stands for Bring Your Own Toilet Paper. Not kidding. It´s not fun to have explosive diarrhea and realize that you can´t wipe. So take precautions. Never travel without a roll of your own.

Finally, this weekend: Amazing! It was so nice to get out of Quito, which I really have kind of a love/hate relationship with. Baños was a breif but passionate love affair. It is a cute little town with a nice church and town square and park. It is surrounded on all sides by HUGE, steep mountains, one of which is the active volcano Tungaragua. The town is famous for its natural hot springs which we tried out. They were really crowded but really neat. The water is murky and full of sulfur but it´s like a natural hot tub. Our greatest excursion was renting four-wheelers and going on a 4 hour tour of the surrounding waterfalls, including a hike to the famous Pailon del Diablo. I know that four-wheelers aren´t environmentally friendly and frankly I was scared to ride one on the same road with cars, winding around steep cliffs. As it turns out, I had the time of my life! I rode on the back of one with Katy, a girl from my program (we all doubled up, so at least we minimized the pollution???) Katy was a wild child! She was passing people and playing chicken with the other kids of my program - mom, you would have been horrified!

Our weekend also included two nights of clubbing because it was Claire´s 21rst birthday. I didn´t have that much fun the first night because it seems that only creepy people ever want to dance with me (aka, stalkers, gropers, drunks.) Some Ecuadorian friend of Emily´s brother was all over me and started kissing my neck. EWWW. I left. Then I had a brief period of self-loathing reflection and went to bed. The next night was way better. I was determined to have a good time and I actually danced with a nice boy for a while who was a great partner, didn´t make me feel uncomfortable and didn´t pursue me when I thanked him and said goodnight. YAY!

Also, worth mentioning: the bus ride to Baños was very pretty and on the way there I sat with an Ecuadorian woman and her 10 year old daughter and I think I made a friend for life :) Such a cutie! Unfortunately that was really the extent of my Spanish practice for the weekend...

I´m afraid next week will be even less educational. We´re on vacation and we´re going to the beach! Oh well, I guess this is all a learning experience for me since I don´t really party, haha.