What a Weekend!!

 We just got back from a weekend of hiking and camping in the Andes Mountains, what more can you ask for?? (Well other than having all of you here to experience it all with me!) It was a truly amazing experience; I had to keep reminding myself that it was actually real! We left at 8:15 am with the 12 students who are studying abroad here for the semester and headed straight to the highest point in Cajas National Park. We all got off the bus and were shocked at how cold it was. At this point I had a t-shirt and 2 long-sleeve shirts on, thinking I’d be fine since I’d be hiking; boy was I wrong! There was a huge temperature change and it was very cold up in the Andes! (Don’t worry, I had many more layers to put on!) We enjoyed the view and took a few pictures before driving to the place where we began our hike. You could choose between a short hike or a long hike and I of course chose the long hike to get the full experience. It was 3 hours long and like nothing I have ever experienced before. The trail was rocky, windy, uphill, downhill, narrow, and all right along steep drops at some points; it was awesome! We all got out of breath very easily, though, because of the altitude. It made it so much harder! We also went through two awesome forests, one of which was surrounding with bogs that could be neck deep with mud in some places. Don’t worry, I was definitely one of three who went at least ankle deep in the mud! It’s good for some laughs and memories at least! We saw lots of neat plants and flowers that are used for different things that are only found in the national park and we even got to try some of them. We also ate lunch in one of the valleys in the mountains so we were surrounded in beauty with a creek bubbling right next to us; what a great picnic spot!

Then we finished our hike meeting up with those from the short hike at our campsite for the night; an open area right in the middle of the mountain with no bathrooms, electricity, or anything! We had to hike 15 more minutes to the bus to carry all of the (heavy) camping stuff back down to the site. Ashley and I were pros at setting up our tent!

Camp was set up by like 4 so the rest of the evening was just spent getting to know the fall students, eating food made over the fire, singing, and just hanging out. It was a great getting to know other Americans here, especially ones who already know the ropes a little and can show us around! We had a tea made from plants in the mountain, soup, pasta, and marshmallows all made over the fire! And I can’t forget the Oreo snack; gotta love comfort food! Don’t worry though, the temperature only got lower at night so it was like camping in the middle of winter. I don’t know what the temperature was exactly but I had two pairs of socks with tennis shoes, long underwear and sweatpants, a t-shirt, 3 long-sleeve shirts, a sweatshirt, my fleece, my rain jacket, gloves, and a hat on so I could stay comfortable. It was wonderful by the fire! To make things even more interesting, rain was added into the mix off and on but it didn’t stop anything from happening; everyone just continued on like it wasn’t raining at all. Ashley and I just snuggled in our tiny tent to stay warm. :)

We had yogurt, apples, eggs, and ham and cheese sandwiches before packing up camp and heading out. It was my first experience washing dishes in a freezing cold creek in the middle of the mountains. After loading everything back on the bus we had one more hour-long hike to wrap up the weekend. This one was a lot easier but it was through a forest looking for birds. We were able to see a few but not the Tucan we were looking for. We heard it, but didn’t see it. We saw llamas and hummingbirds though! It was a great way to end our trip. After a quick lunch in the parking lot we headed back to Cuenca.

The first thing Aimee and I did was take a nice warm shower when we got home because it was much needed after a weekend of roughing it. I wouldn’t have traded any of it though. It was a great first weekend in Ecuador.

Today we are back to reality, though. Hopefully it'll start moving faster this week since we're getting into more teaching ourselves. Better get things figured out before going to my first class though. I'll write again soon!

PS: I figured out how to change the settings so anyone should be able to comment on my posts as they wish! I’d love to hear what you think about my experiences! I also figured out pictures so I'm adding a few to my past blogs so check it out! :)