To the equator! - 5/17/09

THe last day in San Jose was an amazing time. It was one girls birthday and we went out salsa dancing. Everyone took part and those who were more equipped with salsa moves were able to guide us; I loved it! The Ticos danced like they were in the 1950s, I was so jealous and must learn how they do it. Then I was off to Ecuador. By the way, everyone wearing face masks on the plane was hilarious; there was like whole families with little baby masks and child masks and mom and dad masks. I did not wear a mask but I dont believe I have swine flu. My hostal in Quito was really adorable but one street away from where it is impossible to escape getting robbed although I have dodged it thus far. We dont want a repeat performance from Barcelona, ha ha... right dad? I meant to go do something my first night but instaed I took a 12 hour nap. The next day I met 2 Americans staying in the hostal and they were traveling around with an Ecuadorian friend who was taking them to all the sites so they told me to tag along. We went to the Teleferico and walked up to look over the entire city which was amazing and shocking how big the city really is. Then we went to the Panecillo, a giant statue of the Virgen and then later drove through the old city past the Basilica and back to the hostal. It was an unexpectedly good first day in Quito. That night I made an Israeli friend at the hostal and we went out for drinks and fun. The first place we went to was this little hole in the wall with a couple tables and drank what i think are called calzados which is basically really sweet hot juice with alcohol - good but i dont think i need another. Then we went to a couple other bars; one of which featured a live band that was seriously lacking in the vocal abilities. All in all it was a good night. The next day I did some more venturing around the city and then a couple of us went out for pizza where the Israeli dude ran into SIX people he knew - I swear to god these Israelis are all out travelling at the same time. So we all hung out in the pizzeria for the night and then I went back to the hostal to wake up super early the next morning. The next day I left for Arutam and arrived to a completely empty camp. Apparantly all the volunteers had left for a celebration of indigenous cultures in Puyo. It was a little sketchy. Later the 5 other volunteers came back, thank god. So far in my stay here at Arutam we{ve gone on walks in the jungle and planted seeds, learned about medicinal plants, and used blow darts. I would like it to be known that I was the only volunteer in the group to hit the lemon we were using as a target with the blow gun, it is very exciting! The problem that I have found with being here at Arutam is that it is much more of an ecotourism site than a volunteer program; we do activities every day as opposed to projects or any real meaningful work. I am only going to stay for 2 weeks instead of a month which is disappointing but I am sure that there are other amazing things I can do. I am looking into another program at a school in a town called Salasaca so hopefully that will pan out and the change will be great.