It has been quite a long time since I’ve posted a new blog. As I’m sure no one wants almost two months worth of information about my life I’ll just give little anecdotes of the highlights:

I went home for Christmas. It was AMAZING!!!

I was kicked out of my host family’s home because they needed my room for visiting family. They gave me four days to find a new place. Fortunately I have a very nice friend who is letting me crash at her place.

The parents and in-laws of the volunteer near me visited the Reserve and I was able to give them a tour of the reserve with the local guide. We saw an exuberant amount of birds, particularly the roseate spoonbills. It was New Year’s Eve and I got to witness a very old coastal tradition where someone uses a bunch of weeds called “broom” to sweep away the bad spirits and bring in good luck for the new year.

I spent New Year’s Eve with one of the ladies I work with from the group. We ate fancy turkey, went to a church service and played with sparklers until two in the morning.

New Year’s Day I went to the family of her husband in a nearby town and we ate Fritada (pork dish) and lazed around all day. I had lots of photos but unfortunately I let a girl use my camera to take photos and she deleted all of them…

I lost my rat coin purse.

I ate a fancy Argentinean pasta dish with a very good bottle of wine with one of my PCV friends. Thanks to her and her uncle! We toasted to him several times.

I marked off a thing on my Ecuadorian bucket list: Train to Nariz del Diablo. It was fun, beautiful and interesting but I can tell you now the rock formation looks nothing like a nose.

I spent the night in Riobamba with several friends and we ate Llapingauchos and jugos made with ice from Chimborazo. It was a perfect send off.

After Llapingauchos in Riobamba we went to Quito and had a late lunch of legit burritos and maracuyá margaritas. We finished it off with micro-brewed beer. I heart Quito.

I attended our Close of Service Conference in which we learn about what we need to do to finish up our service. It was a bit sad knowing I’ll never see some of the friends I’ve made here in Ecuador again, or any time soon.

I made a quick  trip to Mindo where a few friends and I saw more hummingbirds I could fathom, exotic orchids, artisanal chocolate, Colombian musicians serenading us to the most delicious pizza I’ve had in Ecuador, a beautiful sleep in a tree-house hostel while being serenades by the cloud forest’s nightly rain.

I was invited to a little girl’s first communion ceremony in the Catholic church and accepted. Unbeknownst to me I had accepted to be the girl’s Godmother.

 

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