Rafting With Weird Tan-Lines

White-water rafting in Tena was, without question, my best trip in Ecuador thus far. Located on the edge of the oriente, Tena is known for having some of the best rivers in South America and I wasn’t disappointed. I, along with six other friends from USFQ, departed by bus on Friday morning and spent the entire day Saturday rafting class III+ rapids, eating delicious guacamole with chips (something I’ve strangely been craving for weeks), and marveling at my amazing sandal-tan/burn.

Saturday night was also pretty eventful when a huge bolt of lightening struck our hotel and cut all electricity for several blocks. The next morning we went to a small monkey reserve, which was really cool, and then jumped on the five hour bus back to Quito.

Moving forward to this week, my morning was pretty strange today. First of all, I sleepwalked last night into the room of my host mom at 2:00 AM and I’m pretty sure that I freaked out both my host mom and sister quite a lot. Then, after sleeping off the embarrassment, I woke up at 7:00 AM to go to the school where Maritza works to see the kids and hang out. It turned out, however, that there wasn’t any school today and that I actually might be teaching English there three times a week! I’m a little confused about all of this right now, but we’ll see what happens. I’ve wanted to do something outside of school for a while, but I don’t know if I’m qualified to teach English or if I’m even ready to commit a lot of time to doing so. As for this coming weekend, Julie and I are probably going to make the 15-hour trip to Vilcabamba tomorrow to engage in lot of hiking and a lot of relaxing as well. Vilcabamba is a small pueblo, which is located in a place called “Valley of Longevity,” because the people there live well into their hundreds. It’s near the border of Peru and has excellent hiking, horseback excursions, bike riding and massage. I’m looking forward, once again, to getting out of the city for a few days. ¡Que pasa bien! 

Highlight of the Week: Exchanging Pozo cards (lottery tickets) for gold clip-on earrings with my grandma!

Highlights of Rafting: Being launched from the boat on the first rapid, jumping out and floating down a class III, and falling in love with our stunningly handsom Irish guide, Tim!