Ah, The Weekends.

As I've already said (numerous times) - I can't wait for the weekends! Seriously, if you want to travel around in South America, I definitely recommend Ecuador. I think it's one of the best countries to travel in - it's small, has all types of geography (the coast, mountains, jungle!), there's GREAT transportation, and it is very inexpensive. Since I've already written about what my week is like, I'm just going to write week by week what I've done on the weekends...

Weekend #1: Libertad.
I already wrote a little about this town in 'Traveling Adventures'. My friends and I were supposed to meet up with the group in Salinas (a very touristy area on the beach), but never made it there. Libertad, the town next door, offers almost nothing. We went just for a night and ended up hanging out along the ocean and making friends with the local townspeople (mainly children). It was a good first trip to practice our Spanish, traveling skills and experience being gringos.

Weekend #2: Guayaquil.
This weekend the group stayed in Guayaquil. This actually worked out perfectly for me since I moved families this weekend. The international students hung out on the malecon (walking place along the river in Guayaquil) and climbed Las Penas (444 stairs up to where you can see the city). The next day I hung out with my new family and got to know them a little.

Las Penas

A view of the city (Guayaquil) from on top of Las Penas.

You also see this: a hill of poverty, named Santa Ana.

Weekend #3: Cuenca.
There are two trips this semester that are included with my program that are through a travel agency. One is to Cuenca and the other is to Quito, the next two largest cities in Ecuador (after Guayaquil). Cuenca was absolutely beautiful, and it made me want to live there sometime in the future. It's an older town in the mountains with about 400,000 people. Lonely Planet describes it as "that colonial jewel of the south - Its narrow cobblestone streets and whitewashed red-tiled buildings, its handsome plazas and domed churches, and it setting above the grassy banks of the Tomebamba Rio, where women still dry clothes in the sun, all create a city that's supremely impressive." The temperature was perfect and the fresh, crisp air reminded me of fall. For this weekend, which was lead by a tour guide, we stayed in a beautiful hotel and ate in very good restaurants. We took a bus tour around the city, visited a lady who handmakes scarves and blankets, ate cuy (cooked guinea pig!), shopped in the famous indigenous market for a morning, saw an animal market, and met a man who hand makes the famous Panama hats (which are actually Ecuadorian).

The beautiful city.

Ana showing us how she makes her scarves.
(I'm wearing one in my profile picture!)

Pigs at the animal market.

Potatoes, pig and cuy roasting on the side of the road.

Hats

In Cuenca, I felt much safer than in Quayaquil, and the people were easier to understand. There's a LITTLE resentment (not really the right word) between the mountain and coast people. Around the city and in the mountains, we saw tons of women who were dressed traditionally. They wore big skirts, hats, had long braided hair, and were very short. Often, they were carrying a child on their back and selling food/items in the street.

Mom and child.

The last day we hiked in the Cajas Mountains (in the Andes), which are a little outside of the city. The group had not prepared well for the fairly chilly mountains. Nonetheless, the hike was absolutely stunning and worthwhile. The mountains had tons of lakes, lots of green and we ran into a group of llamas! I now have the nickname of llama from some friends because I love mimicking how llamas eat. Haha. :D

One of the many lakes in the mountains.

Llamas.

Weekend #4: Montanita.
I've also already written a little about Montanita. It's a very touristy beach area that attracts mainly hippies in their 20's. We went for two nights expecting to stay in a hostel that's owned by one of our Ecuadorian friend's friend. But, when we got there, it was fun, so we ended up staying at his aunt's. :) The next night more people came and we stayed at Claudio's, which was a pretty crummy $5 stay. The first day the weather wasn't that great and it rained a little, but we swam anyway. The next day was much warmer, and we enjoyed laying on the beach til we had to catch the bus.

Weekend #5: Puerto Lopez & Ayampe
This weekend was definitely one of the best!! A group of us went together to Puerto Lopez in hopes to see the whales, but it was uncertain because it was the last weekend of the season (end of September). We stayed in a beautiful hostel with the sweetest woman who owns it and her two dogs. Early in the morning you can watch the fisherman bring back the fish to the beach. It was so fun to see all the fish, people, and birds surrounding the beach. It felt so nice to be on a beach early in the morning. Later in the morning we went to see the whales! Most tourists pay about $40 to see the whales and visit an island, but we ran into a guy named Wiston (yes, Wiston) Churchill (haha), who said he'd take us to see the whales and to snorkel for $20. Perfect! So, around 10 am we got our gear together and went out with a few other tourists, Wiston, his driver, and his 5 year old son. This experience was amazing - we saw TONS of whales! We saw them swim, stick their faces out of the water and even jump. It was stunning. I attempted to take some photos and decided to stop after about 10 pictures of only water and just enjoy the experience. The whales were so beautiful and so big. You could hear them breathing from far away and their impact on the water, when landing, was huge. We have named Wiston's son, Little Whale Whisperer, because he sang little songs to the whales, ("ballenitas") and they came out! We had met his family the night before - tons of little children, a grandma, a kitten, a chick, and a parrot. When we returned they were all there. Our group couldn't have been more happier with our experience with Wiston and his son. (If you ever get a change to see whales, do it.)

In the morning with the fish.

The Whale Whisperer preparing.

On the second day, we went to a place called Agua Blanca which is the territory of an indigenous community. In the morning we tried to look for 7 bikes to rent for the day to get there, but the town didn't have that many (haha, no joke). So, instead, we tried to find the cheapest (and, of course, the safest) way to get there, and ended up riding in the back of some guy's camioneta (pick-up truck). This was so fun! When we arrived, we were guided through an archaeological museum with all kinds of different artifacts. After, we went on a little hike through the woods and saw a beautiful sulfur pool. We had made a deal with the 'chauffeur' that he would wait for us during the tour and after we would go to a national park to see one of the most beautiful beaches in Ecuador. The day we went was the country's election day for a new constitution, so park was closed when we got there. However, the only thing keeping us out was a metal chain, in which are driver simply moved away and drove past. Three minutes into the park we were chased down by a security guard on a motorcycle, who actually let us pass through ("just for an hour, please!") with a discount! (We think he probably pocketed the money.) The beach was beautiful, as expected, and we returned to Puerto Lopez in our little truck.

Our ride... with custom-made benches.
Yes, very safe.

Me, not using the benches. :)

The beach from above.

A few hours after this adventure, half of the group had to return to Guayaquil and half of us stayed back to go to Ayampe. Ayampe is a short bus ride away from Puerto Lopez and is a small village of about 300 people on the coast. My friend, Hayley, knew about this place from some of her friend's who visited this summer and told her to go and look for "Cuatro Estrellas" (Four Stars). The 6 of us were dropped off in the dark at the end of a dirt road, leaving the only option to walk forward. It was obviously a very quiet and relaxed place. We asked a couple of people about Cuatro Estrellas, and they directed us down another road. We reached the hostel and met a guy in his 40's named Cuatro Estrellas, because he has four gold stars on his teeth!!! Haha. Cuatro Estrellas is a delightful person, and he and his wife immediately made us feel at home. We unloaded our stuff in our huts ($5 per person), and went to grab some dinner at the only restaurant open, with Cuatro Estrellas. He told us a little about the town, his huge family, his children and his finca (farm)! Afterward, we went to bed, in preparation to wake up early for a full day with him.
In the morning, we got up, ate at the same restaurant, and played with the neighbor's puppies. I could barely contain myself from touching all of the different animals around (puppies, cats, chicks, roosters, horses, cows). We talked with a man who told us about a documentary they're making about the river that runs through the town (named Ayampe River) and he invited us to join him in camping along the river. Being in this small village was really cool - it was a good example of semi-rural living in Ecuador. After hanging out in the morning, Cuatro Estrellas showed a few of us his finca. His finca had all kinds of trees: banana, lime, cocoa, papaya, yuca. It was so much fun walking around with him. Unfortunately, he told us we were lucky to have gotten there that day because he had sold his finca to an American who was supposed to come that week to take over. This made us really sad. Over a snack (of ceviche - a doughy ball thing with fish and peanut butter inside), we had a nice conversation about what he wishes for his children and the children in the village. We kept walking by people and he knew everyone - he also seemed to own a lot of property and have a pretty high status. On the way home we ran into a guy (who Cuatro knew) selling breads and pastries from his bike, so we bought every kind to try. When we returned, he went to a meeting, we ate our pastries, and then, Hayley and I wanted to swim in the river so we asked a girl on the street where the best place was. She ended up showing us where we could swim and had a small smile on her face while Hayley and I were making fools of ourselves sliding all over the slimy bottom. All in all, Ayampe was fabulous and I definitely want to return to visit Cuatro Estrellas and to go camping along/swimming in the river!

Cuatro Estrellas (look at his teeth!).

Some of the puppies.

The boy who owns them.

Cocoa fruit! Tastes nothing like what you think...

This is how you get a papaya down...

And this is how you look when you've caught it.

Me, excited to finally have caught a little chick!

Weekend #6: Quito.
I'm definitely jealous of those who get to study in Quito - Guayaquil just doesn't compare. Quito is the capital with about 1.5 million people, "Spread across a spectacular Andean valley and flanked by volcanic peaks, Quito's setting alone is enough to strike you speechless" (Lonely Planet). Quito is more modern than Cuenca, and a little louder, but the weather was perfect, the sky was blue, and enjoyed being in the mountains. The first day we saw a village in a volcano, and went to the equatorial latitude, which has a museum! The tour guide showed us some really cool things that happen here because of the equator - she balanced an egg on a nail, showed us how water spins down opposite directions on either side of the equator, and gave examples of how your strength and balance are much weaker on the equator. It was fascinating! Quito was also a beautiful guided tour, so we learned a lot about the city, ate great food and slept in another nice hotel. Just by chance, that afternoon, we ran into a festival in the main square! There were parade floats, tons of children dressed in traditional clothing, dancing, music, and a horse that sparkled (pictures below...). We were so happy to have ran into this - it was beautiful seeing this part of Ecuadorian culture.

The city.

Dancing!

The horse.

I can't remember where this was in the trip, but we went up to a beautiful lake inside of a volcano. Here we had a delicious lunch, and then went on a boat ride out on the lake. It was a little chilly, but gorgeous. The driver had us slow down near a little island and showed us bubbles that were coming up from the ground through the water, which meant the volcano is active. Oh, Ecuador. We also had a free day during this weekend, in which my friends and I wanted to wake up early and try catch the sunrise from the mountains, but we heard it was too gray, so instead, we slept in a little. Cristian, a guy working at the hotel, was nice enough to show us around Quito a little. We went up on top of a mountain to climb a little and to have a delicious picnic of bread, cheese and fruit. We met a guy from Germany (we love running into other travelers), and hiked and ate with him. Although it was hard to breath because we were thousands of feet in the air, it was beautiful. The fog was so fast - one minute it'd be sunny and the next you couldn't see off the mountain. After this trip, we went and walked around one of the many parks in Quito. We drank warm drinks and enjoyed all the different artwork and crafts that were being exhibited.

The lake in the volcano.

Visiting some animals. I loved this llama!
(and I obviously only have one outfit for chilly weather)

The fog rolling in on the mountains...

Weekend #7: Hacienda & Guayaquil.
The following weekend we stayed in Guayaquil, which was actually pretty lucky, for me, since I had the flu that week. We had planned to stay in Guayaquil because it was the weekend to celebrate its independence! So, we though we'd give Guayaquil a chance and see some of its culture/art, etc. On Thursday evening we went to a fair, which consisted of tons of food, music, and some dancing. Friday we went to an hacienda (a farm - larger than a finca), that's owned by one of the students at my university. There were lots of animals (horses, geese, ostriches, peacocks, dogs), and it was so relaxing to just hang out with the animals, play some soccer, and eat some yummy food. That night we went over to our friend's house and hung out. The next day I had an extremely relaxing - probably one of the first times I've ever felt truly relaxed and calm here - with my friend Gesa. We went to the university's gym and swam in the pool. Somehow our cards let us in, but the guard came to us when we were swimming and said it had closed early (since it was a national holiday) but he would let us stay for an hour. It was perfect! Since the university bus doesn't run on the weekends, we have to take 2 public busses to get there - which was a little bit of an adventure. But, on the way home, whenever I am in the bus terminal, I always go to the food court to the station called "American Deli" and ask them to make me a $1 salad of all the greens and veggies they have. I'm pretty sure next time I go, they'll know what I want before I speak. I think I just stayed at home with my family on Sunday and ran some errands around the neighborhood. Geeze, I hope I'm not forgetting anything exciting!

I'll post some pictures of the Hacienda later - but first I have to put them on facebook so I can transfer them here. Sorry this was a long read! I hope you enjoyed it...

Weekend #8 & #9: Galapagos Islands!
--> This is going to have an entry by itself.