Viva Quito!

hey all,

so i really wanted to post my pictures from Cotopaxi and Quilotoa but i have quite a bit to do today, so it'll have to wait till either another day online, or in person when i return. but in a nutshell, it was an AMAZING hike for both of them! seriously, i was sooooo beat hiking up Cotopaxi, cos the ground was gravel, and ash. can you imagine hiking up a 60 degree incline with that sorta of support?!? and to top it off you're up 4000 meters above sea level with incredibly thin air. so....i had to seriously stop every 10 steps...my heart was beating so hard, and there were many times i was ready to just go back down. but often times as it is with our faith, you don't let the obstacles or difficulties get in the way. trek thru, and keep your eye on the goal...for in the end it's priceless. my photos didn't quite capture the majesty of the site...but it does a pretty good job. after i reached the first refuge, i breaked for a bit then made my way to the glacier...yah, pretty amazing.

Quilotoa was also cool. in the morning we did a 3 hour hike to an Incan cave. we asked how they knew Incas lived here, and their answer was "cos people told us from generations." sure, sounds good enough. took a little nap, then hiked down the Quilotoa crater...to the Quilotoa Lake. the tierra was the same as COtopaxi...gravelly and ashy...so we basically slid down... for about an hour. then we rode donkeys back up! at first i thot they'd be horses, and i told the girls that my friends back home would never believe that i'd ever get on a horse again - cos i hate them - but when i saw it was a donkey...i was so happy! it was the cutest thing in the world, hard working, tho my donkey had a harsh case of diarheea....poor kid. the funny thing is that Quichua people were walking and guiding our donkey...WHILE WE WERE ON THE DONKEY. yah, it was pretty embarassing that a 35 yr old Quichua woman in her SKIRT, LOAFERS, and BABY ON HER BACK was able to walk up this thing, but we weren't. then again, they ARE mountain people...and they do this everyday.

title of this blog, Viva Quito, marks the celebration of Quito Days. you know how we have Canada Day? well here, they have Dias de Quito, and Fiestas de Quito....plural. the city celebrates for a couple weeks the founding of Quito! (Dec.6) no joke, the city is decked out in half christmas decorations, and balloons and banners that shout "VIVA QUITO!" last nite, some friends and i headed to a free outdoor merengue concert. Merengue is a much faster version of salsa. it was great! there were proly about 1000 people there, and we all danced and laughed, and had great fun together in Carolina Park. someone i was dancing with told me i was really good and i laughed in his face....then told him that my host family would be really proud of me that an ecuadorian said i was good - cos they were trying to teach my REAL salsa, and i sucked soooo bad.

next week, im gonna be sleeping over at my little cousin's house, Dominique. she's 13 years old and had asked me to sleep over before, so i'll be doing that before i leave. and her family said, "we'll have to do lots of dancing cos it's the 6th of December!" i guess i have a few days to practice so i don't make a complete fool of myself. but i'll say it again like i said before... my body is incapable of moving like a Latin body....nuff said.

happy weekend all, what ever you're up to. i heard it's snowing in Vancouver, or at least was. aaaaand boo, the canucks lost last nite. i saw the highlights online from the colorado game tho...that was pretty sweet.

oh yah, sidenote: i'm not big into listening to Christmas music, or MercyMe etc...BUT James just purchased MercyMe's "The Christmas Sessions" and i must say it's quite good. i could probably listen to this year round cos it's not typical slooow christmas music, and the boys sound good.

much love to you all,
dL