For Evanne...

Apologies for not writing sooner, to the (probably 2 people) who read this blog. Last time I wrote I was in Montanita, surfing. Since then, I've been back to Quito, Las Tolas, Mindo, Cuyabeno, Latacunga, Banos, Cuenca, and am now hanging out in Vilcabamba. It sounds like a lot, but I'm really enjoying traveling at a leisurely pace. Tomorrow I'm going to head out to a farm near here and volunteer for a while. I'm looking forward to being in one place!

My favorite thing so far was probably the jungle tour Brian and I did in Cuyabeno. It was so much fun! I thought because it was a tour that you book in Quito that it would be lame, but I'm really glad Brian had the idea. To get to the place we stayed we had to take an overnight bus, which was fine for me but torture for Brian because he doesn't fit in the seats. Ecuadorians are generally very short (like, I am tall here), and poor Brian, 6'4", was way to tall to be able to relax in the Ecuadorian-sized buses. Then it was a 3 hour car ride, then a 2 hour boat ride down the river to the lodge we stayed at. So we were way out there, and it was amazing! The jungle was beautiful, and so different than anything I've ever seen at home. There was a big, slow-moving river, which apparently completely dries up in less than one week without rain. There were animals everywhere - we saw loads of monkeys, sloths, pink river dolphins, some snakes, tarantulas, caimans, tucans, and this one ugly bird called a stinkey turkey. That may have been my favorite. We would go pirahna fishing then swimming in the same lagoon, which freaked me out at first, but nobody got attacked and the water was perfect! Worth the risk, I think. Brian and I also made friends with the guys who worked there and some of the other tourists as well, so I was kind of sad to leave.

After that we traveled down to Latacunga, where Brian and I parted ways. Traveling on my own was hard at first, it was like I had forgotten how. But in the past week or so I think I picked it up again. I hung out in Banos for a bit, then took a looooooong bus ride down to Cuenca, where I tried to get my visa extended. That was a freaking nightmare. After 3 days of going to the immigration office, talking/emailing/calling people to find out what the deal was, the end result was, "Come back later with $200 and then we can help you". So later this month I have to go back to Cuenca and pay a ridiculous amount of money for an extension that used to be (was supposed to be!) free. That sucks. But, now I'm in Vilcabamba with some new friends, hanging out in one of the loveliest places I've seen in Ecuador, about to go to volunteer at a farm and I'm really excited. I think working at the farm will be fun and (I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's true) educational. I will let you know how that goes in a couple weeks!

Love and miss all you guys back home!

P.S. Is that good enough, Evanne? No more complaining!