Hotel Caridi Salinas

... cross paths somewhere again.<br>Banos looks pretty touristy from the outside, but there is plenty to do: thermal baths (hence the name Banos which means baths in Spanish), hiking, mountain bikes, rafting, canyoning, dune buggies and loads of other things. I think its a holiday destination for Ecuadroians as well as gringos. Should be touristy but loads of fun!<br>I think some mountain biking, canyoning, rafting and some racing in a dune buggy sounds good enough for the next few days atleast!<br>

... benches and a single chair. The floor was compacted earth, uneven and dusty. The dining area had no heating at all, only that which drifted in from the burner in the other room. off the living area were the family's bedrooms, just small areas off the main corridor, no doors, I think one had a curtain. Before the new block had been built this is where paying guests would have slept because there was a sign with an arrow 'habitaciones'. Mmmm, I think I might ...

... my experience here in Ecuador, which is learning how to give love and accept love. <br><br>The children have taught me in their own, personal way. Josue taught me that in order to get something, you gotta aim for pity. For instance, I would say, "Josue, you have to climb down from that tree!" His reply: &#8220;It&#8217;s because you don&#8217;t carry me!&#8221; &#8220;Josue, sorry I can&#8217;t let you wear my sunglasses; you tried them on 2 times already!&#8221; His response ...

... or so in Riobamba. I took an 18 cent bus to his university, and after getting the meeting location mixed up, I found him around 40 minutes ago. Now I'm hooked on to his university's internet, waiting for his class to end at 6pm. It is *definitely chillier here... when I first got here I couldn't really teell, but it's barely 5pm and I can feel a chill coming for sure. Anywho, that's about it for now... maybe I'll update again later... but then again... probably not. :p

... peaks including Broad Peak (over 8000m) as well as the south face of Aconcagua (the only person ever to do so). On the latter climb he had lost not only his toes but parts of both feet to frostbite. Yet not only was he still climbing, he was going for a solo attempt on K2 later this year. But first, Santiago was here to climb Chimborazo as part of something he called "Ecuador Extreme". He was climbing 35 of Ecuador's mountains over 4000m ...

... duh). It seems to be mostly two-on-two. Whats awesome is that everyone watches. Everyone in the plaza is gathered around this concrete paved volleyball 'court' and cheering them on. It was awesome seeing these people in Salinas amassed around the volleyball court in their traditional Andean clothing cheering on volleyball. Never would I have guessed that this is what they played here.

... while they fished, he offered them three cokes. They seemed happy with the cokes and quickly motored away. The moral is: A friendly attitude is worth more than a suspicious nature when traveling in foreign countries. The Equator On February 5 at noon we had a ceremonial raising of Ecuador´s flag. It is horizontal banded with yellow, blue and red colors. The yellow band is twice as wide as the others, and flying on top. We passed over the Equator ...

... Abrazos, Maret P.S. I´ll try to write more when we get home about our niece, Maret Valentina´s school! We got to meet her teacher who does home visits (kind of like Kindering Center or early intervention here!) and on Friday we attended the holiday party at the neighborhood school where all the kids who are seen in the home meet sometimes for celebrations! We took lots of pictures so I´ll try to post those on google and send you all the link. :)

... took a truck driver up on his offer to drive us (in the back of the truck) up the mountain to the remote village. Truck rides seem to be a staple in Ecuadorian transportation and run roughly the same price as a bus ride (one dollar). Buses are cleaner, but sometimes the truck gets you there faster. Faster seemed like a good idea. So, in the back we sat along with the rest of the cargo which seemed an appropriate way to travel South America. Upon our ...

As I was walking down the street on a Friday afternoon in Quito after teaching at my school, it suddenly popped into my head to jump on a bus to the beach. Although it was an overnight bus ride of 12 hours, I said ´screw it´, threw some shirts and my bathing suit in my pack and jumped on the bus two hours later, starting on my first beach adventure ...