Que Haciste Esta Fin De La Semana?

Hola once again friends,

It's been awhile since the last post so there is plenty to catch up on.

Over the past two weekends we've found some exciting things to do. Around Quito one of the locals favorites is the TeleferiQo. It's a multimillion dollar lift that totes passengers 2.5km up the side of the Pinchincha volcano. At 4100 meters you have an amazing view of the city!









Now once you take the easy ride up the lift the summit looks so close. It's actually another quite steep - 4680m. The guidebook quoted a 3 hour hike, but with a combination of altitude, and lack of water/food, we ended up just shy of the summit after a grueling 3.5 hour hike up and 2 hour hike down. Watch us conquer, or um, attempt to reach the top.

Hiking Pinchicha

So as a word of advice for those who frequently hit the gym and consider themselves in "decent shape": Running on the treadmill with 0 incline is a WASTE of time!! I was running 15 miles a week before hiking, and it really whipped me bad.

Language classes have been going well. Andrea and I both have been working with a private instructor 4 hours a day. So far a total of 40 hours. So really in the past 2 weeks we've crammed in at least a college semester of Spanish.





The school we are taking classes with is well ran. We have large spacious classrooms as well as wifi, coffee, and plenty of extra activities such as lectures, futbol, cooking classes, and recently for Andrea and I, Salsa dancing lessons. Watch Andrea shakin it during our first class:

So this past weekend we took a 4 hour bus ride to a city called Banos. It's a beautiful little city perched on the side of a very active volcano called Tungurahua, which translates to 'throat of fire'.





The city is a popular destination for Ecuadorians as well as backpackers and students. The town is jammed packed with hostels, restaurants, and bars. As well as plenty of activities such as rafting, hiking, horseback riding, and bunjie jumping. Watch my buddy Alex take a leap of faith:

We skipped out on the nightlife Saturday night to rise early on Sunday morning to visit the thermal springs. So at 5:30, before sunrise, we walked over to the base of the volcano where the towns baths are fed by the natural boiling water fed into what looks like a neighborhood pool. It was already crowed when we arrived, and the locals there had to reassure us that the water was murky because the minerals, not from kids peeing.





There were 3 pools. Cold, medium, and super hot. As well as water from the waterfall routed into the complex for people to bathe. After a few minutes in the medium pool, which was in the 90s in temperature, a little cooler than a hot tub, I decided to give the super hot pool a go. Now this pool heated up to a blazing 118 degrees. I could only get one foot in, while the locals were swimming around in it and enjoying watching this gringo cringing at the thought of getting my entire body in. I was sure that my insides were going to boil. But slowly but surely one foot, both feet, legs, and 15 minutes later I'm in. I had conquered the super hot pool. And gotten a nod of acknowledgment from the locals.





The rest of the weekend was spent exploring the beautiful little town by foot and by bike. A few shots below:

























That's all for now, ciao!!!

- Created, edited, and posted using BlogPress from my iPhone ~DW&AC

Location:Ecuador