Amazing Weekend!!

Each Friday is when we have our dance class that we are required to take. All of us girls were really looking forward to it because it had been a long week and we were ready to have some fun. There are 3 things that I learned after finishing the first dance class. Number one, this class is not a joke,…number 2, you WILL sweat & your hips will be soar afterwards… and number 3, I have never concentrated so hard for an hour straight. The class was still a lot of fun, but it’s so hard for me to keep it together and not laugh. I don’t watch myself dance on a daily basis in the mirror…this is just one aspect of the class that makes it funny. Don’t worry I will be sure to come home and teach you all how to salsa. It should give you a good laugh! 

Our whole hiking/camping team!!

Ahhh I’m so excited to tell you all about the hiking and camping that we did this weekend. Other than teaching and taking classes here in Ecuador, we also have a few weekends where “excursions” are planned for us. Our first weekend here we went hiking and camping in Las Cajas National Park! There are 7 teaching majors that I came here with and then CEDEI school in Cuenca, Ecuador also has a fall semester study abroad program available. The study abroad program has around 10 students and for this excursion we had the opportunity to combine both our teaching program and the study abroad students. All together there were around 17 of us that went. It was so much fun going with the other students; it was a great bonding experience!!

  

In the paper tree forest!

Las Cajas is located within a high altitude of 10,000 feet.  Thankfully none of us got sick from the change in altitude, but most of us could feel it as we hiked throughout the day.  Our tour guide was definitely walking super fast on the hike and it was vital that we all kept up with him so that we didn’t get lost.  The whole time that I was hiking, I was in complete awe of the beauty that surrounded me.  We carried backpacks with extra clothes, water, etc.  The rest of our overnight stuff was left on the bus.  The weather during the day was average.  We were pretty bundled up, but I added and removed layers of clothing several times.  

These are just a few pictures from the hike we went on!  The first 2 pictures are of Las Cajas National Park that we hiked through.  In the third picture I was at the beginning of a cave that we had to walk through during the hike!!

Throughout the hike our tour guide pointed out many different flowers and plants!  We came across a specific edible plant that we could choose to try.  Our reasoning behind everything is “we’ll only get to do this once.”  Probably not the best way of thinking, but in many cases it’s just fine.  I can’t remember the specific name of the plant, but the majority of our group decided to try it.  After watching others reactions I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to, but I did anyways.  One of the CEDEI staff members took pictures of us trying it…I thought that they might give you a good laugh…but please remember that these facial expressions are no joke! UCKKK, it was sooo bitter!

  

After hiking for most of the day, we set up camp in the middle of the mountains!  This was such an amazing experience, but quite exhausting at the same time.  Once we set our backpacks down, we walked about 20 minutes to our bus…which seemed like 40 minutes because we were all so wiped out.  I could definitely feel the altitude as we hiked…a lot of us lost our breath a lot quicker than normal.  From the bus we carried back tents, sleeping bags, mats, food, water and all of our extra clothes.  It was a very tiring walk, but once we set up camp it was all worth it!  The rest of the night was devoted to relaxing and enjoying the beauty that surrounded us while staying warm by a campfire! Oh yeah, and I can’t even tell you how many layers we wore at night and to bed…the temperature dropped to 40 degrees!!!!!

                                                   

We didn’t end up getting much sleep this weekend, but it was all worth it in the end.  I am ready for another week of teaching and classes…well as ready as I can get!  I’m just hoping for some more sleep this week, but we’ll see what happens.  Have a great Monday!  Talk to you soon!