FINALLY I know some shit!

So, after nearly a month of trying to figure out our next move, things have finally ordered themselves out, and I know what my destination is. Michelle and I are going to Guatemala by way of Bogota, Colombia, in order to do some more volunteer work in Xela.

Getting to this point was a pain in the ass.

First of all, let´s talk about Yanapuma, as it was them who put us in this mess in the first place.

First of all, the visa issue, which is the reason we have to leave. Apparently, Ecuador, in a fantastic showing of governmental bureaucracy, made an unannounced yet still official policy change where one could only come in on a tourist visa, stay for 90 days, and not return to the country for another 6 months. We found this out through someone at Yanapuma who found out through a friend. Gotta love unannounced policy changes.

Then comes their promise that they would be able to get us visa extensions, as we were volunteers doing good things within their country. Yay for decisions and positivity!

NOPE. We found out that Steve, while he did have a meeting, was told A) That he could only get visas for current Yanapuma volunteers. Since we have terminated our Yanapuma volunteering, we couldn´t get them through that. Not to mention, a visa application is $30, plus $180 more if the visa is granted. And we wouldn´t find out for two weeks. I love Quito, but I can´t cock around Ecuador for 2 weeks just to wait on a visa. There´s so many other things I could be doing. But, now that we have that information, we have decided to peace out of Ecuador, not like we had the choice...

NEXT on the chopping block are the assholes at TACA airlines. We got dicked over by them when we were flying from Costa Rica to South America. Somehow these people managed to overbook the flight by about 20odd people. How do you do that? So we get bumped and rerouted to Quito via Bogota, where it was 1.50 for 15 minutes of internet that we HAD to use to call Yanapuma and tell them what happened. We thought it was all worth it, however, because we thought we had a voucher worth enough for a free flight.

SUCK IT, they told us, when we went in to talk about it. Despite assurances from not only the ticket agent at the SJO airport (who spoke ENGLISH as a native language, mind you) but other folks associated with the airline that it was enough for a free flight, it alas is worth a mere $150. TACA, unfortunately, like everything else associated with Costa Rica, is quite expensive. However, with that voucher, we can legitimately get back to Central America from South America. The positive side of this (negative if you believe everything the State Department tells you) is that we get to go to Colombia! We´ve both kind of felt like schmucks for not going to Colombia, especially after hearing everyone we´ve met rave about how awesome it is. So, we are waiting to leave Ecuador after their vote for the new constitution. After that, we´re heading to Colombia, to Costa Rica by plane, and from there to Guatemala by bus, and we´ll be volunteering there and living with a family until probably mid December.

Which brings us to now. We spent yesterday and today in Latacunga, about two hours south of Quito, at the Mama Negra festival. Basically it consisted of men dressed up as black women, bands, people handing out shots of liquor, and dancing in the streets. Our buddy Dan met us there and a good time was had by all. TOmorrow hopefully we´re going to Mindo. HOpefully it´´ll be fun.

Some things

So, a few things have happened in the past few days. The first thing that comes to mind is the fact that I was mugged on Friday afternoon walking through Old Town Quito. I only had $20 on me, but I also had the camera, and he took that. Prick. I am okay though, and that is the most important part. It sucks also because I took some bad ass pictures, namely from the hair raising tower of the Basilica del Voto Nacional. What a cool building that is, it´s fairly new as well. Climbing the tower though....WHOA. SCARY, but the view was SO worth it. Unfortunately, no pictures to prove it.

On Saturday morning, I woke up really early to take a bus to meet up with Michelle and Dan...they had traveled to the Quiloto loop, and I stayed behind so none of us get sick of each other. Anyway, that ride was awesome, and I met up with them at Lago de Quilotoa. 3850 meters above sea level...it was cold but the setting was amazing!!! We were in the Andes, in the truest sense of the phrase, surrounded by the mountains, Quichoa speaking indigenous people, Alpacas, sheep and Llamas. AMAZING.

Now I would like to talk about the lake. We walked down into the crater and it took about half an hour. The lake is a shiny green body of caustic (Dan checked) water that neither comes nor goes. It was a VERY long hike up, especially when you take into effect the elevation and the temperature. I picked up a few woollen things to keep warm up there.

When we got back, we struck off for Santo Domingo and Bua because we wanted to say a final goodbye and so Dan could see what we did. We arrived little before 8pm, had some dinner, and woke up early the next morning. We went to the school, and, during a meeting with the teachers, I was presented with a tsa´chila kilt as a token of appreciation for the work we did. I also helped a group of engineers move rocks. That was fun, though my arms hurt like hell afterwards.

After a quick lunch of fruit salad and a bolon de queso, we struck off for Quito...and were held up for almost an hour due to a really bad car accident. We also watched two of the worst movies I´ve ever seen...

We are currently back in Quito, anticipating our next move. The next big update will come after we know said next step. Stay tuned!!!!

WORLD CUP!!!

Also! We went to the Ecuador v. Bolivia World Cup Qualifier match! There´s pictures in its own section in the Ecuadormant album if you want ot see them!

Mitad del Mundo

Hey everyone! Me and Michelle went to the Mitad Del Mundo the other day and the pictures are posted at www.photobucket.com/ayonki. To find them, go to the Ecuadormant album, and it´s in there! Enjoy them and let me know what you think!