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.