Work and Travels - FOTOS y más!

Working chronologically: here are some long overdue photos of my last work week.

Danny and the kids at Villa Flora :).


Volunteers and kids being silly.


With my best friends ever, Carolina and Angelita.


And on Saturday night, Alex and I left for Cuenca. It´s much warmer, quieter, cleaner and prettier than Quito. There is architecture like this on every corner:


We hung around Sunday and Monday, and saw a billion different museums and churches. While Cuenca is beautiful, it is a little lacking in the activities department, but we still found ways to entertain ourselves (I swear I´m not talking about go-carts or going on a search for the tackiest decoration in Cuenca´s mall).

Alex left Monday night, leaving me all by my lonesome...my first time ever traveling alone! On Tuesday I decided to go to Ingapirca, an ancient ruins site of the Incas and Cañares. I chose the cheap, ghetto route-- aka turned a $40, 45-minute trip by taxi into a $4, 3-hour trip by several busses. I anticipated getting very lost, but, miraculously, I didn´t.


After a tour of the ruins, my guide asked me if I had some free time and would like to walk a little further to see "the face of the devil." I said of course, but as we walked I seriously considered the possibility of him wanting to rape me or something crazy. We did nearly get eaten by a dog on the way, but he actually did show me the face of the devil and it was pretty impressive! No violation involved.


Today I traveled to Cajas National Park, about a half-hour outside of Cuenca. There there are allegedly 232 lagoons. I only saw one, and did about an hour-long hike around it. It really was gorgeous and the weather was great.


One of the guys who works at the desk of my hostel actually drove me there this morning. Upon saying yes to his offer, I seriously considered the fact that I might die/be violated, but again, I survived without a scratch. So...the theme of the week is paranoia.

Although I am really excited to have seen Ingapirca and Cajas, I have learned that traveling with no one is a little depressing. When I woke up on Tuesday morning I barely wanted to get out of bed. I felt super alone--it was so not what I was expecting. Yesterday was the first time I had ever eaten at a restaurant alone, and it was such a strange feeling. I love the idea in theory of being able to decide everything on my own--where to go, when to go, when to eat, what to eat, etc.--but I think the negatives of not having travel buddies outweigh the positives for me, at least. But! It´s only 3 days and it´s been an interesting experience. I am pretty excited to go back to Quito...certainly a first!