Time is still flying by here, and now it’s only one sleep until Anna arrives!

I have had quite an amazing past few days, starting with the Papallacta Thermal Springs last Wednesday night. The springs are about 2 hours from Quito, further south east into the Andes, so they are up high and the road wound its way through the mountains to get there. It wasn’t quite as high as Quito, but it was absolutely freezing by the time we got there at about 8.00pm. The springs are totally different to those in Banos, in Papallacta, as there are about 6 or 7 pools, all of which are of differing temperatures ranging from super hot to freezing cold (plunge pools). The amazing thing was that we went up on a Wednesday night, so there was the group of 6 of us and then maybe only 10 people in the rest of the springs - essentially we had the place to ourselves. It was bitterly cold out in the air, but as soon as we jumped into the water we were warm, and it was a funny sensation to be in the warm water - your ears and cheeks to be tingling b/c they were just about frozen. It was also pretty cool to look up and see so many stars amongst the steam from the springs.

Thursday was great, mainly because we went out for dinner for Mike’s birthday (one of the other students) and I had the most amazing, proper steak from and Argentinian Grill restaurant. Mmm...I miss steak!

Then on the weekend I went to Mindo, a town about 2 hours north west of Quito and it was magical. We were supposed to have a school trip there, but only 3 of us signed up, so it was cancelled, but I’d heard so much about it that I didn’t want to miss out, so I decided to go alone. It turned out perfectly.

I arrived there about 10ish and found some brilliant accommodation, recommended by someone in Quito. It was called La Casa de Cecilia and it was just one massive wooden, open plan stilt house with lots of little rooms. I chose a room that was up in the attic, so to get to it I had to climb up a little ladder and then once up there I had the peak of the roof for walls and windows at both ends, though only one frame had a glass pane in it, so it was like sleeping outdoors, but still being snug!

First things first and I had breakfast when I arrived and during this I met two girls from the UK who were doing a similar thing to me for the weekend. So I ended up spending the weekend with them (Holly and Jane) and we had a marvelous time. We walked to the butterfly garden on the Saturday (the area is renowned for its butterflies and bird species) and saw all of these beautiful bright blue, big butterflies which were impossible to capture a good photo of, but seem happy enough to land on anything and anyone. We also discovered a delicious fruit juice bar which served only juices (in every flavour imaginable) for 50c. So we may or may not have gone back a few times, and between the three of us tested just about every flavour! There are some delicious fruits and juices in Ecuador that I have not seen anywhere else, like tree tomatoes, naranjilla and guanabana. Later that evening we also found a brilliant little dessert only café where we had a beautiful mora  cobbler (mora is like a native raspberry).

Sunday was action day and we were on the go the entire time. We left our hotel at about 8.30 in the morning and the first stop was the canopy zip ride, which was a series of about 10 cables that you crossed like a flying fox. It was amazing whizzing above the beautiful cloud forest, though a bit hairy at the same time when the guides made us hang upside down or not use our hands. And it was a little disconcerting when we noticed about halfway through how hung-over one of our guides was! But we made it back safely! We then hiked up to a series of waterfalls. Well actually, we hiked to a cable car which took us across a valley and from there we hiked down to the waterfalls. It was a decent hike, so by the time we go there, we were boiling and so went for a swim, but it was absolutely freezing in the water. Definitely felt refreshed afterwards. From there we hightailed it back to town (catching a lift with a local farmer in the back of his ute for the grand price of one dollar per person) just in time for a late lunch of trout (typical of the area) and to jump on the bus back to Quito.

A brilliant weekend, and somewhere that I wish I could have stayed at for longer. But for now, it’s time keep learning Spanish –I only have 4 more days in which to become fluent…..