LISA'S VISIT (:

Well after a long hard trimester here at the Center, it is nice to finally have a two week vacation. I was even more lucky because the lovely Lisa came to visit (: She is only here for 4 short days but we have crammed a ton of fun things in.

Day One- We went to the Mitad del Mundo (equator) and walked around. Then we went to the La Marin Center #1 and Lisa got to meet some of my adorable students. Afterwards we walked around the historic district and saw the Presidential Palace and the very ornate church where the CMT actually started. Then we went to the Basilica which we learned is the third largest in the world! That made Lisa just a littleee bit terrified when we climbed up the ladder outside up to the top of the bell tower (:  After that we visited the artisans market and headed home. Since Andy, Joe, Alexis, and Megan were still all around the house we decided to hang out with them, watch a movie, get burgers for dinner, and play some card games all night. It was a jam packed first day!

Day Two- The "Extreme Ecuador" Tour continued by going to the Guayasamin Museum. He is the most famous artist from Ecuador and the museum is at his old house so it was kind of cool to see. Then we walked down to my favorite place, Parque Carolina, where we got some ice cream and rented pedal boats to go around the river in the park! It was super fun and Lisa and I were pro's making some 4 or 5 laps before our time ran out. Then it started to drizzle a little so we stopped in El Jardin Mall where Lisa had some authentic Ecuadorian Ceviche for lunch (I opted for the authentic McDonalds...haha it's been a while okay!) and we nosed around for some souvenirs. That night we cooked up a tasty pasta salad with all the Christmas Meal leftovers and had a feast!

Day Three- We woke up early and caught a bus to Mindo which is a town like 2 1/2 hours away. We didn't really know what to expect but once we got there we realized it was the coolest place on earthhh! The plan was to go ziplining but when we got to the tour company we saw an add for Canyoning and decided to do that instead. What is canyoning you might ask? It involves climbing a mountain and then repelling down it's waterfalls to get back to the ground level! It was amazing!! We both slipped many times and got soaked but that was part of the fun I guess! Our guide was super nice too and he had a cute little dog that was more adventurous than all of us! After we hiked back to the road we decided what better way to dry off than to go ziplining, right? So we thought we could squeeze in 3 cables in 20 minutes and still make it to our bus in time. We got to do 2 cables and it was the most beautiful view in the world!!! We glided over canyons filled with forests! It was a mad dash to get back to the bus in time but luckily we made it & got first class seats sitting on the floor in the aisle for the 2 1/2 hour ride back (: We went home, ate, showered,  and then I exposed Lisa to Ladies Night Ecuador-style! It was a very fun night with lots of dancing & we topped it all off with the worlds best burritos.

Day Four- Today is sadly Lisa's last day :( We are going to the TeleferiQ which is a cable car that goes up a mountain and gives you a great view of the city! Then we will ride horses around Pinchincha Volcano! We stopped at the market on the way home and picked up some souvenirs. Then we had dinner back at the house with the Madres and Padre before watching a movie and resting up after a long, busy, fun vacation.

 

the view from the top

 us caballeras with volcan pinchinca in the background

 It has been an amazing week with so many fun activities crammed in! THANK YOU THANK YOU LISA for coming to visit!!! I loveee youuu!!! Also I hope this has convinced some other people out there to come for a visit (: (: It's superrr fun (: (: xoxo

Merry Christmas!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY LOVED ONES!!! I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy the time to relax with family and friends (: I am lovingggg my Christmas in Ecuador so far. Yesterday I baked those tasty looking Phil Delrue cookies, we went to a Gringo Mass (first Mass in English since I got here), and we went to Padres church way up in the mountains. Then we came back home by 11, ate delicious sandwiches and lots of sweets, played games, and exchanged secret santa gifts. Now I am off to the first of 2 First Communion Masses today & I am so lucky to have been chosen to be the Madrina for one of my students, Sayne. Then we have a big feast for 60 people here at the house. And to top it all off Lisa comes to visit tonighttt! I hope you are all as full of food & full of joy as I am here in Ecuador this Christmas! xoxoxo Much Love, Meredith

Fiestas del Centro & Fiestas del Quito

I know it's only December but I think this was just my favorite weekend here yet! Every year the city of Quito shuts down on the 6th to celebrate its founding and there are parties the whole week leading up to it. Also, the school celebrates its founding on the 5th with a HUGE all day long party! I'll put up pictures soon of all the fun things that went on but for now I'll just tell you...

Saturday- In the morning a bunch of the other volunteers and I went to a BULL FIGHT! It was mostly gross and sad but it was a great cultural experience and I'm really glad that I went! They only have bull fights five days a year during these fiestas so it is a very upper class thing to do and the people there reminded me of the Kentucky Derby almost. They all had the same type of hats and all the ladies were wearing high heels...we were very under dressed!
In the afternoon, we went to the Center #1 in La Marin to decorate it for the fiesta on Monday. David and I had made paper chains all week in art class so we were able to cover the entire ceiling in the dining hall and the downstairs gathering area. It looked so so nice and it was fun to help put it together!
That night we saw a free concert in Parque Carolina from this cool singer La Mala Rodriguez as part of the cities free celebrations. All the volunteers went out so it was really fun!

Sunday- I climbed a VOLCANO!! Me, Kristin, Julie, Juliana, and Andy took the TeleferiQ which is a cool gondola ride part way up a mountain. From there we hiked about 3 more hours up to the summit of Volcan Pinchincha which is over 15,000 ft high!!! There were some surprisingly difficult parts where we had to scramble up looser rocks than I have ever climbed in the past. We met up with a group of expatriates who were hiking that day also and they kind of help us as guides which was so nice and I don't know if we could have done it without them. It started raining as we went down which was a little scary on the rocks but it stopped after a short time. Then my favorite part was  when we came to a sand field (maybe volcanic ash or erosion or something...I'm not sure why it was at the top of a mountain but) and we slid/skied down it instead of hiking the same rocky path! It cut off a bunch of time and was super super fun! Needless to say that tired us all out and we went to bed early to prepare for...

Monday- A.K.A. the Center's birthday! The day started with all the volunteers preparing a pancake breakfast for all the families from both centers. I was busy chopping up fruit for the salad and then I was on dishwasher duty for the next two hours. It was great beacuase pancakes aren't a common Ecuadorian food so the families really enjoy it. Also I made a friend while washing dishes and she invited me to her house for lunch one day which I am very excited about!
Then from 8:30 am to 11:30 am the whole school had a carnival where the kids and adults could win tickets and get prizes! Us volunteers made an obstacle course, relay races, water balloon toss, and most importantly a dunk tank! Everyone had to take a turn getting soaked and it took four boys to lift the garbage can of water that they dumped on me (:
Next we had a special mass to celebrate Padre Juan and Padre Roberto's 50 years of priesthood. It was amazing because both schools were combined we filled up the entire Church area and adjacent cafeteria!
In the afternoon we all took the bus down to the La Marin school where there was a nice dinner followed by either bingo, a movie, or a DANCE (: I had so so much fun dancing with all the little kids and my adults from adult ed. It was an amazing day!
To top it all off we rented a Chiva (aka party bus) that night to celebrate the fiestas del centro y de quito. While I didn't imbibe at all because I had a skype interview this morning, I certainly did enjoy dancing! My friend Joanie and I especially enjoyed trying to get the people on the sidewalks that we would pass to copy our stellar dance moves (:

Tuesday- I plan on not leaving the house to rest up after this amazing weekend!  haha

!Viva Quito!