Rafting was a success. We flew down the rapids like condors flying through the Ecuadorian sky. All we can really say about it is that it was fun, incredible, and got us really wet. While in Puyo we also explored the local aquarium. We entered through a giant crocodile mouth and explored its innards that were filled with many scary peses including an empty anaconda cage. Where it went, no one knows and no one seemed too nervous about it. We left the bowels of the aquarium to view pools of water, filled with many alleged fish, none of which we could see. It began to pour so some of us decided to take a dip in the strategically located swiming pool (sin fish). We finished out our time in the Amazon by painting a school and completing a soccer field to mas o menos regulation standards. We also saw and swam at an extrmeely intensivo waterfall. Chevere (cool).
So then we vamosed a Quito, a giant, fantastic, wonderful city which was a great place for Jordi to age one year more. Happy birthday Jordi. On this wonderful day, Claire lost her dog, Alex lost all of his photos, and Eli lost his hand-made overalls. Rest in peace all three. To add to this extremely uplifting day, we went to an extremely beautiful museum, the foundacion Guayasamin. If you aren´t familiar with his art, please do look him up. He paints extremely moving and unique paintings about the tragedy that come from many of the wars and genocides in world history. That night we finally ate Cuy (guinea pig) and prepared for our journey to the center of the earth, aka the equator, aka La Mitad Del Mundo. We lounged in both the northern and southern hemispheres, contemplating how it is water changes direction when it flushes. We saw presentations put on by many schools, also known as cheerleaders – they do exist in South America and we now know where to find them. miss j. hollywood and Patricio were star-struck.
Fast forward to the next morning, 4 a.m., we all packed our bags and headed to the airport to make the journey on to the second half of the trip. Alejandro was not feeling so well and promptly upon arrival to the airport graced us and the entire terminal with the contents of his stomach. While he progressed to the bathroom, his scent remained. Despite the illness, we prevailed and continued on to our six hour layover in Lima, thank God we were not late. Finally we arrived in Arequipa, Peru, our final destination for the next two weeks.
We disembarked from the plane into the open air and with it came open hearts, a beautiful volcanic view, and more vomit. The travel day went off without a hitch.
Which brings us to the present. Arequipa is an amazing city. We are all living solo in our different homestays and taking four hours of classes outside in the open air. On Monday, our first day in Arequipa, was Alejandro´s first day of being twenty (or as the locals call it, veinte). He was still feeling a bit sick, so we held off the celebration for the next day, where we also completed the infamous scavanger hunt. Eli and Zoe won with rainbow colors. Also, congrats to Ricky Martin for realizing what we´ve known all along. We don´t have classes this Friday because it is a religious holiday, much similar to the birth of Alejandro – they both have beards and are pretty holy. To those other religions out there, Happy Passover and Happy Easter. We miss the Easter Bunny.
Peace, love, and spanglish,
your blogtastic bloggers and favorite students,
Eli and Claire
p.s. these words came from our minds and sprung forth from Alejandro´s fingers. God willing, there´s no vomit.
p.p.s. Happy April Fools.
