Viva El Carnaval!!!!! "Ama la vida"

Holies, oye check out my trip to Riobamba, Ambato, and the beautiful Banos of Ecuador. This is CARNAVAL!!!!!!!!

So If you are wondering what is carnaval this is the paty definition: the carless acts of strangers dumping water, milk, flour, fake snow, eggs, water balloons, buckest of water, food perhaps, or anything that would soak you, or make you dirty.
Real meaning of carnaval: a festival to celebrate the time of year to eat, meat, choclo, motepillo, and just anything that you can fit into your mouth!

 So as a fun way to celebrate carnaval i went with just my parents and i to the places listed, but manly to Ambato , and Banos ( translated banos means bathrooms, and no its not a place to just sit back and relax in that way, its a place on the edge of the Amazon, with natural hot springs, and relaxing spa's, a place to relax in your own way.) Every city does Carnaval different! Cuenca, its all about the Chancho ( roasted pig), Ambato, flowers and fruit. Quito Fiesta!!! Loja, its like cuenca, and if you want to know what happens in the other cities, then come and visit for yourself, just leave some room in those Thanskgiving pants, i can say for a fact they will fit by the end of this 4 day celebration! check out my Carnaval with my fam!

The Amazing Amazon!

Dear readers,
Hey sorry for the post of only once in awhile. Hey so this is what i did last, beware of the lion's tiger's and bear's, because you are about to read up on my Adventure Jungle Jane exploration into the deep dark, and most amazing places in the world! La Amazonia! The Amazon!

So starting with the trip getting to the place that would be one of the 7 wonders of an exchange students life, the Amazon. So i live here, in the beautiful mountains of Cuenca, Ecuador, but the thing not so beautiful about it is the distance from here to Quito, the capital, and the longest, coldest bus ride i have ever taken in my life not to mention the best sleep too! Una broma ( a joke) if you find pleasure in riding in a freezer, with the first class service of the message of the nice weaving mountain terrain to ease those knots right out of your ever so aching back, then this is the transportation for you. Well that was pretty much the story of my life heading to Quito, 8 hours in fact, but once we arrived at the ever so awakening hour of 5 or 6 am, we took a nice nap in the parking lot, until it was time to head into the airport, meet up with the other intercambios (exchange students from quito, cuenca, esmereldas, and if you remember, add the one's i forgot to the list,) get our tickets, and then head to gate to get on the plane that would eventually take us to "A whole new world!"  Funny thing is, Ecuadorian time is always requiring you to run here, and there to make it on time, we, being the Americans/Europeans/ unusually prompt Ecuadorian Rotarians made it with everybody and 30 mins of down time before boarding time. Not bad if you ask me! So with the extra time, one of my best friends from the states ( good ole California girl) asked me to accompany her to the bathroom, having spare time, off we went. Funny thing when they say 30 mins i guess that was more like 5 mins and once we arrived back to the place we thought everybody still was, guess what, yup that's right they all disappeared to the great unknown. So like lots children, Savannah and i went looking for our group, after about a 2 mins i had a great idea, turned to Savannah and said "look at our tickets, what gate are we leaving from"? My mother would be so proud ( her baby girl who she thought when sending off to a foreign country was going to get on the wrong plane to god would only know what country) now, she has grown up, and made a wise decision to find the gate, instead of the people. So heading out the right gate, someone probably watching got a good chuckle out of the next part, as we are leaving the entrance of the gate, heading out on the air field, the lady that was directing us to our plane sent us off in the opposite direction, but thank god someone else saw our group and sent  us off booking it to our right plane. Like the crazy american's we are, of course we were the last to board the plane, in the time it took to go through all that, it was just a memory made, but nothing to the time and amazing memories i made in the jungle. From the plane you could see, the sea of houses grow scarce into the now ocean of green dense forest! It was my first sight of something so big and so beautiful i just couldn't believe my eyes, all those years of watching the animal planet had nothing on this, this was real! There was no screen, besides the ones on our beds when we went to sleep at night. No, this, this was truly "A whole new world, a daring place I've never seen, a thrilling chase, a wondrous place, for you(if you ever went you would know what i mean) and me!" I got to hike in pitch black, and found bugs, animals, and things i have never seen before, or thought were just in movies. For example if you have ever seen Harry Potter you would have remembered, i think in the fourth movie the hybrid spider that was half scorpion, half spider, yup, i have seen proof that, that that thing is really real! Crazy!!! Oh and just as a small note, we were instructed not to turn on our flash, do to the taranchula's  jumping up at you, lucky, but that i didn't have to see the aftermath of that one. However, i did get to see a pink river dolphin the next day, and fish for Parana's ( which i have to say that this daddy's girl's father would be proud for catching the biggest one out of the group that day) and enjoying a sunny Cruz down the Amazon river taking in the only could you dream Tarzan/ Jungle to Jungle/ all the movies that have to do with jungle tree's and the beauty of mother nature. Then waking up to a breakfast of none sting black jungle bee's, i actually tried one, not much of the taste over the rainbow, but a good start of protien for the three hour hike throught the forest, learning about plants, ants as bug repellent, and listening to the heart of the forest!  As the the days passed with the songs of " In the jungle the Mighty Jungle the lion sleeps to night," we finally made it to the tribes, and not just that i found my first love, my dream wild jungle man "Nacho!" He is a monkey! My mother is probably thinking what in the world is she thinking, but as a farm girl with all her barn animals, you would think that the chickens or dogs, or other animals were what she would go for, but that monkey and me were like to chimps hanging from a tree( although he wasn't a chimp.) But as time went on the monkeying around had to end for a bit to go cook traditional yuca bread, it was best eaten with cheese sauce, homemade jungle hot jam, and ketchup! Yuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm! After that, took a nice dip in the river, and then we were off to see the next tribe over, there shawman! After eating jungle grapes the size of golf balls, and trying homemade jungle wine which is when you chew up yuca, and spit it into a bowl let it ferment and in five days you have a nice savory wine to drink with! Yuck! Shawman! He is the man! He told us about his traditions of becoming who he is, what he had to learn/go through/ do to become in the place he is in now, makes appreciate other cultures, because if i were him i don't know if i could have done 17 years of learning jungle plants for medical remedies, or drink to the point of hallucination! But cuddo's to the big guy! Then once the circle of stories was done, we left for the soccer field for some down in the jungle footie footie futbol! Of course the natives won, i swear they have some mental signals that coordinated them so well! All in all an awesome day!  Last day, dreading to leave my new found home, we were supposed to go watching for dolphin's, but guess who's only cabin didn't wake up for that, yup again mine! No to upset there was no dolphin's out, so it was pack up, and breakfast, then the two hour boat ride home. From there, the four hour bus ride to the airport, and the 30 min hop to quito! Came home with a new found appreciation for nature, its jungle tribes, and all those people out there trying to keep it from turning into the last and greatest suburbs of the Amazon! I stand with those out there saving its beauty, because until you have been there tried the grub, walk the forest, and swam in the mineral enriched rivers, you only have an opinion, after you have a say of what its like, and the importance to keep it that way! So if that wasn't enough for you then here are the pictures to tell the rest of the story with the words i could never explain, here my friends                                           Is the Amazon!

Feliz Navida, y un Feliz ano nuevo! Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Hola mis lectores,
 So here is how i spent my Christmas and new year in Ecuador.
First since i ended up changing families ahead of time, my new family was really busy for christmas. They own a clothing store kind of like Ross Dress for Less, but its called Vatex. There are store here in Cuenca, Ambato, Quito, Loja, and in some malls. Since i didn't have to take part ( thank God) in examens i worked with my parents in their office sorting, pricing, security guarding, and packing clothes and shoes for the holiday rush the proximate week. And as my sister got done with her finals, my mom, brother, sister, maid, and i all went to work in the Loja store up until the 24th of december. We returned, to cuenca, had a night to sleep,a nd the next day it was spent with a brunch with more family i have never met, then on to my Grandma's house later that night, and then wrapping presents, or if you have a maid like me, she just wrapped them ( i know, i could have done it myself, but you only get one year of this kind of treatment, and might as well enjoy Latin life, plus my maid and i are like best friends. So really its a friend helping out another friend that can't wrap for her life) and placed them under the tree with all the presents. I got to enjoy all my family from my host dad's side of the family, and see papa noel ( santa ) passing out all the presents to everyone! I got a nice pare of boots from my sister ( funny thing, they were from the family store) a heart necklace from my cousin, and earings from my whole family. The best thing was the next day, my sister and i were sleeping and my mom came into the room, and said get up we are going to Salinas ( my favorite beach) for spending the new year with your counsins from New Jersey, and the whole thing was a surprise. I got to meet them, and now call them my family. I got to try jet-skiing, experiencing burning an ano viejo ( a doll that you burn of the past year, to give you luck in the new year) and go to mantanita, another really cool surfing beach. Out of it all, i think i will remember new years the most, because the amount of fuegos artificales ( fireworks) was insane, definitly not like back in the states, and fires from the ano's viejos ( which were filled with fireworks as well) lite the whole beach on fire, then dancing until three in the morning, thats what i call bringing in the New Year, Ecuadorian style! Check out some of the pic's!
Until next big experience, Hint the Amazone trip!