Holiday Highlights

Because it has been a while since I have written a blog, but also because I am still feeling too lazy and busy to re-hash everything I’ve done the past three weeks… I will be giving the highlighted version.

·      I visited both Piedra de Agua and Parque Paraíso for the first time. Piedra de Agua is the nicer of the hot springs in Baños de Cuenca, and Parque Paraíso is a beautiful park here in Cuenca. Parque Paraíso actually translates to Paradise Park, and indeed it was.

·      On the Saturday after Thanksgiving one of the teachers at CEDEI (and her husband) hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for us all. It was in their beautiful apartment, and all of the food was incredible. We were about 20-30 people in all, young and old. Basically, it tasted like Thanksgiving should taste, and I feel incredibly blessed to be in Ecuador with this group of people.

·      Next Saturday, Kels, Emily, Mark, and I will be doing something that has now been added to my Ecuador bucket list, just so I can cross it off: We will be starring in a commercial for a bank. A friend of mine, knowing I spoke English, asked myself and some friends to help her friends out with a favor. They are making a commercial for a bank here in Ecuador, JEP, that will be put on their website and played in the stores. Nervous? Yes. Excited to do something completely random in another country? Absolutely. 

·      Last week was our last week of regular classes, and this week will be our last week of Intensive and Saturday classes. So four days from now I will be a free woman, and five days from now I will be on a bus to Guayquil.

·      Kels, Emily and I are going to Guayquil next Sunday, and on Monday flying out to… PERU!! I have dreamed for years of going to Machu Picchu, and two weeks from now that dream will be realized. I am so excited. We will be in Cusco a total of two weeks, with two days in Aguas Calientes (the pueblo closest to Machu Picchu) and one whole, beautiful day in Machu Picchu. Pray for safe travels and few headaches… Our planning hasn’t quite come together yet.

·      After Peru, I will be returning to Cuenca for Christmas Eve, and then flying to Quito on Christmas to meet up with my parents! We will be touring Quito, Otovalo, and then spending two days in the cloud forest in Mindo. From there, the three of us will fly down to Cuenca, and spend New Years Eve here in Cuenca. It’s easy to say, I am a lucky girl.

So goodbye for now blog, and see you in 2013 with an update on my vacations! God bless, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!