ya estoy en Quito!

Ive made it safe and sound to quito already. We ended the project last Friday. It was sad to say goodbye to the kids after only being there for less than a month.  The last class that i taught was a fifth grade classroom that was amazing. They really enjoyed the activites that we had planned and the class ran so smoothly. They were energetic and you could tell that they were learning. Those are my favorite teaching moments, where everyone is engaged with their whole selves. And there is always a lot of laughter. At the end of the class the kids were asking about what we were going to do next week. It was very hard to tell them that I wasnt coming back. Though after staying a few days at the hostel ill be volunteering at, i can tell that the right decision was made. Here there are a few volunteers, but all speak spanish and ill get lots of opportunity to be hearing and speaking spanish with adults. the hostel is very cute. the woman that runs it is so warm and welcoming. During the time here we will be helping to paint and put together rooms that are not being used at the moment. also i'll be helping to landscape and plant a garden outback near the rabbit cage (lots of cute bunnies out there). There is a good sense of commity here and i like that. 

This past weekend we went to baños, a town about 1 1/2 from puyo. The town is pretty touristy. You can rent motorbikes, quads, go canyoning, white water rafting, horse riding, and bunji jumping. When you walk on the streets venders are all hollering at you to purchase these activities through them. We didn't do any of those activites. Instead, we went on a 5 hour hike up through the hills around the town to view the volcano. It was really pretty. Our legs were definately burning by the end. We also got to bathe in the natural hot springs coming from the volcano and shower in the water from the nearby waterfall. This is why the town is called baños (meaning baths and also bathrooms). The weekend before we went Tena, a town about two hours north of puyo. We went white water rafting. It was really fun because there weren't all of the regulations that you get in the states. We were sitting on the front of the boat during the rapids, standing in the boat trying to balance holding hands, jumping off to swim in the river, and we got to ride on the front of a kayak through the rapids as well. We stopped midway to tour inside a little cave on the way. The istructors rubbed some red and yellow clay rocks together to make face paint. They painted our faces in different native kitchwa patters.

So, this is our second day now in quito. Sarita and I have already got a gym membership for the month. Were going to take a class everyday during the week. Some of them are latin dancing classes, those should be fun. So far, all is well here and i'm looking forward to spending the next month fixing up the hostel and helping the owner aurelia.