Weekend Adventures (a post full of pictures!)

It's been quite an exciting past few days!

It all started with a day trip all the GAIAS exchange students took on Friday to the Palguillo Paramo Reserve (Alpine Cloud Forest). We took two buses up to the reserve located at 14,100ft. The last 30min of the bus ride was pretty crazy. Very very steep and narrow gravel/dirt roads with tight turns and steep drop offs (no guard rail of course). Our bus driver did a great job but we definitely got bumped around QUITE a bit! At one point the bus started sliding backwards making us all just a little nervous!

But the view at the top was amazing, though cold (32 degrees) and very very windy:

This short clip was taken at the top. I was trying to show how crazy windy/cold it was but I'm not sure this really does it justice.

High alpine plants covered in ice

At the top! We were standing in the clouds so it's hard to get a sense of how high it was!

The reserve is approximately 843 acres and located on the Eastern slopes of the Andes mountains. Where I'm standing is where the continental divide is so rain water falling on my right flows to the Amazon and rain water falling on my left goes to the ocean (so cool!). 

The area is really diverse and our 10K trek down was breathtaking (at some points, literally, as we did have some uphill parts!). Luckily as we got lower we got out of the wicked wind and got a bit warmer. Some pics:

Master's students!

 You put this plant under your tongue to help with altitude sickness (tasted pretty good!)

 There were lakes everywhere (though you couldn't always see them through the fog/mist/clouds!)

We ate lunch to the right of this lake!

This little guy is endangered I guess - a rare find to see him! 

 This gooey stuff Jac is peeling off protects the plant's inside leaves but you can rub it on your hands and it makes them really soft!

Near the bottom of our hike 10 kilometers down by another lake (and feeling a bit warmer!)

At this point we were all pretty chilly, wet (it was raining), muddy, and tired. Luckily, we got to end our day at the Papallacta Thermal Hot Springs (apparently the best in Ecuador). The views were amazing and the very hot water made us feel lots better:

We were all tired and tried to get some sleep Friday night. On Saturday Christina and Shelby invited me to go with them (and their host Mom) to Otavalo. This is a HUGE market in a small town about an hour and a half from here. We ate lunch at a 300yr old hacienda (which the family still visits) and then headed to the market. I got a fun multicolored lined hoodie (thank goodness I live in Portland where people will think it's "cool" and "hip" as opposed to completely odd!). Quito also has a smaller (but apparently slightly cheaper) market that I will probably get a couple more things at soon.

Our lunch: Cheese/potato/avacado soup (soup is very popular here and very good!) and chochos (the white bean - used to make many native dishes) 

 A shot of the front of the Hacienda 

A picture (hopefully discreetly) from the car of women in Otavalo in traditional dress and a man in a Panama hat (traditionally Ecuadorian hat)

 Two of the hundreds of stands at the market

We ended the day by going out for a couple drinks in Cumbaya and relaxing. Today has been filled with sleeping, eating, homework, ice cream (!), and the like. I can't believe I've been here two weeks!!