The Secret Garden at Cotopaxi National Park

It's hard to believe I have been in Ecuador now for 14 days. Time does certainly fly. I arrived in Quito around 12, my expected time, and met Antonio who was waiting for me at the door. He dropped me off at the hostel where I am working now and after climbing 5 flights of stairs with my book bag on I met Thomas my fellow volunteer. Thomas showed me to my room across the street at the hotel where the volunteers live. I immediately met Paul my other roommate and before I could put my bags down he asked me if I wanted to go out on a pub crawl with him and others that were staying at the hostel. There was no time wasted before I was in the taxi off to an area of abundant bars called the Mariscal. The first stop was a popular tourist bar called Fins. I had my first sip of their national beer by the name of pilsner. Before I had finished my beer the girl who had arranged the pub crawl was pouring shots for everyone. I wasn't into ecuador for more than an hour before I won snorkeling for two in Montanita by luck of the draw. Before I knew it we were off to the next disco called Bungalow 6 . This bar is by far more exciting than the last and I now know that it is one of the most popular in Quito after being there 3 times now. We danced the night away until about 4:00 when they kicked us out.

The hostel where I am staying has a sister hostel near the Cotopaxi National Park. As a part of my job I have to try and sell trips, transportation and accommodations to their hostel. In order to do this they send their volunteers on a complimentary "holiday" to their establishment. So here goes my quick blurb... The owners have carefully picked a piece of property set in a beautiful countryside overlooking the Cotopaxi volcano. Cotopaxi is the 2nd largest active volcano in the world so you can imagine the breathtaking sight of it. The volcano erupted about 100 years ago and because of this, the soil of the surrounding land has created perfect conditions for farming. There are many activities to be had that the hostel can arrange for you. The first day I got there we immediately went rock jumping through a stream for about 21/2 hours ultimately to see a waterfall. The owners have 4 dogs, two dalmatians and 2 wiener dogs. The obviously more fit wiener dog (Mash) and Basil the dalmatian guided us happily though the mountains and streams. The dogs had obviously done this before because they knew exactly which path to take and which rocks were safe for stepping. When we returned to the hostel there was a snack of tortillas, guacamole and sour cream waiting for us. Two German girls and I played a game of scrabble by candle light while we waited for our dinner. Going hungry is not an option here. They are constantly feeding you delicious international creations. For dinner we had Indian beef and vegetable curry with white rice and bread followed by dessert. We all sat around the fire for a few hours drinking red wine and beer before I crashed in my very cozy dorm room. I rose about 7:00a.m. to set off into the mountains by horseback. Plenty of scenic photos later and a sore behind we returned to the hostel in time for a snack of rice and beans and bread. The next morning we headed off to The Cotopaxi National Park. The windy bumpy drive up the side of the volcano made me wonder how in the world I was going to climb 1 hour without calling for help. After parking at the parking lot we slowly started the journey towards the refuge. Unfortunately we picked the one of the worse days to climb. With the wind in our face and the rain blinding me I wondered if I would make it to the the refuge and I knew I definitely wasn't going all the way to the glacier! After struggling and stopping a few times my new German friends and I made it. We arrived soaking wet and freezing and headed straight for the hot chocolate. One guy who was with our group made it to the glacier and back to the refuge before we even made it to the refuge! Had the weather been a little more tolerant and there were a view I may have attempted the glacier but I was ready for a hot bath at this point. Back to the hostel and nevertheless more food awaiting us. Still wet, I warmed up with some piping hot potato and cheese soup with bread. It was the perfect remedy after a tough morning of volcano climbing. After a hot shower I hopped into Arturo's taxi and headed back to the city. It was going to be tough to enter the madness of the city after a peaceful 3 days secluded in the mountains.

More about the city later. Staying busy.

Place your underpants and shoes in this bin.

As I'm preparing for my departure next week out of Newark, NJ, I can't help but question the state of our security in our nation right now. Yes I have been watching too much CNN but I am amazed at how neglectful our country has become with the safety of it's own people. I feel that our country has put their noses too far into other people's business and has forgotten about their own. How in the world has Newark airport gone without cameras for the last 7 days! Wouldn't the bomb scare on Christmas day be enough to say hellooo, maybe we should get with the program. Considering the bombers flew through Newark, I would say somebody needs to get their pitbulls in check. Because we have a new president does not mean this war of nine years now has gone away. Terrorists are still very much at large and have no intentions of surrendering. Yes, Obama came into a huge mess that is too large for any one person to handle. We can be hopeful about having a new president but we shouldn't get too comfy because the poor guy has a lot of cleaning up to do. As with life, he can try his best to clean but there will always be mess to be made. I hate all the finger pointing and bad mouthing but polishing your nails should be done off the clock. I am sincerely grateful for the safety that has been provided to us for the last decade. As much as I hate bush he too tried hard for our safety. Can you imagine how many prospect terrorists have been ceased because of the hard work of our last President and current. And now, let me say that I don't believe in war and god bless all of the soldier's and families that have fought for our protection. With that all said, what is it with those people bitching about x-ray body search being too invasive? Someone almost blew up 300 people last week with a bomb the size of a post it note! I sure to hell hope someone is checking out every one's underpants and inner earlobes! I'm sure it would be a different story if their loved one was on that plane. So now the question is, do you treat this guy as a terrorists and torture him or give him a lawyer and 3 full meals per day. Don't just think that you as an American get all the benefits, yep so do the guys trying to blow our country to pieces. This guy has no obligation to say anything because he has a criminal charge and not a terrorists charge. I'm fully in favor of my rights as a U.S. citizen, but not his. Do all of us a favor, he wanted to kill himself anyway!

As painful as it is waiting and being searched at the airport for 3 hours, nothing is more important than being safe. Please everyone, have some patience, be nice to the people working in the airport, and don't sleep on the airplane!


Oh and did anyone see Joan Rivers on CNN about the security in the Costa Rica Airport. She made me want to vomit, what a joke.

Thanks for listening :)


Has anyone seen this man? Anyone?



Smoore

Blogtastic

Yea I know, I'm officially a blogging nerd now. There are a few reasons why I have opened myself up to the world of Blogging. Firstly, who new you can make money blogging (feel free to visit my page as much as humanly possible:). Well, of course it's not about the few cents I'll make from those obnoxious ads, but a nice perk. As most of you know, I am departing January 13Th from JFK and flying into Quito, Ecuador. I will be returning home on April 13Th. Because hopefully all of you love me, you may be interested in reading about my travels (and tribulations). I am traveling alone so it is also nice to leave a so called paperish trail so that you all can be accountable for me! I will also be posting a few pictures on here for for your visual desires. Thirdly or fourthly, this blogging thing is opening me up to new realizations. I think that this will open up my senses more to my surroundings to make for better reading pleasures and a deeper travel experience. Lastly, writing is a good thing and it's good to practice to keep your thoughts rolling, right?
So here is my tentative schedule for the next three months. Never mind, I don't have one. After my last two adventures (Turkey and Costa Rica) I realized that I really just want to go with the flow. I felt that Turkey and Costa Rica were way too structured and that I just want the ultimate freedom to do whatever it is my heart desires at any given moment. So this blog should be rather interesting because I too have no idea of what I'm getting myself into :) Okay, okay, I fibbed, so there is one structured piece of my journey. A stipulation from being a bad money saver. It shouldn't put a huge yield on my ideal freeing adventure. Anyway, I will be volunteering at a hostel in Quito Ecuador for 1 month. The hostel is called "The Secret Garden". While I am there I will bar tend or work the front desk for a bed, food, alcohol and Spanish lessons. Can't beat that right? It should be a good opportunity for me to meet a lot of travelers and lay out a good route for my travels to come. The hostel also has a sister hostel in Cotopaxi, Ecuador.
Apparently a mountaneous magical place and if I sell rooms for them I will get a monetary bonus :) I will be staying my first couple days there to get an understanding of what they offer and then back to Quito to work. As far as the rest of the trip, I hope to get to Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina. Stay tuned!

While I am gone for the next three months, I will be using a different email address. Smoore224@gmail.com. Send me some love, I look forward to hearing from all of you and all about your exciting winter :)
P.S. Thanks for reading this
Love ya'll, Sarah