Pasaje Bien

Hello friends and family. Hope everyone had wonderful holiday celebrations with family and friends. Christmas and New Year was definately different for me this year. I missed my family more than ever, but at the same time I was able to experience more of the culture that I am living in the midst of here. I took a few days to finally get out of Quito and see more of Ecuador. I am in a beautiful country. The pictures, of course, do not show the extent of the beauty that I saw this last week. Even so, I hope you enjoy.First, I went to a small town in the Southern highlands called Baños. You may have heard about a volcano erupting in Ecaudor a couple times in the past few months. Baños is right under the volcano. Luckily though, the path of lava doesn't go into the town, so it is fairly safe from harm. Baños is famous for its adventure sports which I took part in a bit. Friends and I rode mountain bikes along the gorgeous "Ruta de las Cascadas" or "Waterfall Route." We also rode horses and four-wheelers through the mountains. I could have stayed longer to go rafting, climbing, bridge-jumping and much more, but I was limited on time and money. It's hard to see, but in this next picture there is a little yellow cable car that is going above the waterfall. It's quite a view from that height!Like I said, the volano Tunguragua erupted recently and this is a picture of some of the volcanic rock and ash that is left over. The white tube is a water pipe that usually is very high ebove the road, but as you can see the ash and rock has covered the road and everything in sight.Here is a picture of my friend Jimmy on a bridge in Baños. Here are three more friends, siblings actually, Fernanda, Paola and Denis. There are many foot bridges like this one that you have to cross thousands of feet over rushing rivers.
After Baños, I went to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador. This is a picture of me on a boat on the river Guayas. It was very hot and humid. I also went to the beach one day and swam in the Pacific Ocean. The weather and pretty much everything I experienced this year was different from my past Christmases and New Years, but it was great. Now I'm counting down the days until my parents come and visit. I cannot wait to show them around this amazing country and spend two weeks hanging out with them. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. I would love to hear from you when you get a chance. Take care!