Un mes

I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's been about a month since I've been here in Ecuador! Time has flown by so fast! Here are some pics showing what I have been up to lately:

BACKSTREET'S BACK ALRIGHT! Yes, the rumors are true -- I did go to a Backstreet Boys concert here in Quito! The boys are still together (minus Kevin), and look & sound great! The tickets were only about $30 and I had such a great time. I was singing and dancing my heart out to all of the songs & basically falling in love with the BSB all over again ;) 

This is a portrait in my room, and it's my HOST MOM (when she was younger, of course)! I know, she's gorgeous! 

One afternoon my mom came into my room with this odd-looking fruit (I forgot the name!) and told me to start snacking on it! You don't eat the brown mussel-looking seeds, but the white, fuzzy part on the outside. The texture was weird but it was very tasty!

Here are some cuy (guinea pigs) being roasted. I haven't tried them yet, but will def. do so before I leave. I'm scared, though, not gonna lie.

This is La Basilica del Voto Nacional, an old beautiful church in the historical center of Quito. 

Inside the church

Starting my adventure of climbing all of the towers of the church

View outside of one of the shorter towers

Another view of Quito from one of the church's towers

<3 Quito <3

Me & the twin towers (this reminded me of the twin towers in New York...R.I.P.)

Me & my host brother, Juan

Me with the Virgin of Quito WAY in the background.

Beautiful stain glass art

Inside the clock!

This is for you, Mom! I found this written on one of the walls of the church!

Admiring the beautiful city in which I live

Artsy

Serious.

I see you, Virgin!

I could stare at this city for hours...

And then the next day I went on the teleférico -- which brought me up the side of Pichincha Volcano, which is about 4,100 meters (~13,400 feet). It was very cool! 

On the way up!

I had to stop to take a picture with my llama friends!

I like how the clouds make this picture look.

Ready to explore!

I hiked about 2 hours -- didn't make it to the summit, but did make it pretty far. It started to get very cold!

The clouds started letting up & I was able to get some good pics of my fabulous city again :)

I am so blessed to be here in Ecuador. I have to keep on reminding myself about how great of an opportunity this is, and how this experience is just one big gift. I have seen and experienced so many beautiful things! I never want to take this for granted. I want to grasp every moment and enjoy the beauty of this wonderful country. ¡Gracias a Dios!

¡Viva Carnaval!

So the weekend of March 4-7 was Carnaval here and many other places in the world. Our group left Quito because there's not much to do here b/c most people leave the city to go the beach or to spend time with family elsewhere. So we rented a van and went to 3 places that are about 3 hours outside of Quito. First we went to Cotopaxi Province, which has Cotopaxi Volcano in it, which is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. We stayed at a hostel in Latacunga, the capital of Cotopaxi, where there wasn't much going on, but it was nice. 

The beautiful landscape of Latacunga, Cotopaxi

Our $12/night hostel in Latacunga

We went to Ambato, a city nearby, to see the parade of fruits and flowers that is an annual Carnaval tradition!

There were many floats made out of fruits (and other food) and flowers that exhibited the different princesses and queens of Ecuador!

One of the indigenous queens. I really liked her - I was getting sick of all of the light-skinned, blonde queens ;) 

One of the dancing characters -- his face makeup is amazing!

all of the dancers were dressed in fruit/flower-like outfits :)

That big cup is made out of bread!

After the parade and the Carnaval in Ambato, the streets had so much trash!

After the parade, we went crazy buying so many "cariocas" (this foam that is basically like soap) to attack people in the street as we rode in our van!

Because we had our windows open, people from the street got us too!

My friend Maggie was getting blasted, but having a blast at the same time :)

Then we stopped on the side of the rode to play!

There is nothing like the satisfaction of nailing someone in the face with the foam, haha!

We went to a park in Latacunga, and we were playing with our cariocas, when a random group of about 8 guys surrounded me and my friends Maggie & Jennifer, and threw us into a lake with all of our clothes on. Getting people wet is another tradition of Carnaval -- we were so cold and it was hard to walk around and we were pretty uncomfortable, but we were good sports! 

On the way back to Quito, we stopped at Quilotoa, a water-filled volcanic crater that is AMAZINGLY beautiful, as you can see :)

The Fantastic Four - Odetty, Casey R, Me, and Maggie :) 

My hiking buddies -- Alexa and Jennifer. 

Going down was fun but a little dangerous but fun!

We finally made it down and were able to relax before the intense hike back up!

On the last day of Carnaval when I returned from my trip, my host mom & brother brought me to El Museo del Agua (Museum of Water)!

I liked this museum b/c it was hands-on :)

Family portrait ;)

There was a whole room just for playing with burbujas (bubbles)! 

View of Quito from the museum

All in all, my Carnaval experience was exciting and fulfilling. I really had such a great time running and playing as though I was a little kid. Carnaval is basically a free pass to be immature without any serious consequences ;) ¡Viva Carnaval!