Exhilarating Experiences in Ecuador!

Saturday was probably everyone´s favorite day so far! We woke up, ate breakfast and checked out of our hotel. Then, we went Zip Lining at Mindo Canopy Adventures [see picture below]! They had about 13 different cables that totaled more than 2 miles over the rain forest. We don´t know how high we were exactly, but let´s just say that falling would not have been fun. After zip linning we went down the street, grabbed helmets and life jackets and jumped in white water tubes down a river full of rocks and waves! What an exhilarating day! For lunch we stopped at a cute hotel/restaurant place that had a lake with boats, which we all took turns riding and racing each other on. The food was delish! The second half of the day was a once in a lifetime opportunity to straddle the equator! We drove to the museum and learned all about the gravitational pulls that we experienced first hand! The second museum we stopped at was interesting because it marked where they thought the equator was 200 years ago! Lots of pictures were taken next to the equator signs.. and we are thinking there will be a Winterim 2010-2011 Book Cover Photo in our future. After the museums our awesome bus driver Carlos blasted some American and Ecuadorian music on the radio and we danced in our party bus all the way to our hotel in Quito! We went out to dinner, had some milkshakes, pizza and burgers (YUM American food at last!), and went back to our hotel for showers and a good night´s sleep! Today we are heading south of Quito for horseback riding around Cotopaxi National Park [see below] where a lot of volcanoes live! Hope they don´t erupt!! The rest of this week we are going to our second community service project to a different community to help paint and do anything else they need and on Thursday we will spend the day white water rafting!


Overall, everyone has been having the time of their lives and we will definitely miss this new culture we have learned so much about in only a week!Until next time!Adios!


TEAM ECUADOR


P.S- Mrs. Peterson: Jess is doing just fine, she having a great time, but misses you and would like some apple crisp when she gets home!