Fun and Exciment Erupting in Ecuador!

We started out with our community service adventure in a tight-nit village near a town called Otovalo. We slept at the day care in the community (which was definitely an experience) and roughed it without showers for the three days we were there! During those days we picked up trash, planted over 300 trees to help with their deforestation problems, played soccer with the kids and so much more. We became very close with the children and people in the community and it was very hard to say goodbye! Our last night there they performed a dance for us, dressed in their traditional outfits. Jordan, Maria, Carly, Becca, Meg, Andy and Ian got to try on the clothes and dance for everyone! They wanted to see an American dance so we performed Solja Boy... it was interesting since we didn´t all know the dance but it was the thought that counts! We woke up early on Friday morning, packed and cleaned up and headed about 40 mins in our tour bus (which we now call home) to go on a 5 hour hike around a volcanic crater lake! The hike was amazing (despite some altitude sickness since we were up about 10,000 feet above sea level) and it didn´t even feel like 5 hours because we were captivated by the amazing view! After the hike we hopped on a boat and learned about the lake that sat above the volcano that has been dormant for about 1,000 years (meaning it could errupt at any time). Once we returned from the boat ride we drove for about 4 hours to a town called Mindo and arrived at our hotel in the Mindo Cloud Forest [see picture below]! We ate dinner and showered for the first time in 4 days, played some cards and hit the pillow after a long, eventful day!