FOMO

Not too many moons ago I was having to push myself out the door to socialize seeing as it was the best way to make social connections and feel like I belong in this strange and distant land. Tonight, though, I have a serious case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out for those new to TextSpeak). A number of my friends are heading to our Ecuadorian Cheers se llama G-Spot (Yes, that name was purposeful. It's a total Gringo hangout.) Rather than taxi off to this infamous bar and (pretend to) watch March Madness games, I am home baking cookies for mis estudiantes porque a Friday with chocolate chip cookies has a tendency to turn out pretty sweetly. It feels good to be in this place where I have to force myself to stay in rather than force myself to go out.

The solitude of home and smell of baking cookies does give me the opportunity to reflect and write about how life is just generally coming along here in South America. (Luckily I am afforded the weekend beginning tomorrow to drink it, chat it and shake up it con mis amigos.)

So, speaking of my students, I've, more or less, recently really settled into Americano. Ecuador has continued to push me to learn to just. let. go. I've relaxed quite a bit inside the classroom and the kids are commenting on how much I am laughing and smiling now. (Though, to be clear, I have instituted detention for tardies, so I pride myself on still being "strict" in their eyes in some form.) From my perspective, this is a product of their ultimate willingness to do a bit more work in English, but one thing affects the other and we now have a good domino effect taking place. Honestly, I have come to enjoy these kiddos more than I thought possible. 

Recently our girls soccer team won a big game that had never been taken by an international school in the past. It was pretty awesome to celebrate their success. ¡Viva Americano! 

These ladies sealed the win in a shoot out. Pretty intense. 

So, with work going more smoothly, I've got more energy to be fun. Even when fun comes in the form of waking up at 4 am to summit volcanoes. During la epoca de lluvia at that. In the past weeks I have climbed Pichincha (de nuevo) and Imbabura. Mother Nature's elements made these climbs pretty trying, but my friend Alli and I joke that we do it for the memories, memories we will laugh at, romanticize, and yearn for when we look back on these adventures. 

First Pichincha...

This was before the rain set in. Something mystical there.

Alli might be the most photogenic soggy hiker ever. I, on the other hand, am thinking "what you can't see is the pants I am wearing that you could literally wring out right now." 

By the end of the 14 mile trek, my hands were so cold that I could not even button my pants after using the restroom. Seriously. One of the other hikers and I ended up laughing hysterically in the bathroom over this mishap.

Two weeks after we had unfrozen from climbing the most deadly volcano, we embarked on a 3.5 hour bus ride to tackle Imbabura, a hike that set us out on a steeeep climb to the summit, with an hour of pretty intense rock climbing in order to reach the cumbre. There were moments I thought the strong winds were going to kick me right off of that volcano. Luckily I did not perish and live to tell of it today. :-) 

Authentic pre-trek smiles from Andy, me and Alli.

Andy captured this incredible vista. 

Almost like Everest, right...?

So our girls soccer team had great success, I'd call our weekend treks a big success, but the success I celebrate most right now is the success of my Aunt Abby's book on undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She has boldly titled her book What About the Hair Down There? It's laugh-out-loud funny, but incredibly real and appears on the Hot New Releases page. Pretty. Damn. Awesome, Auntie Godmom. After spending many special days (such as holidays and birthdays) in the hospital for chemo, Abby will celebrate her 55th birthday tomorrow being a best-selling author. I love it. Life's Silver Linings. 

Well, I've burned the last batch of cookies, so I am going to return my attention back to the oven. 

Hope your weekends are full of warmer weather and the hopeful signs of spring.

Todo mi amor,

Jame

¡Monos en vivos!

Trying to get myself to bed temprano esta noche porque my alarm clock is going off at 4:30 am. Climbing Pichincha (de nuevo). I figure as I am more acclimated to life and the altura now it will be an even more amazing experience...and speaking of amazing experiences, hace tres dias I returned from THE JUNGLE! (#thisSouthAmericanlife moment 217). I'm short on words tonight, so pictures and captions are going to tell of this adventure...buckle up.

After a short 40 minute plane ride, this vista hermosa on the two hour bus ride to the river. 

Arrival at the river, our passageway to the Jamu Lodge. 

They actually aren't crocs or alligators, but there are caiman, which are a smaller, cuter version. 

Yes, welcome to the jungle. We're certainly not in Kansas anymore. (Actually, I never have been.)

Seis Americano teachers heading deeper in la selva...

Miguel, our incredibly enthusiastic guide. 

Walking Stick. This guy had nothing on the tarantulas that we saw on our first night. 

Sunken forest which is under water for 11 months of the year. 

Baby Anaconda. Mamas and papas are 5-6 meters long!

Our lodging. No hot water, no electricity. Totally discounted from the rest of the world. Kinda cool. 

Hike on the 2nd day: Love the hairdo on this über furry caterpillar. I believe he was poisonous. Again, welcome to the jungle.

Very. Large. Spider web. I used to screech at a Daddy Longlegs. I've really grown here, friends. Really.

Literally on the equator here. Check that off my bucket list. 

Lots of ants. I think these were Roman ants, also known as stripper ants. Used as a form of torture at some time and place. Continuing my reflections on the world's (and my own) duality, while these ants can drive someone to shed all of her clothes, they are also a natural repellant if you like squash them all of the surface of your skin. 

Wicked cool. 

We crossed some tricky terrain...er, rivers. I think this is about the time I started to really want lunch. Miguel had a way of underestimating the time for...pretty much everything. His contagious energy made up for it, though.

After our hike, we were indeed properly fed. A bit later we went out for a night hike. This was the sunset in the laguna. Freeze frame. 

Nothing creepy about being in the oscuridad in the middle of the jungle. Nope. Nada. I'll spare you the photos of all of the night spiders. My skin is still crawling.  

After the night hike, we woke up at 4:45 am for a morning site-seeing adventure. This was after another group kept us up playing music and being generally boisterous until 4 am. Even in the jungle Quiteños know how to party. Perhaps especially in the jungle. No photos of our faces featured here. They weren't especially feliz.

Los monos were my favorite part of the trip. This guy isn't actually smoking a cigar as he looks to be...if he was, I would have climbed the tree and joined him.

Birds are cool, too, but not as cool as monos.

Our last full day we first went to visit the Shaman. At 12 years old he knew he wanted to take this holy path.

Shaman's gato. 

Shaman's tortuga. 

After our interview with the Shaman, Miguel took on us a hike to check out the arboles mas grande...

and to enjoy the beauty surrounding us.

After the hike, a venture into a small village para hacer tortilla de yuca. 

Step 1: Harvest the yuca (When Miguel said he needed 2 volunteers to pull it out of the earth, my hand shut up, because I am sooo strong. Yeah, it didn't budge.)

Step 2: Grate the yuca

Step 3: Squeeze the the juice out of the yuca which is reserved for soup

Step 4: Make yuca flour into tortillas and cook (no photos of Step 5: Consume yuca tortillas--they were gone before my camera was out)

On our last day, as we were heading back to Lago Agrio to catch the plane to Quito, we spotted this sloth. Sloths are so slow that moss can grow on their fur. Thank you, Miguel, for adding abundantly to my knowledge of jungle insects and animals. 

My eyes are drooping now. Signing off here I extend a great deal of gratitude. It's a blessed life I lead.

Les extraño mucho.

Jame