Do One Thing Everyday that Scares You

We have been in Banos for the past few days enjoying some adventure.   They have everything here from hiking, bridge jumping, canopying, rafting, mopeds, canyoning....literally everything...it´s the spot everyone on the Gringo Trail comes to for some adventure.   Plus, it is really beautiful here.  It is about 2 hours from the jungle so the lucious greens reach their way out here covering the surrounding mountains with different shades of tropical greens and waterfalls cascading there way over the rocks and through the full foliage, and the smell.  OMG the smell of greenery, especially after a rainfall - which we have had almost everyday since we have been here - smells so good.  I forgot what natures smells like.  Seriously, after being in Peru for so long which (everywhere I went) was brown and dusty making most landscapes look dull.   Seeing green again is refreshing to my eyes and lungs. It makes everything look and feel different...actually, everything here in Ecuador seems different.  The buildings don´t seem as run down and unfiinished as they do in the Peruvian cities and towns.   They still do have those charachteristics but they seem a little more, stable and modern if that makes any sense.   The people seem different as well, maybe less conservative?  I dont know, I really can´t put my finger on it, however I really really like it here.

Yesterday was a big day.   We did a full day canyoning trip.   There were 14 in the group but we were 11 people.   There were 4 guys we met in Mancora and again in Montanita, a guy we met here and then two guys from our group in Mancora showed up unexpectidly so they joined us.

Our day started at 8am.   We got up, had breakfast and then headed to the adventure office for 9am.

We looked so sexy in our gear...full wetsuit, wet suit jacket, life jacket, helmet and a waist hoist with a bum cover for our ziplining .... so hot right now.  

I was nervous, Im not gonna lie, heights and water together dont mix together for me.   The first thing wasnt bad.  The guides just push you backwards into a little pool, basically introducing you to the wetness that we would be experiencing for five hours.   The first waterfall jump I hesitated of course but I did it...the second...HOLY SHIT....I was scared.  It was a 25 foot jump - we were jumping from the top of waterfalls.   I don´t fucking think so I thought. You have got to be fucking kidding me....why do I do stuff that scares me all the time.   Everyone started cheering for me to jump...my body was vibrating with anxiety.  I looked down at Lesina who had jumped before I did.  It´s all in your head she mouthed as everyone was counting down from three to one which made it worse.  Just as the guide was going to tell me not to do it I jumped...man what a long fall that was but I did it! Next I had to climb up a rock to one of the guides, who locked me onto a rope.  ¨Lean back¨ he instructed.  I looked down behind me then back at him and shook my head.  ¨Lean back¨ he said again.  I shook my head though doing what he told me anyways. ¨Smile¨ he said taking a picture of me.   ¨Now let go.¨ He yelled down to me.   I shook my head.   Everyone started yelling at me ¨Let go!!! Just let go!¨ Here goes nothing, and I let go knowing that I was going to be ziplining down into the canyon....of course, I screamed. 

Next, an abseil down a 25 foot waterfall. ¨Im not really a fan of heights.¨ I said to the guide.  ¨Neither am I¨ he replied.  I laughed nervously.  As much as jumping from the scared me, I would´ve rather have done that instead of abseil.  Having my body at a vertical angle while I scale backwards down a stone wall wtih at waterfall splashing next to me just goes against my feet and how they work perfectly (well almost perfectly as I am clumsy) on the ground.   I started going down as I was told.  I made it down the first bit but then the wall flattened out and there didnt seem to be anywhere to put my feet.  I had one foot in the waterfall and was extremely afraid of falling as my brake hand was the one with tendonitis so really,  I dont trust my own strength to keep me safe.   The guide was yelling down to me that it was ok.  I just looked up at him with terrified eyes and shook my head.  ¨I cant do this.¨ I yelled up.  I know heaps of you out there think this is nothing, but we all know me and heights dont mix well, add deep pools of water with currents and waterfalls splashing at me...oh boy.

Well I just kind of stayed where I was, I knew I couldn´t climb back up but I was too terrified of going down or worse, I was worried about my hand giving away on me.  Next thing you know, one of the guys had strapped himself in and started coming down to meet me.  Great...of course I am the only person who actually needs one of the guides to come down and hold my hand just for me to abseil down a 25 foot waterfall.  I was relieved ...just having him to tell me where to put my feet and and talk me through it really helped. ¨Thank you,  I´m sorry.  I don´t like heights.¨ ¨Neither do I.¨  Ya thats what your friend said.   I made it down to the ledge where they unhooked me and told me to cross my arms infront of me.  ¨You guys are crazy.¨ I said and then he pushed me off so I landed below into the waterfall.

At this point I was getting tired.  It was cold, there wasn´t really any sunshine and I was getting so tired.  The next spot was just a tiny jump, maybe lower then a diving board...so I was just going to slide in.  As  I sat down everyone went ¨Booo.¨  So I stood up...they cheered.  I sat back down ¨booo.¨  Oh fuck it.  I jumped.   They cheered.

Next and last was another abseil.  Not has hard as the last one and I did this one with way more ease and made it down without assistance.  Again they push you off backwards into a pool where the currently just pulls you into the centre and I doggy paddled in the same spot for a couple of  minutes before I was able to get myself out.  We walked out of the canyons into an open clearing where they made us sit down grabbed our feet and dropped us into a little waterfall.

I did it!!! Scared but of course determined to stick my tongue out (or middle finger) at my fears...I laugh in the face of danger ha ha ha.   We were so hungry and exhausted.  We finished at the perfect time as it started to pour for about a half hour as we ate our lunch...which was amazing.  We had fish, green bananas baked like hashbrowns and rice.  The fish surprised me.  It was fresh fish (from the farm just below next to the canyons) but it was a full fish, head, bones, skin and eyeballs.  But when in Rome...It was absolutely delicious.  I had never thought of eating fish served like that but wow I was pleasantly surprised.

For dinner we headed out for dinner where we shared wine and fondue which was good but I ended up with a cheese headache.

I slept like a baby, until our roommate - we booked a five bed dorm for the four of us but someone else checked in yesterday - woke me up at 7am this morning and I couldnt get back to sleep.

Tonight we head to Quito but before we leave banyos we are doing the Edge of the World Swing, thermal baths and waterfalls.

Oh what a life.

                                                                                                       - My Beautiful Life - 

Lack of Sunshine

The day we left I ran around getting my laundry done and booking bus tickets...I did it all in Spanish as well.  It is really strange how much I have picked up in the past four months.  Lesina has been taking classes and she asks me questions that I can answer 90% of the time.  Sarah, one of the girls we were working with would grab me behind the bar and say "Emmie, I need your Spanish, I don´t understand what they want to order."  I just smile to myself, four months ago I could barely count in Spanish....y ahora, hablo espagnol todos los dias.   It feels really good and I am super proud of myself...even though I only took a few lessons with a friend in Arequipa, everything I have learned is just from picking it up from friends and studying on my own.  High-five myself.

  It was sad leaving Mancora as it usually is when you settle somewhere for a little while.   We had a hard time getting Lesina to leave but we got her on the bus.  I was stoked to move on though, all our friends had left and our staff crew was all leaving as well. I wanted to stay but knew that it was time to go,  I really didnt want to get stuck somewhere again and go through all the emotions when leaving months down the road, it was hard enough after two weeks.

After getting Lesina to finally walk out the hostel gate we headed to the bus station.

Overnight buses are alright but still have their down falls.  Its so hard to sleep even with semi-cama.  Once again I got to enjoy the throaty orchestra of a man snoring all night.  Plus we had our border crossing into Ecuador which meant three hours after we left (midnight) we had to wake up and  go through immigration and then the actual border crossing, then at 5 am we had to wake up again and wait an hour at the Guayaquil bus station to switch buses and then another two hours to Montanita.  Needles to say there wasn´t much sleep, or good sleep at that.

Our first destination in Ecuador was Montanita,  a small hippie beach town.  So excited!!! New country new town, new beach...but it rained, and it was cloudy and so muggy, it was quite depressing.   After spending two weeks in perfect weather the cloudiness put us all into a two day slump.  We knew the weather wasnt going to be as great as Mancora but we weren´t expecting it to be so depressing.  The town was great and we definitely would´ve enjoyed ourselves heaps more though if the weather had of been sunny, so basically we just chilled at the hostel cooking meals everynight, reading, listening to music and watching the iguanas in the tree, all while detoxing from our crazy couple weeks at Loki.  The hostel we were at (other than almost everyone smoking pot) was the perfect place to detox.   It was situated on the disgustingly dirty river that runs through the town.  It is built out of brick and would, with a patio out the back that faces the river.  The river is lined with lots of trees making it feel like you are in the jungle.   Our room was a loft with 10 beds...basically just just mattresses on the floor protected by holey mosquito nets.  It was perfect. 

If the weather was nicer we would have stayed a few more days but we left after two days and headed 11 hours North East to Banos.

Another overnight bus journey, this one being the most uncomfortable one yet.  Not because of people snoring but I just couldn´t get comfortable at all, I must´ve slept for half hour intervals at a time, but it does save us from paying accomodation for one night.  

Five minutes after we were on the bus it pulls over where police car lights were flashing.   A man (in uniform) boards the bus and in Spanish says "I am with the international police, please get off the bus."  I looked at Ben a little scared.  I have heard horror stories that begin like this with the story ending in robbery of all your belongings and as much as I have nothing more of value to steal, I do cherish my backpack and worn out clothes.   We get off the bus and they have seperated the men from the woman,  great, they are going to execute us was what went through my head.   We had just some backpackers at the hostel who had all been robbed so I was paranoid.    They only patted down our (the womens) bags, but the guys got searched, patted down and had to show their passports.   Then we were back on the bus and on our way.   Random drug search.

We arrived in Banos the next morning at about 630.  We couldn´t check into the hostel so we dropped our stuff off and walked into town to grab some breakfast.   They let us check in when we got back and we all passed out for a few hours.   Today Lesina, Matt and Ben went rafting and I stayed back to have a day to myself and write you all a blog, tomorrow however I believe we are going canyoning so there will be more adventure coming to you soon.

Hasta Luego

                                                                                                         - My Beautiful Life -