tirsdag den 31. december 2013

Christmas

Hola mis amigos 

Well let me tell you guys about my Christmas...

Friday the 20th was last school day and that was a nice feeling, but also it was my 4 months day in Ecuador! Friday night I went out together with Diana it was really funny and I had a great time. Saturday I took a taxi home to Diana and we made cupcakes and later that night we went out again. We meet Anthony in the city and hang with him, it was a really funny night and again I had a great time. 
Cupcake 
Sunday just a little family trip to Colombia ;-) Colombia is cool and really cheap. It was just a one day trip and we were just shopping, so not much to tell mostly because Colombia and Ecuador reminds a lot of each other. My family bought me really nice boots, it was my Christmas gift, I love them. Monday I slept all most the whole day - it was nice! But later I hangout with Sebastian and his friends. Sebastian is a rotex guy from Ibarra.

Love them! 
Wow already Christmas Eve. Actually it really didn't felt like Christmas at all. I have never felt so fare away from home, from everything I know, miss and love. It was a really different Christmas! The dinner was fare away from what i call Christmas dinner. Christmas is not as big as in Denmark. 
Unfortunately I was to busy missing my family and Danish Christmas, that I didn't have time to enjoy my Ecuadorian Christmas... 



Yes that was my Christmas dessert...
Looks weird, but not that bad
But next day the 25th, I had an amazing day. I was invited to a Christmas lunch with Diana's family. Diana's god mother is from USA and she lives with Diana's family. So Bonnie (Diana's god mother) had made a big and lovely Christmas lunch and had invited a lot of gringos. The definitions of gringos is white people from the us that doesn't speak Spanish, but in Ecuador every white person is a gringo/gringa even though they speak Spanish and aren't from the us... 
It really felt like Christmas, even though the sun was shining, it was 25 degrees and we where sitting outside eating Turkey. I had such a good time and I really got to enjoy Christmas in Ecuador. 
Later that night I went to a birthday party in Ibarra and stayed there for the night. 

Lunch
Family 
The cutest kid ever!
The 26th and the 27th I didn't do much just chilled and enjoyed the fact that I could sleep all day and didn't have to put make up on. Life can be chill in Ecuador.
Wait actually that's not true 27th I went out later around 8 pm when Diana was done with work. First we went to a bar with Anthony and after that to a new bar to meet up with one of Diana's friends, but when we came there was more then just one friend, but it was fine it was a good night. 

Friends 
I was supposed to go to Quito, because there was a chiva (party bus) with all the exchange students, but as usually things never goes after the time or the plans here. so instead I went with my host dad and mom on a little trip. we where going to Cuenca, but took a stop in Latacunga to have and we stayed over the night in Riobamba the 28th. 
Well 29th we didn't go to Cuenca instead we started driving back home, but one the way we saw a lot if things. 
Christmas in Riobamba  

The highest mountain in Ecuador 
Cuy
My host mom and me 

So today it's the 31st aka it's New Year's Eve.
So this will be my last posted this year. 

Traditional New Year doll you burn 12 am 
I just want to thank my family and Rotary for this fantastic year and thanks to all the people who are following me and my Ecuadorian life here on the blog.
A lot if things has happened and it has been a really good year.
Looking forward to start 2014 here in Ecuador, it's going to be amazing. 

Lots of love <3 

torsdag den 19. december 2013

Almost Christmas

Hola 

I know I haven't been updating my blog that much lately... Sorry
A lot if things happens, but not big and exciting things that at interesting writing about. 

So December, wow I can't believe it's almost Christmas Eve. When you come from a cold and dark country, were often snow falls by Christmas time. Long night with hot chocolate and warm blankets, then I can tell it's hard getting the Christmas spirit in a country with 20 degrees. Whole Otavalo looks so fine with Christmas decoration, but the spruce is fake and it's just not the same... 
I have never realized how big Christmas is in Denmark until I'm here. I miss Christmas lunches, homemade Christmas cookies, Gløgg (a very good drink), wearing a big sweater, lighting up my fireplace and most of all my family. Don't get me wrong I'm having a great time here and it nice trying something else, but Christmas is a time I will prefer spending home from now on. 

Well I have had one Christmas dinner and I really enjoyed it, it was with rotary. I had such a good time and it was nice to see Lucas and Arnetta again. 
Tomorrow It's last school day before Christmas vacation and we only have classes to 10 am. I'm looking forward to some vacation. I hope it's going to be awesome!

I will let you guys know...

Love 

tirsdag den 3. december 2013

The Amazon

Hola 

The last four days have I spent in the amazon, and it was amazing!
Amazing nature, incredible animals, sun burned cheeks and countless mosquito bites.
I couldn't be happier.

It was one of the rotary trips. We are divided into different groups, I was in group number 2. We were divided randomly, but I was in a good group with some of my really good friends here.
We stayed at Sacha Lodge. Sacha is the Quichua Indian word meaning forest.
It is the most beautiful place on earth! The lodge is build on a isolated black lagoon called Pilchicocha.

Friday: 
Actually it all started out really bad. I woke up by my chairman ringing asking where I was because they (Lucas, Arnetta and our driver) was waiting for me. I had set my alarm to 5:30 pm and not am. Well luckily I'm fast and everything was already ready, so I just jumped out of the bed and took off. Then half way to Quito Lucas realized he didn't have his passport and back to Ibarra we went! We almost didn't caught the plane...
After a 30 min. flight we were in Coca. The moment we stepped out of the plane, we got hid by a very hot wind. You haven't tried hot weather until you have visited The Amazon! Damn...
We had a quick lunch and then off we went to the town docks where we took a private canoe for two hours down a huge river. Then a 30 minutes hike through the rainforest that lead us to the black lagoon. From there a native workers paddled us across the lake to Sacha Lodge.

The first boat tour.


The hike
We saw some pretty bad ass insects

He is doing all the work
The water is black, so creepy

Right after we arrived Nanna and me already saw our first animal, a something I don't know, but it was really cute! We got so excited that we jumped in to the rainforest, and scared him away. We called him Henry, because we saw him more then once, but unfortunately Henry doesn't like pictures. Then we got divided into groups of six people with private tour guides, we had those groups every time we went to see something.
Later dinner. The food was really good.
At 8 pm my group had a night walk in the rainforest. So many scary and beautiful animals at the same time. I was the only one who had my own flashlight and I'm very thankful for that! We were screaming a lot, the rainforest at night with spiders and snakes can be pretty creepy.

Tarantula 




Bad picture, but it was a pretty cool snake



That snake was hiding... 
 This is just some of the many animals we saw that night...

Saturday:
6 am and we were ready to go. Nanna and me were so stupid to take boots, long pants and two pairs of socks on in 30 degrees - Well that was a long and hot morning.
The morning tour we all went together, first we took the big boat out to a place with green parrots. They were to fare away to take pictures of, but seen through a binoculars it was perfect. They were so pretty! After that we went to see a village. They danced for us, told us about their life, and we drank some awful things, they drink every day.

Dance
Dance
We got invited to dance with them 
It tasted like bitter tea 

That was awful!!
After that we went home to eat lunch and Nanna and me could finally change clothes. We had some time off on till the next jungle adventure.
Nanna, Ida, Sofie and me (the danish girls) went to the butterfly house. It was amazing, so many beautiful colors. There was also a tarantula...




And then we saw some monkeys...



Nanna and me went down to lake and we saw something in the water, so we wanted to throw something in the water so it would move and we could see what... But when Nanna went down to take a piece of wood floating in the water a big animal moved and almost bit her finger off... We never saw what it really was, but it was big and quite scary. But now we are just laughing at it! 
Even though we knew there was something in the water we still decided to take a swim in the lake. It was so weird, you could feel the fish, but because the water is black you can't see any thing... 


At 4 pm we went on a another tour. First we saw three owls, and then the jungle from the top of a tower that was 50 meters over the ground. It was so pretty and there was jungle everywhere.





Later dinner.
And then at 8 pm my group went canoeing to see crocodiles. It was quite scary, Nanna and me were in the front of the canoe and it was totally dark. We didn't sail on the lagoon, we sailed in small creeks. While we were sailing, I had my flashlight pointed down so I could see what was in the water. So I didn't noticed a vine hanging from a tree and when it hid my in the head, I got so scared that I hid Nanna with my flashlight in the head - I'm sorry Nanna! 

  
We only saw one crocodile. We could only see the head, but it was big about the size of my underarm with my hand... It lay by a tree surrounded by rushes. Our guide had sailed the boat in so Nanna and me were right in front of it (5 meters away)...
I was sitting with my flashlight looking at it and Nanna asked if we could point the flashlight to her side of the boat (away from the crocodile) so I did it fast, but there was nothing. So I said that I preferred pointing the flashlight at the giant thing that could eat us. But the second I pointed the flashlight at the crocodile again it disappeared under the water, the whole tree moved and we could see the rings in the water coming closer. Our guide have never paddled that fast. While he paddled away he told us that sometimes crocodiles don't attack because they are hungry, but because they need to show off...
I don't know how to describe what went through my head when that crocodile disappeared and came closer, but now I think it's pretty cool!

Sunday: 
Sunday morning we went to a tree tower it was 32 meters over the ground and the view was stunning. We spent a lot of time there, just looking at the view and taking pictures... 




When we came home we were a little bit bored Nanna and me, and there was this fruit on one of the trees that we had been arguing about. I through it was a watermelon and Nanna through it was a pomelo, so we decided to borrow it and take a look... We had a plan and everything, but one of the staff members saw us running with it and every time he saw us he just started laughing at us.
Unfortunately it turned out to be noon of the fruits we through it was. Well we tried...


That afternoon we went on a hike in the rainforest and our guide told us about the different plants and how to use them. We also got to swing in vines, that was really funny. I really lived the Tarzan dream, specially when I swung in to a tree? I don't know how i did it because the tree was standing to the left side and the there was plenty of space to swing back and forth, but all the suddenly I just smashed in to the tree. It really hurt, but I was to busy laughing that I first realized later... 

It was grill night, so we had a big and really good meal. 

Monday:
Time to get home!
It was an amazing trip and I was really sad when we had to leave, mostly because I had to say goodbye to the other exchange students...

I think that was all...

Love