Adventurous Day!!

Hola amigos y familia!! Adam and Narain here to recap our eventful day, starting off at 5:45 am. Waking everyone up was a tiring experience as nobody was willing to wake up at such an early hour. However, we pulled ourselves through to eat breakfast at 6:45 am and leave our hotel for a 2-hour car drive to Baños. Subsequently, we walked “Pailon Del Diablo,” in which we saw a phenomenal waterfall. The hike was strenuous for the group. Traversing the hike with much struggle, we made it to the top despite getting wet from the rainfall. Shoutout to Eileen, who, with additional help from student peers, pulled through and made it to the top despite a torn ACL and meniscus. This to me was a courageous moment as it demonstrates that medical conditions don’t necessarily have to hold you back; your team and group mates are always there to help.

Following up, the group went back onto the bus and traveled to the main plaza of Baños. In Baños, we had something very special happen for the first time. We ate outside of the hotel. We started off with delicious spinach soup, followed by a plate of fries with chicken. For dessert, we had a very tasty strawberry cheesecake. Afterward, we had free time to explore the area. We decided to split into 4 groups to make traveling around easier. Our group explored downtown Baños for 50 minutes looking for souvenirs to take home, and things to enjoy for ourselves. Later on in the day, we hopped back on the bus to travel an additional 2 hours back to the hotel. We had time to get our laundry ready for cleaning and prepare for dinner. Traveling to dinner was short, and we arrived at 6:45 pm. The meal followed traditional Ecuadorian foods like tree tomato, quinoa-crusted chicken, and rice with black sesame & basil. The group was served a yogurt dessert with chocolate sprinkles, strawberry sauce, and granadilla sauce (Ecuadorian passionfruit).

Lastly, we traveled back to the hotel, Narain carrying a gifted tree tomato, and got ready for our nightly meeting. With this nightly meeting we were introduced to the new LDDs (Líder Del Dia), Tiffany & Zara, and concluded the night with a unity clap with the word “shower shoe” (Following Allison’s souvenir of her new zapatos). That’s is for this adventurous day! Shout out to my mom; I’m alive, well, and having lots of fun (-Adam). Also, shout out to my family, I am doing lovely here, and have made plenty of new friends (-Narain).

ADÍOS!!! TILL NEXT TIME