Sunday we left for Papallacta.. a really small town two hours away. We had to switch buses halfway which was nice to break it up but on the way there the bus driver let us off in the middle of nowhere pretty much. Me Peter and Meghan were the last to get off and he told us to just walk down this path. Luckily after passing some farms and houses we made it to a tar road and better yet only a minute later the other bus we needed happened to go by so we hopped in. But the bus was completely full so we had to stand the rest of the way.. which was only about 45 mins. The town is really small and pretty much is only known for their hot springs and hiking. We dropped our stuff off and then walked up the road to the really expensive resort that has a lot of hot springs at different temperatures and a spa.. its really nice. The hot springs are basically just big pools with hot water that is naturally heated from the volcano near by. Some are shallow some deep and each one is a little bit different temperature and one is really cold. It was really relaxing and the scenery is amazing. When we got back to our hostel the owner was there and said for 3 dollars each we could go to her other hostel up the road which was a lot nicer... the place we were going to stay was pretty gross. So we did that and had one big room with a fireplace and our own hot spring tub inside. They had their own pools outside as well. The town is also known for their trout.. they have a big trout farm there.. so we got that for dinner which was really good. The next morning we hiked up a trail next to our hostel. The trail started by going through a horse's pasture and ended with climbing basically straight up with the help of ropes to pull yourself up. The top ended up being on a small peak that was a cow pasture. The cows were down below us but you could see a long ways and it was really nice up there. We got home yesterday around 5 and then went to Peter's teachers house to play a card game called cuerenta (that's 40 in English). Its tradition to play it this weekend because of the fiesta de Quito. Even at school last week Thursday and Friday they set up tables for students to play and they usually gamble on the games. Also they have small buses called Chivas this weekend that are all open on the sides and usually a band is on top. Everyone just drinks, dances, yells, and sings on the bus and they just drive around the city. We didn't go on one but we seen plenty.. the people on them are crazy.
This morning I went to the mall with Alba, Juanfrancisco, and Maria because they had to get some things and we saw two places where drunk drivers from last night crashed. One person took out a stop light and another went into the metal and brick fence along the outside of a house.. some of the car parts were still there. I guess it happens every time on the night before Quito Day because everyone drinks all night.
I don't have any pictures yet from the trip to Papallacta because I need to get them from Meghan or Peter so hopefully they'll be up soon. But I got more from the baptism a few weeks ago so the whole family is in at least some of them. Also there's now a video in the bullfighting section.
Pictures: http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z347/cooperky/Family%20%20from%20Baptism/
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