This was supposed to go up yesterday, but we´ve been without power for the last 24 hours or so...

We went on another hike Friday, this time with the whole group of volunteers (needless to say ‘Martha’ opted not to come). No natural disasters this time around, though the hike ended up being way longer than any of us thought it would be. Between being a bit out of shape, not acclimatized to the altitude and twisting both ankles, one of the new volunteers did have a bit of a rough time. Walter ended up going ahead to get a horse to carry back the last bit. With the slow pace we ended up taking about nine hours altogether and I ended up missing out on a Friday night in Quito.

Oh well.

I went instead Saturday morning and inadvertently ended up couch surfing at this Canadian guy’s amazing apartment in the scenic and conveniently located neighborhood of Guapulo. Check out the view:

He had agreed to put up the volunteer I was with and graciously extended the invitation to me as well. He even cooked us curry and went out into La Mariscal with us that night. He teaches at a high school in Quito. So we’re going to try and get him to visit La Hesperia and maybe get his class to come visit for an end-of-year trip.

Back in the cloud forest all is well. We’re planning a lot of projects; hopefully some of them will work out.

Oh, and I saw a bunch of monkeys today.

I´m off to Baños for the weekend (the town not the toilet). Should be fun.

One of the dogs gave birth to puppies today, so I´ll try and get some super cute pics when I get back.