(The pictures are in reverse order) We stayed in the tiny little mountain town of Quilatoa at somewhere between 12,000 and 13,000 feet. There was a huge crater lake or ¨laguna¨ there that was absolutely beautiful!! Unfortunately it was overcast the entire time we were there, because if the sun is out, the entire lake turns a bright turquios. There was no lock on the hostal door there, but the lady running the place said that would not be a problem. The town was tiny but the people were super nice as usual. The next picture is the view from our hostal room in Montañita. Not bad for $7 a night. We did a little surfing for a half day, and I did not do half as well as I was thinking I would. However, the über athelet in our group (Adam) didn´t have any troubles tearing it up though. The yellow picture is actually the shower in the community bathroom in our hostal in Cuenca. This is what the showers typically look like. They heat the water up just before it exits the nosel, so the less water you have running, the hotter the water will be. It takes a little longer to get all of the soap out of your hair when you are rinsing off under what feels like a leaky foset. As you can tell by all of the wires going everywhere, you can imagine why these are dubed ¨suicide showers¨Just out side of Cuenca is Cajas National Park. We just did a little 5 hour day hike, but we were just in awe of how beautiful our surroundings were the entire time. If we had the time and equipment (fishing line and hooks, stove, tent, and sleeping pads) I would love to spend a few days there fishing, hiking, and camping!! We are off on a 13 hour overnight bus to Piura, Peru now. We are going to be there for about a week helping at a church that Adam´s been to on mission trips before. We will also get to hang out with one of our college friends Karrie Haraban who is serving in the Peace Corps in the area as well.
