Found Me

An apartment!!!! Yay!!! Very happy. It all started with my week away at the hostel that the agency owns....

Cotopaxi on a clear night

I´ve just come back from the mountains, out at 3500m surrounded by 16 peaks over 4000m...Scenery-wise, it was just spectacular. When we had tourists there, it was very busy...Otherwise, it was great chill out and meditation time.

Decided I had had enough of not having my own bathroom with guaranteed hot water...I think that did it.
To explain: At the agency I have a hostel room to myself with shared bathroom...The closest bathroom to me spews forth water gathered from the north pole, it´s that cold, and the bathroom upstairs, well the water is not cold, but it isn´t hot either.
Then out at the mountains where it is freezing...Again shared bathrooms. Only here there are water restrictions - Can only have a shower before 6am, (before the tourists get up, and for those of you who know me, that´s way before I get up,) or after the tourists have all gone to bed - If there´s any water left. We had a group of 24 people camping - Water becomes scarce when they all decide to shower.

So after four days of not showering, but being in the proximity of perfectly good hot showers, it was breaking point: Bought the Sunday paper, asked the advice of Mercedes, one the girls I work with and within two hours had found myself a two bedroom apartment with terrace, functioning fireplace, big enough for visitors, (hint hint) but small enough to clean.....And I can´t move in for another two weeks because they are redoing it all...Paint, carpet, doors, even making the wall on the terrace a little higher - Big enough to fit a hammoc too!! It´s approximately a 20 minute walk from where I am at the moment! Have already been eyeing the furniture shops!!!
Funny thing is here is that when you want an unfurnished apartment, you really don t get anything - Not even a stove! I really to have to start from scratch! Luckily it is also close to a couple of local restaurants.

Otherwise...Work has been keeping me busy. We are hitting the busy season, which means groups from different English and American schools coming through. We have approximately 200 kids going through in the next month.
Out at the hostel, I did everything from welcoming tourists, showing people where to camp, changing the grazing area of lamas, cooking meals, (learnt how to make guava jam!) changing sheets, cleaning bathrooms to conforting people who are throwing up....Makes it interesting when some are sick - altitude and stomach bugs - however don t listen when told to keep their fluids up, more so at altitude, and then you have to take them to hospital in the middle of the night with severe dehydration.

It is just beautiful, though...Especially when the sun is shining and the wind decides to take a break from blowing over the trees, as it did in this picture...Cotopaxi, (again) and moi!

I learnt that I can eat potatoes and rice everyday, together for most meals...Go the carbs! I learnt that all leftovers can be mixed together to make a great meal. I learnt that a full moon can replace a good torch when walking small mountain roads in the middle of the night. I learnt that lamas can have seriously freaky eyes. I learnt that when you buy a chicken here...You buy the whole chicken, head, legs, insides and all....Only thing you don t get are the feathers - They even still have their eyeballs...Yes, I checked.

Then onto my ride home....And if you are all wondering...yes, that is a picture of a shattered windscreen. Unfortunately, (or fortunately) I can´t claim I was there when it happened... The guides were driving along the PanAmerican Highway when the bonnet flew up and well, shattered the windscreen. It is rather bizarre driving along without being able to see out the front!

So there you all go, my only day off in a month and a half and it is filled with a heap of things to do and organise...Well at least I´m keeping out of trouble. Kinda....

Much love to you all. XXX