We were 5 in all in the class, with me being the only girl...I was not so brave as the boys and did not always make it to the top of the face we were climbing. The guys were great though giving me plenty of encouragement, telling me where i could find a nook or cranny which to grip to get me up a little further...However, they understood when encouragement was enough very quickly, when at one point I no longer felt comfortable climbing and asked to be let down...
¨You can do it, just put your hand here, put your foot a little more to the left, grip with your fingers, do this, do that!¨ All of it a mishmash of English and Spanish...
Mind swirlng, eyes brimming, muscles aching and shaking , and in the most lady-like fashion, (when you´re sprawled like a starfish against a vertical wall, held up by ropes tied to a harness) I called out for them all to ¨Shut up! And just let me down...¨
A few more expletives were involved. All in all a fantastic weekend, with loads of laughs!
All too quickly came the time for Daniel to return home to Sweden.
However in the meantime, I had been on the job hunt and was over the moon when, the Friday before he left, I was offered a HR position in a big international company, where I would be the only non-Ecuadorian. Daunting in some respects, but how much fun!!
With Daniel leaving on Tuesday, my starting day would be the Wednesday, however I was asked to come to a 3 hour HR meeting on Monday just to get a feel for what was planned over the next few months - Exciting stuff.
So after a hopeful goodbye at the airport, I went home to get ready for my big first day....Huge in fact, so huge I lasted a whole 20 minutes!!!
I arrived at 9am, as discussed, to be sat down and told that after their Monday meeting they had decided that they had no time to induct me properly. Soooooo, they had put the position 'on hold' for another 3-4 months, with no guarantees that I would be the top candidate, that it would be the same position....So with my head held high, I caught a taxi home and had myself a Pity Party, (thank you so much for that term Marianna!!) with the thought that vodka at quarter to ten in the morning sounded pretty damned good!!!
My party lasted about an hour and a half, before I picked myself up and made some decisions.
With Greg and Mum arriving in just a few weeks, I thought that at least I would have time to plan their trip, do some sightseeing with them, and run around and visit some places I still hadn't seen in Ecuador!
Greg arrived on a beautiful sunny day, along with Liam, aka Lili (a guy he'd been travelling with for a while)...That afternoon, Greg and I were having a coffee and commenting on the 'Gringo Trail' - The fact that when you travel for extended periods in Sth America, you will always bump into someone you've met at a hostel, beach, pub, etc in a totally different country....
And along came Marianna, who'd met Greg and Liam in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, then Panama, and now Ecuador!!! A night out was in order - A night out with a fishbowl, courtesy of Raj!!!!
With Greg and Liam, we did the must-see trip to the equator line...My third. And balanced my egg again!!!! Have to go to understand!!! Think the guys enjoyed it....(Either way, I did.) Then a few girly trips, with Marianna, were in order: Shopping for shoes, pedicures and manicures! What bliss!
Brother and sister then headed out to the coast!!!
Firstly, to the sleepy little town of Puerto Lopez....Very chilled out. From here many people head out to Isla de la Plata, dubbed The Poor Man's Galapagos, as you can see many frigates, and some boobie (birds) varieties, without the cost of going to the actual Galapagos Islands.Greg and the local kids catching a crab!
Greg and I decided that some scuba diving would be fun!
I have never seen so many sea turtles!!! It felt like around every corner we went there was another. One had unfortunately slipped its head through a rope with a plastic bottle attached...Our divemaster was able to slowly slip it over and off the turtle's head.
There were also a heap of moray eels - Scary looking things!!! Big eyes!
From Lopez, we went a few kilometres south to Montanita - Surfy party town! The type where don't actually need to be smoking anything to be high...Everyone else is doing it for you, so a walk down the main road and "Hey, how are youuuu? Isn't the world beautiful? Maaan, what were we talking about already...? Hehehehe..."
The little hostel we stayed at had a lovely little area with hammocs, which Greg, his guitar and I put to good use! Even learnt how to strum a few notes on the guitar and tried my hand at singing.....Lots of laughs were had - By us at least, don't know about the other people who were staying there!
Fantastic few days spent with my brother...Very cool - Had an awesome time, thanks for everything shared.
After a few days back in Quito, Greg took a few days out and went to Banos....Where it rained non-stop. I then, took 3 days and went hiking around Quilotoa, a crater lake, south of Quito. Quite the experience being on a bus along with the locals, their hens, and piglets etc....
It was just stunning if not very cold and very windy, with me wondering if I'd be blown off the ridge I was walking along!Then Mum arrived and the Corcoran Trio were reunited!!! First stop...The Galapagos Islands! Mum and Greg went on a cruise for a few days together, (Mother Son Time) and as for me...Well, I sat in the sun and read, snorkelled and went diving.
Saw so much down there, including a hammerhead shark!!!! So very cool!!! That was just the beginning of the diving though - In all I ended up doing six dives, (including a wreck dive!) and was amazed every single time! Love having you as a buddy by the way Greg!!! Will have to do this more often!
The world is small though, when you realise that your family went on the same cruise as two people you had met six months previous while working in Quito! Bruce and Laurie!!! And just like you they got on like a house on fire! Very funny which led to all of us having dinner and a few bottles of wine together.
Mum and Greg, I think had an amazing time on the boat - So much so, they felt that they needed a holiday after their cruise!We spent some time on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal - Mum thoroughly enjoyed the Interpretation centre on San Cristobal which explains the islands from their creation to the mysterious deaths which have occured to the problems they are facing now.
Brilliant times were had! And brilliant food!!! Gotta love a sizzling tuna steak on a hot rock!
Then we headed out close to Mindo, an area approximately 1 hour out of Quito known for its abundance of humming birds...WOW!!!! Unfortunately my pictures were not brilliant, (they're fast little things,) but I can tell you that standing only a metre away from the feeders and having up to 10 birds whizz past you so that not only do you feel them, but hear their wings fluttering so fast you could imagine a motorbike driving past...Was at times, well a little scary.
Tried putting my camera on the highest film speed available...And even then, the birds' wings don't come out properly...They are wingless bodies in my photos!
So full of colour though!!! Emerald greens, deep sea blues, purples and pinks...And the colours shimmer!!! Really and truly a big WOW!In the time I was able to tear myself away from the birds, we did take some nature walks...And there too...WOW! Nature holds such simple intricate beauty. From the smallest flower in the underbrush, and why it has a certain shape or colouring to the magnificent height of the trees - It was just spectacular!
A stunning moth...
Time really does seem to just flit away and disappear when you're having fun...Before you knew it, it was time for Greg to move on further down the coast of South America!
Mum and I had one last week together...We made the most of it and did some girly stuff like go shopping and getting pedicures!!! Yay!
Merci Maman, for being there!
Then, the night I took Mum to the airport...Once I had made sure she had paid her departing tax, said a tearful goodbye, and was on her way, I walked across to Arrivals and picked up Ange, a friend from Sydney who was coming to do some volunteering on the Galapagos Islands - Great timing guys!!
Ange and I did some hiking and got caught in a whopping hail storm...Didn't make it to the top of that mountain! And we also spent a frenzied scarf shopping day in Otavalo!!! Much fun, many laughs!!!
And then it was time for me to leave....Leave my little Sth American home...
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