Yesterday I got back from the excursion to Intag, where the cloud forest is. It was wonderful, so beautiful. We stayed in cabins and it was like camp. I got closer to some of the other girls since there was a lot of girl talk in the cabin at night and we were all together all the time. I loved the cabin, I want to build one like it in the Canadian wilderness somewhere. (Canada is still my favorite country. Even though evidently they don’t have good environmental restrictions for their mining companies and so they go all other the world and mine irresponsibly to get rich quick and then leave behind all the things bad mines leave behind, like drainage problems in the water supply and ecological losses.)
The only bad part was I decided it would be a bad idea to go on the hike if I ever want my ankle to stop being swollen, so I missed out on that. I still think it was the right thing to do though, especially since I did some other hiking that I shouldn’t have done. However, my ankle did get me a burro ride to the bus, which was awesome. I was the only one who was allowed to ride one, everyone else had to walk. Some people were jealous.
The place grew and roasted its own coffee, which was good, but it also had amazing hot chocolate that I liked better. I’m still bringing home some of the coffee beans though.
A few people from around there, like indigenous women groups and anti-mining activists and an American lady who’s lived there for a long time came to talk to us. It was all pretty interesting and a lot of Spanish. Some ladies who make bags and things out of a fiber they make from a kind of cactus came and explained how they made everything and used natural dyes and we bought things.
On the way back we stopped in the famous Otavalo artesian market and got to do a little shopping. It’s one of the places everybody goes if they’re in Ecuador. I got a couple things and ate at a pie place (which is noteworthy since for the most part they don’t eat pies here but it was an amazing pie place).
I’m trying extra hard with my host family. I wish they could be a little more welcoming like pretty much all the other families so I could relax a bit and not always be worrying about making sure they like me and talk to me. I play with Camila though, so that’s good. I also talked to my older sister for a few minutes about her school, which was a break-through since usually she doesn’t talk. I’m hoping in Quito I get a host sibling closer to my age, like everyone else has. Most people got a host sibling within a year of their age. Mimi still has hardly recognized my presence in the house at all. Sometimes I try to talk to her, but she only gives one word answers so it’s not worth it. My host mom’s been a lot better lately. Most of the time she’s fine, it was just the ankle thing and the doctor that she didn’t seem to handle well at all and made me angry. I am so tired, it is bedtime but it is only 9:08.
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