Row, row, row your boat

Tuesday, July 20th 
Today, the plan was to white water raft through the beautiful lush Andean mountains of Ecuador. Interestingly, the white water group consisted of all Americans and all women (two from Hawaii, one from San Fran and one from Wyoming). The rapids were rated at a level 3 to 4, so a lil more challenging than the rapids in Peru. Only one of the girls had never been before. The safety briefing before the rafting was the longest and most in depth safety briefing I've ever heard. At the end of it, the girls in my group were like "dam...I guess there's a real chance of us falling in!" We started down river and hit tons of great rapids. One of our first big sets the girl siting behind me fell into the boat and pulled me in with her. I wondered how I hot into the boat since I was in control on the water and then sh told me that she was trying to grab ahold of something and that something ended up being me. The rest of the way down river was both challenging and exciting.  The scenery was filled with waterfalls, mountains in every direction and lush green forest. After the rafting was finished we headed back into Baños and I met up with my bunk mate, Stephanie from England, and we wandered around town together. We decided to cook a meal as well - I volunteered to cook macaroni and cheese with chorizo. Our other roomate, Whim from Belgium, joined us as well. The dinner was a success. After dinner I played cards with a big group of folks from all over the world. We played till 1am. It was a blast! Tomorrow, Stephanie and I will go horseback riding through the mountains in the morning, do yoga in the afternoon and try to hit up the hot springs in the evening. It's gonna be a great day.