If you remember a few posts back I wrote about going swing jumping in Banos, Ecuador. I also posted a few photos but now I have uploaded a video for you to all watch me jump in terror. It doesn’t show but believe me I was scared. Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

An alarm clock is usually unnecessary. I wake up when I am no longer tired and only then do I start my day. I made an exception for the first time in three weeks when I set my cell phone to wake me up at 8:30 AM so that I could go white water rafting in some class 4 rapids in Banos, Ecuador.

I could not have asked for a better group to spend the day with: William from Miami/Ecuador, his two Ecuadorian relatives, a Swiss man, and Colombian girl.

I really got along well with William, the kind of guy who wants to immediately become your best buddy. Imagine a chubby, older Latin guy from Miami always making conversation. He has this really fun personality that can build a strong bond in no time. He’s the type that asks questions and is genuinely interested in the people he meets.  We had some great conversations on the way to the river, at lunch, and back to Banos. He is what you would call a people person and really was a great person.

Continued from the last post…

I went to work the next day and started giving tours and doing general work. That night, I watched a movie in the hostel with some others.

The next day I worked some more and created my marketing plan that I will work on for the next 3 months. I´ll post that here later. Then at night, I hung out with and met more people in the hostel. It was pretty fun.

I did some more work the next day and went out for wine & tapas that night with people from work and from the beach trip in Canoa.

I´ll skip to yesterday now since I remember it a lot better obviously. I took a taxi to the bus station and had a great conversation with the driver. My spanish was perfect and it felt great to speak so well. However, a few minutes after I had a hard time talking with someone else.

I got into Banos later that night and went to bed after walking around the town for a bit. That brings me to this morning. I met a guy named Harry from England, and 20 minutes later we were off to rent bikes and take a 60 kilometer bike ride to Puyo. I just got back but it was incredible, and also extremely tiring. We rode through pitch black tunnels, saw an incredible waterfall that we hiked to and had lunch near.

After seeing a whole lot at a much slower place, we finnally reaches Puyo, 5 hours later. We were too tired to do anything when we got there, and our butts were extremely sore, so we got some dinner. I ordered Tilapia and got a complete fish fried. It was alright.

Then we boarded a bus back to Banos, putting our bikes on top of the bus. Here I am, back in my hostel. We are about to head out to the hot springs and maybe a club later on if i´m not too tired.

I don´t feel like this entry tells much about what I have been up to, but it gives anyone who is reading this a general idea. I know its cliche, but it´s hard to describe how incredible Ecuador is and how amazing of a time I am having. I feel much more independent, which is always a good feeling. I mean, i decided an hour before I left for Banos, that I wanted to go to Banos. The scenery here is incredible…ánd now Harry is calling my name so we can go to the hot springs.

I´m off!