Well, my time is up here. I can't help but to laugh at myself for how I am feeling. I'm sad that I have to leave and I never thought this would be the case. Three weeks was just long enough for me to get attached to the staff and kids of UBECI. The leader of the program asked me to come back in one year and he said "I cry for you". His English has improved since I got here lol. We joked about how I'll come back and stay forever. And really, I can see myself findi...

There's a bug going around! I think five of us are now sick with a nose/ throat thing... Admittedly, we shared an alcoholic beverage last week that probably did us in. Oh well. So yesterday was very uneventful for me because I woke up and too Benadryl after breakfast, so I slept all day. I got up twice but not for longer than 15 minutes at a time. Today, I felt the same itchy throat and runny nose, but it wasn't any worse. Not feeling well when you are away from ...

Day one in Baños was great. We showed up and got checked in to the hostel and went to lunch. A few volunteers that came to Baños previously suggested we try "Canyoning". Canyoning is waterfall repelling and is as awesome as it sounds! The deal was $20 for 5 waterfalls, transportation, safety equipment, and a disc of videos/pics of the trip. Sounded good to us!! Once we got dropped off at the spot, it was a STEEP hike up the mountain to get to the waterfalls. Th...

Day 2 in Baños was relaxing and beautiful! We woke up and went to breakfast at a chocolate shop and had the best pancakes con chocolate with scrambled eggs and fresh juice! I never thought I'd miss eating egg whites every morning. After breakfast, we headed over to a shop to catch a van to Casa de Arból, which is a tree house on the top of a hill with a huge swing that glides over the edge of the cliff. Being on the swing felt refreshing and breathtaking at the...

Well... Last night was insane. It started off with two of our girls going to the city and saying they were getting home at 6:15. When 8:30 rolled around, we thought the worst had happened. We've heard horror stories from other volunteers here and we were thinking now it was our turn to deal with it. The scariest part was there was literally nothing we could do to find them if we tried. The whole "not having a usable cell phone" in a foreign place is scary. I neve...