Mindo: Remembering what it is like to breath

After a couple of weeks of not leaving Quito, I decided on Thursday that it would be a good idea to get the hell out. I mean, Quito is  not that bad, but I really do enjoy not having to feel like I am smoking a pack of cigarettes a day due to the damn smog that makes it so hard to breath.

I wanted to go to the coast but it was too far because we were leaving on Friday afternoon and coming back Sunday night. It just didn't make any sense to travel the 100 hours to make it to the coast for only a couple of days, OKAY?! Anyways, we (Stevie and I) decided that we would go to Mindo, an city that is located within a cloud forest. Best. decision. ever.

If you have ever been to Oregon, the Willamette Valley, not Southern or Eastern Oregon where everything is so dry and dead, you know that it is full of green plants and what not all over the place. Mainly because the godforsaken rain never stops. Never. Students get so pasty that they have to dim the lights all over campus because the light bulbs start giving everyone sunburns.

Well, Mindo looked like Oregon a lot. Especially the waterfalls that I went to on my last day there. We met some other tourists that became our friends and did all the adventuring and exploring of Mindo with us. We stayed in a cheap hostel and were like cabins. Mindo has approx. 2,000 residents but it is extremely quiet during the night. It took me back to living in the middle of nowhere Oregon, a.k.a. my house. While I was in bed all I heard was the river and the crickets...nothing else. It was such a nice change from the cars in Quito. The river combined with the crickets put me out.

The next day we had a full day planned ahead of us. We decided that we would do ziplining, tubing and go to where all the damn butterflies live!

Just to let you all know, I had NEVER been ziplining in my life before and I was just a little terrified. What if the effing cable decided that I was too much of a fat ass and it snapped?! I would plummet to my death and you all would cry because you would never get to see me again. I just know it. Well, the cable didn't break...I bet you were all wondering if I survived or not. I am safe. Thanks for worrying.

Well, I did 13 cables and it was the most fun thing I have ever done in my life. Going over the cloud forest was amazing. So much greennnnnnn. SEE. I am not lying! It really was an amazing experience. My favorite part was turning upside down on the last zip line. I thought I was going to fall out but it was super exciting anywayyyyyy. I guess the other part that made me uncomfortable was having to do the tricks with a guide...too close for comfort really. I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOUR NAME SIRRRR.

Whatever. Afterwards we met some tourists who were going to do what we just did and I suggested they try the tricks, even though I didn't know them  I did the nice West Coast person thing where you are like...nice to people...so weird.

What do I get in return? I get the, "Why the f%*^ are you talking to us? Do we look like we are people you can talk to? Yeah, save your nice west coast attitude for your momma."

Okay, they didn't really say this but their look said it all. They looked at me as if I were speaking another language...or they thought I was stupid. The look was so rude and without any sort of kindness that it prompted Stevie to ask if they spoke English...of course they did, they were just rude East Coasters...assholes.

It's okay though, we eventually got the last laugh...like 10 minutes later when the same lady who looked at me with despise announced:

"OMG, I am totes going to flirt with our guides ;). I took a class on flirting and I am ready to try it out"

Not even kidding you. This woman had actually taken a class on how to flirt...yeah...pretty awkward. I was all like, excuse me lady, if you took classes on how to flirt you really shouldn't be announcing it to the world. I am pretty sure people will know when you try to flirt that you suck.  Also, you shouldn't be proud of that AND why would anyone teach such a class?!


WTF would such a class consist of anyway?! Teach people sleezy pick up lines? Teach em how to dougie (I am listening to this song right now and I thought it was funny, OKAY?!) ?

Anyway, we went to a butterfly place and there were a lot of butterflies there. It was kind of terrifying, they were flying all over the place and I am pretty sure they hadn't passed their Safe Flyer test because they kept flying into me. Provoking a very ridiculous flinch as if it were a bird coming at me...so dumb.

We also had the option of feeding these vicious insects on our fingers...um, no thanks. They have this long mouth thing that is scary and I didn't want to risk my life. I mean, they have beady little eyes and like feet that allow them to stick to things without falling. Not cool. 

We went tubing down a very tame river and I think at some point I actually fell asleep...it was quiet relaxing. The water was really cold though. Yeah...

Anyways, after a long day we got back to the town and ate good food. Afterwards, we went back to our cabins, at which point it was already dark and pouring. While standing in the doorway conversing, the killer from "I know what you did last summer" showed up at one of the doors. Needless to say, we were a little terrified, waiting for him to pull his hook out and kill us. I knew it was only a matter of seconds. Okay, it didn't happen but it was kind of scary. I mean he LOOKED like this guy:

See, you're scared too. Don't lie to yourself and much less me.

Well, we had a good time in Mindo. It was a very rural town and it was a nice escape from the smog infested city that is Quito.

Being in high school and sweating

It sure has been a while. I know you missed me and my stupid stories so pay attention.

First off, I have nothing really interesting to say, except that I have very boring stories. I have now started at the university in Quito and let me tell you, it is nothing like Willamette. Nothing at all.

I feel like I am back in high school, seriously. All the students there are loaded, or it seems like it. Walking around with their designer everything. It is a competition between everyone to see who has the most money and who can be the flashiest with it. Quite ridiculous. At first I was really nervous to be going there. Everyone was super snooty and didn't care who I was. Do they not KNOW WHO I AM?! For reals though. I am a big deal in all 48 states (Alaska and Wyoming don't count).

I was so nervous the first week that my a$$ would sweat. It was like being the new kid at a new high school and nobody wanted to talk to me. It felt like walking into Goudy and not recognizing a single face, otherwise known as "Goudy facing it", and turning around to run towards the kitchen area because everyone was just talking about the idiot tinky who looked like they were lost. If you go to Willamettte this has definitely happened to you, don't you lie to me, much less yourself. The only thing about USFQ (Quito University) is that it is much worse. You pretty much don't exist to people around you.

I know, I know. I should quit complaining, but I don't wannaaaa. When you finally make friends at the university it is super rude to not say hi to them and goodbye and not kiss them on the cheek. You are considered the rudest person alive and you should be punched in the stupid face of yours. I already made the mistake of not saying hello to someone...didn't really end well for me.

Most of the students have never worked a day in their lives and live with their parents so they get whatever they want still. But if it is possible to break through that hard exterior, then you are IN. Ecuas know how to have fun. I will leave it at that.

Enough about the University. Now about the beach. Our program just got back from the coast and it was a ton of funnnn. We literally did nothing but relax on the beach. Well, I played beach volleyball as often as I could and that was a ton of fun. It was soooooooooo hot. Imagine the hottest place you have ever been and multiple that by 500 and like 90% humidity. Our bus broke down on the way to the beach and so we rented a regular bus, one that connected towns, to take all 15 of us to the beach. The bus driver kicked all the passengers off just for us. Kind. of. a. big. deal.

The bus on the way back was another story. I have never wanted to be in a dessert as much as when I was on that godforsaken bus. I was sweating as much as Sean Dart does when he works out. If you've seen it, then you know how effing hot it was. I want to go back.

Anyway, I have tons more to say but I will leave that for another blog. Read this all the time.

Surviving a volcanic eruption.

This weekend I went to the adventure sports capital of Ecuador...I think. The journey there was absolutely ridiculous. First we had to get on Trole system that would take us to the bus terminal where we would catch a bus that would take us to Banos. Of course an adventure is not an adventure if things go right the entire time.

The Trole was packed because it was 4pm and everyone wanted to be somewhere...I guess. When we got to the bus terminal at 5pm because it takes an hour to get to the there. we booked it to the bus that was leaving in 2 minutes. Well, we missed that one and got on another one 5 minutes later, so much for wasting my energy. DUMB. Anywayyyy, we were on the road, the sun was shining, everything was great and the weather was beautiful.

It was good to finally see trees and not be trapped in a concrete jungle. When we were about 30 minutes from our destination there was a straight up stop on the highway. I asked and the bus driver why were were stopped and he said that the volcano was erupting. He said it in such a calm voice that it put me at ease.

"Oh yeah, the volcano is just erupting and we are waiting for it to clear"

WHAT THE FUUUUUUU?! My initial reacction was panic. WE ARE GOING TO DIEEEE! Then I thought, shit, this will be an epic story. I could see the headline on the Willamette website now "Four Willamette Students Die Valiantly in a Violent Volcanic Eruption in Ecuador" With the content being about how we were not wearing the right gear to survive a volcanic eruption. Also, we would have died sitting in a bus, not actually doing anything meriting the word "valiantly" but hey, people love sensationalism.

Stevie was trippppin'. "OMG,does this happen often, I am calling my host mom. Are we going to be okay?! How come we are just parked?! I need to call everyone I know and ask if I am going to be okay!!! Should I write a will?! I need to call my lawyer. Who will inherit everything I own?! OMG, who will enjoy my pink sheets as much as me?!!!! "

Me:"Steve, we are going to be fine. We would have turned around if it was that bad". My new nickname for Stevie is Steve, I use it when she is being irrational.

Stevie: "Okay, maybe we should ask someone, and by someone I mean everyone and then take the average of the responses and multiply it 4 and add 6, then we can really know if we will be okay."

Me: (Deciding to indulge her in her delusions) "Okay, on itt! Callie, go ask!"

And what does Callie go and do? She get's lost because it is night and she walks so far up that she can't remember which of the zillions of buses is ours. We use Morse code to get her back to the bus...not really. I sort of flashed my light and then waited for her to find her way back..survival of the fittest.

Callie reports back: "I asked the police what was going on and he said he didn't know but that it should only be about 15 minutes".

Of course this well informed policeman was kind of wrong...only off by 45 minutes but I had fun. And as it turns out, there was no volcanic eruption, there was only a car accident.

We got in like at 10pm and were starving so decided to go out for a bite, after we checked into the hostel. The food was great and we had talked to a tour guide and he said we could rappel down waterfalls at 9 in the morning and raft down a river next to the Amazon at 2.

SIGN ME UP.

The whole, risking my life and having fun kind of thing was new for me. I was sort of really terrified for the first rappelling down a waterfall. We had a mini-lesson before and it did not seem that terrible. And truthfully, the first two waterfalls were great, we just stepped backwards on the rock wall into the pools of water, the last one however, was a little more daunting.

The last waterfall was only a mere 140ft, so rappelling down it was going to be nbd. YEAH RIGHT. I volunteered to go 2nd and after seeing the first guy go, I was a little more scared. First he started on the rock wall then I peered down and he was just dangling....sans rock wall. WHATTTTTTTTTTT.

I looked at our guide and said: "Um, excuse me, but he is not touching the rock wall..."

Guide: "Yeah, he's fine."

Me: (Holy shiiiiiiittttttttttttttttt. I am going to die!)

I was next and the guide said told me just to lean back and walk back like usual, but then the rock wall ended... WHAT THE FUUUUUU!!!!

He told me to take my feet off the rock but I was too scared, I thought I would plummet to my death. However, the logic at that time was very flawed. My feet were higher than my head , as I was leaning back so I was going to be fine.

So I let go and felt great, the view was amazing, the waterfall next to me created a rainbow and I was able to look out into the mountains...truly an amazing experience.

After we all rappelled down the waterfall, we went and bought some food. Then we were off to raft down the Pastaza River, in between two National Parks and eventually the Amazon. It was so much fun and best of all, nobody in our raft fell out. The other rafting group sucked and always lost people. Noobs.

We were pretty exhausted by the end of the day but it was well worth it. Banos is a cool little town that I will most definitely make frequent visits to. I want to be back there now...

Organs intact...for now.

What’s better than not doing homework? Not doing homework because I was at a club on a Thursday with a bunch of friends. I am so hardcore. I don’t even recognize MYSELF. WHO AM I?!

The group went to “Gringolandia” or La Mariscal. The locals call it Gringolandia because it is obviously where all the gringos hang out. DUH!

To get there we needed to take a bus and by bus I mean a tin can where if you move your left hand it is in a person’s hair or private tinky area. GROSS.  We played a game of Sardines really. First we went to buy some….drinks. And then hung out in a super sketch area doing super sketchy things.

Afterwards we headed to a sketchy Indian food place. They had hookahs, which I did not do and would never like to by the way. There was so much smoke in that place that I could not even see the person next to me. I thought for sure that we were going to be stabbed, kidnapped or have our fingers chopped off. I KNOW, I AM IRRATIONAL, GET OVERRRR IT!

It was an okay place to be, not dangerous, at least nothing happened to us. AND there was karaoke so I just KNEW everything was going to be fine. I could feel it in my bones. Plus, I kind of sort of blend in here and everyone just assumes I am from around here. I tell everyone that I am just visiting family for 5 months, ha! I am more worried for people like Stevie who looks like she could fit in your pocket. EVERYTHING WAS FINE THOUGH.

While we were walking to the club everyone was trying to hand us flyers, which if you read my previous post, is sketch as FUUU. Let me clarify for Sean and Alisha because APPARENTLY I was too vague. These flyers are laced with some sort of drug that enters your bloodstream upon contact with your skin. You blackout and while you are unaware of anything going on around you, the person who handed you the flyer steals your damn organs!!!! They then sell your organs on the black market for obscene amounts of money. I know that if my kidney was stolen , it would sell for a record amount of $500,000.

So yesterday we were being asked to take these flyers and I all I could think was: “Ummmmm….no THANKS. I am not an organ donor and you are unqualified for that type of procedure, thanks. I am also quite fond of all my organs, thank youuuu. Maybe next time, and by next time I mean NEVERRRR”

We go to the club and on Thursdays it is “Ladies Night” and ladies get to drink for freee. There are 5 girls with us and they are being handed flyers that would allow them to get free drinks. Obviously they do not want to take them because we were told not to so that our fucking organs don’t get stolen and sold for obscene amounts of money on the black market. None of them want to take it but I am all like well, free drinks…so I tell them to take it.

Stevie says to me, “I don’t want them to drug me and take my organs.”

I say, “Don’t worry I will take care of you, they are not bad flyers. You will be fine, I promise” But what I am really thinking is, “Fuck yeah! Free drinksss!!!!” JUST KIDDING. Kind of.

Nobody was injured or had their organs stolen and best of all...everyone looked like death warmed up the next day at school. Except for me of course because I was responsible and went home early so that I could sleep to get up early and start and finish my homework before class at 8:30. So responsible. I know.

I also went on my first run at 9,350 feet and thought I was going to die. I was so excited to run  because I hadn't done it since the I was in the States. As Stevie and I were taking off to the park a little boy and his stupid little schnauzer started chasing us. That damn dog was preparing to feast on my ankles.

No thanks dog. I need my ankles, I said to the dumb little rat chasing us. What got me though was the boy who was laughing gleefully at the situation. Well kid, you are a JERK. That was terrifying and I thought I was going to lose my life!

I felt freeeeeeeee. I was running around and it was FUN. That is until my body decided that there wasn't enough oxygen and started to punish me for it. Thanks body. BUT I did have a good run, except the parts where I inhaled exhaust. Living in a city ROCKS.

Galapagos: Nature walks, seasickness and nature

So here goes my first entry from my time spent in Ecuador. Simply to please Sally because she will not leave me alone!!

I have been in Ecuador almost a week now and much has happened.

Traveling for more than 16 hours is really exhausting, seriously. I was sooo tired by the time I got off the plane in Quito and I was just ready for bed. I arrived and went through customs which wasn't too bad. Next I went for my luggage and that was fine. Now the moment that I had been nervous for had arrived...I was to meet my host family.

What was the most terrifying part about the whole thing was that I knew absolutely nothing about my arrival in Quito. NOTHING. It was as if I was just traveling to Portland for the day with nothing planned. I was freaking out!! WHAT IF MY HOST FAMILY HATED ME?! WHAT IF THEY DIDN'T COME PICK ME UP?!!!!!

Of course I was being rather irrational but who wouldn't?! Well, I was thrust into the arms of my host family and whisked off to my home. My host mom's name is Leonor and I have three host siblings. Diego, Maria de los Angeles and Cristina. Only Cristina and Maria de los Angeles live at home still and they are about 30ish. This is apparently normal. They are not married so they remain at home until they get married. Very normal in Ecuador.

They are the best. Even though they work a ton they are very nice and helpful. I do not know them that well yet though because On my second full day I was whisked off to the Galapagos!

We flew from Quito to Guayaquil and then to Baltra, a Galapagos Island. It was so hot and it was still early! We then got on a cruise ship, it was my first time and we got settled. The first island that we disembarked at was Bartolome. This island did not have much wildlife on it and it was rather desolate but some of my best pictures came from this island.

We first went snorkeling and it was AWESOME. I had never been snorkeling and I am not a very good swimmer so I was pretty nervous to do this whole open water thing but it was worth it. I swam with sharks, penguins, fish, sea lions and saw a lot of underwater things. Super chido. The "hike" that we went on was said to be of "intermediate level" which meant it was difficult.....well it wasn't and they are liars!

The hikes were nature walks really, which makes sense since they want the Galapagos to remain "untouched". I think every single nature walk had a much better view than the 16 mile hike of death that I did on the 4th of July. However, I did miss the two idiots that I would normally hike with (Sean and Laura).

On Saturday I decided that it would be a good idea to have a couple of free drinks...and then some. As it turns out, being hungover and seasickness are not enjoyable, especially at the same time. Throwing up over the side of a dhinghy or however you spell that shit, was not my best moment.

The Galapagos was seriously an amazing time with great friends. The weather was great and I probably spent too much time in the sun without enough sunscreen on but it was totally worth it. We also celebrated Alec's birthday on that damn boat and it was pretty fun.

Another highlight of the cruise? Getting told not to grab flyers from people on the street because those things will fuck your shit up. Okay, Fernando didn't say it quite like that but that is what we all heard. If we grab those flyers during the night, then our organs will be stolen....okay, okay he didn't exactly say that either. He just said it was LIKELY that we could have our kidneys taken while the drug knocks us out in less than 5 minutes. I am actually scared to leave my house at night....FUUUUUU.

Although, I think we plan to go explore Quito a little more in the next couple of days...I will keep you posted if my organs get stolen!

Anyway, so much has happened and it is hard to fit it in this blog. I will post more concise ones once I settle down.  Enjoy the pictures.

Noodles for arms

Sun’s out guns out. This is the motto that I live by. Okay not really, mainly because I don’t have any sort of guns, especially not the kind that refer to one’s biceps. I do however have nice calves. I am also very modest. The lack of biceps does not really matter because I am a runner and I don’t really need to have “guns”. Or at least that is what I tell myself in order to sleep at night. However, coming home served as a reminder as to how weak and pathetic I am and how I need to work on these “guns”.

I live on a ranch and my dad sometimes requires help.   I cringe every single time he asks for help that requires any sort of physical strength. My body goes into fight-flight mode and I begin to hyperventilate. I look down and avoid eye contact, hoping that he will pick somebody else (even though he is staring at me for so long that I can feel where his eyes are boring a hole into my skull). This reaction is a result of having a Dad who is 6’ tall and has “guns” that are bigger than my ENTIRE body. He is intimidating  He is the man that makes lifting hay bales easy. As if it were something everyone should be able to do. If only….

ANYWAY, my Dad walks into the house and says, “Alright, I need two strong arms”

This particular time my sister is home and chimes:

“I guess that means me”

I am really bad at comebacks and retort with the most pathetic response.

“Well….I can type fast!”

BURN!

My sister looks at me as if I am the dumbest and strangest person on the ENTIRE planet. Do you know what it’s like to have a younger sibling that is more witty than YOU?! I do. It sucks. But hey, I can type fast!

I throw some jeans on and some old shoes not knowing what to expect. I also put on a long sleeve shirt because I know the mosquitoes are preparing to feast on my blood. I like to think that it’s because I taste DELICIOUS.

I know you’re probably saying, “Well why the hell didn’t you put on some bug spray, you are so dumb sometimes always”. Well, nobody else was doing it and I didn’t want to look like an IDIOT.

My sister takes one look at me and says, “Wow, you’re wearing nice clothes. That is a bad idea.”

I respond, “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO. I AM OLDER AND WISER THAN YOU!!!” even though she didn’t tell me to do anything but I just know she was going to, I could feel it in my bones.

As it turns out we were going to a canal and pulling apart pipes so that Dad could weld them. They had been leaking so there was about a foot of water, mud, cow shit and algae sitting near the pipes.

These pipes weigh a TON. My “guns” would have snapped off if I had lifted them any higher than the back of the truck. As it turns out, I had to go through this DISGUSTING water. Nobody told me that mud is slippery. So naturally I stomp through this water feeling so cool because it was too heavy for my sister to lift and Dad was asking for MY help. Then the worst happened...

I slipped in the mud and my legs went out from underneath me. I landed in this lake of ALL DISGUSTING THINGS IMAGINABLE, with a pipe on my legs!

Normally my Dad would have said nothing and just waited for me to get up. But what does he decide to do?! HE BURSTS INTO LAUGHTER.

At first I was laughing, “Haha clumsy me. Look at me covered in cow shit and other disgusting things. How funny. I am so dumb. LOL. Okay, I need to get up guys…help???.”

They just keep laughing at my obvious misery. I mean seriously, where is their empathy?! I haven’t done manual labor in AGES (like 6 months) and here they are laughing at this poor kid who only has been learning how to type fast for the past 6 months.

I manage to get out from underneath the pipe COVERED in crap all the way up to my elbows. Did I mention that I smelled really good? So good in fact that I am thinking of pitching it as a cologne fragrance.

Name: Rotten Everything

Then as if I wasn’t HUMILIATED enough, my sister says, “I told you”.

Oh, thanks.

 I get up and help load the pipe into the back of the truck. That is when I realize that I have to hold on to this pipe or it will fall out.

How the hell was I going to hold on to this zillion pound pipe going uphill?!

I have no "guns", so how would I do this?? I wrapped my legs around it because I have amazing calves, and managed to hold on to this pipe while Dad went way too fast around way too many curves. I went the rest of the day smelling awful and had mud in places you don’t want mud.

Even though I smelt bad for the rest of the day, even after I showered, I had a good day. I got to spend it with my sister and my dad. It was a ton of fun. 

Living in the middle of nowhere is sometimes always fun.

On another note these are some pictures of the landscape surrounding my house. The best thing about these pictures is that I did NOT have to hike 16 miles to MAYBE see amazing landscape. All I had to do was walk out my front door or run up the mountain behind my house.  

Things I love about being home:

1)Family...duh!
2) Being able to see the stars at night
3) Waking up to birds chirping and not cars
4) Going on a run that does not require the use of crosswalks
5) AND obviously the weather, which is much better than the rainy crap that the Willamette Valley always has...it is never ending..

Anyway, home was good but it is off to Ecuador on Tuesday!

A summer in Salem

When I first agreed to do a research project in Salem over the summer I realized that I would have to be in Salem over the summer...I know you're probably saying, "Well duh, you knew you agreed to stay and you knew it. You're an idiot"There were two reasons why I was nervous about staying in Salem:

1) I thought Salem would be a snooze fest during the summer because it is during the school year

2) It seriously doesn't stop raining until mid-June and the sun doesn't start shining until July.

However, what I started out dreading, has been a pleasant surprise and a great way to spend my time before going abroad. While working on this research project has been a nightmare, to say the least, but I have learned a ton of stuff about things nobody will ever read (go me!. Thank goodness I am almost done with this godforsaken project because I am going crazy. I guess I can't really complain because I am getting paid to do it but if you know me at all I will complain regardless. I will say that I had a fun time working with my research community, going crazy over our projects all the time. Nothing brings people together more than academia.

I also played a lot of boardgames, and being the competitive person I am, I always wanted to win (which I did really). Except that I am TERRIBLE at bananagrams. Yeah, I know you're shocked but I seriously am not good at this game. I literally would get 3 tiles from winning and then somebody else would win. I am convinced they cheated. I am good at Catchphrase though! Which is more impressive than bananagrams because it was a team effort (and because I  got skillz for dayzzz). 

My summer also consisted of eating frozen yogurt, always.Which I didn't know I liked, until two of my friends took me to after a hike, or what they called a "nature walk" at Three Pools.  Fro yo is the best thing EVER.  Another thing we did was watch our fair amount of awful movies. For example, BAD TEACHER. Don't go to this movie. Ever. Unless you want to be miserable for 2 hours, then maybe you should go to this. I am convinced that everyone who left the theater left with a few less IQ points. Just sayin'.

One of my fondest memories of this summer took place on July 4th.  I went with two friends on what I thought was a normal length hike of about 9 miles, but it turned into a 16 mile excursion into untamed forest with cougars and angry forest service workers. The trail was closed but we wanted to be adventurous, we considered ourselves trailblazers (haas nothing to do with the Blazers)! This hike was uphill on the way there and uphill on the way back (not really but it felt like it).

We made it about 4 miles before coming to a  trail but passed on it because it was slightly overgrown. By which I mean there were a couple branches hanging over the path.  I'll take the blame for this one, I scoped it out. Looking back,  it is funny that we passed on it because we ended walking through berry bushes that scratched the shit out of us the entire way. I am surprised we didn't die ( not dramatic at all).

But we kept going because this thing called the INTERNET told us that our sweet reward would be a "beautiful waterfall and grassy meadow". Well internet, you lied. We saw  A LOT of grass but this waterfall was missing in action.And because we are trailblazers, ALWAYS.

We then realized we still had to hike the rest of the 8 miles back to where we had parked...again, all uphill. It really wasn't that bad, except the part where I felt like dying. That part really sucked. At some point I complained and my friend responded by saying, "It's okay, my mental anguish is on par with your physical anguish". I think that might have been true but that did nothing to ease my or my other friend's pain. Unless his mind is still in anguish today I don't agree that we were in equal levels of pain because my legs still hate me. They actually told me this morning when I tried running.

All things considered, I had a ton of fun with these two bozos and the rest of the crew. Playing boardgames for days.  Now that I am getting ready to take off to the Basin, I realize that Salem is not that bad. Especially when you have friends who will go on nature walks that are a mere 16 miles, eat frozen yogurt, are willing to get stomped during boardgames and everything else that I win at. 

I know I will miss my friends and it will be hard leaving Salem come Friday, but I  also know that on July 19th I will be in Ecuador running around like a kid in a candy store for 5 1/2 months.

As I sometimes always say, it's time to grab life by the horns.