but, everyone else was going. and i'm 24 and still a sucker for peer pressure.
friday night, we got on a bus around 10:30pm. four hours later, we're in banos. not to worry - breakfast wasn't until the ripe hour of 8am, to be immediately followed by some sort of outdoor adventure. do they have red bull in ecuador?
the next day, somehow, i'm up at at 'em right on time for coffee, juice and bread (a typical ecua-breakfast, a sorry excuse for one, if you ask me). at breakfast our options were presented to us: repelling down waterfalls in t minus 20 (a 3-4 hour feat), or a leisurely hour-long horseback ride up the mountain, taking off in an hour. most of the group chose the latter.
naturally, i chose the former.
and i was so glad i did. repelling down waterfalls is f-u-n. we went down four, the last one being about a 150 foot drop. we also made friends with our guide, paolo, who proceeded to invite us to go climbing with him (for free!) that afternoon.
um, ok.
we hiked to a wall that looked just like the one from princess bride. amazing. i had so much fun, it made me want to start climbing regularly. the funny thing is, i didn't once feel tired or notice my fatigue that day. adrenaline is real thing, my friend. and while red-bull is hard to come by here, there is a strikingly similar knock-off that tastes pretty good. pretty, pretty good.
that night we had a typical ecua-night... dinner and dancing, which was a mix of regular and salsa. by 12:30, i was having to prop my eyelids open with toothpics. i finally called it a day and hit the pillow, maybe harder than ever.
in the end, i was definitely glad i chose to forgo a little rest to experience a once-in-a-lifetime kind of weekend.
"those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."
--angela monet
4 comments:
britt, you working on your stand-up routine, too?
love the quote
britt... i think we both hear the music and love to dance.
I wanna repel down a waterfall when i come to s. america. k?
britty. don't you DARE stay home on a weekend when people are going out of town. you're only there for a year. it's okay to be gone every weekend. i would pee in my pants if i repelled a waterfall...a)because i'd be so scared of heights like that and b)because i was so excited. but the thing is...it would be okay to pee in my pants because the water would just wash it away. I would just hope no one was below me.
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