Banos

out at Lindas farm

our natural swimming pool at Lindas.. wonderful.

view of the volcano at Carols place where I was staying

Made it to the first farm on Sunday.  The farm is used very loose.. it is more of a big garden but the owner Carol is wonderful.  She is a Canadian woman and had some tangerines limes coffee and herbs for her garden and lots of flowers and a few other edibles.  She is a little walk from thecity centre.. its a nice small touristy town.
75% of the tourists are ecuadorian.  Banos obviously means baths..there are hot water baths here.
carnival here was fun.  I was sprayed with foam and splashed with buckets of water.. no one young or old is spared.  One of the other volunteers on the farm was talking about another farm he went to and the grandmother owner who is from miami and 64 was in banos for carnival and came prepared with a tool belt filled with spray foam cans and 2 in her raincoat.. i decided i had to meet her.. so on Thursday I met up with her and 3 other volunteers on the current farm and we all went out to her place in the edge of the rainforest about30 minutes from banos by bus and another 30 minute hike to her log cabin.  Linda had the4 of us volunteers at her place until today.  She had more energy than I do and had done lots of traveling and has settled down here.  I found out ecuador boasts that it is the number 1 retirement place in the world.  Lots of older gringos here.  Its very cheap and safe to live here.  I might try to go back to her place again for a few days before I head out to a new farm.  She has no electricity and a small generator she rarely uses.. but has hot water and a nice natural pool. she lives by herself a half hour walk into the main road.  Its a cabin in the jungle, on the edge of the amazon.
I get the ¨gringo tax¨ marked up prices for goods but I dont mind since everything is so inexpensive.  I bought a pound of homeade organic chocolate for $3 today.  You can get lunch call al muerzo for around$2 here and it is a soup, with a main dish of rice meat and a salad  albeit a small salad of a few pieces of lettuce and a tomato and a fresh squeezed fruit juice. I had tried lots of fruits here that I dont know the name of but are fresh and wonderful and I love going to the markets and buying all sorts of freshly made breads etc.. you can buy lots of food very very cheap.. and live off a few dollars in food a day.
I apologize for the rough sentences and spelling but the keyboards are awful here and I cant find some of the characters.. My hands hurt from having to press down so hard on the keyboard.
I like banos and will stay here for another week or so.  I went to volunteer at an afterschool program and have met some nice people there as well.  I wont want to leave next week as I have met so many wonderful people, but time is short and I know i should move on and see something else. 
Well I have to do some trip planning now!

Ecuador.. finally

Arrived in Quito finally after having plane mechanical problems and having to spend a night in Miami.  They only announced it in Spanish but Airforce One with the President landed right next to our plane while we were waiting to depart. 

Shared a taxi to the tourist city of banos Ecuador with 5 other guys I met. I spent yesterday Saturday walkin around town and went out because it's carnival here. It very busy here for a small town because of carnival and I got sprayed with foam (called cariocas) many times, the kids love it, I heard it gets even crazier with eggs and flour and buckets of water and paint!! No one is spared but the kids are cute and are covered with foam and take pity on no one. A friend wore a rain jacket out!

There was a parade yesterday and the people in the parade were covered.

Today I hiked with a fellow traveler to see the volcano and met some people who invited us to swim in the baths at their hotel on the side if the mountain. We went fir a quick swim and then were told by the staff it cost 30$ a person. We paid 20 which is crazy cause it cost about 1$ At the other baths and meals here including soup main with sides and a drink are 2.50. Everything is in dollars so it's easy to get around.
Today I will go to a farm.