Where in the World is Carmen?

SHE IS WITH ME!!!!!!!

After 1.5 years of not seeing Carmen, I was worried... is she blonde? Does she wear 3 inch heals and suits? Does she talk like an adult? Is she tall?

No, no, no etc. Carmen is the same, entertaining, enjoying life and my buddy. Imagine, 4 years together in college and reunited in Ecuador.... amazing.

Currently Carmen and I are in Quito after having some great adventures in Quito, El Chaco and Tena. Tonight we are heading to the T to the Buga!

Real quick shout out for TRINITY.... my good friend from NH, met here in Ecuador and my life friend... drink some good beer, eat mexican food and cheese and say hello to NH for me! You will be missed and wrapped around in all of my one upping stories. Especially those that involve going to Columbia, coming back over the border and ending up at Pablos' grandmother's house.

Besides just getting to spend time together and laugh a lot here are the highlights of the last few days.

1) Mitad del Mundo - Middle of the world - Yes, Carmen and I traveled to the middle of the world and there lies a line, painted on the ground about 100m off from the equator. And on this line lies a monument and around this line a bunch of stores and resturants with eager employees waiting for the tourists to come. "If you build it they will come" was the strategy Carmen imagined they used for the planning of this place but really, no one is coming. So, the middle of the world feels like a deserted DisneyLand, without the cool rides.

2) Playing tourists in Quito... stops included...The virgin angel, with strength enough to tame a dragon. She is a statue overlooking old town Quito. We also did some arts and crafts market shopping and churches.

3) Duke v UNC... okay, not really, Ecuador v Bolivia... but we got equally into team spirit and Carmen almost cried with genuine excitement. For those of you who don't know Carmen she is a kick butt soccer player and soccer aka fútbol remains a big part of her life. SO, when we realized the Ecuador v Bolivia game was happening in Quito saturday, we scratched ziplining off our schedule and put in Fútbol. It was a blast and Ecuador won 3-1. Unfortunately, Carmen and I were in the bathroom during two of the 3 goals and the attendent suggested we stay in the bathroom so that Ecuador could win by a bigger margin, Carmen and I opted to watch the game and had a blast.





4) From this spectacular event Elliot, Trinity, Ryan, Carmen and I dragged Carmen to the bus terminal, she was tired from Jet Lag (read between the lines, 2 hour time difference?), and headed to El Chaco, East of Quito towards the Amazon. The bus ride alone was a highlight with some classic lines from Carmen. For example: FRIED CHICKEN ON MY FACE (refering to the KFC we saved her) and GOD IS ABOUT TO THROW A CURVE BALL AT US IN 15 Seconds (not sure what she was refering to) when I did not agree, Carmen revised GOD IS ABOUT TO THROW A CURVE BALL AT YOU (finger point at me) IN 10 SECONDS, later she claimed that FRIED CHICKEN IS GOD's CURVE BALL and therefore she had INCREDIBLE FORESIGHT, I JUST DON'T KNOW WHY, IT'S INCREDIBLE. Her foresight was in hindsight of my foresight of knowing she would want fried chicken on her face.





5) Can we say second wind? After a trip to the middle of the world, a world cup qualifying fútbol game and God's curve ball we landed in El Chaco. At first we weren't sure if we could rally, but, oh we rallied. Until 4 am. The night involved a lot of Carmen speaking English to this cute Ecuadorian and him responding romantically in Spanish. After 2 hours of hanging out with him Carmen told me she thought he wanted to come rafting with us, which is funny, since he was our rafting guide and had been trying to tell her since introductions were given. When he invited her to go home with him her response, in her own language was: Yeah, I am really excited for rafting tomorrow too! The poor Ecuadorian remained confused as Carmen walked away after clearly accepting the invitation. They were the most romantic couple I have ever seen that couldn't understand a word they were saying to eachother. Dancing, latenight food and randomness landed us at 4 am, bed time 5:30am, wake up time 7:45am... efe.





6) Rafting. Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. Amazing. Elliot and Jeff who raft often even said this was one of their best runs. We opted for the longer course and really dominated it. Not to mention jumping off rocks 50 feet up and making sugar cane juice along the way. Amazing.

Yes we are somewhere in that big splash of water, aka rapid... can you spy a helmet or paddle?

7) Monkeys, Monkeys, Monkeys. Last night we booked it to Tena only to get a yummy pizza dinner and a good nights sleep. Our plan was to go tubing (tubbing according to local guides in English). Tubbing got cancelled because of dangerous river conditions but even monkeys don't leave the rain forrest when it rains.





And here we are again, halfway through the trip. So much goodness has passed and only more awaits. Let's see what curveballs God throws at us for part II.... maybe the old wrap around.





over and out

R.U.E.

Roommates United in Ecuador