day fifty nine - herbalife

Sooo...the past few days are all mixed together in my head. I think it was monday night when we hiked up a mountain at night bringing firewood and a big pot with us so we could have a bonfire at the top of a mountain and make eucalyptus tea. The view was actually unreal, you could see all of Riobamba lit up. It reminded me a lot of the time in Kelowna when a bunch of us hiked up a mountain at night. We prayed and oh ya we brought a guitar too. We sang and then hiked back down the steep mountain which was harder than going up. We got back after 2 that morning so yesterday after the morning shift at 6:30 Glenda told us to go back to bed...thank you! I know we're crazy. high on life. high on Jesus.

Last night and the night before there have been earthquakes at night. It's the first time i've ever felt an earthquake and you could definitley hear it too!! They actually turned out to be tectonic tremors from one of the active volcanoes near here, Tungurahua. This morning there was volcanic ash all over the ground and on the cars, so there were footprints wherever we walked. We're not in danger here if it erupts but the ash is really bad to breathe in, it's like breathing in shards of glass.

Today they were fully staffed at the ark so we were given the day off. It was random to say the least...the three of us volunteers went downtown to go to the post office and i needed to find contact solution (which i finally did thanks Jesus!) and then we ran into Wilson, then later Frejol, then later Vince, their friend from Holland. The day included Alicia and Wilson deciding to get their ears pierced, getting a taxi to some village at the base of a mountain and Alicia riding a horse bareback, hitching a ride in someone's truck, trying to stop the boys from yelling english swear words at gringos, and my favorite...Wilson's stomach was upset and he really wanted this herbalife tea junk. So we're looking for what i was guessing was like a cafe. But we go into this office that looked like a doctors office. It was narrow with a sink and counter on the end, chairs along the side, and a woman behind a desk at the front. We sit down and she makes us this concoction that was like...some kind of warm citrusy stuff. I couldn't stop laughing and making fun of Wilson for bringing us to a doctors office. it was really funny actually. And he kept going on and on about herbalife and showing us the catalogue. I made fun of him for being like a commercial.

Anyways...i'm doing pretty well...trying very hard to stay healthy all the time. It's hard when you're around 80 runny noses all day. Trying to get enough sleep. Next week Alicia and I are heading to Quito because we need to renew our visas. I heard it could be like over 200$ so i'm definitely not looking forward to that.
Dios Ve Vendiga!!
Daniela