Welcome To The Jungle

GOL!!!!! In the 93rd minute in La Casa Blanca in Quito, the away team put a laser into the upper 90 to tie the game. That was last sunday. Monday took us to the amazon... so, after another extended bus ride, we arrived in Puyo, the capital of this province. From there, one of the volunteers we´re staying with -- Jeremy, a pretty chill guy from Cali whose travels have lead him here -- jumped in our car, literally and lead us into the depths of the jungle. We´ve been staying in a small ¨house¨down a very steep and rocky grade with two amazing dogs, a shotty generator and 6 hammocks. On arrival we were greeted with a bunch of unconstructed beds and no hot meal in sight, but our spirits weren´t dampened. Divide and conquer. We now have 4 bunk beds, with a solo bed for miss J Hollywood, all in one room -- our first time yet (it gets steamy). And for the first time we are cooking for ourselves... which is bitter sweet, literally. Each morning we take our 20-minute hike up the driveway and then wait for the bus (or a passing car) and ride to school. We´ve been volunteering, painting, rock hauling, digging holes, pretending to be horsies for the kids, ya know, the usual. And at home we´ve taken over a small table for ping pòng, tournament results will be expected soon. But the Amazon is amazing, lush, green, and beautiful. Some bird sounds you can´t even imagine, and all types of creepy crawlies, who of course, join us in our newly constructed beds. And rain. Rain! It´s awesome though, the community is great, they´ve also been helping out on the school projects and just yesterday we went down for some good ol´ecuadorian volly! Drew left blood on the court, it was pretty intense, but pretty awesome. We´ve all been really happy and relaxed, both Patricio and Hannah got into their number 1 colleges! And hopefully we´re going white water rafting tomorrow.. crazy! Sort of miss you, but not really, but really really.
With love and shamrocks,
Patricio y Alejandro

Hey peeps. Hope you´re all doing as fabulously as we are. We once again spent the last we separated. The Blink 182ers headed to the forest to spend a tranquilo week in the Bosque Nublado. Much like the last group we spent the days teaching English in two different schools (with super cute ninos). Once our work was done we were able to take some time to explore the beautiful bosque. We hiked to 3 waterfalls and bathed in the river on many occasions. Each morning we practiced our yoga and each night we morphed into card sharks. Our wonderful chef Carlos taught us a couple cooking tricks (bread, soup, jam) and we loaned him our recipe for the best guacamole on Earth. He also took some time to read our elements. After feeling each of our energies he would tell us which one of four elements (earth, air, water, fire) we were. This of course was super bacon (short for baconsisimo) aka awesome in Espanol. Our week came to a close with a grande bonfire and some sad goodbyes. Luckily we were able to reunite with the rest of the group FOR GOOD.
Back at the ranch (Otavalo) the other half, recently named Ratatat worked on their spanish skills each morning. Some students even learned a new card game, Cuarenta. Similar to the Blink 182ers they took a grand journey to the parque Candor and Lechero. At Parque Condor they were lucky enough to see the bird show where they watched majestic birds such as the Andean Condor (largest bird in the world) and Bald Eagles spread their wings and do special tricks. Much of the time was passed in their individual homestays bonding with the families. Once again being forced to part at the end of the week was extremely sad, but being greeted by long lost friends was well worth it.
Tomorrow we will continue our journey to Quito and plan to eventually end up in the big bad Amazon. QUE BACON! Anywho, we send our love back home and will catch up soon!

Mucho Amor,
The SAMsters.

Hola parents. We are yet again finishing up another week in beautiful Ecuador. Sadly our group of nine was split in two this last week. One group consisting of Amanda, Andrew, Jordan, Jordi, Hannah and Alejandro, visited the cloud forest outside of Otavalo. They spent their time teaching at two different rural schools. The little ninos were absolutely adorable. We taught them as much English as possible, as well as teaching them songs, how to make bracelets, and how to play Hangman. At lunch we played epic soccer games that lasted almost an hour. We became totally attatched to the children, and it was very hard to leave them. When we weren´t teaching at the school we spent our time eating amazing food, taking siestas, and hiking through the magnificent cloud forest. We visited not one, but three different stunning waterfalls where we practiced different types of meditation and became one with the cloud forest.
The other group (Drew, Eli, Claire, Patrick and Zoe) aka the "Blink 182-ers" spent their time in the wonderful city of Otavalo. Each student was placed in a seperate host family as to perfect their spanish abilities. The majority our days consisted of some spanish lessons in the morning and some adventuring throughout the evening. Drew was kind enough to welcome us into his wonderful world of yoga and teach us a couple tricks of the trade, leaving us very sore yet more in touch with our spiritual beings. The Blink 182ers also practiced their teamwork in a variety of ways such as, a 3 second human knot, and a successful hack in hackisack(sp?). Que Bueno!! One of our fabulous professors Juan (with questionable humor) led us on a hike to 2 gorgeous waterfall where we were able to bath ourselves and even climb through caves...We continued our journey on our own over the river and through the woods (and moiuntains) in order to reach the Condor Park. There we were able to see and learn about some amazing endangered birds as well as view the entire city. We also visit the spiritual tree of Lechero where we chose taroah cards (also super fun).
Finally our group was reunited on Friday. After catching up we took a journey to the Mohando Lakes. We did some crazy things like climbing a 14000 ft mountain and singing ridiculous songs at the summit. Although extremely challenging, our group is hardcore enough to handle such ventures. So to summarize, all is well down south. Everyone back home is dearly missed and we´ll see you back at the blog in about a week.

Que Les Vayan Bien!
Your Bloggers
Andrew and Zoe

¡Language School in Cuenca!

We are wrapping up another week of this bacancisimo trip and figured it was about time for another blog! Today was our last day of Espanol classes and its been SAMtastic. Each person has been learning and improving at their own pace. We´ve have been spending our mornings from 8 to 12 in class or going on creative field trips to markets, museums, or parques and then later enjoying the lovely city of Cuenca. The group even impressed some locals when we showed off our great dance moves at a salsa dancing class. Drew and Amanda have been joining each student and their homestay family for meals throughout the week. They have been able to visit and really get to know our new families- sorry mom and dad. Tonight we are planning on going to a cooking class and then spending or last night with our families! Each student has really gotten to form special bonds with their homestay´s and it has been really incredible experience.
With the exception of a few hospital visits, altitude sickness, and throwing up due to vegetarians eating meat, everyone has been relatively healthy... don´t worry the medical systems here are great! In addition, most Carpe Sammers contributed to a local tattoo/piercing artist´s bank account, named Sergio-what a nice man. Everyone looks great!

Tomorrow we are continuing on our adventure throughout Ecuador and will be visiting hot springs in Banos on our way to Otavalo. The next two weeks we will sadly be split up and half the group will be volunteering teaching English while the other half continues to accel in their Espanol. You will be getting blog updates with more information next week but, unfortunately with new blogger extroudinares.

¡Signing off! ¨Sloth life¨ and ¨miss_j_hollywood¨

p.s. please feel free to check out Alex´s blog that already has uploaded pictures from throughout the trip: www.alexrlevy.com
p.p.s. floss thursday´s are definitely the new thangg

Rio Muchacho and on to Language School in Cuenca

¡Hola familia y amigos!
Its been a great past week spent in Rio Muchacho- an organic farm in the transition region of Ecuador. Not only have we spent the past week farming and adjusting to creating zero waste but we have also been learning about the different aspects of organic farming such as composting, the lunar calendar, and problems with most US farms. We have been able to meet incredible people from all over the world including Germany, England, Canada, and Wisconsin! All have been in different parts of their lives but are still searching for the common goal to Carpe Diem and travel abroad. Everyday we took part in different activities on the farm like making jewelry out of nuts as well as chocolate and cheese making. Yesterday we went on a minor "field trip" to the environmental school that was created just 14 years ago. It is truly amazing to see all of the progress and positive impact that Rio Muchacho has made on its community.
On a seperate note, we also celebrated Valentines day with our newest member, Zoe! Her plane was delayed as a result of weather conditions in the East Coast but she adjusted quickly upon her arrival and is now having a blast! For Valentines day we each exchanged gifts with our "secret Valentine" and it was quite funny, there were some interesting gifts exchanged like poems, friendship bracelets, peacock feathers, and of course fake bacon (because we temporarily changed to a vegitarian diet at the farm). Overall though the group dynamics are really great and whenever we are not exchanging funny stories or talking about poop you can pretty much guarantee someone is starting a singalong.
Today is a free day where we can enjoy the beaches of Canoa and possibly laundry. Tomorrow we will be heading out to Cuenca to start a week of homestays and Spanish language study. Hope the States are treatin ya well and we can try to send some of this gorgeous weather your way! Love and miss you! Live, laugh, love, and obviously ¡Carpe Diem! We (Hannah "sloth life" and Jordan "miss_j_hollywood") enjoyed being your blogger extraordinares.

¡Paz!
SAM Carpe Diem

ps everyone really does miss their families and friends and hopes they are all doing well!

Blogtastic

Our first three days in Ecuador have been incredible! We arrived at our hostel, Hostel Saiananda, in Bahia, Ecuador Thursday after many hours of travel by plane and bus. We arrived early Friday morning, got a couple hours of sleep and awoke to a delicious breakfast of local fruit, eggs, and homemade bread. After some bonding activities, we set out on our first adventure, a scavenger hunt through Bahia. Our leaders, Drew and Amanda, split us up into pairs, gave us a bit of money and sent us out to catch the bus. We all ended up getting off the bus about a mile out of town, which took everyone a little while to figure out, but each group figured their way to the center of town. Our scavenger hunts took us to every corner of town. We had to find out information about local hostels, museums, and transportation for later trips. They also encouraged us to talk to locals about the politics in Ecuador and the daily lives of locals. We reconvened back at the hostel at 6:30 for dinner and discussions about the day.
Our next day was absolutely amazing. We traveled to Isla del Sol, an island made completely of mud and mangrove trees. It didnt take us long to get covered from head to toe in mud. The minerals seeped into our skin while we bathed in the mud and explored through the tangled mangrove trees. Before we headed back to the hostel we made sure to have a rousing game of mud tunnel tag and a few wrestling matches. It was an incredible and spiritual experience for all. We headed out of the hostel right after lunch today, thanking all the people that worked there and the exotic animals that woke us up in the morning.
We are now in Canoa, a town a bit north of Bahia heading to Rio Muchacho, an organic farm for the week. The truck has arrived to take us to the farm, so we must sign off. We are all soaking in the new experiences and cant wait for more to follow.
Love to all,
your bloggers,
Claire and Eli

Bienvenido a Ecuador!

Nannette here-blogging on behalf of the SAM group:


I've just gotten off the phone with Amanda & Drew-everyone was waiting for a bus in Guayaquil to take them to their orientation site. They are all safe, happy, and incredibly excited to begin their adventure, although they are feeling Zoe's absence.... Alas, only a few more days until the group is truly complete...

Look for further blogs from the group themselves in a few days!