My first apartment

Well I{ve got my own apartment of sorts, living on my own for the first time. I[ve been living in Mompiche now for a little over a month. SOme may remember how much Julie and I bragged as Mompiche being paradise when we first visited it.
Well after talking with Cloro, I was able to exchange staying in a cabana for cutting weeds and stufff with my machete in the back...sweet deal! The cabana is a closed bar and the bar is below nd there is one big room above it. 50 feet from the waves, window looking out over the sunset, other window looking over the fishing boats, no electricity, doesn{t get much better, i{m telling you.
Julie is still in Riobamba. The semester lasts until the end of this month (there are 2 month intense sessions), she might do another or we{ll travel around again...gotta ask her what she{s up too
MOm is coming the 15th of November and believe me you can{t imagine the excitement.
I{ve also been able to frequently get the phone charged and have been able to receive calls from mom and my family and friends. It{s really nice. glad she got it!!
Life is good.... yaaa

This whole phone thing would work great if my phone would charge... right now my phone is temporarily disabled, the charger and phone aren´t workign together...durrr. I¨m working on getting it fixed and it should be fixed in the next couple of days. If you´ve tried to call or send a message, sorry... everything takes a little longer here :)

We have a semi-permanent residence if you are interested in sending anything to Julie or I
Name
Correo Central Riobamba
10 de Agosto y Espejo
Riobamba Chimborazo Ecuador, S.A.

And please let us know if you do, so we can pick it up. Julie will be in that area until about the end of October, maybe more. I don`t know how long packages take, you can ask UPS or something though.
Julie is here in Riobamba the University teaching English classes. She has 3 classes of different levels 5 times a week. She is really enjoying it. And has her own apartment she is renting, it`s pretty cool.
As for me, i`m traveling around alone, wherever the wind takes me...but i`m still in ecuador for the time being.
I also have a cell phone now, if you are interested in calling me or writing a text message. The following should work to contact it
How to dial to Ecuador cellular:
for calls to a cell phone dial: 011 + 593 + 9 ??? ???? so it will be 011+593+9 0209875
011- intl code
593-ecuador
That should work. No gaurantees I`ll pick up of course...but give it a shot.
Until next time, Ciao.

Big Rock hard MEN

¡¡¡¡¡Columbia!!!!!!!

Ok yes rumor sand the news reporters had it right, we went to Columbia. Our visas were going to expire, so we had to leave the country to get them renewed. Obviously, Columbia was our first choice :D
So we set up a couchsurfer in Popayan, Columbia and made our way to the border. After some complications, argument, and a relieving stamp, we crossed into Columbia and took a bus to Popayan. We arrived at 4 am, so we hung out at the terminal until a reasonable hour to call our couchsurfer.
Emma´s house was fun. We spent the time the couple of days in Popayan exploring the centro, trying Columbian food, going to thermal hot springs that reaked up sulfur (great for the skin), enjoying live jazz at a bar. She was definitely hositable.
We then made our way to San Agustin to see the archealogical ruins, one of the most important ruins on the S. American continent. After a vicious bus ride with many security stops, we made it. THe next day we did a 3 1/2 hr. walk through the park and saw the big rock hard sculptures that were pretty impressive. The next day we did a 5 hour walk through the Columbian countryside to explore the waterfalls and other ruins spread about the countryside. They were beautiful days.
Now that we´ve restored our visas, we´re back in Ecuador where Julie will be staying in Riobamba for 2 months at a University to teach English and I´ll be headed off to continue exploring Ecuador. Until next time

p.s. Join couchsurfers!!

Farc

Hopefully that title doesn´t scare anybody but... today we arrived in Quito again because we are headed out to Columbia tomorrow. Not to worry...i think :)
Our visas are going to expire soon and Columbia is much closer than Peru, so off we are! We are passing through the safest border town, Tulcon and making our way to Popayan to visit the San Augustine ruins. They are one of the most important ruins in the south american continent! Should be fun. WE{ll probably stay there for around a week, depending on how are plans change and all. But i{ll keep you updated...until then. Love everybody!!!

Banos (literally bathrooms?)

Hiddey Ho...
We are here in beautiful Banos!! Enjoying the valleys, waterfalls, and thermal hot springs. Yesterday we rented bikes for $5/whole day and did a bike ride with Julie´s old host brother from Quito who came down. We hoped on the bikes and did a 25 km decent toward the town of Puyo. There are 7 waterfalls along the windy beautiful valley road. The last one beign the most beautiful, Pailon del Diablo. An impressive 100 rushing waterfall that drops into a rocky pool. You could actually hike behind the waterfall and experience the wet awesomeness. But before we had reached the last waterfall on our bike trip we stopped at a bridge. And little did you know there was bungee jumping... and us being craziness enough bought a ten dollar ticket....strappped in and Julie and I jumped off the 50 m bridge toward a rushing river. What an exhiliration!!! It was awesome- excitign to cross things off our list to do before we die (although some of the things on our list could be the cause of death :D ) haha. It was quite a blast.
That night we met up with the people we met in San Pablo, EWB. and went to a cool bar with live music and got to play the bongos, drums, cow bells and just jam and sing all night long. It was quite a fun night!!! We´re enjoying Banos and it´s cool cafes and atmosphere and then are heading ot Puyo later today to check it out... ciao ciao

Alpaca?

We finished our tan project with Engineers without BOrders in Pilingui San Pablo. We met that amazing group of people and have made some great friends, they are a lot of fun. But we finished that up and have now moved onto Banos for a couple of days to get out of the cold and take a little break.
On the 19th we plan on heading to Quito for a day and then to Columbia for a week to renew our visas...don´t worry we´ll take all the precautions, and we´ll be safe :) I´ll keep you updated on how it goes.
Hope life in the states is happy and healthy, just like us!
And mom, hope to see you soon when you come to visit. that reminds the invitation is open to anyone who wants a vacation, it can be arranged to come visit us!!!
p.s. alpaca are in the family of llamas and were in abundance in san pablo, they are adorable, and make good sweaters....oopps