MiNdO

Two weekends ago I had my final high school girls’ field trip…although I switched it up a little: going to Mindo instead of Baños. Five girls came this time: Luisa, Monica, Karla, Jessica, and Paulina. Thank goodness it wasn’t quite as early this time, and we were able to leave from the bus station within walking distance. We got to Mindo late morning and immediately looked for a zipline tour and a truck to take us up to the ziplines. Watching the other people come in on the cable, the girls were a bit nervous but also excited.

The tour was a lot of fun. The girls loved the canopy and the thrill of doing the tricks – going upside down (‘the butterfly’) or in the ‘superman’ position! Also we were with three European women and it was hilarious as they kept calling them “voluntarios” - as basically all the ‘gringos’ they know/have ever met are all the volunteers at the Center. Also we were with this other fun couple, an Ecuadorian guy and an Italian girl, who were so talkative and cute. When we were eating lunch later in the little plaza, they came by to talk to us and even said they would have given us a ride home if they had room for all of us. It was really a great day with everyone! All bus tickets were sold out to get home to Quito, so we ended up buying tickets to sit in the very front of the bus on the “Tortuga” (engine area)…and this mother that got on for a while asked me to hold her adorable little baby for about 15 minutes, so she didn’t drop him. He ended up falling asleep in my arms J What a cutie! We got home relatively early and overall it was another success!

Funny Mother’s Day Story Addition: On Sunday morning, I went to the park to do aerobics, which I had been doing regularly, but have missed recently due to all my traveling. Well just before the second session started, a man came up to me and said something to me with a couple flowers in his hand. I was confused at what he was saying and just said “what,” in which he responded “te regalo flores” (I’m giving you flowers). All I could say was “gracias” and laugh. This guy (kind of old) and his friend ended up doing the work out class right next to my friends and me, but we didn’t speak anymore after that. My theory is that this guy wasn’t able to find his ‘madrecita’ (mother) so instead he just gave his flowers to a ‘mamacita’ (‘hot momma’)! haha I really don’t know what this man was thinking, but hey maybe God just works through people in mysterious ways to brighten our days! (Also the picture is of these two adorable 2 year olds (Samantha and Dennis) who were on a “date” in the office one night and I happened to have my camera)

May God do something awesome/semi-ridiculous in your day too!!

Love,
Taylor