After a delicious breakfast, the four of us hired a taxi, aka pick-up truck, to ride up the mountain to some awesome waterfalls. Along the way, we passed Carlotta, a girl from Canada who was working in Quito teaching English. She hopped into the back of the truck with us and we continued along.

After a hike down some muddy slopes and across an…interesting…bridge, we finally came to the waterfall gate. We had already paid our entrance fee, but there was no one to the let us in. After calling around and searching the premises, we decided to sneak in under the barbed wire. Unfortunately, they had already anticipated people like us and after getting through the first hole in the barbed wire, there was another set of barbed wire, this way more tightly strung.


Taxi Mindo-style. Who needs a sun-roof when you don't have to have a roof?

So we continued calling and hollering and searching around until finally an older lady came to the gate. She said we should wander around her kitchen area and there had been a bunch of “borachos” (drunks) who had been there and broken stuff and we could get hurt. Well, I think that’s what she said.


Brian and me hoping the bridge won't break. I'm hear to tell about it, so it didn't. (break, that is)


Trying to break into the waterfalls. Maybe not the best idea.


Dad looks pretty sure-footed for being on such a wobbly bridge!


Group shot!!! We may be dirty and smell thanks to no water at the hostal, but we're happy to be together! I guess it doesn't hurt that's we're ALL dirty and smelly

Either way, she let us in, and we arrived to see a gorgeous river with pools of water, a waterslide, a rickety bridge to a huge rock, and a rope ladder down to a swimming hole. We explored a bit, but had to head back up the path relatively soon because the pickup truck agreed to meet us at 1:30.

So we made it back in time, and we rode the truck down the hill. After grabbing some lunch, where everyone tried ceviche de camorones (like a cold soup with shrimp) and batidos (a fruity milk smoothie), we headed back to Quito.

Once in Quito we got ready, and went to an amazingly delicious Japanese restaurant at the Swisotel. It was so strange to be eating sushi in Ecuador, but it tasted just like it would be home! Yummmmm. I had an absolute wonderful time at dinner, but it was kinda hard too because it was my family’s last night with me.

After dinner, we said good-bye at their hostal and they went to sleep at the hostal and I headed back to the apartment. Even though I knew I had a plane ticket home for December 21, less than a month away, it was still incredible hard to say good-bye.

But it had been an absolutely amazing, fantastic, excellent, cool, radical, incredible, exhilarating, CHEVERE week!