Now that's what I call a nice bath!

Yes - I AM still alive. The last few days were awesome! On Sat Candice, two fellows named Chris (Chris 1 & Chris 2) and I went to a little town about two hours from Quito named Papallacta. Why? Simple: for great natural hot springs of course!!

We ended up splurging (30$/night) and stayed at the resort & spa…massages were really cheap (35$ plus discount). The first night we were ssoooo waterlogged. I think we were in the water from 8pm-2:30am…but I’m sure that none of us would change a second of it for the world. The thermal baths were amongst lovely gardens, surrounded by the cute huts of the resort, and had the Andes looming in the background. Not bad.

The sad thing was that everyone else left on Sunday…Candice had to get back to Quito for her flight home on Monday and Chris 1 & 2 had to get on their way too. I decided to stay until today (Thursday) and get fully pampered…

I am really glad I stayed. I got to eat great food and relax and not have to be concerned about the things that happen in big cities. I also met some really interesting people while there. A few nights ago the usually quiet place exploded with all kinds of groups. I ended up hanging out with people from the Discovery Channel who were about to head into the jungle to make an episode of some show. They were really nice people & had lots of great stories to tell. Later that night when we were hanging out in the hot tub this couple joined us that were hilarious…I found out that the lady worked for the United Nations in the Human Resources department…too bad I didn’t get her contact info!

Other thank that, I got burnt really bad…yes, to the point of a tomato…and then had to avoid the baths so I went to this nature information thingy they had up the mountain and learned about bats and this crazy small deer that they have that is only 20’’ tall!

I also decided something on the bus ride back…I really don’t like Tom Cruz. I think he’s ugly and not a good actor. Maybe I was influenced by being forced to listen to a loud Spanish version of one of the Mission Impossible movies that fully gave me a headache…plus I was amongst a group of people who don’t know what deodorant is…maybe that had something to do with it? I don’t know. But I do know that after 2 hours on that bus I couldn’t wait to get off and go back to my hostel!!

So here I am, back in Quito for a few days to rest and learn more Spanish until I meet up with my group on Sunday. I can’t wait!! Oh, and I will post again later to write about what happened up at the cloud forest when Chris and Candice came up.

Feel free to write me – I should be good about getting back to people in the next few days!

Ttys! Addy :)

ps - I forgot to say that this was a real treat to have hot water because in the cloud forest there wasn't hot water and it was COLD there...plus the showers here in Quito are tempramental at best...so constantly scalding/freezing you.