Fountain of Youth! & Other exciting things!

5/28/2011
So on saturday we went to Vilcabamba which is just an hour south of Loja by bus. It was gorgeous there, all the homes on the way there were quite nice looking even from the outside! Due to the fountain of youth allegedly being in Vilcabamba and the very old age of many of its inhabitants it has become quite the hotspot for retiree's. There were so many people from Europe and the U.S. as well as hippies selling stuff there it was quite different from the quick pace of the city and was nice to kind of relax outside the city! We wanted to go horseback riding but that seemed out of the question since we didn't get there until 2 o'clock during the siesta time and they really only had full day trips. So we decided we'll just have to come back for a weekend when everyones done with their project to relax and celebrate! After a sick night the night before (on friday) and staying in I decided to go out for a little bit with everyone to a bar called Viejo Minero (old miner) it was actually a cool little bar. We went with one of the students here that's helping with our project and a couple of her friends. It was pretty funny we were sitting around chatting when a Village people song came on and the bartender/waiter came out in a yellow hard hat haha, it was pretty awesome!
5/29/2011
Didn't do much today, everything was basically closed so we went to one of the only stores that was opened and  bought some groceries for our up and coming field days. I got some stuff for PB&J's, peanuts, and these awesome chocolates they have here! OH I've totally forgot to mention the chocolate this whole time! It's delicious, some of the finest chocolate comes from here; it is one of the main exports of the country besides bananas. Anyways hopefully I can bring back enough for everyone to try!
5/30/2011
Translated my survey today. Ate at Mar Rojo (Red Sea) and had these wing like things (Atlitas BBQ) and they were delicious. They were in like this pineapple bbq sauce that tasted amazing and was served with papas (potatoes). That sure is one thing that's nice about Ecuador there seems to be potatoes or rice or beans  or yuca with everything. Yuca is this woody shrub type thing and has similar texture too mashed potatoes. I've been hoping for an opportunity to go out and go fishing but hasn't happened yet, hopefully one of these days when we're staying in one of the towns I will get to go! They have some awesome trout fishing here I guess and I would really like to go do some marlin fishing off the coast but those are usually 8 day long trips and don't know if I will have that kind of time! Also the pirahnna fishining in the jungle rivers is pretty awesome, we're gonna go on a 2 day boat trip and hopefully will have the opportunity to do some fishing then for pirahnna!