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

...San Pablo....

We left Guayaquil and headed inland
We are now ¨¨stationed¨¨¨in San Pablo, home of Casa Condor. This village of 48 people is stationed right at the base of Mountain Chimborazo, the peak on earth closest to the sun. It´s about a 19,500 ft. mountain, and our village is at about 12,500. But because weare on the equator, there isn´t snow in our village, just windy and chilly as heck!!!
We met up with a group that just got here from Colorado, Engineers without borders, and there are doing a 2 week construction project here building a HUGE thousand of gallons tank to hold and suppply the water from the natural spring on Mt. Chimborazo. It´s pretty awesome. They recruited us as volunteers, and we are having a blast!!! They are some really cool people and the manual labor is fun, so our next two weeks are filled :p It´s definitely different than the coast, chilly chilly here but beautiful all the same. My camera is temporarily (or permanently, don´t know yet) broken, so we´ll see how that goes. It´s a bummer because the land is BEAUTIFUL!!!!
ciao