galapawaaa??

i just HAVE to do a really quick blog update, been meaning to lately but ive been free-birdin and such. i gotta make this real quick, i need to sleep soooo badly.

so after the epic finishing of my monografia, my labor of love that i put more hours into than i ever imagined, we hit the beach to suck back some piña coladas and relax a lil. we decided on the lovely beach town of canoa, beautiful playa, and hammocks EVERYWHERE! our time was spent reading, sleeping, walking on the beach, and sleeping some more. most of our friends had to head back to quito pronto to catch flights back to the states, and MT and i had planned on going our seperate ways at that point, but the epic journey of las dos hermanitas couldnt end that abruptly could it! so i had my eyes on the northern coastal town of muisne, mostly because it is home to some of the only mangroves left in ecuador and an awesome organization that is trying to protect and reforest them. so we headed north, stopping at the quiet surfer town of mompiche, just enough time to eat fried fish for breakfast (only option), meet some random surfer dudes, and head to the most beautiful black sand beach ever. in the whole wide world. we talked to some people in town who informed us we could take a boat to muisne instead of the longer overland route, and we could also tour the mangroves! so wambam and we were on a lovely little boat with some new friends we picked up along the way, gliding through the gentle waterways of ecuadorian mangroves. the next few days we hung out in muisne, my favorite city in ecuador thus far, where everyone is overly nice and the ceviche de camaron is to die for. we showed up at FUNDECOL, the rad org, and got a more than generous tour and history of the organization. last night we hopped a night bus back to quito and THAT my friends brings me to today...

of course the bus roles into quito at the convenient time of 5am, typical, leaving you in the dark and cold with nowhere really to go and nothing to do. this has happened many times before, and usually we just go to this cafe thats supposed to be open 24hrs but never is, and then stand in the cold and bitch about how the sign lies. instead this time i asked the taxi driver to take us somewhere thats open and warm, and within 2 minutes we arrived at La Canoa, a 24h seafood buffet...? mm yummy right. but amazing news, there is a back room with really comfy chairs and nice people that work there that turned off the lights, YES turned OFF the lights so we could sleep amongst our bagpacks for a little while. and the bathroom, WOO, it was the nicest bathroom i have seen in 6 months. it was basically heaven, especially for a smelly backpacker like myself. and as i was lying there in the 24hr seafood buffett, i started dreaming again about the galapagos (a dream i didnt allow myself previously because i thought it was way too expensive...i didnt even read the galapagos section of my guidebook i thought it would be too painful). and i pondered how the universe had really been aligning things quite nicely for me lately, and how i basically could leave on any adventure at that very moment with everything i need on my back, and how i have the most charming, discount-inducing smile you could ever imagine. so i started to get reallly giddy, and decided then that i would give it a go. once quito came to life again, i walked over the city to inquire about the best last minute galapagos deals. to make a pretty long and tiring story short, I AM GOING TO THE GALAPAGOS TOMORROW MORNING! is that bragging? sorry i am just really excited and kind of surprised myself. bought 2 underwater cameras and a bag of quinoa...que significa que estoy lista.

presently at my friend carolinas house, a lovely lady i met through couchsurfing (have i repped cs enough yet), who shares my same love for jazz and cuabn music and who generously allowed me to stay at her place the night. its sooo nice to have friends to crash with, to cook a lovely dinner, etc. thats what i love about couchsurfing, its like instant awesome people all over the world.

anywho i neeeeeeed to sleep. see you SOON!

puro love,
laurita