"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on." -Steve Jobs
So who knows? Maybe I will be sitting at a desk in Boston or New York two years from now... or maybe I will be in some far away country teaching English to impoverished children... What I do know is that I refuse to settle... I refuse to fall into a typical routine of filling my days with passionless endeavors. As John Lennon says, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans". I am a blank canvas, I am a map without a destination, I am free, and I feel alive.
This past weekend the BC Gringos traveled to Baños, Ecuador. 11 gringos with 11 backpacks packed into a tiny van for a four hour drive filled with "contact" (game), made up languages, and many a snack thanks to Kevin. We arrived to our hostel, Le Petit Auberge at around 8PM and to our surprise the hostel had fireplaces in every room, gardens with hammocks, and an overall feeling of comfort and relaxation. The machos y hembras split up for dinner which was nice because sometimes eating with a group of 11-13 gets a tad frustrating. Afterwards, Pat, Kevin and I purchased our llama/alpaca sweaters in preparation for our trip to Machu Picchu in 3 weeks! When the five of us (Nate and Jon as well) reach the Piznit as we call it during sunrise we will all be wearing alpaca sweaters for photo gold. The next day would be jam-packed with activities so we decided to have dry night and stay away from the bars. While the BC Gringos stayed sober... we definitely were not dry. We had the brilliant idea of sitting in a circle with our mouths filled with water in hopes of not laughing. Needless to say, after Kevin and Seth frolicked around in their boxers and Kevin showed off his best pterodactyl impression, the room was covered with agua and saliva. A quick thank you to Toryn and Nate for vomming a little in your mouth and not on the innocent gringos.
Saturday morning brought us perhaps one of the best Ecuastories thus far. Colleen and I decided to be obnoxious and wake everyone up by yelling loud and jumping on their beds. The room next to us (Jon, Tim, Seth, and Nate) was an easy target because they had left their door open. The challenge came when Room Seven (Toryn, Pat, and Kevin) had a locked door. Colleen and I took it upon ourselves to climb over the balconies onto the patio of Room Seven. The window was open... We had our in! Colleen first tried to get through the window and was half way through when we realized it would be easier for me to go through first, leap in the air onto their beds, and have her jump through after. So here I am, perched like an eager spider monkey on the ledge of the window awaiting my attack. The countdown began... 3....... 2...... I was a good two seconds away from pouncing on my friends when I spotted a Blackberry on the bedside table... "Colleen, who has a Blackberry here"... A split second later we were dying of laughter as I quickly fell from the window sill... A window sill that belonged to three strangers. Had the Blackberry not been spotted at that exact moment we would have found ourselves in perhaps one of the most awkward situations ever... with three backpackers from god knows what country angry because two young gringas woke them up at 8 in the morning.
The first activity of the day was white water rafting! The river was much further than we had anticipated but it gave us the opportunity to see more of the surrounding area. When we arrived on site, some of the group members were given wetsuits that looked like hillbilly overalls while I sported a wetsuit that appeared to be the remains of a tiger attack. We were split up into 2 boats (everyone in one boat and Pat, Toryn, and Colleen in another). This rafting was definitely more challenging than our experience in Mindo... but I guess I wouldn't call 2 Ecuadorians in overalls dragging tubes down a river "white water rafting". Our guides were insane and provoked wars between our boats during which we found ourselves being thrown off the raft or, in Toryn's case, held captive on an enemy ship. All in all, rafting was a blast and we had the opportunity of seeing some amazing landscape!
After arriving back at our hotel we had 20 minutes to change and start our trek towards the bridge that we would be puenting from. Puenting is essentially bungee jumping off a bridge but the mechanism is a little different. I can easily say, without a doubt, that I have NEVER been so afraid in my entire life. When you look over the edge of the rail and see a river hundreds of feet down you feel as though you are jumping to your death. While I do anticipate skydiving over the Swiss Alps this fall, I honestly believe that this jump took more courage because there is no one there to push you off (unless you're Kevin and the guide bumps you with his head). Gathering up the strength to throw myself off a bridge was an experience I will surely never forget. And yes, I screamed like a 12 year old girl the entire time. Below is a picture of the bridge!
After puenting Kasia, Seth, Tim, Nate, Jon, Pat and I went to the baños. From my understanding, Baños was given it's name because of their natural pools that are a huge tourist attraction. Thus, I imagined these baños to be private hot springs surrounded by caves... almost mystical in nature with steam rising through the frigid night air. Now take that image and think of the exact opposite and that's what these baños were. I wish I could lie and tell you that I didn't pay three dollars to stand in an overcrowded, dirty pool with about 150 other ecuadorians. But there is something so cultural about being surrounded by other people's filth while a teenage mother is breast feeding next to you... true story. I wish the picture below did this experience justice but if you ever find yourself in Baños, Ecuador... suck it up and get in the damn pool... it's an experience you will never forget. Later that night we ate dinner and planned on going to Leprechaun Bar which apparently is the jump off in Baños. The bar was gorgeous and had a fire pit and lounge in the back. Toryn sneaked us into the VIP secion (WTF?) where it took us a quick 10 minutes to realize that we all were so exhausted from the days activities so we headed back to the hostel. Second best decision of the day, besides jumping off the bridge, was eating chili cheese fries and a bacon cheese burger with Nate and Jon before I went to sleep.
The next morning Kasia and I decided to go to a spa for a 75 minute massage. While I knew it would not compare to a massage at the Atlantis, Bahamas or the energy work from a Blind Costa Rican on Martha's Vineyard, I did not anticipate a girl who was probably younger than me rubbing me down without any formal knowledge of what she was doing. The experience could be characterized by car sirens outside, child labor, and the employees thinking Kasia and I were lesbians who wanted a couples massage. Right when the "massage" was over we literally sprinted to meet up with the group for horseback riding. There are very few things that I do not like in this world (1) asparagus and eggplant, (2) the singer Pink, (3) sushi, and (4) horseback riding. While I knew I would not enjoy this activity as much as the others I figured I would give it another go and be a good sport. As predicted, I despise horseback riding. First of all, I am pretty sure my horse was mentally incapacitated. Second, it kept running into the anus of Kasia's horse which had olive green diarrhea all over it (my shoes are still being cleansed of the fecal matter). So there I am on a retarded horse covered in poo galloping (yes galloping) down the Ecuadorian road in more pain than I have experienced in a very long time. Needless to say, Jessie will not be horseback riding for at least another decade.
After showering and eating lunch we caught our bus back to Quito where we were graced with the brilliant presentation of a movie called Undisputed 3: Redemption. It was one of those movies where you simply can't stop watching because the concept and acting are so bad that it makes you feel better about your position in society that you were not the target audience. The 11 of us were so invested in this flick that the ride flew by and we found ourselves getting off the bus at a station in Quito VERY far from where we all lived. Take 3 separate taxis or perhaps ride in the back of a truck for 45 minutes... we pulled the Ecuadorian move and chose the back of the trick covered with a tarp awning. There is no other way that I would have preferred to spend my last vacation moments than with the group, in the back of a pick up truck, playing guitar and jamming out to Celine Dion and Disney.
Lastly: Favorite Song in Ecuador... Tengo Tu Amor by Sie7e
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