I´m in Baños!

Last weekend we made it to the Capilla del Hombre and it was really great. We also did the equator line, which is really just good for the picture. I left the camera cable at the hostel, so no pictures yet. The hostel has free internet, but there´s often a long line. If it´s shorter later I´ll try to get some pictures up.

This week was really kind of fun because there was a group of 11 year olds from the British School in Quito and we spent a lot of time with them. I supervised their horseback riding time, which was hilarious. Raul, who manages the farm, brought two very tame horses and pony. One boy couldn´t get the pony to move and kept yelling ´Corre! Corre! Corre!´(Run! Run! Run!). Finally, Raul hit the pony with a little stick and as soon as it started running the boy started screaming in terror and then feel off. He was fine and got right back on, but it was very funny. We also took them on a hike to a waterfall and planted trees with them. They are total city kids. One girl asked me to kill a bug that landed near her on the hike. I refused and it soon flew away.

My first act as Garden Princess was to plant tomatoes, celery and lettuce in the greenhouse. On Thursday I transplanted the cucumbers and zucchini we seeded last week. I´m not sure they´re going to make it. I´ve also been learning to use a machete, not that it takes much skill. It´s a huge knife, so you pretty much can just swing it and watch the tops of flowers fly.

I got to Baños yesterday afternoon. It´s a nice little town surrounded by green mountains. Ecuador seems to have no end of green mountains disapearing into clouds. This morning we went to the mineral baths, which was fun. From the baths all you can see are the green mountains and a waterfall. We went early enough in the morning that it was all Ecuadorian families, no other white tourists. Afterwards, we did a short hike to the falls of Cascada Ines Maria, which weren´t that high, but had worn the cliffs down in interesting ways.