Our first hike and camping!

The past few nights have been spent outdoors. We camped outside for the first time in a little hostel owned by a nice women named Cecila who has set up a great deal of our trip. We ended up in this hostel late Saturday night, and we set up tents before it got dark. We were also treated to a lovely dinner, in fact all the meals here have been delcious.
Yesterday we went for a nice long hike around a mountain in five hours. The scenery was absolutely beautiful; there were tons of cows, dogs and chickens and it was a clear day so we could see lots of other surrounding mountains. The hike was difficult, but we all made it around, up, and then down the mountain. We passed by very few houses, and fewer people but the houses that we did see, it was amazing that they could live so far from a city. The landscape was beautiful and the hills were quite stunning. And even though it was an enjoyable walk, we are all happy to have gotten back to base camp.
Currently, our group of 16 students and 3 adults are spilt into three groups each in charge of a different task. Tomorrow we will start our five day treck, and to prepare for that one group is purchasing food, another is taking care of a phone that won´t charge and the last is updating the parents!
So much has happened, and there are so many little details that <i could go into. In one instance a bus so quite full but we all piled in. The sign on one bus (we´re learning how to read and speak Spanish) said that the maximum occupancy standing is 25 people.....and there were 19 of us just standing alone. The roads are bumpy, some houses have a single wall with a door that goes no where and lots of stray dogs. Even so we have enjoyed our time here, we still have lots more good times to come.
People have climbed a mountain, even when they didn´t think they could, people are learning to Speak Spanish and communicate, and we are learning how to read maps and navigate around a city. Our group has made a lot of progess, and I can honestly saw that we have gotten so much closer. I will end this blogpost, but we will be on our main treck for the next five days and have no access to internet cafe´s and thus there will be no blogpost for a few days. Wish us luck on the next phase of our journey!

Our view of Cotopaxi yesterday morning.  This is not a postcard, amazingly.