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Well I just got home yesterday and now I am hanging out in Strathmore adjusting to Canadian society. It seems strange that just two mornings ago I was on the beach having breakfast watching whales just 200 yards away with Lauren. It was the perfect last morning in Ecuador. I already miss Ecuador and the people there. I guess only the people that have been there can really understand but life is really different there. I would call it 'second world country' and with all their problems everyone still manages to make the best out of what they have. I didnt know if I would ever want to go back when I was there just because there is so much to see but now I really do feel I will return someday. The last 10 days I really did develope beach bum qualities and now I have to get this brain working again before school starts.

So thanks to everyone who wrote me and checked out the blog. Take care! One love.

Here is a picture of Lauren and I watching the whales after breakfast 2 days ago. You cant see the hump back whales, but trust me, they were there.

And this is me catching an awesome wave... ha just kidding. That is some dude catching some wave. Good pic though.

OK I have to show this pic too. We went to an island that had a bird called the 'Blue footed booby' that is only on this island and the galopagos islands. LOOK, IT HAS BLUE FEET!!

Haha, this is being a beach bum at its finest. Love this shirt.

This is a very cool plant that we saw on a trekk outside of Cuenca.

Just want to give a HUGE thank you to Lauren for coming on the trip, being there for me when I needed her (Hospital in the Jungle and other sicknesses, and many more times), and putting up with all my crap. Your the best!! These pics are for you...

waiting for lauren to get off the damn computer... so more photos

these are a couple from the jungle... quito... and an Ecuavolley game. I have never played but they play on a net about 9 to 10 feet high and do 3 on 3. Yeah i know... what is the fun in a 10 foot net!

Mas Fotos

So most of thes are from the football game and a church and stuff. the game winner is the guy heading it in. i got it on a corner kick and just got lauren to tell me when to take it. worked so good. cant believe they scored on it in the 85th minute. hope you all enjoy.

off to the beach tonight

well thats all for the whole group thing and it feels great. i made some awesome friends but i am ready to go off on my own for the last little while. lauren and i are going to the beach tonight, can not wait! i need some R and R.

Yesterday Lauren and I went to another football game and it was sooo great. I got the winning goal on camera. the final score was 4 - 3. It was in the largest stadium in ecuador too! I am still geekin out about it. Today we did the whole Quito city tour thing and it was cool but I am ready to go.

thats all for now. Here more pictures since I have some time to kill. Oh Ellis, let me know how the tour worked out and the Spain thing. Hope all is well. Chau amigos.

Pictures

the jungle

hey all,
well it has been awhile and i thought i would give you an update. lets see, i just wrote my final exam for classes yesterday then the class went and got hammered, except i am on meds so i couldnt get drunk but it was still fun. i got super sick the other night and had to be hospitalized for the night but i am all better now. just a parasite in my intestines. i was much better even the day after. i just got back from the jungle too, that was an amazing experience. we went and stayed in cabanyas in the middle of the jungle. those of you who know me well know i dont do well with bugs but i held my own thats forsure (minus a couple spaz movements when a tree leaf touched me or something ha). saw a couple tarantulas but that was the creepiest thing by far. i have some amazing pictures that i will put on after this. i am going to Otovalo tomorrow where it is the biggest artisan markets in the world so that will be great. i plan to get all your gifts there. ok talk to you all soon!! take care.

cuenca

buenas dias,
well here i am, still in cuenca. not a lot has happend except some good parties. my classmates are pretty cool with the acception of a few that i dont know how would ever think of coming on a trip like this... i mean they are just so damn boring! haha oh well. there is already a subculture that has formed out of the rest of the class, its actually quite funny, i am seeing culteral seperation within my own class. tonight i am going to a fiesta with my new brother (host brother) Omar. he is a wicked guy and he is going to show me some Ecuadorian chicas tonight. So i will let you know how the party goes. Meanwhile i got my camera fixed... AGAIN... so here are a couple pics from the trek or we will see how much time i have to put pictures on. it can take awhile. my camera broke halfway through the first day of the trek so theres not much. the one pick is from the peak of a mountain that took 4 long hours to walk up. those mountains just keep goin and going. the other is from a waterfall a couple hours into the trek. the pictures really dont do it justice. there are two pics from both sides of the peak. Thats all for me...

i hate school

well here i am in cuenca settling down for a few weeks and going to school. ugh it sucks. try goinig around peru then going right into school, not fun. i had my first class today and i am with a couple of geeks from u of l. i may snap on them if they get any dorkier soon. ok done with being an ass, so i also have a host family i am staying with here. it is really good cause the kid that lives there is 18 and can talk pretty good english so we are helping each other out. he is taking me to a soccer game then were doing up cuenca on the weekend. his 18 year old chicas are going to be all over me... haha. soo i dont know how much interesting things will happen the next bit but if i have a great story from a night at i will be sure to put it one here... especially for you adam. and my camera is not fixed hence the zero picutres, sorry. i just a normal, non digital camera now. ok gots to run. take care and talk to you soon.

lake titicaka/puno

hola amigos,
well here i am in puno right beside lake titicaka. yesterday lauren and i went on a day long boat trip to see the indiginous people that live on islands on the lake. it was very cool because they make their own islands and live on them. they use this floating bamboo and tie it together and then put more bamboo on top of that. they did this to get away from the spaniards taking over way back then and are still living on them. pretty interesting stuff. i did get sick for the first time last night, man was that a shitty night. i dont know what it was exactly but today has been better so that is good. tonight we are flying out of here and going to tumbes by ecuador to hang out on the beach. should be good. i have been spending the perfect amount of time in each place cause i am always ready to move on so that is good. well that is all for now. i will let you know how the flights and the beaches are. take care friends.
chau

trekkin in the andes

hola amigos,
well just want to say thanks to mis amigos and family who have left some comments. love it. the trip has been amazing. i just got back from a 7 day trekk in the andes and the things i have seen i have never even dreamed of. i wasnt expecting an intense trekk, but it really was. we climbed up to 5000 meters at one point. it was amazing. we saw some amazing glaciers, natural springs, and andean communities. it was wild. oh and one of our cooks gave me his peru soccer jersey which was awesome as well. he played on one of the top teams in lima and we swapped jerseys. i had a spain one that i bought for 3 bucks and he wanted to trade. i was happy about that trade. yesterday we got a little touristy and finished the trekk in machu pichhu. that was also amazing. the keep the ruins well preserved and minus the copius amounts of people it was just beautiful. i finished the afternoon by climbing machu picchu mountain that over looks all the riuns. it was a 2 hour hike with drop offs that were straight down. it was actually pretty scary sometimes but i made it safe and sound. the view was the best i have ever seen over looking the ruins and the surrounding mountains. there was no one else on the trail which surprised me so i was able to view the top without others which made it even more spectacular. it was a perfectly clear day with not one cloud so that made it even better. now i am back in cuzco and waiting to go river rafting tomorrow. that should be fun. tomorrow night lauren and i are heading to lake titicaka and then flying to the best beach and warm waters in peru, its called mancora. i am excited for it all. it will be nice to chill on a beach for a bit too. the weather here can get fairly cold at night sometimes dropping to around zero but the days get up to 25. pretty drastic changes. well i will update when i can. take care everyone. hope all is well.

beaches, penhuins, desert, wine, sea lions, dune buggies, oasis

well the last two days have consisted of jam packed adventures that consisted of all the things in the title. it has been so amazing i cant even explain. picture the most amazing beach with no tourists, beautiful peruvian wine gardens, rocks in the ocean that have penguins and sealions of them, dune buggies in the middle of the desert and amazing catherdrals. ya that is what i have seen in two days, pretty crazy. i have a few pictures but my camera broke and i am extremely choked about it. no one in ica can fix it so i am going to try in lima. i have a few more days in ica hanging out at the oasis here then going to cuzco to do a seven day trekk to machu picchu. after that i am travelling with mi amiga lauren to a city called puno to see lake titicaka (that isnt the right spelling but you get the idea). we are spending a couple days there on islands where indiginous people live and let some people stay with them. should be very exciting. then we fly back to lima (north west) and go up the coast till we reach quayaquil in ecuador where we meet the class. its jammed pack but should be worth every moment. my spanish is coming along nicely which i am happy about. slowely but surely. well here are a couple pics for you viewing pleasures. take care everyone.

ica downtown

so i made it safe and sound and i am chillin in a city 5 hours south of lima called ica. its pretty amazing. there are pretty much no travellers here and they call me gringo but i am getting used to standing out.
the trip was so long arriving in ica after 26 hours of travelling by bus and waiting and so on. not a lot of sleep thats forsure.
well here is a picture, everything is so different its unbelievable but i have been taking everything in and loving every second.
take care

me in ica

yeah i buzzed my head too. haha just thought you might want to see me <

Ecuador 2 - 0 in the World Cup

Well I think it is pretty damn cool that Ecuador, the under dogs of the World Cup, are going on to round 2. I am really hoping they are still playing when I get there. That would be so much fun. Well thats about all for now, just thought I would let you know I am on the team Ecuador bandwagon! Chau!

Picture from just outside of Ica

13 days.... really?!

So I know some of you are thinking, why does Matt have 2 blogs. Well amigos, I want you to refer to this one well I am on my trip. I am going to be doing a lot of travelling on my own and I figured I should have my own blog. So here we are... 13 days till I leave. Kinda messed up. I am really not mentally prepared at all for this trip. I know its coming but I cant feel it. People keep asking me things like, wow are you excited? I really am but it just doesnt feel like its coming. I guess it will all sink in when I am on that plane ready to start my adventure. I know it will be incredible and there is nothing else that I want to do more than this trip. I really should start a checklist of things I need or people I should say bye to though. I am gone for over two months for those of you that didnt know. So stay posted, I am sure I will have another blog up before I leave. Try not to foget about checking this well I am gone, there are going to be some amazing stories and pictures for you to check out. Talk to you all soon.

2 weeks

I leave in two weeks... thats fucked up.