Olympics Day - or should I say Water Fight?

Yesterday we had Olympics Day here in the park at the orphanage. All of the kids participated, which meant over 100 kids ranging in ages 2-20. My friend and I organized a ton of different relays, games, races, etc. But as one might guess, two adults + 100 kids = chaos. After about 40 minutes of semi-organized games and prizes. We went right for the water balloons and starting throwing the balloons at the kids. Well this meant war! For the next hour and half, kids took buckets, pails, hoses, water bottles, and drenched each other. So moral of the story...next time we will just have a water fight!

Bonfire and Carnaval Celebrations

There's nothing that says February like roasting hot dogs and making s'mores. We enjoyed a nice bonfire the other night with some of the kids. The fire was a little intense so not all of the kids could get in on the roasting action. But they enjoyed the food!
Here in Ecuador we have been celebrating Carnaval. This involves throwing water balloons at complete strangers and spraying a lot of silly string. I was covered in this spray stuff on Monday night. Not really sure what the history of Carnaval is, but very interesting traditions here.

I got to visit an orphanage in Latacunga. We had our own Carnaval celebration, complete with masks and games. It was great getting to meet new kids and to visit a new part of Ecuador.

I know that the fire does not look too intense here. It also looks like it is about 12:00 in the afternoon. But in actuality, it was very hot and it is about 6:00 at night in this picture.

The Trek

I’ve been wanting to hike to the top of this nearby mountain for the past few months, but for some reason or another it just hasn’t worked out. Monday I had off from school, so me and my friend and 25 teenagers from the orphanage boarded the bus and hiked to the top, where there is a large cross. It was a hot day and we were all very happy to reach the top. We had a great view! You could see the orphanage and all of the surrounding valley from up on top. I definitely want to do this again in the future. It was a great workout!

The Ascent