I DO know how to have fun

Main topic of this blog: Ecuadorian "camping"

So, last night was, to say the least, an adventure. It made me realize how much I appreciate growing up in the Great Northwest and knowing how to camp and backpack farther than 100 m from a house. Also, a new rule I made for life: once past the age of 13, you are not allowed to sleep in tents when there is a house within 100 m. I like my new rule.

So the story goes like this: On thursday night, my host brother, Galo, invited me to go camping with him, his girlfriend (who´s really nice and awesome by the way), and a bunch of their friends so of course I said yes. He said we would leave around 6, so I got home at 5 thinking I had plenty of time to take a quick nap and get ready. BUT, he wasn´t there. Mamita told me that he had left, and I should grab a jacket and we would go. So, while wearing JEANS, a T-SHIRT, and tennis shoes (the same outfit I wore to go to a museum in Quito earlier that day), I grabbed a jacket, raincoat and hat, and we left. When I texted Jenny telling her I was wearing jeans to go camping in someone´s backyard, she said "I´m sure it will be a once in a lifetime experience!" This is when I should have known something was fishy (who goes camping in jeans???) Although all of the friends were supposedly my age, they seemed younger... I´m not sure why. Maybe it´s a cultural thing? One of the guys looked like Josh Hartnett and I definitely didn´t mind that haha.

The first part of the night was really fun: We got to the house around 7 pm after stopping to get meat and food and hung out for awhile. I learned how to play the Ecuadorian card game ´cuarenta´(i.e. 40) and my partner and I won! YAY! The guys tried to start a fire with a bunch of coals and it took them almost an hour. It was quite hilarious. Once they got it started, they cooked the meat (there was SO MUCH MEAT. Whenever they bbq here, there is ALWAYS extra!) We finished dinner around 11:30pm and decided to go outside and set up the tent and start a fire.

Here comes the good part: It was FREEZING cold outside, I was exhausted from getting up early and walking around Quito all day (ie I was not in a very good mood... Mom and Dad know about this aspect of my life quite well haha) and we didn´t have sleeping pads or blankets. Liz made a fire and I was sitting in the tent, which was about 10 feet from the fire, becuase I didn´t want my pants to get wet (wet=cold and cold=mad maddie). But, that was not okay. And I kept getting asked if I was okay and if I wanted to sit closer, and why was I sitting so far away. So, after about 10 minutes of the questions, I gave in and moved closer. At 1:15am, I looked at my watch and decided if they hadn´t gone to bed by 2:15am I would go on my own. Soooo, 2:15 rolls around and I decided to get in the very uncomfortable cold tent. I found out my rain jacket insulates heat very well, so I kept it on, and used the airplane blanket that Liz´s sister let me borrow, to keep me warm. Around 3:15am, everyone came to bed and a gained a sleeping bag for the ground, and another blanket to put over me. THANK GOODNESS. I was so happy becuase I didn´t wake up once after I fell asleep until everyone else got up. Do you know why I didn´t wake up once? Because we got up at 6:30 freakin AM to take someone home because she had to be there at 7am. I have to say though, once I got home, my bed was like heaven. It was the most comfortable thing I have been in for a long time (I think my judgement was slurred a little bit from the lack of sleep).

I forgot to note that I texted pat around 3:30am telling him how cold and angry I was haha and then this morning he laughed at me and when I talked to Dad tonight (mom had relayed the story to him), he said that "I sure know how to have fun!" It´s true though. Jenny and Dad were right, it was a once in a lifetime experience, and I DO know how to have fun!