Apologies

Ladies and gentlemen,

I apologize for slacking on my blog. I realize it has become a serious problem and I figured I would address it right now while I have some free time. It is currently 12:25AM local time in Santa Cruz, California.

The last three weeks of my life have been pretty much crazy. My last few days in Ecuador were great and even though I was ready to get back to the United States, I was kind of upset to leave my friends and my new "life" behind me. It was a good time though. An update...I got robbed and shot at in Ecuador. Most of you have heard these stories...if not, email me and I'll fill you in. The situations were quite comical and exhilerating at the same time. I didn't write about these originally in my blog because I didn't want people back home to worry about me.

I am tired and for that reason I am going to give a quick run through of the past couple weeks. I got home from Ecuador on a Tuesday. On Wednesday, I visited everyone in Haysi and on Thursday I visited everyone around Emory. Then, me and mom left for Cincinnati on Thursday night. On Friday morning, we woke up and she dropped me off at the University of Cincinnati where I met my friend Colton and his friends Bryant and Nick. We began our trip to Chicago. Chicago was a great city. Out of all the cities I have visited on the east coast and now the midwest, Chicago was my favorite. On Saturday we visited the Museum of Science and Industry, went to the top of the Sears Tower, walked around the city, ate the original Chicago Style Pizza at Uno's...and had a really good time. On Sunday, me and Colton headed to the Amtrak station to begin our journey across the country.

After 60 hours on the Amtrak which turned out to be awesome, we arrived in Tucson, Arizona on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, we hung out with Colton's mom and dad and helped his mom do some stuff around town related to the house they just bought. On Thursday, me and Colton woke up and went hiking in the desert. It was the most intense hike I had ever had up until that point. I didn't drink enough water and I got dehydrated. I think I may have actually had a little bit of heat stroke or something. I was sweating profusely, chilling in the 105 degree heat, and I was also having some emotional problems. It was very intense. Colton's mom hooked me up with a ton of ice and wet towel and she basically nursed me back to health...so it all turned out good. On Friday, me and Colton went to Phoenix with his parents and walked around the city a little bit. It was also a good time. On Saturday, we went to a park about 30 miles outside of Tucson and did some hiking. It was also good.

On Sunday after eating Father's Day breakfast with Colton's dad, we started our journey north. We arrived in Los Angeles and met up with my cousin Mac and his wife Marta where we spent the night. On Monday, Mac took us all around the big places around Los Angeles. On Tuesday, we got up around 5:15, got ready, and went further north. After stopping in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Malibu, we finally arrived around Big Sur at our campground. We walked to the beach which was directly across the road and enjoyed ourselves.

On Wednesday, we hiked 13 miles. Enough said about that. It was awesome!

On Thursday, we headed north to Santa Cruz. We stopped in Carmel and did the 17 mile drive. It was nice. We finally arrived in Santa Cruz and now we are already at work at CTY. The kids get here on Sunday so we have been preparing for that.

Most of the people who read this have facebook...so all of my pictures are on there. I'm not going to put them on google like I did in Ecuador. That would take way too much time.

The past two weeks and the trip was probably one of the best times of my life. It has been a great experience. Now...it's time to work for a few weeks. I'm excited about the kids getting here. It will be a good time. I promise I will update more often now.

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

HA

Besides the mountain climbing experience yesterday...nothing exciting has happened.

Otherwise, here are some good stories and random thoughts:
-I rode in a taxi the other night that was driving me 90 kilometers per hour down the city streets of Quito. It was intense.
-Last night, I rode in a taxi that didn´t have brakes and the driver was using the emergency break to slow down and stop.
-My host mom is very funny. She tried to save a handicapped bird that was tied up on the street yesterday. It turns out the people who had it tied up were going to eat the pigeon for dinner...so she left it to be.
-I told my teacher today that I needed to wash my car and my mom. I really need to get these verbs straight.
-I rode on a bus the other day that was so crowded the doors wouldn´t shut.
-I eat rice everyday.
-A week from Sunday, I´m going on a 59 hour train ride across the country with my friend Colton. Some people tell me we are crazy for spending 59 hours of our lives on a train. I beg to differ.
-I attempted to put some videos on YouTube for you to see, but the files are too big and I can´t do it here. Once I get to a better computer, I will do that.

I will be back in the United States on Tuesday! My time here has gone by fast. Even thought I´ve met a ton of people, I´m excited about seeing everyone next week!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Pictures

At this point in time, I don´t have time to do a long update. That will come probably tomorrow.

Today, I visited the Teleferiqo which is a cable car that goes to the top of the mountain behind Quito. It was almost 14,000 feet elevation! It was amazing to say the least.

There are a few pictures at the bottom of this album.

Ecuador

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.

Apparently, I Like Fire

I apologize for slacking on this lately. Really, nothing worth updating has happened. But, I will provide you with a funny story.

Today, I told my Spanish teacher...in Spanish...that I liked to burn my family and my friends. That is what the subject of this post refers to.

I come home in 6 days! Yes, Ecuador has been a great experience and I have met cool people, learned Spanish, and visited (and will visit) some cool places...but I am ready to get back to the United States. I am not happy with my flight situation on the way back. This may get confusing, so try to follow along:

The American Airlines flight out of Quito that I will take next week is almost always delayed. I have a one hour and 50 minute layover in Miami...which means if the plane is delayed next Tuesday...I will have a short time in Miami. While I am in Miami, I have to go through customs, collect my luggage, recheck my bags, and make my connecting flight in a different terminal. So...everyone hope that my flight from Quito leaves on time and not an hour late as usual. If I miss my flight to Charlotte, I´ll admit...I will cry.

I´m going out with my friends from Clemson tonight. We´ve discovered some neat bars\dance clubs here in Quito and they create for a good time. I´m looking forward to that. Then, this weekend, I am heading to Otavalo...a huge market about 2 hours from the city. It will be a good time as well.

See everyone in...6 days! Yeah!

Until next time, Zach will leave it at that.