Paradise falls.

So yesterday I went to waterfalls at Girón, one of the most beautiful places in the world, and in my opinion, a place lost in time. Despite the lack of snipes the trip was a blast. We hiked for 3 hours through open fields, dense trees, and high mountains to find huge waterfalls that we could walk under and jump into. If was a ton of fun and I'm so grateful I got to go. Afterwards we went to Negro's house (our guide for all our trips) and he made us some of the best trout I've ever had, and I don't like fish. The fish apparently came from El Cajas, the Ecuadorian national park. That night we got home did laundry, watched contagion, played bang and went to bed. On days we go on trips we don't get to go to the orphanages.

Today made up for all that though and I got to be with my kids from Casas all day both shifts, so I've got my hands full. This morning I went with Whitney and Zacharie, and we had a blast. After breakfast the Hermanas or the Nuns all left for a meeting so we got the kids to ourselves. We took them all to the TV room and took them on walks as the got rowdy. When walking around with Cristian, Pablo, Edu, Karla, and Jasmine I took them all to the smaller and poor Cristian fell fast asleep slumped over in the swing! I've never seen him so tired. So I took him and put him on the bench and let him use my sweater as a pillow. In the afternoon I went with Nico and my mom. It went surprisingly well, the kids behaved great! We gave them baths and basically had play time for the whole 4 hours. Basically today was awesome.

I love being here so much and it seems everyday I love these kids more. I wish I could stay longer. It's so true that the more you serve someone the more you love them, even if you don't want to. The best way to get rid of a bad attitude or turn a cruddy day around is to lose yourself in service. It's such a blessing to be able to do that for 9 hours a day! Miss you guys so much and I can't wait to see you guys again!