House on the River; Casa en el Rio.

Class 1 "the beginning"

As Dee was packing she looked around for her passport. "Cannot forget this!" Said Dee.
Her family was getting ready to move and at the same time she was packing for her summer away in Ecuador.
Dee and some close friends were going to volunteer for the summer and explore the country.
Dee's mom sat on her suitcase as Dee struggled to zip it up. "Done!" Exclaimed Dee as she tried to stand her suitcase up without it falling over.
Dee looked around her house with a saddened
face. In her head memories of all the good times she had played like an old cinema. 'I'm really gonna miss this place' she thought to herself as tears welled up in her eyes. She quickly shook it off and grabbed her bags.
"Alright I'm ready. Let's goooh!" Yelled Dee as she struggled to get her bags out the door.

They loaded up the bright red van and all hopped in. Dees mom and dad sat in the front seats while she climbed in the back row.
As they drove Dee stared out the window at what she was leaving behind and contemplated what was ahead.
After a few minutes they arrived at Dees friend/ honarary big sister Spencer's house. Spencer and her family had lived in the community across from Dee's family for years.
Dee was excited to spend three months in Ecuador with Spencer. They had previously been travel buddies on many adventures.
Spencer and her parents piled into the van and they headed for the airport.
On the drive Dee and Spencer gabbed in the back about their trip, as the parents all worried in the front. It was the first time the girls would be on their own. With all the anxiousness in the car time seemed to fly by and soon they were at the airport.
They unloaded the bags and said their saddened goodbyes and the girls were off.

After a few hours on a small plane the girls reached the international airport in Quito which was the capital of Ecuador. As they waited for some friends who were also volunteering in Quito to pick them up they called their parents to let them know they arrived safely.

The girls spent a few days in Quito enjoying the sites. They went to the monument of the middle of the world and to the beautiful downtown city of Laronda. They climbed to the top of an old church located in the heart of the city which included many stairs and scaling some steep inclines and ate some Amuerzos at many restaurants (which are a cheap Spanish lunch including soup and juice and normally costing only three dollars). After a couple days of excitement and fun Spencer grew sick and spent a couple days in bed.
The girls they were staying with were able to get a close friend to make a juice made of an local fruit that was supposed to cure sickness due to unclean food and water.
After Spencer was nursed back to health the girls said their goodbyes to their friends in Quito and headed to another town called Baños which means baths in Spanish. It's know for its beautiful waterfalls, hot springs  and many tourist attractions.
The girls met up with Dee's sister Cat, their friends J.L and Daria who were fraternal twins and their friend from back home Brandeis.
The six girls had booked a place to stay for a week in Baños through a friend in Quito who had recommended the place.
From the pictures it looked to be a cute little cabin/ guest house in the small town of Ambato.
Dee showed her sister and friends the pictures. "Let's look up more info about this place exclaimed J.L." What's it called? Said Daria. "It's called Allies Home Away from Home" said Spencer as she looked at the detailed notes she had made in her phone.
As J.L and Daria searched online they found different things about the place and the girl in charge of it. "Looks like this Allie is very well known. Looks like her and her family moved to Ecuador from England and she is supposedly the first female canoer in Ecuador." Said J.L.
"Wow that's weird" said Dee as the girls joked around about it.
Just then the bus driver yelled out that they were at the stop for Ambato and all the girls jumped up. They exited the bus and a woman who looked to be about early thirties approached them.
"Hi I'm Allie, you must be the girls I've been waiting! She exclaimed in an odd accent. I have a car over their waiting to take us to the house, I was in town watching the Futbol game. I'm going to go with the driver to drop you off and then head back to town to meet back up with my friends."
The girls all smiled and followed Allie to where the car was.
As they drove Allie told them about all the places in town as they drove by. "What do you girls have planned? I work for a company that arranges tours so anything you need I'm your guide." Said Allie.
The girls had decided on zip lining and possibly white water rafting.
Allie said in an excited voice " I'm a rafting guide you should definitely go rafting but you need to book it now for tomorrow since their is only two times a day that we go out."
The girls talked amongst themselves and decided on postponing the rafting due to the cold weather outside. "We will definitely want to book the zip lining" said Spencer. "Great I'll get that booked for you!" Said Allie.
As the conversation calmed Dee looked out at the dark sky and wondered what was ahead. The girls wiggled to get comfortable in the crowded back seat of the truck; just then the truck started to ascend the mountain.