Nicaragua and Ecuador!

I decided to take advantage of the fact that adding a country to your itinerary is a whole lot cheaper than a round trip ticket from the States, and did some traveling before heading to Colombia.

My first stop was Granada, Nicaragua to visit my boyfriend Manny. We had an awesome time together hiking Mombacho volcano, swimming in lake Cocibolca, touring downtown Granada, and making friends with the neighbor kids.

Some favorite photos of Nicaragua, in no particular order:

The flag in front of the part

One of many beautiful churches

The view of lake Cocibolca from Mombacho volcano

An orchid

More flowers

Manny and I

Drying coffee

Climbing trees at the beach

Kevin and Linoska (family/neighbors of Manny's family)

Horse and carriage in downtown Granada

Virgilio and Lupe, more neighbor kids.

Manny, Rolando and I at Lake Cocibolca

I'm now in Quito, Ecuador visiting my host family from when I was here in 2003. It's so good to see them again, and to be back in the city that inspired this whole adventure in the first place.

And, some favorites from Quito:

El Panecillo

A lily- I probably didn't need to label this one. :)

Hmmm, I guess my camera's video quality isn't too great. But this gives you an idea of the size of the city.

Tomorrow night, I take an overnight bus to the coast, where I'll meet Damaris, the little girl I sponsor through Compassion! I'm so excited to meet her in person!

On the 4th, I leave Ecuador and fly into Bogota!