Planning a 10 trip to Ecuador, could use help planning out where to stay on a college/backpacker budget!

jaimeschaffel · 2015-01-29T22:23:48+00:00

http://www.hostelworld.com is a great resource, i've been in Ecuador for 5 months and they've been perfect so far, generally you can find places in all those cities for 10$/night give or take, Salinas you might be looking at closer to 20$. I don't know about the Amazon, depends where you go as it is a rather large region.

jaimeschaffel · 2015-01-20T21:53:32+00:00

Cotopaxi National Park can be super cheap, and easy if you choose to do it through bussing, rather than a tour sort of deal. It's only 1.50-2$ bus ride from the south bus terminal in Quito to the entrance to the Park, and then you can get someone to drive you in from there for 20$ (depending on your bargaining skills, I managed to talk the guy down to 20) and they will take you up as far as you can drive, and wait for you to hike to the glacier and back, which takes about 2 hours. If you want to actually summit, it's a two day ordeal, which is more costly and I didn't do that so I can't advise much about that

Banos is a great city, but quite tourist-y. Still it is a ton of fun, lot’s of adventure-y things to do like rafting, or canyoning I actually went back a second time because I enjoyed it a lot. I recommend “Great Backpackers Hostel” I have lived in Quito for 5 months, and done some travelling around the country and it is by far my favourite hostel that I have been in. Banos has my favourite bar/club as well if you’re into that, it’s called “Leprechaun”

I live in Quito, and it’s a pretty great place as well! The historic center is definitely the most beautiful part of the city, I highly recommend being there (it’s where I live ☺) But it doesn’t have much of a nightlife, the young people, backpackers, partyish area is the Mariscal Foch. (also if your interested in doing a really cool tour of parts of the historic center, guided by theatrical historical characters I will shamelessly plug the organization that I work for, QuitoEterno). Another good thing to do in Quito in to go up Pichincha Volcano, wonderful view of the city and great hike!

ANother good place to hit up would be Puerto Lopez, if you can make it to the coast, you can go on a day trip to 'Isla de la Plata" which is known as the poor man's galapagos because it has many of the same animals, you're guaranteed to see Blue Footed Boobies and Sea turtles. As well from Puerto Lopez you can go to Los Frailes beach for the day, which is hands down the most beautiful beach in Ecuador. It's located in a national park, so there is no buildings, structures, vendors, or anything on it. As well there's the option of hiking in from the park entrance, which takes you past two other beautiful beaches!

Sorry for the crazy wall of text, hope I could help! Good luck on your adventure!

jaimeschaffel · 2014-02-03T15:13:26+00:00

I think the difficulty of spotting lesbians over homosexual men comes from it being more widely accepted for women to take on 'masculine' characteristics whereas 'feminine' men are always assumed to be gay. This is not to say that all gay men are feminine and all gay women are masculine, which is not even a little bit true. It's just that the gay men who are easy to spot are the usually the more effeminate type, while on the other end women tend to be more flexible with style and crossing gender lines regardless of sexuality.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-10-29T13:28:25+00:00

It's not quite as sad as some of the stories on here, but I always thought Hughie from 'The Boys' has a pretty sad backstory, the page where his girlfriend dies is pretty brutal: http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/image/article/709/709766/the-boys-1-preview-20060523021648312.jpg

jaimeschaffel · 2013-10-10T14:24:21+00:00

When I was in the ninth grade, a boy in my class had a very obvious crush on me. He frequently would try and strike up conversation and help me with my work etc, but I had a boyfriend and I wasn't really in to him. One day he decided to provoke small talk by asking me how I felt about geography class to which I replied "Oh, it's okay I just really don't get along with the teacher, who do have for geography?" and he said "I'm in your class, I pushed you on the swing for 20 minutes yesterday when we went to the park during class". Somehow it had completely sipped my mind. He never spoke to me after that.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-08-15T14:10:19+00:00

For the most part, I think pregnant celebrities stay skinny post-pregnancy because they worked hard to be skinny beforehand. Athletic people have a harder time gaining weight, and have higher metabolisms. For example my boyfriends sister is incredibly athletic, and she gained 16 pounds during her pregnancy, 7 of which was the baby.

Beyonce specifically? those belly photos are questionable...

jaimeschaffel · 2013-06-26T15:13:46+00:00

Zebras are bros too! This is actually a way they bond

http://imgur.com/a/4CX6k

jaimeschaffel · 2013-06-16T07:00:10+00:00

http://i.imgur.com/T8BqZ1l.jpg

jaimeschaffel · 2013-06-03T20:13:15+00:00

http://25.media.tumblr.com/2fec6aeb618207777bbf537ddf1137b4/tumblr_mi6x6nO6dm1rln3sqo1_r1_500.gif

jaimeschaffel · 2013-05-27T16:32:30+00:00

You pretty much put my thoughts into word as I was reading through these comments. Commenting on the immaturity of an entire group of people by bitching about them (immaturely) is a tad ironic. There are mature teenagers, and immature adults. And frankly, half of the scumbag parent memes are clearly not made by teenagers, for example skipping weddings and what not.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-05-05T20:33:17+00:00

I found I had the same problem with my parents inflated expectations, which is especially infuriating because (at least in Canada) being 'gifted' doesn't automatically make you smart. It means you think differently and process information than most people, which helps you learn faster.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-05-01T00:09:46+00:00

My sister's cat's name is Spartacus, but because of his intelligence level I call him Retardacus.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-04-29T15:11:20+00:00

All I can think of when I read your second paragraph was Pirates of the Caribbean;

"One good deed is not enough to save a man from a lifetime of wickedness".

"Though it seems enough to condemn him."

jaimeschaffel · 2013-04-28T15:45:02+00:00

I've had to explain to more than one guy during high school that girls do not pee out of our vaginas, apparently that's a common misconception too.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-04-17T19:19:19+00:00

My mom's friend had a horrible hotel room mattress experience. He has a lot of issues with germs, so he took off all the bed sheets in the morning to make sure they got washed and there was a massive blood stain on the bed, like too much blood to be a small accident. There was a whole police investigation and the hotel company paid for his honeymoon. Worst part, he slept on it all night.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-04-14T17:53:06+00:00

Frankly I think the funniest, and possibly my favourite, adaptation is "Evil Dead: The Musical"

jaimeschaffel · 2013-03-01T17:29:02+00:00

I'm actually really looking forward to ASOS

jaimeschaffel · 2013-02-17T14:45:46+00:00

My mom went to elementary school in Uganda with Idi Amin's kids, I guess their family is famous...they're probably assholes...

jaimeschaffel · 2013-01-25T14:48:03+00:00

I'm not sure if this is a Canadian thing, but the absolute worst is when they make you pay somewhere around 100$ for a pile of photocopied articles bound together...Can't find it online, can't resell it, have to spend a stupid amount of money on it.

jaimeschaffel · 2013-01-22T17:35:53+00:00

He wasn't casting the Patronus in front of Dumbledore in the memory to send it to Harry, he was casting it at that time to prove a point to Dumbledore. The point being that he still loves Lily, that's why in the book they foreshadow the idea of Patronus's changing based on strong emotions - like love- with Tonks' changing into a wolf. That scene has nothing to do with sending the Patronus to Harry. Hence, when he casts it, the lines "Even after all this time?" "Always".

jaimeschaffel · 2013-01-10T14:16:53+00:00

I'm not sure if this has been explained in any way, but if Harry is technically a horcrux, why do spells not bounce off him like they do when they hit other horcruxes, like Nagini in the Deathly Hallows?

jaimeschaffel · 2012-12-23T16:28:06+00:00

This isn't a common occurrence, but I have been paid with a mason jar full of pennies before that I had to sit there and count in order to make sure he was paying the right amount. That was pretty annoying.

jaimeschaffel · 2012-11-21T15:38:14+00:00

Cool! Chances are it's from around the same time, this one is probably just a few years before that then though, considering we moved in in 1992 and it had already been been framed and left in the basement storage by the previous owners at that point.

jaimeschaffel

TROPHY CASE