By Liliana Saldana, Houston American Youth Leader

The 4th of July was an amazing day there was so many things to do it was fabulous even though we didn’t get to celebrate it with fireworks our leader Molly made up for it!!

We started off the day with a nutritious breakfast at the Guayunga Hostel at the hour of 7:30 in the morning. Most of us were half asleep, but we needed to leave early to be able to go to the waterfall (Cascada Peguche) it was amazing , it was such a beautiful sight and there was boulder that was perfect to take pictures . So after everybody took an individual picture we got back on the bus to go to Otavalo , where we went to one the biggest artisan markets in Ecuador. The only way to get out of there with some money is to bargain left is to bargain on EVERYTHING!!!!! We all used our bargaining skills to get the prices accessible to our budgets . On many items we even got them up to half off! It was an amazing experience to see how markets work in Latin America Everybody came out of the market satisfied with their purchases and that was great. After being worn out from all the shopping we went to eat a delicious lunch at El Lenador Restaurant, where we were also treated with some authentic, traditional Incan music. The musicians even decide to play Guantanamera a song that is very widely known so we were able to sing along. The musicians were a delightful surprise and we enjoyed the music. The first part of the day was delightful but the rest was even better. We got to walk around the little town where the restaurant was at because of all the little leather shops that were there. After about an hour of looking around, we went to a beautiful, majestic lake called Lago Cuicocha. The view left us speechless which led to another photo shoot for everyone. From there we embarked on a two hour journey to our hostel where our dinner awaited. Little did we know that the best was yet to come. On the schedule we had a two hour time period for CBI revisions planned. We weren’t all looking forward to that , But then that was when Molly hit us with the surprise!! There was a traditional Chiva party bus waiting for us right outside the hostel and we couldn’t have been more overjoyed! We had so much fun dancing the night away it was like a fairy tale. Our fourth of July couldn’t have been any better so thank you Molly!!