Happy Holidays from Denver

Wishing everyone a relaxing and peaceful holiday season. I am so thankful to be spending Christmas with my family this year! Santa Pub Crawl Downtown DenverAwesome outfit finds at GoodwillOver 800 people participated in the Santa Pub Crawl and many Toys for Tots donated by each perosnGolden's Christmas Parade

Merry Christms!

mucho amor y paz

South of the border

Nice and well needed quality time with my family in a place with a beautiful backdrop. Even though I had been back home for a couple of months, I quickly realized that I had to compete with my family and friend's busy schedules in order to spend time with them. Thus, Mexico equating to an incredible opportunity where time slowed down, and we could really enjoy each other's company.

Lovers' Beach and the famous Cabo Arch Our humble abode for the week, which felt like Mexican Disney World

Bonding over Coronas Sunset CruiseSunset Cruise that quickly turned into a party boat. Dan pulled out some impressive moves and shockingly (especially for my mother.haha) won himself the Mexican Hat dance competition on the boat....hence him being the only shirtless person in the picture. Cheers to a wonderful trip

colorful colorado

Reasons why Colorado is wonderful..... My FAMILY and my childhood homeMi hermana Not having to miss any more birthdays or holidays

Mom's birthdayAshley's birthday celebtation

Meeting RPCVs
Fall in Colorado with good company

Ari comes to visit

New Belgium Bike Tour

A costume is a mustcelebrating Halloween in the summerWe filled downtown DenverLoved the bike obstacle courseHappy belated Halloween from Indian Jones, a pro-rockclimber, a wealthy oil owner, a giant pumpkin, a Chilean miner and yours truly the purple treasure troll!

Dance seshs with friends in Denver

House sitting at my friend's cabin

The beautiful Rocky mountain view from the cabin

Meaghan making a delious dinner!Deceivingly friendly picture.

This same horse gave me a startling welcome when Meaghan was giving me a tour of her cabin and the barn. We opened up the gate and another horse nipped at the black horse, which caused him to do an about face and kick his hind leg straight back in a line drive to my thigh/buttocks area. My body went into shock but after the adrenalin wore off, I realized my leg was still intact and nothing was broken. I walked away with a deep tissue bruise...unbelievably lucky!

I made peace with the horse.A glass of wine and the hot tub you can see in the bottom left of the photo worked well to ease the injuryChristmas in the mountains...love it! Kristin moved to Colorado! Yay! The Rubias together again!

Enjoying my home town but still missing Ecuador dearly

Spoiled in South Beach

On my way back to Colorado, I met Dan in Miami and received celebrity treatment. I hardly knew what to do with myself in such a clean and fancy place. Flushing toilet paper down the toilets was a fantastic phenomenon.

Our spectacular view from our remarkable hotel room. Hanging with my long lost Irene was truly heart warming. It was odd seeing her drive up to pick me up at the airport rather than arriving on bus as she did so many times in Ecuador to get to my site to teach English classes together. TQMMMM pero mucho Irene! Swipe your card and you could buy yourself a new car, a Rolex watch or something a little closer to our budget....mints! Day trip to the Keys! Thank you Dan for an amazing trip and time for us to be "us" again in the same country. xo

hasta luego ecuador

One of the hardest see you laters of my life...I couldn't even get myself to say good-bye, just "until next time."

The last few months of my service flew by. I blinked, and I was already having to pack-up my life and home that I had created for the last two years. I finished-up projects and focused the last month on spending as much time with all the people who were so dear to me. Plan International threw me a work going away party and there were many great memories shared and several tears shed. I got up to say my thank you speech, and could hardly get any words out before I lost it and had tears streaming down my face. It ended up being one emotional good-bye after another.

Expectingly so, the worst of them all was my last day in my community. I knew my community going away party was going to be tough but I had no idea just how tough it was going to be. Once the flood gates opened, there was no return. The party and speeches were so endearing and the words expressed will forever be in my heart.

We played games and danced the night away trying to make light of the situation. We finally parted ways once there were no tears left to cry, and we were left with unforgettable memories.

Fortunately, I introduced my friends to Facebook and Skype so when they ride into the city, we can still talk and be included in each other's lives.I truly looki forward to going back and visiting! Hasta luego Ecuador