South American 'Pee' Walker

Due to time/money/and priorities, J and I have only one week in Ecuador (we gots to get ourselves to Colombia!!). All I can say is that it has thus far been quite eventful. We stayed at an adorable hostel in Baños, which was surrounded by volcanoes and lush green mountains, with a rooftop terrace with beautiful views, and delicious breakfast (homemade bread and jam? Yes, please!). I went white water rafting (alone, poor J was sick, which was sucky), and had sooo much fun. Baños is famous for their hot springs so we went to the baths twice, which is always so relaxing. We also decided to go for massages, which turned into a hilarious escapade in itself. It was basically a couple's massage (though there was a divider between our beds...), which involved the massage therapist climbing up onto the bed for a minute (I'm guessing for a better angle?) psuedo-straddling us, and later nearly got an elbow to the face for nearly tickling my armpits (word of warning, I am extremely ticklish). The whole experience provided us with a LOT of laughs, and some relaxation (you know, the world of traveling is pretty tough). Yesterday we climbed up to 4810 meteres on Volcan Cotopaxi (however, we were definitely driven a gooood distance up the volcano), for about two hours, which nearly killed me. After we took a bus to Quito, where we arrived safely to our hostel.

As always, the altitude was killing me (I am such a wussy), so after dinner I went to lay down. I fell asleep pretty early and slept until around 4 am when I heard some whispering, which sounded strangely like it was coming from J's bed (which was a very, very high top bunk above me). I decided to ignore it and then I heard a really strangle tinkling noise. I thought maybe J had spilled water, or it had started raining, still deciding I am going to ignore this. Until, that is, J leans over the edge of her bed and says to me 'Hey Mel! Wake up for a minute! This girl just peed on my bed!'. Well. I can't think of anything better to grab your attention. I sat straight up, staring at this girl, who looked a bit bewildered. I asked her why she would do that, and she said 'I'm sorry. We are in Ecuador, a South American country. There aren't very many toilets here.' NOTE: there was a bathroom directly outside of our dorm room. J and I both sat there, staring at this girl, looking dumbfounded. I think I repeated a couple times 'You don't pee on people's beds'. Which, believe me, is something I never thought I would say, at least, not to an adult.

She didn't look drunk, but I assume there had to be something going on for her to think that was an acceptable solution to the alleged (false) lack of toilets in Ecuador. The worst thing is that I think I know her. I am pretty sure she was in my rafting group.

Awwwwkward.

After the girl left our room (apparently she wasn't even staying at our hostel, some dude in our room brought her home) everyone woke up and we all had a good laugh. But, only after J made sure she moved all her belongings away from the ladder, as there was a wee bit o' urine running down it.

We have had a lot of random experiences in dorm rooms. I am preeeetty sure that one takes the cake.