Maesa and I have been best friends since we were only 2 months old! We saw each other every day for 8 years, and then she moved away. Or parents arranged trips for us to meet up Montana, New York, and California, to name a few places. Then in 2006 we took advantage of a long summer break to travel to Ecuador, our first independent trip! This is when I really realized how awesome Maesa is. Combining my grasp of spanish and Maesa’s inventive sign language, we travelled the country and met so many amazing people. While I am more interested in nature, the beaches, and surfing, Maesa motivated me to learn more about the cultural and urban aspects of Ecuador. We swam down the Napo river in the depths of the Amazon jungles, traversed the city squares of Cuenca, bought wool in the markets of Otavalo, boiled away in natural hot springs in Papallacta, and played jump rope over the ecuator line. Maesa is the best travel partner because we learn from each other, we inspire the other to try new things, and we always have such a blast. We are perfectly compatible travel partners and can’t wait to explore more of the world! Australia would be the perfect opportunity for 2 best friends with the passion for travel to see more of the world (without drawing too much from our college funds…). Even the 24 hour flight to Australia would be memorable with Maesa!