Robbed in the City

I feel depressed today. Not for any reason in particular. I just have this huge lump in my stomach, and I don’t feel like doing homework, reading, eating or even sleeping. I guess all of this could be partly attributed to my day yesterday. While sitting on the Trolleybus, on my way to the Quito History Museum, my wallet was robbed out of my purse. I discovered this when the man standing behind me, forced me around and shouted, “¡Estas Robando!” Unfortunately, my first reaction (instead of asking what the thief had looked like) was to jump up and chase the first person that I saw getting off the bus. Accusing a little old lady of stealing my wallet didn’t help to improve the situation. Although nothing too valuable was taken, it was just frustrating to finally feel comfortable with Ecuador, Quito and my surroundings, and then to have something like this happen. On the bright side, my trip to Quilotoa Lake was incredible.

Even the drive to get there made it all vale la pena (worth it)! Miles and miles of green, rolling hills and irrigation, transformed into deep canyons and sharp turns around them that were a little too close for comfort at times. The market at Saquisilí wasn’t amazing, but still fun. To be honest, the highlight for me was watching Mike break a bow because he stretched it out too much and then had to buy it. To get to the lake, Katie, Mike and I hiked down into the crater for about 45 minutes. We sat by the shore for a while and then trekked the hour to get back out.

The water was so astoundingly beautiful against the sharp gray cliffs and mountains in the background that I could have stood up there forever. Instead of doing the rest of the loop, as originally planned, we decided to head back to Quito on Friday night. It would have been nice to stay a few more days, but we opted to take two direct buses back to the city instead of a milk truck at three in the morning, followed by four or five additional buses to do the same thing. Waiting just one more day would have put us in that situation (though it would have been a cool adventure). Back to the present, as said before, I feel horrible. I suppose there will always be days like this and there’s no harm in having some time to just sit and think about school, family, friends or life in general. I hope you’re all doing well and getting excited for Thanksgiving this coming Thursday! An early Happy Birthday to my mom, Leslie! I LOVE YOU! ¡Hasta Lluego!