Rafting With Weird Tan-Lines

White-water rafting in Tena was, without question, my best trip in Ecuador thus far. Located on the edge of the oriente, Tena is known for having some of the best rivers in South America and I wasn’t disappointed. I, along with six other friends from USFQ, departed by bus on Friday morning and spent the entire day Saturday rafting class III+ rapids, eating delicious guacamole with chips (something I’ve strangely been craving for weeks), and marveling at my amazing sandal-tan/burn.

Saturday night was also pretty eventful when a huge bolt of lightening struck our hotel and cut all electricity for several blocks. The next morning we went to a small monkey reserve, which was really cool, and then jumped on the five hour bus back to Quito.

Moving forward to this week, my morning was pretty strange today. First of all, I sleepwalked last night into the room of my host mom at 2:00 AM and I’m pretty sure that I freaked out both my host mom and sister quite a lot. Then, after sleeping off the embarrassment, I woke up at 7:00 AM to go to the school where Maritza works to see the kids and hang out. It turned out, however, that there wasn’t any school today and that I actually might be teaching English there three times a week! I’m a little confused about all of this right now, but we’ll see what happens. I’ve wanted to do something outside of school for a while, but I don’t know if I’m qualified to teach English or if I’m even ready to commit a lot of time to doing so. As for this coming weekend, Julie and I are probably going to make the 15-hour trip to Vilcabamba tomorrow to engage in lot of hiking and a lot of relaxing as well. Vilcabamba is a small pueblo, which is located in a place called “Valley of Longevity,” because the people there live well into their hundreds. It’s near the border of Peru and has excellent hiking, horseback excursions, bike riding and massage. I’m looking forward, once again, to getting out of the city for a few days. ¡Que pasa bien! 

Highlight of the Week: Exchanging Pozo cards (lottery tickets) for gold clip-on earrings with my grandma!

Highlights of Rafting: Being launched from the boat on the first rapid, jumping out and floating down a class III, and falling in love with our stunningly handsom Irish guide, Tim!

Cotopaxi Trip

After nearly two months of staring at the beautiful Cotopaxi from my bedroom window, I finally got the chance to travel there with my class last weekend! Admittedly, I didn’t have the best attitude at first after getting home at 2:00 AM from a night out with my host sister, knowing that I would have to climb a mountain at 6:00 AM; but after sleeping on the bus and waking up in the most spectacular place on earth, my mood improved rapidly. Cotopaxi is one of the most active volcanoes in Ecuador, which is saying something because there are MANY active volcanoes in this country. It also has the potential to do quite a lot of damage if and when it decides to erupt. Just being there was absolutely incredible, but the hour hike we took to a glacier was definitely the highlight for me.

After Cotopaxi, our group of nearly 80 students hopped on buses to escape the hail that had begun to fall and made our way south to Baños where we spent the night. Katie, another Madison, Wisconsin girl (of course), was my roommate. After settling in, a bunch of us went out for dinner at a restaurant owned by Oregonians called “Casa Hood” before dancing in our favorite Baños bar. The place has a dead stuffed bird hanging from the ceiling and plays the best mix of Hip-Hop and Reggaeton around! On Sunday, we mostly discussed the threat of the volcano Tungurahua to the city of Baños and the damage it’s caused in the past. The picture below represents one of the most moving moments during my time here. While our professor, Theo, was showing us the damage caused by a recent volcanic mudslide (lahar), an old man from Baños stopped along the road to tell us about how it had destroyed several crops and many homes. Later, Theo explained that while living in Baños permanently is extremely dangerous because of the constant volcanic activity, the people there refuse to leave because the tourist industry is too strong and it’s been their home for centuries. The old man wandered off and only paused for a few seconds while staring over the tremendous landscape; a place of both unimaginable beauty and pain. That’s all I have for today. As mentioned in the last entry, I haven’t been sleeping much of late, and need to build up energy for my jungle rafting trip this coming Saturday. ¡Caio! 

P.S. Shout out to Tyler (TT), who I hear is finally home from his world travels! I hope you’re doing well in Eugene and that you can still visit me at some point!

Wandering around Guayaquil (and Ecuador in general)

I am officially sick of bread! I don’t know how it happened (didn´t even know that it was possible), but I woke up this morning and immediately decided that just one more empanada, croissant or baguette would surely be the end of me. My carbohydrate intake in general has been pretty excessive of late. Therefore, my new goal is to limit myself to only one galleta grande (huge cookie) next week, instead of the usual four or five! Regarding my weekend: while it didn’t turn out exactly as planned, we (Julie and I) at least got an adventure out of it, and definitely covered an impressive distance considering the short amount of time we had for the trip. On Thursday, we departed from Quito at around 10:30 PM and attempted (with great difficulty) to sleep during the eight-hour bus ride to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, which is near the coast.We spent forever trying to find a comfortable position that would also enable us to take full advantage of the beach towels we were using as blankets. Fortunately, it eventually worked out and we got barely enough rest to carry us through the next day. At 6:30 AM, we arrived in Guayaquil, checked into a hotel downtown, and spent the rest of the day walking around the city, taking pictures and searching for suitable places to eat that also had a vegetarian option because Julie is a vegetarian (like the majority of my closest friends so it seems). We forgot (of course) that because it was a holiday, almost everything was closed during the day. Despite this minor setback, the walk was beautiful. We first ventured to Parque Bolívar to observe the many turtles that swim in the ponds and the many (MANY) iguanas that apparently find great enjoyment in relieving themselves onto the heads of unsuspecting tourists from their refuge in the trees above. Our next stop was the Malecón, a newly revived boardwalk, known for its monuments, painters, music and restaurants. The thing that we found most exciting, however, was the promotion of recycling (as shown below)!

I’ll admit that we received a few strange looks from locals when taking pictures of trash bins, but it was absolutely worth it (our friends in Quito wouldn’t have believed it otherwise). My favorite part of Guayaquil was a neighborhood called Las Peñas, where I took the majority of my photos.

From a distance, it looks like the hills of San Francisco, but the community itself is exceptionally old with some 500 stairs leading to a tremendous view of the city. Unfortunately, after all the walking (from roughly 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM), we were too tired to enjoy the celebrations that night; and after an early dinner on the Malecón, we called it a night at only 9:00 PM. Saturday was a little strange because although we’d been planning to go to the coast, the news of protests and strikes along the road there prompted us to head four hours in the other direction to a town called Riobamba in the highlands. We chose this destination for two reasons in particular: first, it's much closer to Quito (which meant less driving the following day); and second, we love the way Riobamba sounds when said fast by conductors who try to get us to go there every weekend. It was nice to switch from a bustling city to una ciudad más tranquilo. We wandered through the Saturday market, got a $1.50 manicure down the street from our amazing hostel, Oasis, and later sat down at a pizzeria to watch the soccer game between Venezuela and Ecuador, which Ecuador sadly lost. Overall, the weekend was really fun, but I always love coming home to Quito and sleeping in my own bed (not that I’ve slept a lot in the past few days). Today I had two midterms for Social Problems in Ecuador and Volcanology and tomorrow I have to go to school early again to work on a group project. Hopefully I’ll make it home in time to steal a few hours of sleep before my Salsa dancing lesson with Pao at 8:00! ¡Hasta lluego!

Nothing special... but I love Quito

Another uneventful weekend/week gone by, but I definitely got some much-needed R & R! The majority of the time, I just chilled around the apartment, napped, worked on homework or got bread from la panadería across the street (to break from bouts of boredom). On Saturday, Julie and I did a little more exploring around the historical district, where we toured two churches and then took the trolleybus to a park nearby to view some art and check out the Saturday market there. Monday consisted of laundry, memorization of some 200 Spanish phrases and my first Salsa dancing lesson with my host-sister Paola (Pao)! I love Salsa! Pao is a great teacher and she also burned me a mix of songs so I can practice in my room. Yesterday and today have been pretty stressful because I have two midterms tomorrow and a few more next week as well. Thankfully, there’s no school on Friday because it’s Guayaquil day; so Julie and I (and possibly our other friend Quena) are heading down to Guayaquil for a little sun, and to join in on the festivities! I’m sure that’ll make for a more interesting post next week. For now, I’m off to study and later I have my second Salsa lesson with Pao. ¡Que pasa bien!

¡Lost in Quito and Fútbol Fever!

It’s 7:00 PM on Tuesday and I just walked in the door after a long day of class and confusion. Although last weekend wasn’t quite as exciting compared to Baños and Otavalo, I did travel to Laguna de Cuicocha (very similar to Crater Lake in Oregon) with my volcano class. Cuicocha is close to Otavalo, so we spent a long time on the bus, but it was worth it! The lake was absolutely beautiful! Sadly, I neglected to bring my camera on the trip because I didn’t know what Theo (the professor) had in store for us; so the picture below is of the free postcard we received upon our arrival. 

I spent the rest of the weekend writing papers and memorizing words for my conversation class. In between, however, I found the time to take a walk with Angela (to listen to all of her crazy adventures) and to buy season six of “Sex and the City” and “City of God” (the movie). DVDs here are insanely cheap. It only costs two dollars for almost any movie (well, probably pirated ones) and some of them aren’t even in the theaters yet. I also bought a mixed CD of the best reggae songs in 2007, which was only a dollar. If buying random CDs and DVDs doesn´t kill my budget, my new obsession with Ecuador soccer could definitely put my spending over the top! I went to my first fútbol game in Quito last Wednesday between Nacional and Liga (the two biggest club teams in Quito). Because I’d wanted to buy a jersey for a long time, Sam and I decided we were going to be Liga fans about an hour before the game and picked up a couple of jerseys from El Jardín (the mall near my apartment). The game itself was amazing! We (about seven of us from Oregon) got seats right by the crazy fans who were shouting curses, banging drums and throwing toilet paper on to the field. It was great fun to watch the game while eating delicious hotdogs, joining in on the chants that we didn’t understand and marveling at how close the planes overhead would come to the field as they landed at the airport nearby. Liga won 2-0 (of course) and then we stuck around for a little bit to watch the next game between Barcelona (the most hated team in Quito from Guayaquil) and some other team. It was hilarious to see Nacional and Liga fans go from screaming at each other to turning on Barcelona as the team entered the stadium. In addition to club games, there are some really exciting matches coming up later this month between Ecuador and Venezuela and Ecuador and Mexico. Hopefully I’ll be able to go, but Julie and I are thinking about heading to the coast in a couple of weeks, so we’ll see what happens. The picture of the barbed-wire fence, by the way, is the only thing separating Liga and Nacional fans.

Returning to my confusion(mentioned at the start of this blog post),Today went pretty smoothly until Sam and I tried to get back to Quito from USFQ, and got on the wrong bus. Eventually, we were dropped off in the middle of nowhere on the side of a freeway and had to find our way back to the city on two more buses that literally went just about everywhere possible in Quito before finally dropping us off somewhat close to our homes two hours later.Since I wasn’t in a hurry, it was funny more than anything, but I definitely learned my lesson! I also cheered myself up by stopping for juice at my favorite fruit-stand. It’s a little store about a half-mile from my house in which I can sit down, pick out any combination of fruits that my heart desires (today I got fresh-squeezed orange juice, blackberries and bananas) and watch as they blend it right in front of me for only 50 cents! I love it and look forward to it every day now. 

I should probably get some rest because tomorrow I've agreed to sit at 

a booth for three hours and convince Ecuadorians to study at UO. Apparently the program is in trouble because too many students leave Oregon to study at USFQ, while not enough Ecuadorians go to UO. I’ll do my best to represent Los Patos (The Ducks)! I also am going to talk with my Social Problems in Ecuador professor tomorrow about places to volunteer. The final photos are of my friends Quena, Michelle and me at the Chiva (many moons ago), and a street in the historical district (I thought I’d throw them in the mix just for fun). ¡Adiós! ¡Que te vaya bien! 

Baños: The Good, The Bad and The Itchy! (& The things that drive me CRAZY!)

Julie, Erin (another Oregon friend) and I departed for Baños at around 5:00 PM last Friday from the main bus-terminal in central Quito. A small town about 3.5 hours south of the capital, Baños is known for its hot springs, waterfalls, and the volcano, Tungurahua, which recently became active in 2006, and frequently showers the area with fresh ash. I’ve wanted to travel there FOREVER, so it was a relief to finally get on the bus and be on our way. After rolling in at around 8:30, we found a hotel called Casa Blanca, got some delicious Italian food and called it a night. In the morning (Saturday), we walked across the street to a tourist center to figure out our plan for the day. Before leaving Quito, Julie’s friend had recommended rappelling down waterfalls as a fun thing to do, so we took her up on it and scheduled five waterfalls for 20 bucks! I should note that I’ve started to lose perspective on what’s a good deal money-wise after only a month in this country, but it seemed to be worth the expense just to see Julie in her wetsuit with extra long zipper! It was also a marvel to watch as our rappelling instructor transformed from a normal guy in the store, to the most attractive man in the world at the falls, and back to a regular dude again upon our return. The falls were obviously amazing, so there’s no need to elaborate.

Unfortunately, Erin had to head back to Quito Saturday afternoon because she had plans on Sunday to go to La Mitad del Mundo (center of the world), so Julie and I wandered around Baños for the rest of the day, and at night we completed our second chiva adventure to the top of a mountain near Tungurahua to chill and watch some fire juggling.

And then there was Sunday (AKA the worst day EVER). We had been planning all weekend to rent bikes and ride around the mountains (because that’s what everyone does when they go to Baños apparently), so we managed to roll out of bed at 7:30 AM and pick up some bikes, a lock, and a map for $5 at a shop down the road. From then on, things just got worse and worse. First off, about two minutes in, Julie dropped the map, but we were too lazy to bike back the 100 meters to get it. Instead we kept going, ended up taking a wrong turn and heading up an extremely steep hill for roughly a mile (in which I fell and our bikes were so bad that we had to push them the entire way up) with the sun beating down and buses passing rapidly around sharp corners. After heading back and finding the correct road, we biked for another six miles or so, and by that time were so exhausted that we decided to wait for a bus (or any truck that was willing really) to take us back to Baños so we could pack our stuff and go home. So we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, until I’d gotten enough bug bites to discourage me from waiting any longer. This pattern of biking and waiting continued for about another half-hour until we finally arrived at the main waterfall we had wanted to get to in the first place called El Diablo, only to discover that it cost a dollar to get in and we had only brought a dollar each for the bus ride back! So the waiting continued, and after several more bug bites and some rain, a bus decided to pull over and take pity on the poor extranjeros stranded on the side of the road.

After all of this, I was completely thrilled to be back in my apartment on America y Acuña later that day (even if I did have mounds of homework yet to be completed). Now that I’ve finished with Baños, it’s time to start the real ranting! Though I don’t consider myself to be a very impatient person, the pace of life here has been difficult to adjust to at times. The fact that most stores don’t open until 9:00 AM, the traffic jams on the way to school, and (more than anything else) the internet at USFQ, have all, in their turn, pushed me very close to insanity. Although I’ve began to try avoiding these frustrations by attempting to anticipate the problems I might have throughout the day, there always seems to be something that catches me off guard. A few other complaints include the sirens and alarms constantly ringing outside my bedroom window, the bug bites from Baños and the cigarette smoke that always manages to latch onto my favorite clothes. Despite all of these minor annoyances, I can’t help but love Quito. I love my classes, walking around La Parque Carolina, the 50-cent smoothies I get everyday after school, the view out my window of Cotopaxi, and weekends spent at La Mariscal. All for now! The pictures include a few from the falls, the walk through Baños, the bike ride, and the beautiful scenery that we couldn’t enjoy. ¡Chévere!

Chivas & Mud

A chiva (for those of you who don’t know) is a party bus that is used to promote clubs and can be rented out for birthdays, holidays or whatever else (especially popular during the festival of Quito in December)! Last Thursday, I got to experience my first chiva for the birthday of one of my friends at USFQ named Dawn. The bus was rickety and pretty old looking; but what it lacked in appearance, it made up for in awesomeness! We (about 50 students from USFQ) were all given little Ecuadorian flags, whistles and lots of music to dance to as we drove through the streets of Quito. The club that the chiva was promoting is called Gia so after our ride around the city, we headed back there to dance some more until finally calling it a night at around 2:00 AM.Friday was extremely boring because I didn’t have class and haven’t started doing any kind of volunteer work yet. I did, however, get some homework done, and Julie, Alex (our Ecuadorian friend) and I went out to Mariscal that evening to get some food and hang out. On Saturday, I went back to the historical district because Julie hadn’t been there yet and I also needed to find a bank in order to get change. It was a really fun day because we met some girls from England on the bus who were taking a gap year to teach music in Cuenca (another city in the highlands of Ecuador), and who had just arrived in Quito. After showing them around all day, I discovered that they only lived one block from my apartment so we’ll probably hang out again soon! On Saturday night, I went to bed earlier than usual because my trip for Volcanology to Pichincha was supposed to leave at 3:30 in the morning. Now I can finally turn to the absolute highlight of my week! Sunday was incredible on many levels. It’s first necessary to note that my professor for the class, Theo, is one of the most hilarious/brilliant people I’ve ever met. He’s originally from Greece but grew up in Germany and married an Ecuadorian. In addition, he speaks six languages, could pass for a textbook in the fields of geology and volcanology and (as I mentioned before) is hilarious. Moving on, I picked up my friends (Sam and Julie) in a taxi at around 3:00 AM Sunday morning to meet the rest of our group in front of the Mexican Embassy in Quito. As scheduled, we departed at exactly 3:30 in a convoy of five or six jeeps, beginning our ascent to Pichincha. Sam and I concluded that the drive to Pichincha was comparable to riding a bull without being able to dismount. The roads were almost completely destroyed, but we eventually made it in one piece and completed the short, but insanely cold, trek to the top (altitude at a little over 14,000 feet). Pichincha, in reality, was pretty miserable. We had horrible luck by going on a day in which the mountain was completely engulfed in fog, when on a clear day it’s possible to see all the way to Colombia. Even so, I ended up enjoying myself. It was pretty funny how pathetic I was wearing my thin jeans, ankle socks and having to resort to using Sam’s socks as gloves, because I had forgotten my own.

At around 8:30 AM we got back to Quito and had an hour to eat before our second trip of the day to another volcano called Papallacta, which is about an hour east of Quito in the lower highlands. The drive alone was breathtaking with lush forests, waterfalls and several rivers that ran along the highway. It was also interesting to see the massive oil pipelines that I had learned about in ¨Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man¨and ¨Savages¨. I watched as they snaked over hills and then descended back down into various small villages for miles and miles. The hike, however, was, without a doubt, the best one I’ve ever done, and I have never been dirtier in my entire life. Theo led us (unnecessarily I might add) into a thick and very wet forest (with no path) in which we hiked for about two hours in search of rocks. I wish I could capture the journey in words but it’s impossible really. Let’s just say that I couldn’t stop laughing the entire time as we slid down muddy hills, fell into rivers and watched the hole in my jeans grow bigger and bigger all the while. With roughly 80 other students, it’s a miracle that no one got seriously injured. Even though the hike was a blast, it was a relief to finally be done; especially knowing that our next destination was the Papallacta hot springs. The water there was absolutely wonderful, but I hadn’t brought a change of clothes so that put another interesting twist on the trip when I returned to my apartment in Quito wearing mud soaked running shoes (with no socks), borrowed black cotton pants that were WAY too tight, and carrying my destroyed jeans that I didn’t want to put in my backpack with my other stuff. It was a great adventure and Julie and I are thinking of assembling a group to travel to Baños next weekend for yet another escapade! The pictures I’ve added are some pre-chiva shots (the second one is with Sam), Pichincha, and the sad reality of my once favorite jeans. ¡Ciao Amigos!

A word on my shower, Otavalo and developing my taste buds…

While studying abroad here in Ecuador, there are many things I could choose to fear. Some examples include, the car-repairmen I pass everyday on my way to the bus who consistently yell things like “¡Mamacita!” and whistle, the three buses I take to school (usually filled about three times over capacity), the biggest earthquake in recorded history (according to my Vulcanología professor) that could strike at any second, an eruption from one of the dozens of volcanoes throughout the country, or possibly developing any number of diseases such as dengue fever, malaria or just getting sick with dysentery. Of all these things, however, there is nothing that I fear more than my shower. It’s important to note that the water for the showers in Ecuador is generally heated by gas and my gas tank happens to be right where I can see it in the shower; the only thing separating it from me being a thin glass door. This wouldn’t be too scary if I didn’t have to light it with a match every morning, smell the gas and watch the flame rise and fall while I bathe, but unfortunately this is what I must sacrifice to maintain an acceptable level of hygiene. The good news is that I’ve gotten used to it over the past few weeks and if I happen to die in a massive explosion, well at least it’s a unique way to go!

Moving on, I took an amazing trip to Otavalo on Saturday with Julie and Angela. We decided, kind of at the last minute, to go for the day in order to do a little shopping because there was supposed to be a festival and other students from Oregon had gone the day before to spend the night. Otavalo is in the Sierra about two hours north of Quito and is extremely well known for having one of the best markets in all of Ecuador. On the bus, Angela met an old man from Otavalo who introduced us to his entire family once we arrived. His daughter, Tatiana, showed us around the city all day and helped us with bargaining etc… The market was so massive and so full of wonderful clothing, jewelry and other crafts that I was pretty overwhelmed at first from wanting to buy everything! In the end I left with an alpaca sweater, alpaca socks an alpaca scarf and about five necklaces made from seeds of the Oriente. The highlight of Otavalo, however, turned out to be a surprise encounter with a particular person who also decided to go shopping on Saturday. Shortly after arriving in the city, we noticed that everyone was flocking to a certain area, so we walked over just in time to see Rafael Correa (President of Ecuador) strolling through the crowd with some friends and a very large security team. After struggling to get a good picture, he turned to Julie, Angela and me, and said, “Hola Chicas”. It was, needless to say, a pretty cool experience for us three newcomers to Ecuador.

On Sunday I woke up expecting to just do homework all day, but when I wandered into the kitchen I found Maritza fully dressed and telling me that we were going out for breakfast in ten minutes! After scrambling to get ready, we met up with her sister, Lucia, and family and then went to an indoor market somewhere in the Quito. There, I anticipated we’d be having something along the lines of coffee and bread, so you can imagine my surprise when a big bowl of soup consisting of potatoes, cilantro and the lining of a cow’s stomach/intestines (not exactly sure which) was placed in front of me. I tried one bite of the meat, but it was a little much for me at nine in the morning. My family was nice about it though, and Maritza promptly moved me over to another booth where I downed a tall glass of green juice that had a raw egg blended in. So far, Sunday has been my only somewhat strange food experience, but it was funny more than anything else. Later in the day, Maritza’s mom (AKA the sweetest woman alive) came in from Guayaquil to stay with us and we chatted for a while, only to be interrupted once by a minor earthquake. All in all, it’s been a pretty eventful couple of days I’d say! The photos I posted include the picture of me in the paper from last Monday, Rafael Correa, Angela, Julie and me in Otavalo and the view out my window including Cotopaxi. ¡Hasta Pronto! ¡Una linda día mis amigos! 

Places to Go-Sights to See

It’s 9:00 AM on a Monday and I’m so tired and bored right now! My class schedule got completely switched around so I only have one class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00-2:30. I am now taking Advanced Spanish, North and South: Process of Colonization, Advanced Conversation, Volcano Studies and Social Problems in Ecuador. Even though the times of my classes are a little weird, I’m pretty happy with them. Especially the volcano class because we get to go on a lot of field trips to the highlands, coast and rainforest. 

To backtrack a bit, the last few days have been really fun. Last Thursday I went out with my host sister, Maritza, and her boyfriend to some of her favorite spots in the Mariscal. The Mariscal is the center of nightlife in Quito. There are always tons of people there and a lot of gringos. I went out Friday night as well with a bunch of other students from USFQ (including three students from Ecuador). That was a good time too because Ecuadorian boys don’t let the girls pay for anything! On Saturday, Julie, Angela and I participated in El Correr de Las Iglesias. 

The race started at 7:00 PM and it was a struggle to get there because we had to walk from Julie’s house, to Angela’s house, to my house so I could change before we sprinted to the race and were still about fifteen minutes late. It worked out fine though because we decided to take a little short cut of about two kilometers and ended up running with the leaders in no time! The race was definitely the most exciting thing I’ve done here so far. There were over 4,000 runners, bands on every other block and fireworks going off from the finish line. Although we ended up speed walking the majority of the way because of the altitude, whenever we saw a big crowd of spectators approaching we would step up the pace so people would think we’d been doing that the entire way. There’s going to be a marathon and half marathon at the end of November so I’m thinking that if I start training now I might have a shot at it. After the race I went to a see Rush Hour III with Julie’s family at the mall and then crashed at around midnight. 

All the pictures I’ve posted are from the tour of the historical district that the Oregon group took yesterday. It was so amazing to see what a beautiful city I’m now living in. The basilica was probably the coolest thing we toured all day. To get to the top we first had to climb an insane number of staircases and then three VERY steep ladders which creaked a little and at times had just enough space available for someone to slip through if they weren’t careful. Also at the basilica, some of us got the chance to see the tombs of three former presidents of Ecuador! Overall I’d say it was a good weekend, but I’m looking forward to getting out of Quito for a while. I guess that’s all for now cause I have to get ready to head out to la Universidad. ¡Hasta Lluego¡

P.S. I wrote this post yesterday and found out later in the day that there is a picture of me in the paper (El Comercio) from when I was at the Mariscal with my sister! I´ll take a picture of it and post it once I have it!