last weekend was a quito weekend. my friend's boyfriend was in town so we had to show him the city and do all the touristy things. on friday, we went to my favorite little cafe for the most delish and cheap lunch and then spent the day downtown in el centro. i finally went in the amazing museums and churches quito is famous for. there is one church we call the "gold church" because literally 85% of the inside is made from gold! it is so beautiful and wicked cool to see, but unfortunately no cameras allowed, so you all should just come to quito and see for yourself. we also ventured six blocks up a 45 degree-angled hill to see the cathedral. wow, now that is something spectacular! it is bigger than one could believe, has amazing stain glassed windows, and ridiculous architecture work. and then we went where no gringo is supposed to go - the black market. we knew the general area of where it was located, but had to ask about 5143534 people who all gave us different directions. finally, when one woman said "oh are you looking for the market with all the robbed stuff?" we knew she would point us in the right direction because thats exactly what we were looking for! see i needed a new cell phone, didnt want to pay $60 for one, didn't really care if it was old or used or stolen, and so the black market was my destination. and my was it worth it! i got a phone in really good shape for $20 (my friend has the exact same one and he paid $55 for it... sucker). we hung around downtown for the rest of the day, had a very overpriced but delicious pizza dinner, and then went to la ronda because all visitors need to spend a night at la ronda! we got some canelazo, watched street performers, and listened to good ecuadorian music - exactly what la ronda is known for! oh andddd listen to this: a random ecuadorian came up to my guy friends, asked them if they could put on these brand new ecua shoes (picture a cheaper version of chuck taylors and everyone wears them around here) and asked if he could take their picture. maybe an ad campaign of some sort for the ecua shoes with the tag line "gringos wear them too" ...? we didn't know what was going on but after the guys had their photo shoot the guy said they could keep the shoes! ahh i've been dying to get my own pair of ecua shoes and now my guys got them for free... so jealous.
on saturday, i spent the day with the Melos. and it was extra special because it was the last day Ale was in town for her spring break from Georgetown! they picked me up midday, i had an awesome vegetarian lunch at their house, and then just hung out basically. pia showed me her beautiful ceramics pieces, i helped ale go through old things and pack up her bag, and just had a very relaxing day in their amazing home. and if they weren't generous enough - they even took me out to dinner later that night at a very nice oriental restaurant where we feasted on spring rolls, dumplings, fried rice, and sushi YUM! i love having them so close to me in quito! and sunday was a very chill day spent doing homework, taking a run in the beautiful weather, and talking on the phone with the fam. a great ending to a relaxing weekend!
so i was really upset when this weekend rolled around and my friends and i realized we didnt really have anything planned. i love quito, but i love traveling the country more and i just think its a waste to spend two straight weekends in the same town! but luckily, i got invited camping. remember those guys i mentioned that i met in montañita but they just so happen to go to USFQ with me? well they and some of their friends were planning an overnight camping trip near cotopaxi mountain and invited me and 5 of my friends along. so saturday morning, we met up at the school, stocked up on food and drinks at supermaxi, and hit the road! this was one of my first adventures in ecuador where the mode of transportation was not a bus. i must admit, ecuadorian drivers are scary and bad, but you get places a whole lot quicker by car, that's for sure. after about an hour and a half, we arrived at the entrance to a camp site near cotopaxi, but when the police told us it was going to be $5 a person and they were going to take our drinks and food away we said no thanks. one of my ecua friends knew another entrance through machachi that didnt include any lame policemen! so i thought, ya know, the entrance would be right down the road a few miles or something, well i was completely wrong. the ecua boys didnt know the exact route, the roads were unpaved and in the country, and we had to stop at a farm and help these guys get their car out of the mud. luckily we had good friends and good music so our road trip across all of ecuador was actually really enjoyable! finally, we reached the entrance and the only reason we were allowed to pass through was because one of my friends knew the owner of the farm... how lucky?! and it was beyond worth the wait! we were the only people within hundreds of miles in this completely wide open and natural "desert" in ecuador! it was one of the coolest things: green grass, huge boulders, gigantic rolling hills, snowcapped mountains, wild horses, wild bulls, volcano eruption remnants, and 3 cars full of crazy ecuas and gringos! after getting stuck in the mud and stopping numerous times to take pictures of the amazing scenery and animals, we finally made our way to a lagoon at the base of cotopaxi mountain - ecuador's most famous mountain. it was already getting dark, but it was still one of the most beautiful things i had ever seen. we set up tents, tried to make a fire, basically failed, and so we had a "dinner" of a few pretzels and some peanuts. we were roughin' it. it was absolutely freezing (we were at the foot of a snowcapped mountain) - even with four layers and a sleeping bag - so the majority of us ended sleeping in the cars haha i guess we weren't reallyyyy roughin' it. but got a pretty good sleep, even though it was still so cold in the car, and woke up early enough to see the sun rising, the moon setting, and the sky the coolest shade of blue i have ever seen! we hit the road a few hours later and thankfully it only took us two hours to get back home. that made me happier than ever because i was about to eat my left arm... remember i hadn't really eaten much since the muffin i had had at 10am the day before. so the eggs and toast i made back at home in quito tasted like a 5-star meal!
...so two really fun weekends as usual. it's crazy because i have now been here for over two months and have only two months left! time flies when you are having fun and i'm going to do whatever it takes to jam pack my weekends so i can do everything and see everything that needs to be done and seen in ecuador before i leave! cuenca, the rainforest, galapagos, back to montañita, canoa, and otovalo just to name a few :)
hope you are enjoying life as much as i am.
PAZ, scm
p.s. pictures of this amazing camping trip to come soon!
plaza grande in el centro
church in plaza san francisco
cathedral
beautiful!
friends in the plaza!
view from the lookout at our campsite
cotopaxi... we camped right at the base at the lagoon
wide open spaces!
a donkey came to our car
some friends :)
on saturday, i spent the day with the Melos. and it was extra special because it was the last day Ale was in town for her spring break from Georgetown! they picked me up midday, i had an awesome vegetarian lunch at their house, and then just hung out basically. pia showed me her beautiful ceramics pieces, i helped ale go through old things and pack up her bag, and just had a very relaxing day in their amazing home. and if they weren't generous enough - they even took me out to dinner later that night at a very nice oriental restaurant where we feasted on spring rolls, dumplings, fried rice, and sushi YUM! i love having them so close to me in quito! and sunday was a very chill day spent doing homework, taking a run in the beautiful weather, and talking on the phone with the fam. a great ending to a relaxing weekend!
so i was really upset when this weekend rolled around and my friends and i realized we didnt really have anything planned. i love quito, but i love traveling the country more and i just think its a waste to spend two straight weekends in the same town! but luckily, i got invited camping. remember those guys i mentioned that i met in montañita but they just so happen to go to USFQ with me? well they and some of their friends were planning an overnight camping trip near cotopaxi mountain and invited me and 5 of my friends along. so saturday morning, we met up at the school, stocked up on food and drinks at supermaxi, and hit the road! this was one of my first adventures in ecuador where the mode of transportation was not a bus. i must admit, ecuadorian drivers are scary and bad, but you get places a whole lot quicker by car, that's for sure. after about an hour and a half, we arrived at the entrance to a camp site near cotopaxi, but when the police told us it was going to be $5 a person and they were going to take our drinks and food away we said no thanks. one of my ecua friends knew another entrance through machachi that didnt include any lame policemen! so i thought, ya know, the entrance would be right down the road a few miles or something, well i was completely wrong. the ecua boys didnt know the exact route, the roads were unpaved and in the country, and we had to stop at a farm and help these guys get their car out of the mud. luckily we had good friends and good music so our road trip across all of ecuador was actually really enjoyable! finally, we reached the entrance and the only reason we were allowed to pass through was because one of my friends knew the owner of the farm... how lucky?! and it was beyond worth the wait! we were the only people within hundreds of miles in this completely wide open and natural "desert" in ecuador! it was one of the coolest things: green grass, huge boulders, gigantic rolling hills, snowcapped mountains, wild horses, wild bulls, volcano eruption remnants, and 3 cars full of crazy ecuas and gringos! after getting stuck in the mud and stopping numerous times to take pictures of the amazing scenery and animals, we finally made our way to a lagoon at the base of cotopaxi mountain - ecuador's most famous mountain. it was already getting dark, but it was still one of the most beautiful things i had ever seen. we set up tents, tried to make a fire, basically failed, and so we had a "dinner" of a few pretzels and some peanuts. we were roughin' it. it was absolutely freezing (we were at the foot of a snowcapped mountain) - even with four layers and a sleeping bag - so the majority of us ended sleeping in the cars haha i guess we weren't reallyyyy roughin' it. but got a pretty good sleep, even though it was still so cold in the car, and woke up early enough to see the sun rising, the moon setting, and the sky the coolest shade of blue i have ever seen! we hit the road a few hours later and thankfully it only took us two hours to get back home. that made me happier than ever because i was about to eat my left arm... remember i hadn't really eaten much since the muffin i had had at 10am the day before. so the eggs and toast i made back at home in quito tasted like a 5-star meal!
...so two really fun weekends as usual. it's crazy because i have now been here for over two months and have only two months left! time flies when you are having fun and i'm going to do whatever it takes to jam pack my weekends so i can do everything and see everything that needs to be done and seen in ecuador before i leave! cuenca, the rainforest, galapagos, back to montañita, canoa, and otovalo just to name a few :)
hope you are enjoying life as much as i am.
PAZ, scm
p.s. pictures of this amazing camping trip to come soon!
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