"But that’s the glory of foreign travel... Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”
Wow. This place is amazing! I am literally surrounded by mountains on all sides, and I can't seem to get use to how cool it is. Every time I step outside, I am amazed all over again, and point out the mountains (with the city creeping up them) to whomever I am with. They just look at me like "yes, you are right, the mountains haven't disappeared since last night..." At first I was afraid I would not get any pictures of this beautiful city because it would not be safe for me to take out my camera, but lucky for me, I made an Ecuadorian friend (who has lived in Portland for years, small world) who has taken me to some amazing places (and since I was with him, it was much safer for me to take out my camera). One night, we walked around the old town, with it's amazing buildings and thousands of churches, and then we went to a cafe on top of a tall building, which had amazing views. There is no way to capture how amazing Quito is at night, you just have to be there, but my photos will give you an idea (I can't figure out how to post them on here, so if you go down to the bottom of this post there is a link to my pictures, and if that doesn't work, let me know).
My favorite thing as of yet has been taking the teleferico up to 4,200m (14,000ft), by far the highest I have ever been! Imagine standing that high up, looking down at a city that seems to stretch forever (literally, even from up there you can't see both ends, it is now over 20km long) and looking in front and around you are the Andes. It is heaven. We took pictures, watched the sunset, and watched the city lights spread throughout the city as it grew dark. It was magical. A fox even came right up to us as we were standing there, a few feet away, and just watched us. Once again, I could never capture the beauty of this place, but there are many pictures in the album to give you an idea of what it is like.
Quito. Where buses don't stop for you to get on, where everyone puts on a sweatshirt or two once it hits 20c (70f), where everyone rides mountain bikes, even on the street, and where even I can kind of find my way around because of the huge towering mountains that help serve as landmarks. My home stay family is very nice, and though we can't say too much because of the language barrier, we have managed to communicate. Quito is very different from what I am use to. Here, not only can I not go out at night alone, but even during the day it can be iffy. Good thing I have made a few friends, and have been able to go out everyday day and night since I arrived. The next towns I will be staying in will be much smaller, and hopefully a little safer. As for the Spanish school, it is great. A lot of information and a lot of Spanish at once, but I can tell that even with just a few weeks of these one on one classes, I will be well on my way to understanding at least the basics. As an optional part of the class, I took a salsa lesson, because salsa is not only part of the culture, but practically mandatory when you go out. Unfortunately, there is nothing to be done about my lack of dancing skills, I am not sure if the teacher has ever had someone so untalented and unable to do even the simplest steps. Also with the school, we took a field trip to a valley about thirty minutes away to eat cuy, or guinea pig.
I can't believe it has only been a week considering how much I have gotten to do, from walking around the market, to taking pictures at 14,000ft, to meeting some of the most interesting and amazing people that exist. Here are a few of the differences I noticed right away. Just because there is a stop sign, that does not mean the cars actually stop, or even slow down. The rules for driving here are very different because, well, there are no rules! At night, stop lights turn into stop signs, their kind of stop sign, meaning slow down a bit if you want, and no one uses seat belts. Oh, and lanes and turning signals are optional, and are rarely used correctly. Another difference is that lunch, not dinner, is their biggest meal, and that the weather here is bipolar. It will be sunny and warm, and five minutes later, hailing, only to be sunny again within the hour.
Well, that is all for now. This weekend I am going biking (not sure where, some organized thing) at night, and then I am going to mountain bike down Cotopaxi, Ecuador's second highest peak (20,000ft). I can't wait! Oh, and, it's official. I am never coming back. So far I have had fresh passion fruit and mango juice, as well as coconut milk. What more could you ask for.
Here is a link to some of my photos thus far:
https://picasaweb.google.com/109164353544358903729/Ecuador#
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