*i wrote this blog yesterday morning, and i have been trying to upload pictures to go with it ever since. i guess blogger just doesn't want you to see them. for now, check out my picasa albums for illustrations.
day 1: LC's bday. we spent the day exploring quito's artisan market and old town. LC started off the week right by making me pose with her for a ridiculous number of self-timer pics, buying a ton of ecuadorian crap, and mocking tourists. it was a hella good time.
one of our many self-timer pics inside the basilica.
day 2: cotapaxi. who wouldn't think biking down the world's tallest active volacano isn't a brilliant idea? apparently, LC, among others. but i thought it sounded like fun and i was planning the trip. to our surprise and delight, this idea was a winner. we both loved the ride, and we met some crazy continental airline employees who are hopefully going to hook us up with some sweet buddy passes if we send them our millions of amazing pictures.
after the bike ride, we hitched a ride with out guide (bikingdutchman.com) all the way to quilotoa. we arrived to quilotoa, a small indigenous village in the mountains, around 5:30pm. we were somewhere around 15,000 feet and it was COLD. i mean, we layered on all 5 pieces of clothing we had in our backpacks, hats and gloves included. we did, however, get to see some quilotoans practice their dances and songs for some sort of upcoming indigenous festival. very authentic.
day 3: hike from quilotoa to chugchilan. you might be wondering why we would go to some random, tiny indigenous village in the mountains to freeze our buns off in a ghetto-fabulous hostal. just look at the pictures... that wouldn't load! ugh.
laguna quilotoa is an old volcano that now has a lake in the crater and it is absolutely breathtaking. we hiked around a portion of it in the morning en route to chugchilan, our next destination. my lonely planet book recommended hiking from one village to the next, siting it as one of ecuador's most "enchanting experiences." enchanting it was, easy, or even moderately difficult, it was not. that hike was straight up hard. my legs are still a little sore. but i LOVED it. it was probably my favorite part of the whole trip.
LC loved it to, just had a slightly different way of expressing it. (will try to post pictures again later... her expressions were priceless).
"are you kidding me, ecuador?!... screw the andes... if only i were in america, i could call someone and tell them to get their ass and their car over here and pick me up...."
after 4.5 gruelling hours, we made it to our destination: chugchilan's black sheep inn - our splurge for the week. a bit pricier than your average $10 a night hostal, but well worth it. it is an eco-friendly lodge with amazing food, comfy beds, and warm rooms. we met lots of interesting people here too, which was fun.
day 4: travel back to quito. this day was pretty low-key, which was good considering neither of us could really walk. nothing much to speak of. our driver did stop on the way home to let me go to the bathroom "a natural." that was neat. and, we went to dinner at one of my favorite places, vista hermosa (which means "beautiful view"). it's on a rooftop and has great views of the city. the clouds were pretty.
day 5: papallacta. still having trouble walking, we decided to head to papallacta, a little town about 1.5 hours from quito that has natural hot springs. we thought it would be good for the muscles. it was. then, we hitchhiked home. oops. turns out, hitchhiking isn't so scary after all! roberto was really nice, and even bought me lunch at an ecuadorian truck stop.
it was such a great trip, and we had so much fun. not only did we get to explore ecuador and hike through the andes, but i got to see my bestie and have a little piece of home here for a week.
"life gives us brief moments with one another... but sometimes in those brief moments we get memories that last a lifetime."
