Equators, Volcanoes, and Hitchhiking (Oh My)

I don't even know where to start explaining what has gone on the past couple of days but I will do my best. Yesterday morning, we made the decision to spend the day in Quito. This was made for two reasons, the first being that Jeremy and Alex were not feeling 100% and we thought it would be good to take a day to rest. The second reason was that the city looked amazingly awesome. We enjoyed a lazy morning, we ate breakfast at the hostel and then bummed in our room for a bit. We found out that Quito has the “Mitad del Mundo” or Center of the world (Equator). Also, we discovered that we could mountain bike down the world’s second largest active volcano. After reading this, we went downstairs and booked another night at the hostel.

Around 1 we started walking the down. I found a small tourist shop and we stopped in to ask a few questions. This is where we met Alex. She is a worker at “Magic Ecuador” and she actually knew where Wisconsin is! The first person!! She helped us set up a tour for the following day of biking down the mountain. She was a hilarious, kind woman. She spoke English very well but after learning that we were going to be studying in Uruguay, she made us speak only Spanish to her. As we were finishing up getting things in order, she left for a moment and came back with a box of Ecuadorian chocolates for us to share. The gesture of the gift was amazingly heartwarming. I invited her to lunch with us and luckily, she was able to come with. As she was grabbing her things, she came back with two more boxes of chocolates.

She took us to one of her favorite local restaurants for Empanadas.  After talking for a bit, she found out that Jeremy was sick. She gave him strict orders on what he could and could not eat.

My meal of a meat empanada and a oreo milkshake. The milkshake was presented really nicely but I was too excited to have it that I didn´t get a picture. (Note how Jeremy´s chicken soup came with an entire chicken)

See, I do eat real food Auntie Carrie (Yes, I can sass back thousands of miles away)

 Then she gave us all tips on staying safe and healthy. She kept saying, “I feel like your mom” and she would laugh. It was a great lunch and time well spent with another amazing person I have met on this journey. Anytime we refer to her now, we refer to her as mom. “Remember, mom said to wear our backpacks in front on the Subway.”

After departing ways, we headed to the bus station to get to El Mitad del Mundo. It cost us a total of 40 cents one way to get about 45 minutes out of town.

 It was a pretty uneventful bus ride except for when I watched a man literally take candy from a baby and throw it out the window… When we arrived, we went straight to the equator. It was really cool to be in both the Southern and Northern Hemisphere at the same time. Ironically, it was the coldest place we had been thus far. Alex felt deceived by humanity because the equator wasn’t warm haha.

After our fair share of picture taking at the line, we moved on. Alex did a little shopping and Jeremy and I did a little exploring. We found this cool statue. I’m still not entirely sure what it was about but I liked it. Then we say the llamas!! Jeremy and I noticed them at the same time, locked eyes and immediately power walked over. They were so cute but they wouldn’t come near us L So, after taking a quick look around, I hopped the fence and came near them. It was well worth it.

Following our llama fun, we continued to explore the site. We found this abandoned watch tower thing and that was about it.

On the bus ride back, we were confused on what bus we needed to take. Luckily, a couple was waiting at the same stop for the same place. They helped us get on the bus and they made sure that we got off the right stop. After getting off the bus they made sure we knew where we were and how to get to where we needed to go. They were so kind to take the time to make sure we were alright.

We grabbed dinner from a local market and headed back to the hotel. Once there, we made plans for our next few days. After talking to a lot of people, we decided we couldn’t pass the city of Banos without staying in it. We used the night to book our hostel and do a little research.

The morning came all too quickly. We had to hustle to get everything packed up in time for our ride to the volcano. Our guide came right in the middle of our breakfast and he graciously let us finish eating.

When we finished eating, we loaded the truck for the hour trip to Cotopaxi. We instantly hit it off with our driver, Roberto. He taught us how to cook a good roast beef. We talked about his wife and kids, our travel plans, the volcano and other small talk. He also spoke English and was great at correcting our Spanish. He was a hilarious guy and so pleasant.

When we made it to the entrance of the Cotopaxi National Park (The second national park ever created in Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands being the first) we picked up our other guide, Rosa. She told as a lot more of the history behind Cotopaxi. The name is Quechan for Neck of the Moon. The volcano is in a perfect cone shape. When the local people climb it, they do it at night to avoid the rapidly changing climates of the day. They can summit it in 8-10 hours if they are in good physical condition.

On the way up the volcano, we saw the most beautiful sights. I wish the pictures better portrayed the vastness of the surrounding topography.

Roberto and I have matching binoculars

First view of how huge Cotopaxi is

 We finally arrived at the drop of spot to begin biking. We climbed up a little ways to see the sign and the refuge center. Alex and I only made it to the sign and Jeremy went to the refuge center.

Finally, it was time to mount the bikes and ride! It took a while to get used to the feel of the bike on the dirt road and to not panic around corners. About halfway down the volcano, I felt more comfortable and allowed myself to gain more speed. The sights, the ride, the sounds, everything was absolutely amazing. No hay palabras. There are not words, neither in Spanish nor in English to describe what we experienced.

After we finished biking, we ate lunch and headed out. Roberto was going to drop us off at a bus station so we could head straight to Banos instead of backtracking all the way to Quito. He let us off at a seemingly random part of the road where we were

stranded for about 15 minutes.

Stranded

 Another group of 3 sat further up the road and they were trying to hitchhike. A pickup truck stopped from them and they beckoned for us to join. With a little hesitation, we jumped in the back as well.

 Turns out the other 3 were trying to get to the same city as we were. They helped us get off this pickup truck and into another that would take us there. Once we arrived in the city, we needed to find a bus to take us to Banos. They offered to help us and walked us to the terminal. It was extremely generous of them and after we started walking I was so glad they were with us. The streets were crowded and we appeared to be in a not so nice area. The girl led us and the two boys trailed behind us for most of the walk. It felt like we had body guards. When we got the station, they offered to help us buy tickets. We found out that there were no direct routes to Banos at this terminal but down the road there was. They walked us there and waited with us for our bus to come. Once again, we were saved from a bad situation by some amazing people (sensing a theme?).

The ride to Banos was gorgeous but so is everything in Ecuador.

We arrived to Banos and got checked into our hostel without problems. We spent the rest of the evening booking our adventures for the next day, eating and relaxing.

Pizza and pasta for dinner, I guess  we are starting to miss home a bit