A few hours on the plane gave us time to become great friends with a woman named Erin. She decided to go to the amazon by herself after a few days in Quito, Ecuador. Her hotel was just ten minutes away from our hostel. So we decided to hang out the next day, which she was happy about since she was just learning spanish. A few things had gone wrong in this trip so far and Karrie and I kept trying to keep our heads held high and think positively. The power went out on the street that our hostel was on so we didn't have power or light when we got to the hostel. Our flashlights came in handy and the power outage only lasted a few hours. The restaurant we went to was amazing. Unfortunately, I don't keep track of the details so I cant tell you the name. We did see Cuy on the menu which was guinea pig. I was disgusted. We didn't order it.
Ecuador was quite a long distance but what made it worse was we had to go through Panama which was in the opposite direction. We got in after a long day traveling and planned to pick up Erin in the morning. We took the teleferico, a gondola lift that would take us from 10,226 feet up to 12,943 feet. The gondola would ascent twenty minutes to take us to the summit of Pichincha, an active volcano to the lookout Cruz Loma. It was one of the highest aerial lifts in the world. I did ok in Bogota but Quito was a different story. I felt the altitude sickness as soon as I got to the top. Karrie and Erin were both ok so they decided to hike a little bit while we were up on the volcano. I found a few llamas that kept me busy. I was waiting for my moment with the llamas so when I saw them on top of that volcano, I was pretty excited.
The next day, Karrie and I went to the mitad de mundo, know in english as the middle of the world. This is the place in the world where the early spanish explorers thought this was the middle of the earth, where the two hemispheres met. Years after, they realized the exact coordinates were 240 meters off. There is a museum located at the incorrect location with lots of interesting facts. The toilet is supposed to flush both ways, clockwise and counterclockwise. Your weight is supposed to be less at the Ecuador by a few pounds. Balancing an egg on its head is supposed to be quite easy and walking a line with your eyes closed is impossible. This didn't quite happen at the monument although it was very interesting to learn about the indigenous people and to hike up to the top of the 30 meter high monument. Thousands of people take their picture with one foot in one hemisphere and another foot in the other. The real spot is 240 meters down the road which Kelly and I didn't get to because we didn't know the truth. We met another couple later on that told us that they did balance an egg on its head and tried to walk a straight line. The equilibrium in your head is messed up and its apparently impossible to walk a straight line with your eyes closed.
We were able to get lost trying to get back to the city on a bus that took us way out of the way. I had to ask around and find out what bus we needed to take to get back to where we needed to be. We could have taken a taxi but it was only 40 cents for the bus compared to 20 dollars each. This very nice couple from Venezuela helped us. They told us about their country and how awful things have gotten from Hugo Chavez being in presidential power from 1997 to 2013. They were seeking refuge and trying to fight for a different life in another country. Some of their family members were left behind but they needed to leave as soon as possible for an opportunity for a better life. They left with little money and were trying to find a job to support them. It was sad to hear and every Venezuelan that I came across had another sad story to tell. There was no food and no medications in Venezuela if you would get sick. Everything had been looted. Life was being destroyed and the only way out was to find something else in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile or Argentina. Karrie and I were shown where to go and we left with more than a history lesson.
The next day, we walked around Quito and went to a museum to learn about the culture and history of the Ecuadorians. We also went up this amazing cathedral and tried the typical food of the culture. There were people walking around selling food to make money. I hadn't gotten sick yet so street food was ok in my book to try. It was actually really good. I was hungry and we only paid two dollars for it. We tried some fresh fruit from the local stands as well. I tried joking around with Karrie at this moment and realized she was either more on the serious side or didn't get my sense of humor. I refrained from telling jokes around her from this point on. We slowly realized how different we were from each other. That night we got into a little fight over the charger which I had bought for $3.50 and she had refused to buy. When you travel with people, you have to realize you are going to act differently due to different stresses that you may not have in the United States. However, in our case, we didn't know each other at all. So we were constantly trying to get to know each other.
A few hours on the plane gave us time to become great friends with a woman named Erin. She decided to go to the amazon by herself after a few days in Quito, Ecuador. Her hotel was just ten minutes away from our hostel. So we decided to hang out the next day, which she was happy about since she was just learning spanish. A few things had gone wrong in this trip so far and Karrie and I kept trying to keep our heads held high and think positively. The power went out on the street that our hostel was on so we didn't have power or light when we got to the hostel. Our flashlights came in handy and the power outage only lasted a few hours. The restaurant we went to was amazing. Unfortunately, I don't keep track of the details so I cant tell you the name. We did see Cuy on the menu which was guinea pig. I was disgusted. We didn't order it.
Ecuador was quite a long distance but what made it worse was we had to go through Panama which was in the opposite direction. We got in after a long day traveling and planned to pick up Erin in the morning. We took the teleferico, a gondola lift that would take us from 10,226 feet up to 12,943 feet. The gondola would ascent twenty minutes to take us to the summit of Pichincha, an active volcano to the lookout Cruz Loma. It was one of the highest aerial lifts in the world. I did ok in Bogota but Quito was a different story. I felt the altitude sickness as soon as I got to the top. Karrie and Erin were both ok so they decided to hike a little bit while we were up on the volcano. I found a few llamas that kept me busy. I was waiting for my moment with the llamas so when I saw them on top of that volcano, I was pretty excited.
The next day, Karrie and I went to the mitad de mundo, know in english as the middle of the world. This is the place in the world where the early spanish explorers thought this was the middle of the earth, where the two hemispheres met. Years after, they realized the exact coordinates were 240 meters off. There is a museum located at the incorrect location with lots of interesting facts. The toilet is supposed to flush both ways, clockwise and counterclockwise. Your weight is supposed to be less at the Ecuador by a few pounds. Balancing an egg on its head is supposed to be quite easy and walking a line with your eyes closed is impossible. This didn't quite happen at the monument although it was very interesting to learn about the indigenous people and to hike up to the top of the 30 meter high monument. Thousands of people take their picture with one foot in one hemisphere and another foot in the other. The real spot is 240 meters down the road which Kelly and I didn't get to because we didn't know the truth. We met another couple later on that told us that they did balance an egg on its head and tried to walk a straight line. The equilibrium in your head is messed up and its apparently impossible to walk a straight line with your eyes closed.
We were able to get lost trying to get back to the city on a bus that took us way out of the way. I had to ask around and find out what bus we needed to take to get back to where we needed to be. We could have taken a taxi but it was only 40 cents for the bus compared to 20 dollars each. This very nice couple from Venezuela helped us. They told us about their country and how awful things have gotten from Hugo Chavez being in presidential power from 1997 to 2013. They were seeking refuge and trying to fight for a different life in another country. Some of their family members were left behind but they needed to leave as soon as possible for an opportunity for a better life. They left with little money and were trying to find a job to support them. It was sad to hear and every Venezuelan that I came across had another sad story to tell. There was no food and no medications in Venezuela if you would get sick. Everything had been looted. Life was being destroyed and the only way out was to find something else in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile or Argentina. Karrie and I were shown where to go and we left with more than a history lesson.
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