The Bell Tower in Quito

Today I had another fun experience with things I have begun to refer to as “activities they only allow in 3rd world countries”.  My mom wanted to check out the old city in Quito and see all the churches and museums we could possible cram into one day of sightseeing, so off we went to the old city.  We attempted to get into 7 different churches but only succeeded at 3 of them.  Apparently Monday is not a good church day.  The ones we did see were good though, in one the entire inside was covered in gilded gold.  But my favorite was the neo-gothic church that has been under construction since 1896.  For only $2 you could take an elevator way up one of the church towers for incredible views all over the city.  Then you could walk through the church roof atop all the arches and climb even higher up sketchy wire metal staircases to the top of the tower in the back of the church.  At this point mom refused to keep climbing with me, but I intended to go as high as possible.  Finally you could crawl up a tiny spiral staircase, then 4 wire ladders up into the bell tower!  That was my favorite part, I even got to pull on the ropes that range the bells if I did it quietly.  Definitely one of those things they only let you do in places like Ecuador!

Cooking with an Italian in Ecuador

I left Banos and returned to Quito because I have really been wanting to climb one of the volcanoes in Ecuador.  One of the companies I contacted put me in touch with another single traveller also wanting to climb a volcano and so we decided to go together because it would be more fun, and less expensive.  We plan to climb Cotopaxi volcano, one of the easiest to ascend, but its still a tough trek.  Its necessary to acclimitize properly beforehand due to the lack of oxygen because Cotopaxi is over 5800m tall.  So I had to return to Quito a few days beforehand.  Then yesterday we did an acclimitization hike to a dead volcano above Quito called Pichincha which is at 4700m.  Hiking at an altitude you’re not acclimitized to is a bizarre sensation.  You think you shouldn’t feel tired, yet its hard to breathe and your body feels exhausted after only a couple of hours of easy walking.  Even walking around Quito at 3000m is more tiring then normal.  Im hoping that I can make the full ascent of the volcano, although only about 50% of people make it due mostly to problems with the altitude.

After our hike my trekking partner and I decided to go to the grocery store to make some dinner.  The guy Im doing the climb with is from Italy, and LOVES to cook (lucky for me).  Basically I wasnt allowed to help with dinner, and I recieved lessons on what makes good pasta, good olive oil and good wine while shopping.  Then he proceeded to cook what was probably one of the most delicious meals Ive had in all of my travels!  Who would’ve thought I would eat delicious Italian pasta while in Quito …

Baths in Banos

Ive been in transit for a few days, first taking a night bus to Santiago.  In Santiago the most interesting thing that happened to me was a street performer decided to make me the butt of most of his jokes in his performance.  He seemed to enjoy picking on the foreigners in the crowd, it made me wish I understood more Spanish.  After spending one night in Santiago I flew to Quito, Ecuador yesterday.  Then the hostel didnt have my reservation and I had to leave today so I decided to get out of Quito since I had to switch hostels anyways.  Plus I really prefer smaller towns to big cities while travelling, and wanted to stop somewhere for a few days because constantly moving around is really tiring.  So I took the bus 3 hours to Banos. Unfortunately on the bus I had my first experience with things going wrong while travelling because my hiking boots were stolen from me.  Ive had tons of warnings about being careful with belongings while travelling in South America but I never figured somebody would just walk off the bus with my boots in hand.  I guess I got a bit complacent because I havent had any problems yet at all.  So that was kind of upsetting for me.  Things got a bit better though, I ended up meeting some locals here and hung out with them for the afternoon.  While I was sitting in the plaza a few guys asked me to take photos with them, they seemed to be entertained by taking photos with an obvious foreigner.  Then they were going swimming and invited me along so we went to a pool.  Banos is a spa town so there are a lot of swimming pools around.  I quickly realized though that I was the only girl in a pool full of Ecuadorian men.  Im definitely going to spend a few days here before making my way to the coast in search of a beach and surfing lessons.  Around Banos you can go canyoning and river rafting on the edges of the jungle, which Im excited to try!