Bienvenido a Ecuador

Hola a mis amigos canadienses 

Tuesday was the last full day in Canada. I decided to have a day that would be as Canadian as possible. It comprised of Tim Horton’s for breakfast, the better part of the afternoon spent in a mall of epic proportions, dinner at Boston Pizza, and then beer and hockey to finish off the night. It seemed only fitting as it was the last chance for nearly all of these things for about 5 and a half weeks. It was tough saying goodbye to Risa knowing that it would be at least 6 weeks that we wouldn't see each other; however, it will be over quickly and we're going to try to keep in touch as much as possible.

After a 4 hour flight out of Calgary I spent about 6 hours in the Houston air port. I can now cross Houston off my list. I have two lists: one of places that I need to see before I die, and one of places that I couldn’t care less if I ever see. I will let you guess which one Houston falls under. The day’s activities fell into two basic categories: 1. sitting around and 2. eating highly unhealthy airport food, both of which seem pretty appropriate considering the average weight of Texans. The flight to Quito was a special kind of hell. Just before the final descent the captain announces that there is too much fog to land and that we’re going to have to circle for a while. He also says that it should be no more than 10 to 15 minutes. 45 minutes later we are informed that we are getting low on fuel and we need to swing over to Guayaquil (just a quick 300 km to the southwest). By the time we arrive in Quito airport it is 3:00 AM local time, an impressive 4 and a half hours late. After more line-ups and waiting for shuttles and confused wanderings through an enormous hotel I roll into bed at 4:30, just 4 hours before the wake-up call.

The only thing that could assuage such an ordeal would be a huge-ass breakfast buffet and Hotel Quito did not let me down on that part. Colombian coffee, fresh papaya and pineapple, fresh squeezed juice, granola, and breakfast pastries soothed all troubles and left me in a much better mood. After breakfast we traveled to a beautiful town about 2 hours from Quito called Otavalo. I may consider moving to Otavalo forever. We ate meals priced between 3 and 5 dollars, drank beers ranging from 1.50 to 1.75, explored the huge market, and visited churches. Being South America, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a Catholic church (but they really frown on throwing rocks at their churches). The market was a new experience for me and the highlight of my day was having little old lady say, “¡Hola, blanco amigo!” (hello, white friend) to get my attention. We spent the night in a gorgeous old hotel and explored the town for a while the next day before heading back to Quito. 

Quito is an amazing city. It is one of the biggest cities I have ever seen and by far the most densely populated. We spent a few hours in Old Quito visiting a simply enormous cathedral with towers that could only be reached by some questionable ladders. Said ladders inspired at least one of the group to stay back and take pictures and others to wish that they had. We finished the day with dinner at an Argentinian restaurant that served sandwiches slightly smaller than full loaves of bread (have I mentioned that the food is blowing me away?). 

So far I am so thankful to be here (mostly thankful to Risa for sacrificing our tax return to put towards the trip and to let me leave for so long). I am in love with the culture, sights, music, and food that I have experienced so far. I can’t wait to get to Cuenca and meet my host family who apparently speak almost no English, all the better to put my Spanish to the test.

Gabe

p.s. I'm having troubles uploading pictures right now (dodgy hotel internet connection) and I will put another post up in a couple of days with a bunch of pictures (fingers crossed).