Teleferico

Weather: Sunny and about 60 degrees

Not too much happened yesterday besides class and an orientation that prepared us for our upcoming trip to the Amazon next week. I am very excited but a wee bit nervous considering I'll be living in the jungle for 5 days, and who knows what I will encounter. I will also be completely off the grid as there is no wifi, and certainly no cell service. As a side note, I tried an Ecuadorian pizza with fries for lunch. The pizza didn't have sauce and here they put their toppings on first and then a whole lotta cheese. The fries we got were okay, not as good as American fries. I just wanted to try them once to see the difference.

Just for the hell of it, I asked Mom what she would do if I found a dog in Galapagos and wanted to bring it home. To my surprise, she said "as long as I pay for it, it would be good for me." So all of a sudden, I found myself seriously considering adopting a dog over here. I even called American Airlines to see if I could bring a dog on the plane with me. They said for $125 the dog could sit with me in the cabin as long as it's under 20lbs. Dogs that are bigger would need to be put in the cargo hold. I also found out that to bring it back to the states, it would only need a rabies vaccine and a health certificate. I was all in, and all of a sudden super ready to bring home a puppy. As it turns out, my roommate next year is allergic to dogs which in my perspective goes back to the fact that everything happens for a reason. I began thinking about the vet costs I would be responsible for and compared that to my travel bug. I know that the love you get from a pet far outweigh vet costs, so for now I'm waiting til after I graduate for a pup of my own.

Today was a tad rough as it's Nana's Birthday today, so she's been on my mind a lot. However, after class I met up with a few friends for lunch. There's an awesome vegetarian place right near the university. I can get a huge caprese sandwich for 4.75 and it is so good!

Post lunch, we (Nicola, Chantal, and Sarah) took an Uber to Teleferico which is basically a big ski lift that takes you to the top of a mountain that overlooks Quito. This was an amazing experience and it only cost $4 and some change thanks to a student discount (the regular cost would be about $9 - $10). This is definitely on my list of top experiences so far, although I haven't been disappointed by a single thing we have done. Not going to lie, there were points where I

looked down in the ski lift or gondola as they call them here and I freaked myself out a bit. As we ascended towards the top of the mountain the panoramic view of Quito grew larger and more vast.

Once we got to the top, there was a couple shops so we all got some Ecuadorian chocolate bars. Ecuadorians are famous for their chocolate, the bar we got was about 60% cacao so it was pretty dark chocolate. I've found it pretty difficult to find milk chocolate bars that are made in Ecuador. I have also heard their coffee is extremely strong as well. My friend had a cup, and she was shaking a bit afterwards.

We walked around and of course got stared at by the locals. However, there were a lot of gringos there so we weren't that out of place I'd say! There was a little trail loop at the top, so we decided we'd walk around and see what else was around. There were some hills to this trail and oh man did we feel it. Being at the top of this mountain we were at about 14,000 feet (typically, in Cumbaya I am at almost 8,000 feet). We are all still getting accustomed to the elevation in Cumbaya so this was pushing it. We all stopped to catch our breaths when we needed to and everyone was doing alright.

As we followed the trail we saw a chapel, although I am unsure if it is used on a regular basis. We came across some horses that you could ride around and $5 would get you 25 minutes with them. I didn't ride them, but I did say hello to them and continued exploring the amazing views we had of Quito.

While observing the horses, we spent some time talking with two guys that were visiting Quito from Texas. One of their parents has lived in Quito for a long time now so he comes back frequently to visit. During the rides up and down the mountain in the gondolas Nicola, Chantal, Sarah, and I were accompanied by a couple (one on the way up, and one on the way down). We got to talking to them, and one of them on the way up ended up being from Philly. On the way down, the guy was from Buenos Aires but spoke pretty good English, and I'm not too sure where his girlfriend was from. It was so cool talking to people from all over, and I really hope I get to do more of this in the islands as they are a hub for tourists.

After seeing the horses we discovered some swings that let you overlook the entire city of Quito and surrounding areas. I was only on the swings for a couple of minutes but man it was so peaceful. Luckily we had a really clear day so we could see for miles and miles. I am not one that takes well to heights, but for some reason this swing had a calming effect. Overall, this impromptu trip after class turned out to be one of the best day trips I've done!

Tomorrow I am off to Santa Lucia for two days. Santa Lucia is a cloud forest that is the forest above Mindo, Ecuador (about 2 hours away). I'm hoping to see some awesome wildlife, and that the rain will hold off while we make a two hour hike up to the lodge we are staying at. More to come...