un poquito de quito y lo demas: pt. 1

things really picked up on day 2 and haven't stopped since. we walked downstairs and a few steps from the hostel we randomly met cleve, a real chill taxi driver who would eventually become our taxi driver for the day.

our first stop was the teleferico. it was about a 10-minute ride up the mountain on the cable car. 
once on top, the view of the quito city/valley left our jaws on the floor.


the altitude definitely played a role in the amount of exploring we did, which at this point was not going to be much. we hiked for about half an hour. the more we hiked the more beautiful the views became. the sun, the clouds, the rays, the peaks, the valleys; quito at this point seems more like a dream.

when we finally made it down the mountain, cleve was there waiting for us. 
our next stop was el medio del mundo but not before cleve deciding to take us up to another set of mountains and valleys where we came to the ancient town of pululahua, which is situated on an active volcanic crater. 

the crater is massive and indigenous people still live and work the mineral rich soil to grow crops.

shortly after we drove down those mountains and arrived at el medio del mundo, which is kind of a rundown town with dirt roads and dilapidated homes and shops. we went into the museum of the equator where we did cheesy equator experiments and learned a bit of the indigenous culture. 

according to the museum, if you looked at the gps, the exact point of the equator cuts through their lot. of course, bryson brought up the point that according to the military gps, the equator was about 20 meters away. whatever, its close enough was my thinking.once we were done trying to balance eggs on nails and walking on the "literal" equator line, cleve took us to grab some chow, which in this case came in the form of a rodent: the cuy 

it wasn't bad actually, kind of in between rabbit and duck? it was a pain in the ass to get meat out of it though, which is mostly concentrated on the shoulder blades, neck, spine, and legs. would i eat it again? yeah, sure if i were in a ecuadorian quinciañera and it was free. 

ok, after annihilating this american house pet, we went to another equator monument that was built to honor and remember the french scientists who pinpointed the spot of the equator in the 1900's.

unfortunately that monument is also off, by a few hundred meters actually, but it was still cool to go.

i dont remember the cab ride back. i was so exhausted and the 
cuy definitely put me over the edge. when we finally made it back to the hostel, we thanked cleve and i went straight to bed. an hour later, bryson and i woke up and took a cab to the night-life center of quito, el fosch, where we grabbed a pizza and a few beers. 

0 degrees latitude 0 degrees longitude

at the moment im trying to remember the word for shadow in spanish but i cant quite make it out. it makes me sad that i cant come up with it on my own but im too prideful to look it up on google. 

i've been in quito ecuador a little over a day now. i didn't expect much from quito, it was going to simply serve as kind if a layover city to plan the rest of our time in ecuador. it wasn't until a few days ago that my friend bryson and i decided to come here and it hasn't disappointed me in the very least.

at this point of my life alot of what i seek has to do about the people in specific and not about what the people have to offer. the importance is really not about the city or the amount of unesco sites it has but really more about what its history does to me and how i treat my fellow humans moving forward.

i feel like every city has a secret and the keys are held in the people; in the eyes of its inhabitants, going into their markets, eating their food, laughing at their jokes, feeling their sorrow. 

quito is snuggled by lazy hills and a bashful volcano and in between you get the ecuadorian people, who are somewhat soft to speak yet you get the feeling that you don't want to cross them. i wont say more because anything else would be coming out of ignorance but i'm enjoying my time here and i cant wait to climb a few volcanos, cram into a few crowded busses, and eat some fat cuy. 

the winner: ecuador

sorry bolivia but you will have to wait. can't say what was driving force in choosing ecuador other than having met a few more ecuadorians versus bolivians.

i am 4 days away from flying to ecuador and i have no idea what i'm getting myself into. its not like im going into a country that has an ongoing war or anything. but regardless i should probably do my homework. its not like i do it anyways when i travel but for some reason i feel especially inadequate on this trip.

for example, last night i found out that ecuador uses american dollars as currency. i also found out that ecuador has one of the largest inca ruins in the americas. what else...

i guess that's it for now. stay tuned