Teleferico

Well humans, the past two days have been really fun. Yesterday Ali and I decided to be brave and take a taxi to the teleferico (a gondola) up to the top of a mountain under the volcano Pichincha. Our new English friends that we met and hung out with the night before told us about it and it sounded fun so we went for it! We successfully took our first taxi alone, but once we got out of the taxi we realized that we didn't know the address of our hostel so we weren't sure how to get home. WOW are we smart. and the teleferico is up a big hill where taxis do not usually go unless they are dropping someone off. I immediately panicked, but then realized it was pointless to panic so I just prayed that we would find a taxi and find our way back.

As we were taking the gondola up we could see all of Quito and it was beautiful! Underneath us were hills, mountains, farms, trees, obese cows, and just lush green everywhere. I loved it. It made me so excited to be on the farm soon. Once we got to the very top the view was absolutely breathtaking. Ecuador is seriously beautiful. The city weaves in and out of the mountains and tiny colored houses sit all the way up on the sides of the hills, mixing the artificial concrete with the natural green. Also, the clouds here are always amazing. For my Santa Cruzians reading, you know that certain days or weeks where the clouds in Santa Cruz are so much bigger and fluffier and whiter that it makes everything you're looking at beneath them just that much more beautiful? That is how the clouds in Ecuador are all the time. (All the time, meaning the five days I've lived here. So obviously I know what I'm talking about.)

When you get to the top of the teleferico you can either hike about three hours to the top of the volcano, or you can just hike around wherever you want. The altitude here is SO high that after a few steps I was soo out of breath. I mean, I know I'm not the most athletic person but I'm not that out of shape!! I felt like a grandma who just sat in a chair for 25 years and decided to try and walk again for the first time! So I was not into the idea of hiking all the way to the volcano. Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to either.

As we were hiking around we saw a sign that said something about riding horses. It was the most beat up sign I've ever seen (exaggeration) so we were like, "uhh that's not real." But then we kept going and came across all these horses chillin inside a circular fence! (I know there's a name for that but all I can think of is "harem" and I don't think that's right). Then we saw people in ponchos and we said to eachother, "maan, all I want is to be wearing that poncho and riding those horses around these mountains." And then the lady walked up to us and was like, "Do you want to wear one of our ponchos and ride one of these horses around these mountains?" I'm serious! And she didn't even hear us say that we wanted that exact thing! So obviously we said yes. It was soo fun!! Horses kinda freak me out, but after a minute I got used to it and was loving it. We looked just like what you see in pictures of South America .. except we are white. We were livin the dream!

We were able to find a taxi back, not get ripped off too badly with the price, and were able to communicate the general area where our hostel is located. I was so proud of us. Then we got some pan dulce (duh) and went and ate it on the terrace with some tea and read our books.

[all photos from ali's camera. i haven't been taking mine anywhere yet.]

sorry if these are blurry! but you can pretend they're not :)

i love you all SO SO MUCH!! it's true. if you are reading this, i love you and wanted to include you in this adventure with me. thank you for being in my life!