It´s sinking in

I´m starting to realize that I´m gonna be down here for a while, not in a bad way though. Things have been good, Its just after being here for 3 or 4 days it just starts to be very real.

Our schedule has stayed pretty relaxed. On Thursday we went to the Equator, It runs right outside of Quito. The French calculated where it was in the 70´s and were around 200 meters off. So there is this big monument and tourist attraction park, thats not on the equator. The real equator is right down the road and there´s this tiny hole in the wall museum. We went to the hole in the wall. It was cool. They do little experiments for you that only work on the equator. Water doesn´t spiral down a drain right on the equator because there is no coriolis effect, but if you move over 5 ft. it does. Also when you stand on the line and close your eyes, you can kind of feel where to put your feet to walk along it, we debated this extensively. We went to the fake equator and tried it, definitely different, we think.

We´ve been napping pretty regularly, the altitude makes you tired. The food is amazing, and mostly cheap. We eat a lot.

Last night, Friday, We hung out with our old friend Rebekah Horowitz (who has been living in Quito for 4 mths), and a some of the friends she´s made in the city. It was her last night in Ecuador before she heads home this afternoon. It was a long and late night. I may have danced to bad 80´s music in a club (Thats all they have here apparently).

So far my Spanish is getting used, but not getting better.

We´re leaving Quito tommorow to start traveling around the country. It´s a nice city but kind of generic and loud and dirty, good food though. Our first stop is a village called Baeza to the east. You can hike to a huge waterfall from there. After that we´re going to a town called Tena on the edge of the jungle.

La Segunda Dia

Life has been pretty low key down here so far. Yesterday Katy was getting used to the altitude, around 9000 ft., so we took it easy. We walked a few blocks to a big church we saw from the roof of our hostel and ate some lunch. Then we pretty much layed around in our room and planned the next few weeks of our trip. Dinner last night on the roof of the Secret Garden was amazing. Great food and the same view but all lit up at night. They had a traditional Andean folk band playing (it sounded oddly like american bluegrass except for the flutes.

We spent most of today perusing New Town in Quito. This is about a mile from where we´re staying. Its the more modern touristy area of town. We´ll be staying here over the weekend with Rebecca Horowitz and her friend Priya. They will be in Quito for the weekend before flying home to the states after 6 mths of traveling, so we´ll probably be taking advantage of the nightlife.

Tonight the big plan is to go see the new Pirates of the Carribean movie. The girls are all excited to see it ( I told them it stinks, didn´t help).

Manana in Quito

I got to Quito last night around 1AM after not sleeping for about 48 hours. I couldn´t sleep the night before I left, too much going on in my head.

Katy met me at the airport and took me back to our beautiful hostel in the old part of Quito. It´s called the Secret Garden and I don´t think I want to leave. All the meals are served on the rooftop terrace which has serious views. I´m putting up some pics of my breakfast view.

Life is good, obviously. We´re gonna walk around the neighborhood this afternoon and just hang around. Maybe get some drinks at a cafe.

Getting ready

I spent today getting my shots and a few last minute items for my trip (Big bottle of Dr. Bronners and a new toothbrush). I'm leaving for Quito, Ecuador from Charlotte, NC on Tuesday the 25th of July.

All I have left to do is pack my bag and get on the plane.