Hey y'all! I have not posted about my trip yet because we have been very busy and there has not been very strong internet until now, when we were settled into our homes. But here we are! We have been in Cuenca for about 48 hours now, and we are loving every second of it! In this post, I will give a brief overview of some (not all, because I do not have time to write a novel) of the amazing things we have seen and done so far.
Days One and Two: Quito, The Middle of the World, City Tour
We flew into Quito on the evening of the second, so all we did that night was settle into our hotel. Our professor, Doctora, did give us a brief break. But after that, it was go time. Our first full day in Quito was not actually in Quito, but in a nearby area. Located in the San Antonio parish, about 45 minutes away from the city center of Quito, is a wonderful monument that marks the "Middle of the World", or "el Mitad del Mundo" in Spanish. Because Ecuador is located on the equator, the monument was built to show the Ecuadorian's pride. Not only was there the monument, but there were many shops and restaurants that sold wonderful items, meals, and snacks (there was even an brewery). The buildings had a very interesting layout that has major historical importance. From the top of the monument there is a perfect view of the layout, which is a replica of the old city of Quito. After exploring here, we visited a museum located just around the corner, which went more in depth about the history of Ecuador, and had very fun, interactive activities to show us the true power of the equator, like balancing an egg on a nail head and walking down the equator line balancing with your eyes closed. They even had a real shrunken head on display in the Amazon section! A lovely first day in Ecuador to get us warmed up for the rest of our busy first week.
Pictured above: The monument, the replication of the old city of Quito, my university group on both the north and south sides of the equator, my friends Dominic (who did balance the egg and is now a certified Egg Master) and Julianna doing the activities stated above, and the shrunken head!
The second day in Ecuador we had a city tour of Quito. First stop on our list was the Basilica of Quito, obviously. And for good reason, because it was probably the single most incredible church I have ever seen. There were details on the basilica that were incredibly thoughtful; for example, instead of gargoyles in some places, there were animals from the Galapagos islands, which are one of Ecuador's four regions (along with the highlands, the Amazon, and the coast). These were my favorite part. My least favorite part was the terrifying climb to one of the towers for a view of the city that was very unique and very, very high up. However, once we were to the top, it was worth it and I would (probably) do it again. We visited the main square of the city and went inside one other amazing church, where the interior was completely covered in gold filigree. However, pictures inside were not allowed, so you have to use your imagination for that picture. We saw many other building that were very old and had that perfect colonial vibe. For lunch, we went to the top of a mountain in the middle of the city that had a gorgeous lookout and a massive, stunning, and unique statue of the Virgin Mary (@MSMU, you also have a wonderful statue).
Pictured above: The front of the Basilica, the view from the top, the two famous towers on the front of the church, the President's house in the main square in Quito, the Virgin Mary, and another view of Quito from the statue (Quito is MASSIVE).
Days Three through Six: the Amazon
I will not go into great detail here, because I will write a lot more about all of our activities in a later post. We stayed at a beautiful resort in the Amazon on the River Napo, which is a part of the Amazonian water system. While here, we relaxed very little, burned very much, and had a ton of fun. The resort offered many activities, and we did most of them. We built a raft and then used it to float down the river, we tubed, we went on a hike to visit a native lady and learn to make chicha (an all-natural alcoholic drink), and we saw a pond with black caimans. A truly wonderful and itchy experience overall (the bugs were absolutely the worst).
Pictured above: The boats we took everywhere, a hike through the jungle, a home of one of the indigenous peoples in the Amazon, a venomous (yes, venomous) bird, me swinging on a rope above the river, and one of the (adorable) caimans.
Day Seven: Mostly traveling
We mostly traveled from the Amazon to a little town called Alausi on this day, but we did stop in the very famous town of Banos for lunch and took a small hike to view a beautiful waterfall, Pailon de Diablo. After that, we were lucky enough to have a view of a massive volcano that is very often covered by fog, called Tungurahua.
Pictured above: A radiant rainbow in the mist of the waterfall, the majority of the waterfall (but it was so large it was hard to get a picture of the whole thing), and the mostly visible volcano.
Day Eight: El Nariz del Diablo, Ingapirca, and more travel (but to Cuenca finally!)
El Nariz del Diablo (the Nose of the Devil) is a rather infamous train ride (and mountain) that some consider to be the most deadly train construction in the entire world. The train runs very close to the side of a canyon, which makes it a very daring ride. There is also a switchback (the train goes forwards, the backwards, then forwards again) which is a little intimidating. But there is barely time to think about the danger because the views are truly breathtaking. There is a brief train stop at a station in the ravine the tracks run on where indigenous people dance in the most beautiful and patriotic ways. At the end, there was an option (and our professor strongly encouraged us) to join the dancers, and she was right to do so, because it was so much fun! After that, we went to the famous ruins of Ingapirca, located about two hours outside of Cuenca. This Inca site is famous for the remains of their empire, which show just how much knowledge the Inca civilization had in the most beautiful way. During our lunch, it was very cloudy and wet, but luckily for us it cleared up just in time for us to tour it! The drive from Alausi to Ingapirca to Cuenca featured some very different landscapes, due to the importance of farming in that area, and it was really quite a gorgeous drive.
Pictured above: The Devil's Nose mountain itself, a view from an open window on the train, the train station very far below the train tracks, a picture from the dance (more to come later, and of course, videos of the student's dancing), a photo of most of Ingapirca, but the ruins sprawled over a shockingly large amount of land, and a shot from one of the fields we passed leaving Alausi.
Days Nine and Ten: Cuenca!
I will only share one photo here, and I will go into much more detail about our lives in Cuenca in my next post. But for now, we are still settling in, and learning and loving this city more and more every day.
Pictured above: Our home for the next 10 weeks!
Thank you all so much for sticking around for this very lengthy post! Stay tuned for more about our daily lives here and for more about our excursions at the beginning of the trip! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment or message me!
Comments