So I´m here, and things have been off to great start for my friend Jesse and I here in Ecuador.
We got in late on the 1st, and I entered the country on my British passport (I keep flopping on which one I present when I have to). That night, it turns out our hostel was having ¨rum and coke night¨, which means a free 12 liters of the stuff for everyone. Needless to say despite being tired from the long travel we partied with our new travel friends. It´s really funny how easy it is to bond and get along, I think everyone is in hurry up mode in that sense because you´re only going to see them for a couple days or so. Swapping stories, you find out there are people there who have been traveling for upwards of half a year, maybe more. Pretty intense, gonna be interesting to be that savvy veteran soon.
Yesterday we walked around Quito a lot (which is a beautiful city, nestled in a valley at about 7500 feet). We got some great shots of the city, saw some cool old colonial buildings, churches, and museums, and had our first Ecuadorian meals. We also made it to Mitad del Mundo, a big monument to the equator. We ended up falling asleep on the bus out there though, and got woken up by these 2 girls who were running the bus laughing at us and calling us their little children for missing the boat like that. Ah well, we were tired! Last night we pretty much stayed in, I wrote in my journal for the first time ever, felt kinda cool. We hung out with the people there for a little while, then went to bed. Today we´re catching a bus up to a town called Otavalo where tomorrow there´s supposed to be this amazing market. Send your requests for cheap Ecuadorian native bracelets soon!
We´ve been a tad cavalier with money so far, but I think that´ll stop soon, and it´s really easy to get by on $15 a day here. Our hostel for 2 nights and 1 meal was $14 total, and food from smaller places runs in the $1-$2 range. Last night we went to this extravagant restaurant to sort of kick things off in style, and I had this awesome steak which cost me $8, which is definitely expensive here. We were also the only freakin people in this giant restaurant, which was really weird especially as it was only 7.
Hope all is well with everyone back in the US, send me a line if you like, I´ll be doing my best to answer them all in time.
-Ben
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2 comments:
Hey there! Sounds like you're having a great time, I'm excited for you. I'm glad that you can get a long easily with the people that are at your hostel. It's probably a blast. Run and coke night huh? What a welcome, lol. Tired, jet lagged, and drunk. Great combination. Stay safe, Ben and I both wish you the best.
BEN!! I'm glad to see you're kicking your adventures off in style with Cuba Libres and new friends. Can't wait to hear about the bus ride to Otavalo, chickens flopping around etc...when do we get to see pics?
Missing you big time this weekend - we hit the Guards last night and Buffalo today for some college football, and tomorrow is my first pro game ever, skins vs. cowboys. But I would much rather be doing what you are doing!
Te cuidas mucho! *Melissa*
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