Hostal El Arupo Quito

... I had one little incident on the way down, didnīt manage to stay on the bike around one corner, there was no lasting injury, just a bruise or 2! We made it down to the bottom in one piece (just!) and then enjoyed around 2 hours on relatively flat land enjoying the amazing scenery stopping for lunch at a great location. We really enjoyed the bike ride and itīs really well worth doing, a safer option than ice climbing the volcano for me I think.

We ...

... The guy really knows his music. All of the bars had a real old town western theme going, and all the guys in town wear ponchos and cowboy looking hats. Thereīs old style billiard halls with cowboy types always in them. It reminds me of Jackson Hole. All they needed was ski area nearby and we would move to Salento in a heartbeat. Not only that, all that, but we saved the best for last. Tejo!

Tejo is a game, not unlike ...

... Friday. Nonetheles the instant I arrived at his parents' house I was immediately wisked away to Otavalo, a nearby town, to see their cultural festival. I tried "canelazo" a hot drink made with orange juice and 100 proof liquor. Although I didnīt see much of the cultural festival which included a parade I did go out to Jampa and danced to live music until about 4 am. Oh and the party didnīt stop there. I was up at 9 AM the next morning to welcome ...

... 800 years ago.

After lunch, we drove to 4,200m and did a downhill descent to 2,800m over 20km. That night, we stayed in Urbina at an old railway house – a remote and stunning location on an old railway track at the base of Chimborazo volcano.

DAY 3: Urbina – Chimborazo

We drove up the spectacular Chimborazo volcano – the tip is at 6,310m which is the highest point on earth and closest to ...

... if I was blindfolded.

Today after clase and lunch (the whole family returns for lunch together each afternoon at the house) me and Zac went to visit the old section of Quito (we wanted to see it during the day before the night trip later this week). We took a bus there and walked around the area for a couple hours. It is full of old buidlings and churches. Much of it reminded me of Italy...muy bonito.

We have eaten lots ...

... enough time to properly do Chile and Argentina along with the rest. I am disappointed I did not get to the east coast, or Patagonia. But, I have (hopefully) many years left and will eventually come back and get to the places I missed.

Volunteering is something I wish I would have had the time to be apart of. There are many great organizations here, and I should have given back to a land and its people that gave me so much over the last three months.

The ...

... for dinner. We made it back to Galeria, but the next thing I remembered was waking up at about 2:30am. We came back and both just passed out! This may have been a blessing in disguise however, as we both woke up at about 7am today and are ready to get a start on things.
We will check out the South American Explorers club today to get info, and the probably start our journey south.. More to come later!

... etc, etc....then the guys starting counting again. i say, no, i want to count. i am not going anywhere unless i can count. i look at marianna and she agrees. so i start, one, two....then, randomly the guy starting counting. i am completely thrown off...we were almost at three. i look at marianna and she says that is better if he counts so that all of his team is ready when they are supposed to be. one..two..three......i put one foot out ...

... of the club. This time she was dressed as a fairy and her husband was dressed as something resembling Kermit the frog. He was the quiz master for the evening. I bought a beer and was given an answer sheet for the quiz. I sat next to a British architect guy called Ben who was working in Quito and were later joined by his Ecuadorean colleagues. Ben was quite fanciable, tall, brown hair, looked fit, but seemed a bit too ...