It's day number 14 in Ecuador and we're back in Ibarra for the moment, but headed out to Quito in a few hours. The Rotary trip starts Saturday but we're going a few days early to meet up with friends. There are a crazy amount of exchange students in Ecuador, about 170 compared to only 60 in all of Colombia. There are 40 alone in Quito and its suburbs!We've been traveling around this whole time meeting exchange students and I've only met about an eighth, I'm never going to remember the names and home countries/states! There are a ton of Americans here as well, almost half from what I've been told.
Last Monday (the 2nd) we spent the day around Ibarra, walking around in the city and going up to a lake nearby called Yahuarcocha. A lot of the towns and lakes here have Quichua names, like Yahuarcocha, Chachimburo (where we went to some hot springs yesterday- so nice!), and Atuntaqui. We went paddle boating in the lake, got some ice cream, and relaxed. It was really beautiful up there, especially the sky. The sky here still blows me away regularly.
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| Fiona and me in one of Ibarra´s parks |
It was lovely walking around and getting to know Ibarra. Really it was nice just walking at all, Cali's so big and more dangerous so you really can´t walk, Rebecca and I are lucky to be within walking distance of each other´s houses. Ibarra's main church was beautiful, like so many churches here. They also have Jesus' burial shroud which was pretty cool to see. .
That night we rented a little bungalow in the hills near town, called la Esperanza. It was really fun spending the night there just the six of us exchange students. It was only $11 per person too, plus homemade breakfast in the morning. I love South America!
The next day we were hoping to go to Chimabiro, some hot springs nearby, but there wasn't time, so we walked to Play Land Park instead. It'd been so long since I've been to an amusement park, it was a good time even though it was small.
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| Fiona, me, Jessica, and Angie |
Our enormous breakfast at la Hacienda, where we always eat. It was a crazy amount of food for 5 people, but delicious!
We went to Riobamba for the weekend because they're in fiestas, and I saw my first bull fight! At first I hated it because we arrived at the end of the first one when the were just killing it, but after seeing the whole thing I really like it, it's more of a dance than anything, and fascinating to watch.
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| Meeting all the exchange students that live in Riobamba, from France, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, and Florida. |
And I still have the Rotary trip with all 150 of the exchange students!!
Last Monday (the 2nd) we spent the day around Ibarra, walking around in the city and going up to a lake nearby called Yahuarcocha. A lot of the towns and lakes here have Quichua names, like Yahuarcocha, Chachimburo (where we went to some hot springs yesterday- so nice!), and Atuntaqui. We went paddle boating in the lake, got some ice cream, and relaxed. It was really beautiful up there, especially the sky. The sky here still blows me away regularly.
It was lovely walking around and getting to know Ibarra. Really it was nice just walking at all, Cali's so big and more dangerous so you really can´t walk, Rebecca and I are lucky to be within walking distance of each other´s houses. Ibarra's main church was beautiful, like so many churches here. They also have Jesus' burial shroud which was pretty cool to see. .
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