My time here in Ecuador has been filled with so many sweet ministry moments at Pan de Vida and Camp Hope. I’m looking forward to seeing God continue to work next week as we head to our last ministry in Ecuador. On our off days, we have also gotten to go on some pretty cool adventures around Quito.
Our first weekend here we went to the equator. It was so cool to be in el mitad del mundo and put a foot in each hemisphere.
Our next adventure took us to Quilotoa. Quilotoa is a volcano in the Cotopaxi Providence that has a beautiful blue lake in it. On our hike down the volcano we saw beautiful views of the volcano and surrounding mountains, took lots of pictures, and met an Alpaca. At the bottom, we ate lunch and kayaked in the volcano. Luckily, instead of having to climb out of the volcano, some very selfless donkeys carried us back to the top.
Last weekend we visited Old Town Quito and the Basilica del Voto Nacional. Old Town Quito is filled with cute little cafes, restaurants, and artisan shops. After walking around the square, we fueled up for our long walk up the hill to the Basilica with some empanadas and local juice.
The Basilica was breathtakingly beautiful. The dark, stormy clouds and fog added to the mysterious, gothic atmosphere surrounding the church.
My greatest adventure yet was the most spontaneous and least-expected series of events yet. As tourists of Quito, we felt that we could not leave until we rode up the TelefériQo to see the city from above. We were all tired, but decided to brave the outdoors and social interaction to go on one last adventure in Quito. We grabbed our warm clothes to protect us from the altitude and hopped in our Uber for a short (or so we thought) adventure up the Pichincha volcano. After driving about 45 minutes in our Uber X sin aire acondicionado, the Uber driver’s phone dying, and a thorough examination of our Uber route, we realized that we were heading to the TelefériQo station at the top of the mountain instead of the one at the bottom. It soon became apparent that said luxury Uber sedan was not going to make it past the treacherous mountain-road gorges. After stalling out several times, everyone (including our Uber driver, Antonio) got out of the car and hiked the last mile up the mountain. *Antonio got five stars despite his lack of air conditioning and phone battery
The view at the top of the mountain turned out to be more than worth it. We saw Quito and the surrounding volcanoes from 13,500 feet above sea level, swung on a big swing over Quito, and walked up (barely survived) some very steep hills.
On the way back down, we actually got to ride the TelefériQo. The ride down was very relaxing, and it was beautiful after we got through the clouds and could see again.
As we neared the cable car station at the bottom of the mountain (where we intended to go in the first place), we saw a nearby, although somewhat sketchy fair. Obviously we went. We marveled at the giant cotton candy, and since it was only $2, bought some.
Then, after some deliberation, we decided we could not pass up a $7.50 ride on the slingshot. So we bought our tickets, said a couple prayers, climbed inside the metal cage, and off we went. If you want to see a video of us on the slingshot, click here. Best decision of the day and the perfect way to wrap up our not-so-short spontaneous adventure, so we called our second Uber of the day.
We had a very relaxing ride home with our Uber driver and his girlfriend, who were seemingly on a date. Eduardo got 5 stars, as well. The man was just trying to afford his date.
