Dirty Scoundrels, Certified Americans, The Big Market, and Farewell South America

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Our 3-month journey has come to an end. We´re back in Quito awaiting our flight home later tonight.

We left Vilcabamba on thursday morning, headed to Riobamba, via Loja. We got to Loja three minutes late and missed our connecting bus. Ecuador is usually an hour behind... but on December 10th it was on time... except for our first bus... confusing?

we bought new tickets and sat on a bench to wallow in our failure to use the only reserved bus tickets we have bought so far (no refunds). I put my bag down next to me on the bench, looked over at Emily, then turned back to get the rum out of my (small) backpack, but it was gone... not just the rum. I ran around uselessly and we searched the bathrooms and dumpsters in hopes that the scoundrel who snagged my backpack would look for money and drop it. No luck, my passport, my pirate flag, a valuable collection of water, a sack of gold coins and Emily´s sweet camera... tripod (purchased in Italy) were gone for good.

based on my inability to leave the country (in 6 days), we decided on a new plan for the day. We wrangled with police stations, photo booths and phone booths and hopped on a 13 hour night bus to Quito. We hopped off that bus in the morning and managed to get a new passport from the US embassy with little to no hassle....just for one easy payment of $100 USD.

So, with 5 days left and no quick way to get back to Riobamba, we decided to head to Otavalo, just two hours north of Quito, for a few days. Otavalo is famous for its Saturday market (which we weren´t originally going to get to) where vendors come from the hills selling just about everything you can imagine...large & small animals, fresh produce, artesian crafts, and just about anything you can think of. We mainly stayed in the artesian section, because we didn´t need any guinea pigs, horseshoes, or shoelaces, and easily completed our souvenier purchases. The next day we took a bus to a smaller town outside of Otavalo and hung out at a lake.

Back in Quito for a few more days, we visited the EQUATOR! We got to stand in the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time and watch demonstrations of all the nifty tricks you can do at the equator line....such as water draining in different directions on either side, balancing an egg on a nail, and even walking along the equator line was a little difficult.

Today we visited an art museum and a park, mainly just killing time before our flight tonight at midnight.

We are really looking forward to being home with family, friends, snow, and the holiday season. We have experienced and seen some amazing things here and are grateful that we had this opportunity. Thank you to everyone who read along and enjoyed the photos.

We are now accepting donations for the ´Emily & Zack Trip to Kazakhstan to visit the Fatherland of Apple Forests´ at 24 East Avenue, Burlington, VT 05401

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