My mom arrived late Sunday night and we hit the ground running Monday morning. We woke up early and had the first of several meals with very odd communication. My mom speaks no Spanish and my host mom speaks no English, this leaves me, who barely speaks Spanish and who is often hard to understand in English, to translate. We next went to my school where she got the grand tour as well as got to hear me blabber on about insect diversity for my project presentation. After school we went out to lunch at my favorite Ecuadorian restaurant and then explored the botanical garden in a nearby park. We returned back to my house for dinner and my mom got to experience the odd sensation of being served on and watched eat by two women (my host mother and the maid). Later that night we went on a drive with my family to “old town” which is the historical center of town. The churches are all lit up at night so the drive was absolutely beautiful.
On Tuesday morning we headed off to an eco-lodge in the cloud forest near Quito. We stopped at the equator museum along the way and learned various skills such as how to balance an egg on a nailhead on the equator, how to shrink a head, and how to use a blowgun. All good life skills. The eco-lodge was beautiful and very relaxing. The only other guests there were a couple from England so we basically had the place to ourselves. We went hiking to waterfalls both days and also toured a nearby archeological museum.
The next leg of journey was the coast. We headed off for the town of Canoa early Thursday morning on what turned out to be a long, challenging day. The bus ride ended up taking 10 hours and there were definitely some trying moments as I tried to figure out how we were supposed to get to our hotel. We made it right before dark and I have never felt more relieved in my life! We spent all day Friday on the beach and headed back to Quito on Saturday. I didn’t think it was possible for the return trip to be more stressful than the trip down there, but it was. We somehow ended up taking a bus, a boat, and a bike to even get to our bus headed towards Quito. During this chain of transportation we had stopped and bought some yogurt for breakfast. Bad idea. About two hours into the bus ride my mom started throwing up. This continued for the rest of the 7 hours on the bus. When I got sick in the dry forest I believed that no one could have possibly had it worse than I did. I was wrong, my mom wins the “worse situation to be sick in” award by a landslide. Even though both the travel days to the coast were stressful, we both decided that it was an overall fun trip and definitely worth the hardships.
The last few days we took it easy and stayed around Quito. On Sunday we went to a nearby local market to buy presents and then had lunch with my entire extended host family. Later we went to Catholic mass with my host mom. On Monday we went on a private tour to Cotopaxi (the nearby Volcano) and hiked up to the base camp at 16,000 feet (we felt extreme!). It was crazy to go from walking in sand to hiking in snow in just two days. On my mom’s last day we went back to the “centro historico” and toured various churches. Overall, her visit was wonderful time and I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend my spring break.
Wednesday- Friday I am going to class in Quito to begin our marine ecology course. Then on Sunday I take off the Galapagos for three weeks! The first week will be spent on a boat tour of the islands and the following weeks will be spent with a host family on San Cristobal island. I have been anxiously awaiting this portion of the semester since I arrived and I am so excited I can hardly sit still!
Ecuador's Flag
Map of Ecuador