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Ecuador

As our plane approached Quito, we saw rolling green hills with brightly colored houses everywhere. It was a beautiful sight and we were excited to see more. We walked around the city and went to the market for the famous local dish - sea bass topped with ceviche. We went to the Basillica and climbed up little ladders to reach the top. The views were phenomenal from up there. Unfortunately, a lot of our time in Quito was devoted to the case of the missing bag (see the previous post).

We went to Cotopaxi which is a small town around Volcano Cotopaxi. We stayed on a horse ranch and signed up for a two day horse ride to the volcano. On the first day we mounted our horses and set out through the amazing scenery of mountains and green hills. As the day went on Rachel began to feel extremely sick from the altitude. The elevation in Cotopaxi is over 12,000 feet. By lunchtime both of us were feeling really bad. In the early afternoon we could no longer ride the horses and the ranch had to send someone to come pick us up. We went right to bed and slept for hours. Ian felt better in the morning but Rachel was unsure if she could ride for the second day. She decided to try and it ended up being a fantastic day. The views were stunning, the horse riding was really fun, and there were no signs of sickness.

We took the bus to a small town called Baños. It is famous for its hot springs. The thermal baths are heated by the active volcanos which surround the entire town. They have a few pools of varying heat. We spent the evening relaxing in the hot baths. The next morning we had a special steam bath treatment at our hotel which cost less than three dollars! Basically, they place you in a wooden box which seems like the stocks since only your head pops out. They pump steam into the box until you work up a really good sweat. Then they take you out and splash you with cold water. This is repeated several times. Then they hit certain points on your body with a hose that has a high pressure nozzle. It was an interesting experience and supposedly very healthy for the body. We spent the day walking around Baños, shopping, and trying the taffy that just about every store has someone pulling on big wooden rods. At the end of the day we hopped on a bus and headed towards Peru.

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