Last day in Ecuador

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We were reluctant to leave Mindo, we still had so much to see there - but we were excited nonetheless to return to Quito for one last day and have dinner with Adam and Molly at our fabulous hostel, the Secret Garden. Their dining room is on the roof terrace so you have beautiful views of the city as you eat, and the food was amazing. Adam and Molly invited one of the students from the local university who had been working with them, Carolina - it was nice to get to speak to a local slightly more substantively than we had been!

The next day we all had breakfast together and then Josh and I went to La Mariscal (which is known as the New Town, or Gringolandia!) artisanal market to look around. He really wanted a nice poncho, and I wanted him to buy a hammock for his new apartment in Blacksburg, where he will have a beautiful garden. The weaving at the market was beautiful, and surprisingly cheap (a beautiful llama wool poncho was around $8) - but of course after we left the market Josh told me it was probably all made in China anyway! I hope that is just cynicism, but he is probably right 😊

After that we met up with Adam, Molly, and Carolina for our last meal in Ecuador. I had already tried the famous Ecuadorian ceviche and wanted it again, and Josh was set on finally trying what is probably the most infamous Ecuadorian dish, cuy - guinea pig!! We first sat on the balcony of what looked like a great place called "La Terraza" but the waitress was SO unbelievably rude we left. Carolina ended up taking us to a fantastic place well known for Ecuadorian food called Mama Clorinda in La Mariscal (New Town) She said it was tourist-oriented, but the place was packed and we were the only gringos in there. In any case it was delicious, I had traditional ceviche again, and Josh (whose talk ended up bigger than his walk) ordered half a guinea pig. It is basically put on a spit and fried (skin on and everything). It didn"t taste that bad, but there just wasn"t much meat there (and the skin aspect was unappetizing!). A photo of this ridiculousness is attached - note that Josh is showing far more enthusiasm for the camera than he showed us 😊 Josh also tried chicha which is a traditional drink made of fermented corn that is considered not very tasty - but it actually tastes kind of like pear juice.

It was the perfect last meal, and then we had to say our goodbyes and rush off to the airport. For anyone inspired to visit Ecuador, don"t wait til the last minute to remember there is a $31 (or so) tx per person that must be payed upon exiting the country! We barely made our plane (even though we got to the airport over an hour and a half early) because of all the paperwork you have to deal with there. Off we flew to Panama, which was nice, among other reasons, because I figured it would bring an end to hearing EVERY single person (including Josh) sing the chorus to that terrible Van Halen song upon hearing we were heading there! We have much more photos from Panama, we promise 😊

Love,

Martina and Josh

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Photos

The group on the Secret Garden terrace
We lucked out too, our last day in Quito was gorgeous!

Street signs in Quito
I don"t remember if I posted photos of the street signs in Cuenca, which were beautiful - but Quito"s were quite nice as well!

Ewwww!
Yup, that is it! Guinea pig - gross!