Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
montañita, Ecuador
¡Feliz Navidad from Ecuador! Hope everyone is having a good xmas season and enjoying time with family and such! Just wanted to send you all a quick update and wishes for a happy holiday... hope you already got this as an email… if you didn´t let me know so I can send you future emails!I am in Montañita, a small beach town about halfway down the coast. It´s chill here, though not as sunny and warm as I had hoped. Still, it is SO nice to be on the beach relaxing after my last few weeks traveling in the cold and rain of the mountains. I met back up with some friends from Quito and two more are coming tomorrow. It is so nice to see them again as well, even though I enjoyed the time travelling solo and am ready to re-embark when they all head back to Quito for more school/ internships.I left Quito on the tenth of decmber after goodbyes to friends and my host family. Despite my lack of enthusiasm for Quito, I found it hard to leave after having been there for months. I realized how comfortable I´d become with the city: I knew my was around (for the most part) and could reliably get where I was going using public transit. I had favorite hangouts and places I´d discovered that felt like my own. I even had a community of people I had come to know quite well- host parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course friends. I found myself dawdling in Quito doing random errands and putting off leaving for the good part of a day, knowing that whatever was ahead- good, bad and otherwise- was unfamiliar. But, I dragged my ass out of town and was so glad when I did because the countryside is so much better... I knew that already! I spent a few days in the central highlands, exploring small towns, making huckleberry wine with locals, and getting ready to take a four day backpack trip along the inca trail to the ruins at Ingapirca. The backpack trip ended with me drenched from 3.5 days of rain, muddy from hiking through wet, marshy paramo for hours everyday, and all around ready for city again and a dry bed. It was a challenging trip both physically and emotionally staying positive, but a good experience nonetheless. At least in theory, how cool to have walked along the road of the incas in the high mountains of Ecuador with incredible views and steeped in pre-spanish history. In reality, pretty miserable, but oh well...I spent a few days in cuenca, a beautiful city with european style architecture and cobblestone streets. It was nice to dry out, visit churches, parks, museums, and hang out with fellow travelers again after days camping alone before heading back out into the mountains to hike in Cajas -National Park. Rain continued in Cajas and though beautiful, the park is at 13,000 feet and freezing cold. Stayed a couple days before deciding I´d had enough and headed straight to the coast! Staying at the beach for x-mas and new years before heading to Loja area in southern Ecuador to volunteer at an organic farm for the month of January. I´m really exciting, but enjoying my time here with friends as well! I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all! Merry Christmas and I love you, Meg
- comments