Ecuador: Week One

We have been in Ecuador a little over a week and it's been so great! We have been staying with Anne's childhood friend's family the Chiribogas, Pepe, Connie, Maria Victoria and little Sophia, on their farm just outside of Machachi. Pepe won't let us take a photo of him, claiming we'll break the camera of we do...

Sunset on the farm

grass bales wrapped in plastic to ferment--it makes good cow chow after 21 days-and the beautiful farm behind

The external heating system the Chiribogas are adding to their house

It's been so nice to have them as tour guides and family away from home. The first few days they took us on various driving trips around the Quito area and beyond. We saw the center of the world monument exactly on the equator, Cotopaxi volcano in a hailstorm, and the Otovalo craft market. 

Last Sunday we went to mass with the Chiribogas and then to the local produce market which you could try to compare to a farmer's market in Portland or Seattle, but it's bigger, better and far more energetic.  You can buy anything from fruits, medicinal herbs, tools or pig faces...

Pig heads at the Market in Machachi

Berries

Hot Peppers

Chicken, not a rooster

Bananas

Then we finished off the day by taking a steep hike up Pasochoa mountain and eating ceviche on top which was a total luxury and amazing.

View from part-way up Pasochoa

Now we are in Quito at a beautiful hostel called Casa Bambu, with an awesome rooftop terrace where we have been hanging out and taking in the epic view of the city (thanks Lapomas for the recommendation!).

The rooftop terrace at Casa Bambu, our Quito Hostel

We saw the changing of the guard at the presidential palace which Presidente Correa attends every Monday, so we got to see a President from afar. There are some really interesting and sad environmental issues going on around oil extraction in the amazon (specifically from Yasuni National Park) so there were demonstrations in the square after the changing of the guards.  We also visited three beautiful churches, la Basilica del Voto Nacional, where we climbed to to top of the torres, La Iglesia de la Compania, a Jesuit church dating back to 17th Century, covered in gold leaf from top to bottom throughout, and la Catedral Metropolitana, all in the historic area of Quito.

La Iglesia de la Compania

La Iglesia de la Compania

Today we decided to take the TeleferiQo (cable car) up above the city and from there started walking.  We initially thought we'd just hike a little, but ended up doing over 5 miles up to pretty near the summit of Rucu Pichincha.  The elevation kicked our butts (well over 14,000 ft), but we kept pushing on and it paid off!

on the way to Rucu Pichincha from the Teleferico

4,100 meters, looking over Quito

Rucu Pichincha

We are also posting pretty regularly on Instagram at djrybrow and annemhaywire if you're into that kind of thing...

We love you all and miss you!