Parques y Termas

I spent my last full weekend in Ecuador in Quito. I feel like I know every part of this city now. Saturday I traveled with Leo to help with a surgery and then later in the day, checked out 2 of the main parks, Parque Carolina and Parque Metropolitano. There were tons of families playing soccer and picnicking--this must be where everyone in Quito goes on weekends. Sunday Trisha and I went to Old Town again. It was much calmer on a Sunday and a lot of the churches were holding mass. I finally went into La Compañía de Jesús, the most intricate church in Latin America, and it was incredible. The inside is completely coated with gold; my camera couldn't even capture it so I just sat down and stared. We also toured the Government Palace, which is like the White House of Ecuador.


the cutest little boy in a parade in Old Town


inside the government palace

The last thing we did was climb the bell tower of the Basilica. Only in Ecuador would they let people climb rickety ladders inside an old church without any supervision. There were some awesome views, although my camera died.


Thursday Donna, Trisha, and I planned a relaxing day at the hot springs in Papallacta. It ended up being more stressful than relaxing. I never want to ride a bus again. To get there, we took a bus, a cab, the trolebus, another cab, another bus, and then another bus (all for like 5 dollars though). It took us about 6 hours to get there (it should take 2) and it was cloudy and freezing so we stayed for an hour. The hot springs were gorgeous though, and the water was natural mineral water heated by the volcanoes. We got back to Quito and went to dinner at El Pobre Diablo because Trisha saw it on the Travel Channel, which was delicious.


las termas de papallacta

Today is my last day at work :( and then off to the islands!


Ecuadorrrrrr