Author Archives: Maya Foster-Wexler

Found a communal living area for lgbtquia+ hermanex (ex= gender nonconformative suffix in Spanish)! Such lovely people and art and inspiration. Live dj’s, graffiti, drag queens, and a woman who makes batik out of her own menstrual blood. Same sex couples are still not allowed to adopt children in Ecuador. In addition, abortion issues, contraceptives, […]

Today Dani, Carmen, and I hiked el volcán Pinchincha. You need to take a cable car up to ~4000m and the summit is about another 700 meters (3-5 hours) from there. The hike had insane views of the city and the last km was just open face rock climbing which was so much fun and […]

Best volunteer fam everrr. Our room smells hecka bad but we still look good and enjoy exploring the city together when we are not making breakfast! Tomorrow we will buy some incense!! Also Tarquín won’t let us get a pet:( We offer an international mix of Bermuda, Brasil, Spain and the US which is ideal […]

Today we took a coozy bus (2 hours) to nearby town Otavalo. Went to famous Mercado del Poncho and bartered (¿nada menos?) for ponchos but we didn’t actually buy any ponchos, just rings and stuff. Beautiful, calm city with sweet dogs, street art, and very kind people. Primary colors are everywhere and the energy is […]

Walked to Museo Nacional del Ecuador with new hostel vol Rosita and Carmz. The building was incredible with three gigante floors depicting the chronological history of Ecuador via art, tribal artifacts, music, dance, contemporary documentaries, trading maps etc. It was amazing and I’m so glad to finally have made it to one of the amazing […]

Missing the fire places in Cotopaxi where I slept with these pups and a belly full of beans

This is a local drink that is served warm with many spices and herbs from the surrounding mountains. Live music en La Ronda: salsa, regatón (more to come on this and machismo culture), and Blondie