Our itinerary

Quito-Atlanta: 12:30am Nov. 5

Atlanta-Tokyo: 11pm Nov. 5th

Tokyo-Singapore: 6:30am Nov. 7th

Singapore-Bali: 11:30pm Nov. 7th

We will be in Bali for the next month before Carmen heads to Rome and I visit Shan and Hayden in NZ

Luis’s incredible bb, Matias. He is 3 and can skate better than I can. Carmen gave him a squid that she knitted.

We met Luis’ fam and said goodbye to them and Alisson who was living with them but will soon be en route to Colombia.

Rose caught a bus back to Cuenca, but we plan to stay in touch back in the states!

Even got to see Allie again (on my right)!!!!!!! Her indigenous women’s health research seems to be going very well with her host family in Otavalo. Everyone just got back from celebrating La Festival de Mama Negra in Latacunga, an hour South of Quito.

Mama Negra: occurs twice a year and is a mix between indigenous, Spanish, and African influence. People flock to city of Latacunga where streets are blocked for insane parades. People dress up in colorful renditions or cultural and historic figures and cleanse one another with herbs and alcoholic beverages which are essentially spit on you as they pass by. La Mamá Negra finally finishes the 5 hour parade (usually a cross dresser often in black face) riding on a horse and spraying the onlookers with milk. Parties continue on the streets throughout the night.

Beauties (Allie=left, Margot=right)

Vibes Hostel

(1) baby sweeps

(2) NOT THE TOILET BOIL!!!

(3) this photo is ironic foreshadowing for my future post about the Tokyo airport

We moved to a hostel downtown. We felt like exploring different hostel experiences and Vibes had a pool, dog, and sauna.

The sauna fricked me up.

Final verdict: places called Vibes are probably trashy even if they have perfect reviews on hostel world. The location and facilities were incredible, but it felt more like a hotel than the international/ social/ backpacker style. Secret Garden prevails. Sin embargo, it was a blast and a half.

We had no idea if Dani was going to make it back to UIO because he had been working on a permaculture farm in the north with no internet. Then, Friday morning, two days after we had he walked in through the door. Also Dani is a free style rapper and it’s actually incredible but the video is not uploading so you will just have to wait until he is famous.

We got lunch at Mercado Central and went to Parque Carolina to meet Alisson and Luis.

At this point we were just doing a really great job of reconnecting with the whole dang giggety gang. It was fun to be tourists and bum around the city for a final few days before saying goodbye to Ecuador.

What is home?

Home vs. house

(I think you can have more than one)

We got back to the Secret Garden on the night of Halloween and said hellloooo the whole staff fam! Rose came to meet us all the way from her homestay in Cuenca (10 hours by bus). Alé and his bffs from the tattoo shop painted faces. Finally met his girlll who is obviously as cool as he made her sound. She is a yoga teacher and invited us over for an impromptu class + jam sesh.

We met Margot and her friend from Fullbright, Kat at the apartment. From there we übered (über is technically illegal in Ecuador, but due to the regulated online system, it’s often 3 or 4 times cheaper than what your taxi driver will try to tell you) to a Halloween party that lasted until the sun came up. There were a bunch of dj’s from all over Latin America and the general vibe was remixed traditional dance music. Example: elektro cumbia/ tekno tango etc. Probably one of the coolest Halloween experiences I’ve ever had– dancing is SUCH an important part of culture that the US is severely lacking. (Shout out to ecstatic dance and Zumba– I see you folks!!) Rhythm gets you in touch with your body and in turn in touch with others.

also Carmen and I got dinner at our favorite pub across from secret Garden (La Oficina). And our friend Alessandra just got hired and brought us multiple baskets popcorn. She is local and we didn’t get to say goodbye last time and had no way of contacting her. It was so good to see her TWENTY STEPS out of our bedroom door!! <3

We really like cheap dates