Our first stop was a waterfall a couple hours away. I wish I could remember what the town was called!!! Anyway we had a "small" hike (at least that what Santiago said?!) to get to the waterfall but it was totally worth it. I believe we were also told that we might get a "bit" wet. My soaked clothes and tennis shoes would prove otherwise though! It was so fun. A few of us were adventurous enough to climb through the cave ( I use that word very loosely) to get behind the waterfall for more views. It was awesome! We made our way down, changed clothes and headed a couple more hours up the road before we stopped for lunch. We brought peanut butter sandwiches to make, and luckily an ice cream shop was nice enough to let us eat in there as long as we all bought a cone on our way out... done! We stopped at a market where some people tasted sugar cane (it was sounding too great to me and my car sick self), I bought some of the delicious jam that we got to eat every morning, along with some taffy. We watched Marcus jump off a bridge (yes you read that right) and then loaded back up to get to Quito.
Quito is a big, crowded and awesome city. We stopped first at the market where Rob bartered for us girls and got us some good deals. I got 2 scarves and an Ecuadorian soccer jersey for my little man. We then headed to this HUGE church. I wish I could remember the name!!! We climbed lots of stairs and ladders (some that were outside the building!!! I might have been insanely terrified and teared up a few times but refused to be left behind!!!) The view when we got to the top was amazing. We ate dinner at a very nice restaurant in Quito... I'm kind of surprised they let us in with how lovely we were all looking at this point :). Unfortunately we were so worn out, car sick and just a little under the weather at this point that I think we all had two bites of our food and were ready for the bus, the plane and home. We had a great day - but I guess you run out of energy at some point!
The Quito airport is something else. Thankfully the check in attendant was kind and let my suitcase that weighed 50.3 lbs get through without paying any extra or moving things around (on the way to Ecuador my suitcase might have weighed 58 lbs...in my defense I was carrying lots of party goods!!!). When we got to our gate they checked our carry ons one by one. You were allowed no food or drinks in this area. And the waiting area was extremely HOT! We were all on edge by this point...a couple of us got patted down and sweet Melissa got called out with a random search group to look through her actual suitcase! After an hour or so of waiting, face timing and skyping with our families it was finally time to get on the plane.
I had had been missing Evan and Grayson. But it hadn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be. But when I stepped on that plane. I couldn't get home fast enough!!!
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