Quito has definitely been better than I expected it to be- it has a beautiful old town area, a modern area with everything to keep us gringos entertained in the evenings and a few really lovely parks that I wish we had more of back at home. I went on a stroll the other day (it may have been a hungover 'must-do-something-with-my-day' stroll) not really expecting to see anything great and I happened upon a huge park full of families playing, market stalls with every sort of alpaca clothing possible, teenagers riding bikes and couples relaxing under the trees. The whole city is surrounded by the Andes meaning you can get some amazing views if you're willing to do a bit of climbing- or just take a taxi of course. Quito, as I thought too of Medellin in Colombia, is definitely the kind of place I can imagine living.
In the end I spent a week being fairly chilled out, enjoying the view from my hostel (100% stay at Secret Garden hostel if you ever come here) and the company of other travellers. It was my birthday on Tuesday and I'd been stressing a bit trying to decide where to spend it; in the end a group of us who had been going out together all week decided to go to Secret Garden's sister hostel next to Cotopaxi volcano, which after 150 years of no activity started erupting a month or so ago. You might be right in thinking that's an odd choice of a place to spend your birthday, but actually the hostel wasn't in any danger zone and because less people were choosing to go there due to not being able to climb the volcano anymore, there was a deal on where you got your room, four meals a day (my kind of eating schedule) and unlimited alcohol for $38 a night. Oh and you always get unlimited banana bread too- there's a cake stand on the side which is constantly replenished over the day, so of course I averaged 6 a day while I was there. If my trip to Casa en El Agua was the closest I'll ever get to paradise, Secret Garden was the closest I'll ever get to The Burrow (Harry Potter reference #1). It was the cosiest hostel ever with open fireplaces in every dorm, amazing home-cooked food for every meal and ponchos galore. There was a jacuzzi, a giant hammock and 3 very friendly dogs named Milo, Daisy and Mash. I'm not usually a dog person but I think I need a sausage dog at some point- see below for a photo of Mash, who had a problem with storing fat and subsequently looks a bit like Dobby (Harry Potter reference #2).
And alpacas of course. I was told that the volunteers get to ride them but unfortunately this must have slipped their minds this time and I didn't get to see any alpaca racing.
I think I made a pretty good choice of where to spend my 23rd birthday, though we may have taken advantage of the free alcohol offer a little too much- boxed wine in Ecuador isn't any better than boxed wine in England.
Now I'm going to spend another night in Quito before heading south a bit to a place called Banos, which is the Spanish word for toilet. Maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. Until next time, ciao chicas!
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