Enjoying the Little Things – Ecuador days 1 & 2

When traveling 4000 miles to a third world country it’s pretty well accepted that there will be problems that arise along the way and details that don’t go according to plan; especially when you’re trying to accomplish the trip on a reasonable budget. Even when expected however, it can be tempting to allow problems to detract unnecessarily from the enjoyment of the trip. Perspective and proper mindset can help prevent those feelings and our ragtag crew is discovering that as we make our way south across Ecuador.

Arrival in Ecuador

Our trip started off strong with the little nieces crushing the 12 hours of flight time, and we arrived without incident (aside from a missing stroller that never seemed to have made one of the luggage transfers) in Quito. Our flight had been slightly delayed and the process of getting through customs took a little bit longer than expected and by the time we arrived to pick up our car rentals they had given away our reservation. We eventually were able to track down a couple of other cars but it was a grueling process and involved Levi and I walking a mile in the dark while the others guarded our luggage.

We ended up with a mid-sized car and a slightly less than mid-sized car (first option appeared to be some sort of clown car, we negotiated for slightly larger than clown sized to fit our luggage). The drive from the airport into Quito was exciting, the traffic laws are more like general guidelines and the roads haven’t had the lines painted on them since maybe never, it was hard to tell. We finally arrived at our AirBnb, a cool penthouse find in the middle of the city. The views were amazing and we all crashed in our beds with sighs of relief at around 2am.

Quito

Quito has a population of roughly two million people, with the city center surrounded by towering sprawling hills with houses and shacks built up in every direction. There are multiple districts that feel like separate cities, much like you would find in large cities back in the States. We spent our first day exploring the markets next to our house and had fun bartering and negotiating with the market sellers.

Restaurants are hit or miss, and it’s been a bit of an adventure finding what tastes good. Bouncing from coffee shop to restaurant and back to coffee shop is a fun way of exploring the city throughout the day and we’ve accomplished a significant amount of walking in our first couple days here.

Our 2^nd day in Quito was supposed to be an acclimatation hike to a peak on the edge of Quito that sits at about 15,000’. That morning however, the clown car (I thought I had negotiated out of the clown car, but it turns out that I negotiated into a different sort of clown car and it’s what I will refer to it as from here on out) decided not to start.

The battery was toast, which really would be a simple fix, but the process of finding jumper cables in a foreign country, discovering that the battery was really really toast and needed to be replaced, and then not having any tools is a frustrating position to be in. We finally got ahold of the rental agency and they brought us a new battery. This process took most of the day and we unfortunately missed our hiking window. The hike was probably the most important acclimatization factor in preparing for Chimborazo, so it really is quite unfortunate and hopefully won’t be too big of an issue on the climb.

We spent the rest of the day touring the churches in Quito. I’ll probably do a separate write up to dive deeper into some thoughts and observations on the churches and cathedrals that we saw, but for now it suffices to say that they were nothing short of incredible and awe inspiring. Structures that took 150 years to build, gilded in gold, and truly are incredible masterpieces.

To Riobamba

After dinner we loaded up the cars and began our drive south to Riobamba. Traffic was pretty wild getting out of the city; what would be classified as reckless driving in the United States is standard procedure here and it really sets the tone for the trip.

After a 3-hour drive, we arrived late in Riobamba where much to our dismay, our AirBnB host had decided to disappear off the face of the earth and left us locked out of the house on the street in the pouring rain. After trying to get ahold of AirBnB support and trying to get ahold of our host, we decided to crash at a local hotel for the night. Spirits were down, we were exhausted, and it was hard not to be a little frustrated. Before calling it quits for the night I decided to do a quick check in with Levi and Georgia to see how the nieces were handling it all.

The little girls had been champs the entire trip so far but I knew it had been a long day and was a little nervous about how everyone was feeling – it had been a long couple days by anyone’s standard. I found Claire jumping on the bed pretty much celebrating the best night of her life. Oh to be two years old, up past your bed time, and allowed to jump on the hotel bed! In the midst of frustration, it was a good reminder that joy can be found regardless of the situation and really puts the important things in perspective. The rest of the trip could completely fall to pieces and as long as Claire has a bed to jump on I think I’ll be completely fine.

We spent the day exploring the flowers and waterfalls in Baños yesterday, but I’ll write about that later. Today we start our climb of Chimborazo (my heart-rate just increased significantly writing that, may or may not be a touch nervous). 20,500’ is no joke and praying that the Lord grants us a successful summit! Onward and upward!