Dude, we're in South America

view from our hostel 1

view from our hostel 2

A gasp from Yonseili woke me up this morning. It was 6:09am so we missed church. We got ready and asked the hostel owners if they could hold our stuff in the mean time until we got back. They went ahead and let us put our bags in their small kitchen/dining room. We looked for a place to have breakfast before 7:30am so that we can ride the go-karts to some of the waterfalls, and didn't have much luck. There were several places open but they had too many people and we didn't want to wait... well we couldn't really. We went to the indoor market and just had to settle with bread. We didn't even have anything to drink. On our way to the go-kart place we saw everyone coming out of church. That should have been us as well. It was nice to see how many people went to mass that early. I saw a little kid with who I think was his grandma. His hair was a little messy, indicating he just got out of bed before going to mass. He also had a notebook up against his chest. Maybe he had catechism? One of the options we had for breakfast was fried food. Wow, there was plenty of that and we couldn't understand how people could have that so early in the morning.

The weather was nice. Not cold, not hot, and cloudy. It wasn't loud, but you could hear chatter everywhere, businesses opening. There were four somewhat young people eating at a table right outside one of the restaurants we were interested in. I am almost 100% sure they were out all night. The eyes of two of them were red. They probably slept until 2 after that... or later.

We arrived to Motorsport Adventure (the place that rents out go-karts, quads, and other extreme sport stuff). We paid the rest of the 'bill' and he gave us instructions on what road to take. It was a 3-hour deal to and from the waterfalls. He explained there would be tunnels and roads and he indicated which to take and which ones not to take. This is because of the awful drivers that could possibly kill us. We were given our helmets and then told about how to drive the go-kart. Yonseili had to give her driver's license and I gave my cedula. The process here is way faster and cheaper than back home. We would have had to show proof of this, proof of that, blah blah blah. Of course, it's not good when things go wrong, but to our convenience, if careful, it's great. Around this location/business there were other similar businesses and therefore there were plenty of go-karts parked on the street. I got to drive first.

We took a few wrong turns but eventually got to the first waterfall. On the way there I must say that I was thinking a lot about my trip. "Dude, we're in South America." That's something we find saying to each other at times when I think it blows our minds that we are here doing the things we are doing, such as driving a go-kart by and around and active volcano.

Highlight of the day: Going through the tunnels was the coolest. We got to feel the sharp hits of water drops on our body coming down from within the tunnel. I remember telling Yonseili the tunnels made it seem like we were on a Disneyland ride. This is when we needed to use the lights on the go-karts, and the beep, only if we wanted. The beep we used at curves mainly. It was pretty loud.

To every waterfall we went to we had to use a tarabita. They're pretty cool. The weather overall was more humid than anything, but still a bit fresh.

When we got back to town, we parked our go-kart and said thank you to the man. We looked for a place to eat. Yonseili suggested we eat at Cafe Hood, where we visited Lauren and her friend. The food they were eating looked delicious. So that's where we went.

Definitely delicious. I got 2 burritos and Yonseili got enchiladas. The place is pretty cool. There are paintings all over the place and overall very artsy-looking. There are plenty of books on one wall. There was a sign that said you can only look at them with permission and you could buy them for $20/e. I'm pretty sure that meant you couldn't buy them. But I think you could exchange. I left that place full and very content.

We then went to the hot springs and check it out. We went by taxi and when we go to the location we saw the line and knew immediately we weren't going in to the pool. There was on the side, a place where supposedly there was holy water and plenty of people were wetting themselves with it and their kids, even dogs. I went up this ladder where I could get closer to the waterfall and it was a good view. I got a bit wet, but no complaints. When I got down Yonseili and I were passing by two horses used for picture taking. The photographer talked us into taking a picture on them. Well, to be honest he didn't really have to insist because we thought it would be great to have. And yes, the picture definitely is hilarious.

Then we went back to the hostel to get our stuff and then we went to the church. We had our moment and then went to the bus terminal and took off back to Quito. I pretty much slept the entire time. I was too tired. Sleeping 3 hours might have been the cause.

Or taxi ride home was through the city instead of through the freeway. It took longer but was cheaper. It was weird to see El Panecillo from the back. That was an indicator we were pretty far from home. Then we unloaded, showered and later went out for pizza at Pizzeria el Hornero with my host family and their friend Ruben. We had very interesting conversations. Our next stop was Fybeca and then we headed back home.

It was a looooong day.