Getting to Quito

So, I was only in Columbia for a short amount of time. But It was the safest city so far and I found out the men with guns in our neighborhood where there cause the president lives there, which makes sense. Our trip to Ecuador though was a 35 hours adventure in itself.

It started with a 30 minute cab ride through Bogota in a cab playing all of Mariah Careys greatest hits. After purchasing our tickets and stuffing our faces with food we entered our bus. It was comfortable and it was fine for the first leg winding through mountains that literally broke through clouds. Then we stopped. A man with a mchine gun came on and told us to get out. At this point I thought we were being robbed. I started to feel better as one of the men grabbed my hand to help me of the bus and smiled at me. I thought at very least if the other guuy was planning to shoot us all maybe this guy would have my life spared. Of course Francesca and I started walking to the male line and then they started to laugh at us. Then we walked over to the female line with a man with a large gun was waiting for us. He just wanted to check our bags for cocaine. Soon we were aloud back on the bus and we carried on our way.

We stop for an amazing dinner with mixto rice and chicken and everything seemed fine. Until about an hour into being back on the nus passing all these amazing little villages that I wish I could have photographed we stopped again. This time for nearly two hours. The light outside quickly became dark and we weren{t going anywhere. Apparently, a car over turned up the road. Eventually we started moving arond seven and the bus driver apparently thought it would be agood time for us to go to bed. He turned off the lights and turned the air up and we were forced to sleep. Which would have been fine, besides the fact that it was unbelievably cold. Everyone else was prepared with blankets and jackets and Francesca and I tossed and turned snuggling at some points trying to warm our convulsing bodies because we were shivering so badly at some points. Morning finally came and it warmed the bus up. We stoppped again i the morning for breakfast and I passed out. When I awoke we were at our destination in Ipiales. We grabbed a cab to take us to this amazing church built over a river and then to the border. People were everywhere offering taxis, money exchange everything. It was overwhelming. As we got our exit stamp from Columbia and where walking towards Ecuador we were stopped again by armed men who were nice enough. One searched Francescas bag and another checked mine. He kept talking to me and I didn{t know what he didn{t understand about me not being able to speak spanish. Then an armed women came over and felt me up looking for drugs. We were obviously clean and then allowed to walk into Ecuador.

Yes, you guessed it we were stopped again. This tiem by an armed Ecuadarian Policia. We went into aroom, where he really only checked my things. He went through my wallet and asked how much cash I had. Francesca translated around one fifty. Appareantly, I had more. At first I thought Heas going to keep what I didn{t say I had, but know he really wanted me to count with him in Spanish. It was kind of ridiculous. He picked up one of my tampons not really knowing what it was, as well. He didn{t even go in Francescas things. Then we headed to immigration to get our stamp and then off for another taxi ride.

Our taxi driver was amazing. It was less then three dollars for less then a half hour drive. Ecuador is on the US dollar, too. He chased down a bus for us in his car to take us to Quito. The people from the bus ran up grabbed our luggage and Francesca and I ran down the street after them. We got on the bus where we stood out so badly. About ten minutes in to our trip we were stopped again. The bus driver guy came over to us and escorted us off to yes another armed man smoking a ciggarette. He asked for our passport and said oh, americanos... we grabbed our bags and he searched them going through my dirty underwear.

We then got back on the bus for another five hour ride through mountains and towns. At every stop people came on the bus trying to sell you anything from hamburgers and fries to water and plantain chips. At one point a passenger came on and put his chickens underneath the bus. We got to watch Fast and the Furious in Spanish and after that was over some up beat Spanish music. The bus trip seemed endless. Eventually, we pulled into the bus terminal and grabbed another cab. Our cabby told us the area we were at was kind of dangerous. It{s inbetween the new and old town.

Our hostel itself is great. The guy is so helpful and told us where to go and when. How much we should be charged for cabs and everything. He lives there with his family and me and his dog are best friends already.

Quito has been amazing. The curches are like playgrounds. No one is in most of them and we are free to climb and discover as we wish. I will tryo to post pictures soon.