Country #24 - Ecuador Day 2

The Equator and the Firecrackers

Today I woke up early and set out for the Equator! It is about a thirty minute (and $20) drive from the heart of Quito through the outskirts of the city. There is quite a bit of debate over the exact correct location of the Equator, but I chose to visit the more common tourist location, as there is much more to see and do. When you arrive you see a massive monument in the distance marking the Equator. Admission was not too expensive ($8) and gives you access to museums, the shops, the Equator monument, and even llamas!

When I entered I walked around to get a feel for everything there was to see. I took my obligatory pictures standing over the Equator line and then set out to see the llamas. They were pretty cute! I then took pictures with the “Middle of the World” giant letters before climbing up the monument. From the top of the monument, you can see the beautiful hills surrounding the area. You take an elevator to the top, but take the stairs down through a museum about Ecuador and the Equator.

I then ate lunch at one of the many restaurants (my choice was not a great one, but I had a good view so it was not too bad) and then I watched a cultural dance performance. Next, I headed to the chocolate museum, then to a museum about the Equator’s discovery, and lastly to view a miniature of the city of Ecuador. Everything was included in the price of admission, and it was a pretty full half day adventure! I took a taxi back to my hotel, said goodbye to brownie the bunny, and then took another taxi (my same driver from this morning) to the airport.

I had Johnny Rockets for dinner in the airport. Lame, I know, but also I really wanted chicken fingers and an Oreo milkshake and there were few other options so it was actually a great comfort food meal. After dinner, I took a two-hour flight to Lima, Peru. The flight was fine but the airport was a nightmare.

I think tonight was absolutely the most frustrated I have been on my trip, followed by the most scared. The Lima airport is a free-for-all for the cab drivers, which in my opinion benefits absolutely no one. It just terrifies travelers, and causes drivers to compete vigorously with each other. After exiting the terminal I was bombarded with requests for taxis. This is nothing new - I have seen it in many countries so far. However, one taxi driver would not leave me alone, and I grew very angry telling him no over ten times. It took me growing visibly angry to get him to leave me alone. It is crazy to me that an airport for such a large city has such a poor system in place. All of this was going on while my Uber driver took forever to find me. While he took forever, I was completely relieved to get away from the airport. But my night of fun was not over yet!

I arrived at my hotel, TUPAC Airport Hostel, around 10pm. Thank you so much to TUPAC for sponsoring two nights of my trip! It was definitely a hostel, but I had my own room and everyone was very nice. Around midnight, however, I heard what I thought were about 5-10 gunshots in very close proximity. I was definitely panicked - I hid in the bathroom and spent thirty minutes trying to get in touch first with the hotel and then, when that proved unsucessful, with the US Embassy.

I got through to a really helpful guy at the embassy who was eventually able to get in touch with the hotel. The hotel was very apologetic and sent someone up to my room to make sure that I was okay and to explain that the neighborhood right behind my hotel regularly sets off firecrackers on Sunday nights. I was fine, especially after ten minutes or so of not hearing anything other than the initial loud pops. However, it was still a scary situation in the moment. I really appreciate how helpful the US Embassy was! They even let me know that I did exactly the right thing in the situation.

After the whole ordeal, it took me a few hours to fall asleep. I knew I was safe, but according to my Apple Watch my heart rate was at about 130 for a while after the incident, so I was just wide awake. Eventually, though, I fell asleep. Looking forward to exploring Lima tomorrow!

24 countries down, 172 to go.

Read about my first day in Ecuador here.

To learn more about Hostal de La Rabida click here.

To learn more about TUPAC Airport Hostel click here.

Country #24 - Ecuador Day 1

The Bunny

This morning I had an 8am flight from Colombia to Quito, Ecuador. At the airport, I took a taxi from the airport taxi stand into Quito (for $25). Interestingly enough, due to a financial crisis in 1999/2000, Ecuador actually uses the US Dollar as it's currency - so I had zero confusion on exchange rates today! The drive took around an hour, and it was equal parts beautiful and car sickness inducing. The roads were winding but the scenery was amazing. I arrived at my hotel, Hostal de La Rabida, and had a really cute room right off of the courtyard. The hotel is so charming and, the best part, there is a pet bunny! The bunny is named Brownie and he is so sweet and tolerant (of being petted) and I just was made probably abnormally happy by this really cute bunny. I cannot thank Hostal de La Rabida enough for sponsoring my stay and for their incredible hospitality. After bonding with Brownie (and facetiming everyone in my immediate family to show them Brownie) I had to take a nap. I was exhausted from an early morning of travel.

After my nap, I decided to head out to explore the heart of Quito! Ecuador does not have Uber or anything like it, so it is always best to ask your hotel to call you a taxi. I had read horror stories of people being mugged by accidentally getting in unofficial taxis in Quito, so I made it a priority to be really aware during my time in Ecuador. I got some recommendations on sights from the hotel and then headed out. My first stop was the Pre-Columbian Art Museum. While this definitely is not my favorite type of art or museum (which has been a little rough considering the plethora of them in Central / South America) this museum was actually really great. It was the perfect size, had an English translated audio guide and descriptions, and the art was all really unique and interesting to learn about.

I finished the museum in under an hour and headed down the street to the Church of Saint Francis. It was stunning on the inside and outside. The church sits on Plaza San Francisco, which was a really great place to just stop and observe for a while. While this was definitely a tourist focused area, I was amazed by how many locals were out and about in the old town area of Quito.

From there I headed to Independence Square, which was a really pretty park near Plaza San Francisco. The buildings in this area of Quito were immaculate and definitely historic. I then walked to a chocolate shop right off of the square to buy the first presents (a few chocolate bars) of my trip!

I next sat off on an unfortunately uphill journey to the Basilica of the National Vow. The walk was supposedly not very long but I had no idea how exhausted I would be afterward. Quito sits at an incredibly high elevation for a city at over 9,000 feet. Other than La Paz, Bolivia, Quito will be the highest elevated capital city I will visit over the course of visiting 197 countries. So the altitude sickness is a very real thing. Bogota sat at over 8,500 feet so at least I have had a few days of altitude so far, but with La Paz and then Cusco, Peru still to come I will probably be pretty light headed and extra tired for the next few days to come. Those are the only symptoms that I have and I hope that it stays that way! The uphill walk to the church was definitely worth it, though. It was absolutely incredible and huge as well. It was one of the largest Cathedrals that I have ever seen, and I took so many pictures (tons of which are in the slideshow below).

I walked all around the church for a good while and then found a taxi stationed outside to take me back to my hotel. After resting in my room for a while (I’m telling you this altitude is killer) I decided to eat dinner at my hotel. I ordered fettuccine alfredo and it was really tasty. I then had such a nice surprise when the hotel made my meal complimentary! It was so nice and I really cannot thank Hostal de La Rabida enough for their generocity. After a busy day, I had no trouble falling asleep, and am so excited to visit the Equator tomorrow!

24 countries down, 172 to go.

Read about my second day in Ecuador here.

To learn more about Hostal de La Rabida click here.

Country #23 - Colombia Day 2

Colombian Views

Today was a jam packed day spent exploring Bogota, and I only fell more in love with this city! To start I took an Uber (Uber is so cheap here it is insane - like under $5 every ride) to the cable car station to go up to Monserrate, a mountain 10,000 feet above sea level with views that are impossible to even describe. You can see the entire city, and it literally stretches on for as far as the eye can see, which from 10,000 feet is really far. I'm so glad that the clouds cleared and that I could see the view. I also could definitely feel the altitude and had to catch my breath a few times, but it was so worth it and you get used to it after a while.

You take a cable car up the mountain which is pretty cool in itself. At the top there is a beautiful church, stalls of touristy things, and restaurants with the views. I ate at Santa Clara House, and I don't think I will ever have a more breathtaking view of a city while eating lunch. I am really loving the exchange rate here - I had steak for lunch for about $10!

After lunch, I took the cable car down from Monserrate and then had quite possibly the most incompetent Uber driver of all time. His GPS stopped working so I had to give him directions, which he proceeded not to follow probably three times. It’s a good thing we weren’t going too far because it was a lot of driving in circles! His phone finally started working and he dropped me off at the art museum. Shout out to Uber for refunding the ride because it was quite the ordeal.

I haven’t been to an art museum, which is one of my favorite things to do when I travel, in quite a while, so I was really excited for Museo de Arte del Banco de la República. And it definitely did not disappoint! The museum was really modern but also encompassed older historic building of the old town area I was now in. It took you through art over the history of Colombia but also had some incredible modern pieces. There is an entire wing of the museum for Fernando Botero, who is probably the most famous Colombian artist. Not going to lie, his art makes me laugh quite a bit because he basically depicts people and figures as being unusually large sometimes to evoke humor and sometimes as a political statement. See below for an example of enlarged Mona Lisa. Overall, I really enjoyed the museum and it had famous works from all over the world in addition to the great Colombian art collection.

After the museum, I walked down the street to the beautiful Cathedral of Colombia. This area of town had lots of old and beautiful buildings. The Cathedral sits on Plaza de Bolivar, a huge plaza where people congregate. It is a very pretty square, and the Palazio de Nariño (National Palace) sits just down the street from it. Before walking by the national palace guards search your bags, but you are allowed to walk right up to the gate. The palace is stunning and has very well manicured gardens surrounding it. After walking around the area for a little longer I took an Uber to get dinner at The Market.

The Market is the top ranked place to eat in Bogota according to TripAdvisor. It was located in a hotel, which I did not love, but it was a really cool and modern restaurant with an amazing cheeseburger so I was pretty happy with my meal. I splurged on a brownie for dessert because having such a great exchange rate is both something I am not used to and something I was very excited about. After dinner, I headed back to Mika Suites to pack before an early flight to Quito.

If you ever are thinking about visiting Bogota, Colombia I cannot recommend it enough. Similarly to my apprehension about Mexico City, I had no idea what to expect. But it was such a cool and modern city with so much history and culture and so much to see. I have loved my time here!

23 countries down, 173 to go.

Read about my first day in Colombia here.

To learn more about Mika Suites click here.

Country #23 - Colombia Day 1

The Crepes

Today I got to sleep in relatively late before taking a taxi to the airport. It was pretty much a travel day, but I got to see a little of Colombia once I arrived! It was one of the longer flights that I have had at an hour and a half. All of the cities so far have been so close together! I landed in Bogota mid-afternoon and took an Uber the hour to my hotel. Bogota is one of those cities where the taxi drivers unfortunately hate the Uber drivers, so it is best to ride in the front seat so as not to draw any attention to the fact that you are a passenger. The ride into the city was interesting; Bogota so far was a lot more modern than I was anticipating!

The neighborhood around my hotel, Mika Suites, is really modern and actually reminds me a lot of New York City. There are a lot of cool restaurants! I got to Mika Suites around dinner time. The people at check in were so nice and my room was very modern and comfortable. Thank you so much to Mika Suites for sponsoring this night of my trip!

After resting for a little while I ventured to eat dinner down the street. I found a really great crepe restaurant of all places, called Crepes and Waffles. I got a ham and cheese crepe and an apple sundae crepe. The language barrier did unfortunately come into play, but not to badly! I accidentally ordered my meal to-go, but it ended up being okay - I just ate in my hotel down the street.

After dinner I did a really cool interview about my trip that has since been published (which you can read here). Afterwards, I did laundry and I tried to go to sleep relatively early before exploring Bogota tomorrow!

23 countries down, 173 to go.

Read about my second day in Colombia here.

To learn more about Mika Suites click here.

Country #22 - Panama

The Canal

Today I unfortunately had an early afternoon flight - I would much rather have arrived in Panama earlier! However, everything ended up working out. I took the free hotel shuttle again and had an easy flight before arriving in Panama around 1:00pm. I Ubered into the city where I saw all of the incredibly tall buildings Panama is famous for. Some of them were so cool and unique! After the long Uber drive into the city and my hotel, TRYP, I quickly dropped my bags off in my room and immediately took an Uber to the Canal. It was about a forty-five minute drive from my hotel, so I got to the Miraflores Locks Museum around 3:00pm, giving me a good two hours to explore.

It was such an interesting place! There is a museum, as well as a film, and an outdoor viewing area for boats passing through the Miraflores Locks. The canal is composed of three sets of locks, which helps to raise ships from the ocean up into the lake that composes to the canal and then lowers ships again to the other ocean. The Miraflores Locks is one of those three sets of locks. Did you know that it can cost $300,000 - $400,000 for a large ship to pass through the canal one time? After doing the museum, which was relatively quick but very informative, I headed to the film which was once again very informative. It was really interesting to learn about the United States’ role in the canal, and how we turned over full control of the canal to Panama beginning in 2000.

After the film, I headed outside to watch a boat go through the lock. It was a pretty long process, probably taking around thirty to forty-five minutes per boat. The structure and the boats are both so large, it makes sense that it takes so long when you think about how much water has to be moved every time the process occurs. I stayed watching the boats pass through until it was time for the museum to close.

I then took an Uber into the historic city center. It was way cooler than I was expecting! There was a very European feel and the buildings in the area were all so beautiful. I walked through   Plaza before walking through the area to go inside many of the different churches that were luckily open late. While inside the last church it began pouring rain so I decided to take an Uber to my close by restaurant.

My Uber driver was pretty funny, as I got the typical “Forest Gump” response when I told him I was from Alabama. Apparently it was his favorite movie! Forest Gump, along with Sweet Home Alabama, are what I get 90% of the time I tell people where I am from if I get a reaction at all. After the quick ride, I went to Santa Rita. It is the top ranked restaurant on TripAdvisor, and it did not disappoint! The prices were reasonable, but I had a really great dinner. I had quite possibly the best croquettes I have ever had, as well as yummy tomato bread and freshly mashed potatoes. It was quite the satisfying dinner!

I then headed back to my hotel, where I went to take lots of pictures from the amazing roof view of the city and its incredible buildings. I then headed back to my room to get a good night's sleep before heading to Colombia!

22 countries down, 174 to go.