After dinner, my family told me they were taking me to a part of Quito known as “Old Town,” or Centro Historico. I wasn’t exactly sure what we were going to be doing there, but I was pretty excited, and even more so when I realized how we were going to get there...
I followed everyone outside and waited for Regalo (NOT Rodrigo) to back the car (or what I expected would be a car) down the driveway…only to be awesomely surprised when he rolled out in a SCHOOL BUS!...a giant bright yellow real life school bus. Turns out my madre is a bus driver and is totally down with taking it out on the town. I thought it was awesome and couldn’t wait to take on Quito, school-bus style.
Once we got to Old Town (after Galo parallel-parked the bus of course), we headed to the main plaza where there was going to be live Ecuadorian music and indigenous dancing. The whole plaza was packed with people, but we somehow managed to find seats in the very front row! I had such a blast watching the musicians totally rock out and the dancers fly all around the dance floor.
After the show, I was so so happy and couldn’t stop smiling, but things only got better from there. After walking around for a bit, they took me on a carriage ride through the entire town! We got to see absolutely everythinggg and it was so much fun. The whole night was just amazing…
…But still, absolutely nothing compared to Saturday.
After waking up at 5 AM, I headed to my school, completely exhausted but too excited to care. I had been looking forward to the day since I had gotten here, as we had planned a trip to Cotapaxi, one of the tallest active volcanoes in the world.
After a 2 hour bus ride, we reached the bottom of the volcano. One hour later, the bus had taken us as far as it could go and we got off to hike the rest of the way. We finally reached the landing where there were bikes lined up and waiting for us. We were going to mountain-bike the entire way down!
The ride was hands-down the most difficult thing I have ever done and definitely something I never would have thought I would be able to accomplish, especially with my biking experience beginning and ending with Lodge Cruisers. The trail was like nothing I had ever seen before, let alone expected I would ever try to tackle on a bike. Between the insane incline (you definitely couldn’t let off the brake even for a second), the deep gullies running constantly throughout the rocky path, and the freezing cold rain pouring down all the while, the three-hour ride couldn’t have been a more exhausting (or exhilarating) experience.
I can’t even begin to explain the feeling I had when I finally reached the bottom and looked up to the very top, barely visible in the clouds, where I had first begun. But sweaty, exhausted, and feeling smaller than ever, all that I had put into conquering the volcano that now loomed so high above me rushed through me in a way I will certainly never forget.
