Quito

Well, we finally made it to Quito. Arriving here marks the end of our land travels. From Ushuaia, Argentina (the end of the world) we have now traveled all the way to the equator (middle of the world) in Quito, Ecuador all by land. In the last two months we have spent more time on buses and trains than we ever thought possible. We have literally seen South America go by through a bus window.

Our three days in Quito were action-packed. We saw several friends from Word of Life, visited the Monument of La Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world), saw a city built inside a volcano, and even had time for salsa dancing lessons! We will have to keep this post short, but here are some pictures that will sum things up.

Plaza San Blas- where we stayed our first night in Quito

Visiting a friend, Eli, at the Word of Life property in Quito

We finally made it to the equator!

Us at Mitad del Mundo

Another friend, José Luis, and Seth discussing which hemisphere is better.

Kids balancing an egg on a nail head at the equator. I think Myth Busters needs to do an episode on this...

The second night in Quito we stayed with some other friends. This is their son, Huguito.

This is inside a crater of an inactive volcano. There is an entire town down there!

This was our favorite part- the salsa dance lessons! We had a great time, but we´re going to need a lot more than one lesson!

Our last morning in Quito our friend Carolina took the mystery out of cooking plantains for us. They are a very typical food here in Ecuador. Here I am mashing some that have been boiled before they get mixed with cheese and butter, then fried.

 The beautiful city of Quito

These are the friends we stayed with our second night- Renato, Carolina and Huguito. They were so nice to take us to several places around the city.

We absolutely loved Quito. The weather was much cooler than in Guayaquil. As with every other place we´ve been, we only wish we had more time! From here we have one more day in Guayaquil before we fly to Panamá. We can´t believe how quickly our trip is coming to an end! Our next post will be from Panamá!