Well, I went back to Quito for my last time this past weekend.
The weekend before that, I was in Cartagena.
The weekend before that, I was in Quito.
It's safe to say that I could go a while without a plane ride. Of course, I say that and I am on a ten hour bus to Medellín only to try and catch another bus to Jardín--a small town we will be working in for SEF for the next few days. I realize I'm doing this all wrong--starting from the recent, working backwards, and then talking about the present.
You all already know how well my first trip to Quito went, so I guess I'll move onto Cartagena.
Cartagena was beautiful and is everything that everyone ever tells you it will be--beautiful, HOT, and pricey--at least, by Colombian standards. Most people there have a little bit of English because they're so used to foreigners coming to visit. Especially backpackers. Cartagena was immediately off to a rough start when Carolina and I woke up at 7 AM for an 8:30 AM flight. I hadn't packed, or even had the chance to scratch my eyes and stretch for the day before we were running into a cab to make it to the airport. Luckily, timing isn't exactly a Colombian virtue, so our Viva Colombia flight ended up being fine. Off to Cartagena we went--it's about a 17 hour bus ride, so the $100 roundtrip flight was worth it. We arrived, napped, then went to walk around Old Town. Carolina and I killed some serious time in that place, then wandered to the city wall to watch the sun set on the ocean. It's pretty cool. There were all kinds of things going on in Old Town, from people doing the traditional dances to some random man meditating and floating in midair (still puzzled...) in front of the church. We returned to the hostel, decided to change, and went to dinner at some delicious Argentinian steak house. Afterwards, we wanted to try to go to the Havana Cafe but they had a cover charge; I only wanted to go because I had heard from our friend Bryce (backpacker from our very first flight into Bogotá) that THE Hillary Clinton had been there to party before. We settled on a small bar with a mojito for a night cap and immediately went home to sleep. Sunday, we woke up super early to get our trip going. We were going to Isla Barú for the day. Let me tell you, one of the prettiest beaches I have EVER been to.
Sunday started early. We ran to a spot with a bunch of other foreigners who all piled into a van and headed to the docks to get on some speed boat. We took it out to Isla Barú and quickly realized we were in paradise. Massages are cheap on the beach, but there are also a lot of vendors. If you're not careful, no matter how hard you try, they will end up forcing you into buying something. We spent all day in Barú, dealt with some creepy Peruvian man, met a couple from New York, and were soon back in Cartagena. We napped for about four hours afterwards and then dragged our sunburnt and exhausted bodies to a pizza shop where they were selling entire pizzas for roughly four bucks. Easily, Cartagena was my favorite city I have EVER seen. It tops anywhere in Ecuador, the United States, and Mexico.
We figured we would wake up the next day and walk around Cartagena a little more but we had seen everything except for the San Felipe castle; we walked to that and realized we were literally out of things to do. So although we had a night flight at about ten PM, we headed to the airport to wait for about eight hours. It was entirely too hot to walk around Cartagena and we were both exhausted. We flew home with no problems at all. Thankfully, Bogotá wasn't as cold as it usually is when we landed. Our awesome host siblings were waiting at the airport too, SO NO TAXI! That's always a welcome change.
Carol got food poisoning the day after though, so we worked from home. Somehow, I didn't get food poisoning, despite eating the same things as her all weekend. Must be those Ecuadorian antibodies or something.
During the week, I decided to go back to Ecuador one more time to see my host family and (now) boyfriend. It's weird to call Raul my boyfriend. It just doesn't seem real--then again, I guess 21 years of never having a boyfriend can do that to you. He picked me up from the airport and took me to my host mom's, where he chatted with her and my host sister for a while, and then we went to Kobe, aka my favorite sushi place in all of Ecuador. Afterwards, we headed to his house so I could see his family again and then watched a movie. FYI, Pineapple Express is kind of funny but really stupid. 100% don't recommend. Saturday started early; I have missed waking up to chat with my host mom over a bowl of fruit and fresh bread and juice. After explaining to her that yes, I was dating the Ecuadorian boy she met the night before, she insisted that I marry him in Ecuador so she can come. Not yet mamá Gladys, not yet.
Later on, Raul and his dad and baby brother picked me up to grab some breakfast and head to Centro Historico with his sister too. We met up with his mama since she was working and had lunch at some really random restaurant; there was a wine cave in the bottom with tables and what not to eat at. Easily one of the coolest restaurants I have ever been to. After, we walked around for a little, then went to the president's palace--shoutout to Raul's mama for getting us in, because it was actually pretty cool. But y'all know me, I totally love that kind of thing. We walked around some more until his mom got off work, then headed back to the house to relax and watch House of Cards. Finally, it was time to head home and get ready because everyone was heading out that night. Raul and I met up with all of his friends at Kong, plus Anthony, my favorite partner in crime. Hahaha. So worth it though, Kong was a blast and I got to see more people than I had bargained on seeing during my short stay in Quito. Thanks to Dragon, despite dressing like a peasant because I hadn't planned on going out while I was there, I got into Kong without a problem. Later, I just went home and went straight to bed.
Sunday morning, Raul's family came and picked me up to head to Machachi for breakfast. It was a rural town but has a famous cafe for breakfast that we went to, and then something random like an agricultural fair. A day well spent wandering around, but goodbyes aren't easy. We headed to the airport later. Tears were shed, etc. But I survived and left Ecuador with a boyfriend. Bet y'all didn't see that one coming! Anyway, huge thanks to my host fam in Ecuador and Raul, for sharing his family and friends with me all weekend. I honestly miss Quito so much already, it'll definitely take some adjusting back in Norman this August.
Now here I am, on a bus to Medellin, trying to control my laptop from sliding off my lap. Who knows. Less than three weeks left, but thankfully, my sister and niece will be in from Virginia when I get back to Oklahoma and I get to help my best friend pick out a wedding dress. Can't believe we're already halfway through 2015. Speaking of which, I got an email about graduation the other day and might have cried. Adulthood scares me.
Quito, I'll see you again, I hope.
To the rest of the world, surprised yet? The answer is probably yes for most of you, but for those of you who know me, it's absolutely not.
Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.
-Jacob Bronowski
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