(the school across the street from my house)Quito is a beautiful city; an eclectic mix of modernity and antiquity - gigantic malls and car dealerships galore, overshadowing tiny decaying houses and shoe shiners on every corner. It´s a great city to live in, tons to do - especially in La Mariscal, the tourist district...where all the young people go to party with the gringos. Lots of really cool bars and discotecas. Every day I take several (well, 3) buses across Quito and into Cumbaya, a smaller town, to go to school. The university is very posh (all the rich ecuadorian students go there... it´s a mix of plasticos (them) and gringos (us) hahah, but it´s really cool all the same) .
This weekend my class went to La Pahuma, an orchid reserve a couple hours out of town. We hiked up to the camp site (about an hour and a half of steep switchbacks) which is right in the middle of the cloud rainforest (and yes, it is very very cloudy...the clouds rise up at about noon every day, and it´s like walking through mist.... beyond your immediate surroundings all you can see is white)
I went swimming in a waterfall there (it was FREEZING) and we hiked along this old trail that was used hundreds of years ago to cross the mountains, and for some time for smuggling alcohol (I think it had something to do with the spaniards and catholicism, but I´m not sure). So many feet have walked
