The Joys of Traveling

Well, I have been in Quito for longer than I had originally planned. Due to some passport problems, flight problems, debit card problems, and pretty much anything else you might want to throw in there, I have had to stick around here for a few more days. It is a long story, and becoming more complicated every minute, so I will spare you all the details until we can sit down together and have a glass of wine (I think I will need a bottle to myself to recount this story).
In any case, I have been around Quito since my last blog post. My friend Mark and I have gotten outside a little bit. Two weekends ago we decided to climb a volcano called El Corazon, located about 20 miles southwest of Quito. We had been looking to climb another volcano named Illiniza Norte, but after seeing some horrendous pictures on the internet of snow and ice-covered Paso de la Muerte (Pass of the Dead), and taking into consideration that neither of us had proper warm clothes, climbing boots, or, come to think of it, any equipment whatsoever, we decided on El Corazon. Well, El Corazon didn't turn out to be as easy as we had planned either. The ascent is a steady climb for several hours, before coming to the base of the mountain face. We felt good and made good progress, but then the clouds rolled in, obscuring our view of the route to the summit just as we arrived at the base. We were able to sneak a peek at the summit through the clouds, so we started scrambling and almost rock climbing up to the point that we saw. After probably an hour of tough scrambling, we arrived on the summit. However, almost to jeer us, the clouds parted again for a few moments, revealing two more summits above us that we hadn't even seen! We were both a little discouraged, but believed we could make it to the other two summits, but then the mountain gods threw some wind and snow at us (I thought this was supposed to be near the equator!) and turned us back. We then descended for about 2.5 hours in the pouring rain, getting soaked, but loving the feeling and exhilaration of getting high in the outdoors.
This last weekend, Mark, our friend Laura, one other girl, and myself went to Mindo, the cloud forest 2 hours from Quito. We took a cable car across the forested canyon (awesome views!) to the other side, where we hiked for several hours from waterfall to waterfall. Keeping with tradition, I jumped in every pool I came across, although I looked a little funny wearing only my boxers. We ran into a family from Ecuador who was really excited to meet us and almost race us from waterfall to waterfall. They were really nice and gave us some company along our hike.
After the hike, Laura and her friend Audrey went back to Quito, while Mark and I stayed the night in Mindo and had some of the best pizza I have had outside the U.S. The next day, we did a hike through another part of the forest. I was excited because we were heading into spectacled bear habitat. Spectacled bears are one of the most endangered bear species in the world, and are only found around the Andes Mountains. Despite not seeing one (although we did hear a fairly big animal roaming around the forest at one point), we had a great time walking through the narrow corridors of cloud forest surrounding us, while I tried to find the perfect vine to swing on and show off my Tarzan skills (unfortunately for Mark, he never did get to see this properly). We later got on a bus and headed back to Quito.
I am really starting to get tired of big cities now. I was in a bus yesterday for 1.5 hours going downtown, only to discover that I had to go back today at 8 in the morning. The bus ride back was about an hour, with traffic going every which way and everyone seeming to totally ignore the traffic lights. It definitely reminded me of Cairo. I would really hate to have to drive here. With the road rage that happens in the States, I'm sure this kind of traffic would solve our overpopulation problem.
So, after getting many logistics finally taken care of (some are still pending, and will probably remain that way until I get home), I am off to Colombia again on Sunday morning. I can't wait to get back traveling. Although it has been awesome hanging out with Mark and Laura for these few weeks, and a lot of fun hiking around here, I am starting to feel like I am standing still. For those of you who really know me, you also know that that is something I absolutely cannot stand. Therefore, traveling again is the perfect solution-- getting the chance to really practice my Spanish again, trying to figure out what bus to take, meeting random people along the way, and figuring out how to deal with the multitude of problems that will inevitably come my way in the next several weeks. I am super excited to see more of Colombia, practice more of my salsa and cumbia steps, and make more friends.
I hope all of you are doing well, and thank you to those who have emailed me. I really like reading about your lives back home. Un abrazo from Ecuador!
El Corazon Pics: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/AA6608138543?source=pw980
Mindo Pics: http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A80A0C238543?source=pw980

P.S.
One ridiculous thing I have seen here is the price of a dozen roses-- $1! If I had a girlfriend here, she would be receiving fresh roses every day! Well, I guess not every day. There would be some tulips thrown in too.