Ecuador

I spent 4 days in Quito, looking around a bit, and doing a little bit of hiking. It is a very global place, with people coming from all over the world to study spanish, dancing, whatever. The first day I spent walking around the old town, and managed to luck into witnessing another changing of the guard, which only happens once a week. It was quite interesting, and made more entertaining by a dog that followed the guards barking constantly. I also hiked up to a large statue of Mary standing on a serpent on top of the globe. It included a great view of the city. The following morning, I took the opportunity to hike up a bit of Cotopaxi, the worlds largest active volcano, and made it to my highest ever elevation of 4800m. After lunch, we hiked back down to the parking area, and took mountain bikes down the dirt road. That was a lot of fun and by the end of the day, I was truly exhausted. I did end up going out that night with Darren, an Australian I met on the trip, and we had a few drinks in various locations. I once again proved I can´t dance, but didn´t really care. The following day I felt ill, and hung out at a coffee shop almost all day, reading. That evening, I went up another mountain to 4100m with the barista from the coffee shop, Maggie. She was an excellent guide and also an avid BMX biker. After a short dinner, I caught a night bus to Peru.