"Look at the llamas" Quito, Ecuador

I believe traveling is one of the most inspiring, important, and freeing things a person can do during their life on earth. I recently visited South America for the first time, specifically Quito, Ecuador. Before leaving for my trip I was informed by numerous people that the country was violent and “way too dangerous” for two young women to visit alone. I think this tends to be a popular narrative here in the United States. A story that has been put into the minds of a lot of American citizens that countries outside of the US are unstable, scary, not worth the visit, and especially unsafe for women to visit alone..but thats a topic for another time.

Clearly, I did not listen to the pessimistic acquaintances because I will now be telling you about one of my favorite trips to date, a quick 5 day adventure in Ecuador.

I am all for spontaneity so when two of my best friends from college asked my work bestie and myself  if we would run a 50km race in Quito, Ecuador 1.5 months before the race I quickly agreed. Spontaneity keeps life exciting and always leads to the best stories in the long run. 

The trip began on August 1st when we arrived at the Quito airport around 10pm and met up with our taxi driver who would be taking us to the Secret Garden Hostel. Quick side note, my two college friends who invited us on this adventure were in the process of moving to Quito for the next three years. Because of this my friend Carson and I were in charge of bringing four 50 pound bags full of personal belongings, cat food for their Senegalese cat Yassa Poulet, and who knows what else. I won’t lie to you, I felt ridiculous walking through the airport with all of these bags. I wanted to assure everyone I’m a low maintenance traveler because I looked the opposite. Our poor taxi driver struggled to fit everything in his car but after some effort he accomplished it and we were ready for our 45 minute drive to the hostel. 

Even though I would consider myself an experienced traveler this was my first time staying in a hostel meaning I did not know what to expect upon arriving. The hostel was located in the center of the city and was full of young adults chatting and walking around. We arrived past check in hours so we were escorted to our room by the security guard. A room that was on the third floor. And if you recall, we still had our four 50 pound bags. The security guard was very quick to inform us that if he were us he would of told our friends to “fuck off’ with the bags. And honesty, at this point, I kind of agreed. 

My friend Carson and I had a private room that shared a bathroom with 10 other people. I know some people would be turned off by this type of environment but it allows travel to be budget friendly. Luckily, the bathroom was free so we showered and then got into bed because we needed to be well rested for the rest of the trip. 

Now Quito, Ecuador is the second highest capital city in the world sitting at an altitude of 9,350 feet above sea level. I am from Indiana which sits at a whopping 719 feet above sea level, meaning our bodies were not used to the quick altitude change and this led to some minor problems. It was 5:00 am when I woke up to the sound of sniffling. I quickly sat up in bed and turned to my friend who informed me that her head felt like it was “splitting in two”. She was altitude sick, something we had both been worried about. I jumped out of bed and wandered down the stairs of the hostel in search of some type of medicine. Even though we are both in our twenties, we are not at the adult age that we carry medicine.  How responsible of us, right? I finally found medicine that was not in the package from a stranger (probably should not recommend doing that) but it got the job done, and within an hour my friend was ready to begin our adventure. 

On our first day we explored the city and got a feel for the culture and community that it offered. If I could recommend anything to people that travel it would be to go out into the city or area that you are located in and get lost. It allows you to get a feel for what the place is really like and allows you to meet locals. Carson and I are both passionate baristas so we spent some of our time hunting for a quality coffee shop. Shoutout to Fankor Coffee Roasters who we ended up visiting every single day we were there. To finish up the day we reunited with my two college friends Kayla and Grace, checked into our race for the following day, and fueled up on some pasta from a small hole in the wall restaurant near the hostel. There we laughed with the owner who made our pasta dishes right in front of our eyes and told stories with the other customers who were from Brazil and Spain. These moments are what I treasure most on a trip.

Now it's race day. We all mentally prepared for the 30 mile race that had  2,500 ft elevation gain during the scary 45 minute taxi ride. Apparently speed limits were not a concept our driver had ever learned. Once the race started my friends and I split up pretty quickly because we were all at different fitness levels. I had personally never done a trail race let alone one at such high altitude. All I can say is it was absolutely incredible. The views, the feeling of pushing your body to the limit alongside so many other people, and the conversations you have with fellow runners from all over the world is like nothing I had ever experienced; runners high to the max! I ended up dropping out at mile 10 due to altitude sickness and so did my friend Carson. We didn’t want to wait for the race officials to take us back down the mountain so we ended up catching a ride down the mountain with the National police in the back of their pickup truck. The amount of dust that coated my body and the car sickness that I experienced during that ride back to Quito was intense but so worth it. I mean who else can say they’ve done that?  There was a language gap so the police tried to drop us off in a small town with no cell service, but thank goodness for Google translate! We were able to convince them to take us all the way back to Quito. I’m positive they were not too happy about it, but hey you win some and lose some. And that day we won.

The end of our trip involved a horseback riding experience in Cotopaxi National Park. The horseback riding was freeing and the views were breathtaking. Galloping on a horse in that beautiful of a location is a form of meditation I wish I could have more often.

Long story short I fell in love with Ecuador. Because of my love for Ecuador I plan on spending my next trip going back to South America and exploring parts of  Brazil and Argentina. I am so beyond thankful that I discovered my love for traveling and I would encourage everyone to do it whether it be alone or with friends! My soul feels most complete experiencing the cultures and communities that the world has to offer and I plan on doing it for the rest of my life.