Dave and Alex Came to Visit!

DAVE AND ALEX CAME TO VISIT!!  On the eve of our February break at school, Dave and Alex hailed from snowy Chicago to rainy Quito for some amazing friend time and touring.  Javier and I were so excited to have another round of visitors come see our fun little spot and beautiful country.  We're starting to get in a bit of a routine with visitors: make lots of fresh juice and take them to Mindo.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate as much as we wanted, but Dave and Alex were the most amazing troopers about it.  Actually, they were probably the best visitors ever.  They were so positive about everything and extremely complimentary of this place we've come to love.  It was so easy and wonderful to have them....more of you should take their lead and come see us :)

They arrived super late Friday night, so we thought a more relaxed day at the Otavalo market would be best for Saturday.  It was a bit of a grey day, but the market was hopping.  Javier and I had only been there one time before, so it was nice to return with a bit more knowledge of the food we saw and goods that were sold.  It seemed that everyone was able to find some treasures: alpaca sweaters, hats, Ecuapants and a new rug for the Cabezas house!  I think Dave and Alex also really enjoyed the atmosphere and walking around the food vendors to check out local cuisine and fruits and veggies.  I was happy cause we made a stop at The Pie Shop for some pre-lunch dessert.  We had maracuya (passion fruit) and tried a new fruit pie called babaco.  All were happy with the choices and I particularly liked the babaco that tasted somewhat like a pear custard.  Delicious.

here we are mid-market

After our market fun and lunch, we headed just outside of Otavalo to check out some volcano lakes that we had heard were quite beautiful.  We were traveling up in altitude and the weather grew cold and somewhat misty.  Our first stop was Laguna Cuicocha.  The mist cut down on our visibility, but made the lake and little hostel look somewhat dreamy.

Alex and Dave at Cuicocha

We decided to sit and have some canelazo (to warm up) and enjoy the view
This was not the best canelazo we had, but it worked for the warming up!

There was a little boat that would take you around the lake, but we had a few other places to see and decided to bypass the misty ride.

Then we headed further 'up' to Laguna de Mojanda.  Our LonelyPlanet Ecuatravel book described the trip this way: 'A crumbling cobbled road that seems almost to defy gravity leads high into the paramo to three turquoise lakes set like gemstones into the hills.'  Accurate all around.  The road was nothing short of terrifying, but the lakes were so pretty that I really would like to return for some more serious hiking on a nice day.  Unfortunately, I think the clouds and mist hindered our view a bit.  We also had not worn the proper attire or shoes for any real hiking.  Instead we walked around a bit and took some pictures with the mystical lakes and mountains.

as always...photos just don't do it justice

whole place was simply gorgeous

not sure that we add to the scenery, but proof that we made it up that cobblestone road!

the water in the lake was SO clear, I was tempted to jump in (even though it was freezing!)

crawling mountains in the back

It was still a tiring day, but Dave and Alex agreed to head out to La Ronda for some traditional (aka better) canelazo after dinner.  (Have I said yet how amazingly up for anything and terribly enthusiastic Dave and Alex were?  It made their visit just tons of fun, even though we crammed so much in!)  We had a delicious dinner at Ananke and then took a cab downtown to La Ronda.  We showed Dave and Alex the busy street and bars and the children that always seem to be out with their parents (regardless of the hour!) and then sat down for a pitcher of warm deliciousness.  Dave and Alex seemed to like the traditional Quito drink and the little glass mugs it was served in.  But we didn't stay out long, because there was another full day planned for Sunday!

On Sunday, we headed to Mindo.  The weather, again, was not cooperating, but Dave and Alex still enjoyed the drive.  It's amazing to see the scenery go from the dry dirt and shrubbery just outside of Quito to the lush cloud forest of the amazon.   The rain wasn't too bad, so we decided to start with a ziplining adventure.  Our guests were most impressed that the adventure would include 10 different lines that crossed the canopies of the cloud forest.  

ready to go!

Alex flying through the trees

Dave coming in for a landing!

Luckily the rain held out long enough that we could see some really good views as we sailed through the air.  Even though Javier and I had gone through the route a couple of times before, it seems that there is always something new that I notice or see.  By the end it was coming down pretty hard, so we took a lunch break at the hummingbird hostel to have some entertainment while we ate.  It was a genius idea (my husband's) and apparently the rain doesn't bother the birds at all because there were just as many as usual.  In fact, in addition to the hummingbirds we saw two toucans and a parrot before leaving.

so many birds feeding behind us!

After lunch, Dave and Alex took a quick turn through the Mariposa house before it closed.  Javs and I decided to skip it since we'd been before.  Apparently Alex is not a huge fan of insects (even butterflies) so they didn't spend too much time inside, but said it was cool!  It was getting late, but we thought there was just enough time for a little hike to one of the many waterfalls around Mindo.  The rain was coming down, but slowed a bit under the cover of all the trees.  We did our best to bundle up and walked the muddy trail to the falls.  Javier and I had walked the trail on our first trip to Mindo, but all the rain had made the river so much stronger!  It was really neat to see how the falls had changed with the added water.  There's really no other way to put it....they were beautiful.

we made it! rain and all :)

After such a wet and cold walk, a hot chocolate seemed to be a must so we stopped for some brownies and hot stuff at El Quetzal de Mindo on our way out of town.  You can see Ivan in the picture below.  He drove us around all weekend and was such a trooper about everything (even coming on the rainy hike with us!).  It was a super busy day, but great to be able to fit so much in with these fun folks.

We had to head to work on Monday, but Javier snuck out early (we didn't have kids and were just wrapping up the grades for first semester) to join Dave and Alex in Centro Historico.  They went up the Teleferiqo in the morning, but had a lot of clouds blocking their view :(  After Javier joined them for lunch, they were able to go to Iglesia de Compania, Iglesia de San Francisco, walk through Plaza de la Independencia and the Basilica before meeting me for dinner.  It was raining (again) but Dave and Alex had decided they (and their stomachs) were brave enough to try some Ecuamarket food.  We headed to the Floresta food market (same one Anthony Bourdain goes to in his episode of No Reservations) for some dinner.  We got empanadas with morocho and fritada, but brought them back to the apartment so we could eat out of the rain.  I think both were a hit with our guests and neither was too sick afterwards so we'll call that a WIN.  On Tuesday Dave and Alex had enough time to check out Mitad del Mundo before heading to the airport and their next adventure in Peru.  It was just SO much fun to see them and show them some of Ecuador.  It seemed like they enjoyed the time too (even with all the rain)!