Quito, Take Two

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  Quito, Ecuador
Saturday, March 26, 2011

After Logan and I parted ways in Buenos Aires, I took a flight to Quito via Santiago, Chile and Guayaquil, Ecuador.  My parents had told me that there would be someone waiting for me at the airport with a sign, but that just didn´t happen.  I wasn´t about to wait there, since I knew my parents, whom I hadn´t seen in 8 months, were only a taxi ride away, so I hopped in a cab to their hotel.  The driver and I had the seemingly requisite conversation any male in Ecuador has with a female foreigner about why I was back in Ecuador for the second time.  According to him, women come back to Ecuador for the second time to get married to Ecuadorian men.  Well, he learned that this wasn´t the case for me, as I excitedly explained to him that I was meeting up with my parents after not seeing them for a long time and we were going to the Galapagos together.  So there!

Before we got to the Galapagos, however, I had the pleasure of going on a day tour with my parents to some highlands outside of Quito for a birdwatching adventure.  We saw tons of cute little guys chirping away, including a loud and inconspicuous woodpecker, and when we got higher, we saw the majestic Andean Condor.  It was beautiful.  Not only did we see one, but about five!  That was definitely the highlight of my day.  My dad was in heaven, as our guide and driver were both very knowledgeable about birds, so they got to dork out together about birds.  I really do understand the appeal of birdwatching.  I mean, you get to see tons of bird species just by standing in one place and being patient - and the place you´re standing in is usually quite scenic, which was not an exception in our case.  And it´s a life-long quest to see every single bird species in the world, so you never get to the point where you´re like, ¨Well, what am I going to do now that I´ve seen all the bird species of the entire world?¨  You just never get there.  It´s just not possible.  What a horrible thing that would be for a birdwatcher.

That night, my parents and I went to a restaurant in search of cuy, or guinea pig.  Apparently, though, because it was a Sunday night, all the cuy was out.  Darn it!

The following day, we took our flight to the Galapagos!

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