City girl is back and ready to reassume backpacking :)

We arrived to Quito around 11am. I was thinking I'd meet Lisa & William at the hostel, but right before leaving I read an email from them saying they decided to move, because the hostel was too loud, oh no!!! Nevermind, I have a reservation there and a loud hostel would be perfect for me. That meant there were a lot of people and I was traveling by my own.

Some friend recommended me to stay in the New Town, but I decided to spend my first night in the "Old Town". It was charming there. After a mini "city tour" and a heavy traffic we arrived to San Blas area, where my hostel was located. The hostel was small and nice. The name was "Secret Garden" and suited it perfect.

It was time to say good bye to Shawn and Frank. It was nice to meet Frank and regarding Shawn. .. well, we'd meet before I leave Ecuador, so it was just a see you in a couple of days ;) Hostel was funny, usually the front desk is located at the entrance, but not here. It was on the top floor, haha. So good, they put a sign asking you to leave your heavy bags downstairs before checking in, hahaha, it would have been terrible to climb the 5 floors with your stuff and then go downstairs to your room at the 1st floor, hahaha. They guy at the front desk was really friendly and I got a bed at the dorm at the top floor, yay! It was next to the bar! hope it wouldn't be that loud...

The dorm was nice and I got an upper bed. I wasn't that happy with this, but the hostel was full. Ok, I'll survive. It was almost noon and I decided to leave and start exploring the city. Before leaving another girl arrived. Her name was Kerry and she'd become an important part of the rest of the Ecuadorian adventure, hehe. Grabbed my camera, map, list of things to do and visit and left the hostel. I had my cellphone and decided to buy an Ecuadorian chip, now I'd be communicated to the world, yeah!!!

I had a friend in Quito. Actually he's a TB, but not a local. Jerry is Canadian and was in Quito just learning the language. We first got in touch a while ago, when he was thinking about coming to Southamerica to learn Spanish, hahaha. And now we had the opportunity to meet in person. We agreed to meet in front of the Basilica. He'd join me to explore the Old Town, super!!! I might be traveling but my own, but never alone :)

Before doing anything, I'd go to have lunch. Mmm, I was in the Old Town and had some recommended places in my list. Well, all the places in my list were vegetarian or healthy food, hahaha. There was one, just a couple of blocks away from the Basilica and the name was the same of a restaurant in Lima, hehe. I was looking for a sign saying: "Govinda" but no luck. Then I saw a small place with some tables. I went inside and was that restaurant, haha. It was more than a restaurant, it was a "Hare Krishna" temple, oh! People were really friendly and the food was so healthy and delicious, yummy!

It was 2pm when I arrived to the Basilica. It was easy to recognize Jerry. He was the only Chinese in the area, lol. So good to meet him, finally! He has been living in Quito for a couple of weeks and knew the city pretty well, so he'd be my guide, sweet. We started with the Basilica, which was impressive! For me this one was nicer than the cathedral :P

We went inside and also climbed the towers in order to get a gorgeus view of Quito. Jerry has already been here, but didn't climb the towers. Awesome, this would be new for us both :) You can climb the stairs or take the elevator, and that's what we did :P but in order to go to the top of the top you have to climb some stairs, hehehe. Besides the beautiful carving from the doors and gothic decoration, I found really interesting that instead of gargoyles, there were iguanas and turtles, hehe.

After the Basilica, we went to "Plaza Grande" which is the main square in Quito. At the Plaza Grande we saw the Cathedral, Archbishop Palace (there are restaurants and shops inside it) and Centro Cultural Metropolitano (CCM). The CCM is a beautiful building with patios, beautiful terraces, auditorium, library & cafe. Why was this so important? Well, Jerry used to go to the library and his teacher thought him that from this building you could get a breathtaking view of the city. This was a hidden trasure. The library wasn't touristy at all, just a few people came here for the view. Nice!!!!

We kept on walking through the old streets and arrived to the Plaza & Monastery of San Francisco. Unfortunately, we couldn't go inside the church, since it was under renovation. But next to the cafe, there was a modern museum. Not many people knew you could visit it for free, hehe. So good, I was with a "local".  OMG! I was taking so many pics, hahaha. And Jerry was more than happy to help me, so I could be part of the pictures, yay!

It was 4:30pm and I started to feel tired. .. I was staying in Old Town, so Jerry would walk me to my hostel and then he'd leave. In our way we saw other churches and nice buildings. We were chatting and agreed to meet for dinner later that day. I'd catch a bus to other area of the city, where we'd meet before going to the restaurant he chose. I was almost arriving to my hostel, when I saw 4 familiar faces.

OMG! This couldn't be happening! They were the German guys I met in Montanita!!! How awesome!!! We started to laugh, hahaha. World is so small. They were staying in a hostel 2 blocks away from mine! Darren asked me what I'd do next day. I told him, I'd go to "Mitad del Mundo" and he said they were going there too! Yay! So, I wouldn't go by myself. We'd be 5. The city girl would go with her 4 knights ;) We agreed we'd meet at the entrance of their hostel at 10am next morning. Ok, see you tomorrow!

Back at the hostel, I went to my room and was organizing my stuff, when a guy arrived. He looked very friendly and we started to chat, hahaha. Suddenly he asked me if I'd mind if he takes a picture and pointed my bed. "What? a pic of my Hello Kitty PJ's? hahaha" He started to laugh and said: "No, girl. You got the best bed of the dorm. Haven't you realized the amazing view you have from the window next to the bed?" Hey! he was right! I had an awesome view. I couldn't believe, I had thought about switching beds, hehe.

Anthony, that was the name of the friendly guy, was American and just started his trip around Ecuador. I introduced myself and when I said I was Peruvian, I saw a sparkle in his eyes, mmm. One of his dreams has always been going to Machu Picchu, but wasn't sure if he should do it now or not. "Hey! You are so close now. Let's do it! There's no better time, than right now!" He smiled and told me, he'd like to talk more about this idea. I told him, it would be my pleasure to give him tips and ideas, but I couldn't talk right now. No problem, we were roomys, so we'd meet later :)

I took a quick shower and got ready to leave for dinner. Jerry told me which bus I had to catch in order to meet him. I walked to the bus stop and I noticed the neighbourhood wasn't that nice. It looked a bit dangerous... ok, no way I'd drive back by bus. I'd take a cab.

I arrived to the bus stop before 7pm. And a couple of minutes later, Jerry showed up. So good, I had a local number and was able to txt him, hehe. Would we have local food? Well, I could do so, but Jerry had a plan: "fondue!" Well, I wouldn't say no, hahaha. We took another bus and went to a mall, where this fondue restaurant was located.

The dinner was just delicious. Loved my veggies and shrimp!!! Jerry and me had opportunity to chat more and start to know each other better. We needed to do it so, since we would travel together in a couple of days, hehe. During the afternoon we were talking about his life in Ecuador and what he thought about South America, but now he'd tell me about my astrological chart. Knowing my birthday, year and hour, he was able to tell some things about me. Usually, I don't believe in these kind of things, but he was so accurate, impressive!

It was 9:30pm when we left the restaurant. Dinner was very tasty and the company was great! We drove the bus to Jerry's and from there I took a cab back to the hostel. I went to the dorm, took my journal and decided to go to the bar at the roof in order to write enjoying the view of the city and a glass of wine.

While I was there I met a Venezuelan guy, who "auto" invited to the "Mitad del Mundo" trip, plop! He wasn't staying at the hostel, but said he'd be there tomorrow at 9am, oh well. I was about starting to write, when somebody said: "Hola!" It was Anthony! hahaha. Now, I had time to give him some info about Machu Picchu. He was so excited about the idea. He asked me what I'd do next day and I told him I would go to Mitad del Mundo. He wanted to join me too, hahaha. He'd do it with 2 other friends, Kerry - the girl I met at the dorm who he just met too - and another girl, Cynthia, who also came from NJ, but she wasn't staying at the hostel. So, my solo trip became a school trip, hahaha.

It was 11pm, when the guy from the hostel said they were closing the bar and we should go to the Mariscal - the party area of the city - to have some drinks and fun. Mmm, I wasn't sure, but Anthony convinced me to go, hahaha. We were 10 people going there. When we arrived we didn't know where to go. The rest of the people wanted to go drinking and party, but I was a bit tired and so Anthony. So we went to a cafe for a drink and kept on talking about Mitad del Mundo. I showed Anthony some of the pics I had in my camera and he was amazed about all the food. "Oh girl! You know how to eat! Tomorrow, we have to have breakfast together!" hahaha. "Ok, but I want to wake up early..." "No problem, just wake me up!" Deal!

We didn't stay until late. It wasn't even 1am when we were back at the hostel. I had a long day and wanted to sleep. Next days would be as long as this one, if they won't be longer, hehe. I felt so lucky about how things were going, so much fun!!!