This weekend, I decided to stay in Quito to see some things that I had missed the first time around.  This morning, I left early to El Parque Itchimbia.  It is set up high on the hillside.  There are views all the way around the park.  It was a pretty clear day, so the views were great.  It was nice to wander around and see what the park had to offer.  It is also home to the Palacio de Cristal.  It serves as a museum of sorts for different exhibits.  From there, I went to the famous Café Mosaico.  It is suggested to go there during mid morning to have the balcony (with an amazing view) to yourself.  I followed the advise and was the only one soaking in the view while sipping on a coffee.  After that, I decided to do the walking tour of Quito that Lonely Planet lays out.  I went back to Plaza Grande and visited the Palacio del Gobierno where Correa does some of his handy work.  From there, I visited numerous plazas and churches.  I also went to the famous street, La Ronda.  Unfortunately, it started raining, so the Basilica and going up to the top was out of the plans.  After getting grossed out by getting hit on by two transgender quiteños, it was time for a well deserved beer (or two).  Tomorrow, I start classes again.  This weekend, I am kind of up in the air of what to do.  My host family has invited me to go to a small town where Rosa's parents live.  I would also like to check out Otavalo.  I think it would be a good place to spend New Years.  I really appreciate the invite, and they have always made me feel extremely welcome.  However, I don't want to intrude and I wouldn't mind some alone time and a chance to explore Otavalo a bit.  Anyway, check out the pictures:

La Plaza and Monastery of San Francisco



The famous street La Ronda.

Church and Plaza of Santo Domingo . . . here comes the rain.

Looking pretty ominous back in La Plaza Grande.

I am in Quito at the moment.  I got here last Sunday in the evening.  This past week, I have been taking Spanish classes in a school called Vida Verde.  Monday and Tuesday I took 6 and 1/2 hours, on Wednesday I took 7 hours and on Thursday I took 4.  My schedule for next week will be pretty similar.  I'm enjoying myself.  I am staying with a host family near the school, it is actually the director of the school.  The family is extremely nice and very hospitable.  Their house is also in a great location.  It is a short 3 minute walk to the school, a five minute walk to La Mariscal area with restaurants and bars, and a 30 minute walk to El Centro Histórico.  I went today to the historical center to explore around.  I couldn't believe how many people were out and about on Christmas.  There were many stores and restaurants open as well.  The center itself was really impressive.  I also went to El Panecillo that has a great view of the city.  Last night, I participated in the celebration of La Noche Buena with the family.  It was really nice of them to include me in their festivities.  As I have said, I am really enjoying Quito and the opportunity to improve my Spanish, but it is much more difficult than I had expected to be away for the holidays.  Although, from the sounds of things, this year is a strange one with all the bad weather that has come.  The weather here has been pretty nice.  Today was gorgeous, in the 70's and sunny.  Early in the week, it was cooler and even cold at night. It still doesn't feel like Christmas, but now it has come and gone, which begs the question . . .  Christmas in Ecuador . . . am I crazy?  

Another busy street on Christmas Day.

Many of the churches were closed to tourists due to Christmas service.





When it is open, you can go almost to the very top.









View from El Panecillo.



View of La Virgen de Quito from her base.

Another view from El Panecillo and the monument of the Virgin.

Haven't shaved in a few days and really have no plan to start within the next few weeks.

Stained glass inside the monument of the Virgin of Quito.



A full view of the Virgin of Quito

This past four day weekend, I went to Baños with some teachers and their families.  It was an extraordinary place.  No more than a few hours after we got there, there were already a lot of people in our group that were heading to the bridge to do swing jumping.  I was a spectator.  It looks like a lot of fun, but I wasn't able to do it yet.  I didn't even attempt it.  The next morning, almost all the group was going on the famous Baños towards Puyo bike ride.  It was great!  There were waterfalls all over the place.  There were cable cars to a few and trails to a few others.  I was only able to spend about a half day doing that because I had to be back for PARAGLIDING!  Never in my life would I have thought that I could even consider doing something like paragliding, but it was an amazing experience.  Our take off spot was a farm field with pigs and cows on the side of a mountain.  The day was pretty clear and there were great views of the main volcano of Baños and some views of Volcan Chimborazo.  I was definitely nervous going into it.  I went with Dave and Danielle and that helped calm the nerves a lot.  I was the first one up.  We waited for probably two hours for the ideal conditions.  The guide was constantly checking the wind speeds.  The winds were too strong for a while.  It was amazing being up there!  I had a permanent smile.  I was so happy that I had the opportunity to do something like that.  The next day we went canyoning.  We had a few jumps into pools below some waterfalls and repelled down some others.  The surrounding atmosphere was stunning in all the activities.  Everything was so green and lush.  I can't imagine what it will look like during the rainy season.  Baños even has more to offer than canyoning, biking, and paragliding.  I can't wait to go back to do some hiking, more biking, and some horseback riding.  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  A few of us ate a Thanksgiving dinner at a hotel owned by an American couple.  It definitely wasn't the same as being at my grandparents house, but it was nice to have a Thanksgiving meal.

A great view of Chimborazo on the way up.  The top is the point furthest away from the center of the earth.

One of the many waterfalls on the bike ride from Baños towards Puyo.

What a view!  It was nice to see how green everything was.  In Guayaquil, we are in the dry season and things are not this lush . . . yet.

Cable car that went over the waterfall

This was the biggest waterfall that I had seen.

Ready for space travel!

Can we fly yet?  Our guide was awesome!  He wasn't willing to fly until the conditions were just right.  Here he is measuring the wind speed.

Up, up, and away!

Believe it or not, that's me way up there!  This was the point that I may have soiled myself (just kidding of course).







My view!!!



Here is the crew.  Golden Wolf and the Richerts . . . karate style!



Canyoning time!  You guessed it . . . karate style!

Suiting up and getting ready to go!



The crew!  Golden Wolf, Dave, and the Domingo clan.

Woohoo!

Me showing off my rappelling skills, or lack thereof.

Dave's turn to give it a go!

This was the view from the place we ate at.

The pools of water held trout of different sizes.

Mmmmm . . . trout.

The aftermath

The latest video is below.  It has some video clips of the paragliding and canyoning and more photos.  Check it out in HD for best quality.  


Most of the rest of the photos can be found at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmathisecuador