I just got to Quito yesterday night, so I don´t really have anything interesting to say yet. Quito seems like a really cool city. It is super high up, right in the middle of the mountains, so the setting is breath taking. There aren´t a whole lot of skyscrapers, so you can see a relatively unrestricted view of the mountains that almost completely surround the city. The altitude also means that it is actually pretty cold here. I´m wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt right now, even though we are about 30 km from the equator! Not what I was expecting.
I´m only in Quito for 3 more days and four nights, then my sister goes back home and I´m heading for Lima to meet up with Aimee, a friend from AmeriCorps, and her friend. It´s a 30 hour busride in total, so splitting it up over 3 days. First I´m taking a 13 hour busride to a city near the south western border, called Machala. Then I´ll take a 10 hour trip to Trujillo, a peruvian town on the beach, and then a 9 hour ride to Lima, so I'll get there on the night of the 11th. The three of us are then spending 1 day and 2 nights in Lima, then flying to Cuzco. We haven´t planned much past that, but we´re of course going to see Macchu Pichu and explore Lake Titicaca. I have to be back in Lima by the 21st, and then I fly back to NC late that night. So there it is, my itinerary. I´ll keep y´all posted.