Last week in images

Quito during the Ciclopaseo with Dana

I love this lovely art randomly on the side of the building

Obligatory foto of La Virgen

Last week was a big one. I turned 25, and my friend Dana who I met on my Birthright trip last year came down to Quito and stayed with me. Dana was a lovely house guest, and it was really nice to see her again. I wished I could have travelled more with her, but I've been in full MODO TESIS as they say here, so I mostly stayed in Quito while she travelled so that I could work on my thesis.

wahoo!

We went out for Indian food with some friends on my birthday on Monday (and enjoyed a yummy cake that Alvaro brought there), and then on Tuesday Dana and I took an excursion to the Imbabura province.

The beautiful rooftop terrace at the hostel where Dana stayed

We stopped in Otavalo briefly so that Dana could leave her bigger backpack there (she headed to Baños from there, and I went back to Quito that day), and then caught a bus to Quiroga where we grabbed a pick-up truck heading up to the lake- Cuicocha (cui or cuy means guinea pig and cocha means lake in Quechua).

Cuicocha- the lump on the left is one of the humps that look like a guinea pig's back, hence the lake's name

So many pretty wildflowers

Climbing around the Cuicocha Lake crater we saw this view

Cool mural outside the pharmacy in Cotacachi!

We hiked around the crater for a bit, and then caught a ride with our pick-up truck out to Cotacachi, a local town popular for its leather handicrafts (and also, surprisingly, popular with gringo retirees).

Seedlings in their bottles

On top of celebrating my birthday and busing around, I've also been very busy growing seeds. I mean, the sun and the watering do most of the work, and then if time spent staring at the seedlings translated into actual growing, then Alvaro would actually be the most responsible for the seeds' growth since his favorite past time is watching them grow and potentially over-watering our other house plants. So although I am the least important household member when it comes to the plants growing, I'll put pictures of them up anyway!

There's this HUGE, amazing balcony just outside of my kitchen window that is actually part of a parking space's roof, and I've been constantly bemoaning my lack of actual access to it. My windows (like most quiteño first floor windows) have grates on them, which mostly makes me feel secure and safe when I'm home alone, because I know that no one else can possibly be in the apartment (unlike the movie Rabia- people who understand Spanish, WATCH THIS MOVIE! or check it out with subtitles!). But having grates on the windows also means that there's no squeezing through a window to enjoy the balcony either. Since yesterday was so beautiful and sunny, Alvi and I climbed up to the roof via the parking space, and brought up our recycled bottle planters so that the seedlings could enjoy the full sun. I took advantage of it and took some pictures because I'm confident that you've all been just dying to see how much they've grown.