Scootering, Mindo, and Liga

September 27th - 29th

Scootering,  Round 2! The scooters we rented in Quito were serious! Their horsepower must have been double what the Roatan scooter had because we could MOVE on those scooters. Being as it was a 200+ kilometer, GPS-guided ride through the beautiful rolling hills of Ecuador on various unpaved roads, we decided it would be more comfortable (and probably safer) if Hannah and I got our own scooters. After gearing up with awesome scooter helmets, cutoff gloves, and a double toga-like reflective vests, we headed out of Quito proper on the scary main roads. Luckily, after being honked at a few times, we turned off the main paved roads and started climbing on the windy, gravel roads. Let me tell you, if you have any sort of body image issue, I would not recommend driving a scooter on gravel and compact dirt/rock roads - things jiggle that you didn't even know could! I'm almost certain subcutaneous tissue in my fingers were shaking all about! The views were very "Lord of the Rings"-esque - grandiose and breath-taking in a very dramatic fashion. The ride was absolutely blissful...until we realized the road was NEVER going to end! Every part of our bodies had gone numb hours ago, and the continued bumpy ride became somewhat painful. In addition, as we were FINALLY winding down the paved road into a small town called Mindo, a stop on our self-guided tour, it began down pouring. 









So thankful to have stopped riding, we took shelter and joined a chocolate tour (40 minutes late) being given by the creator/owner/entrepreneur/ experimentalist of Mindo Chocolate Makers, Jose. Though he originally moved to Ecuador with his wife in 2008 for a quiet, semi-retired life, his constantly-inventive mind quickly moved them into the coffee and cocoa growing/farming business. We toured the fermentation, roasting, and "winnowing" areas of the complex, in addition to the garden and farming area. This man has about one square acre and has jam-packed it with more than 20 different types of plants - coffee, cocoa, stevia, cabbage, lettuce, tomato, guayaba, lemongrass, ginger, etc. All individuals on the tour had an opportunity to try cocoa at every stage, including the bean itself straight out of the fruit. I can tell you with certainty, I enjoy cocoa only when mixed with sugar!  That stuff was BITTER! We also had the opportunity to try his very own BBQ sauce made with miel de chocolate (a liquid by-product from the fermentation process) and ginger syrup, which he serves on the house pancakes. I sampled his homemade "ginger ale" and spent the following 10 minutes allowing the burned esophagus feeling to subside. Pretty sure that was quite literally carbonated water and ginger - INTENSE! It was a great tour and experience that left me full of new knowledge and feeling pretty lazy! Haha.




When we exited the restaurant/hotel/tour house, darkness had descended and the rain continued. Determined to get back to Quito, we hopped on the scooters and headed up the windy paved road leading out of Mindo and connecting with the main one-lane road that leads to the city. We sat there for a solid ten minutes, debating whether we should attempt the trip back or stay in Mindo for the night. There was a woman waiting for a bus back to Quito at the top of the hill - we asked if we could wait with her, thinking we might be able to fit the scooters in the bus and make it back to Quito as planned. The bus came, and not only would they not fit in the luggage space available, there was no way Hannah, myself, and the bus's wingman could lift the beastly machines. After receiving our 17th warning that scootering back at night on the windy road would be very dangerous, and with our parents mainly in mind, we turned around and scootered back to Mindo. Not having prepared to stay, we brought a minimal amount of cash with us n the trip - we explained the situation to the man in the internet cafe as we contacted our hostel in Quito inform them as well (glad we did because the first words out of Yaccou's mouth were "oh my gosh, we were worried sick about you, man!"). The man told us to wait a moment, ran across the street and returned a few minutes later offering us a hostel room for lower than the average nightly rate. The man's friend ran the hostel, so aware of our situation, he gave us a private room for $10....total! The people of Mindo were so generous and kind...overall, it felt like the universe was rewarding us for making the safe decision! Though sleeping in wet clothes isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, we were quite pleased with the events of the evening! Thanks people of Mindo! 




In the morning, we headed out pretty early after filling up with glacier blue gasoline from the town's ferreteria. Maybe it's just my lack of knowledge on the gasoline arts, but is your gas supposed to be blue? Could've passed as washer fluid...or mountain berry-flavored Gatorade. Our decision to stay was yet again affirmed when we realized the ride was stressful even during daylight hours! The ride itself, not stressful...the trucks that don't consider you another "vehicle" and thus rush by you on blind curves while laying on the horn...semi-stressful. After about two hours, we reached Media del Mundo!! Latitude 0'0'0'! There is a beautiful monument reflecting the significance of, well, the lack of latitude, that has now been surrounded by vendors trying to capitalize on the presence of all the tourist traffic. Technically, this monument is not at the actual 0'0'0 point, but no one really needs to know. Hannah and I snuck into the back entrance of the museum/gardens that houses the exact point - there is a hefty entrance fee, so we just snapped a picture from the distance and made a quick exit! It's weird...can't say I've spent much time thinking about 0 latitude, but since my mind focused on the "line" part of it, I'd thought the elevation would've sea level. Obviously, once my mind separated GPS coordinates and elevation as two totally different things, I wonder what the range of elevation is along the 0 latitude "line!" 


In two hemispheres!



We have an actual jumping picture, but I like this "almost" shot better!


Typical playground companions around these parts.

When we finally fought our way through the city traffic, equally terrifying, we returned our scooters and retired to our hostel, where we did absolutely nothing! Cabin fever set in shortly after that, so we decided to just stroll around town. We passed a few jersey stores and remembered that it was the day of the Liga game, the main Quito futbol team. There was only one hour from the time we discovered when the game was to when we arrived, shortly after the game had started. In that time, we hauled it to the ATM, got gelato, and speed-walked to catch the express bus out of town! Upon arrival, people from the bus terminal just started sprinting to the stadium, which was literally across the street, maybe 100 yards. We don't really enjoy when people run, especially if they are coming from behind us, because we assume they are approaching us to rob us. That anxiety is heightened 100% when you realize, "oh crap, we just withdrew and are packing some serious money!" Luckily, looking as non-chalant as possible and cheering with the locals kept us safe! We waited in a LONG, around-the-corner line to go into the "crazy fan" section. At one point, a group of Europeans looked around, spotted us/fellow gringos, approached us and asked if they could cut in front of us. Having waited in line for 30-plus minutes (and having morals), we 100% turned on our own kind, and in Spanish responded, "ummm, the back of the line is over there, and you are perfectly capable of waiting in line like the rest of us!" They looked hurt, but also intoxicated, so I'm sure they forgot about it two seconds later. Good times. This game gave you the "typical" futbol-obsessed crowd one hopes to experience in these countries - fireworks, team songs, a marching band in the stands behind each goal, toilet paper and receipt paper rolls being thrown onto the field at the opposing team's goalie, banners, and lots of singing, jumping, and screaming! The best part about the game had to be the video they looped on the big screen saying, "Liga no es violencia!" while simultaneously showing clips of horrible things that happen at "other" games. Though not super funny, one clip showed a referee walking back out onto the field from the locker rooms, and as soon as he cleared the covered pathway and stepped foot on the field, a receipt paper roll hit him directly in the head, knocking him out cold - pretty "alarmusing," in a "Wipeout" sort of way. Snacks? Sure, would you like empanadas de carne, chicharrones or popcorn with tomato sauce? Another fun reminder that we aren't in Kansas anymore! Crazy ride home in a mosh pit-style, super crowded bus!





The next morning, Hannah, myself, and a girl we met, Bea, headed out to buy warmer clothing for our upcoming hike of the Quilotoa Loop, a circuit of dirt roads connecting various Andean villages in the mountains surrounding Lago Quilotoa to the capital of the region, Latacunga. On the way out, Bea turns to us and says, "I'm in the mood for a really nasty burger!" Just a warning...there will be lots of great one-liners from this girl. After eating at "The G Spot" (the only thing that makes any of that ok was the fact a good futbol game was playing in the restaurant!), we headed back to the hostel to pack! Another journey to come...and then, there were three!