I’m currently onboard my flight to Quito! I had. A decent layover in Houston so I was able to get some tacos and some froyo. Thankful for that because United really gave up on our first onboard meal. \240I got some weird chicken sandwich which had way too much cheese on it and was basically inedible, for me at least, my seat mate just went to get seconds 😅. For dessert they gave us a fun size bag of m&ms. It’s definitely some flight attendants left over Halloween candy.

Hola! Today we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel before heading out on a walking tour of Quito.

We saw the old town where we had some time to explore and take in the sights on our own, seeing where the president lives (they’re version of the White House) and several other government buildings. We also went to a giant church filled with 9tons of gold.

At the end of our tour we made our way to a local chocolate museum where I got several chocolate bars as presents and had a delicious double scoop ice cream!

We made it back to the hotel and had lunch. For lunch we had shrimp ceviche, rice, & COW TONGUEI then took a nice long rest before dinner. (I only had one bite of the cow tongue but hey, I tried it, so I don’t have to do it again!!)

All and all the day was pretty uneventful!

For dinner we also ate at the hotel and Shannon got sick (again - 2nd day and maybe 90th time she’s been sick 🙄)

I was eating with Aster and her mom and dad and had a lovely time getting to know them. Aster is 17 and a brilliant girl! She’s adopted from Ethiopia by white parents who were in their mid 40s. So we’ve got a similar origin story. She’s my favorite.

Off to bed and ready for the next adventure tomorrow!!

Today we had a free day. Shannon did the optional excursion where they went to an Ecuadorian Rose farm and got to hike a volcano trail. I had booked a food tour through Airbnb experiences it was great!

I took an Uber to meet my guide. The Uber was so cheap so I upgraded to a premium vehicle, it was less than $4 🤯🤯🤯

Ingot to the area I needed to meet the guide but didn’t see him. I went into the cafe we were meeting at and asked for Marcelo. The woman behind the counter said she didn’t know a Marcelo. She went to the back and a man came out claiming to be Marcelo brother! I was trying to explain I was looking for Marcelo but had no idea who to say the name of the cafe I was in! Now all of this happened in Spanish, and this guy claiming to be the brother looked like he thought I might not be all there in the head 😂

He asked how he could help me numerous times haha and finally i just left because we weren’t going to get anywhere and no one spoke English.

Once outside I saw a man who looked like he might be the guide with another woman. The woman noticed me hovering… and finally! I found the tour group. We booked it at a fast pace from 10:30am - 2:30pm learning about Ecuador along the way while trying a lot of typical dishes in off of the road places.

It was a ton of fun and my favorite part was probably trying all the different types of fruit. I disliked majority of them but it was a lot of fun.

We finished up at a coffee shop called Sweet & Coffee. We had the best chocolate cake there. As we were wrapping up I told Jessica, the other person on the tour with me I was planning to check out the cable car she asked if I wanted to go together and I said yes! We had the best time hiking and checking out the swing on the edge of the mountain overlooking Quito.

I mad a new friend and had so much fun with her. A free day turned into a very busy day!

Side note everyone is obsessed with me 😂 the girls Aster and Mia got their hair braided and later on in the trip, Sarah and Erin wound up braiding their hair too. Asters parents gave me a bouquet of roses 🌹 even!

Once on the cruise all the workers knew my name even if I didn’t know theirs. People are drawn to me for some reason which can be difficult for an introverted extrovert 😂. You know I love the attention but I try to resist it sometimes.

I think about what my mom would think of she were here. She’d say of course! You’re very likable, very confident, and very good with people so it comes naturally to you! Shannon said this is my lot in life haha. It’s nice to be worshiped and truly these people are obsessed 🤩 I’m a star but I don’t think this is news to anyone.

Today we had a nice hike on a black sand beach where we saw many Land Iguanas, giant tortoises, and sea turtle nests. We also so many different birds, mocking birds, and the Darwin finches.

After walking around the island for a bit we made our way to the beach and did some beach snorkeling. I saw a shark and 3 sea turtles.