El teleférico and family time

I decided to spend another weekend in Quito since we actually had homework to do and no one else wanted to travel (it was kinda sad to finally have work to do...although considering the semester is almost halfway over, doing a presentation about about food in Ecuador and the indigenous communities isn't really THAT bad). Friday was the Ecuador vs. Venezuela soccer game and the majority of my friends went to the game, which was apparently epic-ly fun.

On Saturday morning I woke up and went to the teleférico, which is like a ski lift that lifts you up to the Pinchincha mountain. You start at 2,950m and rise all the way up to 4000m! There are two different mountains that you can climb once the teleférico drops you off, Rucu Pinchincha and Guagua Pinchincha, which is an active volcano that erupted in 2001. The girls I went with didn't really feel like hiking, so we spent a lot of time talking, although we did walk around for about 45 minutes. All of the views were absolutely beautiful and you could see ALL of Quito!

Chelsea, Bethany, Phoebe, Me, and Melody about to go up the teleférico

View from inside the car

View from the top

When I got home, Pablo and his entire family came over for lunch. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and talking. My favorite part of spending the weekend in Quito is spending time with Pablo and his children!

On Sunday morning, we woke up early and my host family, Martin (Pablo's son), and I all crammed in the car and drove to Cumbaya, where Pablo and his family live. After a tour of Pablo's house (which was really sweet), we went to Paulino's sister's house in Puembo. Their house was also huge and resides on an old hacienda, so it is a huge property. Other than the pool, pond, and orchard, the house is also on the edge of the mountain and has a beautiful view. We hung out out at their house and then met Pablo and his family at their country club in Puembo. Although I was supposed to go swim in the club pool, we ended up just eating lunch and hanging out all day at the beautiful club. The highlight of the trip was when Emiliano (the middle grandchild) took me to visit and pet the horses. There were about 40 horses and all of them were so pretty and sweet!