I know that good things come to an end, but I wish the great times were an exception

I have just finished eating a homemade cocnut popsicle I picked up from a convience store while I sit in a internet place across from my hotel in Quito, Ecuador. I have really crammed my stomach today with a lot of delicious things, along with things I'm still not sure what they were, but now I can settle down and let those who want to know what's been going on what's been going on in my life for the last few days (even though if I get hungry I bought an empanda for later to be washed down with a strawberry soda).

Well, I throughly enjoyed my time in Cusco! I was sad to leave, and I feel like I still missed out on some things while I was there. A week wasn't enough, and I'm not the same. Get the jist? =) But I move on. I got to see Machu Picchu on Saturday, which was neat, and then Sunday I spent the day with my host family eating fritadas (which is pieces of fried pork, not like the Mexican fritadas) and listening to them go on in Spanish, which I barely understood but tried to follow along anyway. Sunday evening I said my goodbyes to Miguel and one of his friends I saw a lot during the week, then early Monday morning I was off for a new adventure to Ecuador!

This leg of my journey has been quite different from everything else I have done. Each country I've been to has been quite different from the next, but I never felt like a real tourist until yesterday! I ride in a tour bus with a bunch of gringos going from one tourist place to the next taking pictures of the same thing at the same time. That may have sounded crass, but it really hasn't been bad. Though it's a little weird for me, I have learned a lot from our guide and from the places we have visited. Yesterday we visited the equator, which has been my favorite part thus far! It was really cool to hear the science of the equator and doing experiments. I balanced an egg on a nail just like Anthony Bourdain did when he came to Equador! I was way stoked about that! We have also gotten to walk around Old Town Quito and see some old churches, a rose plantation, and an artisans market where our true American side came out to consume... ah, my favorite. =) Tomorrow we travel to Banos... I can't remember what we're doing there... oh well. I'm just enjoying the ride wishing that it wouldn't end.

This very well may be one of my last blogs until I get back to Durango! So sad! It's funny, because the first 3 weeks I was ready to go home at any moment, and now I don't want to leave. South America has grabbed my heart and won't let me go. I want to live here, eat here, speak here. I want the Latin lover who buys me Ecuadorian roses (which I guess are the best in the world or something). I want to read Neruda, Allende, and Vallejo while I hear the always present car alarm in the distance. Ah... te amo Sudamerica!

Vaya con Dios,

Leah=)