Farewell Quito Ecuador and 8 months in South America

We have had so much to do, and I have had little energy. Firstly was to book an onward flight to Central America. That meant commitment, and it also meant cutting short the time we wanted in Ecuador.

It is hard, because there is so much to feel, and we don’t want to miss any of it! But as I often say, “You can’t see it all!”

We wanted to go see a bit more of old Quito, Centro Historico. We wanted to go to the markets and shops — underground in the San Francisco church catacombs.

We also wanted to do a few more Random Acts of Kindness.  So when we saw the little kids trying to earn money polishing shoes, we decided t let them clean my son’s shoes, and then give them all some money.  It was fun to bless them, as they didn’t expect it and all the little shoe cleaners gathered for coins.

We wanted to help some more street beggars.  This lady was lovely so we blessed her.

My son wanted to go back to his favourite playground.  I wanted to go to the markets at the park, but he just wanted to play.  It is important to give him time to play with other kids, and to let his energy out.

As this is his favorite park, I just sat and watched him have fun.

As I sat with the locals, I was able to study the fine handiwork of their clothing.

This lady is selling ice-cream, but here in South America, it doesn’t melt.  We have tried it once, but after my food poisoning, I am very wary of street food (mind you, my food poisoning was from a store in a mall).

With that mission achieved, we had last minute running around to do. We had made friends last time we were in Quito in March, so we wanted to connect with them.   So that was a lovely time, and we made some new friends there too.

We had sorted through unwanted Winter clothes, hiking gear, DVD’s and general ‘stuff’ we no longer wanted and we had donated that to the orphanage. And we bought countless new movies on DVD for long bus trips and nights with no electricity, or maybe no TV.

As our suitcases had been broken, we had to buy 2 new bags, so that took a few hours of shopping.  We had tried to get them fixed, but we discovered they were too far gone.

So suddenly we find ourselves facing our last day.  Running around like headless chickens. Going to shopping centers to update some Airline requirements. Booking onward journeys.  Last minute purchases as Ecuador is so inexpensive.  This was all going to plan until it started to bucket down with rain.  But we pressed on.  New clothes and hats for my son, more DVD’s and items we knew would be more expensive further on in our trip.  Here you can see us buying some Christmas presents from a street seller.  We got a great deal, but just as we were finalizing it, the police came along and tried to stop her.

I quickly helped pack and pay.  Oh dear, now we have more things to pack!

But I think the hardest thing to face, was to realize this was the end of a big chapter. This was goodbye to South America.

Dreams unfulfilled:

• We wanted to see the Ecuador coast.

• Having climbed Machu Picchu.
• Flying over the Nazca Lines.
• Walking through the Jesuit ruins in Paraguay.
• Having stood in the complete silence on the Bolivia Salt Flats.
• Seeing Rio and the Christ Statue.
• Staying at a Desert Oasis.
• Definitely seeing all the llamas and alpacas in the wild.
• Helping the poor in the streets was a highlight to me in Bolivia.
• Making new friends along the way was also amazing.

So much & so many I will never forget.

• I do think we did one too many night buses
• and stayed at one too many below average hostels, but all in all the bad helps you experience the good.

• Do you easily get attached to things and places?
• Does it rip you apart when you have to leave a place you got so so comfortable in?
• Do share your comments with us below.