some old stuff and the mountain that severely bruised my ego.

The last week has gone by really quickly. We had a week intensive Worldview course that kept us pretty busy and gave us tons and tons of homework. With the end of all that nonsense- it's turning out to be a rather eventful weekend. 

I posted a bunch of pictures of facebook today, so check those out for maximum creeping. I've been busy busy! Yesterday our Culture class headed to the centro historico to check out the presidents house and a few churches. Awesome. The churches are so beautiful and there are so many close together. The president's house or Palacio de Carondelet was lack luster- the "tour" was a shuffle through three rooms used for meetings and public appearances. Highlight of the Palacio was the guards outside- excellent get ups and stoic expressions.  Obvious tom foolery ensued.  

After Palacio de Carondelet we visited a church built by the Augustinians that I can't remember the name of, and the Compania de Jesus church as well. Lots of pan de oro and old stuff. Breathtaking, but I didn't take any pictures inside. Respect and all, you know.  This is a view of the Augustinian church, walking up to the church from the street- dead on it's just as beautiful.  

As if all that sight seeing wasn't enough we had dinner as a class up on the rooftop of a restaurant a few blocks from Compania de Jesus. The views were spectacular and the cafe con leche and empanadas de morocho eran muy rico! Basically, I love being surrounded by mountains chowing down on Ecua delights with some of the best company Quito has to offer (that's you semester abroad!)

Sounds like a full day, but I'm like Ke$ha and for night- I went hard. Sharon and I had been invited out to La Ronda with some friends for dancing and silliness. Well, a huge group of us went- Ecuadorians and Americans and had a great night. We started out at La Ronda with more empanadas (i'm telling you it's all about those little yellow bags and the woman selling them- less teeth the better) and some mora canelazo and then we all went to la mariscal. After our 10 minute taxi from La Ronda we met back up and found a small, dark, sweaty salsa/regaeton club. Holy freaking fun night. The place was packed like the trolle, only this time the "grind on me" was intentional. It was a half gringo crowd and i'm pretty sure I couldn't have looked any more foolish- but I had a ton of fun. Mika, an Ecua friend showed us some of her moves and laughed with us when we started to look like idiots. We danced our little cans off and then headed home, calling it an early night because this morning we climbed PINCHINCHA. The mountain that borders the city to the west. 

I should clarify... "we climbed" is misleading. I made it all of 30 minutes at 1400 ft. before I realized by little piernas and pulmones would not make it another 5000 feet up. Let me back track. We all took the Teleferico a little more than half way up the mountain, basically a ski lift that gives you some spectacular views of the entire city as you go up the mountain. From the end of the Teleferico its about a four hour hike to get to the top-i'm not sure why, but apparently people enjoy that type of thing... 

Defeat, 14,000 feet.

Not to worry though, as an act of solidarity I did got for a run after I ate lunch. 15 minutes at 10,000- I'm feeling the burn.