Life moves so quickly it's hard to keep up with blogs . . . March was a crazy month with what ended up being a never ending bus ride to Guayaquil. The bus ride should take 8 hours, 9 max but after 11 hours we finally arrived! The ride is gorgeous but with what's a barely two laned highway, if there's construction you can be stopped for hours and what feels like years. . . Guayaquil is quite a bit hotter then it is in Loja since it's at sea level and you literally know the second you come around the mountain and drop since the heat and humidity just hits you! We traveled there for a wedding which turned out amazing. It was some friends of ours from Loja but the groom is from Guayaquil and it's cheaper to have a wedding there. The downfall . . . it's like 120 degrees and it was an outdoor wedding so no air conditioning!! Despite that, we pushed through and danced our butts off for about 5 hours! The next day my friend and I hitch hiked our way back to the terminal and grabbed a bus to Riobamba. Riobamba is about 5 hours from Guayaquil and is at an elevation of 2,750m (9,050 feet) so needless to say, it's quite a bit colder there. It's the 4th largest city in Ecuador with a little less then 200,000 people. We stayed with a family there who were amazing. So hospitable and within a few days we never wanted to leave. We were there to check out a city called Guamote. Guamote is about an hour from Riobamba and is even higher at an altitude of 3,050m (10,007 feet) which meant it was even colder!! One of the perks of living in SA I thought was to dodge the cold but I guess not. On clear days you can also see Chimborazo which is a snow capped volcano and from the center of the earth is the tallest mountain in the world. It is absolutely gorgeous but seeing snow all the time the time makes you feel even colder then it actually is. Guamote has a huge market every Thursday where you can buy everything from a new outfit to a goat to, you name it, they've got it. People travel from tiny little Pueblo's (towns) all around Guamote to visit and buy things and it is far from boring. One day we were walking through and my friend got hit by a sheep butting his head trying to make his way through the hoards of people and other animals. It is mostly indigenous people who live there and so you also have the opportunity to see some very different things . . . whether you like it or not!! I must admit, after living here and seeing everything I've seen, it takes a lot to gross me out now!! All in all we loved Guamote and it was an amazing trip!
