Mindo’s fresh air made us thirsty for adventure. Setting aside our fear of heights for the exhilaration of gliding above the cloud forest, Laurene and I set out early to go ziplining.

Making our way through the cloud forest

A local named Giovanni picked us up in his truck for the winding drive up the hill. We were racing against time since I had to return to Quito to work in the afternoon so I was glad we had decided to fork over the $3 for the lift up the road.

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Last weekend the boys set off on a jungle adventure six hours away from Quito. Since I was working and unable to join them, on my days off I decided to explore one of Quito’s closer destinations: the tranquil village of Mindo. I’ve been drooling over Freddie’s pictures of his trip to Mindo, and it did not disappoint.

My friend Amy arrived with our new video camera the night before and I had been carefully observing her to see whether she was experiencing any signs of altitude sickness or jet lag (and nagging at her to keep drinking water). When she professed that she felt fine, I set our Mindo plan in action. Amy, Laurene, and I raced to find a bus to take us the 2-hour drive to Mindo.

The bus ride to Mindo was nearly as beautiful as the town itself: a windy hilltop road snaking through the lush forest. The surrounding mountain range was draped in fog. (more…)

As we reported earlier, our camera was stolen recently.

You can probably imagine that it’s kind of hard to make a show about living abroad without a video camera.

And so much has happened! Laurene quit her job, Ryan and I took a boat ride on a lake named after a guinea pig, Ryan and Freddie went to the coast, I found a job, Laurene started looking for other jobs, Ryan got thrown into a jail on wheels, the boys went on an Indiana Jones adventure in the jungle, the World Cup began. And so on. All those little things like Life.

While the powers-that-be behind Jet Set Zero have been researching every possibility to get us a new camera as soon as possible, they’ve encountered headaches and hurdles like customs, duties paperwork, and exorbitant shipping costs.

Enter creative solution #1: Find a courier to fly down with the camera.

I jumped on the horn (ok, the internet) and contacted my best friend Amy Cao, a food writer and blogger in NYC. Would she be available to fly down to Quito with the camera on a moment’s notice? An email response from her later, it was a done deal.

She arrives tonight into Quito, and the show will go on!

Food writer Amy Cao arriving in Quito soon!

Tip #1: Tap Your Network

If you don’t have one, get one. Find one.

As I mentally reviewed my friends, acquaintances, and past travel buddies, I realized that I didn’t really know anyone in Ecuador before I moved here. In order to find contacts and job prospects, I put the word out to my friends and hit the Internet. I perused the Lonely Planet forums by searching for jobs in Ecuador.

I signed up for Couchsurfing, not because I was looking for a place to stay, but because I’ve heard it’s a great resource for meeting people on the road. I joined a few groups based in Quito and signed up for email updates. Every day my inbox is full of Couchsurfing messages from travelers or locals looking for like-minded people who want to take salsa lessons, go bar-hopping, or take weekend trips together. (more…)

Sometimes it’s just guns.

Kidding.

Kind of.

The hunt is on for a job in Quito. After applying for a mysterious Magician’s Assistant post found under Quito’s Craigslist, I sat back and tried to work some mental magic and will the magician to respond. Laurene and Freddie have both gotten jobs teaching English, but try as I might, I couldn’t motivate myself to apply for teaching jobs. We recently met a bartender who had partied with Guns N Roses when they played in Quito recently, and I had seen some places who were hiring bartenders. Except I don’t know how to tend bar. Right.

Rabbits out of hats, Getting sawed in half = I'm in!

My day had started out pretty good- I slept until noon since I have become an insomniac since living here (along with half of our apartment) and have trouble falling asleep before 2 or 3am. My recent obsession has been researching shamans in the Amazon and contemplating going to live in the jungle to learn from them. Other than that, I had lunch with a new friend who took me to a local hotspot for wealthy Quitenos and we feasted on the Ecuadorian version of sushi. Things were looking up. (more…)

So yes, Baños was a wonderful getaway and we soaked up the scenery, soaked in the hot springs, and then got soaked on the river.

Little did we know our luck was about to change.

On our way back from Baños, we split up and took two different buses. Laurene and Freddie needed to get back to Quito to work/find work the next day so they left after lunch. But I didn’t have any pressing engagements (let’s be honest, no job prospects in sight) so I was contemplating traveling further south for a few days. After much deliberation, I ended up going back to Quito, so I took an afternoon bus with Evan, our field producer and cameraman.

We were seated in the last row of the bus on the right hand side. On the left side of the bus there was one additional row of seats further back that were directly across from the bathroom. Our bags were under our seats, and our seats backed up against the bathroom.

The 4-hour bus ride had lulled me to sleep and by the time I woke up about 30 minutes from Quito, our camera was missing. We searched frantically all around us, on the top shelf of the bus and under our neighbor’s seats. They noticed us panicking and one young couple offered to help: the girl went to talk to the bus driver, who called the police. (more…)

For our holiday weekend celebrating the Battle of Pichincha when Quito won its independence (also known as Laurene’s last weekend before she started her 6-day-a-week job), a few of us fled the mean streets of Quito for some fresh air, hot springs, and adventure. And how could that be bad?

Poor Ryan was sick with what looked like the flu and wasn’t able to make it. That’s okay, because there are so many outdoor activities to enjoy in Baños that we’re all more than happy to go back. Yes, baños is the Spanish word for bathroom, but the town is named after its restorative hot springs (or baths).

We soaked in some hot springs set at the base of a volcano for a mere $3; at dusk we watched a waterfall trickle down the mountain as we lounged in the mineral pools. Then we worked up a sweat dancing at a club called Son Cubanos, where the happy hour was whenever the DJ said it was.

We came to Baños in search of an adrenaline rush -  our next mission was choosing between bungee jumping, river rafting, waterfall rappelling, horseback riding, and hiking.

To follow up on my recent post about the low cost of living here, I’ll share a bit about eating on the cheap in Ecuador. Truly, it can be hard to spend more than $10 on a meal – or $5, for that matter. But if you want to drop some dough, you definitely can at some of Quito’s fancier joints like the upscale sushi spot I visited today where prices were on par with anywhere in the US.

Ecuador is filled with tiny mom-and-pop shops (some might call them holes-in-the-wall) that serve cheap meals, like a plate of chicken or steak for a few bucks. But the real jackpot is the almuerzos, set lunches that cost between $1-2. These lunches come with a drink (soda or fresh juice), soup, salad, rice, and typically chicken (although you can also have steak). And these are no puny lunches either – they can definitely fill you up.

Our Casa

I continue to be delightfully surprised at how cheap it is to live in Ecuador. In some upcoming posts I’ll share more details on how inexpensive it is to live in this breathtaking country, which despite its tiny size, never lacks for adventure or beauty. (more…)

This weekend we took a few buses and trolleys out of Quito to the Mitad del Mundo park in Mitad del Mundo, Ecuador.  I had read previously that this was probably the country’s biggest tourist trap but I decided to rally the troops and visit the place anyway, you see  I have this thing about lists and checking stuff off whenever I travel.  You pay 2 dollars and gain access to the park where there is this big monument that prominently stands in the middle letting you know that yes, you are at 0 degrees Latitude. We had read that thanks to the magic of GPS we now know that the actual monument is about 250 meters away from the actual Equator, but who cares right?  The park complex also has a stage where you can here local muscians play folklorica music dressed in their local costumes.  There are a ton of gift shops, cafes and even a church that is sitting on the actual Equatorial line that divides the place in two right down the center aisle.  The weather wasn’t the best that day but it didn’t stop us from making the most of the place.

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