Baños de Agua Santa

In Quito, on every street corner, is an ice cream seller...with cheese. At first, I assumed my Spanish was so bad, that I was misunderstanding. But apparently it's a thing. Like salted caramel - sweet/savoury flavour combo. Whilst strolling around Baños, I come across a particularly clean looking ice cream shop. I was staring at the menu with pictures for far too long, trying to work out how important it was for to sample this weird mix. A young man called Wilson popped out offering me an English menu. I said I was scared to try this crazy concoction so he sprung into action, creating me a generous sample of passion fruit ice, frozen cream and grated mozzarella (like) cheese. Mmmm yes, people, it was delicious 😋. Of course, I was obliged to buy some and had a lovely half hour chatting to Wilson, in Spanish, as he patiently waited for me to get a sentence out, one slow word at a time.

I left there to visit a tourist attraction, a magical chocolate factory. I thought I could benefit from being educated on the processing process :-). I got chatting to a young Venezuelan man with perfect English, called Luis. Aged 24, financially supporting his parents, sister and niece back home. We had a lovely connection and enjoyed a chat for almost an hour before he had to get back to work (I kept saying 'Don't get yourself in trouble'. He gave me an assortment of milk chocolates because I explained us Brits are used to (and enjoy!!) low grade milk choc :-)

Another day, I started a solo mini hike. I had had to withdraw cash and walked around a bit to make sure no one following me. Anyway I start on the empty, uphill, path behind the town. Very soon, a man and his dog join me. I let him go ahead (do I can see him). It's steep, he stops for breaths; me too - making sure I can keep him in my sights. Eventually, he rests in a hut. He keeps looking at me, turning round. To be honest, he may well have thought I was acting strange but I didn't feel safe and reluctantly retreated. But I bump into a young English boy and ask if I can walk back up with him. I puff and pant keeping up with this 20 something year old and very pleased to get to the top.

He runs off to go to a further summit. This nearly 50 year old body tells me I am high enough :-). I then randomly meet an American girl who I am calling Firenza because I can't remember her name. We chatted, took photos of each other, walked down and went out to eat. Shwarma and mojito cocktail in a restaurant called Gardens of Babylon and decorated accordingly. Really lush!!Read more