La Basilica, a huge Roman Catholic Church in the historic center of Quito. It’s construction was technically never completed and some people say that if it were to be completed it would be the end of the world.

One of many Quito signs that I have taken pictures with.

Futbol!! We went to a soccer game between the Quito team and the Guayaquil team. It was crazy! I have never seen so many police officers in my life there were upwards of 400 inside the stadium, about half of them wearing full riot gear, and probably another few hundred outside. They even had a tank there! Our friend was wearing the Guayaquil jersey and he had to take it off before entering the stadium so as to not start fights. It was crazy but really fun and really cool!

Laguna Cuicocha (or lake of the guinea pigs in Quechua, named because the island in the middle looks like a guinea pig) This lake is a caldera of an active volcano. You can see gas bubbles rising in the water from volcanic emissions.

View of el Panecillo and the historic center from La Basilica

El Santuario de las Cascadas in Mindo, a small town in the cloud forest. We did a hike with 7 different waterfalls all of which you could swim in!

The Panecillo, a huge statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the city. The highest nativity in the world!

Laguna Quilotoa, a volcanic crater now filled with water at about 12,000 feet. The locals say that it has no bottom, we hiked to the bottom which was fine but coming back up was one of the hardest hikes of my life.