Hasta la vista, Chile and Hola, Ecuador

We were sad to say goodbye to our friends in Puerto Varas. I looked out the window about an hour before we left to see Allison saying goodbye to the dogs. We went outside and said goodbye to Pam and Maria and the chickens and the dogs again. We had a wonderful time there and will never forget it!

Goodbye to the pups

With Maria

Here are a few other photos from Tuipanes and Puerto Varas that I like but didn't post earlier:

The beach at Tulipanes

Juggling practice on the lawn

There are exercise stations all along the waterfront

Chair stacking victory

 From Puerto Varas we drove to the airport in Puerto Montt to start a long day of travel. We flew to Santiago then to Guayaquil, Ecuador and finally to Quito. We tried our hardest to wait up for the Commons Henna family but in the end we had to go to bed and meet them at breakfast instead. We are so glad to have friends with us (hint, hint to anyone still thinking of hopping in for some of our trip!). We had a really fun day exploring Quito. I really knew nothing about the city before we got here and there was a lot to discover. I won't bore you with too many details but a few interesting notes are that the city sits at an elevation of about 9,000 feet, it's nestled into mountains (including one huge, active volcano), and many of the colonial buildings have survived because the materials used (bamboo, adobe and animal excrement) are flexible enough to survive the many earthquakes that have occurred here. We also visited the equator.

The cloudy sky was a good backdrop for churches

No photos allowed inside but this is a peek
at the FOUR TONS of gold leaf used inside

Quito's original plaza with a statue of the virgin
Mary in the middle and another of Mary
visible in the distance

Guards at the presidential palace

I really like guards who aren't supposed to move

Everywhere, dogs. I want to take them home