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Ecuador has been quite a CISVish stop over for me. For those rare that still don’t know what it is, CISV Building Global Friendship is the NGO where I have always been involved since I’m a kid.

A very latino CISV workshop
I first ended up staffing a workshop (WS) in Quito for Juniors (mostly aged 16-20), the Andinos weekend. We first had a great pre-WS along with the best home staff ever (Gaby and Diego) and the 2 other content staff with me (Meli and Lalis from Costa Rica). Good time to enjoy a bit Quito by night and a wonderful countryside house from Gaby’s family.
Then started a 5 day workshop which involved a lot of new encounters and… spanish! I was there along with 50 latinos from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.! Quite fun, tough at some point language wise, but interesting and great to live a CISV weekend outside of Europe. We worked quite a lot, but also had time to fully enjoy the swimming pool there! I really loved the Andinos!!

A unique horseriding experience in the Cotopaxi National Park
After the WS, Nounours (CISV friend from France) and his friend Louis, both backpacking from north to south of Latin America, joined us for a few days. After a relaxing pizza/movie night in Quito, we leave for a horseriding day in the Cotopaxi National Park, roughly an jour away from the capital. Cotopaxi is the 2nd highest summit in the country at 5897m.
It is one of the highest active volcano in the world! The weather is quite shitty, but we are really well covered with real cow-boy outfits! Stunning views during a lovely 2-hour horseride tour with Gaby Nours Louis and a really nice guide, even though my horse Casano is not much in a hurry!!

I am last most of the time, and I can’t make him go quicker… but at least I follow the path of the others, while Louis’ horse is just going all over the place

We then relax a little bit at the house which organized the horseride tour and enjoy a good coffee while taking a lot of picutres


On the way back we stop for the biggest Burger ever!

Quito nightlife
Back in Quito we enjoy a nice outing at night at “Tapas y vinos” with many other CISVers like Ana Maria Pancho Dieo Jaime… and 3 Finish girls including Sara Frankenhauser with who I did a CISV camp 13 years ago!!! Amazing and quite fun to meet up again there in Quito. We then go to another nice bar drinking a lot of Nectar, the local liquor.

Wonderful beach weekend
We then leave Quito for some amazing 3 days at the beach next to Atacames in the Esmeralda Province, 350km away.

The 5h drive is not that much of a rest with way too many curves in the mountainous roads.  Gaby’s uncle and aunt have an apartment there and we quickly enjoy a nice lunch with view on the sea… we don’t complain. We stay there with Nours, Louis and Gaby’s family (brother Jaime and cousin Pancho) + Diego who all were at the workshop. Diego and Jaime challenge Nours and I at tennis… and let me tell you that France kicks ass even though we actually thought we would loose bad… That was quite fun!! France 6 – 2 Ecuador!! We have a lot of fun all of us at the beach, enjoying the pool, and meeting aswell other CISVers that stayed in another apartment in the same building, including Greg a France from CISV France.

Bonfire at night on the deserted beach with stupid games such as “In my music box, there is… ” and “The pointing game”.
Next day, another hour drive to reach a paradise beach where we obviously spend a very relaxing and enjoyable day. We admire how the kids go up the trees to collect coconuts!
And we enjoy seeing other youth horseriding on the beach and riding there little boat on the sea.

Back at the beach apartment we enjoy a lovely apero and last night in Casablanca, another resort not so far away.

Quito nightlife is back!
On the way back to Quito, we first stop in a cute little restaurant in the forest with a lot of colibris. At night we go out with Jaime, Louis, and Colleen – an American friend of Jaime. The nightlife in Quito, for the little I experienced it, seems to be pretty various and fun. We enjoy first a nice thematic bar about the Beatles, then a shot bar – Chupito!, and finally a club where we have a lot of fun… and as usual recently, a bit too much Nectar?

Mitad del Mundo
Next morning, after sleeping only 3 or 4 hours, direction the Mitad del Mundo – Middle of the World - area, just outside of Quito. We first go to the official place with a big monument and a nice setting showing the limit between north and south… but the calculation was apparently wrong and there is another little museum less than 200m away.
We go there and enjoy a fun experimental visit! There, on the right limit between north and south… weird things happend! You can make an egg balance on a nail, and it’s for example impossible to properly walk straight on the line if you close your eyes (that feels soooo weird, as if you were completely drunk…without the headache!).
On the line limiting north and south, we also loose all our strength and any 5 year-old kid could kick my ass! The guide also shows us how the water flushes on different direction. One one side of the hemisphere, it flushes clockwise. On the other side, it flushes counter-clockwise. And on the line between north and south?? It flushes straight, the water does not turn at all and just goes straight down. The guide showed that just one meter away from the line on each side, which made the experience even more impressive.

Leaving to Cali, Colombia
We quickly come back to Quito as I am leaving to Colombia on the very same day. I first take a bus to Tulcan which is less than an hour drive before the border. There, Gaby’s family own a farm and I am hosted by some of the people working there. Next morning, direction Cali… the rest of the trip will be described in my next post!!