just over a week ago the US celebrated Presidents day weekend, but for those of us here in Ecuador we had our own celebrations. Ecuador and Latin America celebrate what they call Carnaval. it gets its origin from the celebration of the beginning of Lent. however (like many holidays eg. Christmas) the real meaning gets overshadowed by the parties and festivities. Carnaval is a holiday filled with parades, BBQ’s, time spent with family, and an ambush of people trying to thrown anything from water to silly string/foam, to much worse. its a very unique holiday, unlike anything we really have in the US. much of the focus (Especially here in Ecuador) is on the indigenous culture and dances. (that was just a little snippit into an Ecuadorian holiday/culture)
as the festivities were kicking off, Whit and I snuck away for a night up near Mitad de Mundo (Middle of the World, where the Equator Line is). nearby, there is a hotel and restaurant call The Crater (http://elcrater.com/) nestled on the rim of a dormant volcano (Pululahua). they have a spectacular view into the crater of this dormant volcano as well as back towards Mitad de Mundo. we only spent one night there, however we were the only people staying in the 12 room hotel that night (which come to find out was very unusual that we had the place to ourselves) and we had a late checkout of 6pm, so we were able to enjoy the following day there as well. we absolutely loved the peace and tranquility of being up their by ourselves. it was as if an entire hotel/restaurant staff was working just for us, because practically speaking they were. we purchased a package that included an open menu for Dinner, which meant appetizers, entrees and dessert, and it also included breakfast the next morning. it felt so nice just not having being rushed. we took our time with dinner and just relaxed for our entire visit. probably our favorite part was just unplugging from technology and the busyness of life for 24 hrs. even though they had a flat screen tv (which made it particularly hard not to want to watch a movie since we don’t have a tv in our apt) we didn’t turn it on. we made a promise to make it a reflective and relaxing weekend. the next day whit and i mostly stayed in our room except for breakfast and a short hike that i took out to an overlook. we couldn’t have asked for anything better…it was exactly what we needed.
btw, if any of you come visit us we would love to take you out to “el crater” hotel for a night. the view is amazing! (see the photo)
