Don't Stop the Party

In Which, We Hit the Town

So the other day, it was Andrea's birthday! The original plan was to go to Baños on Saturday and dance the night away, but she ended up having to work this weekend, so we went out on Thursday night.

All in all, it was a great time. There was dancing, drinking, laughing and a chilly walk to catch a taxi at the end, but we had fun.

We haven't been downtown a lot lately, so I was super excited to see that several streets and parks are dressed up with lights and decorations for Christmas!

Parque Cevallos, all lit up!

We DID have plans to go to a Christmas concert at the local theatre here in Ambato Friday night, but we had to go to Quito for more visa stuff, and by the time we got back we were absolutely exhausted. I was super bummed to miss it, but hopefully they'll have another concert before Christmas that we can go to.

SPEAKING of Quito - I'm really starting to hate going there. Mainly because it's a 2-2.5 hour drive each way and it costs us almost $50 roundtrip each time in the private taxis. It would be cheaper to take the bus, but that would take SO much more time. 

So we finally received the official email telling us our applications were approved and to come make the visa payment in Quito on Friday morning.

Now, last time we did this, we got there REALLY early, waited for about 2 hours, paid, then came back at 3 pm, waited another 1.5 hours, and finally received our passports with the visa applied in them. It was a whole day of basically waiting, but it was just ONE DAY.

This time around, we decided if we were going to be waiting all day, it didn't matter how early we got there, so we rolled in around 9:15. After a 3-hour wait, we finally paid for the visas and left our passports for the visa to be applied.

THEN. Goodness, then we were told, "Come back Monday afternoon" to receive our passports back. 

YOU.ARE.KIDDING.ME.

So we have to go to Quito YET AGAIN on Monday afternoon. Ugh.

At this point in time, between transportation, hostels and food, we've spent over $250 in this process. Frustrating to say the least, since that number would be ZERO had we known beforehand that we could apply in Ambato.

SIGH.

Anyway, Monday should be the last trip to Quito for a very long time. 

At least we got to spend some time in one of the parks, El Ejido, which we love to do. 

Statue in front of El Ejido

Entrance into El Ejido from La Patria

They were having some sort of fair as well, because there were vendors selling jewelry, art and clothing. We picked up a bit of art, just to have something to put on the walls.

John with his refreshing, handmade, $1 OJ

And that's where we're at for now! Monday will be our last trip to Quito, and then we hit the holidays.

Friends of ours have told us that for the next 3 months, Ambato's like a giant party town. We've got Christmas, New Year's, 3 Kings and Innocentes, all culminating in Ecuador's titular celebration of Carnaval - Fiesta de Frutas y Flores, which takes place in February.

So stayed tuned for the party, it's bound to be a good time!