I celebrated the big 3-0 this week in Quito. We had fabulous plans to climb (part of) the highest active volcano in the world - Volcano Cotopaxi, and stay in an old Hacienda there in the national park. Unfortunately I came down with a cold soon after we arrived in Quito a little over a week ago and have spent much of the week resting in our lovely hostal taking full advantage of our ridiculously large cable TV. The good news is we haven't scrapped the volcano/hacienda plan, just moved it to next week, and Josh pointed out that I've once again successfully stretched my birthday out to last over a week :)

In the meantime I had a great actual b-day starting with oatmeal in bed and birthday confetti a la Joshua. For lunch we headed up to a café in the hills with beautiful views of Quito and a delicious American-style brunch (huge and sugar-filled) before hitting some flea market shopping where after much searching I finally found a non-touristy journal to start off the new year. The great day of eating continued at dinner.

Finding the restaurant was an exciting scavenger hunt in which we took three taxi cabs before ending up at an Italian restaurant one block from our hotel. I had found a place on-line that sounded delicious but never answered their phone. We decided to take our chances and just show up. When we got there the door had a sign saying they had gone on vacation, which they neglected to mention on their voice machine. Getting hungrier by the minute we took a taxi to another area but there wasn't much there, in fact the Marriott hotel looked like the only real possibility but even they didn't have much more than a bar area. Luckily the Marriott came to our rescue and offered to make us to a reservation at a nice Italian restaurant. Driving over we started thinking the neighbourhood was looking familiar and sure enough, we passed right by our little hotel before the Marriott´s private van dropped us off one block from where we're staying at a charming little Italian restaurant called Carmine.

Carmine himself, ponytail, blazer, jeans and all came by to ask how everything was (it was delicious, especially the gorgonzola gnocci - as good as any in Italy), and then offered me an Amaretto cocktail to celebrate which made me feel very grown up indeed. Besides the journey to find the restaurant the other classic Latin-American part of the experience was the ordering process. I started salivating as soon as I saw the Ravioli di Zucca on the menu, one of my faves, but when we ordered it the waiter got a funny look and said he had to check with the kitchen and came back to inform us "no hay" as in, yes it's on the menu but we're out, something we're getting used to hearing more and more. Josh and I huddled and decided to go with the lobster cocktail instead, delicious even with heads attached. Then for the main course Josh had decided on the pork chop, but sadly, "no hay" otra vez. In spite of not getting our first picks we had a delicious meal and a fantastic celebration for my 30th, and lucky for me the celebrating is just beginning!

Of course we have done a few other things in Quito besides celebrate my birthday :) Josh took a week of Spanish classes and is vastly improving every day; we've scoured every single bookstore in our tourist enclave the Mariscal neighbourhood, and almost every single café; we've eaten some traditional Ecuadorian food in addition to taking advantage of the Thai food, brunch opportunities, and miraculous SALADS you can find in this neighbourhood; and explored the beautiful old town of Quito with its white colonial buildings and more churches per capita than just about anywhere else I've ever been.

It's fun to be in a new place after 6 weeks in Colombia. Ecuadorians are very friendly and greetings are very important. Strangers typically say hello to you when entering a restaurant and wish you buen provecho on your meal. It's also been nice to spend a couple weeks here in Quito relaxing before we begin the second half of our trip. This travelling stuff is good fun but surprisingly exhausting sometimes too!

Since I'm just now getting healthy we have a few good days of sightseeing to pack in before we leave for Volcano Cotopaxi on Tuesday. We're heading to my first Quito museum this afternoon (Josh´s second since he visited the Monastary of Santa Catalina - see morbid photos). Tomorrow we're planning to party it up at the Equator where there's live music every Sunday, and then on Monday we'll warm up for the Volcano on Quito's Teleferico. It's a new attraction that takes you up to 14,000 feet and then you can hike up another 600 feet for the best views of Quito and the surrounding Andes mountains. So much adventure in such little time... We'll let you know how it goes, and of course how my on-going 30th b-day celebration continues. One lucky lady!