Matt woke me up at 4 in the morning since he was flying back home to Canada. As I usually do when saying goodbye, I gave him a postcard (addressed both to him and his brother Colin, who’d also been a volunteer at Katitawa but had left earlier). We also exchanged reading recommendations. He recommended “Jitterbug Perfume”, while I recommended “Shantaram”. After that we said goodbye, and he left.

Later in the morning, I went to the Colombian embassy to ask for a tourist visa. They were surprised to see an Indian tourist asking for a visa in Quito, but were not dismissive like the staff of the Peruvian embassy. They asked me a lot of questions about how I came to be there, and once satisfied, asked me to submit all the required documents. Unfortunately I didn’t have everything they wanted, and I wouldn’t have time to arrange for everything before the documents submission window for the day expired. So I had to come back the next day, but at least this time there was hope that I’d get the visa!

El Libertador - Simon Bolivar

Street performer

The interior of one of the many ancient churches

For now, I leave you with what I found painted on one of the walls in my hostel:

Nobody can take away from you...
The dances you have danced,
The food you have eaten,
Or the travels you have traveled