Today at midnight (ok, to be honest, yesterday few minutes before the midnight) a half a year has passed since I’ve landed in Quito after over ten hours flight from Frankfurt and changing planes in Panama and Puerto Rico. I didn’t know what to expect but since my very first steps on the streets of Quito in Sunday morning I’ve fallen in love with Ecuador. And this is probably the reason why I’m still here instead of going South to Bolivia, Chile and Argentina – or North to Columbia, Panama and Mexico. There will be time for this.

To start with, a short list of places I’ve visited. I wrote about most of them but I’m not going to make a list of links because it would be a mess. I recommend searching using tags:
- Quito – I’ve just discovered that I forgot to translate the texts from Quito to English. I have a plan for the afternoon now.
- Otavalo – I got there by a chance and I’m going to go there back because it enchanted me.
- Loja – my first few times in Loja I’ve been only to the bus station but since I’ve been living in Vilcabamba, I’ve visited it few times. Tomorrow I’m going to Loja again.
- Vilcabamba – I went there, stayed longer than I’d planned to and I’m back here.
- Zamora – I didn’t write about it, besides of a text for Kurier Wnet. Maybe in the future I’ll mention it.
- Gualaquiza – I posted some photos on Facebook. A nice town in the East. Hot and damp.
- Cuenca – one of the most tourist places in Ecuador. Indeed, crowded.
- Guayaquil – I’ve spent there more time than I planned to and more than I’d like to when I look at it now. But it did, however, bring something to my life too.

Let’s go to Peru.
- Chiclayo – a city in the North. A bit boring but with interesting places around.
- Huanchaco – few days of lazing on the Pacific shore.
- Lima – I bought there a book (in December) that I’m still reading – I have an excuse, it’s in Spanish.
- Cuzo – few days of being sick and waiting for my luggage. Full of tourists.
- Machu Picchu – be in Peru an not go there? Not possible.
- Puerto Maldonado – My Christmas in the jungle. Well, almost, I didn’t have any lianes hanging over my head. But I loved my hotel.
Then, I went back to Ecuador. I spent some time in Guayaquil where I got rid of my ilusions, I thought my life through and decided to become a cowboy. And now, for three months already, I’ve been living in Vilcabamba realising my dream. By the way, I can barely sit on the chair, because I’ve ridden bareback for too long yesterday.

It’s my thirtieth post from Ecuador. It turns out, I write on the average more often than once per week (one text per about 6 days). Hurray! The planned minimum fulfilled. I’m not going to count my Facebook posts because I try to post few of them everyday. By the way, I;m not sure how many likes I got on Facebook but it should be around seven hundred if I remember well the starting number. Unfortunately, Facebook lets me check only last 28 days. Furthermore, my two texts were published in Kurier Wnet – and many more on Wnet.fm. I started the fund-raising campaign on patronite.pl – I have three patrons do far. From the technical facts – the folder called “South America” on my disk where I have all my photos, videos and some texts (although most of them I write directly in the online editor) has almost 58 GB.

Now some more important stuff than the technical summary – I bought a horse, adopted a dog, lost a hat and found a new one. I made many friends, I was in love once, I changed my life vision few times. The current plan is to travel on the horseback through Ecuador. I need visa for this, though, because my legal stay is nearing the end. Two days ago I finally got my documents from Poland (thanks to the help of my godfather – thank you!) and I’m going to apply for two years stay. It doesn’t mean, however, that I’m going to stay in Ecuador all this time. I don’t know, I don’t like to make plans. So far, improvising of my journey was good for me.

In July 2017 the university in Aix-en-Provence, France, has rejected my application for all three master’s studies regardless of my very good notes from the bachelor’s. I had a job I could have continued – with a rise, probably, soon a promotion and a vision of becoming a restaurant manager in few years – that’s at least what my director had said. But I discontinued my work, I got mad at the university and bought a ticket to Ecuador. And you know what? It was, so far, the best decision in my life because I’m finally doing something that makes me happy. Let it stay like this.
