Day 2 started with a trip to a rose farm on Cayambe. The views outside of Quito was amazing. Cliffs to the left, and the skyscrapers to the right. The roads went up along the edges of cliffs, and without guard rails. I trust this driver with my life. He was able to get a charter bus up the cliffs and into a garage with inches of space left to spare. The visit itself was amazing, and there was a breathtaking vista of the region. Immediately, my view was drawn to a cathedral down in the closest town, El Quinche. We learned about rose yields and different types of roses, as well as dying, packaging, and shipping the roses. The business is called Casanto Miray, and it is family operated. It was really cool looking into not only the business, but the family as well and how it has changed their lives.

After the visit, we had lunch and spent a couple hours in El Quinche. It was a really neat town, and did not seem as touristy as some parts of Quito. There was a slight issue with the bus, which allowed us to spend more time in the town. While we were waiting for the bus, we met a neat old lady who was adorable. Her name is Rosita, and she called all of us her “gringitos and gringitas”. Once we learned gringo was an endearing phrase down here, she insisted we go with her to see the iglesia, the church. She lead us into an amphitheater that was under construction. We sat and talked with her for hours, enjoying ice cream, mangoes, and chocolate covered bananas. I had no idea what she was saying, but she was radiating energy and was my favorite local that I have met so far.

After our detour in El Quinche, we went to a chocolate tasting at Bios in Quito. It was lead by David, who was very passionate about fine flavor chocolate. David initially started speaking Spanish to us, but when Diona started to translate, David jumped in and said he lived in Chicago, and worked in Gurnee. We sidetracked the group talking about Illinois, but it was a great time. We had a tasting and learned about the history of chocolate and the company. I ended up buying lots of chocolate from them, and I learned about how chocolate goes from bean to bar, which is something I never thought of.