- Well, we're here. We've arrived.
So welcome to our Ecuador trip.
- Bienvenidos, Ecuador.
(upbeat music)
- So we're in the cathedral in Quito,
and they call it, basically, like the Notre Dame of Ecuador,
because it's has a very similar
flying buttress type of feel.
The architecture. It's very pretty.
The stained glass windows are ama-
(upbeat music)
All of them there.
Just wait until you see the one at the end.
But this architecture.
Apparently, all of the gargoyles on the outside
have been replaced with animals that are native to Ecuador,
which is so cool
'cause it's like turtles and condors flying
out of the building instead of gargoyles.
- [Shaun] We're now climbing up the stairs
to see the stained glass window.
It's so stunning here.
- And we're doing it quick.
- Quick 'cause we only have 30 minutes.
There it is.
So pretty.
(upbeat music)
Look at the detail work.
(upbeat music continues)
(Shaun laughs)
Okay, here we are.
We're actually standing on the equator in Ecuador, which is-
- [Mindy] Well, actually I'm on the Southern hemisphere.
- She's a Southern hemisphere.
I'm the Northern hemisphere.
And I'm gonna kiss my wife over the equator here.
That's pretty cool.
I've always studied-
I did Latin American History and studies
in my undergraduate at BYU,
and I studied about haciendas here in Latin America,
especially in the Incan empire.
Never thought I'd be staying in one.
This is one that was made in, I think,
1790 I think is what they said.
It is the oldest part of this.
Hacienda is kinda like a ranch or a farm.
And this is where we get to stay tonight.
Okay, we just got our room key.
It literally is an old skeleton key to go into the door.
There we go.
- Hi, hello. - Hello.
- [Shaun] Fancy seeing you here.
- Welcome to my 1740-
- [Shaun] Your humble abode.
- [Mindy] Room. - This is really cool.
I think they said the oldest walls in here are from 1790.
- And we have a bunch of beds, so.
- It smells so good in here.
- [Mindy] I get two of the beds.
- [Shaun] I'm gonna give a better, a wider view here.
You get two of the beds. You get these two.
And I get this one right here. (laughs)
Oh, cute little bathroom.
- I'm pretty sure the indoor plumbing isn't
from 1745, you know? - I'd hope not.
I would imagine not.
This is so cool.
(upbeat music)
Oh my goodness, you guys. This is just so beautiful.
Look at this.
I love it.
I don't know what this is.
Oh, wow. That's kind of cool.
Whatever it is. It's old.
Okay, so for anybody who's curious, a hacienda,
or hacienda, as it's said in Spanish,
comes from the root word hacer, which means to make.
So it was kind of an economy that was instituted by Spain
in the colonies of South and Central America.
They would have basically everything you would need
for a micro economy.
And these places would contribute taxation to Spain,
the motherland at the time.
Now, these are some pretty bushes or vines.
I don't know what they are, but look at those.
It's probably extremely poisonous, and I don't know it.
And you're not supposed to be within 10 feet of it.
(upbeat Spanish guitar music)
So there's another language lesson for you.
Equator, if you break it down into its two parts,
equa, you guys know that's part root word of equal,
and equator, -terr means earth or land.
So that means land that is equal. Equal parts.
So that would be the earth in half, right?
That's what the equator means. We were just there.
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So this morning, day two, we're hiking to a waterfall.
Do you remember the name of it?
Can't remember what it means.
Sacred mist is what it means in Quechua language, right?
But look at this walk.
Here we are at the waterfall.
(upbeat music) (waterfall rumbling)
I don't know if you can tell,
but I'm getting soaked and drenched from the mist.
I don't know if- can you see it?
The mist coming from this waterfall.
It's called sacred mist in the indigenous language here,
and I can totally see why.
Mindy asked me to go first
'cause she's afraid the boards are gonna break.
She heard me say that. Now she's going.
- Some of these boards look a little sketch.
- [Shaun] Just like Indiana Jones.
(Guide speaking)
So they crushed those beetles,
and that's where we get the color for their wool
that they make their rugs out of.
And those bugs react to different things,
like lime or vinegar
or anything that's acidic.
It creates a little bit different color.
- [Guide] Look at that.
- [Woman] Wow.
- [Guide] Look.
- Good morning. It is- what time in the morning?
- I don't know. Early. - 5:30 in the morning.
Yeah, we had an early call this morning
in order to get to the Amazon.
But take a look around.
This is what it looks like in this pocket of the Andes.
Got a little hot springs over there.
You can see the steam from them.
- So the idea with these springs
is that there's hot ones and then there's some cool ones,
and you go back and forth and back and forth.
And it's supposed to be really healthy for your body.
So the place we're staying in is so cute.
Look at it.
It has the most charming little hallways.
Almost feels like a sod house, kind of,
the way that it's shaped.
Ecuador is known for its roses.
I'm gonna just give you a sneak peak of some of them.
They're everywhere in the hotels and amazing.
(upbeat music)
(man plays instrument) (people clap)
(people cheer)
(people applaud)
(upbeat music)
(people cheer and applaud)
Woo hoo!
- I hit it.
- [Mindy] There's his trophy right there.
- There's my dart.
- [Mindy] Okay, they just showed us how they-
Tilapia, heart of palm,
plantains. - Plantain.
Traditional Incan food.
Larva of a beetle.
- [Mindy] It's the Inca bacon.
- Tastes pretty good, actually.
Cross between a nut and a skunk. (laughs)
Look how peaceful and quiet it really is.
It's just the sun's going down
and the sky's starting to turn a little pink in the blue.
I saw some monkeys out there a little earlier.
- [Mindy] They came in from dinner.
I don't know if you can see that, but there's-
How many bats up there now, Shaun?
Five? - It's at least
one, two, three...
About five or six.
- Five or six now.
We have a little hoard of bats going.
- Okay, all of those 15, 16 bats
were all cuddled right up there together.
And here's proof in the pudding.
No pun intended.
Right there.
Lovely.
(upbeat music) (boat revs)
There she goes.
(upbeat music)
Ooh, here they go.
This is awesome.
(upbeat music)
Here she comes.
You're shaking me, Min. (laughs)
Wow, you're really shaking this.
Are you doing that on purpose?
Almost lost my phone.
- Just giving him a little ride.
- [Shaun] Giving him a ride.
- So we made it to the lookout in our stop.
There's the lookout.
It's pretty much the path we've been taking.
- [Shaun] Here we are on a primitive raft
in the Amazon has submerged.
It's cold. It's chilly.
- It feels good after that hike.
- [Shaun] The piranhas are circling down here.
Piranha, piranha, piranha.
Swimming in the Amazon. Good call, though. How's it feel?
- Nice.
- [Shaun] I bet.
- [Mindy] Just came rolling in.
Get a good look at why they call it the rainforest.
Honestly, kind of reminds me of Texas.
(upbeat music)
Those are monkeys.
Hello!
Oh, there's another one.
I'm dying because the monkeys are back.
Their little faces.
- [Shaun] Those little monkeys
just keeping their eyes on us.
- [Mindy] Yeah, he's just looking at us.
- [Shaun] All right, here's a teeny waterfall,
but we're going to a much of a larger one called
The Devil's Cauldron somewhere over there.
There we go.
El Pailon del Diablo.
(upbeat music)
This is incredible.
The Devil's Cauldron.
Whoa! - Woo!
- [Shaun] Very wet.
- [Mindy] So I just climbed through that cave
over to here.
See what's over here.
(waterfall rumbling)
- [Shaun] There she crawls through.
I love that sign.
It says private bridge to the other side.
'Cause this land is owned by one family,
and that land is owned by another.
- This is nothing.
Up there was scary.
- [Shaun] Yeah, it was scary.
Empanadas de fresa chocolate,
y jamon y queso, y pollo y queso.
(upbeat music)
Here she is.
- I'm eating my chicken-
- [Shaun] Chicken and cheese empanada.
- It's very hot right now, but it's good.
- [Shaun] Con su Fanta, Coca-Cola.
- Mm! - How's it taste?
- Very good. - Very good? Mm.
- [Mindy] Shaun's gonna try my chocolate strawberry.
- Yeah, she's eaten half of it already.
I'm like, "Wait, wait, I want a bite."
So this is strawberries with a little bit of jam.
- [Mindy] Homemade chocolate.
- Yeah, and homemade chocolate from Ecuadorian chocolate.
All right.
- [Mindy] And it's all warm.
- Mm.
(upbeat music)
Check this out.
This is the view from our room right here
in Andes Mountains.
This little courtyard
in our new place tonight, this hacienda.
And it smells like wood burning stove up here
in the mountains of Ecuador.
It smells so good.
Okay, right behind-
Let's see. Where's my head?
Right over in here.
Can you see it in there?
That's where the volcano is.
Expand the screen on the camera.
That's the volcano. Last time it erupted was in 2002.
I hope it doesn't erupt while we're here.
Hey, there she goes.
Jane.
Tarzan's wife.
(upbeat music)
(both laugh)
(upbeat music)
So this morning we're visiting a rose farm.
How many acres did they say it was?
- A lot.
- A lot of acres.
They grow up to 60,000 harvested roses per day.
And there are just multiple tents like these
on this property.
This is one acre's worth.
They're all long stem, and they grow up and are straight.
I always wondered how they got them
to be straight, long stem roses
because in Ecuador, the sun is straight above.
These don't have to reach out to try and reach the sun.
It's straight above them.
A lot of these roses here will be produced
for the Rose Bowl and the rose parade.
And if I wanted to, I could spend $20,
and buy my wife 250 roses today.
That's how cheap they are here.
- You should do that.
- You want me to?
- No, we go home tomorrow.
- You don't wanna haul them home?
These are all the countries that they export to,
right up there.
And there's their sorter by length and by bud size.
(upbeat music)
There you go, Mindy. Give him a carrot.
- He wants a carrot.
- Ooh. - Don't take my fingers.
- [Shaun] Llama loves you.
- We'll just break it off.
There you go, dude.
- [Shaun] Is that so good?
He's kind of like Ash. He's just like Ash.
- There you go.
- Yum. Hello.
So since our flight leaves tonight,
we decided we're gonna go on panel TeleferiQo,
which is a cable car that goes from 10,000 feet
above sea level here in Quito
to 13,000 feet above sea level.
If we had more time, we would hike up to the top,
which is about 16,000 feet, but we don't.
I'm the only one who speaks Spanish,
so I get to stand in line
and buy tickets for all nine of us.
(upbeat music)
Here we are at the top. Can you breathe?
- Yep. - Yep.
- I don't know if I could hike, but I can breathe.
- [Shaun] So here's the lookout of all the volcanoes
that we can see with Cotopaxi,
the largest one in the middle.
Okay, now we're just on the other side
of this little hill on top,
and here's the rest of Quito spread across that valley,
going all the way out there.
And this volcano over here, that is Cotopaxi,
over there, stuck in those clouds
'cause it's the largest one.
Swing at the top of the world.
(upbeat music)