Leaving Quito

It was a rather sombre morning when I woke up this morning, as I have to admit that I have rather got used to life in Quito and Ecuador, with the people, the easily understandable and convertable US dollar and not to mention my friend C' being a most fabulous and easy going host and guide.

Last night before bed I had time to reflect that although 3 days in a city alone is 2 days too long, with a happy and friendly guide who knows what to show you both in and outside the city limits, 3 days is at least a couple of days too short, but not only is the route I have chosen fixed but I have always known that to give each city the proper time it merits would not only bankrupt me for the next ten years but keep me away from my family and friends back home for at least three years, not to mention that I would have to appoint someone in the UK my financial guardian and take control of my house while I am away, and have I mentioned in the past that I have stored my stuff with family and friends also, I'm not too sure how impressed they would be to suddenly find themselves storing all my just for years instead of months!!!

When I first booked this trip I was unsure if I could make it, unsure if I would have enough of travelling or if it would just light the spark of eternal wandering and right now all I can say is that although I will need a good long rest and time to recoup my financial losses, if things continue to go this well I can't imagine me staying in the UK again forever, as travelling is just too much damn fun ( when its done right of course ! ).

C' was up earlier than I was this morning, as she had work and my flight was not until 4pm, but as she works seconds away form the airport, it made sense that we met up and shared another lunch before I had to say farewell for now to Ecuador, but just like I had with New Zealand, Spain and Malaysia I have liked Ecuador enough to know that it now features in my top ten places in the world and one day I would dearly like to return.

The taxi ride to the airport gave me a chance to take a few last second photos and wouldn't you know it but this being my last day, the weather decided to brightened up to a hot 26 degrees and all the clouds were making themselves scarce, typical for a traveller heading the airport when you think about it.

A airport leaving fee tax of US $40.80 was a lot higher than most airports, and having to change flights in Panama with my luggage being transfered from one to the other, I am yet again holding my breath slightly and crossing my fingers that when I arrive in Cali I will have everything with me. There was free wifi reception in Quito but on arrival at Tocumen airport the wifi was not free, and as I was just passing though and will be here less than 2 hours ( if all goes according to plan ) then it just wasn't worth me paying for a days access, especially not at the prices they were trying to charge.

I have got a private hotel room booked for tonight in Cali, but I have also got a secondary cheaper accomodation booked for the rest of my time in Cali, and after the last few loooong autobus journeys, despite it being about £60 I decided to book an internal flight from Cali to Medellin a few days later.

I also almost left my laptop behind me in Quito, as I put it down to pay the airport tax and then calmly forgot all about it and walked up the esculators and was halfway to my departure gate before I realised and rushed back as fast as the slippery clean tiles and my smooth soled trainers would let me.

A second day in Quito

As plans go it was a good one, as we did indeed manage to wake up earlier than we had yesterday, and after a great breakfast of pancakes with bananas and syrup, we were ready to go to another absolute must, the small tourist city that had been built on the sight of the exact equator line, and where the french explorers declared the centre of the earth once they had circumnavigated the world in order to prove it scientifically.

The little town was a great place to visit, warmer than Quito and only about an hours bus ride away, plus with enough good photos opportunities, restaurants and tourist traps to keep even a jaded traveller busy for a few hours. I have no idea why a group of four Colombian dancers were putting on a show, but their high heels, skimpy costumes and dancing routine drew a bit of a croud, but I felt that it was a bit of a cop out to watch Colombians in Ecuador, so instead I just settled to take a few pictures of me holding up the world and having a personalised postcard created, complete with Ecuadorian costume.

After a couple of hours we met up with some good friends of C's and together we all visited a nearby volcano, still technically active despite not erupting in the last 2000 years, with the biggest crator in all of the americas, big enough for the land to be used by local farmers who have created an entire community in the recess. Sadly the fog / clouds up that high were so thick that I could barely see the guide standing in front of me, let alone the base of the volcano, but in a gesture of good spirit after the half hour talk where we all froze staring into the gloom the guide said that we should return and that he would ensure that we all received back 50% of the ticket price ( which was only about US $2 each anyway ) for the zero visibility tour.

It was quite an eerie feeling to know that the weather could change so drastically only a few minutes away, and by the time we were back in the tourist town we were back in the baking sun again. Here we all grabbed a bite to eat before heading off back to C's where her daughter was due back any minute and she was eager to see her agian and help her with her homework.

I was quite impressed by the fact that C' had chosen to send her daughter to a school where they teach half the day in Spanish and the other half in English, and so as she was growing up with it apart from the slight accent her understanding and pronounciation was very clear and once again shows that English will soon become the main language used in just about every big town and city acros the world.

After a movie and my updating my blog we ordered in a Chinese, my choice as I was beginning to get thin from all the typical foods that were just strange to me, and I ravenously tucked in and finished almost all of both of ours, which C' never minded.

As C' had work the next day we called it a night around 11pm and I half packed my stuff before I went to bed, all except my clothes that C' had been washing and ironing like crazy as she had been reading my blog and wanted to be sure that I arrived in Colombia with as many clean clothes as possible.

On a slightly different subject, Reventador volcano in Ecuador has erupted ash and lava, after a weekend of heightened seismicity. Ecuador’s Instituto Geofísico does not currently regard the activity as dangerous. Reventador’s last eruption was in July this year.

I asked C' about this and she said that it was a fairly common event and they are used to having to wear face masks for a few days whenever it happens.

A day in Quito

I never know quite what to expect when I visit a new city for the first time.

Will it be warm; will it be modern; will I find wifi available; will I easily find an ATM machine that takes me card; will my hostel be far from the city centre; how badly will I get stiffed on my first taxi fare; will the language barrier be a problem? are all just a few of the many questions that whizz around my head.

Similarly a whole host of questions fly through my mind when I am due to meet a new person for a first time. Will they show up at all, was their photo genuine; how much English can they understand; how much of my Spanish can they understand; will they like me as a person; will I like them; are they a fake just after a visa / money; if they are female and single will there be any mutual attraction and either way will it cause any problems?

Thankfully almost every occasion I have been pleased and relieved to have met people that I have been able to connect with on some level and usually spend the next day or two enjoying each others company while we visit a variety of places, taste a variety of local dishes and of course I also do a few classic tourist things when I'm left to my own devices.

When I met my C' in Quito for the first time I was not sure what to think but quickly she put me at ease and we spend the next two days going all over the place to try and find the best places for me to take photos.

On the first morning we visited two of the highest parts of Quito to get a few decent panoramic photos, and it was here that I learned that Quito was not only medium temperature and grey most of the time, but also the city itself is situated between two ranges of mountains and so it not so much of an overall circular shape, but more like a long thin strip.

The first high spot gave a nice view overlooking the north of the city, but it was not as high as the second which these days is only accessed safely accessable by the fornicular, the highest one in the world. Just like what happened at Manchu Picchu, when we arrived at the top the place was shrouded in dense cloud, but unfortunately the clouds and mist did not lift and then once the rain started lightly spitting down we decided to head back down, and almost like magic as we descended back down so the rain ceased and by the time we got down to the city centre again it was dry.

It was funny that on the way up I asked C' if the fornicular was the type that stopped midway and she assured me that in ten years of coming here it had never once paused or halted during service, so it was just my typical luck that it did indeed pause half way down, and at one of the scariest places to do so, where the distance from the car to the ground was at its greatest.

A less funny story was that C' told me about a couple of hikers who decided that it was a nice opportunity to go for a hike up the mountain and tragically both got struck by lightning and killed half way up, so you can imagine my desire for it to start up again.

For lunch we grabbed a Mexican and then went back so that I could grab a couple of hours siesta in the mid afternoon as we had planned a slightly later night than my usual, and I was still a bit tired from the previous days long autobus ride followed by a night of chatting and getting to know each other personally face to face.

C' had the great idea of going down to La Ronda, a region that has been recently cleaned up and made into almost a authentic tourist attraction region, and I was very impressed by the news that the locals were held accountable for their properties and fined should they let their buildings become run down, graffitied or in need of repainting. It was a nice place to visit and I especially enjoyed the whisky sweets and fruits on a stick covered in chocolate, yummy scrummy.

After a walk through the historic centre or town, where I got to see plenty of churches, cathedrals and both the president and the mayors mighty palaces, we stopped at a restaurant to try some traditional local cuisine and for this C' had chosen a favourite restaurant of hers, high up on the third floor and exclusive enough to have its own lift operator yet inexpensive enough for locals to use more than once a year.

The view from the rooftop restaurant was amazing and yet again I quietly cursed my cameras poor nighttime quaility, though to be fair it is good for just about everything else and it is small and light enough to slot into a pocket without needing a seperate bag so I shouldn't really complain.

Despite my prepatory siesta, the food, the drink ( a warm fruit and alcohol mix that I had a couple of and shuddered each time it hit the back of my throat ) and the darkness got the better of me and instead of hitting a club like we first planned we instead chose to go back and try for an early night in order to get a fresh start in the morning.