Hostal La Villa Quito

... br> Yesterday morning I was due to get up at 4.30 to travel to Quito. However there was some sort of celebration outside in the town from about 1.00 onwards that night which I think was the students graduating and basically meant they had to drive around the whole night in big open trucks pumping out **** music, setting off bangers and generally making a racket. As our hostel was right on the road I literally didn't sleep. When I took the bus yesterday morning ...

... you could easily be in Spain or Italy. Grand old churches and civic buildings line cobbled streets.

We're busily booking up our next few weeks with the Galapagos, the jungle and a short Spanish course to get us on our feet in the communication stakes to come. First though we are off to the market town of Otavalo – Catherine is in need of a new hat!

... about. It didn’t feel unsafe so we kept walking past them and one called out something about gringos and heckled us a bit – it didn’t seem malicious though so we just laughed and kept walking. Maybe it’s a good thing that my Spanish wasn’t good enough to understand all of what she said….

We weren’t back at the hostel very long when it began to pour with rain, so we ended up eating at the hostel restaurant on the terrace which was fun as ...

... song almost memorized. It is the cutest thing to watch them bob thier heads, and try to sing something that somewhat resembles English. They get so excited over the littlest things like coloring, playing bingo, and singing head sholders knees and toes. These are also the grils that came up to me on day and saying "look Lorena, we grew, we grew," as I look I see they've stuffed thier shirts with clay, making them have ...

... to the rim. Once again, the lungs were at full capacity and the path was even steeper than the day before. I eventually found a way not to slip backwards constantly. One foot planted only one boot length in front of the other and one deep breath in on the left foot, one breath out on the right. It was hard work not made easier when Chasqui started singing. *******. Two hours later we reached the top but only after our guide played a jolly jape telling us we were finished when we still ...

OK, We went to the actual equator today, kids in tow. the Inti Nan Solar Museum is really cool, and we had an english tour guide who walked us thru everything from curare blow darts to a step by step diagram on how to shrink a head. Yeh, I know....Got a picture for all you horror show enthusiasts.

Anyways, the equator demontrations are NOT rigged. They ...

... main parts, the modern new town and the historic old town. Firstly we decided to check out the new town and its bars and restaurants, its not too often you get to sit in a bar and have a proper drink so we had to take advantage... happy hour mojito cocktails went down a treat... then we spotted a British bar with pool tables so time to practice our pool ...

... how the outskirts of the city is mainly farmland and then slowly but surely you get to the center where the city has grown upwards as much as it has outwards. After TeleferiQo, we took a bus to Centro Historica (Old Town) to get lunch. The best Ecuadorian style food I have had so far is Carne la plancha. Basically, thin steak with salad, rice and lime. Es muy deliciouso (sp). Also the corn here is super unique, for some reason ...

... Jolle confessed that it was his birthday that day and in just a couple of days later, as a birthday treat to himself, he was going to join an 8 day cruise of the Galapagos Islands. We talked a lot that night. Amongst other things, I learnt that both Jolle and Peter were actually nurses. They thought it was amusing after I told them that I leave the lamp light on after watching a scary movie. As the evening went on, I wondered more about Peter. I ...

... been ages since I've met another gay traveler and it was great to sit around and talk about Madonna, martinis and men. What started out as just another night out for a drink with an insta-friend turned into something that felt like a good first date. We weren't all flirty or anything....it was just an easy conversation that went on for ages until we headed back to the hostel.

If last night was our first ...