Sakti Bed and Breakfast Quito

... en naar de prachtige muziek geluitsterd. Na ongeveer een half uurtje kwam ik 3 meisjes (1 Ecuadoriaanse en 2 Amerikaanse) tegen op straat die mij vroegen of ik iets mee wou gaan drinken. Ik zei natuurlijk geen neen ;-)
Eerste cafeetje was zeer gezellig en ze vroegen of ik mee ging dansen in een cubaanse club (Mariscal-wijk). Omdat je in Quito ´s avonds beter niet op straat rondloopt (je wordt onmiddelijk overvallen) namen we ...

... to English which was interesting. But whenever I replied, I tended to speak in Spanish and then it would switch back. And then the girl from Argentina would reply in English and we´d all revert. We got into a good Castellano rhythm once the hostel employees came by and were talking with us.

Eventually the conversation went to politics. Which itself isn´t very difficult to occur in hostels. The girl spoke of her leftist activism in Buenos Aires, the ...

... dangerous at night. We decided to pass.

We took a wander around the first day, had a look at some churches and struggled going up the many, many hills in the city, wondering why until we realised that it was the altitude making us wheezy. Smokey Joe found it particularly tough going. Still didn´t stop him having more though. We managed to eat for $1.50 each. These ´menu del dia´s are the business. We got soup, a main meal ...

... and offers the most hair raising view of Quito. You pretty much get to climb to the top of the towers, and if you want you can go up one more level and sit on the roof with nothing to catch you but the street. It was really awesome and surprisingly quiet, so we got to do almost anything at any time. You walk along the roof of the inner hall and up a back spire, Kristen didnt like the look of the ladder so I got to do it all by myself ...

... I had no commitments. To my delight my entire host family decided to join me on this adventure, and so, with Freddy in the lead we started the hike at 7am with our bags packed with lunch, snacks and cards for playing “La Mierda”, hehe. Though, before we could enjoy all this we had to climb the mountain first. Little Martín was very enthusiastic at first and kept saying “vamos” to hurry us up. The first challenge after descending to the bottom of the valley and what ...

... kun 8 km bred, og desuden har vi endnu ikke oplevet nogle af de ubehageligheder, som Lonely Planet lidt laegger op til. Heldigvis! Vi nyder blot byen og har det herligt! Det er rare mennesker, der gerne hjaelper os, hvis vi skal forklare os ud af feks. at faa fat i mere Paragurt. Ikke at de havde det her, men forsoeget blev gjort, haha!

... of daylight left, we decided to check everything out as we walked. We must have sampled food from about 10 different cart venders: coconut, taffy, platano, ice cream, cookies, juice, cheese, and tomales to name but a few. Not sure if we were all hungary or just curious. Either way it was pretty good. We ate a small supper that night together by Jen stir fying some vegetables. Maria and Dany went out and bought a huge thing of gnutella for dessert. Good times.

... Just watch, Kim, I’m going to pass you up running when I get home ;) Maybe I can even run the marathon in August! (okay, maybe I’m getting a bit too ambitious).

I was so happy on Saturday when we went out to dance, and the music wasn’t all reggaeton (it’s cool after 3 songs, then it gets pretty old). We danced salsa and merengue, and that was when I really felt alive. Vicente said, "El baile esta en ...

... 33 to find out if these guys were capable of more than a threat. More sketchiness ensues as I get my Ecuador entry stamp and take a bus to another small town that can connect me with another bus to Quito. A policeman boards the bus looking for some unknown contraband from Peru. As the cop is confiscating black, plastic, bags from the passengers, the old woman I am sitting with (must have been at least 80) is pushing her black, plastic, bag from underneath ...

... is a small hill to the south of the old city. Here one can get great views of the city and the surrounding volcanoes and mountains. From the old city I walked up to the bottom of the hill, but then figured it would be a good idea to take a taxi to the top as suggested by the tourist office. Firstly, they say it could be dangerous, especially seeing that I was on my own and could, as a result, be an easy target for potential thieves and second, it was ...