Pululahua Hostal Quito

... exhibition relating to the French Ariane 5 space programme. All a bit souless.

What is funny however, is the French expedition in the late 19th century that came over to confirm the existence of the equator have got their sums wrong. With the advent of GPS in the 1990s the actual coordinates were confirmed 200 metres to the east, confering "white elephant" status on the initial building.

The second museum is a lot smaller but has a family run ...

... hours of bussing into fun little 6 hours sectors (did i say fun?) and stop in Ipiales for the night. Ipiales has one thing of interest, the cathedral called Las Lajas 7km from town. In the misty morning we took a bus out there and walked down to this cathedral spanning a valley with a river running underneath. It´s a big Gothic type thingy (i did take art history) that´s pretty impressive, especially with a waterfall framed ...

... upload them the next time I find a computer.

I leave you with a poem by my friend Max:

En un ciudad que se llama Quito.
Life strikes the soul, que bonito.
One can sit in the company of amigos.
A swell hits the heart. Amor from
Above. lets get swept away in a place of
Mystery. Our feet will lead. And
We´ll get just what we need. Sips
of wine y gran vistas will heed.
Lets not bother with strife.
Lets love and be.

... streets, walking amonst them is almost like stepping into the past.

The people here are mostly Mestizos while a small percentages are of African descend. The second group are quite roudy whenever I walk by them. they would make the comment of¨"Chino" at me.

I finished the night with some good dinner and fruits. Got to wake up early in the morning for the flight to Galapagos Island.

... br>
Some parts of the city actually remind me of Nepal. True there are hints of Spanish architecture and styling and the city is a lot more developed than Kathmandu... however there´s quite a lot of concrete boxes for houses going on, complete with the rooftop ´patios´ for clothes drying and growing of small vegetables, and security fences made of broken bottles concreted to the top of the fence.

Yesterday I walked ...

... banditos, we went on a wander for more cash points. Eventally we found a rather reputable looking bank with 4 cash points, where thankfully all of our cards did work. Was not happy about the fact that you get charged $1.50 by every cash point, plus my Nationwide card (i.e. minimal fees) refused to work, so I had to use my NatWest one (massive fees) and get financially violated. Anyway, we got our money and that was the important thing. We wanted something to do to pass the time; Rough ...

... of the old town where little kids wanted to hear us say Hola and giggled, and there were lots of beautiful old buildings and little churches dotted about. The streets are narrow in the old town and then you come out to pretty squares. One square had a map in the ground beside some chess sets that showed the old town – La Basilica is young enough not to be included there. It was a nice sunny day and we stopped for a freshly squeezed fruit juice. One large square had art work on ...

... to give her water). Also the lions (including the lion who was rescued from a zoo for being mistreated and now only has sight in one eye.) In the afternoon, my favorite job was the small birds. I would have to climb inside the small bird cages and clean them up - which was hard when I am bigger than the whole cage! I got to know which birds liked to peck you on the head ...

The bus finally arrived at Quito - pronounced Kee-toe - the capital of Ecuador. The bus stopped on the outskirts of town by a main road as it was not its final stop. The taxi driver who picked me up, seemed to take the long way round to get to my hostel. He seemed a bit lost and would again and again ask to see my piece of my paper with the address on. I paid 4 dollars which I would later find out that I indeed had been ripped off. The yellow taxis in ...