Hotel La Cartuja Quito

... br><br>We walked out the entrance of the park and headed off down the road towards the real middle of the world and the museum of equatorial science. It turns out that 12 years ago the U.S military used GPS and calculated the actual equator. The French it turns out were off by 200m, so this secondary museum was built and it is filled with middle school science experiments and traditional FFs (Fun ...

... they got the equator wrong years ago and the actual spot is 240 metres down the road! There, Museo Solar Inti Nan did a much better job of explaining the way the earth&#8217;s forces move in each hemisphere and at the equator. We did an English tour with about five others and our guide demonstrated how they measure the time according to the sun on the sun dial with two faces. In Quito the sun always rises and sets at 6am and 6pm respectively, all year, as it&#8217;s on the equator. We ...

... had a photo of the place we were supposed to stay and realized that the door we had been knocking at was different from the photograph. I left the others at the hostel and returned to the junction. I quickly realized that the directions had left out a vital piece of information. It was to turn right at the junction of Olmeda and Los Rios, then it was the first house on the left. The picture I had then bore a striking resemblance to that house. I knocked and ...

... country with it&#8217;s foreign cultures, I&#8217;m racially different than the locals, etc. Though I share many traits with the former and coming volunteers, it&#8217;s important to emphasize how each and every volunteer, including me, has their different motives for being here, as well as we have different and changing positions and are pleased and displeased by different factors/experiences. This part however, on being different, I will in regard to myself explore further in my coming ...

... walked out. <br><br><br>We walked out along the river and caught a small public bus back to Otavalo. The ticket boy on the bus asked us for 1 dollar each for a ticket, but we knew better told him. We ended up paying him 50 cents each. On the way off the bus we quickly stopped and asked the driver (who is closed off from the main bus) &#8220;how much is our ticket?&#8221;. 25 cents. I stared at the ticket boy (probably a good 18 years old at least) for a couple of seconds and told him &#8220 ...

... the bell tower and then higher up on wood ladders to see the highest point. <br><br>Another highlight was the little watch fixer who for $3.00 fixed Gabe watch. We almost had it done before we left but just replacing the battery was going to cost $40, so to fix it I imagine it would have been ridiculous. Oh, and I had the best drink at a little café in the courtyard of the church at ...

... in an old colonial church of the historic district. It was amazing and only cost $1! Stupidly, I bought some potato chips before the concert because I was so hungry. During each applause, luckily of which there was one after every song, I would shove as many chips into my mouth as I could. After the concert, we ate at a famous hot dog place. Ecuadorian hot dogs include yummy toppings such as onion, crushed up potato chips and even pineapple jam. Then Anna ...

... we take reservations, take people to their rooms, serve people food and drinks on the rooftop (luckily its all from up there with the view!) and cleaning up some dishes afterwards. Its not hard and heaps of fun (when the staff aren't sulking!) and though the shifts are long it goes by quite well! Definitely a great thing we have done and nice to be able to live pretty much for free for a month of our trip!<br><br>I would cry if we had to come home too early!<br><br>Looking out ...

... with anyone otherwise you risk a paddington stare! The new part, where I live, is the tourist area and more dangerous for petty crime. It´s low season at the minute so there are very few europeans around apart from the language schoolers. I can get a manicure for $2, a 3 course meal for $1.50 and cocktails for a $1..apart from a wed night where they are free from 7pm -10pm. It´s a hard old life!

Changed some flights, bought more tickets, replenished some stuff....that's what Quito is good for. I spread out the few remaining things I wanted to do so I would have something to do each day - I moved up my flight by one day (the earliest possible) but still had four days to kill. <br><br>What in the world am I going to do when I make it home and stay in the same place for five days or even longer? <br> <br>So ...