Hola from ecuador
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2004
1
25
Trip End
Jul 27, 2004
Quito,
Ecuador
Saturday, April 17, 2004
so i open the double door, walk thru and proceed to customs...it went sumthin like this>
stuart--do i hafta fill this card out again, i already did it in calgary i thought
customs--yes u hafta fill it out everytime u enter a country...where u coming from?
stuart--calgary
customs--no u didnt, where did u come from?
stuart--calgary
customs--no u didnt, u couldnt have...where did u come from?guatemala?
stuart---im tellin u man, i just came from calgary (trying not to sound annoyed)
customs (slightly angered)--theres no way u came from calgary..
01- cathedral in quito
.so i proceed to show him my ticket stub, which leads to mass confusion...since we precleared customs in calgary i was not considered an international arrival and should have just walked down the hallway from option a...apparently the door i walked thru, should have been locked and now i was a security breach in american customs--sweet, just what i always wanted,(next thing u know im on a plane to guatanamo bay, cuba to join americas version of a concentration camp, although it would give me a chance to confirm everyones assumptions that i am conspiring with al quaida to bring down the american govt) ...anyways, this leads to said customs official taking me from desk to office to another office trying to sort the problem out, as i cant just go back thru and go the correct way now that there is a breach in security...alls well that ends well, and 30 minutes later i was allowed to continue my journey...
NOTE and DISCLAIMER TO THE US GOVT--as u are reading this, keep in mind that i am only joking, and have no plans as of yet...this is only for self entertainment purposes...
since quito is at some ridiculously high altitude like 9000 feet or sumthin, its been a lazy few days getting aclimatized, but have managed to check out an art museum of the artist ¨guayasamin¨ as well as climbing the tower of the cathedral...being far from fluent, i signed up for several hours of spanish lessons, which i took on the road today out to the equatorial line (mitad del mundo)...turns out the monument that the french explorers built was an error by about 300 meters (silly french--oh yah wait, i am french, oops, sorry maman)...at the correct site a few meters down the road, i witnessed a cool demonstration involving draining water down a sink on the GPS calculated 0 line...the water went straight down!!
dead people
! two feet to the north it went, um shit, i think clockwise???, and to the south, it went the other way!!!either way, one was clockwise, and the other was counter clockwise...very neat, i knew it in theory, but had to see it to believe it...also, i was able to balance an egg on a nail head there, as the gravitational and magnetic forces of the earth cancel themselves out on the equator...they also had a head shrinking exhibit with a real shrunken head on display...they would not let me try it however, but i took a photo of the directions, so if i ever get the chance, i will be sure to try it--any volunteers???turns out i am also a natural at the blow dart gun, and should have been a headhunter...a day or two later, a group consisting of myself leandro from argentina, louisa from australia, ashlee from victoria, and a british bloke hired a local guide and his range rover to take us on a hike of an active volcano--Pinchincha...it hasn't erupted since 1989 or 1999 i believe...it was a little tiring because of the altitude, but not a technically difficult hike...the ride up and down to the starting point was a little dodgy in places, as it was a shear drop off cliff, and we were on a dirt path...but dont worry mom, there was a 2 strand barbed wire fence along the side to prevent our vehicle from careening off the edge...and im sure that the 1 inch in diameter twigs that it was strung too, would have been more than sufficient to hold us back!!!the two girls decided they would ride on the roof rack for the view, but i think they had a few seconds of second thoughts when Fabian warned them that if the rover starts to tip, jump clear off the roof to avoid being crushed...apparently it has only tipped twice...very safe by ecuadorian standards!!
egg balancing act
!after hiking for a few hours, we summited to 4800 meters...even bending over, left you light headed...however with so many clouds we couldn't actually see the crater, and just took his word for it, that it was there...after a picnic lunch at the top of a volcano it was time to descend...nothing beats running, sliding, falling down a sand covered slope on the side of volcano...well maybe some things do, but it was definitely more fun than being dragged down by the guide, as was necessary for one of our groups members who hadnt quite yet adapted to the shifting sand beneath her feet...she left a furrow in the sand behind as if he was ploughing the field with her...
a good start to ther trip...
