Quito ... Finally!!!
Trip Start
Jan 20, 2004
1
27
88
Trip End
Feb 01, 2005
Quito,
Ecuador
Wednesday, May 5, 2004
Once I decided to be in Quito for my birthday, I was in a hurry to get there, spending a single day wandering around Chiclayo waiting for a bus to Tumbes at the border (which was a dodgy, petrol and oil filled, molotov cocktail of a bus).
I got ripped off at the border when, in a state of weariness that only comes from grabbing bits of sleep on a dodgy bus and arriving at a destination earlyish in the morning, two guys decided to be my guide and porter for the "dangerous" crossing of the border. Admittedly we did go through a dodgy market where in my state of weariness I probably wouldn´t have felt comfortable, but that could have been just to prove their point that there were lots of ladrons or thieves about. They took me to the bus station, got my ticket organised and made sure it would stop at the Ecuadorian immigration office for me and took me to a place nextdoor where I could have breakfast. They then proceeded to say that they each needed US$10 (US$ is the official Ecuadorian currency) for their assistance. $20 was a bit rich, and I only had about $20 on me, so I ended up giving them S/.60 for each, which is still almost 10 each. Felt really stupid and hated my lack of bargaining position, but at least I got across the border (without having to carry my backpack) and got a bus to Quito leaving in under 2 hours and a meal.
We arrived in Quito at about 11:30pm after negotiating the winding mountain road in dense fog. The city was so foggy and cold and on the verge of raining. I again got ripped off at having to pay $2 for a taxi to take me less than 3 blocks to the hostel, but I just wanted to be there and get some proper sleep instead of the narcolepsy naps I was taking on the bus.
The hostel was in full swing with a free rum and coke night but since rum doesn´t interest me, I was straight to bed after a freezing shower.
The next day I wandered the streets around the hostel, which is in the very aptly named suburb of Gringolandia, and found lots of groovy cafes and restaurants that made me feel like I was back in Melbourne. I found the South American Explorers Clubhouse and had problems getting my mail from home as they couldn´t find the key to the mail cupboard. After an initial dose of unfriendliness by the woman - she first told me that she knew all the members and wanted to see my membership card, which was in the package from home - she became very helpful and gave me lots of information on things I could do and see and some Spanish schools which give a discount to SAE members.
The rest of the afternoon I visited a couple of schools gathering information and today booked a one week course at Vida Verde for 4 hours per day and including a homestay with an Ecuadorian family, 3 meals per day and laundry. All up, it´s costing about US$200 but a percentage goes to community projects and the place seems quite nice with additional cooking and salsa classes (albeit at an extra cost). Today I took a Spanish test to determine where I need to concentrate my studies on. I was quite disappointed when all the verbs they asked me to conjugate were irregular. I did the best I could, but still left heaps of stuff unfilled. By the end of next week though, I want to be able to do the whole test!!!!
Tomorrow I am off to the Saquilisi market with a French Canadian girl, Lysann, who I am sharing a room with. It is supposed to be the best indigenous market in Ecuador, although Otavalo gets more tourists and is more expensive.
At the moment I am very happy to chill in Quito for awhile. Despite the cold weather at night, during the day the weather is fabulous, sunny t-shirt weather.
Things I learned
* You need to have all your faculties at border crossings
* Don´t offer little kids lollies. They have no shame in repeatedly asking for more and taking fistfuls at a time. Even 18 year olds have no shame in asking to take the rest of them off your hands to give to their little sister later on.
* Quito is actually the first capital city I´ve visited so far on this trip
