I rode the chiva and lived......just!!!!!
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
83
119
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Quito,
Ecuador
Friday, December 1, 2006
The flight to Quito was okay, once we got off the ground that was....our flight was delayed which was a tad annoying...as the airport was still half built and there was nowhere to get any food or drink....you could buy perfume...alcohol or designer bags...but no refereshments. Eventually the airline company reaslised and gave us a sandwich and a drink...
Eventually we boarded....got more food and drink and before long we were descending through the clouds to Quito. It was an interesting landing....we descended very slowly...we thought we had missed the runway...as there was noway he was gonna turn and get down in time....but instead we went over the mountains and away from it...we were confused....but then the plane banked hard and came back over the mountains again from the opposite direction...very low by this point. We couldnt see the runway...only the buildings getting closer and closer...it looked like we were gonna hit the bull fighting stadium....but then we landed...safely!! Got a cab right through the city...to our hostel...was a little worried when i saw it was on a hill....but was glad of it later.
Got our room and headed straight for the terrace and a cold beer. The view from the terrace was amazing...and worth the walk up the hill....you could see the whole of the old city and the surrounding mountains. Decided to have the 3 course dinner in the hostel...as we were too lazy to go out and find anywhere...and we couldnt take our eyes of the view. Turned out to be a good decision...we enjoyed delicious....pitta and hummous...followed by amazing pizza and yummy pudding....and we were also treated to fireeworks and the switching on of the biggest nativity ever!! There is a huge manger, 3 kings and joseph lit up on the hill...where Mary usually stands alone. We must have had the best view in the city. Enjoyed a few beers and good company...and sat round the fire in a wheelbarrow! I decided to call it a day...and Neil went out to find out what was going on in the city....not much i believe...due to some fighting!!! But he saw fireworks and fires in the street....it looks crazy here....being the festival of the founding of Quito.
Day 2
We decided we HAD to go check out a bull fight. Some of the others said they were going today, so we thought we would tag along... it turned out to be just Rob...and Dave who we persuaded to come with us....despite being worried about the bulls dying!
We set off eventually when Rob had finished his spanish lessons and messing around...got a cab to the bull ring...the one we had flown over yesterday....and tried to sort out some tickets. We had been assured we could get cheap tickets....but it just wasnt gonna happen. The bull fighting lasts all week, but only once a year...hence it is VERY popular...the ticket offices had nothing less than $31...which was too much, so we tried the touts...they wouldnt budge from $20 a ticket...so we shopped around a little and eventually got $13 tickets for $20...definately better than the $7 we were originally offered for $20!!! That done...we had time to waste so we went in search of refreshments....getting given bucket loads of freebies on the way...water...chewing gum...mints...and alcohol!! We found a very cheap cafe...where Rob had breakfast for $1.50...and we had cokes for like 60c...thats like 30p...not bad at all.
Then we headed back, past the throngs of people selling Panama hats...which apparantly are an equadorian thing not a panamarian thing?? Strange yes i thought so...they also had sombreros that nothing like somberos at all. We hung around outside for a while stocking up on our freebies....and the males oggling all the scantily clad gorgeous columbian girls handing out the stuff, even our mate Dave!!
Then we decided it was time to find our seats...huge queues so we just pushed in! Was like a little football stadium, but without the seats! You had to sit directly on the concrete. We realised having taken our seat...what idiots we were....we had no protection from the sun...no suncream and no hats...and damn was it hot! We are on the equator so that figures really...specially as it was like noon....ooops we were gonna fry...still we werent gonna miss the action for nothing.
It all started with a parade of the all the participants...excluding the bull of course!
Then the action really began....the bull was let loose...and the matadors started to annoy it.....now im not very clued up on the whole bull-fighting thing...and i have no idea what they are called, so i apologise to anyone reading this who is a fan!!! The bull was tired out by lots of matadors with pink cloaks....who kept hiding behind the barriers! Then the real matador came out on his horse! This is where it got really interesting. The matador rode around the ring, stabbing the bull with darts while being chased by the bull....it was all quite exciting. Finally he got off his horse....thinking the bull was suffeicently tired and used his sword on foot....unfortunately the bull wasnt giving up and rammed the poor matador.....injuring his leg.,...but the brave soul carryied on and finished the bull....to the crowds sheer delight. He was one brave man! They then had a problem getting the bull out of the ring....cause the horses didnt want to play....in the end one and horse and lots of men had to drag it out of the ring.....cause the crowd had begun to boo......!!
The next 2 fights were very similar....it started the same way....with the bull being tormented....then 2 guys on hugely padded and blindfolded horses came in to spear the bull.....the bull attacked the hourses from underneath....allowing the man on the horse to give the bull a jolly good poking with his spear...then they were gone.....next the matador came out.....ran around the ring......dumping numerous darts in the bull....till it was bleeding profusely....and its tongue hanging out.....he then got his red cloak and sword and did some rather elaborate ´0le´ manoevering....was pretty impressive....but they sure do like to show off. He then got a real sword and proceded to attack the bull.....leaving his sword firmly in the bull.....the bull then had little choice but to die!!!! (It was humane in that some guy came in and made sure the bull was dead....by stabbing it in the brains.....least it wasnt left to bleed to death!!) It was all amazingly exciting.....a little gory perhaps....but still good fun....and something everyone should give a go.....something sort of caveman about it all!
The highlight of the event was the second time in the ring of the guy and his horse..,,,his horsemanship the second time was amazing....he had the horse dancing.....and running sideways and backwards.....he really was good. His accuracy was also amazing.....he got the biggest standing ovation ever......and more roses than......well a rose garden!!!!!
The last two fights were not that good....a bit repetitive.....but the highlight of it all for Dave, was when the final matador...who was pretty useless it has to be said.....got thrown in the air!!! He looked pretty injured, but it must just have been shock cause he got up and carried on....badly. It was kinda funny and kinda nice to see the bull get a little revenge. Dave was up for the bull the whole time!!!!!
That done....we were all very hot, burnt and exhausted.....but it was most definately fun! Not sure everyone would agree with us.....but you gotta experience these things at least once in life!!We headed back to the hostel on the packed Trole (which is really good....third world....yeah right!)
Spent the evening chilling in the fabulous roof top terrace bar.....drinking beer...and eating very good food....not at all local, but damn good! Then had an early night.
Bloody hell.....I dont write much of this but i always get the long days.....Its so unfair......Well i`ll write as much of this as i can remember but ames will have to finish it cos the grog got me!!!!
The day started with a simple breakfast......ames refused cos she hates eggs.....news to me but hey if she dont want eggs shes pretty much screwed out here!!! Whilst eating breakkie got chatting to Dave again and he was pretty keen to explore the old town with us so we agreed and headed out.
First stop had to be the San Franciscan Monestary as it closed early so we wanted to make sure we saw it. I did my usual thing of meandering around, its fun and gets ames even more confused about where we are. It was more funny than usual though as Dave was getting just as confused!!!
It was a fair way to the Plaza and we went past all manner of colonial buildings we`d have to check out later. Once there we went inside.....there was a service on so we had to be quiet but couldnt resist wandering round. You couldnt see the roof as they were working on it but everywhere else was very decorative.....most of it gold!! The alters weren`t in chapels but just along the church walls, all very pretty with their carvings, statues and paintings`and of course the gold.
Then it was off to the next church, enroute we passed a supermarket and Dave couldnt resist a look. It was exactly the same as the one we`d seen in Panama only not as smelly. For those of you who know leamington, they are just like Mosleys except even more dodgy and a lot cheaper.....they even sell some of the same crap!! Well we brought some pens, toothpaste and a choccy bar....all essentials we`d been meaning to buy for some time. Dave however was dissapointed....not sure wot he expected really.... a shop is after all a shop wherever you are in the world. The next church was La Merced, it was much plainer than the first one, though it had some really cool pictures of the volcanoes erupting and everybody dying.
We`d read that the next church was under restoration, when it was originally built they`d used 7 tonnes of gold in the interior. Only problem was they wanted two bucks for the entry, and ames being a cheapskate had to be persuaded. Was a little wierd having to get passed the armed guard on the gate but hey i guess 7 tonnes must be worth a few bob. Inside it was incredible, every square inch you could see was covered in gilt, and where it had been restored it glistened! Where there wasnt gold the carvings had been painted and looked so real, even had a painted staircase that i thought was real until ames pointed it out to me.
By this point we were all well and truely colonial churched out! So we had a wander around the main plaza. The presidential palace, and the cathedral were the main attractions. Both were rather grand but were nothing compared to the plaza with its many plants and fountains. We decided to go into a little courtyard to have a drink, the cola seemed the best option but due to my lack of a high pitched girly voice i once again failed to order. So ames saved the day and we had are colas. Then it was wee time, only Dave really wasnt sure it was worth the 10cents - he really wasnt used to doing the traveller thing!
The final attraction on our tour of the old town was the huge basillica that dominated the sky line - it looked just like an English cathedral perched high on the hillside. Once we finally found it we couldnt work out the way in.....our first attempt led us into the crypt which was a really freaky cremitorian vault full of flowery drawers persumably full of ashes. Finally we found the way in. We`d heard rumours you could climb the towers and walk across the roof. Well it turned out you could and it was certainly a wee little adventure of complete insaneness and a complete lack of any health and safety - yippee!!!1 wot fun.......shall i begin the tale.............
Well we started by ascending the stairs to the first level.....from here you could look down the full length of the basilica to the alter. Now there was a railing here so do as you do we leaned on it.....only this railing, huge as it was, wobbled very scarily. Looking up i realised the towers werent connected to the church as you could clearly see daylight. Turns out an earthquake had shaken the basilica a bit.....the more we wandered around the more we wondered how it was still standing, all that and it isnt even a hundred years old!!!!
We went up to the next floor and discovered you could walk across the church, but not on the roof but under it, on what was essentially a rope bridge across the concrete arches to a metal ladder up to the spire. Then by a further two steep metal ladders you could get inside it. Ames wasnt convinced so stayed below whilst me and Dave went up. Views werent that much better but it was odd standing on thin metal sheet looking out.....everywhere you looked in the city were basketball courts, was even one in the basilica grounds.....completely unexpected. We went back down and made our way towards the towers. Climbing up we found very welcoming toilets, a posh restaurant, a huge fuse box just sitting they waiting to electrocute someone and more........... We eventually got to the clock and still the steps went up. By now they were a spiral staircase that got tighter and tigther. Ames had seen as much as she wanted so left it once again to me and Dave. There were three more floors of spiral staircase taking us up above the bells and then it was ladders once again. Then the walls stiopped and we were inside the ornate stonework that was at the top.....Finally after ascending a ladder with the most ridiculous steps we reached the top......There we were standing on wire mesh hanging on to the steel reinforcing looking out through man sized suicide holes. Id had enough and we went back down. It looked like rain so we got back to the Secret Garden as quick as possible for a well earned beer. Then sadly it was fairwell to Dave as he had to fly back to Australia and for us onto the evenings festivities......
Tonight was party night, we were gonna eat bbq, drink loads and ride through the streets on an open sided bus! So we started with a couple of beers and huge beefbugers, corn, spuds, salad, and chips and dips. Then the fizz got the better of me so i opted for a couple of glassess of red wine shortly followed by a few cuba libres around the fire. Then it was Chiva time......we headed out into the rain with are whistles making the most horrendous noises with them. We then headed down the street to where are chariot awaited.....more a strange contraption with bench like seats, a roof on which sat an 8 piece brass band, and standing room on the back. Me and ames opted for the standing part where we drank more rum and coke as the chiva sped round the streets of Quito complete with band playing the same tune repeatably. We stopped at a plaza where we all jumped out, danced around like crazy blowing our whistles and setting off handheld roman candles. Then we headed off. We were now setting off more of these roman candles from the back of the bus and the last thing i remember that night was leaning over the back trying to touch the cars.........i guess i failed cos im here to tell the rather silly tale.
The next day we were all a little worse for ware, in fact the whole of our dorm was in bed pretty much the whole day. It was during one little trip upstairs that they let on that 40 people died last year on the chiva so i guess we were all lucky just to have sore heads. It wasnt until 5 oclock that we felt like food so headed out to get some chips. Then we came back for pumpkin soup and wonderful chilli in the hostel before an early night.
Today we decided we had to get up and go see some of Equador.....having spent yesterday in bed. Neil was still feeling rough.....but tough.....he shouldnt drink so much!!!!
We headed out after breakfast...armed with the complicated looking directions from the hostel. We found the spot we were supposed to get the bus...but no buses came that we were looking for....until one came with mitad del mundo.....which means centre of the world....so we figured that would be a good bus to get!! Not the one we were supposed to take.....but it had to be right! Took ages to get through the traffic...guess thats why the directions suggested to take a bus them a tram....but hey we were going the right way so who cared!!!! Eventually we got dumped by the side of the road with loads of other people where we got picked up by another bus almost immediately. It was so cheap too.....like a few cents!!
We had arrived at the centre of the world!!!!!!!!!
We paid our $2 entrance fee and went to check out the huge monument errected by the french many moons ago. It is monstrous...not as big as most of the monuments in the US.....but still big....considering it is not actually situated on the actual equator!!!!!!! It seems the french werent quite accurate with there measurments.....still it was still a pretty impressive feat to measure the centre of the earthback then......cant blame them for a few meters!!!!!! Decided to play the game and pay the extra money to go in the monument. It was $3....but hey.....gotta be a tourist! It was quite cool......got a lift to the top.....with cool views of the mountains and was fun to be able to go from the north to the southern hemisphere!!!! Then checked out the museum on the way down....full of stuff about equador....all the local costumes and customes.....till Neil got bored!
We then headed to find a snack....decided to go to the guy who had been clever enough to give us a leaflet on the way in! Checked out the shops on the way. The whole place is set up like a typical colonial town....complete with central square and bull fighting arena! We had amazingly cheap chips and coke...then checked out the other museums...which were pretty pathetic to be honest!
When we had done taking photos of us stood on the (wrong) equator line....we decided to go find the museum that is supposed to have the exact equator in it.....measured with GPS. it was done some dirt track....but turned out to be pretty cool. This time for our $3 we got a guided tour in english....of loads of stuff.....firsly loads of stuff about how the locals live....including how they live with their favourite food...guinea pig! We also saw how to make a shrunken head....how to shoot a blow dart and the wierd cooking implements they had....including bottles made of testicles and spoons big enough for a whole serving.....a big serving!!!
Then we went to the real equator....where they did loads of experiments to prove it.....the best one was the plug hole....where the water swirls in different directions either side of the equator and straight down on the actual equator! was cool. They also told us about how they have to use a 2 sided sun dial.....how you weigh less on the equator....you are weaker too...thats quite funny...cos you really are and i managed to balance an egg on the head of a nail!!!!! Which i got a certificate for!! Was all very facsinating and one of tose things you just have to do!
We then headed back into town....again finding our own way....hey we are seasoned travellers now....we can find our way anywhere now! Chilled at the hostel....neil deciding he was lazy and didnt want to go back out to find food...but i managed to persuade him....and he is damn glad i did!! We found an english bar....called the queen victoria....where we enjoyed several pints of microbrew......bitter and porter and the most amazing beer battered fish and chips (no mushy peas....but hey we cant have everything can we!). mmmm...was nice to be back in england for an evening!
The next day we were supposed to move on but due to the Quito festival hadnt done any of it, so we did fun stuff like go to the post office, and look in bookshops - with no success. I felt really ill so wasnt up to much, didnt even have much beer. Just the one with my chinese. The chinese was very odd. We ordered, ate and payed. Then the guy produced a takeaway of exactly wot wed eaten........very strange!!!!! Then it was bed time
