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Sightseeing and preparations
Entry 146 of 160 | show all | print this entry |
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We met Charlie, an English guy from Sheffield, in the queue at the Colombian immigration desk and then again when we crossed the bridge on the Ecuadorian side. We got chatting and decided to share a cab from the Ecuadorian side of the border into the nearby town of Tulcan. We had a quick lunch together and then climbed on a bus to Quito that was just about to leave.
We arrived nearly five hours later, having been subjected to several police checks (we think the route must be favoured by Colombian drugs runners) and two awful films - one very graphic one that featured quite terrible scenes of spousal abuse. Nice.
We got a taxi with Charlie to our hostel in the old part of the city and I practically had to restrain Jim from assaulting the cab driver. He, quite rightly, thought the guy was trying to fleece us, but as the fare was only three dollars and they clearly had a cartel running from the bus station I was determined not to sweat it.
After checking in, the three of us left in search of food. We quickly established that practically everything in the old town was already shut so we headed to Mariscal for pizza and then a drink in a surprisingly convincing olde worlde British pub. (Maybe we´ve just been away too long now...)
The following day the sun was out when we had breakfast on the roof terrace. It was lovely up there overlooking the Basilica, which looked like it would be worth a closer look, so when we´d finished eating and said goodbye to Charlie we walked up the hill. It´s quite a funny cathedral - mainly made of concrete and all the gargoyles are not mythical creatures but different species of Ecuadorian wildlife. The giant tortoises and iguanas were my favourites.
We had a quick look inside and then bought tickets to climb to the top of the tower. First we took a lift, then some rickety stairs that took us behind the clock face, then a series of ladders. These I couldn´t be enticed to climb - Jim went all the way though and reported they were very steep and the views were even more vertiginous than those I was witnessing 15 metres below.
After we got down and my legs stopped shaking we started thinking about buying all the provisions were going to need for the Galapagos. Sea sickness pills for Jim were top of our list and after a little bit of acting out symptoms in the chemist we got given some pills in a bubble pack. Not sure what they are though - it could be that they were just keen to get rid of us - I´m certain strange foreigners mimicking puking is not good for business.
Next we caught a bus to one of the big swish shopping centres and bought masks and snorkels, more sun cream and other essentials. After lunch, having done all our shopping, we visited the Museo del Banco Central. Unfortunately we weren´t allowed to take any photos in there so you´ll have to believe us when we say that some of the ceramic and gold exhibits, which chart 5,000 years of national history were amazing. Incredibly detailed and really beautiful. A real national treasure and one not to be missed.
It was raining when we left the museum which made me think that it would be cool to get some waterproof cameras for our snorkeling trips - we managed to find some pretty quickly, so with all our shopping tasks complete and more sightseeing on hold until we get back, we settled into an internet cafe to update the blog before an early night. We have to be at the airport for 6:30 tomorrow morning - now that´s not going to be easy.
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