Travel Blog

Friday 29th December 2006

Wow! Where do I start?! After an unusually pleasant flight to Quito, we arrived having no idea what Rudolf looked like. Rudolf was the brother of a friend of a friend who was apparently picking us up from Quito airport and bringing us to the guesthouse his mother runs. Sure enough, we didn´t find him coming out of the plane and so we resorted to writing a little sign with his name on it. This still didn´t help and we were close to giving up hope and making our way to the city ourselves when we were approached by an old(ish) woman. She apparently was Rudolf´s mother and a young man with her was Antonio, a family friend. As it happens, she spent many years in Germany and so we were able to communicate with her and her family quite effectively in German. So we were on our way to a random guesthouse with a random family which, as it turns out, was feckin beautiful! We were definitely in the richer area of Quito albeit fairly far from the city. Although we were fairly tired due to lack of sleep and the time difference, we felt it was necessary to go for some food and a cerveza or two. Antonio and the woman took us to a nearby restaurant type place where we enjoyed a delicious burger and 2 local beers (Pilsener).We decided to hit the sack after that and begin our holidays properly tomorrow.

Saturday 30th December 2006

Today Antonio brought us into Quito to show us around. We first walked around the old city and looked at some of the architecture and stuff. We stopped for a round of smoothies. Antonio had papaya, Fi had Mango and I had Taxo. The price? 50c for the three of them! Still have to get used to the general cheapness here. So then we headed for El Panecillo which is a hill in the middle of the city. At the top there are spectacular views all around of Quito. It was at this point Antonio informed us that he had a family BBQ to go to and asked did we want to join him. We initially thought no but then decided it could be some random fun. So off we went to meet his extended family for a BBQ. At first it was a bit awkward since we didn´t speak Spanish and they only had a few words of English. However after a few Cervezas and the BBQ, we all loosened up! Soon after the BBQ, 3 of the lads whipped out classical guitars and cracked into a few traditional Ecuadorian songs. The played for about 45 mins and were unbelievable. At point they were lashing out three part harmonies and everyone in the room was singing along and tapping their legs, tables and beer bottles in rhythm. As soon as this was over, the living room floor was cleared of tables, chairs and rugs and someone shlapped on the salsa music. So there we were on our first night in Quito getting Salsa lessons from local Ecuadorians! We danced and danced and danced. All through this we had been forced to prove that the Irish were great drinkers by accepting multiple shots of a coconut liquer called Zhumil. Suffice to say we proved our Irishness but the Chuchaqi (hangover) the next day reminded us of it! Finally at about 2.30 am, Antonio (who conveniently didn´t drink) brought us home after 11-12 hours of boozing. What a night!

Sunday 31st December 2006

Today our plan was to head to Mitad Del Mundo (Middle of the world) aka the Equator. Rudolf had kindly agreed to drive us up and things were going well until about 30 mins in there was a hiss and lots of steam and water coming out of the engine. We pulled over and while Rudolf investigated, Fi and I sat on the side of th

e road enjoying fresh Guavas and mangos from a nearby fruit cart. Conveniently, a guy who worked at the fruit cart was some kind of genius mechanic and about 45 mins later had the car fixed. But 15 mins later we pulled into a petrol station to fill up and the engine was leaking like my forehead on a hot summers day again. So Rudolf called a mechanic and he said he couldn´t make it for around an hour. So naturally the only course of action was to sit on the grass soaking up the baking hot equatorial sun with a few cervezas. The mechanic finally arri

ved and after taking one look at the car, told us that it needed to be towed. The tow guy couldn´t make it for another 90 mins so we made the best of it and kept on boozing and soaking up the sun. Only we had already drunk the petrol station dry and were forced to buy bottles of pina colada instead of beer. By the time the mechanic turned up (who´s truck informed us his name was Winchas David!!!) we were slightly tipsy and we jumped into the car as it was being towed back to Quito. Back in Quito, Rudolf took us to meet his friend Julio who worked in McDonald´s. As Julio was just finishing work, we went to a nearby petrol station and got stuck into another few cervezas. Only this time it was almost dark and it had started lashing rain. And I mean torrential rain! We took shelter under a covered walkway and got through 2 6-packs before heading back to the gaff.

Then the new years eve celebrations began. New years here is a big family thing so we had dinner with the family of the house we were staying in. There were a million different dishes including Turkey, German sausage (the family were half German), potato salad, pate and crackers, salad and rum & coke. Delish. At midnight we cracked open the champers and proceeded to the balcony which looked down over Quito where people all over the city were letting off fireworks. After we had let off our own box of fireworks, we headed to Antonio´s who brought us to his friend´s place. We stood on the street outside his friend´s place boozing for a while before going on to Blues nightclub where Rudolf had made reservations for us – The price was normally $40 in! Unfortunately the previous couple of days activities were catching up on me. That coupled with my general distaste of nightclubs meant I was ready to go. However we did manage till about 4.30am which isn´t that good considering it was open till 7am! Antonio came through for us again and brought us home for a well needed sleep.

Monday 1st January 2007

Today we tried to get to Mitad Del Mundo again. Second time lucky! We made it ok although it required taking 4 buses. Talk about tack central! We did the obligatory stuff like standing with one leg in each hemisphere and experiencing the different winds. The best thing about it was the view. High mountains all around with clouds covering the tops. After we did all the touristy stuff, Rudolf brought us for some traditional Ecuadorian cuisine. We decided against ordering the Guinea Pig and I settled for a dish that consisted of Monte beans, some kind of pork, popcorn(?!!?), unpopped popcorn, half an avocado and some salad. Oh and a fried banana! Sounds random but it really worked. Delicious. After that we trekked the 4 buses back to Quito. At this stage we were ready for some chill out time and spent the rest of the evening in our room reading, chatting and playing Nintendo.

Tuesday 2nd January 2007

Today we got up early and hopped on a bus bound for Banos. The bus system here is really crazy. Because the bus companies are private, everyone wants you to get on their bus. There don´t seem to be any bus stops – buses just stop for you anywhere if you put your hand out. Similarly, you can get off anywhere by shouting Gracias! at the driver. You have to be careful though because the bus never stops to let you on or off. You have to jump on and off while it´s still speeding down the road! After arriving in Banos we checked out activities to do for the following few days and went on a short walk around the river. Like Quito, the views here are incredible. Apparently Banos is somewhere you can “bar-hop your brains out” which is something we plan to do once I get off this computer. So far the trip has been a success. Bis spater!

# posted by Grum @ 4:34 PM