The beginning...

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Flight from London to Quito via Atlanta went reasonably smoothly apart from the air hostess in London screeching at us " you don´t have an Esta?? Oh no... go downstairs and get an Esta right now, there´s not much time." Turns out all British citizens are now required to get a visa to enter USA even when just in transit. That would have been nice to know in advance... thanks STA.

Arrived in Quito at midnight to a man holding our names...a warm welcome. Obviously we had booked the cheapest beds in the ´most sociable hostel in Quito´so could not turn on light as boys were already sleeping.. forcing us to unpack and change in the hall with the night guard watching us in amusment. First day we befriended 2 guys from our room and went exploring the city together.. highlights.. climbing hundreds of steps up the clocktower and getting a personal welcome from President Correa as he drove past "Hola.. welcome to Ecuador!"

The next day (Sunday) we 3 girls and our new boy friends (felt so much safer with them) headed to Otavalo, a famous market a few hours outside of Quito. Leaving the hostel took ages.. very hard to decide whether its safer to leave passports etc in hostel or bring them in bumbags.. then do we bring waterproofs? Guidebooks? Market was HUGE, though surprisingly calm and people were not pushy. Tried a typical ecuadorian dish.. when i asked what type of meat it was i got the reply "sangre" (blood) i avoided that part (though the boys finished it). After we had bought all we wanted (alpacca hats... mine has a raccoon face) we went searching for the typical Ecuadorian drink "chicha". Searched for hours, seriously. Eventuallly we gave up and headed back to the bus, and just before we got back we found a shop selling it right in front of the bus station. We bought it quickly! Only to discover it was the same drink we had been given for free the day before and had not drunk as we were scared it may give us dodgy stomachs.. oops. That night we went out into Quito´s modern town and danced the night away. Too much rum made it a lot of fun but left us a bit worse for wear the next day...

On Monday we headed to Mitad del Mundo (literally ´Half of the World´ ie the equator) Bus rides are not fun on a hangover...ask louise for details! The day was gorgeous and we were able to take lots of pics at 0 degrees latitude before going to the museum and doing the famous equator tests, balancing an egg on a nail, walking along the equator line being pushed from north to south, and obviously watching the water spin down the drain one way above the equator, the opposite way below the line, and fall straight down on the line. (Later on one of the boys told us this had actually been a trick and we were DEVESTATED! Apparently it IS true.. but only in huge quantities. I was crushed at being so easily deceived.) Arrived back in Quito at 7.30pm and made a mad dash to the bus station to hopefully catch the last bus to Banos, famous for its thermal baths and waterfalls.. some 4 hours away. The bus station was half an hour away and the last bus was at 8. It was going to be tight..




Extra:
BUS RIDES... scary during the day as driver overtakes everyone and drives in the middle of the road. Absolutely terrifying at night when the busdriver is half asleep, the roads are falling apart and the huge drops on the sides of the roads have crosses on them. Buses stink of petrol so you have to make the choice of inhaling the fumes or sticking your head out of the window and inhaling dust instead. Our other problem is our backpacks.. with every ride we have to make the decision whether its best to put them in the hold underneath the bus, where someone could potentially rob them without us seeing (its not uncommon) or struggling to bring them on the bus with us, getting in our way and giving us cramp due to lack of legroom, thus having them in our view but then giving people the opportunity to knife into them. it´s not an easy choice and we vary between the 2 to battle the odds.

BUM BAGS are a MUST. It is 23.50 as i type, im in a hostel in my pjamas but my bumbag remains on. i already feel naked without it.

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Comments

[Trish McKeggie]

Hi Karina Loving your blog - its exciting hearing from the other side of the world,