Blogs from Historical Center, Quito, North, Ecuador, South America - page 10

"The times we had, Oh when the wind would blow with rain and snow Were not all bad, We put our feet just where they had to go." 'Postcards from Italy', Beirut (Gulag Orkestar, 2006) South America, late August 2011 and Ben and I are hopping in to a cab to the airport in Medellin, Colombia in order to grab a plane to Quito, Ecuador: my final country. The journey was a touch harrowing. We were pulled aside in Medellin Airport and body scanned because it was thought we were drug mules. They laughed at strange X ray images of us, presumably at the family jewels. Then we had our bags searched A LOT. They all jeered like leering hyenas. It should be noted that we have heard that crossing the boarder on land is either ... read more

Although we have only been here 3 days, we have definitely experienced a few adventures already. Half an hour after our arrival in Quito, we managed to lose each other while taking the metro bus to the centre. Luckily we both managed to find our way to the hostel about an hour later, but the first lesson was learnt. The first two days were spent wandering around Quito and especially the old colonial town. The houses are really beautiful and the visit of the monastery of san francisco was really interesting. Lots of churches were of course visited and we also managed to meander around the new town. The hostel we stayed at in Quito was really nice and friendly. We had an amazing view from the top bar onto the old town and met a ... read more

Once I'd collected my bags at the airport, only slightly worried that history would repeat itself and I'd be left without my bags, I made my way to the taxi rank. I had told Michelle that I would make my own way to their place, and I was expecting to be ripped off by the taxi drivers, as had happened the last time. But no, the first taxi offered to take me at the "proper" price and off I went. He had the radio tuned to a local sports station and he filled me in on what I had missed during my flight. When I took off Uruguay were winning 1-0 and ended up winning 3-0. Once back at Michelle's I settled back in, and over an early dinner we planned the rest of my stay. ... read more

...a trip to the centre of the earth... Due to Argentina being in the southern hemisphere, July is the middle of winter. Whilst my Facebook feeds are full of people talking about their summer holidays, here in Buenos Aires it's freezing. To rectify this matter, I decided to use my two week long winter holiday to head further north in search of the sun. I had decided to visit Michelle, who I had last seen in 2008, when I spent July 4th with her family at their cabin on Lake Michigan. () When I moved to Argentina in July 2008, Michelle moved to Ecuador a couple of months later. Fast forward 3 years she is now married to José and they're processing his paperwork to get him his green card into the States. This meant that ... read more

My second Sunday at the Carolinas Park. Unfortunately, we got to the aerobics dance class about 15 minutes late, which is enough time to miss to make what could be a successfull workout into just a sad fail. It didn't make too much of a difference in the end because soon after we arrived, it started to rain. Everyone scrambled for safety and once the whole group had cleared, the rain clouds conveniently disappeared never to return again. But we made the best of the afternoon by walking through the entire park, which was so much more enormous than I had originally thought. We walked passed a children’s horse riding area, botanical garden, paddleboats, and antique car house, and even a small farris wheel. A few days earlier, Julia, Paige, and I took some random buses ... read more