Goodbye Ecuador

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After returning from the jungle we only had a day left in Ecuador and so remained in Quito. We took this time to visit Mercada de Mundo, an art and craft market with lots of different types of jewelry, clothes, paintings and as Tom like to put it ¨the same crap you find in every flee market across the world¨

We also went on the Telefunqio, a cable car that takes you to the top of the Cotopaxi Volcano some 4,100 ft high. It was pretty scary, even for Gemma, who is normally not too worried by heights and who also had to deal with Tom cursing her for making him go on it in the first place. The views were amazing though and it made us realise how much Machu Pichu will take it out of us, as we felt the effects of this altitude for the first time.

In the evening we went to an all you can eat and drink Vino Tapas bar for $12. The food and wine were delicious. They also had more expensive all you can eat / drink wine menus. On one of these menus for $24 you could have the pleasure of drinking a bottle of Blue Nun!!!

We have decided that when leaving a country we should list our five top likes and dislikes for that country

Ecuador

Gemma´s

5 likes

1. The friendly Ecuadorian people who were proud of their country and patient with her ´dellboy esque´ Spanish.
2. The whole jungle experience
3. The food and in particular the fruit.
4. Cheap accommodation with hot running water as we all know she’s a tight wad
5. Availability (and cheapness again) of internet

5 dislikes

1. Pollution in Quito, especially from the buses
2. Bugs and getting bitten by them
3. How some of the indigenous population used children to beg, steal and sell for them
4. Crap Maps
5. The continual use of Car horns…use your mirrors and indicators…your cars do have them

Tom´s

5 likes

1. Giant Fruit Juices for $1 (especially orange and strawberry)
2. The Jungle Trip, excluding the night walks
3. Live Champs League and Premiership football with a choice of games in hostel room
4. Big tasty steak for only $4 / $5
5. Ecuadorian women love showing off their cleavage…do they only sell wonderbras in Ecuador!!!

5 dislikes

1. Swedish know it all backpackers who start every sentence ¨I know I went there last year¨ and finish it with ¨been there got the t shirt¨.
2. Night Walks in Jungle
3. Beggars trying to sell me crappy sweats
4. Mossie Bites
5. Security. Always having to look out for thieving scallywags

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Comments

[faye bartholomew]

WOW!!!
Hi ya glad to hear you are having a great time im so gellous of you but im happy for you that you are doing your traveling around the world, the pictures are great and i love it that we can see what you are up and that we can still keepin touch, sometimes when i read what you have been up to i can just imagen my self there then i wake and im in my shitty office doing contacts sheets, take care hun love faye.xxxxxxxx

[dan]

mud
tom, i hope you are not missing the opportunity to collect cheap, quality mud.. glad you are having fun, keep it up!

[Angela]

hi
all sounds cool, hope the mozzie bites not too bad, take care love Ange x