much needed update

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So I havent found time to update in ages…I haven’t found time to do any of my work either. Nowe I have an elective project hanging over my head and an MTAS application to write {if you can call it writing} I am finding any excuse not to do it…

The following weekend
The week after that
This past weekend
And the little bit of this week that has been
Well I have a gym class to do so I will prob only get as far as the week after Otovalo.
Mum was still here, On the Monday we went to the old town. Given how tired I was we didn’t really see much. And certainly not much that was is still memorable now…Churches, nice colonial buildings that kind of thing,. Tuesday was much more entertaining….why? Well because we went to the basilica! Now why would I find a cathedral so entertaining? For starters it is aesthetically pleasing with wild animal gargoyles on the outside and a crypt on the outside, it has two high spires and is mad out of grey stone. The inside is nothing to write home about…the usual saints etc…but none of these things make the basilica great…what makes the basilica great is the vertigo inducing adventure that lies in wait for anyone brave enough to scale its towers.
One pays the dollar entrance fee and the first bit is fairly dull…stairs inside with an occasional lookout, However mum was already finding it difficult…clinging to the wall and shouting at me not to go near the windows.. The first bit of vertigo comes when you reach the balcony overlooking the church inside…it would e fine..if the stome wall wasn’t so wobbly! Of course this really freaked mum out,, and did give me some vertigo but the best was still to come. Eventually the stairs come out on a little hallway ending in a gift shop. Mum needed some time to recuperate and then the adventure began..there was a little wooden walkway inside the roof of the church over the eaves of the vaulted aerea inside..its actually very interesting to be in a church roof on a shaky bridge. At the end of the bridge is a very steep iron ladder to the outside..
Once outside one is on a narrow balcony around one of the church spires…beautiful view across the whole city in every direction and of the planes below us coming into land.. Mum unfortunately was crippled with her own vertigo and also the fear I was going to die,,,qand the two together made her almost hysterical clutching the wall and begging me not to move..
Being the cruel daughter I am I didn’t listen and round the corner wsas the next adventure.. two narrow iron ladders on the side of the tower gfoing up to a higher level…of course it would never be allowed anywhere with health and safety regulations the only concession to that sifde of things is some mesh between the steps to stop you falling thorugh and then down down down till you eventually hit the floor far below. The scare factor was added to by the thunder tqaht had started and the light drizzle..Iw as almost too scared to do it..but as with eating grubs, I thought I only had one chance at it so I may as well…it was petrifying as it’s a sherer drop off the rickety ladder which is ggod knows how old and the rungs are very narrow and slippery, when you near the top of the second ladder the mesh runs out and its even more scary and at the very top the ladder runs out and you have to haul yourself up onto the top platform . OF course its all worth it to be up there..even better views and much more adrenalin! Going down was even more scary added to by my now properly hysterical mother screaming at me not to die or that I was going to die or something unintelligible whilst semi crying… poor mother….
Her ordeal wasn’t quite over..because there was a second even higher tower to go up. This time the ladders were inside but equally as steep and hard to climb.. To her credit mum made it to the toop *bar the last mesh floored bit( through the vertigo induced panic which was made worse on the way down when it poured with rain and the ladder was wet and slippy! Most fun ie ever had in a cathedral
The next thing was facing the rain outside. It has been permanently warm before and after that day but when we exited the church it was a torrent. The street had turned into a river and we were soaked through before reaching the gate. We took a taxi to the gold church. Another interesting thing.. A church whose entire interior is covered with gold. Very beautiful..if you ignore the pictures of hell labeling sinners..im definitely going for vanity gossiping and genrally enjoying anything..even people who vote have to go to hell apparetntyl so ill see the lot of you there..
Thus concluded our old town visit ..although mum went back, theres only so much I could take!
The rest of the week is a little hazy…we ate out at a delicious Mexican, over stuffed ourselves, watched crappy films in mums hostel, decided to go to Mindo, waled round the artesan markets and went to the national museum to see the famous gold, saw some lovely ceramic stuff but the gold wasn’t on display…very disappointing! Generally an enjoyable week {minus the mornings, because e I was bored enough in hospital to want to tear my hair out..its all very well watching but it gets VERY frustrating·
So on Friday we set out for the cloud forest,,
First you pass throught he arid plains of the equator area where there is dust and fires and the land is grey..then inexplicably it just turns into cloudforest and the bus is winding its way through beautiful lush vegetation and clouds…stunning.. The drpops off the side of the road scared mum and she was car sick which meant her journey was horrible…but I thought it was beautiful.
Getting to mindo was a bit of a shock..its vbasically one street and no hostels jumped out at us..there were a couple of people giving out flyers and we turned away from them..but then looking at the flyer only 6 dollars a night in a cabin..we thought how bad can it be and turned back to one of the guys…this led to an interesting if not entirely pleasant experience. Its definietely not something I regret, but it certainly wasn’t something wed planned either… The mans name was Broche..typical hippy look,…long pny tail and a slouchy posture…aimless grin..now I know that’s a bit of an unfair stereotype, but that’s what he was like. The 7 min wal to the hostel was actually about 15 and it wasn’t a hostel it was a cabin on what seemed to be a little farm or something out in the forest. By this time it was pitch dark and there weren’t many other options and it wasn’t too bad so we decided to stay..We had a choice of a room with no mattresses which mum referred or a mucty one which I preferred. There was an option of sleeping separately but we both ended up in the musty room. All the rooms led onto a central sitting room where broche sat with us for a while showing us pictures of alligators who had eaten people and giving us options of what to do. One of his friends joined us too…We just wicshed lewis had been there as he would have fitted straig ht in and loved it…As it was we were slightly overwhelmed by it! We had no food so we ended up taking a tuk tuk ride with broche and co back to pick up some food, then we stopped off with some more friends and discussed maybe us paying ä lot· to go to a private waterfall the next day after canyonning whch broche had also managed to sell us tickets for. It was beautiful and we really enjoyed the fireflies but it had the strange feeling of being in the middle of a party you hadn’t meant to come to..blending in but not actually feeling blended if you know what I mean! Anyway, eventually it was back to the cabin and we escaped broche to go to bed..choosing not to continue the party.
It was very much an experience with all the forest sounds…birds frogs and insects.. but mum had the msusty bed tried to sleep in mine and ended up on the third bed which didn’t have a mattress and I ended up getting bitten all over by a single divebombing mosquito with a mission so both of us had awful nights sleep…
And that is where I must stop and get dressed and run to the gym,,oover 1500 words.. my projects only 3000 I could have done half by now!!

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