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Published: August 15th 2011
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Football Crazy
Joff has been collecting a variety of South American football shirts, here he is modelling Bolivia Joff: We arrived in Equador after a brief stopover in Lima. Having been only told what a dive Lima is by everyone we decided just to have one night there and then head on to Quito. The hotel in Lima was fine and had a decent TV so considering we were practically under house arrest due to the dodgy nature of the neighbourhood in which we stayed this was a good thing. We woke early had breakfast and excitedly boarded the flight to Quito. Quito was a somewhat later addition to our travels but we decided that as it broke up the journey to Colombia and contained the cheesiest tourist attraction (the equator) it became a must! We landed and were met by a guy called Paco who was the husband of the Elena who ran the hostel where we were to stay. The hostel is essentially and extension of their home which is a tardis-like building on a steep hillside overlooking the historic center! We also picked up a British couple called Jess and Johnny who had just flown in from Bogota, and were headed the way we had come so we were able to swap quite a few tips
At the top of the Teleferica
My hair seemed to take on a life of its own which was really useful.
We had a lovely room with a private bathroom that we were really pleased with. Paco and Elena cook dinner each night and this gives you the opportunity to sample some local cuisine without having to go out and order it! Dinner on the first night was a little strained. There was a french couple who were quite chatty but then there was another girl and her mother who were not chatty whatsoever, Caro even tried to make an attempt to speak French which was shot down. We ended up just chatting to Jess and Jonny and agreed to meet them for breakfast the next day with a view to seeing some sights.
We left soon after breakfast and went into the centre of town on the bus. Jess and Jonny needed to do some washing so we dropped that off and as per usual decided to walk up a hill to the Teleferica which is a cable car to a viewpoint over the city. Having walked the majority of the way we jumped in a cab for the final uphill stretch! Being a massive fan of heights the journey up to 4000+ meters
was a little stressful however the views were staggering. We arrived and promptly realised that it is bloody cold at altitude and so decided to march up to the top of the hill and see what we could. Having done this we had a quick drink before heading back down for some lunch. Having eaten we decided to head to the North of town and look at the statue of the Virgin Mary. We took a taxi and me having the front seat had a somewhat garbled Spanish conversation until we arrived at the statue. Having taken in the views and climbed up the statue we were ready to return back to the hostel. It was at this point that the taxi driver realised that he didn´t know where it was and we all realised that we didn´t have the address or the number. Still we could nearly see the place so having pointed in the general direction we thought that we would find our way. The taxi driver however did not seem satisfied and decided to ask every man and his dog simultaneously where the place we had marked on the map was!! Too many cooks springs to mind....
Having confused the situation even more we said that if he could take us to the "statue of the blue men" we could guide him from there!! We got to the blue men and finally made it home without too much additional trouble. That evening we ate dinner and then watched football with the Equadorian contingent as they were playing against France in the under 20 World Cup! It was a good atmosphere and a good opportunity to partake in a few beers with the locals!
The following day Paco took us to the Mitre Del Mundo or the equator line which was really good fun. We first stopped at a massive creator from a now defunct volcano. On the way Paco demanded that I take photos of various things such as a truck which had hit a lamppost, a guy selling medicinal goat milk and a goat herder to name but a few. By the equator there are number of places to go and a number of different tests they do to show you that you are actually on the line! This included showing how the water goes different ways down plugholes etc! (We have video evidence for
those doubters!) The first place we went was the actual point of the equator as defined by the army using GPS. It made us laugh as until the advent of GPS a place some 250m away had held the title and had a monstrous statue built to prove it! Brilliant! Having had enough of stepping over the line saying "I´m now in the northern hemisphere and now in the south!" (We really need to get out more!!) we headed to a town called San Antonio for a traditional Ecuadorian lunch which was delicious but did seem to consist predominantly of maiz cooked in 3 different ways!! We finished up and got dropped in the historical center so that we could take a look around and pass the afternoon. The historic center was beautiful and having walked around we stopped for a couple of drinks before catching a taxi back to the hostel! This time the we and the driver knew where we were going which made the journey somewhat easier! We had dinner and went to bed early as we had to be up at 6 for our flight to Bogota, via Lima yet again!!!! Quito and Ecuador were great
Balancing an egg on a nail
I now have a BA, a marketing diploma and a certificate to say that I balanced an egg on a nail on the equator fun and the people that we met were amazing and proud of their country. It´s amusing that a number of travel books have Quito down as being incredibly dangerous and so I guess a number of folk pass it by without considering a stay! We most certainly enjoyed it and would like to see more if the opportunity arises!
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