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Published: September 21st 2007
This country full of snow-capped volcanoes is the beginning of the South America we know from TV. Descendents of Indians everywhere put on their traditional costumes not just for the church days but also for everyday life. Due to the mountainous character of their country they are bit colder and introverted but still keep to the South American standards.
After the inflation reached shocking numbers, the Ecuadorian government decided to change the country’s currency from their pesos to US dollars - a pretty strange move for a country in patriotic South America. So instead of the usual freedom fighters and writers, we were going shopping with Abraham Lincoln. It made the country a little bit more expensive than expected, but still within our budget - that was only ruined by Galapagos, which is a different story.
Ecuador didn’t want us to leave without remembering it for something special, so on our last night there it shook the land to say good bye to us. Probably just a small after-shock from the Peruvian earthquake, but it sure freaked out some people, and one couple who we met, despite paying for a hotel room already, ended up spending the whole night
in panic in their car! We were so busy eating, drinking and chatting with our new friends (the owner of the overnight carpark - an ex-Colombian, who was born to a coke-growing family and was raised by guerillas - and his Ecuadorian wife) that we didn’t even feel a thing. It was only when the petrified couple came back to the carpark to sleep in their car that we realized all the dogs in the neighbourhood were barking like crazy. The next morning on the news we found out that there was a level 4.7 earthquake with the epicentre right where we were!
Odometer at start: 33 900 km
Odometer now: 47 987 km
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Nat
non-member comment
Tom,sorry if I'm mistaken, are you going bald ? :D