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Published: November 12th 2007
My hostel
at 10 USD per night :)Here a first blog from Ecuador !
I arrived last Wednesday night, flying in over the houses of Quito in the dark. (The airport is now located in the city, when it was built the city wasn´t so spread out. 2 days after I arrived an Iberia plane skidded of the runway in bad weather..... no one got hurt luckally, but the airport has been closed for a few days !). The weather is good in the morning, and in the afternoon the dark clouds come rolling in and it can rain a lot. We are on 2.800 m which you don´t realise as the mountains surrounding Quito is so much higher still. But when leaving for a trip on Saturday I realised there were a lot of downhill roads on the other side... (scenes in the movie ¨Proof of life¨ with Russel Crowe / Meg Ryan was taken were we drove).
The first day I went to the ´South American Explorer¨club house (thanks Johnny for the tip !), which is located one block from my hotel. Here there are always other travellers around and they have lots of information on travelling in Ecuador and South America (as well
as free internet). They also organise different events, so Thursday evening I joined a group for dinner (nice restaurant up the hill, with view over Quito) and later drinks in town.
Met Mel at the club, another girl travelling on her own, so we strolled around the city on Friday and walked up the Basilica in the Old Town. Incredible view from the roof top, but to get there you have to climb a number of steep ladders (yes - ladders, not stairs). Don´t think this would be allowed in Europe....
On Saturday Mel and I took the opportunity to join Joe (an English guy who has a travel company here) to the Papallacta hot springs (2.5 hours drive from Quito). Beautiful location in a valley, unfortunately cloudy so we couldn´t see the volcano in the distance. But you can make a nice hike and then take a dip in the hot/cold springs. I have to go back there again ! Driving there you pass the north part of the Andes - the road is on 3.800m at the highest peak !!
Today I have started my Spanish lessons, 4 hours one-on-one each day. Went pretty OK,
but it is frustrating to try and say a full sentance when you don´t have enough vocabulary !! Tonight I plan to take a Yoga lesson here at the Club house.
Well, that is it for now. Thought I´d give you a small update on what I´m up to before I go to the Jungle next week. Can´t wait !!!!
Hasta luego en besos a todo 😊
Marie
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WIRN
Where is Rene now?
Suerte !
OK, so this is what it feels like to read someone's travel adventures whilst I sit in a boring office..... ;-) Enjoy the spanish classes, looks like you're of to a great start ! Rene