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Published: August 27th 2009
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Arrived safely in Quito, Ecuador´s capital after a short transit flight into Panama. We passed the swineflu check at immigration and had a pleasant surprise as our bags also arrived. We had a lovely room in the loft at our Hotel with just the 4 beds and after settling in we caught the local trolley bus to the historic centre for some sightseeing. After all our fears about safety, its was no different to Commercial Rd at lunchtimes (well maybe a bit safer)!
Now in Otavalo, a town in the mountains, with our tutor after a rather crazy bus journey from Quito. We went sightseeing in the morning with our tutor and then have 4 hours of lessons in the afternoon. The group is only David and I so its quite intensive and we speak Spanish with the tutor from breakfast time until after our dinner together.
Some errors with our Spanish so far have been telling our tutor David is 500 years old (no comment), Andrew´s dad died at the age of 14 (well it was Bristol), that he had a man instead of he was hungry (not sure that was a mistake!) and that the bus was
going to "chicken breast" instead of waterfalls with a similar name. At this rate we will be fluent just in time to fly back to England!
We have now been to the middle of the world (La Mitad del Mundo) or the equator to us. It was fascinating being able to cross between the northern or southern hemisphere with one step and do the experiments with water and balancing an egg on a nail. David was able to do this so he got a certificate for being the "egg master"!
In our foolishness our tour included a trip to Cotapaxi mountain (its very beautiful so why not?). Well we then hiked up to the Refugio (refuge hut) at 4,800m or a height of 16,000 feet - it was freezing cold and blowing a gale and by the time we battled with the altitude and got to the top David was fit to drop dead. We decided to not continue to the summit - it only takes 6-8 hours to climb the final 1km! After a necessary hot chocolate we made the descent with our guide and collapsed exhausted in the jeep. So for all of you that imagine
we are slobbing about on a beach being waited on hand, foot and finger think again - the programme has been organised by Zahra Tours after all!
Not learning our lesson the following day we hiked down to the base of a crater called Quitoloa but sensibly hired mules for our return to the top. Whilst a much more relaxing return it was pretty nerve racking being thrust along the edge of paths with only a stubborn mule (not David) to stop us tumbling back down! Andrew made friends with the guide for his mule - Ruben aged 10 - who was so small and tired by the trip that Andrew felt like getting off and offering the mule to him instead! Their simple and poor existence is a very humbling experience.
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claire reed
non-member comment
Hola
Hello my lovelies, Glad to hear you have arrived safely in South America and the spanish is improving. Before you know it , you will be wearing a poncho and hat. Look forward to the next adventures or Frank and Stan...... Buena suerte y adios xx