Bug Bites, Boring Buses & Bastard Burglars

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20/3/10

I told a massive lie in my last post. 20 hour bus journeys can be hell. From Mancora to Otavalo we had to get on 3 different buses. The first 3 hour bus to the border of Ecuador involved no leg room and no air conditioning in temperatures well over 30 degrees. Then we got off the bus, got on what looked like a dodgy taxi and headed to our next bus. At least this one was air conditioned, but you could measure out the leg room with a 30cm ruler. Did not get much sleep. Arrive in Quito early in the morning and get straight on another bus to Otavalo. Here is where we have most of our problems. Despite tying the straps of the bag to my feet, a pesky pickpocketer sitting behind managed to slash my bag and steal several of its contents. Fortunately nothing too major went (like passport, camera or wallet) but plenty of annoying things got taken, like my sunglasses, Durango hat (who would steal that?!) and my bathbag. Being without things such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, shower gel and deoderant doesn´t exactly set you back in a strictly fiscal sense, but it sure is bloody annoying. We now have a police report so hopefully will get some of our money back. Poor old Shrennie had his Ipod and Oakleys sunglasses stolen.

As it was a Saturday, we went around the famous Saturday Otavalan market which is filled with the kind of junk that idiots like me can´t resist buying. Head to a local concert in the evening which unfortunately consists of pan pipes, pan pipes and then an encore of pan pipes. They love that instrument here.

21/3/10

Our hostel in Otavalo is really nice. It is set in the Otavalan hills, surrounded by beautiful landscape and next to an extinct volcano. And it even has a tennis court. Not much done today except tennis, chess, darts and movie watching.

That night playing poker in Mancora has left me with an incredible amount of bites. They´re so bloody itchy! Not quite as bad as Shrennie´s from La Paz though fortunately.

22/3/10

A similarly lazy day in the hostel involving similar activities. I feel a bit like Andy Roddick when serving at altitude - the ball really flies through the air. Actually, probably more Arvind Palmer than Roddick - it still doesn´t go in much. Shren and I feel really ill in the evening. Think it´s altitude sickness again. This altitude thing has had a really weird affect on my recently. 2 out of the last 3 nights I´ve had vivid bad dreams involving Zach Braff and ended up waking up in floods of tears. I´m such a girl.

23/3/10

Finalised police reports at the Otavalan police station. It´s all in Spanish which is quite funny. I supposedly live at '28 Tenmark Roat' and my middle name is 'Agus'. Hopefully it will survive the translation and I´ll get some money back.

PS - Don´t open any weird Spanish related emails from me. Some sneeky Spanish speaking senyorita has hacked into my account and sent some dodgy messages.

Home in 5 days now! Ciao! x

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