Welcome to Quito

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My Ecuador Pad

The Ecuador Cloud Forest

Hey people

I have arrived in Quito and on first impressions this place is spectacular as you can hopefully see from the video, the scenery is stunning. My host family is lovely and their place is a amazing. Its huge with three floors 8 or 9 bedrroms and about four bathrooms (that i know of). At the moment theres only me, Rita (Ecua-mum), Vicente (Ecua-dad) and Maria from Norway and Olivia from England (Ecua-sisters), though other people seem to be constantly coming in and out of the house who i only meet when we settle down for diner.

Quito feels like a world away from Buneos Aires. Apart from the scenery, the food is different (tonnes of fruit, rice and potatoes) and the people, esspecially in the old town look completely different. The strong Inca heritage of these people mean they are far darker coloured than anyone in Argentina and are generally short. Maria, is the tallest woman there by a foot or so. Suffice to say, whereas in Argentina, I could blend in the locals (until i opened my mouth or got my map out), here i stand out as Mr tourist. Its not a big deal cos all the locals i have met are really nice and only to happy to talk to you whether you can understand what there on about or not.

The thing with Ecuador is its relatively small but has an enourmous variety of landscapes and environments. All this means I have been busy trying to organise day trips in an attmept to see it all in one month. This weekend i went to a village called Mindo, high in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. Hopefully you can see from the video a little cage suspended beneath a cable. This takes you 500 metres across a giant valley, a couple of hundred metre above the rainforest below. It was terrifying but was the only to get across the valley, where we could climb down the other side to all the beautiful waterfalls.

We slept overnight in a hostel before heading back early sunday morning in time for me to catch my second football game of my travels. This time I sampled the delights of Deportivo Quito vs Nacional at the Stadia Olympia in downtown Quito. I say delights, it ended 0-0 and was one of the worst games of football ive ever seen, but the atmosphere was the good, the weather was lovely and the beers were flowing so it was all good in the end. Rita´s son who took me to the game assured me that this nonspectacle was a one off and that i should not be put off going again. We will have to see.

Theres plenty more for me to see and do including markets to visit, more football matches to see (maybe) and volcanoes to climb (one is currently erupting now and despite my protests all the trip orgnaisers are refusing to let people see it. Stupid health and Safety. Do they not know who i am! I didnt sit through three years of igneous geology and mineralogy to be denied access to the real deal. they should give out a badge with those Geology degrees equivalent to back stage passes). Anyhoo all this means ive got loads to be getting on with over the next three weeks. However i will endevour to keep everyone up to date with events. Thats if anyone is still listening.

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Photos

Quito´s Old Town
If you are in need of scale, just remember that everyone in this photo is approximately 3 foot 10 inches

Another Waterfall
Possibly the same waterfall from a different angle. Cant remember

Ecuador Football
Think Old Manorians 3rds with bad availability (or Derby County somewhere approaching full strength)

Comments

[stan]

get a grip
mate sort it out, get up that volcano pronto!! glad to see all going well, if you stay away long enough you might get a premiership match to watch in your neck of the woods.