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Quito, Day 2
I probably won´t be blogging every dayas the trip goes on, but since Jon and Robin had yet to visit an internet cafe, I thought Í´d take the opportunity to actually write something substantial about the trip, now that we´ve actually been out and about, seen the city, and went shopping a little! I managed to find my way back to the airport yesterday fairly easily, I probably spent a good four hours on foot in total, for lack of better things to do. Jon and Robin arrived on time at 6:45, and we were met at the airport by Ana, our contact with the Simon Bolivar foundation. She and her boyfriend picked us up and drove us to the Hotel Plaza, the hostel where we are staying. For a hostel, at $14/night, we are getting quite a bit. Jon and I are sharing a room, and Robin has one to herself. Breakfast is also provided downstairs in the morning. Mom and Dad, as I´m sure you´re reading this, I find it similar to the hotel where we stayed in Venice last summer! Last night, after arriving at the hostel and getting settled in, we did not want to do very much because the travelling had gotten us all into tired-mode, but we were all quite hungry so we decided to venture a couple blocks from the hostel, which is situated in a fairly populated area, to a 24 hour cafe, where they serve full meals, drinks, and of course, coffee at fairly low prices - especially compared to North American prices. We had ourselves a good meal, and were in bed by 10:30, in order to not be too tired at our orientation and tour of the city this morning. We awoke this morning around 7:30, ate breakfast at our hostel, and met Ana at 8:30 outside to begin our orientation of Quito. She walked with us around the area we are staying in, pointed out some of the tourist spots, where to get cheap internet, where to get cheap food and drinks, where to go out dancing, and where to gamble 😉 She also gave us a sort of guide, or a list of rules to follow in order to ensure our personal and financial safety in the area. We returned to the hostel within the hour. Our plans for later on in the day are to meet with Robin´s boyfriend, David´s parents just outside of the city, where they will take us out for lunch and give us a tour. However, upon finishing the orientation, we had a great amount of time to kill before meeting with them, so we did what any good tourists would do, and hit the market. The asking prices are amazing at these markets, and it would be crazy not to try to barter them to even less. There will definitely be a lot of souvenirs returning home with me! My spanish is slowly improving, but one phrase I couldn´t possibly forget now is ¨¿Cuantas cuesta?¨ (how much does this cost?). We will soon be meeting up with David´s parents. Tomorrow we have a full day in the city to explore and probably do more shopping, and monday we will be traveling to Mindo to start work with the Mindo Cloudforest Foundation! As of yet, I still do not have a substantial amount of pictures as it is not hugely advisable to make it known to the surrounding public that you are carrying a digital camera, but I can guarantee there will be some on the way within the week.
Peace and Love!
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Mom and Dad
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Sounds fabulous
Hi Joe, It sounds like everything is going so well. Glad to hear John and Robin arrived on time and you are settled in with them. We look forward to seeing your pictures when they're posted. Peace and Love, Mom and Dad :)