51. 5-18th May. Quito providing both beauty and pure party madness!

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5/05/09
We arrived in Quito by 6am and were amazed by the size of the bus terminal. its huge! We jumped into two taxis and headed to our hostel, Central Del Mundo Hostel. Its situated smack in the middle of the nightlife but the only problem with that location is that its not exactly safe. The hostel is about twenty feet away from 'Muggers corner!' All exhausted from travelling overnight we hit the sack but booked our alarms for nine. As the brothers were leaving in two days and we wanted to see the sights with them, time was limited. We caught two local busses to Mitad Del Mundo, Middle of the World. On our way, the busses were full with school children and we felt like the tourist attraction. It was hilarious. Mike and I were sat next to each other looking out the window trying to ignore all the pairs of staring little brown eyes. This was almost impossible!ha We were minding our own business swapping smiles with the children on the bus when two little things stood right infront of us. They started chatting away to us in Spanish and neither could follow what they were saying. Never felt so stupid! Being experts on Sherades we soon realised they were telling us to get off. We told the rest of the lads and we jumped off the bus on the say so of a pair of six year olds. We looked up and we were there. I suppose the only time they see tourists in this area is to go to Mitad Del Mundo. Bless them! Mitad Del Mundo was good but it was over built. It felt like a small Disney World. Its a cool place to go though just to say you have been. The lads and I had been thinking of a place to take the last photo for my Mums Happy Birthday album and this place felt like the right place to do it. Where else can you take a photo of holding out flowers on one knee with half of you being on the Southern hemisphere and the other half being on the Northern? Some of the other lads done the same photo for their Mums back home as well. The day was still young so we caught a bus to Plaza Grande, Old Town. What an amazing square and what an amazing part of the city. Its somewhere you can spend days walking around old colonial buildings and the endless amounts of pebbled streets. You can see the Virgen De Quito statue at El Pancillo from the main square which is an awesome sight. We walked to the Voto Nacional which is a huge gothic like Cathedral but unfortunatley it had just closed. Just seeing it up close from the outside though is impressive enough. Later that evening i popped into an internet cafe to make arrangements to meet up with Alexandra the next day before going to a $10 all you can eat and drink Mongolian restaurant called Mongos. Amazing food and cocktails! I could tell i was going to spend many hours in this place!ha We were sat munching on the never ending amount of food when a little girl with flowers approached me. She whispered, "The girls over there said you would buy them flowers?" I looked over confused and noticed a large table of people we kept on bumping into over the last month. So the boys and i chipped in and sent the girl back to their table to give the girls on the table flowers. How could we not?! The two tables soon combined and we even left together to go to a club afterwards. We had a fun night and considering it was a Tuesday i was suprised to how busy it was. We were all getting loads of attention and probably to much as some of the local lads didn't look to happy with it. One girl saved me from getting a smack in the face! Every time one of started dancing with a local girl they started shouting "Kiss, kiss, kiss!" We felt like we were in a school disco!ha

6/05/09
We didn't get up in time for breakfast suprisingly enough. I was excited though. If it was that good on a Tuesday, i couldn't wait for the weekend! We found a little local cafe for lunch and the waitress there was the perfect expample of how a smiling face can ooze out beauty. Looks wise she was easy on the eye but noghting special. But after taking our order, all of us mentioned at the same time how beautiful she was due to her smile. Before heading to the new multi million dollar TeleferiQo, i checked my e mails to find one from Alexandra saying she would pick me up outside my hostel at 8.30pm. So i had all day with my boys. We were going up the impressive TeleferiQo when we noticed the black clouds rolling in. Within minutes some fork lightning hit a tree about 200 metres away from us...great!ha We couldn't wait to get to the top unBBQed!ha At the top, we set my camera on timer mode and done an extremely cheesey group photo. The wierdest thing about that was a group of local girls came up to us straight afterwards and asked if they could have their photo taken with us...did you just see us taking that cheesey photo girls?!ha Maybe they felt sorry for us? My sister told me she needed one more photo to fill up the Birthday album for my Mum so we put our heads together and came up with the idea of writing large letters on our hands and standing side by side overlooking the beautiful city of Quito. We got loads of strange looks doing this. Plus Mike was very ticklish so we had to hold him down!ha We were back at the hostel in time for me to have a power nap and i was waiting outside our hostel for 45 minutes till Alexandra turned up. There were loads of dodgey looking blokes walking past me and a few of them were eying me up. One huge black dude said, "You in trouble?" I was thinking, "only if you start on me!" He was a monster! I had to keep buzzing the door to get let back in as i felt very threatened at times. Alexandra had only been living in the city for a few months and got completely lost. Boy was i happy to see her when she pulled up! She had also just passed her driving test so the fearing for my life had only just started!ha She took me to the Old Town and at night its breath taking. I can't do it justice, you just have to go to see it for yourself. After about an hour of driving around we found the restaurant Alexandra had been looking for. We went up in a elevator to the roof top restaurant and i was blown away by the beauty of it all. Candle lit tables and the Old Town lit up around us. Don't think i have been to such a romantic setting before. We had a great night and i didn't get back till after midnight.


7/05/09
Alex and Will said their goodbyes to us at 6am but Alex rushed back into our room an hour later after realising at the airport he had forgotten his I phone! Great lads who i knew i was going to miss. Mike, Mat and I headed into Old Town to visit the Monastry of Santa Catalina which is a fully functionary convent and monastery. Even to the point where the Nuns spend time in cloistered cells and have only one hour a day to speak. The paintings and statues inside are gruesome to say the least! We bumped into a English speaking lady from Ecuador who was part of a tour. She invited us to join her as she wanted to translate everything for us. How lucky was that! A lovely lady. As it was early enough and we missed the opening times of the Voto National last time, we headed back there. And i'm glad we did. Climbing up the Basilicas Towers was awesome and once at the top you get an amazing view of the city. That evening i got an email from Alexandra saying that since it was Mothers Day in South America she was going back to her home town for the weekend. I was planning on staying a while longer so it was no problem. The three of us had a Mexican dinner as Mike is slightly obsessed with Mexican food. I told the lads that night that i was going to stay for an extra week or so. They were going to leave in a couple of days.

8/05/09
Today was an extremely relaxing day. In other words, a lazy day. In the evening we went to Mongos and had loads of cocktails. We were in the mood for a good night as it was our last together and we had been together for a long time. We ended up in a club with loads of others from our hostel and a great last night together. I couldn't let loose completely. Deep down i was worried about the next day. Not only was i saying goodbye to my close friends but my Mums suprise Birthday party also just happened to fall on that same day. It was going to be a day that tested my emotions.

9/05/09
I couldn't believe the timing of everything. Since the day i landed in South America, i hadn't been alone for a second. I even left Buenos Aires Airport with my first travel companion who i met in customs. And on this day, of all days, i was alone. We said our sad farewells to one another around 1pm and with the time difference i knew that in about an hour, my Mum would be walking into the hall where she was going to be shocked by seeing about a hundred friends and family members. Some she hasn't seen for around twenty years and some who had even come from Australia for the occasion. I was devestated. I didn't have a watch so kept asking other travelers for the time sat in the tv room, picturing in my head what i thought would be happening at that exact moment in time back home. One thing that made it easier was that i knew my close friends back home, who my Mum thinks the world of, was going to be there on my behalf. For that i can't thank them enough.
The beauty about life, especially when travelling, is that things can turn for the better within seconds. Within a few hours i had made friends with a bunch of lads including Gary and Pete from England and Graham from Ireland. They convinced me to go to the Irish bar to watch the football highlights with them and more importantly, to take advantage of the happy hour! After that about eight of us headed to Mongos where we were having such a laugh. A lady from another table came up to us and asked us if we could keep it down! We ended up in the club Bungalows where Pete and I owned the dancefloor from the very start. I pulled a sexy little thing within the first half hour and danced the night away like John Travolta...well it felt like i did because i was slightly tipsey! Two huge lads tapped me on the shoulder at one point, i turned round and thought, "this is going to hurt!" To my great relief, they smiled and gave me a high five each! At the end of the night i was queuing at the bar to get a pen and paper when i realised i was behind Pete who was doing the exact same thing!ha I got lost walking back and finally made it back around 4am.

10/05/09
I might have been the owner of a nasty hangover this morning but i had a rather important phone call to make at 10am. I had arranged it with my family that i was going to phone home to surprise my Mum. I knew the whole family was going to be there along with some old friends having a bbq. Seeing my Mums face was priceless using the web cam and she started crying as soon as she saw mine!ha She loved all the photos my friends and I had done for her and my Sister had put them into a beautiful album. Apparently she opened it up in the company of my closest friends. I spent two hours in that internet cafe talking on Skype. Seeing that i phoned my parents up on their laptop they took me outside to meet all the guests who were all basking in the sun. God knows how many people i talked to!ha It was good to see all the happy faces and my Mum looked high on life itself. I walked out that internet cafe around midday smiling ear to ear.
I met up with my friends in Finns Irish Bar where we played pool and table football till we got blisters...well i did anyway but i have got rather feminine hands!ha Its amazing how Sundays in South America convert a buzzing capital city into a ghost town and Quito was no different. We spent the night in the hostel playing pool and drinking rum and coke before collapsing in the tv room. I met a lovely Swiss girl called Lea who made me a friendship bracelet within an hour of meeting me. What can i say, she has good taste!ha

11/05/09
Today was a day of relaxation. I did go to the Irish Bar to watch some live football but didn't drink. I was determined to lay off the alcohol for a day. As i've got the breaking strain of a kitkat, i ended up going to Mongos with Gary, Graham and Pete and drinking loads of cocktails. But even cocktails couldn't keep us awake and we were all back in the hostel by 11pm.

12/05/09
My days in Quito started to follow the same pattern. Breakfast, internet cafe and then off to the Irish Bar to meet up with my fellow alcoholics. I did have something different lined up for the evening though. I had another date with Alexandra. I wasn't expecting getting picked up by a car full of ladies who hardly spoke a word of English between them though!ha But to be fair, the short lived experience was a fun one. Through my poor Spanish and with some help from Alexandra we had a few laughs. We dropped them off and headed to Alexandra's flat. It was set on the mountain side overlooking the city so the views were amazing. We had a great night and i really enjoyed her company. A girl with inner beauty to match her good looks.

13/05/09
Im not normally one to spend to much time in one place but seeing that i had been on the move for such a long time and i found a girl that i really wanted to spend some time with, i thought, what the hell! It did bring a smile on my face to then read an e mail from Alexandra in the morning to find out she was getting sent away with work for 4-5 days. I had to see the funny side of it otherwise i would have cried!ha Ok, maybe not have cried but i would have been down about it. So what can one do when he is in such a dilemma...go to the Irish Bar and drink cheap cocktails with friends!ha It was rum and coke night again at the hostel (by this point i really had enough of cheap tasting rum and coke!ha) so after consuming a stupid amount of that black poison we ended up in Bungalows. I managed do get lost again walking home alone but question. Does it count as being lost when you find yourself in the same place you got lost last time thus being able to find your way home?!

14/05/09
Woke up feeling like death and really didn't do to much. I did speak to my close friend JP on skype before spending the whole evening in the tv room. My friend Pete was out on a date but the only thing i wanted to pay attention to was my bed!

15/05/09
Pete and i went out for lunch and thats when Pete told me about his interesting date. It turned out that she was a 25 year old virgin. I don't think there is anything wrong with that as such but you should have seen the panic on Pete's face. I burst out laughing and didn't offer an ounce of sympathy. We met up with Gary and Graham later on in the day who had just come back from the Galapagos Islands. And where did we meet up...yeap, the Irish Bar! After lots of catching up and plenty of drinking we stumbled onto the club Bungalows. Pete, Gary and I were the first ones there lined up outside waiting to get in. Now, in South America they normally let anyone into the clubs so if you get turned away for being to drunk, you know you must look an absolute state! The bouncers looked at us, pointed to Gary who was standing behind me and said, "He can't come in, too drunk!" Trying to convince the bouncer that my friend was stone cold sober, i then turned around to see Gary leaning against the wall, swaying from side to side drooling from his mouth. I just turned back round to the bouncer and said, "yeah, fair one mate!" We sent Gary off home and Pete and i entered the club. The rest is a mystery!ha

16/05/09
Today was all about hearing the stories from the night before. I ended up kicking myself because apparently i hooked up with two stunners and i couldn't remember a thing! I found a number in my pocket but i had no idea who it belonged to. Safe to say i didn't allow any alcohol to even touch my lips after hearing this!ha I spent the evening curled up in the tv room hugging my water bottle!

17/05/09
Another Sunday had come around and once again, the place was like a ghost town. Pete and i had decided to cross the border to Colombia together and both agreed that it was time to move on. We decided to leave the next morning. Saying goodbye to the staff in the Irish Bar they told us to be carful walking around on a Sunday. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. Walking back to the hostel we had two huge blokes weighing us up stood on 'Muggers Corner.' I really thought they were going to jump us and by the size of them...it would have bloody hurt! Luckily for them they didn't. Yeah, who am i kidding?!

18/05/09
So today was finally the day i was leaving my beloved Quito. A city that has such a bad name but entertained me from start to finish. My bill for two weeks staying at the hostel was $117 and that included food and drinks! I said my goodbyes to the friendly staff including the lady manager who never failed to have a smile on her face the whole time i was there. The boys, Gary and Graham got big hugs from Pete and I and then we were off. We jumped into a taxi both being really happy about being on the move agin. It was even good to feel that familiar thought you get in South America jumping into a taxi, "am I going to end up at the destination that I want to?" The taxi driver, against our wishes, dropped us off outside the main bus terminal and told us to hurry and get our bags. Both being very confused we paid the driver, collected our bags from the boot and then looked up to see the taxi driver standing in the middle of the road waving down a bus. It was only the exact bus we needed! We both felt guilty for thinking that the driver was screwing us over and we gave the driver a high five before jumping on the bus. We were heading to Tulcan, the border town where we were going to spend the night before crossing the Colombian border the following morning in daylight. Pete and I were the only travelers on the bus and the bus got packed very quickly. At every stop you get people coming on selling all sorts of food and drinks but on the journey we witnessed a first for us both. A bloke came on selling books. But not just any books, sex education books and the good old Karma Sutra! We finally arrived in Tulcan around 6pm and found a cheap hotel one minute away from the bus station. We didn't feel to comfortable walking around this small town with all of our gear. Both being starving we found a small local cafe and had a three course dinner for $1.50. According to the Lonely Planet you have to get a taxi from Parque Ayora to get to the border crossing. As Parque Ayora was on the other side of town we thought it would be a good idea to scope it out first so we knew exactly where we were going first thing in the morning. We got into a taxi and told the driver where we wanted to go. On the way we realised the taxi driver was trying to warn us about the area and was telling us it wasn't a safe place for us to be at night. Taking his advice, once we arrived we just asked him to take us back as it did look on the dodgey side. Not somewhere you would go for a romantic stroll!ha We found out that we could get a taxi from outside our hotel in the morning to the border from our very helpful taxi driver. We gave this driver a rather large tip as if it wasn't for him, things could have got nasty. Feeling the urge for a bit of Facebook madness we decided to have a look around for an internet cafe. On doing so we came within seconds of being mugged! In the corner of my eye i saw two blokes crossing the road and walking up behind us. If we had taken another ten steps they would have jumped us for sure but i told Pete, we both turned round and walked up to them trying to look as confident as possible. I honestly thought on this occasion we were going to get mugged but once again, lady luck was with us. We decided that enough was enough and headed back to the hotel. We stopped off at the local store to grab some snacks for the journey ahead and had a right laugh with the locals working in the shop. Our alarms were set for 5.30am so after watching some tv in our room we hit the sack. It had been a long day and an eventful one. I felt like i earned a good night sleep that night!ha

So i finally managed to leave Quito. A city that provided me with so many laughs and fond memories. As well as some very funny drunken nights out which i can...mostly remember!ha I couldn't wait to get my hands on Colombia though. I had heard so many good things about the country. A country back home that is only linked with drugs and violence but i knew even before stepping foot into the country, that i was going to dread leaving it. After all, I knew Shakira was waiting for me!ha

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Photos

Night time in Old Town.
My first date with Alexandra.