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riot police in quito
when the first rock was thrown we ran...Buenos Noche!
(We were hoping to have some photos to work here but Shelagh has reached a techno-snag) hopefully we´ll get it sorted out soon cuz we have some good ones to share.
Oh, where to start...
Since nobody wants the dreary details of when we caught a bus, where we stayed, etc, maybe I´ll start with my first tirade on North American Safety Standards and how unneccesary they are. On our first day here I started roughly keeping track of the number of north american safety violations I saw. Unfortunately I ran out of fingers and toes (not literally mom - I still have all my fingers and toes) by noon. We´ve already mentioned the driving - which continues to be a constant source of amusement for me. I soon added to that ¨Children and what they are allowed to do and what we do with them¨. We were in a fast food restaurant on the first day (just watching Futbal - not eating fast food) and it had a play structure that would have had the McDonalds Playland people putting their lawyers on speed dial. It was bare metal with sharp corners and edges, not that
the andes
view from near the equator beyond a volcanic crator stable, with ropes strung around it for climbing on, on a tile floor. And you know what , there was a kid on it, climbing, having fun, AND he didn´t die. Then we took a tour up a volcano last night, the packed bus with no walls up the crazy road in the pitch black aside, it was the grandmother holding the 4 year old OVER THE FIRE because she was cold that had Shelagh and I doubled over laughing. Today we took two cable cars over gorges - I can´t even begin to list how many things about that experience would not have passed any kind of safety code- but it was the brick wall where none of the bricks were held with morter and couldn´t have withstood my body weight, with CAUTION tape around it that was the only thing between a visitor and a 100m sheer drop that made me (and the two danish guys I was with) giggle. Those are just a few examples to illustrate the attitude here. I should also make it clear I´m not complaining. I love it! I think we´re a little too uptight at home. However my sister has already emailed
Shrunken Head
Shelagh after she told me I´m too ¨wordy¨in my blogging! me and said that our last blog entry about the driving is giving her sleepless nights- I don´t imagine this one will help. Oh, by the way...after our mountain biking excursion today we flagged a random guy in a truck, threw our bikes in the back and hopped in. It was the most convenient thing we´ve done so far!
Shelagh just told me I´m supposed to actually tell you something about our trip...
On sunday we went to the Equator (more on that from Scientist Shelagh later) with Ximena (a friend of a colleagues) Why would I need to wear sunscreen on a noon time trip to the equator? 31 and still an idiot. From there we went up a big hill in Quito and then took a gondola higher...and we´re talking high (the sign at the top said 4100m!!) to get an amazing view of Quito. The city is 90 km long! and only 8km wide. It´s enormous and just goes on forever. The landscape is amazing. We think we live in mountains around Calgary - HA! We are truly IN the mountains here.
That afternoon we got a tour of the old town of Quito
quito from 4100m
Long and narrow...no not heather. 9km wide and 80km long or so... 1600´s old from another friend of a friend. He knew a lot of the history and took us safely to a lot of places. We visited a museum that had all the history of Ecuador and Quito.
Monday morning we got up and managed to pay for our hotel room - put our bags in storage-and put laundry in to be picked up in a couple days. Now I knw that sounds simple, but the remarkable thing is that we did it with our VERY minimal muay mal spanish. Shelagh keeps trying to speak to people in bad french (for some reason she thinks that´s better than english) and I have to be drunk to get over my linguistic shyness, so the spanish hasn´t been going that well. The thing I was most proud of that day was that we were able to get clothes etc for both of us, for 4 days, into my dayback so that we only had to take it on this little jaunt and not our big bags (trying to avoid the rampant bag stealing we hear about)!As mentioned we took a tour up a volcano but didn´t manage to see any lava -
patriotism
poor dog...no choice in the shirt mainly just heard it grumbling. The bus we were on was filled with a family with 5/6 adults and 1000 children and they were laughing and joking the whole way. When a song came on (did I mention that busses play very loud latino-pop all the time?) that they knew, they ALL started singing and the little kids were dancing. It was great.
We found some fantastic restaurants in the little town of Banyos. We´re trying to try new things...So far the culinary highlights are empanadas (deep fried pastry with yummy goodness inside), platacones ( plantains made into pattys and deep fried with guacamole dip), biscoche (corn biscuit, cookie things). Overshadowing all these delights is Shelaghs love of the $1 650ml beer. In fact, I just asked her what else we´ve eaten that´s good and she said ¨Beer¨.
I was really excited to buy toffee from the guy on the corner (see photo). Nothing like someone handling your food and smacking it against the wall to make you hungry!
Shelagh here...Not much to add since few will reach the end of this epic blog. However just wanted to say that water does go straight down the plug
presidential palace old town quito
heather and Luiz at the presidential palace in old town quito (the whole old town is a world heritage site) hole at the equator...I was correct and my physics teacher was wrong.
Oh and the riot police...but thats for another entry...
Off tomorrow to sit on the roof of the most dangerous train on earth...
Shelagh and Heather
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Richard
non-member comment
Sounds like fun
I am glad you are having fun and laughing in the face of danger, I agree we north americans put to much emaphsis on safety. Nothing like careening down the side of a dark mountain, in bus with several hundred of your new best friends. I agree with Shelagh, 1 for a beer is a great deal, and its avaliable on every street corner here in Ponta Delgado - Tomorrow we are off to Lisboa