Quito - All good things must end sometime

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Now some of you may be thinking, what the heck and why the heck is this guy writing a diary when he is at home for a couple of months now? Well, the answer is because he wants to finish his trip log and the stories.

It's a Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood

So I arrived into Quito from Lima and it was raining hardcore. I didn't want to get ripped off by bying a cab voucher so I went to the cash machine and paid for it in cash. As a beginner, I didn't know so I dished out $5 to the hostel..however, later I learned that it is possible to go there for $3 or $4. It is not exactly a big budget but haggling is half the fun. I went to the recommended hostel from the book called the Centro Del Mundo..which means center of the world. Some french guy from Quebec owns the place. It is all right I suppose. Once I got settled into my room I looked around the hostel and saw tons of pictures from trips and activities being offered around Quito. By the looks of it, one could spend at least a month just in Quito if he wants to do about half the things offered. My priority however, was to book a trip to Galapagos and visit the Saturday market at Otavalo.

The first day I saw tons of travel agencies and I didn't know which trip to choose to Galapagos because they are all claiming to have the best deal and the last minute special. Later I found out that it is all bull and there is no such thing as the last minute special...it is only there to lure the dumb tourists such as myself at the time into visiting their agencies. I didn't have too much time so my options were becoming limited. Then team Quebec came to the rescue and told me to call this specific agency and that they will give me the best no deal. So I went there and ended up booking my trip with the boat called Estrella Del Mar II. Yes, the sequel.

In the meantime and in between time I met a Canadian, south african and an australian guy so we started visiting the different tourist sites in Quito. The first one we looked at was some church which had 7 tons of painted gold in it so we were not allowed to take pictures but who is to say that I respect the law? WHO?! Well, I tried taking a couple but they all came out blurry so whatever. It's the illegal effort that counts.

Quito was a very tranquil city at least in the center. The streets and the town squares reminded me of europe with cheaper prices. On one corner was this clown who was putting on a show for the kids. Since it was in spanish, I natuarally got a lot of the jokes. YES, YAWN...i find it hard to keep my heart rate going when I listen to the buffoons over here trying to entertain the kids over here...AND that's in english. While we're standing there, this old grandpa comes up to us and asks us if we want to buy a Panama Hats. Supposedly the best Panama Hats are made in Ecuador. We didn't really care at the time, but the grandpa has some severe resiliance and just kept on pressing us to go to his store. We thought we would give the Ecuadorian elf a shot. So we went with him and when we came to the strore he had about two styles in the entire store...that's counting the hat that was on his head already. We quickly disappeared from there and went to get some ice cream. That was the reward for the suffering I had to endure in the store...first you get your hopes and then you see the goods...what's up with that?

THE NIGHT SCENE

Venturing out at night was quite exciting for me. In the backpacker area, there was quite a concentration of small bars, restaurants and lounges...along with salsatequas (clubs where they dance salsa) and regular clubs. On the way out of my hostel, I met with a colombian girl who was promoting liquor outside the liquor store. So I talked to her for a while and she was very friendly so she hooked me up with some serious shots of who knows what. Then I kept going and went into the club where I finally met FITTY! As in the guy totally looked like 50 cents! He was there to play basketball and hit on anything that moves in the club. (Yes, you gotta love standards). He had a giant friend with him who must have been around 7ft tall so talking to him was a workout. Either he had to bend all the way down just to hear what you're saying or you had to go for a lay up just to get to his level. So I danced with a couple of girls and then headed to another nightclub, which was the afterhours club in the basement of a casino. That was was fun as well as there were more ladies to choose from...hehe. I didn't feel like drinking so I was just getting my steady supply of water. That was pretty much it for me that night. I also like the fact that they have a lot of donair/shawarma places outside so when you get increadably hungry in the morning hours you can fill your stomach to satisfaction for cheap. Also this was the last night before I had to take off to Galapagos.

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Photos

The View From The Cathedral
Can't complain about the view!

The View From The Cathedral
Can't complain about the view!

The Virgin Mary Me Thinks
It is that statue you see in the background of the first picture.

Quito
This is close to where to I booked my trip to Galapagos!

Quito - The Old Quarter
The bufoonery I alluded to in the blog!