Here I am at an internet cafe in Quito. A little girl hanging over my arm trying to sell me some candy out of her tray. The establishement eventually told her off.
Thanks to Starroot and Rix for taking me to the airport on that nasty morning. You guys are saints. I hope you got back well.
At the airline counter there was a bit of confusion about visa requirements for Ecuador and the lady behind the counter was unsure whether they should let me fly. I knew most of the stuff before it came up on their screen so they let me go. I didn’t even have to phone the travel agent.
On the flight from Newark to Bogota to Quito I talked to some Ecuadoreans living in NJ, quite nice introduction. Had the Christian born again missionary to shoot the shit about philosophy for about an hour and then talked to this lady that had been to Ecuador 5 times and knew basically no spanish and had the worst worst American accent, can you say Baņos. But with an ‘a’ like in cake. yeah. ugh. scary.
Catching a cab from the cab to the Magic Bean was super easy - I got in and crashed hard - tried to at least - with all the music going on at the club across the street. Gotta seek out a quieter location. Maybe I’ll try to Reira Hostel Jeff recommended. I’ll definitely check out the Indian restaurant.
My roomates at the hostel, Tony and Jared (update: make that Jarrad), NZ, arrived the day before. They’re on a nice trip around the world. Good Stuff. We ended up catching a bus into the Old Town. Nice bus with organized terminals. At one stop this lady with a young child got on the bus. She was breastfeeding. She stood next to me for a while… Here I am all paranoid about pickpocketing, got my hand over my wallet pocked and money belt tucked down below the waist line. It felt like i was being patted down a bit on my cargo pocket and when I felt a hand go into my dirty hankie pocket I had to switch hands in pockets. At this point she moved and sat down for a bit - to get up next to Tony a few minutes later. The kid had his hand on Tony’s chest and she was pretty close… He said he felt something but wasn’t quite certain — so he checked himself after we got off the train and it turns out this woman had cut a hole into his shirt where his money belt strap was. She didn’t get as far as cutting the strap - but wow - watch out for nursing babies and their moms.
Now the big question is - how do you live with that. As a tourist and guest you don’t want to insult the locals by refusing to stand next to them on the bus. You don’t want to falsely accuse anyone. I guess you just have to keep your stuff properly hidden.
It seems unless you end up in the wrong neighborhood at night things like this are not very overt - but it’s quite nice to see it on the first day. Just yesterday Tony and Jared witnessed a Dutch guy getting his wallet pickpocketed.
We took a cab up to Panicillo (sp?) for a great view of the City - nice and touristy. Ya gotta do it sometime. Wish it was safe to hike up there but all the guidebooks reccomed against it. I imagine the cabbies get together and mug a token tourist every few days in order to keep the area ‘dangerous’ and business alive. Maybe I’m still too much of a skeptic.
Mystery meat stew for lunch. Mhhh, gagged a bit trying to chew up the fatty parts. The chicken was undercooked so we didn’t brave it a shame. And the juice went to waste ‘cause it was watered down with tap water. Shame. Maybe if I drink the water for a year I’ll amost die but eventually build up a resistance. Maybe safer not to try right now.
Tomorrow I hope to his the South American Explorers Clubhouse and start looking into some spanish schools. I’m leaning towards maybe staying in Quito for two weeks and then moving on for a while and continue spanish classes somewhere else… probably Cuenca. Quito is nice but I think I’d be happier in a more laid back environment.
Silly me, dropping cash already. I signed up for a two day guided Mtn. Biking trip around Chimborazo and Cotopaxi. Going with the Kiwis. The sights will be amazing. I hope the weather holds. It’s been a beuatiful sunny day.
Highlights: pickpocket lady, school girl taking a piss into the street off the curb
Posted by volker at January 27, 2004 04:26 PMit begins. positive.
Posted by: taus at January 27, 2004 06:49 PM