first blog from ecuador - LONG BLOG!

it´s may 12
and i´ve been in ecuador for 2 weeks
time has flown by
and i´ve barely noticed
especially now that i´m on the islands

so anyways,
to start from the beginning
my bro and i hitched a ride to the airport
from a friend who was in edmonton on work from new york
but lives in las vegas
(thanks helen!)
and by 11pm that day
we made it to quito
with no problems on any of our flights
there, we were greeted by an old old friend of chris´
name of brook
a big white canadian with dreads
who´d caught a ride to the aeropuerto with the guy that was to pick us up
apparently the accomodation we´d arranged
(with ample help from jeff goldie)
was about a block and a bit away from where brook was staying
this turned out to be not only a fortuitous meeting
but somewhat of a godsend
as brook arrived in south america quite a few months ago
and did some spanish school in argentina
as well as a couple of weeks in quito
so not only did he speak spanish
but he knew quito well enough
to instill in us
a profound sense of paranoia
when walking around at night
with 6 muggings in the 2 days before we arrived
one, right on the doorstep to brook´s hostel
(which, i´ll remind you
is less than 2 blocks away from where we were staying)
and then personally seeing the situation
i must say,
quito on a late saturday night
isn´t the best place to walk around alone
or even in a group of less than 3
anyways,
we went for a late night snack
of schwarmas
and sat there stuffing our faces
and watching the locals party by
i must say,
the food was good
and cheap too
what more could one ask for?
i think we finally got home around 2am that night
after dropping brook off at his hostel
and making a quick retreat to our own posada del maple

the next morning
we set off for a walk
and headed to where the other canuck divers were staying
they had arrived the day before
and were staying within walking distance
(like a couple of kms away)
i think we left at some insane hour
like 8am
we found them at the hotel folklore
rested and enjoying the lovely town of quito
then we had to get going...
(had these little errands to run
like buying our airplane tickets to the galapagos
and signing up with the South American Explorer´s Club
so that i´d have a place to store money and papers)
we actually managed to get it all done
before 1pm
which was when the last office closed
did a fair bit of walking
as we did everything on foot
and the 1.5 to 2kms really add up after a while
had a little problem at the TAME office
in that the flight we were supposed to be on
did not exist
that always sucks when that happens
guess the email correspondence
was confusing
and we were lucky enough to get tickets to where we needed to be
on may 2nd
thinking we were on the same
or near same flight as the rest of the group
we went off with a big sigh of relief
to enjoy quito
and only half the day gone by
there is much to be said for waking up early
*wink*
we also changed some money before the bank thingys closed
and then,
solvent again
we went off in search of food
almuerzos in particular
found one for 1.20 USD
and with soup,
a plate of rice and veggies and chicken
and a glass of juice and dessert
you can´t go wrong!
we took the public transport afterwards
to the gran plaza
where the government had been overthrown a week or so before
and close to the place where brook had been tear-gassed
(he did point out the exact location
as we walked back much later
with a not-so-fond-memory type of look on his face)
took some photos in the drizzling rain
popped into a church lining the plaza
and had a guide speaking broken english
take us around and vaguely explain things to us
the church itself was quite neat
and had some magnificent paintings within
including an amazing one of the recently deceased pope
it looked real, but it also looked ¨holy¨
very neat
we then started to wander
through the town
generally making our way towards this big cathedral
on a hill
which brook had visited
but hadn´t gone up
when we arrived there
(it´s called the Basilica Voto Nacional)
we paid the 2 bucks to go up
and that was definitely worth it
we climbed the steeple first
and from there
had an amazing view of the city
the neat thing about getting up the steeple
was crossing the hall above the roof
they had a wooden plank walkway
set up over the entire length of the hall thingy
(where people sit when they listen to the priests talk)
or rather
over the ¨spine¨ of the roof
which was very cool
and then there were a series of ladders
that would take you right up to the top
now even though i´m not the best with heights
when i´ve got metal rungs to cling to
it´s a heck of a lot easier
going up or down
=)
walking through this basilica
was like exploring a cathedral
in the coolest of ways
pretty much every part of the tower structures were accessible
something i´ve never seen anywhere else in the world
there was a double clock tower
that reminded me of notre dame
and we were able to climb up into one of those too
the first few levels
seemed hospitable to tourists
but above the clock room
there were more ladders
that let you go into the bell tower
and the rungs were spaced further and further apart
and the highest level was a large holed mesh wire floor
on the way up
i saw some ropes connected to bells
or to the dinger thingy in the bell
and the bells looked secured-stuck and old
so i gave the rope a short pull
and then after the ringing stopped
i further examined the setup
and realized the ropes were on pulleys
that ran into the floor
and were prolly set up
so someone could ring the bells
without having to climb the towers
after figuring this out
i just HAD to ring the other set of bells
(they were secured in pairs)
and they sure sounded nice
=)
above this level was the scary level
(mesh wire floors, etc)
and after chris and brook climbed up onto that level
i started taking photos
of them in funny poses
however
before i could get the first photo off
electronic bells started ringing
and the speakers were right by the two of them
and i was laughing so hard
(some how
laying on the floor to take the photos upwards
made the noise not so loud)
that i didn´t manage to get a single shot off
later after the bells subsided
i did manage to get a few photos
but nothing as funny
as that particular moment
heading back down
(we were up there a couple of hours)
we went off in search of food again
and another almuerzo for the same price
and the food was even tastier!
passed some neat brickfloored parks
on the way to the food place
was warned by the owner
to get out of that area before dark
(we found this little place
in some of the back streets of quito)
found a huge park
with hundreds of stalls set up
selling tourist stuff
and meandered through there for a while
before making our way back to the hotel folklore
there, we waited for aidan
(it was about 4pm by then)
and after an hour or so
went off in search of booze to pass the time by
(i went along just for the heck of it
after all,
what could be more fun
than walking up and down hills
at altitude
before one is acclimated?
i mean really!)
and i found a pizza guy
at the back of the grocery store
where the booze was
and started talking to him in my extremely limited spanish
decided to come back later and try some pizza
if only because the guy was so nice and friendly
(fabien)
we came back and bought a whole pizza
because aidan hadn´t arrived yet
talked some more with him
met his wife edith who was running the grocery out front
and his son diego
and walked away with a massive pizza
as well as a whole bunch of little gifts
they gave us key chains
(to my bro and i
who went to get the pizza)
they also gave us the entire pan to carry it in
and when we returned
they gave us a couple more gifts
(posters of quito at night)
and my bro ended up buying a quito shirt
it was super cool
and i love meeting locals like that!
at about 8pm
the rest of the people returned from their trip
and aidan had found another engagement to attend
(some concert)
and didn´t eat locally prepared food
(i believe he survived by drinking alcohol for 3 days)
but some of the others who were hungry
thought the pizza looked good
so my bro and i
made another run down the hill
(and it´s a big hill)
and came back with another pizza
it was very cool!
and the family was great fun to talk to
after finishing up our pizzas
and drinks and whatnot
we headed back towards brooks´ on foot
and there i left the trio
to go take a shower
and grab some sleep
while they went off to look for some local music and dancing
it was a day that felt like 2 or 3
but only in the best of ways
tons of things done, both necessary and trivial
lots of good food
and good conversations in good company
i figured i´d get up early the next morning
and do some planning/looking around
which was a great idea
except that the next morning was sunday morning
and nothing was open
including the explorer´s club
where i had planned on doing research
i did manage to secure us a room/airport pickup on return
(from the galapagos)
so it wasn´t all in vain
by 10am
i´d gathered up my bro and found brook
and headed over to meet aidan
we made our way to the center of the world
on public transport
which was quite quick
and only cost us 80 cents
there we walked around the monument
sat down to enjoy some local music
there was some local concert
and it was neat to see a plaza full of people
chilling and dancing
and listening to music
young and old alike
gotta say
i wish i knew how to dance
=)
after a couple of hours
we went in search of the ¨real¨ center of the world
which was behind the monument
and down a dirt path
which looked really dodgy
but turned out to be a neat little outdoor museum tour
and well worth the 2 dollar entry fee
it´s run by a family
and father was the gatekeeper
with one of the daughters as the guide
they did this neat trick with water draining
(from a basin)
which went straight down when it was on the equator
and when north of the equator, drained counter clockwise
and when south of the equator, drained clockwise
after moving only a few feet in either direction
that was VERY cool to see
but part of my mind remains skeptical
and i wish i could do that experiment myself
just to see if it´s rigged
they had other ¨tests¨ to prove they were at the center of the world
including one where they do ¨strength¨ tests
you´re supposed to be weaker on the equator
i´d seen the girl doing this with the previous group
and i didn´t believe it
when she asked for a volunteer from our group
she looked right at me and said ¨now you can try¨
which was cool
because i was super curious
so this little girl
(little because she was very short
but prolly in her 20s in age)
got me to clasp my hands over my head
and she pulled down ´hard´
it was fairly easy to hold her up
here i was north of the equator
then she had me move TO the equator
where she had me do the same thing
and pulled my hands down
(though not without a bit of a struggle)
as soon as she did this second pull
i knew the trick
she was using straight force off the equator
and a circle while on the equator
and i told her it was a technique, not a test
she asked for other volunteers
and my brother went
and i told him the circle she was using
he almost managed to counter it for a little
but the physics were against him
she did another trick
with fingers
where you make a ring with your fingers
and again, off the equator
she cannot pull them open
but over the equator, she pulls them open easily
however,
i immediately felt the difference in technique
and i told her i could do the exact same thing
on or off the equator
which she challenged me to do
and i did
silly girl
*grin*
of course,
i felt a little bad for making this girl look a bit bad
but then she called her father over
and he was a stocky man
(i have photos!)
and he tried the same thing
with the same trick
and i said
i could use his equator trick
while standing north or south of the equator
and pull his hands down
i did so with one hand
and with the ease of pulling down the arm
of a well-oiled slot machine
twice in a row
after all,
i know a trick or two about circles ;)
and improved on their technique just a teensy weensy bit
hehehehe
then i realized
that things could only go bad
and i let it drop-die-whatever
and we went on with the tour
but it was these little tricks
that made me question
if the basin ¨test¨ was rigged
anyways,
the rest of the tour
showed us some of the local indigenous culture
from sundials and legends
to buildings and weavings
to shrunken heads
and how that was done
we also got to see some blow dart blowing
and some alpacas
it was fun!
and we had fun talking with the others in our group
brits mostly who were studying spanish in quito
very cool
after leaving the museo
we went off in search of an almuerzo
which we found
and ate
and enjoyed
and by the time we made it back
(on public transport for 80 cents again)
it was dark
and we took a taxi back from the bus stop
(rather than walk another 5km)
to our hotels to drop off some stuff
and then we went off the 3 of us
(aidan had left after the monument
to go to the basilica)
in search of schwarmas
very tasty
it had only been two days
and yet it felt like a lifetime already
we set off the next morning for the airport
joined by brook
and i guess things came full circle in that way
...that´s when the little difference in time schedules came to haunt us
i must say
that it´s always good to stay calm
and not make rash decisions
what happened was
we were flying out on a different airline
than the rest of the group
and our flight left 2 hours later
we´d gone to the airport early
in order to try to straighten things out
and i must say
it was a bit of a fiasco
especially when a certain person was told
that the boat ¨might not wait for us¨ if we were late
in any case
eventually the whole thing got sorted out
without us having to pay another 600 bucks USD
for one way tickets
and the boat was there
and we made it on
without disrupting the itinerary
it´s always nice when things work out
and i still cannot believe
that people would even think
that a chartered boat wouldn´t be flexible enough
to accomodate an extra hour or two wait
when some of the passengers haven´t arrived
and have paid in sum many thousands of USD for the trip
then again,
if the business was for ME to run
i would always like to make things out in a positive way
and deal with quirks and problems from that mindset
it tends to make happiness and peace the byword
rather than not
=)