quito re-re-visited

arriving at the daunting terminal terrestre in quito
i hopped into a cab
and arrived safely at the villa nancy
where i was greeted by rachel
who was in the front yard
it felt like coming home!
:)
settling in to the same room as before
large, clean, airy and extremely well lit
with natural light streaming in
from a wall of windows
i popped over to the explorer's club
(only 3 blocks away)
to retrieve money and documents
said hi to the friendly people there
and then
i went off in search of food
heading over to the restaurant
that was closing that night
with laura and alex
i checked it out
mama ecuadorian or something
with typical ecuadorian food
they had whole roasted cuy
for 15 USD
but after having sampled the good and the bad
(or super tasty, and not)
i decided that any restaurant
would be hard pressed
to beat that tiny lil cuy place in banos
so i settled for the lamb
walked a bit more through gringolandia
and headed back just after the sunset
the next day,
i went off to the explorers club
exchanged my book
at the book exchange
and hopped on the free internet
but it was quite ancient
the puters they had there
and i decided to look for a pay place
with more modern eq
time passed
and hunger called
so off i went to look for yang shulin
wandering through the central park
and ironically
this time i didn't get "lost"
and made it to where i had tried to go the first time
2 weeks before
but seeing as i was trying to find the restaurant again
i was lost anyways
life is funny eh :)
but then,
i've always said
being lost is a state of mind
and i eventually wandered
back onto the "right" street
(it was to the left)
and found the restaurant
when i arrived
i found out that yang shulin
had sold the restaurant 2 days before
fate, i guess
mind you,
being robbed at gunpoint
wouldn't endear me to a place either
anyways,
i headed back towards mariscal sucre
the neighbourhood i was staying in
and found a place with almuerzos for 1.30 USD
chowed down
read a while
in the sunlight
and made my way back to the villa nancy
now, mariscal sucre
is considered gringolandia
the land of foreigners and muggers
the villa nancy being on the edge of this area
is safer than most places
and is also still within walking distance
of all the restaurants and cafes
very nice
at supper time
i headed over to a british pub
to meet a guy i'd met at the explorer's club
(mike)
we'd chatted there for a while
and he put me on to the place
it was 2 blocks from villa nancy
and off i went
part way through my pub food
he arrived with apologies for being late
and we ended up eating and talking
till the pub closed near midnight
during that time
we were joined by christine
a swiss-german with a british accent from the SAE
(she works there as a volunteer
and her boy friend works the bar at the pub)
and on and off by laurie who was working her last night
at the pub before going off travelling
had a neat talk with mike
who was planning on summiting cotopaxi
and i told him about my lil trek part way up chimborazo
in the end,
he went off to riobamba to walk up chimborazo for practice
and i was inspired to walk part way up cotopaxi the next day
after i saw how clear the skies were
it was a spur of the moment thing
one of those feelings that just come about
when i had the clearest day i'd ever seen yet
in quito
unfortunately
most places were closed
and i wasn't able to get on a cotopaxi tour that day
(saturday)
as i was literally
playing each day out as it came by then
tho i did find a guide who was willing to take me up
the next day
it was fairly expensive
(ok, all things considered
it was VERY expensive)
to go up as a singleton
and i headed off
to search for better deals
and to see if i could find someone at the SAE
who would join me last minute
at first things looked grim
and it would seem that i would have to make a decision
to go singleton or not
but then a british couple
whom i had asked in passing already
said they might want to change their plans
and in the end
they did
and it was awesome
everything came together
and the three of us
darren and christine (not the swiss one) and i
hired a guide for the next day
after that,
i went looking for schwarmas
found the place
had 2 schwarmas and coke
(package deal)
from the first schwarma place
which had changed it's layout again!
and then found
yet another internet cafe
which was the best of them all yet
(it was new, spacious, modern
and situated on a big bright busy street - amazonas)
and spent some time there
before heading back
to the villa
taking a short break to sort things out in my pack
and read a bit
then i headed off to gringolandia
not quite knowing where i was going to eat
but mapping out
a route home in the daylight
that i thought might be safe :)
i ended up going to the fusion restaurant
where i had the corvina and shrimp finally
i ate alone
but the food was really quite good
and afterwards
went to the nice i-net cafe
walking back that night
i was on the lookout for nigerian gangs
(reputedly responsible for the muggings)
and passed my safepoints safely
(the firestation and policia along the way...
planning at it's best!)
and then made the last 5 blocks to villa nancy
without issue
but quite alert and paranoid all the way
i retired into a dream-filled night
after setting my alarm
and my mind
in preparation for cotopaxi :)