Week in Quito

Ste and I on our journey down in the cable car!
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It seems that we did a lot in our first week in Quito. Learnt spanish for 5 days, went to a salsa class, visited the Mitad del Mundo, ate guinea pig and got stuck in a cable car!

The Spanish lessons were ok and I now think I have enough to get by - just! We stayed with a family for this and although I've heard many horror stories of people's familes, ours were lovely. It was bizarre at breakfast as there would be about 10 people in the kitchen at one time. The salsa class was organised by the school and I really enjoyed it. Although a lot harder than it looks!

On the Equator
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At Mitad del Mundo, we visisted a museum of an Inca tribe. It was very interesting with lots of little experiments to do. Ste managed to balance an egg on top of a nail - I couldn't! We also stood on the real equator line. At a resturant nearby, Ste ordered the local delicacy of Guinea Pig. I tried a bit and it wasn't as bad as expected - tasted like duck.

On Thursday, after classes, it was a nice day so we decided to go up to the top of a mountain in Quito. It's supposed to take 7 mins by cable car and then you have amazing views of the city. Unluckily for us, there was a thunder storm whilst we on it and we were stuck for about 40 mins. There were 4 of us sat in this little cable car, thousand of feet from the ground, with thunder and lightning very close to the car. When we did get to the top, there was no view as we were above the thunder clouds. We just drank in the bar instead! I got quite drunk as the vodkas were almost a full glass but I think I needed to for courage for going back down.

Ste and his guinea pig
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I've not been totally impressed with Ecuadorian food. It consists of soup, then rice and meat every lumchtime. Ste and I went for a $1 lunch and the soup had chicken hearts in it - I felt sick eating it!