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I think the title of this entry may be a bit misleading..... "Attempting and failing miserably to learn Spanish in Quito" would be more suitable. Fortunately we have both become masters of mime and when most days consist of getting up, lying around, watching tv and reading in a hostel full of brits and aussies even our mime skills are starting to get a bit rusty. Our current hostel is really quite a social place so in the interests of being social we have been partaking in the various orgainsed night time activites inlcuding the twice weekly rum and coke nights. Neither myself or Jo actually have a massive rap for rum but it is amazing how good it tastes when free and interspersed with the odd beer.
Now for the cultural stuff....we saw some churches...apparrently very old and they were actually very impressive but after walking the 4kms to Quito Old Town where the churches and other significant buildings are located we were a bit too stuffed to really appreciate most of the sights...4 km's may not sound like much but when it involves walking up and down some fairly steep hills at an altitude 600m higher than the top of Mount Kosciusko it was a bit of work.
This weekend we are off to a big market in a town just outside of Quito called Otavalo...mostly because we feel guilty for lying around so much. Have also booked out flights to the Galapagos for next Tue, which from all the reports from fellow backpackers is an absolutley awesome experience (and it better be for what we are paying for it!)
INSTALLMENT 2
Went to the Ottavalo market which was massive but started to just be more of the same after a while...it also didn't help that it was rum and coke night the night before and we didn't role in until around 4:30am then up at 7 for the market, Jo bought a bracelet and I bought a beanie made from alpaca for a $1, Jo's bracelet busted on the way back from the market..just goes to show you get what you pay for, I am now too scared to but my beanie on in case I break it. Also went to a waterfall and a place called Cuicocha which is a big old extinct crater with a lagoon in the middle which was also spectacular, unfortunatley by this stage it was getting towards late afternoon and we had just about had enough.
For my birthday went to the very touristy "centre of the world" or in spanish Mitad Del Mundo which is where the equator runs through Ecuador. Prior to visiting the original one we went to the Solar Museum up the road which is far newer and used GPS to get a more accurate measurement of where the actual equator runs. Here they do all these test with water running down the drain clockwise on one side, anti clockwise the other side and straight down on the equator. You can also balance an egg on a nail head which is supposedly easier on the equator and you get a certificate if you can do it....fairly dubious as to whether the tests prove anything or not but was good fun, they also had a real shrunken head and a pickled Anaconda amongst other things. After that the original and inaccurate Mitad Del Mundo was slightly disappointing more of a theme park with a massive monument supposedly on the equator. On the plus side they have live bands on a sunday so quite a few Ecuadorians head up there to while away the afternoon and was interesting to listen to all the various Ecuadorian bands.
Once back from that managed to organise a small crew from the hostel to go out on the town for my birthday, which unfortunately being a Sunday in Quito was very quiet. We still managed to hop around the few open bars and finally got kicked out of a 24 hour bar at 4am because they were "closing" all in all a good night.
Now off to the Galapagos Islands.
previous travel blog entry
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