I'm really sorry it's taken me over a month to write another post! I've got back to Guayaquil in the last week after a month of partying in Quito (I never made it to Cuenca in the end!)
I managed to improve my Spanish quite a bit in Quito - but then considering I was coming from nothing that wouldn't exactly be difficult would it!? I did four hours a day Monday to Friday & although I changed teacher 5 times in 3 weeks, I seemed to make pretty good headway, especially considering I was often in lessons after only a few hours sleep or with a hangover!
From peace to pandemonium!
I arrived in Quito on the Friday to find a very empty hostel - my plan to meet people while I was there was already failing...
I went to a market town, Otavalo, about 2 hours away from Quito early on the Saturday morning - somewhat surprisingly, I managed to find my way there on the bus & back all on my own. I bought some breakable things which will be interesting to try & transport home in one piece & had a nice day walking around this giant market of brightly coloured clothes, pictures and the like.
I find I enjoy travelling on my own as I can pretty much choose what I do & when I do & if I fancy changing my plans at the last minute, I can do without a second thought generally. However, walking around the market, it would have been nice to have someone to chat to or confer about purchases with & if nothing else, have someone to rub sunblock on my back as it was scorching sun & I burn like old lady on a sunbed!
On the Monday, however, three Brits turned up in the hostel - Mike, Lux & Ned - and we got pizza and watched DVDs. I'm not gunna lie, I was happy to have people to talk to!
And that's when the peace turned into pandemonium...
Mike & Lux were the leaders for a gap year expedition group of nineteen other people on gap year who arrived over the next few days - let the fun begin! I ended up becoming an honorary member of the Quest group for the few weeks I was there. Half way through my first week, my school in Cuenca emailed me & said they were doubling their prices so I decided not to go as I was having so much fun in Quito.
The Quest Crew were, well, mental to say the least - I met a girl I'm going to Uni with next year & another who lived in the next village along from me which made the world feel really quite small.
We became regulars at a bar called Patatus ("heart attack" in Spanish which was really quite fitting it turned out at times!) There was a bar area you could dance on - on which we had at least 15 of us once or twice & off which I hurt my foot when I jumped on the final night to the point where I can't walk some days if I jump off the bus at the wrong angle now... woops!
Put it this way - Quito gave me a bleak insight into the Uni years ahead of me - heavy nights of partying till the wee hours of the morning only to have to get up at unholy hours of the mornings for classes the next day... or same day as the case may be!
The City
I didn't only party, however. I did manage to do some sight seeing whilst in Quito & I have to say, it felt as though I have drawn the short straw with Guayaquil! Quito is much easier to navigate as its smaller & more pedestrian friendly. Guayaquil was burnt to the ground in a series of fires in the nineteenth century (so I'm told) but was built up as a concrete jungle instead with 8 lane wide roads (which I have to cross when I get off the bus from work to get home!) and so on.
Quito has an Old Town which is very quaint in parts. It has countless amounts of churches, a cathedral which in my opinion was no great shakes considering the Catholic faith is meant to be all about the showy religiousness. However, one church, La Compañia is solid gold leaf inside; nothing is covered in anything less & that was really quite impressive to see.
My favourite, however, was the Basilica - a great Gothic style church which I happened to come across by chance in the pouring rain one day. I bought my ticket to go inside (more to shelter from the downpour than anything else) & a group of women in black suits & gleaming name badges all pointed me in the direction of a door, which I assumed was the entrance. So I started up a set of stairs, which I thought it was odd you had to go up to go in but carried on. And I kept walking. And then there were more stairs. After what felt like forever (and was feeling a little out of breath by this point) the stairs finally finished & I looked up & I was behind the tower clock! There was a rickety old spiral staircase in one corner which, against my better judgement, I decided to go up & at the top of that I was faced with a very wet, iron ladder with only thin rungs to take me higher.
At this point I stopped & thought, 'no one knows I'm up here... I could slip and plummet to my death through these wet wooden floor boards at any point & no one would know. I could lie there for a day before I'm found...' Quite why not being found seemed more of an issue for me than the dying itself I don't quite know but that was the thought process anyway. So I stepped up the ladder & climbed higher than the bells.
The funny feeling in my bottom was certainly worth it when I saw the view. I could see the entire city pretty much from the top of the tower. It had stopped raining as well which helped though by the time I made it back to the hostel about fort-'five minutes later, I was a drowned rat! I hadn't dressed for my mini adventure at all - but then you could argue that the impromptu ones are aways the best!
I also climbed the highest active volcano in Ecuador, Cotopaxi, to the first refuge (4000meters or so) one weekend with some other girls from the school through hail that felt like small shards of glass hitting us in the face - it was a pleasant day out!
I went up the TeleferiQo in Quito as well to the top of the mountain at the side of the city which was very nice. And someone at the top thought I was Ecuadorian rather than English which is always interesting - though when he realised I wasn't, he wanted to practice his English & I couldn't shut him up which was rather annoying as I had been enjoying the peaceful view over the city in the cool mountain air... but then a cloud engulfed us & it was just plain cold so I went back down.
And so the wanderer returns...
I came back to Guayaquil last Wednesday & moved in with my host family - Blanchi & Wilson. They are actually a colleague of mine's in laws. They are very nice, though they speak no English so I'm hoping my Spanish will improve considerably. We've managed to communicate thus far successfully, though Graham & Maria Fernanda live in an apartment upstairs with their 8 month old son, Santino - the happiest baby I have ever met - so if I have any problems, there are English speakers not too far away which is handy!
Blanchi is very concerned that I eat - she keeps asking about my timetable (which I don't know for sure yet) at the institute - dude to open on May 5th but it has been delayed another week due to teething problems - as the tradition here is to have your main meal at lunch & come home for it. I'll be surprised if I'm not as fat as a house by the time I leave Ecuador the amount she wants to feed me!!
The institute - Southern Cross - is looking good. We just need some students & we're good to go. I've been there helping out for the last few days, unwrapping tables & chairs from plastic, sorting out the timetable & also just sitting around in case a potential student walks in & wants to book a class. My days have been enthralling as you can imagine!
Thus I don't have much more to report. I've felt a bit flat the last week as it was strange living with 21 other people around my age, having a laugh 24/7 and then coming back to Guayaquil to a quiet house and a relatively uneventful time. But things are getting back to normal now & I start work on Monday (hopefully) which is going to be very busy as one of our teachers haven't showed up so I'm covering part of his timetable as well as my own!
The way I see it, I'll work really hard for just over 2 months then have pleanty of cash to go traveling with for a month & a bit & have a blast - roll on the good times!!
photos of Quito etc can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34486&l=6ce44&id=500193915
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=34988&l=82bcc&id=500193915
love
xx
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