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Tuesday, 28.05.2002: Otavalo - Quito
We left Otavalo by 1pm, on the truck for the last time to drive to Quito. We had a last pee stop and took photos of the "moonies" with "The end!!" on them. Very bad champagne was cracked open as we drove into Quito for the end of a very long trip.
Final 'Beautiful Day' and champagne on the truck
Our arrival in Quito was marred by the fact that we were given a room at the hotel Chalet Suisse that had not been cleaned (the toilet was disgusting!). Although that night was paid for by Kumuka we had planned to stay there for an extra 2 nights before searching for somewhere else if we needed to. After only 5 minutes there we decided to check out immediately. They did say they would clean the room (and remove the half-eaten mouldy apple that had been left behind!) within 15 minutes.
But when Kirsten went back to the room to get our Lonely Planet guide for Ecuador, the door had been left wide-open with no-one around and the camera bag in full view on one of the beds, just begging to be stolen. So that sealed the matter - we were moving.
Not exactly the welcome we wanted in Quito! Plus we didn't have much time as there was a leaving do that night as quite a few people were flying out the next day. So we walked round the corner to a lovely little hotel (Hostal Alcala) where we looked at a mini-suite for the same price as the other hotel (33 US dollars per night) which was very clean, had a fridge, cable TV (very important for the World Cup!!) table, chairs and even a reclining chair plus our own balcony. The owner is extremely nice and we get breakfast plus 24 hours free tea, coffee, and chocolate and use of the kitchen facilities. Perfect. We decided to stay there for the rest of the time in Quito, storing our bags there while we are away for 8 days in the Galapagos Islands.
Our mini-suite in Quito
We had our final group meal at an Indian restaurant. The curry was far too hot for us.
Wednesday, 29.05.2002: Quito
After breakfast we went to Etnotur, the company that Kumuka had booked our Galapagos trip through. The first thing we were told was that our boat was not sailing! Our hearts sank, thinking the worst, but then he told us that we were being upgraded to a first class boat - of course at no extra cost!!
Then he showed us the brochure - a 145ft, 2 mast schooner that looked out of this world!! (Hopefully it's that good inside as well!) Then we got 120 US dollars off the flights as we have student cards! So maybe Quito isn't that bad after the terrible start we had! We also happen to be sailing on the same boat as Lesley (Famoo truck) who'd paid the top rate for it - over 500 US dollars more!!(355 Pounds more per person!!!)
At around 5pm we all went to the Reina Victoria pub to give Prue and Darrell the presents. Prue got a dry bag plus two photo albums. Darrell got a bottle of rum. They also got 200$ each.
Thanks Prue and Darrell for the fantastic trip!
Then we all had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and afterwards we went to Patatus for table football, pool billiard and dancing. It was the final night of the trip and we had to say goodbye to quite a few.
Thursday, 30.05.2002: Quito
At 11am we started a cheap city tour of Quito with a group of about 13 people. We had heard that Quito is quite a dangerous place for tourists so it was better to go in a big group. We took the tram into the old city centre and walked around a few squares and churches. The most impressive church is La Compagñía - everything is completely covered in gold! It cost us only 40 cents each instead of the 15US$ it would have cost had we gone on an organised tour!!
Quito has a lot of great restaurants. We had lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and dinner at a Mongolian. Then we said goodbye to a few more people at Patatus. It´s weird that we are still staying in Quito and one by one the others are leaving home or to other travel destinations.
Friday, 31.05.2002: Quito
This morning we got up at 6-30 am to watch France being beaten by Senegal in the opening match of the World Cup and we will be staying up all night as the next match is Ireland v Cameroon at 01-30 in the morning, and Germany v Saudi Arabia at 06-30 in the morning! I think we're going to be nocturnal in Quito!
We spent the day confirming our flights at the Iberia office, buying 2 underwater cameras for our Galapagos trip and had lunch with a few people from the Famoo truck. After writing another long report in an internet cafe we went back to our cosy suite and went to bed at 6pm. We needed to get some sleep before the next football matches were on in the night.
Saturday, 01.06.2002: Quito
We got up at 1-30am to watch Ireland v. Cameroon (1-1) then Denmark v. Uruguay (2-1). We kept setting the alarm in between matches to get some sleep. At 6-30am we watched Germany v. Saudi Arabia (8-0). Helen fell asleep during the 2nd half when it was already 5-0.
Then we slept until 11-15am. We spent the day with checking our emails, buying stuff for the Galapagos trip and packing up our bags. We took only one of the roller bags to the Galapagos Islands and stored the rest in the storage room of our hostel.
Again it was an early night and we went to bed at 7pm. Unfortunately we couldn´t sleep because Helen´s stomach was so hungry that we decided to get up again and have a meal at a Vegetarian restaurant. It was already dark and Quito gets really dangerous then so we only took just enough money to pay for our food and kept walking on the busy streets. The food was yummy and we got back to bed by 9-45pm.
