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Right, well the whole sightseeing business got delayed for a day when we found all the shoe stores... and clothing, and other fun things. We spent most of Thursday wandering from store to store, trying on shoes and tight jeans and making a few purchases. Still got to see a lot of the city, and was fun to have a day where we just kind of relaxed, instead of feeling like we were trying to shove in as much sightseeing as possible (and I did get some really love quilted black heels... and a nice coat.... and some jeans... quite happy). The evening was relaxed - sat on the balcony overlooking the church and the market square, drinking champagne and eating a jelly donut, into which Erika manged to shove 10 candles! Not a bad birthday-eve!
The next day was all sightseeing. We were woken very, very early by people being called to the church across the street - with fireworks. Very, very loud fireworks - the doors in the bathroom were shaking (this was when we began referring to Cuenca as Beiruit). We went to a modern art museum, which was showing a retrospective of an Ecuadorian artist named Fransisco Coello - very, very distinctive work in each decade - it was really neat, and we both really liked a lot of his work (ther are pictures to follow). Then we went to what I think was our favourite museum so far - it was a collection of over 5000 archaeological artifacts, from 20 pre-Colombian Ecuadorian cultures, as far back as 3500 BC. I love seeing the tolls and bowls and such, but I think I enjoy the art pieces even more. There were graters shaped like fish, and hundreds of litle icons - shamans with offerning, litle statues made to hold incence, dancers, animals.... even a shrunken head. Really wonderfull stuff, and the woman who ran it was quite nice.
We had a nice lunch, where I ordered what turned out to be a fancy tuna melt (a tasty one, though!). More wandering after that, taking lots of pictures of churches and the courthouse and other architecture. Relaxed on the balcony at the hotel, where I saw my first Catholic procession (probably small by Latin American standards - about 200 people - but still cool to see). All afternnon, we could hear singing in the church, and then a band started up, and everyone emerged, still singing, and began walking down the street, very very slowly. The priest was walking under a canopy, and someone was waving incence in front of him while other people scatered rose petals before him. I think they only went around the block, but it took nearly an hour - all traffic came to a halt around them - was really interesting to see.
We went out for a nice dinner that evening, and then headed for the bars. I had visions of going out dancing all night and coming home in the we hours... visions which were shatered after I got raucously drunk in a little bar and was taken home by Erika, all the while flinging myself about making expansive gestures and yelling about various things.... then passing out in the hotel. Lovely. Always thought my 25th birthday should be celebrated in such a mature manner.
The next morning, we were up nice and early and ready to head off for Baños. Somehow I managed to get out of a hangover and woke up feeling nice and chipper - not too sure how, but wasn't about to question it. The bus ride to Ambato took 7 hours all together. As for the scenery, Erika will have to fill you in. Almost right away, I got motion sickness. I tried going to the bathroom on the bus, which was locked, so Erika went to find someone with the key for me. Unfortunately he insisted on waiting outside the bathroom for me so that he could lock it again right away, and started asking me to hurry up after about 2 minutes. Back to my seat... where I proceeded to spend the rest of the trip with my head between my knees, vomiting into a plastic bag with scary frequency. Everyone was quite nice about - I'm sure it couldn't have been pleasant to listen to, as it seemd to happen every half hour or so - but there really wasn't much they could do. People gave me new plastic bags, which was very nice. They tried to offer me comfort when I moaned as we swerved around a corner or went down a big dip in the road. One guy even jumped off at a brief stop to get me a lime to suck on (which actually helped quite a bit, ubtil the bus got stuck behind a parade and started and stopped every 30 seconds) - nearly missing the bus in the process.
We got into Ambato, about an hour away from Baños, and I told Erika I just needed to rest for a few minutes before getting on another bus. Went to the bathroom, had a bit of a breakdown, as the bathroom smelled like fish and I was sore and exhausted - got some interesting looks from just about everyone in the bus station, as I looked like hell. When I came out, Erika told me what hotel we were going to (she'd already realized ther was no way I was getting on another bus that day, and had found a hotel with a private bathroom), and asked me to try to hide the anguish on my face, since no taxi would pick us up with me looking like I did. Got to the hotel, curled up on the bed, and didn't really get up for the rest of the night, except to get some crackers from the mini bar (which we cleaned out for a sum of $2). Watched a fluffy movie on cable, sucked on my Gatorade, and blissfully went to sleep at 9:00.
Woke up around 2:00 to the sound of someone karate-kicking a metal door across the road from us and screaming something at he top of his lungs, then trying to get into a fistfight with the 20 or so guys who came pouring out of the door, ending in one of his friends geting arrested (after trying to start a fight again). Intersting nighttime entertainment.
Felt much, much beter this morning, although still sore. Caught an hour long ($1) bus to Baños, where it's lovely and sunny now. We're off on a night tour of the volcano, which I thought would be a nice little night walk (which didn't interest Erika all that much) but which is actually a ¨party bus¨ (which caused my interst to wane, but perked Erika right up). Tomorrow we're off to the hot springs, bright and early, then at 10 we're going on a horseback tour of the mountains around the town (I brought antihistamines, so we'll see what happens). Glad to be away from the buses for a little while... going to search out some Gravol, or equivalent, before the 5 hour ride to Tena the day after tomorrow.
Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes, everyone! Love this whole celebrating in another country thing - will definitely have to do it again.
Love, Hil
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