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Lo all, us again.
We're now in Cuenca (which is shut for the day) after a few days in Quito and Riobamba.
Quito was, on the whole, a lot of fun. Far too many Americans, but you get that everywhere. The first full day there we had a stroll around the New Town before hopping on the Trole up to the Estadio Olímpico (Ecuador were playing Venezuela in the first World Cup qualifier that evening - they lost 1-0). We wandered down an avenue through a sea of mismatched Ecuador shirt replicas (no two the same) and mooched around the stadium, constantly being offered tickets (which had sold out in 30 minutes when they went on sale). That evening we had our first proper curry in nearly 4 months.
Next day we went up a hill. That was nice. Then to the Centro Cultural, which had an Andy Warhol exhibit. That was also nice. Later an Ecuadorian woman approached us and questioned us on random stuff, such as: "What's the English for 'paloma'?", "Have you met Prince William? He has blue eyes like you." and "Are there black people in England?". All very exciting.
The next day kicked off with our first pick-pocketing experience. Someone nabbed $5 out of my pocket on a packed Trole bus. He also went for my camera but it was attached to me. We went up the "teleferiQo", which featured an eye-sore of a theme park and much overpriced stuff. We did meet Stumpy, though (see photo). Later to Mitad del Mundo, a "city" (tourist town) built on the Equator. It was suitably tacky and full of Yanks, but also very windy.
While in Quito we also found Smurf Fanta. It didn't taste how I'd expect Smurfs to. Last night there was at a pub quiz in an "Irish Bar" (a CAN of Guiness cost $10.50). We ran out of money, spilt drinks everywhere and came about 5th, but morally we were 2nd.
Next was onto Riobamba, the starting point for the "famous" Nariz del Diablo train journey. Unfortunately, we arrived a day early and it turned out that was all the town had to offer. The train journey itself was a bit of a disaster. We derailed 3 times, and a journey that should have taken 3-4 hours took 8. That's even slower than Virgin trains. We did, however, have the fortune of sharing a carriage with a pair of Canadian girls who were so stupid you could be forgiven for assuming they were American. Good fun all round...
Yesterday we arrived in Cuenca to find that the same Canadian girls had just checked into the same hotel as us. One of them told me I look like Jude Law (Nick, not Vic). They left this morning (fortunately). Last night we went to see some live music that never happened, that is unless they meant the live Shakira DVD they put on halfway through the night. Still, good cocktails.
And that's it. As I say, Cuenca is closed today so we're at a bit of a loose end as we are most Sundays. We did manage to get to the Modern Art museum to get some inspiration for our flat, but that's about it.
Love,
Nick & Vic
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