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Today I leave for Galapagos, unbelievable! I get up around 7h30 and take time for a nice breakfast - one of the things I do like about this hostel - together with Mariano. Around 10h00 we slowly make move to pack our bags as check-out time is 11h00, even if I feel they won't be too strict about us being a bit late.
I text Yvonne to have a 4th goodbye lunch and the 3 of us agree on meeting at Tostaky at 12h30. We bump into a Puerto Rican entrepreneur who joins us on our table and who widely explains the whole reason of the campesino strike that is culminating near Cali. While our friend talks and talks and talks (Puerto Rico is very clearly territory of the US ;-) ), we enjoy the most amazing set lunch for COP 10,000 that I had in Colombia so far: mint jugo, pumpkin soup, tortillas vegetales with a little Italian inspired eggplant tower covered in fresh tomato basil sauce, and a lulo chocolate cake for dessert! Let the entrepreneur talk I would say.
Around 14h00 I reckon it is time for me to go back to the hostel, pick up my luggage and move to the airport. I negotiate very well with a nice taxidriver of my age and happily chat away during the half an hour drive to the airport.
In the airport realize why they advise you to arrive on time: even after having scanned your handluggage, security manually goes through every single item in your bag. You can already imagine this is rather embarrassing for me as I have not become the slightest bit more organized in the 8 months of travelling. Anyhow, security does not seem to care as - when I state that if I would have known, I would have tidied up my bag a little bit at least - he states that it's fine like this as this gives him a lot more time to be with me. Charming those Colombians. QUE CHEVERE.
I have a nice neighbour on the flight, Ernesto from Medellin. The flight passes by really quickly as such and at 18h45 sharp I arrive in Quito Airport. I realize I didn't think of the fact I would be going to quite an altitude again and lack of sleep definitely starts making me feel a little bit drowsy by the time I arrive at Xavi and Arturo's place. It has been six months approximately and we only met for 1.5 day back in Isla de Pascua, but how nice it is to see them again! And another surprise....I realized only yesterday that Zsuzsa is in Quito as well! I will have to leave the centre by 4h30 in the morning already for my connecting flight into Guayaquil and Galapagos, but I have decided to make the most of these couple of hours of transit and suggest to Xavi and Artu to meet up with Zsuzsa in a bar nearby. This is definitely a happy day with happy encounters! We ofcourse decide to have a Pisco Sour to celebrate good old times! Trying to get a little bite as well we go for some mushroom empanadas. It takes three times though before we actually get served the mushroom ones as before that we twice bite a disgusting guinea pig empanada! Poor vegetarian boys! Oh well, we get a free chocolate souffle as their way of apologizing so I guess the guinea pig has not died in vain.
Around midnight we call it a day and I will have a poor 3 and a half hours of sleep, but in a nice long sofa which the boys convert in a comfortable bed for me. Sweet dreams
- comments
Mamamimi Nice encounters that's super .... now still a little effort for getting more organized ;-))