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Quito was probabaly the most surprising of the capital cities. I hadn't heard about it, apart from 'its dangerous' (pretty standard for South America) and 'don't stay more than a couple of days'. I arrived there with Jeff and Alex, but Alex was staying with friends of friends so left us at the bus terminal. We stayed away from the party hostels this time, as our friends from Montanita Micky, Rupert and Kevin, were staying at a quieter one, run by a really cute elderly couple, who served probably the best breakfast in South America, and called everyone 'mis jovenes preciosos' (my beautiful young people).
Quito is actually a very nice city! The new part where we were staying is full of swanky restaurants and bars, although we didn't visit these as we managed to refrain from partying this time! The old town is full of cool buildings, churches and plazas, and me and Jeff spent a whole afternoon just wandering around taking these in, and climbed to the top of one of the church towers for a great view of the city. There is also a large number of awesome parks, catering for almost every sport you could think of, so Quito's kids are pretty lucky!
The best thing to do near Quito though is visit the Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the earth, the EQUATOR! Its around an hour bus ride North of Quito (or tow hours if you're me and Jeff and got the wrong bus to the end of the line!) and has a massive monument marking the equator line. However, when satellite GPS was invented, someone discover this WASN'T the real equator, and the actual line lay 300m north. There is a museum there where you can do a tour teaching you about the Quechua people, and showing you CRAZY experiments to do with the equator and gravity, they were great!
There was one using a sink filled with water showing that if you pulled the plug out in the southern hemisphere the water drained anticlockwise, and in the northern hemisphere clockwise, but if you did it exactly on the equator it didn't go either way, it drained directly down! Crazy! Another had you fist your hands together and push up with all your strength while the guide pushed down on them. A few foot to either side he found it hard work, but on the line he could push them straight down USING TWO FINGERS! You could also balance an egg on the head of a nail, which me and Jeff both managed without much difficulty, and attempt to walk along the line without overbalancing to one side, which was impossible because one side would always pull you one way. I have to say I was super impressed having never really thought about gravity and the equator, and párticularly as its something that kinda needs to be seen, I bet most people who read this will be like 'Yeah whatever!'
After Quito I wanted to go to Otavalo for the Saturday, to the biggest market in South America and the famous animal market, but Jeffrey wanted to go straight to Colombia, so we said our goodbyes at the bus terminal and I headed off alone!
I was in a beautiful little place with separate thatched buildings an lots of flowers, and an alpaca and a sheep who lived in the garden. There was also a flying fox which, typical Sophie style, I managed to scalp myself on a little bit, like everytime you hit your head really hard and convince yourself its bleeding and its not, except when I touched my head there actually was blood!
I made friends with an American guy staying in my hostel who took me on the back of his motorbike to see a magical tree at the top of a big hill. I'm not really sure why it was magical, the guy we asked told us something in Spanish about kids and a graveyard... Anyway the view was pretty cool, especially as we were going up there at sunset.
The animal market was definately and experience. Literally there were animals EVERYWHERE! Crates of chickens, chicks, ducklings, puppies ($2), rabbits, kittens, women holding bags of guinea pigs, carrying chickens by their feet, and then there was the livestock. LOTS of pigs ($200 for a large one) squealing as they were forced into the backs of trucks! Goats ($20), alpacas ($150), cows ($50 for a calf) and even a few horses ($200). People running and shouting everywhere, and animals running and shouting everywhere, but kind of sad that you knew that the cute little chicks, ducklings, probably puppies, were gonna end up being eaten!
The main market was pretty similar to all the others in South America, bigger , but more expensive as its so touristy, so I only spent a little time there, taking it all in, then set off to the next country... COLOMBIA!
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