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Saturday and we were up at a reasonable time (9!). We had breakfast but unfortunately both of us were suffering from some digestive issues and had to return to room and ensuite rather quickly. If there was any mystery left in our relationship there certainly isn't now!
However this did not deter us from going out and exploring Quito. First we headed 15 mins into the new town where an adventure travel agent was. The streets were really empty except for the police wandering around. There is always a heavy police presence everywhere you go in Quito, not only that there are private security guards on the door of most restaurants, bars and hotels. MacDonlds, round the corner, has armed guards on two doors. I'm not sure if that really reassures us or makes us more edgy. All the hotels and hostels have at least one security door that you have to buzzed into and most properties have high walls with barbed wire round them or horrific looking shards of glass cemented into the top. However neither Doug or I have felt particularly vulnerable whilst walking around this city or indeed seem any suspicious looking people, of course we apply common sense like sticking to main busy roads and keeping our bags and possessions close. I guess it does help that Doug is a tall rugby playing south african compared to smaller Ecuadorian men.
We got to the travel agent and after a bit of conferring (and a tinsey bit of cajoling from me) we decided to book a horse riding trip (Dougs never been on one) south of Quito and a biking adventure up in the north. We asked the girl why the streets were so empty and she said it was because it was still early. It was 11.45am. Clearly the festivity the night before had extended well into the wee small hours, even the travel agent looked a little rough!
We then headed along one of the main roads that lead to the old town. The city centre is laid out in a grid and many of the names of the roads are dates which are when important things happened in Equador and Quito. It makes it easy to get a round. On our way we passed a nice wee market selling traditional wears. I,naturally, purchased a scarf and a couple of pretty embroidered hairbands, bartered all the way. Doug was confused as to why I insisted in asking in spanish only to get a reply in Spanish and usually not have a sooby what the answer was and have to ask again in English! We followed the 10th August street up through a pretty park with lots of kids playing (and a could stalls selling more scarves) and then made our way towards the historic centre, passing an incredibly ugly dirty glass building that we both concurred could be the ugliest we'd ever seen. Quito in general is quite dirty and graffiti is everywhere, some is of it is quite artistic with interesting murals and expressive designs, however there is also a lot of mindless vandalism with crude tags and the international c*** and balls with varying amounts of hair and ejaculation.
As we approached the historic centre the roads began to get thinner and the buildings more European looking. It required climbing some hills and Doug, having just only arrived from sea level the day before and now being at 2,800 metres, was feeling the effects of the altitude and had to stop to let dizzy spells pass.
As we walked up towards the plaza grand someone shouted our names out and up sitting in the window of a restaurant was Gavin and June. We went up to see them and exchanged email addresses and arranged to meet in the evening for some drinks.
Doug and I then went for a wander round the city and to a lovely little basement restaurant, just off the square where we had a delicious lunch of shrimp (for me) and steak for Doug. Apart from the waiter showing me to the mens toilet, it was perfect.
We then ventured up from the main plaza to the gothic cathedral which stood at the top of a very steep hill. Doug was rather unpleased (he would like me to add 'due to the altitude and lack of sleep'). The cathedral compound was encased in high walls and barbed wire, someone had thrown a mattress onto the fence in order to climb over it but it was all tangled up, who knows if they were also insnared.
The church itself was vast with ornate carvings on the facade and doors. We paid a couple of dollars and were able to climb up inside to look down on the huge expanse of the interior. Opposite this was a large stain glass window and between this one and severals more lining the walls, they bathed the grey building in soft colour. The stairs also continued up so you could see above the arches of the roof of the cathedral and a magnificent view of the city occupying the valley for miles and miles, the city it's self is 47km long and holds 2.3 millions people.
We then descended and began to make our way back to the hostel. On our way back we heard the beat of drums in the distance and as we rounded a corner a massive procession marching its way towards the old town. Resplendent in their blue and yellow uniforms, they drummed, trumpeted and twirled batons pass us. They varied in age from young teenage boys to early twenties, perhaps national service. On their heads they had helmets with white hair sticking out the top, however some were quite dishevelled, others obscuring the wearers vision and others neatly divided into a centre parting. In tow of them were loads of locals some wrapped in the flag of Quito and others waving Ecuadorian banners.
We returned to the hotel, festered a bit and had a snooze then headed out to meet Gavin and June. We headed over to the Plaza Foch which this time had barriers round it and was filled to capacity with people. A stage had been erected and a band was blasting out music. We sat in a bar to the side. June and I took full advantage of the three for two on cocktails with the boys nicking our third one! After sizzling under the outdoor heater for a couple of hours we then headed along to another bar which sold massive towers of beer for $12, with a football at the bottom which Doug was excited about! Gavin and June we great company and really easy to chat too. It transpired that Gavin had been born in Orlando and when I said my bro had had to go to hospital having had an accident and broken his ankle, it was the same hospital that he had been born in. It also turned out that Gavin was a football fan and mentioned that there was a football game the next day in Quito against two local sides. Doug's ears immediately pricked up and so we arranged to meet the next day.
We woke feeling a little on the wooly side but managed to get ready, meet Gavin and June and get a taxi to the stadium. The game was due to start at 12 but we got there early as we didn't know what to expect. The others had been to one in Columbia before and said it was crazy. We sat in the more expensive seats a massive $12 (the official currency in Ecuador is dollars). The stadium was like in the UK pre hillsburgh. Between the crowd and the pitch were massive fences with barbed wire along the top and between the four stands was the same fencing and barbed wire. Also at one end between the upper stand and lower stand was fencing and a huge net to prevent projectiles hitting the opposition supporters below. However, at this game this upper stand for a very long period only had a dozen security personal and one lone supporter sitting plonk in the middle of the seats. You could imagine him moving to do something like pull out a hankie and the bored security guys pouncing on him! In front of us were tiers of benches that you could stand or sit on. The stadium as a whole was quite empty. The die hard fans sat behind either goal. They arrived about an hour before and laboriously decorated their respective ends with homemade banners, some draped between upper and lower stands and some over the fencing. To our horror we watched young men and boys carried heavy material banners walk along the edge of the fencing and levels to hang these. The ones that were strung between levels looked like giant lengths of wide toilet paper flapping in the wind. They must of obscured people's views.
The game began and the level of play wasn't that impressive (cause I am SUCH an expert) according to Doug and Gavin. However the supporters were far more entertaining. Sporadically the home team would set off flares and run wildly around their enclosure, dangerously near to the dangling 'toilet paper'. We noticed that standing behind us were five firemen (and women) armed with fire extinguishers. Clearly they were staying out of the area that they might actually be required. By the end of the game they were slouching in the seats behind us, perhaps disappointed they had been assigned to a well behaved section. Each supporters end seemed to be having a competition to see who produce the most musical noise. To our right was a full brass band with bass drum, that monotonously played the same little ditty. Doug continued to sing this afterwards until I gagged him. The other side chanted with the boom of their bass drum.
The final score was nil nil but the people watching had been great. We got a taxi back with the Americans and dropped them off with a plan of meeting up the next day to go to the equator.
Later doug and I headed out to forage for food. We couldn't be bothered going out for dinner so went on a quest for a shop. It was raining so we put on our waterproof jackets and walked along the main road. 5 mins into our trip a car drove speedily past us through a huge puddle. In a slow mo comic sequence we were drenched, doug gallantly dived in front of me taking the brunt of the water. He was soaked through to the knickers, the only thing we could do was piss ourselves laughing! We headed back to the hotel to dry off stopping off at a wee shop for some well deserved chocolate, bread and cheese.
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Mhairi :-) Fun time! So this was my Saturday morning reading with a cuppa Earl Gray!