Dave, from Soggy Paws, came over about 9:30 Tuesday evening (or is that night?) to give us a lift to the dock. There was a big party going on at the marina for the locals and it was in high gear when we arrived. The music was cranked up real loud and there were two couples putting on a show with some wild dancing. Sue and I made a quick stop in the banos for one last time before the long bus ride ahead. I entered the men's room and found a pair of women's shoes on the floor and some pants on the counter. Then, from the toilet stall, came a lot of heavy breathing. I did my business and got the heck out. What was that all about?
Off to the bus terminal and the long overnighter to Quito. This is a large city with a section of old and a downtown, newer, business area. Our bus ride was rather chilly, as we have come to know all too well, and Quito was real cold in the early morning hours as well. We had been told to expect cool weather but nothing cold, so, wanting to travel light we left all the cold gear at home. Mistake. It was about 6 am by the time the taxi dropped us off in front of the hostal and just as cold inside. Breakfast wasn't until 7 so we dropped off our bags and headed out around town to see if we could find coffee and breakfast on our own. The local coffee shops don't open until late (they just don't get this morning coffee thing) but we did manage to find one little place, with some real nice rolls, and a cup of coffee, oh, and the place had a heater also. We were real happy to finally get our toes warm.
On our walk around town we came across one of the largest cathedrals I think I have ever seen. It was so big, it looked out of scale with the buildings in the area. Sue's sister had told us about a trip to the top of the towers and not to be outdone, we were on a quest. The place was vacant. We were able to enter the church through a side door but the doors to the lobby area were locked. Not to be foiled at this point we scouted out and around the block to the front of the church and upon entering the front doors found a small set of stairs that looked promising. We headed up several flights and found an organ on a floor that connected the two towers about half way up. Crossing to the other tower, through a gift shop with no one present, Sue found a glass door in the back of the shop with a latch but no lock. We pushed onward, winding ever higher, past the clocks, past a pastry/coffee shop, also closed. Past even the winding stairs and to a ladder made from rebar that had been welded together. Up three such ladders we made it to a very small landing at the top of the world. The landing was made from two by four welded piping with wire screen over the top. It was getting real hard to let go of things. We felt very vulnerable way up there, peeking out over everything, across the town, but what a view!
Next on our "things to do" list was a visit to the Equator. We ventured on to the local bus and managed to find our way across town, out of town, into the dry, dry countryside. We found a big tourist trap, probably close to some of those roadside areas we used to visit as kids while on vacation, where they made water run up hill because of some magic force of nature. For four bucks we got through the gate and into an area with a million little shops and restaurants trying to get you to come into their place to eat. In the center they have built a big building that houses a lousy museum, but that was another six bucks to get in there. Reminds me of the Nut Tree restaurant in California. They had a little train that said it took you to the small airport out back. Once out there, you could buy a second ride out past the bushes and trees to actually go to the airport. Oh well, they did have a big line on the ground that marked the equator, or did it? With the advent of GPS they have discovered the actual equator is outside the park, but they don't tell you that. Us that are in the know, exit the park and enter the small dirt road just past the park. About a hundred yards up this small road is a funky little area someone has put together with lots of interesting things to look at as well as actual demonstrations of what happens on the actual equator. Most things were a bit hokey, with maybe a small amount of truth to them but one that impressed me was the sink, once filled with water and plug removed, actually dumped the water down the drain without any whirl pool while on the actual equator. The guide moved the sink about five feet either side, repeating the process, and on the north side, the whirlpool formed in a counter clockwise fashion while on the south side, it formed a clockwise direction. I had recently read that this was an old wive's tale, but unless I was really duped (not impossible) it really looked to work. That alone was worth the three buck admission.
Back on the street and time to figure how to catch the bus back to town. It seemed to be running a familiar route, but not knowing town we jumped off a bit soon and ended up walking quite a distance. Once used to the bus system, it appears to be real efficient. It runs quite regularly and for just forty cents we were able to get clear across town. It has its own lane and rips along at high speed, stopping about every half mile or so at a special station just for the buses. It was a lot quicker than anything else for getting through all the traffic.
The next morning we were headed to the tram that went to the top of the mountain, but found it not running, bummer, so we headed back toward the center of old town and went to the local convent. We saw lots of old paintings and enjoyed trying to figure out what was depicted in the paintings. Afterwards, we decided to walk back to our hostel, a long walk, but it gave us more time to view town.
We enjoyed our meals at the hostel, meeting lots of nice people from all over. There seem to be a lot of Australians, a guy from Belgium, another from the UK, and a girl from Denver, all with their own tales of their adventure taken and yet to come.
We had made arrangements for one more night at the hostel before taking the ride to Cuenca, thinking it was only a few hours away. We visited the tour agency next to the hostel and found out it was a ten hour bus ride to Cuenca, oops! We undid the night arrangements and made plans with the bus agency for another overnighter to Cuenca.
Arriving in the early morning, we got a taxi and headed to the next hostel. He took us to the middle of the old town, pointed and said the hostel was right there, took his three bucks and split. I had a funny feeling only to find out we had just been dumped. After a bit of searching and asking, we found our place a half dozen blocks away. Quito is still a large city but smaller than the last. They had lots of people sweeping the streets by hand and plenty of open park areas about town. Not a lot of touristy places to see, but we managed to make our own tour by checking out as many of the old churches as we could. This got us all about the old town and was quite fun. We walked miles across town to make our arrangements for a van to take us to Guayquil the next day. The next morning, our van left at 6am and in three hours we weree back in Guayaquil where we caught a bus back to Bahia de Caraquez.
It always amazes me, the ingenuity of people, when they have to haul things around without the benefit of a truck. We saw a couple of guys on a motor cycle, the guy on the back with a metal pipe, twenty feet long, hanging on to one end as the pipe dragged along the ground, probable a bit shorter by the time they got to their destination.
Well, we made it back to Neos, managed to get a movie in, and then fell fast asleep, another adventure complete.
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