Friday 11th November 2011 - Overcast with some sunshine

This morning was the same as yesterday’s morning routine.  After breakfast the Mum called me a taxi and I went to the bus stop.  Luckily a bus was passing by at the same time so I jumped on, literally as it didn’t stop with all my bags hanging out the door, found a seat and headed back to Quito.  I went straight back to the Secret Garden hostel and checked in.  I was given the same bed as before I left and the room was full but with a whole bunch of new people.  I grabbed some of the shopping I bought earlier in the week and went to the post office.  It was a lengthy process to send stuff home but I got there in the end.  It only cost a small fortune, but one less thing to worry about for the rest of my trip.

From there I headed straight over to the Presidential Palace and this time got to walk up to the entrance.  I still couldn’t work out how you actually got on a tour so I asked a tour guide that was passing by with two English tourists how you get to go inside.  She told me where to go and what to do.  So I headed over to the other side of the building and through hand signals the two Military Police said I would be on the next tour, which was a 25min wait.  I decided to stay at the front of the line and it started to rain so the MP let me stand inside under cover.  Then they tried to talk to me so I got my phrase book out and they went through the dictionary trying to find things to ask me.  We went through the usual questions: are you married, how old are you, where do you live, and what do you do?  They were quite entertaining; although I think they got into trouble because someone senior came out and ordered them inside.  These two Ecuadorian girls who were in the line with me by that stage were in fits of laughter saying they thought I t was funny watching these two military personnel flirting with the white tourist and then being relieved by two more attentive police who were to police who comes and goes through the gate.

The tour went for an hour and half and it was all in Spanish.  We had to leave our passports behind, go through metal scanners and then had a photo taken on the steps of the Palace.  I had my photo taken with Claudia and her cousin, the two Ecuadorian girls in the line with me.  The Palace has some lovely artefacts in it and is quite grand.  I am fairly certain it is where the President lives.  At the end they gave everyone a copy of their photo.  I let the girls have our copy as it meant more to them than it did to me.

From there I walked to the Basilica and walked up three of the towers.  It’s a fairly narrow walkway in some places and a bit dodgy but it was worth it from the top.  Great 360⁰ views over Quito.  After that, I headed over into the new town area looking for somewhere to eat.  I found a chicken fast food place and after working out on the menu what I was going to have, they didn’t have it when I ordered it.  So I left and kept walking.  The next place I came to was KFC, so I had that.  It started raining quite heavily while I was there so I waited for it to ease off a bit before heading back to the hostel, where I repacked my bag and went to bed.

Things noted whilst in Quito:

1.       There are sunglass shops everywhere, yet I’ve not seen a single person wear a pair of sunglasses;

2.       There are clocks on every building and important street corner, yet not one has the correct time;

3.       Ecuadorians are really short;

4.       It’s a city perfect for people who love fruit juice and yoghurt;

5.       Everyone dresses assuming its going to rain, regardless of how hot it is.

Check link to my pic on zoo website

http://www.quitozoo.org/programas-educativos/programas-de-educacion/amigos-de-la-granja.html

Thursday 10th November 2011 - Overcast morning, heavy rain in the afternoon

I got up at 0630 and got ready.  I went over to the family’s house at 0715 for breakfast.  I don’t think they knew what to give me because I don’t eat yoghurt which is all Ecuadorians eat for breakfast, so I had scrambled eggs, toasted croissants and cucumber and tomato salad.  It was rather filling.  The Mum walked me half way to the Zoo and then the Zoo bus drove past so I squashed in with everyone else.  Once at the Zoo I headed down to Ruth’s office and was met by two of the zoo keepers.  They showed me the food preparation room and collected a whole heap of containers with various animal names on them and then we headed off to some medium sized cats first.  I got to go in the enclosure and take some photos and then photographed the keepers cleaning the enclosures.  We then went to the Andean Bears, Jaguar who was being given some medication by one of the vets (and who then tried to attack me through the door after it was let out in its enclosure), the lions, Galapagos turtles, smaller turtles, wolves and an Andean bear who is 20 years old and no longer on public display.

That took up most of the morning and from there I then went to the hospital and took some photos of the vet cleaning an infected turtle’s eye.  It was a bit hard to photograph given how small it was and it kept trying to hide its head in its shell.  We went via the quarantine area and another area with animals that have been rescued but they can not put on public display so they just live in small cages hidden from public view.  We then went to the nocturnal house which was awesome.  I saw my first ever two toed sloths.  They are so beautiful.  There were also some owls and a possum but all I saw was its tail.  I don’t think they quite get the nocturnal house thing…it was all lit up so everything was sleeping.  From there it was off to lunch – potato soup and rice and fried bananas.

After lunch I went with another keeper to see the Condors and kangaroo but she wasn’t as relaxed as the two guys this morning and wouldn’t let me get any closer to anything than where the public can go.  It started raining so they put the kangaroo away and then I was taken up to the offices.  I started downloading my photos and then headed out in the rain to see what else I could get photos of but ended up just getting soaked through.  The frog enclosure was pretty cool though.  They have these amazing frogs called marsupial frogs.  They carry their babies around on their backs until they start to get legs and then they are left on their own.  I went back to the office and then handed all my photos over.  A lady came in who could speak English and started talking to me and said that everyone wanted to talk to me but because I don’t speak Spanish and they English, I didn’t talk to anyone for two days straight.

I got a taxi back to my homestay house where I changed my clothes and hung out in my room until about 1900 when I went down to the house.  Puno wasn’t there so it was just the Mum and two boys.  We had chicken spaghetti for dinner.  I went to bed not long after.

Wednesday 9th November 2011 - Overcast

This morning I got up super early, put my luggage in storage and headed to Estacion Ofelia on the metrobus.  I then found a bus that goes past the Zoo and it cost all of 55c to get there.  I then jumped in a taxi and managed to get to the Zoo by 0900 where I was met by Ruth, only one of two people at the Zoo who can speak English.  She took me to meet the head of the Zoo Ximena, who then told me what sort of photos they wanted for their website and promotional posters.  Ruth then showed me around the Zoo.  She is an Entomologist and used to work on the Galapagos Islands but now work at the Zoo as a biologist.  The Zoo itself is really quite nice.  Not too big but you can really see that they are trying to make an effort with the enclosures.  All the animals are from Ecuador, mainly confiscated or abandoned animals except a Red Kangaroo and two lionesses which are the draw cards of the Zoo.  It’s a Zoo aimed only at locals and costs $4.00 to get into.

I spent most of the day just wandering around photographing what I could through the bars, stopping for lunch which was an hour long.  It was potato soup and chicken and rice.  Some of the animals are so cute and cuddly although I don’t know what half of them are because I can’t read the signage.  I took some photos of school children playing with the animals in the animal nursery (cows, llamas, guinea pigs, sheep, rabbits and donkey).   

At the end of the day I caught the Zoo bus to my homestay house.  I think the name of the Zoo worker I am staying with is Puno but I’m not really sure.  Only the children were home – two boys about 10 and 8 years old.  They showed me to my room which is huge.  The whole place is huge.  My room is two stories with two single beds downstairs along with an en-suite bathroom.  Upstairs has a double bed.  There are also two dogs – a German Shepard and this little wiry bouncy little dog.  They are both really friendly.

I stayed in my room for a bit and then the boys came and got me and took me down to their house.  It consists of two rooms, one the bedroom where the whole family sleeps in two beds, bathroom and a tiny kitchen.  The boys cant speak English so we watched television for a bit and I showed them some photos from home and they showed me some of their last holidays.  About 1900 the parents got home and we had dinner.  Conversation was hard but we managed a few words, mainly consulting my phrase book to see if we were talking about the same thing.  After dinner I returned to my room up the driveway (which is bigger than their entire house) and went to bed.

Tuesday 8th November 2011 - Cloudy and cool

Once up, I booked myself onto a free guided tour of the Old Town which started at 1100.  It was really good to hear about some of the history of the area and the buildings seeing as I haven’t really been able to understand anything so far.  We started at the Basilica which is on the edge of the Old Town and New Town and Consuela explained all the animal figures that line the outside.  Where most churches have gargoyles, this church has animals of the Galapagos.  She also explained the use of Guinea Pigs – in villages the Sharman uses Guinea Pigs as a way to find out what is wrong with someone who is ill.  He passes a live Guinea Pig across the person’s body and after about 5 min, the GP dies.  He then cuts it open and pulls out all its insides until he finds the organ/s that have something wrong with them and then he knows what is wrong with the person.  Apparently all village people also keep GP in their house near the front door and use them as a way of knowing whether a visitor to the house is a good person or not based on whether the GP squeals.  Having worked in a pet shop for 10yrs, I don’t think I ever saw a GP not squeal the moment someone went near them so really can’t see how accurate this would be.  They also eat GP because it is native to here and is what people had easy access too before sheep, cattle etc.

We then went into an old house and looked at the flooring in the entrance way which had bones in combination with stones laid out like pavers (only tiny ones).  Apparently this is what the wealthy people used to do to protect their houses.  We went to a few more old buildings before heading to Plaza Grande.  Consuela was in the middle of explaining a statue in the middle of the Plaza when we were all pre occupied with a protest that was happening about 100m from us.  We asked her and she said it was because they had just increased taxes so people were protesting out the front of the mayors office.  The next thing we know, there are people running in every direction and we asked her again what was happening and she looked worried for a split second and told us to move a little further back because the riot squad (who were guarding the mayors building) has thrown tear gas out.  So that was a bit of action for the day.

We then headed to a few churches and then to the public library which had a roof top terrace which you could go up too and look out at the view.  In a courtyard below (3 stories down) there was a word spelt out on the ground in red rose petals.  We asked what it said and we were told that it was a marriage proposal, and the groom to be was down there putting the final touches on his layout, including having a basket tied to helium balloons on a long fishing line to bring down to her after he popped the question.  It was really sweet.  We then headed up to Plaza San Francisco where the tour ended.  It rained sporadically throughout the day, but I think that is quite common for Quito.
 

I then headed out to the New Town and found a cinema, but unfortunately I couldn’t communicate with anyone about what movies were in English so I went and checked out McDonalds instead.  It’s the first Maccas I’ve seen around the world that has the exact same menu as Australia.  They also have McHappy Day in November as well.  I thought that was only an Australian thing, but apparently not.  I then headed to a shopping centre and bought some vitamins suggested for sea sickness and altitude sickness and then headed back to the hostel where I tried to repack my bag.  I had dinner in the hostel café (vegie red curry and rice).  To my surprise, I had my first ever hot shower in this hostel and my dorm room filled up with all 6 beds being occupied.

Monday 7th November 2011 - Raining

Had a nice sleep in (another night in the dorm room on my own) and awoke to a rainy day.  I headed down to the Old Town and went straight to the Presidential Palace to see the Changing of the Guard which takes place every Monday at 11am.  Despite the rain, the plaza was full of over excited Ecuadorians.  In amongst dodging umbrellas it was quite an amazing sight.  Not quite on the grand scale of England’s Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace, but fairly impressive none the less.  The President, Rafael Correa came out on the balcony and stayed there the entire time.  Everyone was cheering and there were people with banners and lots of young women swooning and lots of old women crying!  It’s apparently quite a big thing for Ecuadorians to see.  Gabi was telling me how popular he is amongst most people (with the exception of the very wealthy) and how he is the first President in about 15-20 years that the people like and haven’t kicked out of office.  He has tried to get rid of corruption, improved education, health, reduced poverty and unemployment and generally trying to bring the country up to first world standards.  It was fairly obvious just how popular he is given how wet I got as did all the people who were there to see him.

From there I headed over to the La Marsical area and had lunch in a cheap, local hamburger place.  I decided to walk there because after yesterdays efforts, I am clearly not as fit as I’d like to be and don’t want to be struggling when I do the Inca Trail and Patagonia.  Walking around relatively flat areas is easy though so maybe I need to walk around the Old Town some more.  For lunch I ordered the Pollo burger which was ok.  From there I tried to find the national Park office but as luck would have it, it doesn’t exist anymore.  Instead there was a travel agency there and I spoke to them about visiting a Park south of Quito but its so complicated on how to get there (combination of bus, hiring a passing by vehicle and negotiating a price (basically like hitchhiking only paying for it) and walking) and I have to book in 24hrs in advance, that I have decided not to go.  It sounded great, but if the rest of this week stays wet, then I can’t see myself enjoying it all that much.

From there I headed to the supermarket and had a look around and then went to some craft market stalls and did some shopping.  It was starting to get cold and dark so I headed back to the hostel.  I had dinner at the hostel for the first time (chicken pie) and it was really nice.  I could have eaten twice as much, but it’s the first dinner I’ve eaten in a week, so I must be getting my appetite back!  I finally heard back from the Zoo with confirmation of me going there to volunteer but am only going for two days now as there aren’t enough days left in the week to go for longer.  So I will be there Wed/Thurs this week.

Another cold shower and a room to myself!

Sunday 6th November 2011- Overcast

Had the whole dorm to myself last night and eventually got up after hitting the snooze button about 4 times and made my way on the trolebus to Terminal Quitumbe.  Once there it took me about 10min to work out where the long distance buses leave from and where to buy a ticket from.  I was fortunate enough to get straight onto a bus to Banos.  Had I been any later I would have had to wait about 2hrs.

It took about 3hrs to get to Banos and the scenery along the way was amazing.  We drove past Cotapaxi, a large conical shaped volcano which was snow capped and through a whole heap of villages with the last 40min descending down into a valley housing the town.  It was just beautiful.  First up I found a place that had chicken on its lunch special.  Great value.  For $2 I had chicken soup (although couldn’t bring myself to eating the actual chicken pieces as they were the bits that you don’t want to eat), main of fried chicken, rice, beans and salad and I passed on the dessert and juice as I was full from the first two courses.  I wandered around the town for a bit and went and looked at some waterfalls just on the outskirts of town and had planned on going on several hikes around town, because on the map, they weren’t that long!

Well, I started on the first walk, a whole 750m to a look out point.  Can’t be that hard right?  How wrong was I?  It was straight up a mountain with a 1:1 gradient and I struggled the whole way up.  It was quite humid and hot in the sun and I was so relieved when I got to the top that I decided that the village that was only another 2km could stay where it was because I wasn’t walking any further!  The amazing thing is that the whole way up this mountain, there were gates to peoples houses.  The walking track was this skinny goat track and there was no possible way a vehicle could get to these homes.  I couldn’t believe people walk this daily to get to and from the town.  Then it all made sense when several horses went by and then I realised how the wealthy people get to and from their houses.  Those who obviously can’t afford a horse, have to walk up and down daily.

The walk back down was much faster, but also a lot harder on the knees.  I slid most of the way down but did manage to overtake some other walkers which made me feel a bit better.  I followed this tiny man carrying a huge sack of potatoes (twice as big as him) all the way to the bottom.  I have no idea how he managed to do it, although he probably does it on a regular basis.

I wandered around the town some more.  Decided not to bother with any other of my planned walks because clearly I was going to struggle and so jumped on a bus back to Quito.  The setting sun over Cotopaxi on the way back was great, although I was on the wrong side of the bus and I asked this girl to take a photo for me and out of 6 photos, only one was slightly less blurry than the remaining five.  Luckily that one had Cotoapaxi in it because the others had only road and trees?!?!  Once back at the bus terminal I jumped on a trolebus back to the Old Town.  I had to change once because I obviously got on the wrong one initially but eventually found my way back to the hostel.

Still haven’t worked out how to make the hot water work, if it does at all!

Saturday 5th November 2011 - Sunny and warm

Today is market day and the reason why all the hotels in Otavalo book out on Friday nights.  Breakfast started at 0700 and I was up and down there ready for the start of breakfast only to discover that the dining room was full because everyone was already up ready to get to the markets.  So after waiting for a bit, a table was ready and I had breakfast.  I then went straight to the Animal Market which was about 1km from the centre of town.  It was great to see.  There were so many people all dressed in traditional clothing selling their animals and you could buy basically anything from livestock – cows, pigs, goats, chickens to domestic pets – kittens, puppies, rabbits and guinea pigs.  I felt like a giant as the people from this area are tiny.  The average height was between my elbow and shoulder.  It made it hard taking photos of people because I spent the whole time looking down at them.  They wear these groovy green felt hats with feathers in them or a huge scarf folded up on their heads and black skirts and white shirts.  I spent a good couple of hours there and nearly got trampled by a cow running loose down the hill.

From there I walked back to he regular markets which spill out onto the all the surrounding streets from the Plaza.  It’s huge and you can buy anything you want.  It’s the hugest market in South America and very popular with Ecuadorians.  I bought a couple of presents for myself.  After a few hours there I checked out of the hotel and headed to the bus station and headed back to Quito.  The return bus trip was much easier to do as I had more of an idea of what I was doing.  I even helped some other tourists who weren’t sure how to get onto the metrobus once back at the main bus terminal.

I returned to the hostel and spent the afternoon/evening bumming around.  Had a cold shower, so not sure how you get hot water!

Friday 4th November 2011 - Sunny, slightly overcast and cool

Today was a big day.  Before breakfast I tried calling a few hotels in Otavalo to book a room but no one could understand me so I kept handing the phone over to the guy running the place, although he couldn’t speak English and I think he knew what I wanted but would speak to the person and then hang up.  After four places I decided that I was going to have trouble getting accommodation for the night so I went back to the hostel and looked up some hotels online, found one and booked it.  It was a little more expensive than what I had wanted to pay, but at least I was guaranteed a bed for the night.  I left the hostel straight after breakfast and caught a taxi to the Old Town to the hostel I looked at yesterday.  I out my bag into storage and then headed to one of the metrobus stations nearby.  I haven’t caught public transport until today so it was always going to be an adventurous day.  It took me about half an hour to find the bus stop, paid my 25c and then waited for the bus.  It was packed!  Half way through the trip we all got kicked off.  I wasn’t sure why and was standing around like an idiot trying to work out where to go next when another bus turned up and this lady came up and grabbed me by the arm and dragged me onto the bus, pushing me past everyone else in the line.  I wasn’t sure what was happening and it wasn’t until we pulled out of the station that this lady pointed to a bus, which was our previous bus and that’s when I noticed the flat tyre…which is why we all had to get off and change buses.

I got into Estacion Ofelia station and then everything fell apart.  I had no idea where to go and I couldn’t find anyone to help me.  I walked around and after about 20min I started to get really frustrated and then out of no where these two guys came up and asked me where I was going.  I told them I wanted to go to Otavalo and they told me they were from there and that I needed to get to Carcelen, the major bus station.  They explained how there was a bus that went from the terminal I was in to the main terminal but if I wanted too I could catch a taxi with them.  So I did.  It cost $2 which was nothing given that it took us about 15min to get there.  Once there, it was easy to find the ticket place and then the bus.  

It took 2 ½hrs to get to Otavalo and the scenery was really nice.  The town is surrounded by snow capped mountains/volcanoes.  I found my hotel (Hotel Coraza) really easily and it’s only 3 blocks from Plaza de Ponchos.  After checking in I headed straight back out and went exploring.  It’s a beautiful city.  I had lunch in this little restaurant and ordered the ceviche and a chicken dish for main and struggled to finish both of them.  I wandered around the markets and walked around some of the side streets.  It’s interesting to see all the young people hanging out and all dressed up.  Not sure what they do other than hang out on the streets.

Thursday 3rd November 2011 - Overcast and cool

This morning I had scrambled eggs and a pancake for breakfast.  I then decided to walk to the Old Town and found a hostel to move too later in the week – The Secret Garden.  It has ridiculously steep stairs but the view from the rooftop (where the reception area is) is out over the Old Town.  Because it is a holiday, not much was open except the main tourist attractions.  I walked up and down hills looking at all the old buildings.  I tried to get on a tour into the Presidential Palace but they kept turning me away so I am not sure how you get onto one.  I looked at all the churches, plazas and museum buildings.  I went into the Basilica.  The stained glass windows were the usual churchy scenes but above them were another set of windows that show cased different flowers in Ecuador.  I was on the way around to go up the bell tower and passed by all these underground areas of the Basilica so I went in.  It was the catacombs of the church and it just kept going down and down with row after row of tombs.  All were decorated with flowers and food and there were a lot of people down there.  What I didn’t realise is that they are normally closed and only immediate family members can get access to that area, but because yesterday was All Souls Day, they were open for the holiday period.  I attempted to go up the Basilica but the ticket lady told me it was closed so I decided to walk back to the hostel instead and repack my bag.  I had dinner in the hostel café which was good.

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 - Cloudy

Today I moved to the Magic Bean Hostel in the La Mariscal area, only about 2 blocks from where Gabi lives.  I left my bags and then went with Gabi and Summer to some local markets so Gabi could buy some presents to take to Bangladesh with her.  I got a good idea of what things should cost so if I go back I will know what to bargain for.  From there Summer went off to do her own stuff and I went with Gabi to large shopping centre for lunch.  We went to a crepe and waffle place which was really nice.  Gabi did a bit of shopping and I just wandered around.  It was the same as any other shopping centre, though they did have great recycling bins.  From there I went back to the hostel and had a sleep.  At 1800 I called Gabi from one of the communication centres that are all over Quito and then walked over to her unit and she took me into the Old Town.  Because it is the Day of the Dead (All Souls Day), there were a lot of people out and about around Calle de La Ronda street/area so that is where we went.  Gabi was explaining to me how you can only drive on certain days of the week to try and reduce traffic congestion.  So number plates ending in certain numbers can only drive on certain days.  Gabi’s brand new 4x4 Grand Vitara (bought for her by her boyfriend) plates end in 6 which means she cant drive from 1630 on Wednesdays to 1200 on Thursdays, so technically she shouldn’t have been driving tonight but because it’s a holiday, its ok.

Gabi made me try many traditional foods, some ok, some not.  First up was colada morada, the traditional drink that is only made and drunk on the Day of the Dead.  It is meant to symbolise the grief and the blood of those who no longer accompany us.  It was this thick, hot, dark purple drink which is made from a mixture of berries and cinnamon.  At first I didn’t like it, but after a few mouthfuls it was ok.  The texture was like paper pulp which is why it was hard to drink, it tasted fine, but its warm thick consistency meant I couldn’t finish it.  They also eat guaguas de pan, this bread made in the shape of babies and brightly decorated on this day, but I passed on that.  Then I tried various fried foods, all quite nice.  We walked the length of the street which had street performers and loads of people walking around.  I think the street is one of the oldest in Quito.  We then went to a restaurant and I tried more local foods.  First up was hot chocolate.  I took my first mouthful and it was nice but had this weird oil slick on top and little squishy yucky bits in it.  I asked Gabi what it was and she said cheese.  Apparently this hot chocolate is a specialty in an area in Ecuador.  I really didn’t like the soft cheese bits so tried to strain them out with my teeth (half the cup ended up being soft cheese).  Next up was corn on the cob and these large beans.  All completely tasteless, so you need to pile on the hot sauce they have to give it some flavour.  There were also some fried things with cheese, they were ok, but again not much taste.  There was a local band playing which were quite good.  We continued walking along the street and reading the signs that line it explaining the history of the area and how it was the place where all the artists and authors used to live.

I got Gabi to drop me back at the hostel because I wasn’t interested in going out clubbing with her because I knew it would be a late night.  When I got back to the hostel I was surprised that I had a room to myself.  It was a really nice room with only three beds in it and large storage cupboard per bed.  The shower was nice and hot too.

Tuesday 1st November 2011 - Sunny, ~27⁰C

After a great night sleep I woke up around 0930 and that was only because Gabi was talking to her brother on Skype.  I managed to catch up on emails before having a cheese and tomato toastie for breakfast along with some traditional Ecuadorian drink.  It was warm blended milk with cinnamon in it.  It was ok.

Around 1230 Summer offered to take me out on a walking tour of La Mariscal area as she is a tour guide and about to do her first private tour starting at the end of the week and needed to do a reckie of the hotel, cafes etc.  She is American but has lived in Ecuador, Egypt, Turkey and Morocco for many years and can speak fluent Spanish, Arabic, French and Turkish and is married to a Moroccan where they spend half their time and the other half in LA..  We walked around for about 4 hours so I managed to get my bearings of where everything is.  Quito is 2850m above sea level so I didn’t felt too great all day but its gotten better as the day went on.  We went to a chocolate café where I managed to try all the free samples of Ecuadorian chocolate.  It is just so yummy.  It is sold according to area/region so each one tastes slightly different.  I think I ate about half a block of chocolates worth.  From there we went to a little side street café and I had a chicken empanada which was really quite yummy, a bottle of coke, a bottle of water all for US$1.50.  Street food is cheap but generally everything is roughly the same price as what it is at home.

Apparently uni holidays started today which explains all the young drunk Ecuadorians out and about.  It’s also the day before a 5 day public holiday when everything will be closed.  The first public holiday is the celebrate the day of the dead so all families get together and go to the cemeteries with big feasts and sit around the graves of their deceased relatives and eat and drink and party.  Glad I picked such a great time to visit!  Hopefully some of the tourist attractions will still be open.  The following public holidays are a combination of various holidays around the country and the President declared 5 days so people could go away.

Gabi is flying over to Bangladesh on Thursday to see her boyfriend for a month (which is where he is from and lives) so tomorrow I will move to a hostel and probably spend the next few days around Quito to try and acclimatise before heading out to any of the mountains.  Gabi owns an Optometrist business two hours north of Quito.  Apparently she only has to physically go into work on average one week out of every month and the rest of the time she can do what she wants.  I’m guessing she is doing quite well for herself.  Gabi decided to take us up the teleferiqo  (cable car) but as usual she was running late so by the time we got to the car park it was dark.  The cable car went up 2.5km to the top of Cruz Loma, flanked by Volcan Pichincha.  It was lovely to see all the cities lights.  We were up around 4100m and the air was thin and it was hard to breathe.  It was cool but not as cold as I was expecting.  We sat inside and Gabi bought me some traditional alcoholic drink.  I have no idea what it was but it was very strong.  We walked around outside for a little bit before heading back down to Quito.

Gabi had to take some clothes to her Mum’s place but I didn’t feel like doing that so stayed home and made eggs for dinner.  I’m glad I didn’t go because she and Summer didn’t get home until 0030 and then cooked steak for dinner.

Monday 31st October 2011 - Overcast in Miami, clear skies in Quito

Was up at 0600, packed and off by 0700.  I headed straight into Miami Beach and looked around the Art Deco district.  It was another overcast day so photos weren’t looking that great.  I had a quick look at the beach again before heading off to the airport.  That was a mission and a half.  I followed all the signs to the car rental return area and drove around for about 40min.  I felt like I went around the world, but eventually the signs led me to the right place.  Then it was another huge hike to the check in desk.  Miami Airport is so big!

Other animals/birds seen in southern Florida: Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin, Eastern Grey Squirrel, Osprey, Roseate Spoonbill, Turkey Vulture, Snowy Egret, Belted Kingfisher, Red Shouldered Hawk, Black Vulture, Great Blue Heron, Brown Pelican, Double-Crested Cormorant, Blue Heron, Tri-coloured Heron, Snail Kite and Periphyton (algae).

Checked in all ok, flight left on time and food was ok (even though I have no idea what it was as there was anyone who could speak English to explain it to me).  Flying into Quito is one of the best sights ever.  It is such an amazing, pretty place.  A city surrounded by bright green volcanoes, some snow capped.  The airport was tiny.  We literally flew in with houses just 200m either side of the runway.

The plane arrived early and I waited out the front of the airport for my friend Gabriela.  After an hour of waiting, a man asked if I wanted to use his mobile because I had been there for so long, so I called Gabi, and she had forgotten I was coming.  She really hasn’t changed from when I knew her in England as she was notoriously known for always being late, turning up to things on the wrong day or generally just forgetting.  Surprisingly, the temperature was around 24⁰C.  For some reason I thought it would be hotter.

She came and picked me up and I met her Mum and her friend Summer who was visiting from LA.  We went back to Gabi’s unit which is just beautiful.  The three of us went out to dinner to a new 5 star restaurant called Zuzu.  It was absolutely divine.  It was very expensive for Ecuadorian standards, but compared to Australia, it was nothing.  I had a 3 course meal of crab meat with palm hearts in this amazingly beautiful cream sauce, grilled swordfish with mashed potato with crab mixed through it and chocolate fondue for desert plus a cocktail for US$42.  It was one of the nicest meals I have ever eaten.  Afterwards, Gabi insisted we go to her friends club – The Attic Bar in the La Mariscal district, not far from her unit.  Being Halloween, she also made us dress up.  So I had to wear these pink fluffy bunny ears, red devil tail and arm length red gloves.  We were the only ones dressed up.

Thankfully we didn’t stay too long as I was so tired and just wanted to go to bed.

Sunday 30th October 2011 - Overcast, thunderstorms & heavy rain mid afternoon onwards

I was planning on getting gup early but ended up sleeping until 1100.  Once up, I headed back up north to Shark Valley Visitor Centre and got the 1300 tram that went out to the Observation Tower.  Along the way we passed many baby Alligators, birds and hummock vegetation.  The guide was explaining to us about the Anhinga birds and how they mate for life.  The male finds a stick and offers it to the female.  If she likes the stick they go off and use it as the starting point of their nest, if she doesn’t accept it, he either finds another stick or finds another female.  They then return to the same site every year to breed.  Apparently there are 250,000 Burmese Pythons in the Everglades.  Some have been dumped as unwanted pets and the rest floated down after Hurricane Katrina (from pet shops and peoples pets) and settled in the Park.  They have people licensed to hunt them and dogs specially trained but so far it hasn’t been overly successful.  Yesterday they caught one that had a full grown deer in its gut.  They are decimating the native wildlife and they are at a loss as to what to do about it.

After the tram ride which took about 1 1/2hrs, I did the Otter Cave Hammock Trail which was knee deep in water.  I persevered and saw lots of Zebra Butterflies.  Unfortunately I didn’t come across any Otters which live there.  I then did the Bobcat Boardwalk and saw a couple of ?.  Towards the end it started to rain so I headed back to the car and set off back the main entrance at the southern end of the park.  I went back to Royal Palm and did some more spotlighting.  On the way home I stopped to take photos of a few snakes and then it started to rain again so I headed back to the hostel.  I repacked my bags and had an early night.

Saturday 29th October 2011 - Overcast, thunderstorms, hot and humid and rain overnight

Today I headed off with the intention of doing everything north in the Park in one day only.  That didn’t happen.  So I headed straight to the Shark Valley Visitor Centre first with the hope of doing the tram ride but I just missed one and it was a 2hr wait until the next one so I decided to keep driving.  I passed many airboat businesses and thought about doing one but there was something about the signs that didn’t seem right.  All the billboards had these macho men wrestling Alligators and tearing up the waterways and I realised that other than the billboards, there is no advertising anywhere else for them.  So I thought I’d sit on that idea for a bit before making a decision.  I continued on the Tamiami Trail through Reservation Area (which you are not allowed to stop in other than the designated visitor areas, which are basically shops and money making businesses) until I got to the Oasis Visitor Centre in Big Cypress National Preserve.  I picked up a map and enquired about the airboat rides and they basically didn’t say anything about them other than they are not sure what the environmental impact is of them yet and they don’t want to encourage people to do them, so that made my mind up not to do one.

From the visitor centre I headed along the Trail for a bit before heading off north on a dirt scenic road that followed a creek line.  It was full of Alligators and water birds.  I stoped by quickly at the H.P. Williams Roadside Park – got eaten alive by mozzies, took a few photos of a Green Anole (Cuban Brown) lizard and then continued on.  I headed back into the Everglades Nati9onal park and stopped by the visitor centre at Everglades City and boat tickets for the two boat rides – a six person boat that goes up into the mangroves and a larger boat that goes out to the Thousand Islands.  I had some time to kill before the first one so I drove down to Chokoloskee, a small island at the end of the mainland where quite a few holiday houses, fishing houses and RV parks were and an old store that is now a museum I was going to go in but decided to go and get some lunch instead.  I could only find one place that served food so I ordered a chicken baguette.  It was one of the most disgusting rolls I have ever had.  The bread was frozen, the chicken was basically a huge slab of meat and the salad was drowned in mustard.  It was so big I couldn’t even bite into it.  So I picked some of the filling out and ate it on its own and discarded the roll.

The first cruise was the six person boat up into the mangroves.  Well, I can’t say I thought much of it.  I think I could have done a better job of the commentating than the guide.  He was this old guy and had no idea what he was looking at half the time.  I think he needed knew glasses.  It reminded me a bit of the cruise in Kakadu where you go looking at wildlife and end up just crocodile spotting except this was ALLIGATORS.  They don’t do anything so once you’ve seen one; it doesn’t matter how many more you see because they are still not doing anything.  I was more interested in the birdlife but we rarely got to have the boat angled that way.  The cruise up through the mangroves was nice though.  The different species of mangroves and constant little tributaries flowing into the main channels were interesting.  There were Kingfishers flitting in and around the boat the whole time.  On the way back to the dock, a massive rain storm moved in and we got absolutely drenched.  So then I was cold and wet.

I had a little bit of time before the next boat tour so I went into the parks visitor centre and chatted to the ranger there.  He didn’t know a great deal about the area as he had just returned to work after long service leave and couldn’t remember any of the facts about the animals.  I asked about their Junior Ranger program and got some info on it.  I asked if I could have one of the badges that the kids get but he refused to give me one.  I was disappointed.  I thought he would be a little more accommodating, but he wasn’t.

The next boat tour was much better and the guide a lot more knowledgeable.  The Thousand islands are actually 999 but they man made one more to make it 1000.  We went out to the mouth of the harbour and saw a huge pod of Dolphins.  They were really lovely to see, although I realised that I have never tried to photograph them before and they are near impossible to get a picture of.  So I just concentrated on the birds instead.

Once back on land I headed out of the park and back into Big Cypress and stopped at the Kirby Storter Roadside Park and did the boardwalk there.  It was really nice.  I saw a Southern Black Racer snake curled up in a tree near the boardwalk right at the beginning.  There were baby frogs along the walk and lots of birds.  Right at the end it was just a huge mass of tall trees in about a metre of water.  It was really quite nice.  From there I started the 3hr drive back to the hostel.  I was planning on doing some spotlighting on the way as the last guide told me where the road is to look for snakes and it was the road I had to drive on to get back, but unfortunately by the time I got there a massive thunderstorm broke out and it was the hardest drive back in the rain to the hostel as it poured for a good 2hrs straight.  There was a huge Native American Indian Casino that I passed on the way which reminded me of ‘Big Love’.  I headed straight to a take away place to grab some dinner because it was 2100 and I didn’t feel like cooking.  I went to bed not long after I finished dinner.