Wednesday, April 6, 2005 (Quito - Ecuador)
Sometimes, a
little
nudge is just not enough. Still thinking of that Rapa Nui music. Was there
really any need to worry to begin with?
Day 395 (185). With a little bit of a nudge
from Sandy (although I’m lying about the bit about it being little), I
dragged myself out of bed this morning. Since we didn’t need to check out
until noon and weren’t scheduled to be collected to be taken back to the
airport until one o’clock, there really wasn’t any pressing need to
get up early at all. Even though I could have slept well into the afternoon if
left unattended, I forced myself into action since I knew that I would only be
doing myself, and my internal body clock, a disservice otherwise. We packed and
left our bags locked together behind the reception desk whilst we went out into
town to kill some time. We did so by window shopping, grabbing one last bite to
eat and looking for some new batteries for the underwater strobe. I wanted to
arrive in the Galapagos Islands well prepared for some underwater photography.
Whilst in town, I also withdrew another CLP50,000 (€68,50) and went into a
nearby bank to exchange some of this with a full collection of Chilean bank
notes for my collection. I’ve already found one of each coin and these are
now also tucked away safe and
sound.
Our shuttle bus arrived on
time but had parked just out of sight from where we sat in the reception area.
We discovered this when the driver apparently called the hotel and the
receptionist told us that he was outside waiting for us. Luckily, we were the
last passengers to be collected and were whisked immediately off to the airport.
Even though we were a full two hours early, the check-in clerk informed us that
there were no longer any two seats together due to the fact that so many people
had already checked in. Since Sandy was pregnant, she was given the bulkhead
seat immediately behind business class and I was given a seat in the emergency
exit row. Neither of us was
complaining.
I kept thinking back to
that open-air performance that we enjoyed back on Easter Island. I kept thinking
how much I enjoyed the music so I popped into a couple of the shops in the
departure lounge to see if I could find a CD of traditional Rapa Nui music. I
found a couple of different CDs and the second of these sounded most like the
performance that we saw. In fact, I’m not entirely convinced that it
isn’t the same performers even. I bought the CD for US$17 (€13) and
have now loaded it onto the laptop. We did our best to whittle away the
remainder of the Chilean money that we now had with us and were largely
successful in this endeavour by buying a few snacks and things before getting
onto the plane.
After taking my seat,
I was met by two other, young, English travellers, Alyson and Albert. They are
two months into their year long round the world journey and have spent most of
their time so far here in South America. We got on immediately and chatted
non-stop throughout the five-hour flight about the places we’ve each been
to and all the things we’ve encountered. We agreed to share a taxi into
town upon arrival and may even spend the day with each other tomorrow. They seem
like really nice people.
On the
whole, I’d have to say that our first impressions of Ecuador have been
quite favourable. The airport seems modern enough and although there is a clear
South America feel to the place, it doesn’t look as third world as I had
anticipated. I’d say that it’s perhaps a little less developed than
Chile but I once again feel my initial apprehensions rapidly evaporating. Our
two new English friends and us, together with a fifth Australian that we got
chatting to on the plane, decided to all share a ride into town but not without
first getting just a little bit taken for a ride by the eager porters that
insisted on taking our bags all of ten metres from the glass sliding doors of
the arrivals hall to the waiting shuttle bus. Before we really knew what was
going on, they had already relieved us collectively of US$3 (€2,31). Oh
well, at least it was only a Dollar each. Alyson and Albert had already
pre-booked a hotel in the same area of town where we were thinking of staying so
we decided to go straight there and see if it would suit our needs and budget.
As it turned out, it was a proper hotel as opposed to a backpacker’s
hostel and we very much liked the idea of a properly serviced room with bathroom
so we decided to stay there too. The receptionist initially wanted US$50
(€38,46) but I bartered him down to US$40 (€30,77) in the end. This
price included what they described as an American breakfast but this turned out
to be a regular South American breakfast with the exception of there being eggs
served. At least it’s something. A nice touch was the complimentary drink
coupon that we were each given on arrival at the hotel. The four of us that
stayed here at the hotel put these to immediate good use with a stiff drink and
a snack in the hotel bar. We had a lovely time unwinding over a few drinks and
the four of us have decided to spend the day together tomorrow. We’re
going to visit the nearby site of the equator. We may also take a tour up to a
nearby volcano to peer over the rim, weather permitting.
Posted: Wed - April 6, 2005 at 09:30 PM