Hola all,
Met the team and other travellers. 8 travellers including us for 3 weeks so lots of space then others will join. Didn´t feel particularly confindent about the organisation and didn´t instantly gel with any of the other travellers unfortunately. Quick tea then went and spent the evening having rum and fanta (yuck?) on the top level of secret garden with Tom and Petra.
Have now moved into the hostal jardin del sol in quito new town. No where near the views of the secret garden. The area is targetting tourists so the prices are a lot higher. At least we have found another bread shop and supermarket.
Spent the day at Otavalo markets which are a huge market of handycrafts made by equadorian people. Absolutely fantastic. So many bright colours and so many temping things but we cóuldn´t fit them into our bags. Very touristy and no we didn´t buy you anything :-) I practiced spanish with the sellers and can now negotiate using sub dollar offers. This of course amused the equadorian sellers who corrected my spanish as we went. Bought 2x shoulder bags and 3x t-shirts for less than $20. They will probably be worn out before we leave south america.
Went to the equator at mitad del mundo late in the afternoon. Seems that the original monument was in the wrong spot thanks to the french and more recent GPS checks showed that it is greater than 150m wrong. Was entertained by the experiments such as the spin of water either side of the equator. Am skeptical but it was good theatre.
Seems that the tour is more lowbrow than highbrow at the moment. Hope things improve. Already skipped dinner with them tonight. Had enough of their ignorance for one day. Guess it is only day 1.
Off to Mindo tomorrow. Have opted out of the ziplining and tubing and hope to spend the day at the butterfly farm and watching hummingbirds. Fingers crossed.
Adios Amigos,
David and Vanessa
