Quito
I live in a room that violently shakes when cars
pass by. From the window I see an immense winged Virgin Mary, a steak
house, a beer factory and the hills of Quito stretching into the
distance . With nearly 2 million people, the worlds second highest
capital city at 9000 feet is my home for the next month.
10 days into my travel it feels like I´ve been
here much longer. The first days overwhelmed me. The noise, the bustle,
the culture that is so far removed from life in Nelson. Already I feel
at home here, the people welcome you with open arms and the passion and
vibrancy are infectious. Ecuador is full of an energy I have never felt
before. Buses are incredibly cheap, always packed full and people hop on and off selling
everything from hot food to clothes pegs or rap to portable
speakers. Loud music plays constantly on the buses and from shops usually Salsa, Cumbia,
Folklore. The traffic is a controlled chaos, it´s common for 7 or 8
people to be in a car or on the back of a ute.
In the smaller towns this is the best way to get around.I have eaten
everything given to me without question, Fried banana fritters,
unidentifiable meat and many bizare fruits.
The food is great and cheap, for 1.50 you can have a starter, a soup, a
main and dessert. I managed to have breakfast, lunch and dinner for the
grand total or $2.20 one day. Bars usually sell mega beer bottles for
$1.
My host family are beautiful and have made me feel so welcome.
Devout Christians, they have a huge extended family and I constantly
meet new cousins and friends from the church. The parents own a
stationery shop below the house, and the 3 children are 22, 20 and 10.
Ecuadorians know how to party, constantly refilling your glass with
beer or sugar cane alcohol, then heading to the discotechs and
salsa bars. While being warned about pickpocketing and theft, I have
had no problems so far and feel fully at ease, as long as you stay
alert. Ecuadorians are relatively short, so its nice to be one of the
tallest people here. The guys slick back their hair, 50´s style, and
most of the women are gorgeous. The indigenous people still dress
traditionally and sell produce on the streets and in the markets.I have
seen very few other tourists since I´ve been here which is nice.
My
arrival into Quito was a blur of neon signs and crumbling buildings,
car horns and a indecipherable flood of Spanish. Worryingly I was
picked up at the airport by not one but 3 guys who drove like maniacs
and spoke no English. Paranoid theories of kidnapping ran through my
jet lagged head, but I eventually arrived at my new house through a
maze of tight and crowded streets. My first thought was that I had been
abandoned at an orphanage. Swarms of children ran about the house and
lined the stairs. I later learned that there was a community church
meeting at the house, but I was freaked at the time. I met my family,
was shown my room and then sunk into a crazed dream filled sleep.
Waking up disorientated, and then off with my host sisters through Quito old town, climbing ladders in catherdrals and
walking through vibrant plazas. Thankfully my sister Evelin speaks good
English, so I am still able to communicate with the family while until
my Spanish gets better. I went to my family´s church and played
accordion in the band, and then dinner and back to Old Town for a
Saturday night full of mimes, hot drinks and traditional music.
On
Sunday I was woken at 8 by the phone with another volunteer asking if I
wanted to travel with them that day and night. In my drowsy state I
agreed and found myself 30 minutes later on a bus heading for Guallabamba Zoo.
The other 4 volunteers were 18 and 19, from the UK and US. They were
able to explain what was happening, as I had no idea what my time in
volunteering in Quito would be like. Even my host family didn´t
know I was arriving until a few hours before I came. The zoo was over
arid hills to the East, and featured tapirs, monkeys, a jaguar and
lion, and a herd of Giant Tortoises. This was definately a
highlight, as I have now witnessed possibly the most awkward mating in
the animal kingdom. The enclosures were small and it was terrible to
see huge Condors caged up unable to fly.
We returned to Quito and bid
farewell to the American volunteer, who was flying out in the morning
and then hopped on a bus for Mindo,
around 3 hours to the West. We arrived at night after dropping 1500m,
the bus ride was fun, for the others, Ali, Ollie and Hat, where very
laid back and had a similarly twisted sense of humour. We walked up the
packed earth streets and found a crazy wooden hostal by
the river, with trapdoors and a hammock deck. The only other guests
were some spaced out backpackers from Holland and France. After pizza,
beer and Hat snorting a line of garlic powder we talked late into the
night, pulled our mosquito nets around our beds and slept.
It
rained through the night and I woke to mist rising through the cloud
forest surrounding the hostel, with a rushing stream nearby and humming
birds flitting between the trees. Armed with bread, cheese and a large
supply of peanut butter, (a valuable resource to trade with other
travelers) we headed off along the dirt roads to find a river suitable
for swimming. Butterflies and huge stands of bamboo lined the dirt
roads. Plunging into the river was such a relief from the hot sticky
day and we headed refreshed for the hills to go Zip-Lining. 13 cables
stretched across ravines and between trees, with the cloud forest
canopy far below. Wearing a harness, we were clipped on and flew down
in through the rain and mist at huge speeds. As we got more experienced
we tried out several compromising positions, including the Mariposa and the Superman (photos to come). When we finished, soaked and exhilerated, we managed to hitch a ride the few kms back to Mindo. As we bounced along in the back of the animal truck while dancing to loud techno music, I couldn´t
keep the smile off my face, just two days into my travels and one of
the weirdest days of my life. Back to Quito late at night I bid
farewell to my new Amigos and went home, looking forward to the week of
volunteering ahead.
We volunteer with an organisation that goes to local street markets and teachs the
children of the vendors, who have no problem letting their kids wander
off with us to learn. Most of them don´t go to school and work with
their parents everyday, helping sell a plethora of fruits, vegetables
and meats. The markets towns are more or less the same as they have
been for centuries, with the indigenous people dressed in the traditional dresses, shirts and hats. Old men and women carry around giant pumpkins and melons, pig carcasses hang from poles and there is a wonderful lack of the ´western´ worlds obsession with health and safety. Hygeine is
unheard of at the markets. The children love the few hours a week they
get with us, running up and clinging to you, demanding to be picked up
and swung round, really craving the attention that must be missing from
their home lives. Danny the coordinator is one of the most down to
earth and friendly people I have ever met and can relate to the kids so
well. We sing with them, dance, colour and do basic words and phrases. Lots speak Spanish as a second language, using the native
Quechua at home, so they don´t even have a basic knowledge, like the
names of colours and directions. The other volunteers come and go, with
some staying for only a week and others for many months. Hat, Ollie and
Ali have left, and now I am alone with Americans, great people but they
don´t really understand sarcasm, wit, or subtlety, so my jokes aren´t appreciated. A new volunteer from Washington is with my family for the next couple of weeks and is super cool, so life is good. My spanish is slowly improving, but I have been speaking too much English for my liking with the other volunteers. I´ve only had a few minor dramas, my insect repellant leaked
and fused all the plastics in my bag together, and now my sewing kit is
impenetrable and I have holes to fix. My credit card doesn´t work so I´m running low on cash, but hopefully can sort that soon.
We rise early and stay up late, and the bars and clubs are superb, great variety of music, Salsa, Electronica, Hip Hop and Reggaeton, the dancing is crazy here. Woh, that was a rambling entry, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what life is like in Quito.
Will
post again in the next few weeks, wish you guys could be over here
experiencing it all, Mum and Dad, will probably phone you soon, or
maybe you could phone me some time as its quite expensive.
