After one last walk around North Seymour Island, we spent the rest of the day taking buses and planes back to Quito. Finally got in a bit after 5pm and then had a group dinner. A few of us stayed out and bar hopped and drank lots (of course I was one of them!!).
Then it was an early start the next day for an organised trip to a nearby town Otavalo which is famous for its markets. We stopped in a small town (Cayambe) and saw 'bread dolls' being made - traditionally given to children for long festivals to keep them happy, but subsquently made into detailed decorations and something to sell to tourists (they are glazed). The markets themselves were just amazing - so colourful. I went a bit mad...for less than $100AUD I brought a gorgeous Alpaca wool blanket, a woven tablecloth, a poncho, multiple scarves and other various things...Eucador in general is scandalously cheap - where else can you buy a bottle of water for 25 US cents (and have someone refuse to sell it to you when you tried to pay for a $5). They don't accept anything over a $20 note and most places ask for something smaller if you give them anything higher than a $5!! We also stopped by a small town famous for its leather goods (picked up dad a fab wallet).
One bizarre thing - there are eucalypts everywhere!!! It is very strange to see them. Apparently they were introduced in some areas to dry up swamps and now they are out of control pests that are using up all the people's water and they can't get rid of them....
Wednesday morning I went to some museums and then later that day watched Ecuador vs Colombia at a Pub. It was a disappointing nil all game and well the vodka and lemonades were being made in the reserve proportions (think a shot of lemonade and a glass of vodka)...a few of those and I was a little trashy to say the least (but safe - nothing to worry about mum and dad - with people!!).
Thursday morning was spent mostly in the post office as I organised to send off a box full of goodies. I think I negotiated the spanish thing very well (my spanish btw is improving daily). The process was amazing. I had to fill in a billion forms, sign a million things, put my passport number on everything and leave a copy of my passport!! I will be surprised if it gets lost (I also have a tracking number to track it online).
Then that afternoon I headed to the equator. There is the 'fake' equator - the place they thought the equator was with a huge monument and a whole heap of trashy shops. A few hundred metres down the road is where the 'real' equator line is meant to be ("calculated with military GPS") - this place was awesome!! They did all sorts of demonstrations - I saw water go straight down the drain on the equator line and then clockwise and anticlockwise either side - freaky as!!! I also discovered I was weaker on the equator line. And I balanced an egg on a nail head. Most impressed with this achievement - not everyone can do this and I did it quite quickly. I think it is a skill that will help me be sucessful in life. I even got my passport stamped proving I've been to the equator. Oh we did this in a 3 and half hour round trip with our own taxi driver playing chauffeur for $30USD....!
One last dinner and then a hideously early wake up call (4.00am) and off to Cusco, Peru! Before I left Ecuador I discovered that cars driving at 4.30am don't need to obey any traffic rules - including traffic lights!!
