Quito brings another change of leg. It was only Ben, Nic and me continuing on to Cartagena with Izzie, TJ and Cindy, so we were saying goodbye to Shanyn, Leon, Cathy, Sue and Ken. It seems particularly strange not to have Leon on the trip now, as he was the one remaining person from our original group.
However Leoni, who was with us from BsAs to Cusco had met us in Quito, and we had managed to persuade her to join us again for this last leg, which was good. Other than that we had seven new people getting on. These are Annelies and Sien from Belgium, Simon from England, Axel from Germany, Julie from Wales, Mary from Australia and Pirjo from Finland but now living in Norway.
So there are eleven of us for the final push to Cartagena. On we go!
Showing posts with label Quito. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quito. Show all posts
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Quito
This morning we said goodbye to Tena and headed to to local bus station for the five hour bus journey to Quito. The bus was more of a coach, and was surprisingly comfortable. They even were showing a film for the first part of the journey.
We arrived at Quito to be greeted by a rather relieved TJ and Cathy. Sometimes it can be hard for people who are at a distance to accept that things really are OK in a situation like this, and I think that they were both anxious to see that we really were all unscathed!
Some of the group needed to go t the loo, and as we waited outside with our somewhat depleted baggage, the police approached us to helpfully warn us to be careful of our bags in case of theft. When we told them we were getting taxis into Quito centre, they waited with us and escorted us out into cabs, presumably because they wanted to be sure we weren't ripped off or robbed. This was both nice that they showed such concern, and worrying that they felt they needed to. But we goth to the hotel with bags intact.
By arriving the day early, we had three nights in Quito, but we didn't really get to see any of it other than the shops! However that may have been a good thing as a friend that had been on the truck earlier and met up with us in Quito, had her camera stolen in the old town by a group of five people, two of them with knives. This along with some of the other stories we had heard from travelers we had met left us feeling Quito was not the safest place.
The first evening, as our group farewell meal, we went to an 'all you can eat and drink' place, but I don't think they had reckoned on how much we could put away. Dragoman paid for the meal as a gesture because of the fire, but I think we got value for money! The second night was a Sunday, and apparently they are not supposed to serve alcohol after 4pm. We had gone to a nearby restaurant prepared for a dry meal, but we're pleased to find that they were serving after all. I wont say where we were just in case the wrong person reads this!
On our various shopping trips we managed to buy an iPad to replace our laptop, and enough clothes to keep us going for now. I still need new boots, and we will rely on the spare sleeping mats on the truck for now, but we have sorted out the main things we needed.
On the Monday, we met up with the new group for the welcome meeting and meal, ready for the last leg of the Dragoman trip.
We arrived at Quito to be greeted by a rather relieved TJ and Cathy. Sometimes it can be hard for people who are at a distance to accept that things really are OK in a situation like this, and I think that they were both anxious to see that we really were all unscathed!
Some of the group needed to go t the loo, and as we waited outside with our somewhat depleted baggage, the police approached us to helpfully warn us to be careful of our bags in case of theft. When we told them we were getting taxis into Quito centre, they waited with us and escorted us out into cabs, presumably because they wanted to be sure we weren't ripped off or robbed. This was both nice that they showed such concern, and worrying that they felt they needed to. But we goth to the hotel with bags intact.
By arriving the day early, we had three nights in Quito, but we didn't really get to see any of it other than the shops! However that may have been a good thing as a friend that had been on the truck earlier and met up with us in Quito, had her camera stolen in the old town by a group of five people, two of them with knives. This along with some of the other stories we had heard from travelers we had met left us feeling Quito was not the safest place.
The first evening, as our group farewell meal, we went to an 'all you can eat and drink' place, but I don't think they had reckoned on how much we could put away. Dragoman paid for the meal as a gesture because of the fire, but I think we got value for money! The second night was a Sunday, and apparently they are not supposed to serve alcohol after 4pm. We had gone to a nearby restaurant prepared for a dry meal, but we're pleased to find that they were serving after all. I wont say where we were just in case the wrong person reads this!
On our various shopping trips we managed to buy an iPad to replace our laptop, and enough clothes to keep us going for now. I still need new boots, and we will rely on the spare sleeping mats on the truck for now, but we have sorted out the main things we needed.
On the Monday, we met up with the new group for the welcome meeting and meal, ready for the last leg of the Dragoman trip.
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