Quito part III

Really into salsa, one day there was a storm that came in from the mountains, the sky blackened. In the fading light of the top floor dance studio with its mirrored walls and open windows the electricity in air was palpable. We danced alone in the deserted studio, flickering from side to side like synchronised flames as the lightening leapt across the mirrors and the overhead thunder drummed with the salsa rhythm. Days like this are worth a thousand.

Small crowded downtown salsa club, E dancing salsa with a local man, a guy runs up from the crowd, bottle in hand and crashes it into the back of the mans head. The victim seems stunned, but too not bad, whilst the attacker having seriously severed his hand/wrist in the attack is spraying polkadots of blood all across the dance floor. He stands there defiant and smears blood across his face in some kind of act of bravado. Blood is everywhere, the bouncers dont move, later they are seen casually chatting to him in the street. We leave and the party continues next door. Salsa can be good and it can also be seedy, locals pick a gringa (white girl) and see what you can get away with, as gringas are easy, they dont know the rules, but sometimes the girls dont care. Stumble outside at three thirty, check out the all night club below the casino, and then (and this was dumb) we get cab with a couple of local guys. Stop in a deserted side street hammer on heavy barred door, a shutter is slid open, money goes one way, rum, coke & smokes go the other, slamming shut a second later.

Fortunately the local guys are cool, they have a upscale apartment that has a 180 degree panorama of the snow capped mountains around Quito. Some what to my surprise one of the guys is a also bit of a botanist and takes great pride displaying his rather extensive plant collection. The sun rises over the mountains, cab home, uncontrollable munchies. E attacks the peanut butter jar, scooping it clean with a carving knife, M makes scrambled eggs using ten eggs (though it turns strange grey/green colour), three pots of tea, one loaf of bread, handfuls of raw garlic cloves munched with great gusto. Strange days, but no harm done. I see the girls off, their last day in South America.

The following week I went on a date with a local girl to the same club and it got busted. Dozen cops with guns come in and shut it down, kicking us all outside while the locals abuse the police. Needless to say it kinda put a damper on my date.

Curiously in the suburbs of Quito you see on street corners groups of donkeys and goats tethered together. On further questioning they are for fresh milk, 25c a glass, though I am not sure if it is self service.

Quito, part II

School is doing my head in. It's far worse than being at regular school, as its one to one, so I cant hide at the back or doodle as per usual and to make it worse i am paying for this torture.

Surprisingly for me I have attended mass twice now. Its the combination of the darkened interiors lit by flickering candles, the glowing ornate gilt work that hides an endless depth of detail like 3D fractals. The smell of the incense, the multitude of locals packing the pews recanting spanish prayers, it just makes the hairs at the back of my neck prick up.

Still on a religious theme exploring the Basilica, which is a huge three towered cathedral is enormous fun. Basically you can go anywhere; down in the crypt, through the roof space above the aisle, up inside the workings of the clock. The best is via a series of home made ladders (made from reinforcing rods) you can scale the full height of the spire. Near the top it has arching stone moldings which are open to the sky and the wind funnels through quite briskly, with some nerve and a little twisting you can squeeze you self out and stand in the gutter just below the cross and admire the vertical drop below you, no warning signs, no fences, but this is what makes Latin America special, no health and safety, its fun, but be it on your own head.

Another interesting experience was to visit the local prison. I went to the best prison with 127 guys in it and 2 showers and 3 toilets. It was incredibly claustrophobic with so many people crammed into such a small space. Every conceivable cubby hole is crammed with stuff, tiny gas cookers, radios, books. Though they are pretty free to do what ever they want inside, but you have to pay. Bribes and payment is required for everything and you cant earn money inside; toilet paper, food, a bunk $1 per day. One guy was renting his bunk so another guy could have some privacy with his girlfriend.

The gringos are in for drug trafficking, usually 6 to 8 years, rape and murder have lesser sentences. Its interesting talking to the guys and hearing of their experiences, of dodgy dealings, prison riots, etc. The gringo inmates were very touched as some had not had a visit for years. When we handed over a few bags of food, smokes, etc that we'ed brought they were speechless and could not understand why we would help out complete strangers.

Quito, Ecuador, part I

It was the free rum and coke night and who should walk in but the Scottish girls from my last trip in Guatemala? At that time we had a hellish journey traveling through three countries, as M had broken her ankle. You cannot imagine the huge smile at seeing them both again. We caught up on so much news. M's had healed up (wrongly) and continued their journey around South America. It brought back floods of happy memories, two of the nicest girls ever.

As this is Ecuador they make a big thing of the equator so there is modern theme park with an imposing stone tower and a big red line, except they did not check to see if it was in right place. Its out by 150m. That kind of cock up makes me laugh, instead you go round the corner and their is a small shabby place which really does run through the equator. They do a trick where they show that on the equator water goes straight down the plug hole, while it spins in opposite directions either side of the line. I also got a certificate for balancing an egg on the tip of a nail, apparently the equator is the only place you can do this! I can tell you are impressed. There is a bunch of other stuff there, shrunken heads, stuffed endangered animals, blow pipes to try and other curios.

Other fun stuff is going to a local football (soccer) game. This is old school, everyone packed in and sitting/standing on concrete steps. Through the throng of singing, flag waving lunes there are people selling bottles of beer, shoe shining and selling all manner of weird and wonderful food. Its like having a party, the sun shines and the crowd go nuts when there is a goal. Flares get set off, plumes of confetti, big drums get beaten; so different to watching footy at home. There was still some tension in the air due to the recent riots and the crowd started shouting "murders" at the local police, which escalated into a hail of missiles and a baton charge, but the game continued.