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.
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.
posted by Richard at
5:26 pm
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