Day 3

7.19.2011

Quito parte dos!

It's been a long day, lots of walking and the computer is about to die, so I'll give you the highlights:

*We got Arturo's camera back! The woman at the bus stop who helped us get on the right bus told us it wouldn't be there, but the man at the museum told us he would hold it, so we journeyed back across town and there it was. Now you all can see the pictures of the creepy spirit figures from the Amazon.

4.5 cups of coffee - all delicious, even the instant coffee and the coffee brewed like tea

The best honey I have ever tasted bought from nuns who make honey, wine, medicine, lotions, and other healing concoctions. Arturo asked the price, passed his money through a revolving door, and received el miel, all without seeing the nun conducting the transaction. By far my favorite moment of the day, and best part, Arturo got just as excited about it as I did.

We went to another museum about Ecuadorean cutlure, and the tour guide was awesome but didn't speak English, so I got an hour-long Spanish lesson, and Arturo got to translate for an hour. We like the pre-hispanic part much more than the colonial period.

We tried to go to a salsa class at the Centro de Cultura Metropolitano, but it turns out that it was a modern dance class and they cancelled it a few weeks ago because the building structure couldn't handle the dancing.

We ended the day downtown; we crossed the whole city because old town, where we stayed is dead at night. But when we got to the area with the bars, none of them would serve us alcohol (this contributed to the 4.5 cups of coffee). This is the second time we came across this, and every time we asked why, we got a different answer:

1 - There was an accident and nowhere in the city of Quito is allowed to serve alcohol for 3 days.
2 - The place that we ate at last night served us sangrio - very confusing.
3 - Again, we hear that the city of Quito is now allowed to serve alcohol for 3 days, this time because some restaurants served bad alcohol and people got sick.

Funny translations (we are learning the Ecadorian spanish is very different from Mexican spanish):

Botar la basura: bounce the trash, at least this is how it would translate in Mexico, but it really means "Throw away trash"

Huevos por mayor y menor: Eggs for young and old, really means, "Eggs, sold in large and small quantities"

All in all we have had fun in Quito, but we are ready to leave the crowded, busy city and get some quiet and some nature. We want to head south to a national park surrounding a volcano, Vulcan Cotopaxi, so when we check back about the ride that we were told would take us there tomorrow and we are told it it not going until the next day, we are mad. But then we calm down, change our plans (for the better), and learn a little better how to go with the flow.