QUITTING QUITO

MONDAY 20th JUNE

  Both Alex and I depart later on today, so we decided that after breakfast around 8.30am we would head off to town.  The Secret Garden breakfast, which comes in all shapes and sizes was jolly good.  I had a fruit juice, bowl of fruit, scrambled eggs, a couple of rolls with butter and jam and unlimited tea/coffee for $2.00  We had both written our post cards so we first went in search of a post office.  Well I have to say that I was completely dumbfounded.  All my theories about worldwide post office queues were totally and utterly shattered!  We walked straight up to the stamp counter, not another customer in sight, and were immediately served by two very pleasant ladies, who sorted out all our postal needs.  Our cards duly posted we walked round to the Presidential Palace where some sort of ceremony was going on - the changing of the guard, or some such.  The national anthem was played, and all the VIP's stood on the balcony.  We watched this ceremony for a while and took in all the sights.

From there we went to La Cathedral located on the southern side of La Plaza Grande.  This cathedral, completed in 1567 is considered one of the oldest in Southern America.  It's white walls and ceramic green dome give it a distinctive feature. 

  For $1.50 you get an escorted visit with a guide.  Our guide only spoke Spanish so Alex translated the essence of her speil. There is an extraordinary wooden coffered ceiling, and the largest organ in South America with over 1000 pipes.  Independance leader Antonio Jose de Sucre is buried there as are many other emminent personages. There is a plaque commemorating Francisco de Qrellana's trip up the Amazon, as well as one in the chapel of Nuestra Senora de los Dolores (Our Lady Of Sorrows) showing where Gabriel Garcia Moeno was shot in 1875.  The main altar, as with many of the side altars, are baroque in style, although the outside is orthodox Spanish. There is also a painting of the Last Supper, but with Jesus and the disciples eating guinea pig and not fish.  Along with numerous paintings, including a backroom with what I took to be all the arch-bishops of Quito lined up on one wall, the library and a display of vestments some studded with diamonds, completed the tour.  We wended our way slowly back towards the digs, stopping for some ice cream on the way, and very nice it was too!  I gave Alex $100 as a bithday present, and I haven't seen such a beaming face in a long time!

  Back at the secret Garden I managed to raise the WiFi connection for the first time, so started blogging.  I also took a picture of the mountain we went up on in the cable car yesterday.  There was an adjoing peak that you could climb up - a 3 hour trek each way - which of course held no attractions for us at all, but if you got there I think that put you up at well over 12,000ft.  Again after a beautiful morning, the skies clouded over in the afternoon, but at least it didn't rain this time.

Alex spoke on Skype to his parents as well as his two mates, Jedrek and Pawel, making arrangements for their journies over to South America and eventual meetings up with Alex.  He is off by overnight bus to a port down the south where he hopes to catch a cargo boat to Peru.  This is likely to take about 10 days, and the advice is to team up with somebody else so you can take turns in watching your belongings whilst the other one sleeps.  He hasn't quite sorted that one out.

  I caught a cab to the airport at 4.00pm and the check-in was horrendously slow.  There were some 15 people in front of me and it took me over an hour to get up to the desk.  Then there was immigration control followed by security.  I eventually got into the lounge about 5.20pm.  I immediately made my way to the VIP Lounge, had several sandwiches and grabbed a beer.  However there were no bottle openers in sight, much less staff.  I got it opened by another traveller, who I noticed had an opened bottle of Pilsener, who used his signet ring to perform the deed. I got back to the lounge just as they were boarding.  The two hour flight went by in no time.  We were served a cheese and ham roll and a custardy pudding along with a glass of wine.  I watched an episode of 21/2 Men and The Big Bang Theory and pretty soon we were coming in to land.  The queues for immigration were truly awful.  When I eventually got to the counter my passport bleeped and I was sent away to another counter.  Thankfully there it passed muster.  Then after getting my bag it was a case of queueing for the customs check.  Finally I got out, searching for my cab driver.  No sign of him.  I waited the best part of an hour and he didn't show up.  I managed to get a cab that quoted me $20 for the fare, and I told him it was the Casa San Martin, Miraflores - I couldn't remember the name of the street.  His English was about as good as my Spanish, but he tried to tell me that the hotel couldn't be called Casa San Martin as that was a "house".  I told him it was.  Anyway I told him more by miming and using French words with an "os" tacked on, that if he drove along the Pacific Ocean road to Miraflores I thought I would be able to direct him to the hotel.  And with the odd hiccough, I did.  The hotel was in Caillo San Martin and was indeed called Casa San Martin.  The cab driver conceded that I was right.  I went in and my English speaking night manager wasn't there.  I gave my name and the chap said I had no reservation!  Anyway he took a bunch of keys and went looking for an empty room.  He eventually came back and told me I was in 501, which is the top floor.  It is the only room on that floor and immediately outside has a large balcony.  It was about midnight by the time I got to bed, it had been a daunting evening from the time I had arrived at the airport in Quito, but all's well that ends well!