New Year - Blogabond

We came to Quito together with Berndt and Stefanie in the afternoon and the bus dropped us at the northern bus station, and from there it was about 30-40 minutes in to the city center. We had found a cheap hostel in our guide book and decided to check it out and as we came there we knew we were on the right street but couldn’t find the place. So we asked an old guy at the street and apparently he was the caretaker of the hostel and that was it right there so we went up but unfortunately they didn’t have any rooms with shared bathrooms

view from super cheap room

available so we got one with a private bathroom and that was 8 dollars! For the two of us. And the caretaker promised us that the next day we would get one with a shared bath that was only 5 dollars for the room.
That night we had really big problems finding dinner since it was Sunday and we went out a little to late everything was closed. But luckily we found a mc Donald’s and got some quality food.
The next day we went exploring in the city and was walking around for some hours just sightseeing. We also went to a “newly” built cathedral that actually hasn’t been finished yet and they have been building on it since 1926. But most of it is finished and when you climb the highest tower you get a magnificent view all over Quito and if it is a clear day you can even se some snow clad peaks in the distance.

After that we shared a taxi to the new town to look for a hostel and also so Steffi and me could look around and plan our Galapagos trip.
We actually found a really good offer in the first shop that we visited but we still went around different shops trying to find one that could beat the first offer but that didn’t happened so we booked it 5 days 4 nights on a 1:st class cruise ship for 1035 dollars, and that was including the flight to and from the Galapagos.
It’s not that we looked for a 1:st class ship it just happened to be the cheapest option.

That same day we also found a hostel that seemed perfect to celebrate New Year’s at, since the old town where our current hostel was at is not too good with bars and to go out we wanted to move for new years, and of course we moved together with Berndt and Stefanie.
The next day on the 29:th we all went to the Equator together. It is about 45 minute bus ride out from town. But on our way to the bus we experienced the mustard incident.
All four of us were walking down the street when Stefanie (not my Steffi) says to Berndt, “You have something on your backpack.” And the whole backpack was full of mustard and also Steffi’s back had gotten sprayed. Almost directly after we had seen it a man who was walking in front of us comes up with napkins and offers to help clean it up. But we said no and everybody held one hand on their belongings.
After we had gotten cleaned up we went on to the middle of the world.
When we got there we found a small park with some restaurants and a huge monument showing the location of the middle of the world. Funny thing though is that this isn’t really the equator. When they calculated it they didn’t have GPS and so the real Equator is actually 500m away outside the official park and there is a smaller museum there that was a lot better and we got a guided tour and got to do some experiments on the equator, like the water going straight down and trying to balance and egg on a nail (Berndt was the only one who made it.) This museum was a lot better and it was not only the equator but also all of Ecuador and its different cultures.

At the real equator

At the equator

The next day we didn’t do much at all we moved to our new hostel and Steffi and I fixed the last details for our Galapagos trip.

But then on the 31:st we went to a volcanic crater that was almost at the equator only 10 minutes more in bus and there we walked down into the crater that was actually the 6:th biggest in the world and it didn’t look anything like I had imagined. I thought it would be a huge mountain with a black crater on top and even some smoke coming out but instead we went up a small hill and all of a sudden there was a huge drop of about 200m and there was the crater. Inside it was full of fields and some of the indigenous people were cultivating the earth.
At the top of the crater we met a guide who told us that the actual volcano had collapsed some 3000 years ago and left was only the remains of the crater about the same thing that happened to Mt Helen in Yellowstone Park, only a lot bigger.
After this we went back to the hostel and started getting ready for the night.
We started the night with playing some drinking games at the hostel and after a couple of beers we were ready to hit the streets.
We were living right next to a huge avenue that was blocked off for cars especially for this night. The street was packed with people and there were artist singing, music playing and these huge figurines like satiric caricatures of different public events.

satiric caricatures

Monkey masks for New Year

Best hot god

Scary mask

We went on just walking up and down the street eating the best hot dog ever with chips topping and drinking beers. At about 11.30 we started to notice that people were leaving the street. We tried to find out where everybody was going but apparently everyone went home to their families or friends to celebrate the New Year at home. Also some people said that it’s too dangerous to be in the streets after 12 and wondered why we weren’t going home? Still we found a tourist club that was owned by some Pakistani so we rang in the New Year watching a sort of dance of on the street and also some guy had brought one small box with fireworks so we got to see some of that as well.
Our last day in Quito we spent being hung-over and transferring pictures from Berndts camera to our computer. It actually took longer than what it sounds like. And then on the 2nd we went to the airport to go to Galapagos. When we got there first you have to get your bag x-rayed to check for foreign plants and animal products. But that’s another story.

Amor y Besos
Chris

written by

Steffi & Chris on January 1, 2010 from Quito, Ecuador

from the travel blog: 212 days

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