After travelling for a good while, getting stamps, changing buses in Huayquillas, getting very bitten by mosquitoes and sharing the 14 hour bus journey with a bunch of loud and somewhat annoying Ecuadrians who wanted to stop every 5 minutes, we finally arrived in Quito. Wow, back in Quito after 10 years was real nostalgia for me, I couldn't wait to explore and see the places I had known last time! Sure enough, it was all still there, No Bar, Papaya Net, Casa Olimpia, Mongos.
Was really amazingto see it all again after so long. I remembered that Casa Olimpia, the hostel we had stayed in last time I was there was a great hostel (more like a hotel than a hostel) at hostel prices too so we went there. It was jus as I remembered it, big comfy beds, tv, fridge and even balcony with great views over the city!
Perfect, was so glad to be back again and arriving on a friday night, it was guranteed that we would be having another great night in No Bar no doubt! After eating breakfast again in the good old Magic Bean where we frequented many times before and wondering around trying to regain my bearings of this great city, I went to find Reina Victoria Pub (the place where we would all meet up to see Caz our gap challenge supervisor) but to my disappointment it was closed and on returning later although it was all exactly the same, the management had changed and Caz and Baz (her Kiwi husband) no longer worked there but it was great just to go back in ther again and look around and think this is where I watched the Tyson Lewis fight, this is where I watched England, Brasil in the world cup back in 2002!
So many memories! I told the guys about Mongos buffet, all you can eat, just fill your bowl with whatever you want cooked, we headed ther to eat and it tasted just as good as last time! I was just reliving everything I had done before and was loving it! As night began to creep up on us, the city bgan to bus with music, lights and people and I was so excited about going out! We were slap bang in the heart of the busiest street and the music was booming from every bar! Fabian the player that he is wasted no time in chatting the girls up, he is a bit of a hunk (a guy likened him to Cristiano Ronaldo earlier in the day!) and he speaks good SPanish so there was no problem for him pulling the ladies! I think he mustve had about 10 numbers by the end of night! The most hilarious thing was that before we went out he said "oh i just realised something, its my 21st birhday today" I was like whaaat! How could you just remember that so that was even more reason to celebrate! I told him if you tell them in No Bar and prove it with ID, I guarantee we'll get champagne which indeed we did and he got her number too!
Having such a good drink fuelled night wrote off the next day pretty much and it didnt help it woulndt stop raining so most of it was spent in bed although I did get out and take some nice pics of the cathdral and some nice areas I remembered from before. THey had redeveloped an area called Mariscol (or gringolandia) which I was very impressed with, lots of nice bars, restaurants, cafes and a nice moving sculpture of a bird in the centre. I especially liked the bar called Chelsea for obvious reasons.
Unfortunately I had missed the game against Liverpool which we cruised to a 2-0 victory so I was happy and I saw all the highlights, looks like we played very well! After more partying and unfortunately not as much sightseeing as I would have liked, it was time to leave. We didn't do the city tour which I was gutted about and for the
second time in Ecuador I was missing out on the Galapagos islands which in itself a crime but I just dont have the time or the money so 3rd time lucky for sure! We were in a rush to get to Colombia, everyone had good things to say about the place that I met who had been there despite warnings of dangers it's much safer now apparently and I'm looking forward to it! Unfortunately Ecuador was just a flying visit really but I still hold a place in my heart for the place as I have so many fond memories from being here last time but now it's time to leave and head North. Will be sad passing by Guallupe and Fundacion Golodrinas where I spent months working but we don't really havet ime to stop. Ibarra (a city in the north of Ecuador) is our first stop where I went many times before so that'll bring fond memories too! Just a shame I don't
have more time and money to stay longer but Bogota is calling!
No comments:
Post a Comment