kisim piksa

Ecuador… the equator… ahhh, got it (ding, the light bulb in my head illuminates).

We were off to a large market a few hours from Quito, but the stop at the equator did it for me. Heard about all the different methods of determining the lines position, the historic relationships people have had with the equator, the ability to see out into the milky way and view constellations at the same time that are often hidden because of geographic location… it was a cracking morning.

Best bit, of course, was standing in both the northern and southern hemispheres at the same time.

Museums can be such incredible things! We spent the morning at the Museo Nacional del Banco Central (Quito), dumb struck by the collection of archeological pieces. Further more the colonial and modern art galleries on the second floor kept us busy. Magnificent. No photograhy allowed, so a good amount of postcards were pilfered from the shop in the foyer. Great to see a good number of school groups in all parts of the museum taking advantage of the resource.

Back to the old town to do a dance with the pick pockets and laze about. The Basilica stands tall above the city, and of course we had to climb up into the belfry for a look out across the buildings.

The afternoon ended with crummy jobs (post office, picking up the repaired pants and bag, washing clothes etc), followed by a warm dinner and early night.

A painful start to the day with the body screaming out that it was not morning, nor a good time to be crawling out of bed. Still, a quiet breakfast and coffee made things alright.

We did a few quick jobs around where we are staying, then back onto the bus to the old part of town. And that is where the trouble started…

It was crowded, we are tourists (and dressing the part), so inevitably my bag was slashed and Edwina’s money belt had a razor put across it as well (ballsy, they went through the front of her pants to try for the cash!). They are a talented bunch, you think you’re being careful as you squeeze into the bus… and then you notice the damage. Still, no luck for the crims, nothing lost for either of us except some damaged goods and some money with a nice long cut through it.

Another coffee/hot chocolate break to get over our little episode, then off exploring and enjoying more of the old town in Quito. We got up onto the top of a hill for a glorious look out over Quito in the late afternoon sun, then rolled back home to find a tailor to stitch the pants and bag (two days in and we’re already repairing things…ahhhh!).

Rolled out of bed this morning for a late breakfast.

The decision was made that coffee and lazy food up in the old colonial part of Quito would be the deal for the day, so we wandered out and found a bus headed south.

Once we got to our stop we stumbled up the hill and found ourselves in Plaza San Fransisco, where some sort of festival/celebration/general letting down of hair was on. A large stage was erected for the pop music that was blaring out of a huge PA, and small bands were scattered around the plaza with people dancing to the different tunes. So we hit lady luck and enjoyed the spectacle.

The rest of the afternoon we spent seeing a few of the old churches and walking the streets, no big plans or need to be anywhere else.