Ecuador Days 3 & 4

Day 3 (Tuesday November 20)
For breakfast B, B & D ventured out ON OUR OWN! We went to S’Panes and actually ordered from the menu (en carte). The pictures didn’t hurt. Afterwards we made our first unaccompanied taxi ride to the Telferiqo. Quito is at 9200 feet. The top of the Teleferico is above 13,000. Needless to say our sea-level lungs knew we were high! We hiked around a bit & took a lot of great pictures.

We met Christina about 3pm. BPB, CMB & BWB ran in El Parque Carolina. DWB walked. We returned to the hostal for showers stopping at the Swiss Bakery for bread, cheese, salami and a bottle of wine for appetizers (and a late lunch) in the hostal.

On the way to dinner at the Mariscal, we stopped at the Central de Comercial Quicentro (mall) to check it out. The Mariscal is a district known for lots of partying and food and a high crime rate, although we encountered no problems. We went to The Coffee Tree for drinks and dinner with fun musicians. Consumed light dinners, a bottle of wine and 4 cerveces grande. Afterwards we went to a funky café that Chris had been to before. The café reminded us of Kim. Had milkshakes, mochachinos and a glass of whisky. A most delightful evening! Took a taxi back to the hostal, read and crashed for the evening. (BWB finished The Last Striptease).

Day 4 (Wed 11-21-07)BPB & CMB started the day with a run. We dressed had a quick breakfast (the breakfasts at the hostal are pretty good). We headed to Cumbaya with Chris from the Rio Coco bus line. Nice small upscale (it is all relative) community. Wandered the town. Lunch at Universitade de San Francsico Quito was tasty and prepared by some of the Culinary Arts students. Brian Patrick attended class with Chris.

After class we header back to Quito, packed our day packs with overnite clothes & headed to the main bus terminal for a trip to Otavalo- an indiginous community about 2 ½ hours away.

Well, lessons learned. Only the 4 of us boarded the bus. The “helpful” assistant insisted on putting Deb’s backpack above us on the rack. Everyone else held on to theirs. Then the attendant made Chris and Brian change seats to in front of us.

We arrived (finally) in Otavalo, found a great hostal (where Chris had stayed before), Hostal Vale de Amanecer. Deb opened her backpack to grab her purse – which was gone along with a rain coat and sun glassses. Of course “being prepared”, Deb had EVERYTHING in the purse. We quickly cancelled the Visa, ATM/Debir card (both of which had purchases already rung up.) Passport, DL, etc. Are gone. Well, for the rest of the trip, Christina and Brian Patrick supported their parents. We got friendly with the Internet Café /Cabina;s (phone booth) operations. Had a late dinner at an “organic” food restaurate that overlooked the plaza (Café Sol y Luna). Food was pretty good (healthy!), except dessert which was wonderful. Returned to the hostal and enjoyed sleeping in fresh air (the rooms were very simple with a shared bath).