Hello again! Today was very tiring visiting Quito. Jet lag is definitely catching up with me!
Woke up really early for breakfast in my hostal which is lifeless! I've hardly seen anyone other than the staff, who are very nice! Then made my way to La Mitad Del Mundo (google it!), 13 km North of Quito. Had to take two buses to get there and this is when I realised Ecuadorians do not, I repeat DO NOT know how to drive! The bus lanes are in the center of the road here and the bus driver kept swerving into the other bus lane! And bus drivers seem to honk their horns for no apparent reason...
Anyway, I arrived safely at La Mitad Del Mundo, which means The Middle of the World, by the way. This was very cool! It's actually cordoned off by a wall all the way round and inside there are many touristy shops and restaurants and several museums too. And all around are mountains which get covered by clouds as midday comes around. Absolutely beautiful!!
I then made my way back to Quito and walked around the Old Town. It is filled with colonial buildings and churchs and is very pretty, in comparison to La Mariscal district (New Town) which is quite run down and full of unfinished buildings. Apparently today is the 50th anniversary of something religious (sorry for the lack of details, I didn't understand what I was told) and there was a huge procession through the streets of the Old Town. Hundreds of people were walking towards one of the amazing churches, Iglesia de San Fransisco, chanting and throwing rose petals on the floor. Very interesting!
Tomorrow morning, I'm off to the jungle for 4 weeks, where I'm volunteering. I'm so excited! I have a 7 hour bus ride ahead of me! It's 5.5 hours to Puyo and 1.5 hours to Arutam. So please no one worry as I won't be updating until the weekend!!
Bye bye for now!
Sounds great! I'm glad you had fun and discovered interesting new things. Did you take any pictures? Are you going to put a couple on your blog? Take care xxx Emma
ReplyDeleteHola, Angelique,
ReplyDelete...So Emma-jane beat me to it this morning!
"La Mitad Del Mundo", where South meets North...In the province of Pichincha, I believe?
Have you had your picture taken straddling the line? I hope you did, although it is now recognised that the real "line" is in fact 240 meters away. Small error when you know that the prime meridian in Greenwich is 100 also meters out!
Anyway, hope you have a nice uneventful trip to Puyo where it's raining at present with a temperature of 10 at 5am (this is data for Azogues as Puyo is not listed!!)
Steven has just broken the cat door again and mummy is doing her nuts! Can you come back to fix it!
Hasta luego...
La Mitad Del Mundo looks increadible!! About the honking in Russia (outside of Moscow obviously) sounding ur horn is like a sign of greeting everyone, and is actually considered a good gesture and being polite! Even if u don't know them or see them, also might be because he is doing 90mph in the wrong lane just in case he can't see the other car going his way??! Hopefully thats not the reason!!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the bus ride to Arutam! Oh and im with emma jane - you have to upload some pictures!! I want proof that you are there!!lol
Miss u loads xxx
@Emma-Jane: I will try to upload pictures next weekend! But the pcs are so slow here, it is really irritating!
ReplyDelete@Papa: Yes I did get my picture taken, with 1 foot in the southern hemisphere and 1 foot in the northern hemisphere! And yes it is not in the right place, apparently you can see the real place from La Mitad del Mundo, accross the motorway. but i couldnt see it. i couldnt even see the motorway!
Great more rain! I got caught in the rain yesterday afternoon but thankfully I had my sexy rain coat with me! It was nice thought, it smelt like summer rain :-)
@Steven: do you miss me that much that you thought breaking the cat door would bring me home!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
@Ksenia: LOL I did think that maybe he was greeting fellow bus drivers, it must be that!! :-P
MWAH XXX
Hey dudette,
ReplyDeleteWaou a lifeless hostel..You are brave! That would have freaked me out lol..Am paranoid about that film lol.
La Mitad Del Mundo sounds so cool and I googled pics, although don't particularly find attractive that monument with a football on top of it..But the idea of being able to have your body in the N & S hemisphere at same time is pretty awesome.
Angel, I love the way you describe the scenery and your adventure.. make me feel like am there.
Didn't know your writing skills were this good lol(j'rigole). But keep up the descriptions loving it!!
I remember, tried to call you when u were making your way to jungle...Girl that is some journey on the bus..but am sure it was worth while once you got there.
Bisous xxx