Onwards to Quito

We got up this morning and after packing and checking out, went to the internet cafe to use skype. We needed to ring Spirit Airlines as they had sent us and email telling us to call them as some (4) of our flights had changed. When we eventually got through to them we were told that they had all been cancelled and that there were no other flights to San Juan (Puerto Rico) on those dates! What really annoyed us was that they didnt even offer and apology let alone an alternative and it was left to us to prompt their imagination into seeing if there were flights on days nearby or to/from the other airport in Puerto Rico. Finally after much hassle and brain ache we were sorted...not happy but sorted! It now turns out that we only get 5 days in Puerto Rico, other than a 36 hour stop over but we do get 18 days in Mexico instead so at least we may now have time to travel to Cancun and see Chichen Itza :) With this problem dealt with we picked up our bags and went to the market again for breakfast, the same fresh fruit milkshake as yesterday and both cheese and mixed (cheese and banana!) fried donut like empanadas to take on the bus with us for breakfast. A 10 minute walk and we arrived at the bus station in perfect time to catch the next bus to Quito that left at 11.30, we were there at 11.25! I got the bags checked in while Andy bought the tickets and we got a seat almost at the front (better than the back where its noisy with the engine) settled ourselves and dug in to our breakfast as we got underway. Andy had managed to download a series of books Mike had recorded for us before we left onto the ipod so we spent the next 3 or so hours listening to the first of these whilst looking at the beautiful scenery outside. Ecuador is so green, there is hardly a patch of brown to be seen and we enjoyed watching the rolling hills go by with their myriad of fields, farm houses and animals dotted around, some parts almost looked like England but for the volcanoes in the background!. The world's highest active volcano is here in fact, Cotopaxi at over 5000m and we think it was the perfect cone shaped one we saw on the way that loomed up menacingly, sometimes various roads are closed due to its activity. At about 3 we arrived at the large bus terminal in the south of Quito and got onto a trolley bus that took the best part of half an hour to take us past the centre of the city and into the area known as 'New Town' further to the north. Their bus system is pretty good here as they have their own lanes so dont encounter traffic and only cost $0.25 per journey so a very economical way to get round this large capital city. We got off at the stop named El Ejido, after the park it is adjacent to and walked the 2km to our hostel which we eventually found after waling a few circles in the 'Mariscal' district where we are staying. This area is a typical tourist/backpacker haunt with many hostels, pubs, clubs and restaurants in a variety of price ranges and tastes to suit everyone, ours being the cheapest possible of course...$5.60 a night each is fairly reasonable with the only real downside (besides the dredges of the earth who seem to be staying here atm) being that there is no internet access. Once we settled in we went out to look for some dance schools we'd found on the internet (all of which were closed) and then to the supermarket to buy some bits for dinner. We got back, cooked and ate dinner then decided we still had time to go and see if a music and light show that we'd read about in the guide book was still on in the Park Alemeda. A brisk 20 minute walk and we reached the pretty park which a boating lake/canal in it, to find that it was deserted and obviously the show either doesnt run anymore or is yet another thing that only happens in high season. We have concluded that guide books are written by well off people who do most of their travelling during the peak seasons when everything is on and at top rates, not bothering to ask if the same activities are available year round or not! A little disappointed we turned round and headed back deciding to leave exploring the park until daylight hours when it would be safer. Quito, we have been repeatedly told, is not a very safe city so we kept to the well lighted, main streets as we headed back to the hostel to change before going out to dance that night. Feeling optimistic about finding salsa as Andy had received an email from one of the dance schools the week previous telling him 3 places to dance, we headed out yet again once we were changed and found ourselves going in the direction of the park once more. Again sticking to the main streets we were a bit shocked when two men approached us holding their hands out as if to shake hands (we had read/heard that a typical scam in South America is for people to shake your hand leaving a chemical on them so the next time you put your hand near your face you pass out, they watch you until this happens then rob you...nice!) we ignored them and tried to walk on by when one grabbed my right arm and the other Andy's and said something in Spanish we didnt understand, keeping walking we wrenched ourselves free and quickly marched on to the KFC at the end of the street where there were several people and families. A bit shaken but ok and still none the wiser as to where this bloody salsa place we were looking for was we took a different road back keeping an eye out for the two men until we saw a mob of policemen strolling down the road and felt safer. After scouring the nightlife district we found Salsa Estudio but they wanted to charge us $5 each to get in which we didnt have so we went across to a restaurant called Azucar (sugar) which proclaimed 'salsa saturdays' and went upstairs where there was a live band playing. Unfortunately they were near the end of their set and we only got a few dances before they finished but they played salsa over the sound system for a bit longer before merengue followed by the usual reggaeton took over for the night. Frustrated we left and went to look for a place we'd spied earlier on called Salsa Bar which turned out to be a very small club with a rather sticky, but at least wooden, floor playing a mix of salsa, bachata, cumbia, merengue and of course reggaeton. But at least it was a mix and we spent the next 2 hours alternately dancing when the music was good and watching when it wasnt! Its strange but we haven't really seen that many black people in south America and yet pretty much all the men in this place were black with the exception of a few latinos at the bar. Either way we were both scrutinised from the second we walked through the door and during every dance we had together by most of them who obviously had nothing better to do as they didnt (or couldnt) dance. I got asked by 3 people to dance but none of them had a clue what they were doing, with one guy telling me its 'uno dos, uno dos' when I couldnt follow whatever the hell he was trying to do, to which I replied 'dont you know salsa is uno dos TRES!' Another guy was so drunk even if he did know how to dance he clearly couldnt at the moment and after several very rough attempts I pulled myself free from his clutches and stalked off the dance floor really not amused! Another debate we have going is whether these people actually think they can dance or whether they think they can get away with it because I'm not a latino and so obviously wont know the difference...grrrr really starting to piss me off severely now!! Eventually the music got to be mainly reggaeton so we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel via a circuitous route so we could cool down (no air con or windows and a closed door in the club!) before getting into bed at about 2.30.