4/8 and 5/8 from Andrew

Goodbye

Mum, Dad and i packed everything up and headed off to the airport in Santiago. After a quick trip through all the formalities we arrived on the other side with ample time to have a look at the shops. As you would likely guess, after a shop or two Mum and I continued while Dad did a few sudoku puzzles from the comfort of a terminal gate seat, best for all of us really. After a while we had ran out of entertainment so we decided on a coffee, and well, err, Dad and I had our final Pisco Sour for the trip. Just a little one that went by the name of 'the mega', I wonder if mega in Spanish is the same as mega in English, haha.

We had our drink and later it was time for our goodbye.

It was amazing traveling with Mum and Dad, sharing a place I wanted to spend all my money on to come and visit. It was very odd being able to speak when the people who have always been able to speak for you, the ones you always ask the questions can't. One time mum came to me and told me she couldn't find the light in the ladies. I looked at her for a while thinking 'well I can't go in there and help you' when she kindly asked me to ask. Oh yeah, sorry guys!!
I watched them leave and the plane fly away, my parents are leaving the continent and the time zone, i will miss you guys so much.

My flight was an hour later and uneventful. In Lima, half the airport was closed so there were not many places to get something to eat and there was no wifi in this half. After looking at everything there was to see there was still six hours till my flight.

A few movies on the tablet later and it was closer. In the end i got entertainment from a Latin American baby who loved to stare at me and play games. It was good fun and myself and 5 others laughed so much, the child broke all language barriers when she couldn't even speak one.

The final flight actually started with a long bus trip inside the airport. We finally found the plane and waited for a long time on the tarmac.... we couldn't have been waiting for people, they are miles away. They tried a few times and succeeded in starting the engines a couple of times. Finally success. After the long wait we then taxied in reverse, the whole way by a truck to the starting point on the runway...... Can this plane fly because it appears it cant drive, this was really weird and unnerving.

We made it into the sky and everyone relaxed. As usual we were late as planes usually are and due to land after 2am. To help everyone sleep they rocked us, only the last hour was turbulent, finishing with the hardest landing I've had. It was just nice it was over.

I got a taxi which I think was one mum would have been preying and dad laughing after a while. I got in at 2am to be told the airport is an hour to 1.5 hours away from Quito. Luckily for me we didn't use lane markings (as dad said) and in some areas there were none anyway. They had traffic lights i think as christmas decorations as we didn't slow down for most of them. The only one we slowed down for was a panic push of the brakes as a van came through on green and zoomed across infront of us.

The racing line Colin McRae used was amazing, and before 2:40am we arrived to the hostel. A different travel day indeed!!

5/8 Quito

Sarah and i chatted for a while when I got in and in the morning we rose later than expected, both groggy from the planes for me and the full day for Sarah.
After a slow start we headed for an early lunch at the starting point of the Lonely Planet suggested walking tour of Quito. Lunch was a typical Ecuadorean meal at a little local place. The goat stew was delicious and a nice fresh juice to top it off. The bill of $6 great too.

The tour started in a big plaza which is a meeting place for all sorts of people, including a small protest. We walked a little past another grand cathedral to a more interesting church, La Compañia de Jesus, which is the nicest church in Ecuador. We checked out the outside and went in. We had read they had free tours in English but ended up exploring on our own as there were no English guides.... Other than the multiple ones we heard taking other tours inside. Must be a different type of English, American maybe. This was only part of this ladies demeanor and despite the rudest and most nonchalant service, the church was great. It was incredibly grand and was designed to be perfectly balanced. Most of the church is gold plated, and adorned with huge paintings. Since they only required one spiral staircase near the entrance to get up to the choir area and they needed balance, they pained one on the other side. This was an interesting painting, however our favorite paintings were either side near the entrance (balanced again), one was depicting judgement day and the other showing hell. I think the artists were very creative back then in depicting hell and I don't know if I want to visit it. The other had angles beating sinners down a fire staircase to hell!

Sarah took a photo only to be stopped by a guard, oops, least we have one for the blog.

We headed back out into the beautiful sunny and hot day and moved to Monastery of San Fransisco on a plaza of the same name. This plaza is the poster child of Quito, with a nice view on a very open plaza. After this we walked through the La Ronda area which has been renovated back to its former glory and now contains many lovely shops and restaurants. In the centre of the walkway, there were kids games like ring toss and hopscotch (and some we didn't recognize) and above us were colored carnival triangle type banners and Ecuadorean flags. It was a beautiful and fun place to be. We turned back alongside the centre and walked up around the town. We passed a few plazas and 'sights' not really worth a mention until we reached the Basílica del Voto Nacional, which is a huge gothic church located on a hill and towering over the city. The special parts of this church are the three huge towers, two of which you can climb. There were some really nice local touches, instead of the usual gargoyles there were iguanas and Caymans on the lower outside level and behind on another wall were birds, pelicans and another one. It gave it a truly Ecuadorean feel.

The real attraction is the towers, so first ill set a scene for you as i dislike heights. We climbed to the top of two towers, however the first was much worse. The first was up stairs, then across the roof of the church (inside still) on wooden boards up to the steepest staircase (really a ladder) on the outside of the tower. The stairs jutted out from the tower to a small concrete support. We waited in the middle on this platform as a man insisted we wait for his wife who was just about to start coming down.... So we wait on a tiny platform while she leaves the large space at the top. There was no option as this lady was larger, only just able to fit past us on the platform we were huddled on. The view from the top was great, and we could look back at the two clock towers. I would be lying if I said I liked those stairs, but the view was great. When we left I went first, and I was at the bottom very quickly. The second tower was much more sensible and we climbed it from the inside. As with the last tower, the views were incredible (see the photos).

We left the views and churches, back down to ground level and to complete the last part of the tour, Parque La Alameda which included the Quito Observatory. This is the oldest observatory in South America. We enjoyed this park, just watching parents try and control children, it's good fun when you are not stuck on a bus with the little s***s!!

We went back for a quick stop which turned into a few hours as Sarah had forgotten to complete the required entry forms for the Galápagos Islands, followed by Skyping her parents before the 4 day boat tour. The plan was to fill the time until she could try and pick up washing an hour early at 5pm so we could still use some of the daylight and walk to Mariscal (we stayed in an area you don't walk after dark).

I headed out for a walk while Sarah Skyped so I could see some of the city. We made many trips to the laundry from 5-6pm, and when laundry lady finally returned at 6:45pm there was a crowd. The crowd had been getting bigger from 6 (pickup time) and past 6:30 (shutting time for the shop). Sarah returned from the fun a walking sock short and a little pissed off. She paid $2 instead of the $2.50 and was told that if the sock was found, she would return it to our hostel, but we doubt that.

We headed out of the hotel at 7:30 for a dinner of Vietnamese at a place called 'Uncle Ho's'. An interesting experience with nice food and a flyer saying "I love Ho's". As we arrived back to the hostel, the washing lady was there, holding Sarah's walking sock out as ransom for the final 50c. Success!

The night consisted of Sarah organizing and packing her bag for the trip and some final Internet time of Facebook and BBC headlines before the boat.
11:30 and the end of our Quito day together. We head off separate ways tomorrow for another week.