Back in Quito
March 25th, 2009
View the trip so farAfter the Galapagos, I flew back to Quito to meet up with my friend Jens. We stayed at the Hostal Chicago on a recommendation. The hostel itself was okay, but the staff wasn´t very friendly. My room only had one tiny vent “window” in the bathroom that opened into my neighbor´s bathroom. It was a little annoying but it was okay.
On Friday I climbed the towers of the Basillica. It was an amazing view from up there. I then met up with Jens after his spanish class and ran around the city looking for a doctor for him, and looking for an alarm clock for me. Needless to say, we didn´t find either of them. We then headed to Mariscal to find the hostel where some of my friends from the Galapagos where staying. We had a lot of trouble finding them as well. Did I mention that it was raining the whole day? When we finally found their hostal, they were heading out to dinner. So we joined them. While walking around looking for a place to eat, we ran into another group that were also on the boat with us, so we all went out to dinner. It was a lot of fun. Some of us went out dancing and closed the place down. I was then taken to an after hours place by some Ecuadorians that we had met at the first club. I didn´t get back to my hostel until 6am. Ecudorians drink and party a lot!
The next morning I woke up at 10am, to go to Otovallo, for their Saturday Market. It was a long three hour bus ride, sightly hung over, and no where near enough sleep. The market was nice, but I didn´t buy anything. I just walked around and looked. Then it started pouring and I ducted into a fast food joint for cover, had some lunch, read my book until the rains stopped, and headed back to Quito. That night I took it easy and hung out in the hostel.
The next day, Sunday, we just walked around El Centro, or Old Town, and had a pretty relaxing day. We headed back to the hostel, and took naps. Earlier we had decided that we would travel to Baños together, and then figure out where we would go from there, either together or on our own. That night I hung out with the remainder of my Galapagos friends that were still in Quito.
The next day we headed out to Baños.
