I <3 Quito!
Jeez... it´s been forever since I wrote in my journal. Even longer since I did so from a foreign country. I feel so out of practice! Where are my words?
I was so worried before I got here that that altitude would give me problems. At 9,000-ish feet, the altitude is nothing to sneeze at. Imagine my pleasure at finding that I could not even feel the difference. A little short of breath on uphills, sure, but otherwise, I am fine. Yay!!!
I arrived with my friend Lora around 9:00 at night. It´s funny. We knew we travel differently (she likes first class and four stars, while I feel like a $20 room in a third world country is a splurge) and that we would have to meet in the middle, but wow. It started immediately, with me getting my hackles up about being gouged on the taxi fare to the hotel, and Lora saying, whatever -- it´s $5 each. And it´s continued. Taxi fares and hotel room prices are it -- I am totally ok with spending a few bucks extra for a nice meal. But I digress...
This is causing a serious travel-identity crisis for me. I traveled for 14.5 months on about $27K. It was cheaper to travel than to live in SF. I didn´t exactly haggle over every penny, but I also did my best not to let the obvious gouges get the best of me, i.e., paying twice the going rate for a cab from the airport. The idea was that if every tourist just paid whatever inflated price was asked, the prices would just keep rising and rising.
The other point of view is, well... if I can afford it, who cares? Worry about the big stuff, like getting gouged on an arranged everal day excursion. Be cognizant about prevention of having possessions stolen. Remember to take my malaria pills. But getting riled up over a buck here or there?
I would certainly be a happier traveler without that stress, now wouldn´t I?
I would.
Now the question is: How to change?
Bah. Not really good fodder for an LJ post, but something for me to mentally chew on.
Quito is abso-effing-lutely adorable. Old Quito, I should say. Throw a rock in any direction and you´ll hit an old church, at least on the rebound. (Have I mentioned that I am an absolute sucker for an old religious building?) Narrow, cobblestone streets surrounded by mountains on every side. I am reminded of La Paz, one of my favorite cities. Quito is more precious, though -- probably due to my love of Spanish colonial architecture.
On the first day, Lora and I just wandered around. Avoiding maps and guidebooks for the first half of the day and just tripping over neat things, like a local outdoor market, and delicious street food.
Today, day two, was a visit to the middle of the world, a total tourist trap built on what was mistakenly thought to be directly on top of the equator. It´s actually a few hundred yards off, but that´s ok -- I already straddled the equator in Kenya. It was still fun to hang out with all the Ecuadorian tourist families, and to successfully balance an egg on a nail. Yay me!
Photos to come. Maybe after the trip. It´s hard to spend too much time in an internet cafe when the trip is just two weeks long. Ouch.