Good weather - good mood

June 24, 2017

I remember the first few weeks here in Quito. Ships everywhere, surprisingly cold for an ignorant Swiss person traveling with high expectations to the equator. Of course, there were other factors that initially made the stay uncomfortable.
Also in the two weeks in Quito Sur, since I have been working with the Fundacion Minadores de Suenos, there have been some misty, rainy or generally gloomy days. Always accompanied by cold weather. It's true that you can see your breath in the apartment in the morning. Really!

However, about half of the days so far the weather has been good, sunny and warm during the day. This made the cold in the house a bit easier to bear. As soon as you are outside and walking in the warm morning sun to the bus stop, it becomes wonderfully warm. You can easily tolerate it in a t-shirt at an altitude of 3100 meters, in the city below you have to put the jacket or sweater in your backpack at the latest.

But before that, I had a problem to solve. I had run out of megabytes for my phone and I tried yesterday to activate a new package of 300mb by sending an SMS to the number 8000. It simply didn't work. The attempts this morning didn't result in a positive outcome either. So I had no choice but to call the operator. Me with my Spanish knowledge! 'Well then!' - what needs to be done ...

The woman on the phone - by the way, that was incredibly fast. No 15-minute waiting loop like with us - she spoke so fast that I had no chance. In addition, she was so unimaginative and without empathy that she didn't think of using other, simpler words. Somehow she said that I should get someone on the phone who can speak Spanish. No one here! And then I explained my problem to her and behold, she could tell me to call again and then choose option 4 after the message instead of three. They could help me. Let's go, after all, you want to catch Pokémon on the way, today, tomorrow and on the next weekend. There is no other choice, otherwise you will be annoyed for days that you didn't dare to do it. And the woman, who - again in seconds after choosing option 4 - took care of my matter, had more finesse and the matter was settled within a few minutes. She explained to me that my SMS balance was used up. But she can activate the 300mb data package. Do I want that? YES! And the matter was settled. But I still had to wait a few minutes until the matter was activated. Voilà! It worked and together with the beautiful weather, it was the ideal start to the day.

My goals today: two geocaches in Parque Itchimbia, probably the last in Ecuador. The market stalls in Parque Ejido, a pharmacy for the worm treatment pills, and a store where I could top up my credit on the SIM card. I understood that with a top-up, I would also get SMS credit again. In addition, I wanted to stop by at Supermaxi or another store to buy cling film. Except for the cling film, I took care of everything, although the SMS credit didn't work out. But there is also the option to do it through the operator. So no problem anymore. First, I walked from the Ecovia stop near Casa de la Cultura up to Parque Itchimbia. I had already started going there once, but then I got into a slightly dirty, dilapidated neighborhood and went back for safety reasons. This time, from a different side, no signs of a dangerous neighborhood. On the way, I steered into a shop. The owner and a gentleman were chatting inside. I pointed to the gentleman's cap and said that it was very nice. They didn't understand until I said that RF (on the front of the cap) stands for Roger Federer and that's why I like it so much because he is my compatriot. This gave reason to strike up a conversation with the owner. In the meantime, she topped up $10 on my phone.
Ten minutes later, I was on the hill where Parque Itchimbia was located and I had to recognize again that there are beautiful corners in this city. Great view, a glass palace on the edge of the view, the Itchimbia cultural center. Inside, you could just lie down on a comfortable sack and relax. But since I had a lot to do and I was hungry, I searched for the geocaches. Found both and went down towards the center. I passed exactly where I had turned around seven weeks ago. A dangerous neighborhood, possible, but rather not. At the bottom, I quickly got on the Ecovia towards Rio Coca and got off at Avenida de los Estados Unidos. Apparently, there was another soccer game in the stadium. The police were there in masses, including mounted officers. I had my third sandwich at 'El Espanol' and then enjoyed the obligatory espresso. Instead of strolling through Parque Carolina, I decided to take the Ecovia to Parque Ejido and visit the market stalls there, which I had searched multiple times a week ago. There are things where I can spend hours walking around stalls. Here, it's the textiles, ponchos, hammocks, bags, fabrics, clothes and caps, and ... pictures. I decided to get a gift for Aline and also looked for special Pokémon. I found a Corasonn. Then back on the Ecovia to Marin Central. I still needed the pharmacy. I knew there was one and I had to transfer anyway. But oh, where I had it in mind, there was none! Maybe there is one towards Plaza Grande? Since I was already here and the weather was so nice, it made sense to go back to the square that made such an impression on me on the second day of my time here in Quito. I think the last time I passed by here was when my wallet was stolen. At night back then, today during the day and it was simply wonderful to stroll through. So many people on a free Saturday! Some strolled and chatted and ate something and others sat and watched the strollers. It would have been good to have the telephoto lens with me here and to hunt for faces somewhere in a clear place or to secretly photograph the shoe polishers. But today I only had the phone with me. And as soon as I looked at it again to analyze the Pokémon situation, a Skaraborn appeared in front of the presidential palace (he neither lives nor works there, but it is still the presidential palace). Only found in Latin America. I stayed there for a while before I walked down Chile Street and asked a shop owner almost at the bottom if there was a pharmacy here. She pointed me to the exact one I had in mind before, at the bus stop. This is where I bought sunscreen weeks ago. Four worm treatment tablets, cost $3.55. The worm treatment is a recommendation from Marco Nyffeler. He suggests it in his information dossier for Fundacion volunteers. All employees and his family undergo the procedure every six months to get rid of any parasites. According to the instructions, I will take it two or three days before departure.

At four o'clock, I happily and satisfied got on the bus towards Rancho Los Pinos. On the journey, I went through the pictures of the day on my phone and had to admit that I am starting to like Quito more and more. Slowly, I know my way around, even if the bus system is not understandable. But the streets, squares, and how the traffic works, how to behave "like a local", how to travel safely on the Ecovia, even if there is a crowd, ... all of this makes the city more familiar, more cozy.

and of course ... the beautiful weather with the happy people.