Ecuador (4): QUITO

15.02.

43rd day

Pablo and Pancho are waiting for me around the corner. We drive to their house in their car. It's a huge apartment with about 10 rooms. The agency seems to be doing well. Pancho is some kind of athlete. Can run and stuff. Apparently, he doesn't earn much worse either. Pablo shows me my room.

He asks me if I want to go to a club with them tonight. Of course, I do. I get ready and half an hour later we're on our way. We pick up Alejandro, a friend of theirs, and then we go to Lola Club a bit further north. It seems like a pretty fancy place. At the beginning, you get a card with which you can pay for everything inside, and it's only settled at the end. We get a card for four people. We also get some stickers handed to us, everyone should stick something somewhere. I choose "PAPA".

Inside, the big room is divided by a huge curtain in the middle. I'm told that women have to go to the other side of the curtain, there they get drinks for free, but they're not allowed to be here, this is the men's side. What a great gimmick... I'm here with three guys and now I have to go somewhere with a bunch of girls I don't know. Great. They're all Ecuadorians too. So I get a drink and try to sneak to the other side, but I get thrown back every time. They don't believe me, even with my "PAPA" sticker, that I'm actually very masculine. Fortunately, this whole situation only lasts 10 minutes, then the curtain is lifted and everyone is allowed to mingle. I dance with people the whole time.

In general, there is a lot of dancing here in South America. Even the men, not just the women, and a lot of dancing is done together, not just individually. Everyone can dance somehow here. The music is pretty good, although I feel like it's a bit of a pickup joint. The girls are all dolled up. But maybe that's normal in South America. The club closes at 2 or 3 a.m. and we go home.

16.2.

44th day

Pancho makes a delicious breakfast with scrambled eggs and fresh juice. Pablo says I can stay here longer, but he also has to work and I don't want to get in the way. So I go back to Vibes Hostel. I can't check in yet, so I pack my things behind the bar and go outside. I visit the Handcraft Market here, where all the products from the famous Otavalo Market in the north of Quito are sold. Of course, there's also a lot of shouting here and everyone tries to sell you something. But I find a pretty cool bag. Feeling like a woman for a change... I negotiate the price and buy it satisfied.

Since I feel like having Empanadas again, I google where the nearest Empanada shop is. I find one around the corner and go there.

Wow! They're really bad! Completely dry crap. I don't even eat half of it and unfortunately have to throw away the rest, it was really disgusting.

Since I still have plenty of time until check-in, I go to the nearest store that offers manicures and pedicures and treat myself a bit.

However, it's pretty unhygienic and dirty here. But maybe that's normal and we're just too used to high standards. There's calluses lying around everywhere on the floor. The same towel that is used for my feet is later used to dry my hair. But oh well, since I'm already here, I might as well get my hair trimmed.

When she's cutting and I look at the floor, I almost have a heart attack! There are strands of hair that are 15 cm long lying around! Is she crazy? After the first shock, I realize that it's not my hair. They're just lying around here. There's hair everywhere. It's actually quite pleasant to walk barefoot with freshly pedicured feet. And it sticks nicely to the wet polish.

But the girl is nice!

Now I go back to the hostel. The volunteer, who I already saw during my last stay there, shows me to my room.

Later, I meet up with Jake, Chad, and Ben. We want to find something to eat and then we run into Markko, who has just come back from the Cuyabeno Tour. He booked one extra day. Funny. He says he'll join us at the restaurant. We go to a Mexican place, some kind of wrestler bar. You can also find out your wrestling name on the menu based on the initials of your name. Mine is "the rotten boss".

We eat burritos and talk a lot of nonsense before we go to the Irish pub Finn's. However, besides the Guinness signs, this place has hardly anything to do with an Irish pub. The music is Latino Reggaeton and everyone is dancing wildly. There's not much space to dance, but we try anyway. Jake is not much of a dancer, but everyone else is going crazy. However, at 12:30 a.m., I make my way back to Bungalow 6. There, I randomly meet Jeff and Justin, the other two from the Amazon. Caitlin and Alex, two more girls from the group, are also there. I let the guys know and Jake comes after. Probably just because I offered to buy him an energy drink, as he's pretty tired. The volunteer from the hostel is also there. Greets me by my name and I have to ask him for his name, he introduces himself as Mariano. Now everyone starts dancing again until we're kicked out. The others want to go to Caitlin's to continue drinking. But I don't want to because that would be outside the neighborhood again and I don't feel like taking a taxi alone in the middle of the night. So I go to the hostel. Mariano is still there and we end up chatting for another three hours before I go to bed.

17.02.

45th day

Jake writes and asks if we want to have breakfast. We agree to meet at 10:43.5 a.m., go to a café, and chat. Well, actually, I chat. He hardly says anything. But I guess that's normal for him. And for me too. We hike to the park and stroll around until he has to leave because he's going to Mindo to the cloud forest. So I go back to the hostel for now to call my friend Lisa. She's getting married and we squeal with joy.

Mariano is sitting at the hostel, says it's his day off, and asks if I want to go out with him. Sure, why not? So we sit in the park and chat for a few hours, then we go to a bar and continue chatting. He's from Argentina. Once again, we run into Markko on the street. We persuade him to come with us to a karaoke bar. It's a lot of fun, we sit there for three hours, there aren't many other people there besides us, and we sing through the whole selection it feels like.

So, change clothes quickly because we're going back to - surprise - Bungalow 6 to dance. Pablo is there and I buy him a beer as a thank you for helping me so much in the past few days. Mariano doesn't find it funny at all, says that I'm here with him and shouldn't talk to Pablo anymore. I laugh. So this is the Latin American blood, Mariano says himself. But it's still silly, we were just together in a karaoke bar. For me, that's neither a promise nor am I trying to make a move on anyone.

Once again, the party is over and we're all getting kicked out. Mariano and Markko say goodbye. Pablo invites me and a few other people to hang out at his place for an afterparty. A mixed group, just random people that Pablo approached on the street because he felt like it. Totally crazy Czechs, but Jonas, the Belgian, is also there, who was also in the group in the Cuyabeno Amazon. Funny how we keep running into each other.

Suddenly, everyone wants to leave at the same time. Only the one guy from the Czech Republic stays, he's totally out of it, must have taken something or something and wants to take pictures of us all the time. Pablo better calls him a taxi. I walk back to the hostel.

18.02.

46th day

After a very short sleep episode, I get up to pack my things once again. Mariano helps me, calls me a taxi, and ties some kind of ankle bracelet around me. A friendship ankle bracelet, he says.

The taxi takes me to the airport. I try to get some sleep on the way, I'm really tired.

I'm standing in line with my luggage, I'm told that I have to print out the tag for my luggage at the machine.

I'm standing in line at the machine.

Then I'm standing in line again at the check-in counter. After I've checked in my luggage, the airline employee follows me and tells me that I have to get my luggage checked first, special regulations because of the Galapagos Islands. I have to go to another line to do that.

So I pick up the now quite heavy backpack again and get in line to have the luggage checked.

Everything is fine, of course, and I get my tag for it and bring the heavy backpack back and get in line at check-in. Then I finally get rid of the thing.

I'm standing in line for coffee. Desperately needed.

I'm standing in line for the security check for carry-on luggage.

And then I'm standing in line for boarding because I don't have time for anything else after standing in line for so long.

...continue reading on Ecuador (5): GALÁPAGOS