Day 39 Sunday 30 May - Tourism in Guayaquil city

The next morning I get up early, fresh and fruity, to do some tourism in the more southern part of Guayaquil. A friend of one of my roommates takes me to the bus station, from where I take a bus down south. This city has, just like Quito, a fast bus line called metrovia. The difference is, that if you’re not from around here, and you don’t hear the name of the next stop (which is only called out once, very unclear) you have no idea where you are, because the names of the bus stops are not written anywhere. And that’s the reason I end up a little on the other side of the Malecón 2000 (the new and modern riverside walk).
But, no problem I think: I can walk in the other direction as well. I come to the conclusion that not all of Guayaquil is ugly. However, the Malecón is the only region which is slightly interesting for tourism. You can see enough of the city in just one day. No wonder that I’m the whitest, blondest person in the whole place. I even get called ‘gringo’ here for the first time by some kids. ‘Gringo’ is a usually negative word for North-Americans. So you can see how Guayaquil is charming me even less than before. I tour the place a bit; visit a vegetarian restaurant (Acuarius) for lunch and eat an ice cream later. I take 2 busses back and relax the rest of the Sunday. Tomorrow awaits another day of hard work. I realize I have to get my interviews finished soon, so if I’m lucky, I can go back to Quito earlier.

Day 38 Saturday 29 May - Borachas

The Saturday is a lazy workday. We start later and we finish later. Additionally, not everyone works this day, so I can’t do all the surveys I still need. Result: I get bored. And finally decide to go home too, after most of the people have gone already. Ingrid is still at this party, so I take a bus alone without any trouble. The rest of the day I read a little and watch old episodes of HIMYM.

At night, when I’m already off to sleep, the girls are drinking a number of bottles of Zhumir. A popular drink in Ecuador, consisting of alcohol, sugar, water and a fruit essence. The watermelon (Sandía) taste is the lightest (15%) version of it. What is even more strange to me is the habit among the young people here to rest until midnight and then start drinking until they are drunk. At least they looked pretty hung-over (‘brak’, ‘chuchaqui’) the next morning.

Day 37 Friday 28 May – Volcanic eruption

When we were walking back from lunch today, we were suddenly covered in soot. Around us, people were covering their faces with masks and the collars of their shirts. It was raining ashes from the volcano Tungurahua. This volcano is quite long way from Guayaquil, but still the ashes are blown in this direction. Back at the office, we are given dust masks. When I go out later to the supermarket, I don’t see any ashes falling on my shoulder, so I leave the mask off, but when my eyes are prickly and I’m walking along the main road, I decide to put it on anyway.

Day 36 Thursday 27 May – 2nd Aikido practice

Thursday has become my typical Aikido day in Guayaquil. This time I go on my own to the main road to take a taxi. The traffic is pretty hectic, so it takes a while until we get to the college of architects, where I cross the road to the dojo. I am still a bit early so I wait a little while. We get dressed and sit on the mat on our knees. Each of us has a specific place, though the logic escapes me. We start with the meditation, which is longer than in Sankaku training. And then the stretching, which we do almost completely in a kneeling position. We don’t do any breathing exercises like we normally do at home, but we do a lot of stretching of the legs. Which explains why most of the others are more flexible than I am.

The rest of the lesson is more familiar than the week before. Irimi nage with different techniques, though at times it is not meant to let the uke* fall, but to let him stretch the back and breath out slowly, then pull him up again. The technique is a little bit different, where you put your knee in the back. But sensei tells me that this is exactly what Irimi means: to enter (your leg in the back of uke).

At other times, the lesson seems wilder. It seems only, because most of the times it is uke who decides whether to fall like a brick, or take a roll. Only one technique required me to take a drop forward, but the supervision was right and I dropped without hurting myself: a koshi nage, with dropping to the knees, a technique I hadn’t learned before.

At the end we did the familiar kokyo ho, but with the arms relaxed. The exercise here is more meant to relax, than as a real technique. We hold on to the wrists of the other and don’t let go. When tori *gets back into position, uke rolls back into position too. This way, we can go real fast. Then we close off with stretching each other’s backs, like I have done before. Hold each other’s hands, turn the back on one another and chicken kneel to lift the other with the bum. Stretch! Crack! I actually hear my spine crack and I wonder if that’s a good thing. But afterwards it feels good, so I stop worrying. My partner is a bit heavier than me, so I don’t really get it right with him.

We close off like last time: meditation; bowing and thanking; shaking each other’s hands. I pay Herbert $20. The actual price is $50 per month, but since I’m not staying that long and don’t take lessons every day, we agreed on 20. The normal price seems a bit on the high side, but for this money you can train every morning and every Monday to Thursday evening. I’m just going to train Tuesday and Thursday. One of my fellow students takes me and one of the sensei’s home, because it is on his way. On the way they explain me something about double meanings in the Spanish idiom. I think I will stop using words like bolsa and cola, and forget the other words they thought me (mojón).

*Uke is the attacker who undergoes the technique / Tori is the defender who uses the technique

Herbert Chock, Sensei
Sandan, Fukoshidoin
Centro Cultural Aikido Guayaquil
Nueva Kennedy Calle 1era Este y D esquina
Guayaquil Ecuador

Day 35 Wednesday 36 May – Return to the ugly city

I wake up past 8pm, when I see someone getting out of the room. I wonder why there was no alarm this morning and slowly get out of bed and dressed. I head outside with my camera to make some pictures of the (already late) morning, when I meet Anne-Silvie and she tells me about the fish-market and whether I wish to go. I hesitate a moment and say I’d go if she joins me. Because I have nothing to do at a market with dead fish on my own. She gets her camera from her room, while I wait and we go to the market. But most of the really big fish (except swordfish) are already hauled off. At the least, there are no interesting pictures to be taken. We have our breakfast, the same as yesterday, plus a typical plate of baked plantain with peanuts. We pack our bags and go catch a bus. The whole group gets off at ‘los frailes’ (a beautiful beach), except me. I go on to Guayaquil, to get back to work tomorrow. The sooner I finish, the sooner I can go back to Quito. From Jipyjapa I get on to a very luxurious bus with air conditioning and comfortable chairs and almost nobody in the bus. In no time I’m back in Guayaquil.

Before taking a taxi home, I go to the supermarket at the terminal and buy some veggies, so I can cook some nice dinner. There’s still no gas, however, but one of the housemates finds me an electrical pan in one of the cupboards, allowing me to cook something homely. The rest of the evening I spend writing my blog and reviewing the pictures I took this weekend.

Day 34 Tuesday 25 May – Isla de la Plata

We get up early again to take a breakfast at the hostel. Some fruit salad, bread and eggs with coco juice and coffee. Then we go out early to the travel agency to get our tickets for Isla de la Plata arranged. We wait a while at the agency, and then there are two Dutch girls doing the same tour, right before they leave back home again. I hadn’t spoken Dutch in ages, but I still know how to do it.

Finally the guide shows up and takes us to the beach from where the boats leave. We are the most unlucky group, because our boat leaves way late, later then the others’. Sarah gets a bit worked up over this, because we spend good money and want the full tour and not an hour less.

Then finally we are at sea. A boring ride of one and a half hour, with nothing to see but waves. We were hoping to see some whales as well, but nothing. At sea, with the island already in sight, we get a cupcake (reminding me of better ones I haven’t tasted for a long time) and a banana. And when we get to port, we wait ten minutes (for toilet visits etc.) and head out for one of the two routes around the island. We take the route with the best chances and we get to see all three kinds of boobies (not what you think, they are birds! Blue-footed, red-footed and masked boobies), paradise birds, frigate birds and some lizards. The only thing we missed were sea-lions - but it wasn’t sure whether they would be there at all - and waved albatrosses.

The island itself is a dry place, with trees that appear to be dead (but turn green as soon as it rains again) and all kinds of other plants, which the guide tells about as well. He shows us some medicinal plants, of which one smells a lot like eucalyptus, good for the cough, he says.

The walk around the island is a rough hike and takes about 2 and a half hour. When we get back to port, there awaits us some fruits and coca-cola, and later in the boat some bread with cheese. We sail a small bit along the coast to a place to go snorkelling. We immediately see some fish along the surface and take pictures from the boat. When we get to the water, however, we see nothing. Not even the little bastard jelly fish that are pricking us. We get out of the water, disappointed and laughed at by the crew. Though the latter I didn’t see myself, we should’ve pushed them in the water. See how they feel.

After another long way back with only waves, we see Anne-Silvie and Luc. Luc is red all over from the sun, so one of the guys from the hostel takes a leaf of Aloe Vera and gives it to him to smear it on his body. It is supposed to alleviate the pain a little and the moist and vitamins help the skin to recover. As I notice myself when I apply it to my neck (burnt again, because my hair is shorter, dôh) and inside of the knees. We freshen up a little, while the other guy staying at the hostel shows us his catch: a small tarantula. He caught it in the garden to make some pictures (and to scare the girls).

Then we all go, with the 2 guys of the hostel, to get a drink. We take juices and cocktails at a small hut at the beach. And when we get hungry again we go eat at a cheap place, where I only get some rice, lentils and salad, but what do you expect for only $2,-?

On the way back we buy some beers at the store and drink them at the swing in front of a fire near the hostel. A nice night to close off the long weekend.

When I SMS Mariela that I’d like to visit her hometown sometime (which is in the jungle), she texts me back, that the rules of the people there are so that they’d probably force me to marry her and since I don’t want that… Yes, that would indeed be too soon. Though as someone jokes: It would be a very special experience, a wedding in the jungle.

Day 33 Monday 24 May – Getting to Puerto Lopez

Today we take breakfast at the hotel, because we want to leave early and have no time to go to the place around the corner (not that most of us have been there before). Afterwards, we grab our bags and take a bus to the terminal. The bus that takes us to Guayaquil leaves in 40 minutes, so we have some time to wait. This time we pay the real price: $6,-. The bus is not very comfortable again, however and it has a toilet that is dirty with see-through windows. I think about the Costa as like India, but without the good things from India: the houses are poor, the streets are dirty and it is really hot; but there are no trains and no Hindu culture. Yes, the trains I miss the most while traveling in this country. That would have made life so much easier around here, to just take a night train to somewhere. Then I might have been able to visit Mariela for weekends in Quito.

When we get to the terminal of Guayaquil, we immediately get pushed to take the immediate bus to Pto. Lopez, but I insist that we eat something first. So we take a bus via Jipyjapa (hippyhappa) half hour later. The places to eat at the terminal however include places such as McDonalds, giving me not much of a choice, so I head to a smaller place to get some empanadas and humitas, while the rest orders their burgers. With the food only just finished, we have to run again to get to the bus. A crappy bus without a toilet takes us to Jipyjapa and I don’t get a chance to go in Guayaquil. One can imagine that the ride seems to take ages. Especially with the bus stopping everywhere to pick up more people. In the end I’m sitting across a woman breast feeding her baby and I’m reminded again of how natural this is. I wonder why this doesn’t happen at all in Europe.

Finally in shithole Jipyjapa, I go to the toilet and we take another bus that takes us to the place of destination. The tv inside is showing us Jeepers Creepers2 in Spanish, but it’s turned off just before the ending. It’s already dark when we arrive, but a nice lady walks us to the hostel, which was recommended by the owners of our previous hotel in Cuenca. It’s a nice family run hostel, with private bathroom (that doesn’t work very well) and mosquito nets. I hang mine anyway, just to kill the insects that are already in the bed.

We put our stuff on our beds and head into town to get some food. We find a nice place that serves me a big plate with spaghetti and veggies and a plate of patacones. Though just a bit more expensive than most of the places we’ve visited. Afterwards, we take a small walk on the beach and head back to the hostel, where we sit by a fire for a while before going to bed. Traveling is quite a tiring experience.

Talking about India: Pto. Lopez has ‘Tricicleras’, or things that look like family of the auto-rickshaw. We didn’t ride any, but it was nice to see.

Day 32: Sunday 23 May – Inca ruins

We get up quite early to see Ingapirca, for which a bus leaves at 9am. Luc joins us today at the hotel, making a total of 7 people. When we want to take breakfast around the corner, it seems that almost nothing is open on Sunday. A small store across the street serves us with freshly baked bread rolls and after we chat with some other Frenchies, we head for the bus to the terminal. We have 5 minutes until the bus leaves, so we run and buy a ticket quickly. We get on board, but a lady says there’s no more space in the back, so I get to sit next to the driver, giving me a chance to see the whole view.

We have about 2 hours to see Ingapirca, which is a complex of 2 ruins really. One slightly older, belonging to the Cañari and which was a town destroyed by the Inca’s. And the other an Incan temple built on top of the ruins, which is in quite a better shape than the rest. A guide leads us through the complex and shows us the way of living of the two cultures that left their mark here.

Then there is a possibility to follow a track passed several smaller ruins or stones and we discover the face of the Inca. We take a short look inside the museum with several ceramic items and pictures and we almost have to run to catch the bus back again.

When we arrive back at the hostel, we try to find a place to eat, but it seems nearly impossible. I almost go crazy of hunger when we pass several places which aren’t good enough, but finally encounter a place very near to the cathedral. I order a mushroom soup and rice with vegetables, none of which are really typical for Ecuador, but the meal is good and plenty. Meanwhile, I’m wondering whether we are really sitting across a famous local actor from ‘Qué tan lejos’: Pancho Aguirre. Yes, It’s really him, but I wouldn’t know what to say, I didn’t even know his name while sitting there, just that he’s from this movie.

After a full almorcena (conjunction of almuerzo and cena: lunch and dinner) we take another small walk through the city. We talk about going to a town nearby called Baños (which is not the famous town Baños, apparently there are more places with thermal springs called that way), but when we call the best place of the three in our guide, it is closed. We expect the others might be closed too on this Sunday, so we don’t take the chance. Sarah, Riwal and me go for another short walk, an ice cream and then back to the cathedral to view the inside. There’s a lot of gold and other riches, making it one of my least favourites in this town. I prefer the smaller churches that I saw on the inside.

Despite the lack of open restaurants and bars, we encounter a karaoke bar which is open. We order a $5 jar of beer serving enough for three small jugs (the normal price is $1,50 for a large bottle), but fortunately it comes served with some nachos. Neither one of us knows any Spanish language songs, except Sarah, but we just drink our beer and go. Riwal and me have another one in the hotel, while the three of us talk with the owners of the place. Maguy and Mattieu leave us this evening, so there are 5 left. And then we go to bed – again a difficult sleep for me.

Day 31: Saturday 22 May – Getting to Cuenca

Today I can get up later than normal. I don’t have to go to the office: I’m taking the bus to Cuenca. I take it easy in the morning. I have some bread rolls for breakfast and read a little of Coelho. I’m waiting for the girls to get up, to say goodbye and ask for some details of taxi rides to the bus station, but it takes too long, so I go to the hairdresser first. I was getting comments that I look old with my hair and it was getting unmanageable, so time to get a fresh cut. The quality of the cut is not that good, but when I put my hair in I-just-woke-up style, like I always do, nobody will notice.

Back at the house, 2 out of 3 girls are already off to work. I pack the last things and grab a taxi to the bus terminal: a huge, relatively new, complex with busses leaving from 3 floors. First I call Sarah about the direction to the hotel, and then I take the first bus company I encounter for a ticket to Cuenca. Without comparing or checking the real price. Only later I find out I was overcharged by $2,-.

I move myself to the second floor, from where the inter-regional busses leave and buy some bread on the way. I head on to the platform (way too early) and wait with a coffee and a newspaper in my hand. The other passengers waiting are very nice, checking my ticket to see if I got the right bus and so on. The bus ride itself was long and uncomfortable. The chairs in these busses are made for people of 1m. 60, not for tall Dutch guys, so the head rest is sticking into my shoulders and it’s hard to keep a straight back while sitting. Half way, there is some work being done on the road and we have to wait for the other side to pass for about 45 minutes. Making the trip eventually about 6 hours long, instead of 4,5.

Finally in Cuenca I call Maguy for the exact address, because the one I got was not entirely correct. A few seconds later Riwal calls me to tell me the same info. I grab a taxi to the hotel and when I arrive I see three of my French friends looking down from the balcony. A happy welcome in a very friendly hotel (El Capitolio). 2 others are in a separate room. We go for a walk through the city with its churches and cathedrals lit by spotlights and go for a dinner in a small restaurant with a simple rice-vegetables and patacones.

Then we ditch our cameras in the hotel and head out for a drink. Again the altitude gives extra power to the two beers I drink and it almost gets me drunk. We hang at the bar for a while and then head back to the hotel. But for some reason, I have difficulty sleeping here.

Day 30: Friday 21 May

This night was the first that I used my blankets again. When I got up I realized it had cooled down so much because it had rained. That makes me quite happy. I eat some bread rolls and take some coca cola, because I can’t make tea. We take a taxi again to the office. I take some surveys again in the morning and then see Miguel to help fill in some forms. The General Manager is not in the office, so I get to put myself at his desk, in his relaxed chair.

The downside is that the guys don’t know where to find me, so they go on for lunch without me. I follow them after 15 minutes, but see them on the way back, meaning I’m having lunch by myself. The rest of the afternoon I write some stuff and go to the mall again. I need food for the evening and probably, we won’t have gas already today.

This time I did find a book store, but on the second floor of the mall. It was quite a big one and I found what I was looking for: some maps of Ecuador and Guayaquil and by chance a Kichwa dictionary. I'm still reading 12 minutes by Paulo Coelho in Spanish, so I'm not yet in need of literature. Also, I found a CD-store on the second floor, right above the Megamaxi. One that sells legal CD's even, for $10 to $25! For many things here in Ecuador the prices are almost equal to those in the Netherlands. I just hope the Euro doesn't devalue any more than it already has.

So, well I buy some stuff at the megamaxi, but before I enter, the security guard stops me because I can't enter with my bag. What? Suddenly I look like a criminal? I even shaved this morning! Anyway, I bought a nice bottle of rum (yargh!) to be drunk in the evenings, watching old episodes of HIMYM. And at this point my blog starts looking like Ammer's, so I'd better stop >:D

Until next Wednesday, where I'l be telling about the adventures in Cuenca and Isla de la Plata.

Day 29: Thursday 20 May – A wild Aikido training in Guayaquil

Today we arrive a bit later than usual at the office. I start with the usual things I do when I get to connect my laptop to the web again and after that go upstairs to administration to do some surveys and ask for some information concerning the funds I’m working on here. When I go up to the general manager to confirm that the form is filled in correctly, some disagreement about the use of the funds between him and Miguel. So we go downstairs to the meeting room so he can explain what he wants. Halfway, however, they kick me out because they have another meeting.
After Lunch I work out the surveys I have already done and I agree to the plan for the coming weekend. With Sarah and Riwal, I’ll go to Cuenca on Saturday and after that through Guayaquil to Puerto Lopez. From where we will take a boat on Tuesday to Isla de la Plata to get a taste of the Galapagos. This means I won’t be posting anything for a while again. Later I go to a café nearby to have some juice and humitas.
Later in the evening I take a taxi south ways to have my first Ecuadorian Aikido training. Herbert is waiting for me at the corner and shows me where it is. It is a small dojo with one big blue (and dirty) mat spread all over the floor. The only thing that is familiar is the photo of Osensei on the wall. I take off my shoes and walk across the mat to the very small changing room. I notice there are showers, but forgot to take a towel with me. But later I see that nobody uses the showers here.
The training is in Spanish, but I master the language enough to be able to follow the lesson. We start off with a short meditation and continue with stretching exercises on our knees. Then we stretch our legs even more than we normally do in Wageningen. The sensei almost does a complete split. We skip any breathing exercises and start doing some basic techniques without the final control. Most of the techniques are slightly different than I’m used to and I feel a bit stupid when sensei has to explain things to me.
What’s new to me is defending a karate kick. In Wageningen we normally work with the hands, not with kicks, so this is more difficult for me. What follows after that, are some presentations of the others, because there is a presentation on Monday. They all have their specialties, but what strikes me most is how one guy is really excellent in defending knife attacks. All of it is a bit wilder than I’m used to. When thrown, the ukes don’t roll, but generally fall. The carefulness we know in Europe is not really present here.
After the training we meditate a while again, say ‘arigatogozaimasu’ (a polite thank you in Japanese) and shake each other’s hands. We change clothes again and one of the others goes with me in the bus to my house, just to show me how to get home.
At the house I’m hungry, but first call Mariela, because she couldn’t reach me while I was training. Half hour later I turn on the gas to boil some rice… no gas. The girls maintain that it’s the electric ignition that’s failing and that they need matches. They try – and fail. No gas. This needs some explanation: here in Ecuador there is no such thing as gas lines. Everything works with gas tanks. And so we need to buy a new one. I eat some fruit and crisps and read about Cuenca in the Rough Guide. Take a cold shower and get in bed.

Day 28: Wednesday 19 May – The first surveys

After my daily routine, we arrive by taxi at the office. After I check my mail and Facebook, Ricardo takes me to CORPEI, the national export stimulating organ. Two people explain the funds that I’ll be working with for EScoffee. The lady especially talks so fast, that I have a hard time following. That and the monotone of the voice, makes my mind wonder and dream and I understand even less of what she says. Her PowerPoint helps a bit, but she reads it aloud so fast and skips the slides so fast, I can’t always read everything myself. I’ll have to make do with the info I can get from Ricardo.

I do 2 or 3 surveys with employees of EScoffee and after lunch Angel takes me to see Tulicorp, the company that produces the chocolate for them and 20 other companies in Ecuador. We don’t get to see the inside this time, but maybe tomorrow.
Back at the office, I take a look at the mail, messenger a bit with Kath, and then I need to go to the shopping mall, because I want to buy some food that I can’t get at the small stores. I want to bake an apple cake for example (but later find out I don’t have the recipe on my laptop). Angel draws me a map of how to get there and Ingrid tells me to take a taxi back to the office, because I’m going to withdraw some money as well. I decide to take a taxi back if it’s dark.
The mall (del sol) is really huge and I’m surprised by how rich it is. I walk all the way to the back to the Supermaxi, while gawping at the enormous amount of shops selling expensive products. The only shops I don’t find are a book store and a music store. Most the music stores in Ecuador sell illegal copies, perhaps a mall like this doesn’t allow illegal selling and legal music can’t possibly compete. Who knows?
The SuperMegamaxi is huge mega! I have no clue where to look. There’s food, clothing, everything. Most types of food are placed so wide, that I think the assortment is the same as the smaller shop, there’s just more space. It takes me more than an hour to cruise through the lanes. The fruit section offers the same as in Quito. The fruit types that the guys told me about yesterday are nowhere to be seen. The imported apples are very expensive, so I decide to go for the imported – but cheaper – pears. But especially at the flour section I take a large time to look. Most of the flours are fortified with iron and vitamins. Being an all-natural guy, I no likey this. But the home-brand is clean, luckily.

When I get out, the sky is dark already, so I take a taxi to the office. The driver tells me it’s $2,50 for a ride, but knowing how close it is, I tell him it’s too much. He lowers it to $2, which is the price Ingrid told me it would be. Because I withdrew a lot of $$ to pay a part of the rent in Guayaquil, Ingrid thinks it is safer to take a taxi back home. I’m not scared, but agree nonetheless. Losing a laptop and a lot of $$ is worse than just losing a laptop (though I’d rather just lose the $$).

Day 27: Tuesday 18 May – The first interview

In the morning I get up again at 6.45am and undergo the normal routine before leaving at 8.30. I look at the time and see it isn’t time to get up yet, so I turn myself around until the alarm goes off. I exercise a bit; take a cold shower (sometimes I shave); put on some water for tea; prepare some breakfast (either cereals, bread or leftovers from the previous day); and after eating, I brush my teeth and wait for Ingrid to get ready. This gives me time to read some Paulo Coelho in Spanish. Depending whether we are late or early, we take a bus or a taxi to work. Today we take a bus, which is so small I have to bend my knees to stand. Luckily, it isn’t far.
I start the morning with checking my mail and Facebook as usual. After that, Miguel walks by to tell me if I need anything, I should tell him. So I tell him I’d like to take a look at the possibilities to study the company and I’d like an interview. The interview took about all morning and I had to cut it off because I couldn’t take much more information to process.
During lunch the guys explained to me a number of fruits that were available, but which I hadn’t encountered yet in the Supermaxi. Afterwards, I took the whole afternoon to write down the information I got from Miguel.
When I felt like it was time to go, I went up to see Ingrid, who was working as always and told me we were leaving soon. About an hour later I went up again and she told me they had ordered pizza at the office and afterwards we would go. This is how it goes a lot of time in Ecuador. Plans change, people arrive later than planned; punctuality is almost non-existent around here. I’m trying to accept it, but I won’t be able to do it myself.
I pass another 45 minutes calling with Mary, after which Nicolás mother shows up to pick us up and drop Ingrid and me at the house. I drop off my bag at the house and walk a few hundred meters to a small shop to buy a carrot, an onion and some beans. Together with some rice I make a decent meal. When I finish my plate, it is already 10pm. I spend the rest of the night watching 2 episodes of ‘How I met your mother’, the most awesome (no: legen-wait for it-dary) tv-show ever. I downloaded them today at the office (don’t tell). And bed-time…

Day 26: 17 May – First day at the office

No need to get up so early today. At 8.30 we leave to take a bus. However, the bus we are waiting for seems not to come, so we take a taxi to work, which is only 2 dollars. At work I start with a meeting with the managers, where Miguel starts explaining that it is important to arrive on time. The others meet me with a comprehensive look. The rest of the meeting followed with each giving updates about what is going on in their expertise.
Afterwards I go with some guys to the toaster (conquistador), where they do sorting and pealing, toasting, grinding and packaging. The toaster processes coffee from two other enterprises next to EScoffee. I get to see the whole process, but it’s too noisy and the people are too busy to ask many questions. Meanwhile the guys are carrying heavy bags of coffee.

The rest of the day I am in the office working on a funds for EScoffee and surfing the internet, because it has been days since I was able to. We have lunch in another office of EScoffee, where they serve vegetarian food by default, because the chef has converted to Hinduism. At 7.30pm we leave the office.

Day 25: 16 May – Sand, sun and sea

Next morning I wake at 10.30 and remember vaguely how I got to bed. After I lie waking up a bit more, I take a shower. Only when I return and head out again to the balcony to make some pictures of the ocean and apply sun block, I notice that it’s not Sebastian in the bed above me, but one of the girls.
It takes ages again for everyone to get ready. We, the men, go out earlier and sit down with a juice and something to eat. Nicolas shows me what a bolone is: a big ball of plantain and cheese. It tastes good. We meet with the girls at the car, where we dump our bags, and go to the beach. The men ahead again, because the girls need to eat something first. The rest is what you can call ‘a lazy Sunday afternoon’ Hanging out on the beach, jump in the waves for a second and then hang around in some hammocks. We eat something (patacones, another plantain specialty), and drive back to the apartment.
Driving back, we are passed by an ambulance, but I notice that we are able to see it for a long time. We are keeping up with it at a speed of 100km/h. Black smoke emits from the ambulance and I conclude that it can’t help much to be rescued by an antique diesel. A taxi could take you to the hospital quicker. Then I close my eyes for about an hour or so, without much choice to do anything about it.

Once back, I take a shower and call with amorcita in Quito. I eat while typing my stories in the computer and Vaquito tonto is staring at me all the while. I remind myself that I really am more a cat-person. But it might be that this dog is just out to annoy me by following me around and staring at me all the time.

Day 24: 15 May – Vamos a la playa, ooh ooh

Another wakeup call at 6:15, followed by the necessary shower, because it is ‘muy caliente’ here. I had some rice leftover from the day before, so I take that as my breakfast. At a little over 7am, the guys pick us up again. We retrieve some stuff at the office and notice that the swimming pool is running over... hey, how cool that there’s a swimming pool at the office :)!
The guys fix the pool and we head on to the hotel again. We set up the stand minus the coffee machines, because it is much more tranquil today. It’s the last day of the conference and there’s less people. I nearly bored myself to death until 11.30, when a small snack was being distributed, humitas, pan de yuca, and some sweets. Luckily a few of the typical foods that I do appreciate.
An hour later we start packing everything. There’s no need to continue the rest of the day. 3 of us are going shopping at the Supermaxi, so I have something to eat the coming days. In the car I get a strange phone call (blocked number) saying s/he is Mariela, but the voice is different plus I don’t understand nothing of what the person is saying. The person hangs up and later I call Mary to ask if she called. Naturally, she hadn’t.

Back at the house, the girls ask me if I wish to join them to the beach, a 2 and a half hour drive from here. I hesitate a moment, but the alternative is to spend the weekend alone, doing nothing. So I agree and stuff the necessary equipment in my bag. Nicolas and Sebastian pick us up with the car and the six of us drive to Montañita (or little mountain). This little town has become quite famous in recent years to surfers and backpackers, so the streets are packed with tourists, surfers, hippies and other foreigners. At night there are several discos open and the streets are aligned with small stands, vending food, souvenirs or even a large range of cocktails.
When we arrive, it is already dark (it gets dark at 6.30 already, over here) and we go look for a hostel for the night. Nothing was booked beforehand, so we walk down the streets, asking if there are rooms available and we go view the rooms. But the girls are hard to satisfy, then it is not clean enough, or it smells bad, or it is too small. But eventually, after maybe 2 hours, when I’m dying of hunger and have half a mind to just eat and let thém search for a room, we find a nice place with 3 rooms for 2 persons and very close to the ocean. We leave our bags in the rooms and go for food.
Naturally I have to explain I’m a vegetarian, and more quickly than with the hostel, we encounter a pizza place. When I’m asked whether I couldn’t try some meat for a change, I must answer with a definite ‘no’: I have to draw a line somewhere. We order two family size pizzas, of which one is half vegetarian.

After satisfying my primary need of the moment, the group wants to rest a bit before going out, so we head back to the hostel. While each person goes to their own room, I have nothing much to do but rest as well, and after a while my eyes fall shut. Being one of the first to wake up, I ask Sebas what to do (wait some more or wake ‘em up) I knock on the wooden wall between us and 2 others and stick my head out the door. One of the girls is upstairs having a drink with an old friend and waves to me to come up. Her friend is apparently a writer in the country and has published some 12 books. He ‘plays’ some guitar for us and smokes a joint (marihuana is easy to get here, though still illegal), meanwhile being plenty drunk already. Sebastian comes up and after a beer, we wake the others. At around 1am we finally head out to the nightlife. The guys brought a bottle of rum and we drink some on the way to a shop to buy cola and ice. They seem impressed that I can drink the stuff without making an ugly face. But it’s good rum (Abuelo = old) and drinks like whiskey. We go sit on the beach to drink. I don’t know how we passed the time exactly, but at 4.30am we have drunk more than 1,5 bottle of rum, of which most of it by the men and I’m quite borracho. 2 of us have already gone to bed and the girls that are left still want to drink some sweet liquor. We buy some and some crisps and sit outside the hostel. At 5 however, we go to bed. I pass out almost as soon as I lie down.

Day 23: 14 May – Conference at the Hilton Colón

Ay ay, wakeup call at 6.15, the guys are going to pick us up at 7am. The night was warm and noisy. Primarily because that’s just the climate here, secondary because someone below me has air-conditioning. For breakfast I have just one croissant left and I’m too late to make some coffee for myself.
Today, I spent the entire day at the Hilton Colón hotel. EScoffee has a stand at a conference and is promoting its coffee, and machines. When the guys pick me and Ingrid up, we first go to the office to pick up the coffee machines. We load them in the camionetta and drive a short while to the hotel. We unload the stuff and take it to the place where the stand is. Miguel shows up later and encourages me to attend a conference. So I do so and it’s quite nice. I think I was able to understand about 80% of it. Towards the end, Miguel picks me up and tells me to follow two women to the office. He will arrive with some other people. We get lost a little bit, but eventually find the place.
It’s a meeting with two men from PUM, a Dutch organisation that sends out retired experts to developing countries to help in small projects. Miguel is looking for such an expert. One of the men is Dutch and it’s nice to speak some of that again.
After the meeting, we go back to the hotel again, we take a small bite and attend some more conferences. At about 3 it’s time for lunch. We head out to the swimming pool outside, where some tents have been set up, with a couple of dozens of tables with chairs under them. Miguel, Ingrid, Ricardo and me sit down at a table, but it’s better to split up a bit, to talk to other people, so Ingrid and me go to another table.
The tables are set with plates, 3 forks and 2 knives. A glass of water ready and a basket of bread with butter. The first course is some kind of potato salad, with camarones (shrimps) on top. So I shove those off and eat the potato salad. When I see the waiters bringing in plates with big pieces of meat, I ask whether it’s possible to get a plate without it. Later they bring a plate without a piece for me. Still, the vegetables taste funny and I’m surprised about the bad food in such a hotel. Luckily the dessert is better.
The rest of the day continues with going to the conferences and hanging around the stand. The only bright spot of the afternoon was Mary calling, telling me she misses me a ‘monton’. At 9.30 we are finally finished and wrap up. Meanwhile, my stomach is empty and I need to wait to head out to buy some food. Somehow, there is nothing edible in the house. Ingrid will show me where it is, but needs to take a shower first or something.
The shop is small and has no wholemeal bread or something else I desire. So I buy some rice, an onion and a carrot to cook something myself. The girls seem surprised that I know how to cook. During cooking, vacita is panting and staring at me, probably expecting some food, and it is already annoying me. When the rice is finished, it is almost midnight and I’ll probably need to get up early again in the morning. What a long day it was.

Day 22: 13 May – The bus to Guayaquil

I pack my last things and ask Bernardo to call a taxi for me. At 10.00 my bus leaves.

Bye Quito
Bye wild partying people
Bye café Kallari
Bye mountains all around
Bye friends
Bye Mariela
Bye nice walks through town
Bye slow Spanish speaking people
Bye weekend trips to rainy places
Bye new home

That is a bit how it is, it feels like leaving home again. Off into the unknown again. Quito has become a part of me now, a part of my home. And I hope things will not get lonely again in Guayaquil for the first weeks. Added to that, more people and more places to miss.
The bus ride is a long one. It takes about 10 hours and although the seats are comfortable, I am getting less comfortable towards the end. The scenery outside, with the palm trees and the poor houses, reminds me of India, but then I really miss the trains and the chai-wallahs. Sure, once in a while some vendors come in and sell their products, but I need my coffee! During the ride, they show two Hollywood films, dubbed in Spanish. It’s a nice change, seeing Bruce Willis speak another language, but his one-liners aren’t nearly as funny.

At 8pm I finally reach Guayaquil. Ingrid, the girl I’m going to stay with tells me to take a taxi to the Hilton Colón hotel. Once there, the taxi driver seems not to have enough change, and I’m not interested in getting change, so I let him get off with a dollar extra. These taxi drivers never have change... When I turn around, I see my bags are not there anymore. A employee of the hotel is wearing them and asks me whether I need a room. When I tell him I’m just waiting for someone, he brings me and my bags inside anyway and tells me I can wait in the lobby. Just so I can say I’ve been in a Hilton hotel: wow, what a luxurious place!
Later Ingrid shows up with Miguel and we take a car to her place. It’s a nice apartment in a safe section of the city. She’s given me her room for the time being and is sleeping with one of her housemates. I’m now living here with 3 girls and a dog called vaquita (vaca = cow, boeuf!). I don’t have much in my room, but there’s a bathroom for my own use, there’s a kitchen and practically everything I need. I think I will manage to survive in this place. And I already have some people to chat with. The people I’m staying with are nice and helpful.

Day 21: 12 May - Last day in the café

After hanging around all morning at the hotel, doing this and that, I head out to the café again. I take a newspaper that I bought earlier in the morning and start to read it there. I want to order some yuca pancakes, but they’re all out of yuca. The only option is salad with a sandwich. I don’t feel like taking the guacamole sandwich again, so I opt for the egg and cheese (I’d love to see your faces while reading this). It takes some time for the food to arrive, because it’s quite busy in the café, so meanwhile Mariela has arrived and brings me the salad and juice. She asked me if I ordered anything else and when I say yes, she playfully slaps me in the face, because she’s convinced that the eggs are causing the acne I’m suffering from right now.

The rest of the afternoon I hang out with the people in the café. In the end we play a few games of rummy and when we are about to close, a girl and her father come in to look for a foreigner to do an English project with. It takes a while before the first lines are right (dad is recording), but then she tells me in a kind of English about her life. Afterwards, the father proudly shows me some pictures he took while he was in Amsterdam for a few hours and we close the café.

Day 20 - Follow-up

Later in the evening, I get a phone call from Riwal and Sarah. They are having a drink at Plaza Foch and ask me to join. I tell them I’ll be there in a half hour. M & M are there too. When we order, however, we discover that Plaza Foch is like Central Paris, where the drinks are very expensive. 3,90 for a beer is too much. So after one drink the 3 of us go for something to eat at Mongo’s. Irina told us it is a nice place where you can eat vegetarian as well. Just too bad the tofu tastes awful and all the rest is not well baked on the BBQ. But we have a drink with it and the dessert is enjoyable. After that, we say goodbye and we hopefully see each other again at Isla de la Plata.

Day 20 - Nothing much to do

With my Spanish lessons finished for now, I don't have much to do. When I turn on my computer in the morning, I immediately get surprised by the problems at home with the landlord, for which I do my best to give some tips on how to handle him. I do a bit of work on my internship report, retrieve my laundry from the lavanderia and do some grocery shopping. Afterwards, I go to the bus company, but I needn't buy a ticket yet, which is better in case I arrive late at the bus company for some mysterious reason.
After that, I walk a bit through the Mercado Artisanal, 'window' shopping. There is some nice stuff, but it is way too early for buying souvenirs. I go eat at Shakti, like I do so often and afterwards to Kallari to see Mariela. Pretty much an ordinary day.

Thursday I will take my bus in the morning to Guayaquil. I think a day-bus is nice, so I can enjoy the scenery and finish some of the books I'm carrying with me. I'll be due to arrive at about 6 o'clock in the evening and not knowing about the existence of WIFI in my next accommodation, it's hard to tell when my next blogpost will be. Hang on there!

Day 19: 10 May – Last day of Spanish lessons.

Today I wake up a little later than usually, because my last Spanish lesson is in the afternoon. I have the whole morning for bringing away my laundry to the lavanderia, have breakfast and buy some bread, water and other things I need. Rest of the day I will probably be having classes and visiting the café

Day 18: 9 May – Waterfalls of Mindo

This day we want to visit the waterfalls, to take a swim and to dive into them. After lunch, we walk up towards the cable cart which will take us to the waterfalls. While we are walking, the other French group passes us in a camionetta, sissies. When we reach the other side with the cable cart, a guide points us in the direction of one waterfall. (The other direction has six). Where we walk 2 hours to and back again to view one waterfall, where we can’t even swim or dive.
Back again, another guide apologises for his colleague and points us in the right direction. However, we find no waterfall where it is possible to really dive into the water. One of them has a ladder, but it is not possible to get all the way up. The next one is too shallow and L. hurts himself pretty bad on a cable where he went down a level. Luckily, this time I brought my medpack.
When we get back to the cable cart, we all are quite wet. We get a free ride down to Mindo from a family from Quito and we lunch/dine in a Italian-style restaurant. We get our stuff from the hostel and head for the bus back to Quito. It takes about 2 and a half hour. When we get back to town, we need to take a bus to the centre. A fully packed bus (like a can of people, because it’s the last one, absolutely crazy) takes us, but we get out far too late and have to take a taxi to go further.

Back at the hostel, I need my room key, but there seems to be no-one. I call Bernardo and he calls his wife who is at the hostel to give me the room key. Although that one is missing at the moment. But I get my room and I can sleep.

Day 17: 8 May – Canopying in Mindo

This morning I’m waiting early again in front of Kallari. This time to go with Sarah and Riwal to Mindo. After about 10 minutes I see them in front of their house with A. and L. We try to catch a bus on the corner directly to La mitad del mundo, but we see none, so we take another and have to switch somewhere in between. When we get to Ofelia station our bus to Mindo has just left and the next one goes at 4 o’clock. A taxi-driver knows that the busses towards Mindo leave very often from La mitad del mundo, so we let him take us there. When it takes some time for these busses to pass, Sarah tries to hitchhike, without success. But finally a bus arrives, loaded with people. We have to stand for about 2 hours. When we arrive at the edge of Mindo, it’s raining hard and we have to take a camionetta down.
Our hostel (Rubby) is a wooden house without sound isolation, but it’s cute and serves its purpose. We go almost right away downstairs for our lunch, where Norma is cooking us a fine meal. Her husband Marcelo wants to take us and 4 other French to go bird watching in the early morning next day for $40, but when later appears that the other group isn’t going, this amount is a bit too much for us.
When our bellies are full again, we head out to a travel agency (the rain has ceased) and decide to do some canopying. Meaning we hung individually in a harness on a zip line, racing fast above the canopy. I didn’t expect myself to do something adventurous like this, but I actually liked the adrenaline. Towards the end it started to rain again, which made the zip lines more smooth and the ride faster. But it also made it harder to see the signals of the guides. Everything went well, luckily, thanks to our experienced guides.

When we returned, it was already quite late to do anything else. So we relaxed a little in the hammocks at the hostel and went for dinner at a nice restaurant later. I got a nice vegetable stew with lentils, which reminded me a little of India and Audrey’s cooking at the same time. Some home-made coffee ice cream later, brought by a Dutch guy who was visiting the girls working there.

Day 16 - A normal day

Today was my second last day of clases. Monday my last, that means I extended for 3 days. The rest of the day I hung out at Kallari, doing homework, eating lunch. Later I may go for a drink with Victor and his friends Tomorrow I go to Mino, a very nice place with nature, rafting, and more cool stuff. So again a weekend of radio-silence. Mom, I'll probably call you on monday, because sunday I will be doing these cool things. But a happy mothers' day in advance!


Left: Mariela and me. / Right: Interior of café Kallari

Day 15: 6 May - Changing plans

Today I call Miguel Rendón to get to Guayaquil earlier. Not that I really want to, but I have no other choice at the moment. My study must begin as soon as possible. He arranged a place to stay for me in a couple of minutes. One of the people who work for him has a room for me, but I need to pay $300 for the month. They asked 400 at first, but that was really too much. I need to see how much time I need to prepare, but somewhere next week I will leave to Guayaquil. I can take 4 weeks to study there. Then I have 4 weeks left in Quito again in the chocolate factory.
This will leave me little time for the Galápagos. As well as little money. Good chance that I will visit the Galápagos of the poor - Isla de la Plata - instead.

Later I go out to buy some hiking shoes, because I’m going to Mindo this weekend. And I don’t want my current shoes to be totally destroyed at the end of the journey. However, the cheapest ones were $136 and that’s not really worth it for me either. I’ll need to see tomorrow for a different shop perhaps, or just buy some wellington boots.

Day 14: 5 May - Liberation day, yay

Today I helped Mariela again with her English. When we were done and I had to go, we agreed to go out that night. Since it was 5 may, I needed to drink a beer to freedom anyway. I couldn’t do all the things I needed to do, the lavanderia was already closed for example. But I had done my own homework at the café already, so I went back there again at 6.
Mariela was waiting outside with two of her friends for the last guests to leave, so she could lock up. While we were waiting, Sarah passed by and said they were going to a club later to do some salsa dancing. We would think about it, because some of the Ecuadorians were a little broke.
After closing the café, we went to another café to drink beer. We pass by a place with cheap canelazos, but it’s full, so we move on. When we get our beer somewhere else.
After a while we go check the place with the canelazos and there are seats free. So we go in and drink some more there. At about 10 O’clock, we go check on the place Sarah mentioned, but the entrance is 6 dollars and as I said, some of us were broke. We check several other places to dance and we dance in some of them. The last one being the weirdest. At the end only me and Mariela were left and we were at a place where mostly tourists were dancing like they were having dry sex. I felt quite ashamed to look at that.
At around 12, Mariela put me on the taxi again. Back home I felt that drinking lots of alcohol has a stronger effect at this altitude (2800 m.).

Day 13: A setback

Today, in the afternoon I call the director of Pacari again. At first he’s in a meeting and wants me to call back in ten days. I say I don’t have that much time in Quito, so he lets me call later in the day. Doing so, he tells me they are really busy at the factory and that this month is not a good time. He talks a bit about doing interviews over skype and whatnot. In any way, there is a setback: my case of this month is not going to happen. I may as well take some more lessons of Spanish and have some fun, but that’s not going to be a problem.
In any case I e-mail my supervisor with two suggestions: Either I go to my backup plan and choose a new case, for example Kallari chocolate; or I go to Guayaquil as soon as possible and do the coffee case first. I hope for an answer soon, so I can make the necessary arrangements. Things just happen this way in Ecuador, some things take longer, some things get cancelled.

Day 12: 3 May

Past Sunday, I appeared to have missed something: Mariela had a presentation of her culture (Indígena from Napo) at the presidents house. I didn’t exactly understand what she invited me for when she called me Sunday morning, but now I do. Perhaps I will get another chance later. She told me she has another performance later this month.

This week we changed teachers at the school. This is one of the strengths of the education I think, because you get multiple ways of teaching. Every teacher has her own way. Now I have Elisa as my teacher. Wednesday is supposed to be my last day, but perhaps I will enjoy some more days of education: I will get back to that later.
At the school, I made friends with another student: Victor from Nigeria. As we walked to restaurant Shakti where I wanted to eat, he was telling me about what he thought of Ecuador. In the 9 days that he’d been in the city, he has experienced quite some racism. People going out of his way, mothers taking their kids away from him and as he told me: A security guard stopped him from entering a bank. Only after expressing clearly (in English, because he just started his Spanish lessons) that he wanted to withdraw money from the bank, he was let through. Nevertheless, they kept a close eye on him. And to me, Victor seems like a very nice, open and friendly guy.
It is also something I heard from some of my Ecuadorian friends, that there are some problems with criminality in the black community in Quito. Of course, I don’t know how it is exactly, but my guess is that there is indeed some racism (clearly, following the stories of Victor), because of criminal activities by a small number of a minority group. I had already decided that not to judge the friends that have these ideas, but should the opportunity present itself I would show them that they’re wrong. It’s a different culture here, and I don’t know the problems, so who am I to judge, right?

When I get to the restaurant, I notice I missed a call, so I call back. “Where are you?” – “I’m at a restaurant” – “But I’m not at the restaurant, but at the café”. Right, so I didn’t get that phone call yesterday at all. Without knowing it, Mariela had started to work at Kallari again and wanted to prepare my lunch. Well, no problem for me. So I walk back passed the school to the café and order a ‘sanduche’ with guacamole, some yucca snacks and a mora ‘jugo’ (juice). Naturally, while not helping clients in the café, she’s doing some homework or another.

Day 11: Naturally Hot and Cold and enjoying it.

At Sunday I wake up after a fine rest. I hadn’t slept so well in a while. Riwal had been going to the hot baths of the hotel already, but I decide to take it easy, sleep as long as I can and write some blogfood.
At about 9 we get to breakfast, which for me was a coffee, a juice and a cheese sandwich. Which is to say, a croissant baked into a croque monsigneur with Ecuadorian white cheese (which tastes like nothing really). After breakfast, we go to a waterfall not far away. When we get there, there is a man who charges a dollar a person, despite that we heard it would be free. He lets us go to decide later whether we pay, because we don’t exactly trust him. When we have enjoyed watching the waterfall we return to see our taxi has arrived as well. The man of before is talking to the driver and it seems alright. We enjoyed the place, so we pay him.

After that we are dropped off immediately at the Papallacta springs, a place with a number of hot pools of different temperatures, but also with some cold pools and a freezing river pool. Inside we meet Andrea and her mother, both from Quito and friends of Sarah. During the day, we visit several pools, alternate between hot and cold and enjoy the scenery. Meanwhile, the burning sun makes sure that my skin gets red at the end of the day, despite the bit of sun lotion I borrowed from Sarah.
In the complex we take a nice big lunch. Although again very little vegetarian on the menu, I get enough. Here again Sarah is offered a nice piece of pie and we all decide to take a desert as well. I took the fried ice cream (though not as good as Joep makes them). After the dinner, it has started to rain a bit and it’s much much colder. 4 of them take some more baths, while I take some pictures with Maggie and Mattieu.

At around 5.30 we pick up our stuff at the hotel and take the busses back to Quito again. A long ride, especially because we had to stand most of the way. Now back home, did my homework for tomorrow and tired. Sleep will come soon I hope.

Day 10: 1 May

The next morning I’m waiting in front of Kallari, waiting for Riwal and Sarah. Together we take a couple of busses to Papallacta – the hot springs. The journey takes almost 3 hours and when we get to hotel Pampa Llacta, we eat something, put our stuff on our beds and take a camionetta to a nature reserve closeby (cayambe-coca). The weather is not very good, but we keep going, putting my umbrella up and down all the way. Along the way, we encounter a deer (dama?) that was not at all afraid at all. We could approach up to 2-3 meters.
When we leave the path one more time later on to climb alongside a waterfall, we get cold and wet and the weather gets even worse. We decide to go back to the hostel to try out the natural hot baths. Along the way, Sarah makes a big smack to the ground, which made me regret not taking my medpack from Quito. Luckily she had her own alcohol-spray to clean the wound on her hand.
About an hour later we are enjoying the hot baths at the hotel with two other French friends who had arrived in the mean time: Maggie and Mattieu. Afterwards we drink something and eat something in the hotel, play some pool. Because Sarah has her birthday on Sunday, we are offered a cake (baked with plantain, a bit odd) and a warm alcoholic drink of which I already have forgotten the name. And despite the amount of French talk at the table, and the mediocre food at the hotel, I’m having a great time!

Night of day 9: 30 April

In the morning, before going to classes, I get a text message from Mariela that I she has no time to meet today, maybe some other day. I sms back later that it’s no problem, that she should call me if she still want to go out tonight. While I’m buying chocolate at Kallari later that day, Mariela is sitting there doing her math homework. We talk a bit about going out to dance. She says I should only go with a smile and some nice dance moves, but she’ll teach me something. And oh, did she say I should pay for the girls’ drinks (hers and her friends)? Later I find out that it’s custom to pay for the drinks of the girl you are taking out, not for her friends In the end, I just paid one cuba libre for one of her friends, fresco.

Around half past 7 I get a phone call from Mariela, saying her friends can’t make it and if we could meet earlier. Half of the phone call I don’t get, because the line is bad and Spanish on the phone is even more difficult than live. I put my homework down and get ready. We meet each other in front of a cybercafé. After trying to reach her friends (perhaps they will come after all) we walk with her arm holding mine (no idea if that’s custom as well) to another, more quiet, café. The streets are already filled with people drinking, drunk and partying.
In the café we talk a bit and order a drink. We talk about our countries, customs, ex’s, families, etc. When it appears her friends are going to join, we go to pick them up. M. is waiting right on the corner on the street. For E. we have to walk a bit further down Av. Rio Amazonas. Now 4, we go back to the cybercafé and find R. and another guy waiting for us. With the whole group we start looking for a place to drink and dance. Right when we want to enter a place, I get a phone call from Riwal and his friends that they are also waiting at the cybercafé (because I text him earlier about going out). We quickly go in to reserve a table and Mariela and I go pick them up. Riwal and Sarah are the two with whom I will go to Papallacta the next morning. They also brought another girl.
With the whole big group we drink, dance and the Ecuadorians sing along with the songs of the band. And although my dancing is crappy like a Dutchman, Mariela dances with me anyway and tries to teach me a little. For the first time, surrounded by new friends, I feel at home in Ecuador.

About a half hour after the French party leaves, we decide it is time to go home too, since we all need to get up quite early. Outside, Mariela helps me pick a taxi. I give her a kiss on the cheek and we promise to call after the weekend. Then the taxi drives me to the hotel.