Day 50 Thursday 10 June – Hello Quito :)

Why do I always sit next to a mother with a nagging child when I’m taking a long bus drive? Okay, it wasn’t as bad as the way to Guayaquil, but still. Sleeping in the bus was a hell of a job on its own. With the airco on and so many people, it was almost like a sauna in there with the moisture. And it wasn’t cool at all, despite the airco. At 6 I arrived at the terminal of Transportes Ecuador, which is well placed in the centre, just 5 minutes’ walk away from my new home. Nevertheless, I had to wait for an hour and a half, because I didn’t want to wake Sarah up so early. Good that I didn’t, because she was still pretty tired when I awakened her with my call at 7.25. Almost forgot that the nightlife is strong here in Quito. I am going to enjoy this.

At about 7.30 I was let in to the building. I’m living on the second floor of a small apartment complex. For the coming two days I don’t have my own room yet, but I can sleep on the couch with Cona the cat. It’s a pretty big place, with 3 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. A shared bathroom for 2. The owner who also lives in the building has his own bathroom. Still we have to take turns showering, because the heater can’t handle 2 showers at once. But here we will at least not run out of gas, because there’s a pipeline. Also, there is a really big TV with dvd player, this will be so nice.

When I arrived, I first had a cup of tea with Sarah and when she went out to work, I took a shower (so good to have a nice warm shower again after a month); checked my e-mail (I love wifi); and went downstairs, walked 50 metres down Wilson to Kallari, where I had a nice breakfast with pancakes and fruit and a coffee. I already love my new apartment, even though I don’t have a bed yet.

At breakfast, while sipping my excellent organic coffee, I wrote some new cards to send to the people who hadn’t had one yet and afterwards I went to the post office to send the cards and to ask about the prices for packages. Because I’ve been collecting souvenirs already, and thought of sending them by mail. Bad news is, it’s $38 for under 2kg. And rising fast with the weight. Gotta check out what the costs are of raising the weight of baggage on the plane.

At around 12 Mariela calls me and says she didn’t have classes, so I see her at my place and we talk a bit. Afterwards I have lunch with Sarah in Parque Carolina and the rest of the day I spend with Mariela in the café.

At closing time, however we don’t go together. Her brother is in town and sleeping at her place. I don’t like him very much, especially after Mary told me he’s an alcoholic that takes quickly to fighting. But I especially don’t like him, because he’s the reason I’m sleeping on the floor of my apartment tonight. My room becomes available only in 2 days, and the plan was that I could sleep at Mariela’s place. I could use her hugs right now and then this happens. It’s getting frustrating.