09-15-24 Centre of the World
While enjoying breakfast and most excellent coffee, I was being amused by Sharon trying to capture a picture of a hummingbird. I hadn’t thought about them not being in Northern Ireland where she and David are from.
We got our truck ride to the bus parked in town and got a nice visit with our guide, Santiago. He is 38 and has been doing guiding for 18 years as a freelancer.
Back at the bus we had to wait as Santiago‘s luggage was left behind. I was too stifled sitting at the back of the bus so got out for fresh air. Carlos, our driver saw me and hurried over to ask for my nombre to communicado with WhatsApp. No harm, I gave it to him.
Once we were on our way, I was thrilled to have been invited to sit with Leena up front. We shared about our lives. She is a realtor in Cambridge UK. I showed her a picture of my kids and she remarked how much Jake looks like her Hari.
Santiago shared a lot of good info. Internet is expensive. School for the locals, 90-95% go to primary, 50% to high school, 25-30% to university but a lack of jobs after graduation. Minimum wage is $450/month. AND, there really were tribes in Ecuador that cut the heads of their enemies off , removed the bones, simmered and reduced to the size of a fist and wore as a warning.
Had a good laugh at a memory of my trip to the UK as Santiago often says ‘we will be there in one hour’ which is what I would hear from Hearndens, everything was one hour away.
I have had the best visit with the Menon Family. I may have to go to Cambridge!
Quito means Centre of the World. Does that make it Middle Earth? Our first major stop is the Centre of the world monument
The one thing that I wanted to bring home was a new hammock and for $75 I got two gorgeous huge ones and a new jacket
I had a hilarious time at the top while filming and taking pictures as I didn’t notice at first that my dress was blowing straight up. I was wearing shorts but a beautiful man looked over, did the Marilyn pose and said ‘Don’t worry I didn’t see anything’
And then it was the hour bus ride back to the hotel where they delivered our bags to our beautiful room and then we went down for bevies
Sidebar: our driver, Carlos, has expressed his interest in me and he is lovely. We had good translator app conversations over lunch where he told me about himself and said I was beautiful. Shame we are on different continents.
While having drinks David and Sharon from Northern Ireland popped by and we invited them to join us at a recommended restaurant that was a $2 cab ride away. It was a bit of a sketchy entrance but after climbing all the stairs, found ourselves in a remarkable space with fabulous food and service. We had a great visit and were all glad to have made the effort, all for only $27 and tip for my seafood dish and drink.
triumphgal 