Walking the roads of Quito

11/1/23

A third day of lessons. Kai and I flagged our usual bus down immediately after leaving the hostel which gave us time for a more leisurely breakfast. Then we headed to class. I felt tired and my brain slow. We made it to break time eventually! Sadly, the weather was nasty – cold and rainy on/off so we stayed inside for break. After the second lot of class, we decided we would walk down to the old town at the bottom of the valley as we were told the previous day that it had a nice square.

After walking down many a steep hill, past the Spanish embassy and passing a small girl with a barking, but very cute and fluffy puppy, we made it to the square with the church. The church was huge and pretty, but the square was empty. Inside the church grounds, there was a university, but the church itself was closed. We headed back up 850 steps to go back to the main part of Quito city. David, one of the owners of the hostel had invited us for lunch with some friends, so we walked another hour to a new part of town. It was the fancy part of town with loads of tall tower blocks, so me of them very flashy! We passed many a nice cafe until we eventually made it to the Central Park of Quito. Just a we got there, it started raining torrential, the kind where it bounces back up to your ankles after hitting the pavement. We got a bus along the park to the end we were meant to be meeting before realising that the place we were meeting was a takeaway chip shop, with nowhere to shelter. Soggy chips are the worst!!

We went to the huge mall opposite to shelter and gave a gander around. It had all the usual shops, H&M, Zara, Bershka and more, with a few Ecuadorian chains too! After a while, we still hadn’t heard from David and it was nearly 3pm so we headed in search of food. We went to a Digbeth Dining (a selection of street food stalls in a nice setting) style place and ate Colombian food. It was big and tasty. We met Davide afterwards and since it was still raining, we skipped the park and got a taxi back to the hostel.

I took a nap and then we chilled and chatted with various hostel folk and then a few of us went for empanadas – Kai, Adam, Carlos and me. Afterwards we played the dice game ‘Jessy’ and drank tea.

12/1/23

The penultimate day of class. Today I got my usual breakfast of tamales with coffee and then we headed to class. Towards the end of class, Sylvia, my teacher taught me some Spanish songs. Apparently, we were meant to sing them the following day in the break. After class, we went for Vietnamese food in a surprisingly fancy restaurant – everyone was dressed up. I got a banh mi with fries and a spiced margarita. Afterwards, we walked back to our side of town, via a park with miny houses for homeless dogs – soo cuteeee!

We got back around 4/5pm and chilled a little. Then we went back to the empanada place with the same crew as before plus Yushi (a new girl) and me. Afterwards, we played charades, maybe eight of us, before we went back to playing Jessy. Davide prepared mojitos for us. Once the game had finished, I went out with Davide and a Dutch guy, whose name I’ve forgotten, in search of nightlife. The streets were dead, but we headed across the pretty old town anyway. The bar Davide hoped to go to so we went to one next door which had only two couples in it. We got a beer and chatted for a bit before braving the dance floor for some salsa. One of the couples joined in so that was a success! We headed back along the abandoned streets, through a beautiful square, with only the bin men for company!

13/1/23

My final day of class! Today we flagged down the bus and got to La Floresta early again. Today I tried the quimbolitos (a steamed sweet sponge, that would’ve been great with custard) with a hot chocolate, because why not, it’s Friday!

Class was okay. In the break, we headed to the rooftop terrace for songs. I thought it would be awkward, but it was actually really nice. There was coffee, cookies and fresh pineapple and miraculously there was sun! Sooo wild! A guy, Eduardo, played guitar and pan pipes and we all sang – one student played sheep’s toes, which were a kind of shaker and I played maracas. Then after three Spanish songs, my teacher Sylvia asked me to play. I played Stereophonics Dakota and everyone clapped.

Then we returned to class for an hour or so before escaping. It was boiling and we went to the pizza place downstairs, which Matteo, another of the teachers said was the best in town. Since Quito is normally cold and wet, the plastic roofed restaurant well covered with plastic clear walls to keep the elements out. Sadly, in the heat and combined with the pizza oven, this acted as a greenhouse. After one order mix up, we ate our pizzas, absolutely sweating in a glass box. The pizza was delicious though! Afterwards, we walked back in the blazing sun! For sure I was gonna burn my lips! On the way, we stopped to buy another 1.5 litres of wine – it was my turn to buy and since we had no plans, we (Kai) figured we may as well.

We got back, we chilled a bit, I read on the roof in the last of the sunshine before having tea and then switching to vino. The squad were around. I drank with Kai and Carlos and then Yushi and another cool new girl from Japan arrived. We all drank and chatted and then headed out for empanadas at the usual spot – I got the beef one, my favourite. Adam, the Manc man was nowhere to be seen when we returned, and I wasn’t sure if I needed to brace myself for a solo night bus to sketchy Esmeraldas. Awhile later, after some blogging, Adam rocked up. He said he was coming on the night bus, which was reassuring. We chain drank tea until it was time to leave and I collected goodbye hugs from the main squad – Kai, Carlos and of course, Davide.

We set off on foot from the hostal to a local bus station to get the bus to the Quitumbe terminal, the big bus station that would take us to Esmeraldas, the sketchy town on the coast, apparently a drug smuggling hub (information which I’m glad I found out after being there)! 🤣🤣 We eventually found the ticket stand for Esmeraldas, only to be told that there were no more tickets! Noooo! A night on the bus station floor was ahead..

After a short pause, the woman on the ticket stand pointed us to the stand next door which was selling the final tickets to Esmeraldas with another bus company. We got the last couple, before heading to get food for Adam and a hot choc for me. We found the terminal afterwards and I shamelessly sat on the bus station floor waiting for our bus. When the bus came, I put my big backpack under the bus, hoping the horror stories weren’t true and that I would see it again! Then we climbed on the bus and eventually, and with assistance from the bus man, everyone made it to the allocated seats. The seat were pretty comfy and despite being right next to the toilet, I slept as well as its possible to on a bus!

We arrived at the Esmeraldas terminal at 05.40 and realised that we had arrived just as the bus had pulled off to leave the station I just assumed that Esmeraldas would be the final stop, but perhaps Esmeraldas town and not the bus station was. Thankfully the bus pulled over and we got out in the station – the town of Esmeraldas is meant to be more notorious than the bus station! Of course, my bag was handed to me in one piece with no drama and we headed into the terminal to book our next ticket. We booked our tickets and waited around an hour before getting our second bus. Adam gave some snacks to a homeless boy in school uniform, sleeping in the station, so he would have something to eat when he woke up! Then we headed off, with my backpack slung under the bus once more.