I had a very adventurous weekend. I took the bus from a large terminal to Banos. I did not care for the town itself, as it was a typical tourist town, with vendors everywhere. However, the countryside is the most beautiful I have ever seen. The mountains are covered with green vegetation...all the way up the mountains. There was one mountain that had snow at the top. With the green meeting the snow in the middle of the mountain, it was an extraordinary sight! The bus trip was something else. I ended up getting my camera stolen, with most of my pictures from the Galapagos. I am lucky that I had some put on a disk or I would not have any.
The bus trip ... There were two people in charge of the bus..one to drive the bus and the other to stand in the open doorway of the bus and yell ¨Banos¨, like an auctioneer, to people standing on the side of the road. My bus ticket cost $3.50 for a 4 hour trip, and the people on the side of the road were paying $1 to $2. The bus was a very nice bus, but it was very crowded with people. I believe that is where the thief took my camera out of my backpack. They are so fast you do not even know they have taken anything. Many people at school have been robbed. One has to be so careful! Along the way, the bus would stop to pick up people, and vendors would jump on the bus and try to sell food and then jump off while the bus was moving. It was unbelievable. One of the people jumped on the bus and rode it for a while. His agenda was giving a religious sermon. After he gave the sermon, he handed out candy and talked some more. At the end, people either paid him for the candy or they gave it back.
We passed a town that manufactures jeans and exports them all over the world. The entire street was lined with hanging jeans. I saw another woman outside the bus carrying as huge basket on her head with tons of ice cream in the top of the basket. On top of the ice cream were ice cream cones turned upside down. I have no idea what happens when the ice cream melts.
People appear to be very polite on the bus (except for the thieves). I have seen several people give their seats up for older people or those in ill health.
I stayed in a very nice hotel (for Ecuadorian standards). It cost me $35, which included a wonderful breakfast. I planned to go horseback riding through the countryside, but it started raining. Also the volcano is very active, and on a clear night you can take a ride to a place where you can see it light up the sky. Unfortunately, the sky was not clear so I did not do this.
In my rush, I forgot to get the name of my hotel when I went back into town. I went through some very nervous moments in trying to work with my taxi driver to find the hotel!! Very few people in the town, or in Ecuador for that matter, speak any English.
My thoughts on Quito...Quite is a very large city approximately 3 million people. It is very old and run down. The people are extremely poor. Ecuador does not allow you to put any type of paper in the toilet, so all toilet paper must go into a trash can next to the toilets. I was fortunate during a tour of the old city to see the changing of the guard in front of the President´s residence. There was a lot of pomp and circumstance, with many involved in the ceremony. They were celebrating the Mexican Independence Day. All of the government buildings are beautiful and well maintained. With all the natural resources this country has, it is hard to believe that in their so called democracy, the people do not have more. Most of the residences of the people are made out of concrete....some with no windows and only curtains. The dogs are pathetic. They are so hungry. Today I asked why I had not seen any cats. The Ecuadorian told me that the dogs eat the cats, so there are no cats in Quito. Very sad!! The residence I am staying in looks run down from the outside...everything has bars on it, but it is very well decorated on the inside. The acutal building is in need of a lot of repair. It is one of the nicer sections in town. The school is very well maintained and I am very happy to be going there. The professors are top notch. Many students from all over the world. I took my city tour with about 7 other new students from places other than the US, who I really liked. One of the students suggested that to several of us that we take a famous train ride this weekend and spend the night in the country. I think this is what we will do. It should be fun since I have not been joining anyone on my adventures.
Gas right now is about $2, which is totally irrelevant to the cost in the States. Food here is very cheap. They eat approximately the same thing as we eat there. A nice meal out will cost about $7. A sandwich is $1.25. Well, will not bore you any more for now.
Thank all of you who have sent me emails or responded to my blogs. It really helps me to stay connected. Love you all!!
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