15th Oct - Quilotoa to Quito

Warning; today contains lots of me ranting. If that's your thing - read on!

Got up early enough. Unai was only staying for the morning, then heading off to Quito in the afternoon. So he'd only get a chance to walk down to the lagoon first thing this morning, have a look at it, then climb back out. I was going to head straight off on my 5hr walk but sure, I said that I may as well go with him, as he was mighty craic and the lagoon looked class.

Only thing I'd to make sure of was to be back up by to the top by 12 midday, as I could then rent a local guide to come with me the few hours walk to the next town as I'd need a guide to ensure I wouldn't get lost. Next few hours were indeed the craic, it's a beautiful spot and Unai and myself had good banter. The lad was only 23 but loved to pull the piss. Kept referring to me as the "Englishman" and when I was chatting to the young girl selling me a pair of gloves, he demanded that I stop chatting her up as she was young enough to be my granddaughter. Cheeky prick! He then let slip that he hates Italy, so from then on, as he introduced me to people as "the Englishman", he was introduced by me as "the Italian" - ah, the banter!

Quilotoa lagoon

Me and the Italian - Quilotoa lagoon

The lagoon was superb, we got to the bottom of the crater and met some Yanks in their 50s. Had a brief chat as is my way, they seemed sound enough. They were the first people I met to sound a note of caution about the Galapagos. Said they didn't really enjoy it! It was expensive, cold and they didn't agree with a lot of what was said. I couldn't believe this! Then they told me they were Creationists. Basically, they believe that God created the world about 6,000 years ago (because that's when Adam and Eve would've been born as per the Bible) and that Darwin was totally full of shit! Fossils were put there by God, lavaflows from volcanos were put there by God etc etc. So I smiled and nodded and chatted away. I might not agree with them, but I thought it only fair that I respect their beliefs. They went on to tell me that they were in Ecuador to build churches with their prayer group. Eventually chat returned to Galapagos and I said that I was actually really looking forward to it anyway cos I obviously fully believe in the theory of evolution as per Darwin. Within 15 seconds, they had packed up their stuff, with some flimsy excuse about rushing to catch a bus, and departed with a pointed "God Bless" in my direction. I found this amusing as I knew that they couldn't bear to hear anything which might contradict their ridiculous blinkered views. Like when they told me about church building, I didn't say that it was a good decision to pick Ecuador over somewhere in Western Europe. Because obviously it's the poor uneducated people who're more likely to be taken in by their beliefs than anyone who has had the benefit of a proper education. No, I let them believe in what they believe and said nothing! I didn't mind them having their opionions but I was a bit irritated about how close-minded they were when it came to respecting mine. But that's life I suppose! Idiots.

Arrived back up to the top of the crater and asked one of the local girls how much a guide to the next town would be. $25 the thieving bitch wanted! Ludicrous, should be about $5 max. That was the final straw for Quilotoa, and I made the snap decision to motor on to Quito with Unai. I was sick of the money grabbing locals.

We had a delicious 2 course lunch with fresh pineapple juice at the bus stop for $1.50. And good banter with the local urchins.

Man waiting for bus, urchin, me

 Then caught the bus to Quito.

When we got to Quito, ended up getting a taxi for $5 to Secret Garden - most famous hostel in Quito - after Unai refused to pay more and haggled for about 15 mins over a dollar. Kryste, let's just get the show on the road here man! I'm tired, cranky and just want a shower/pint/food!

Secret Garden was full but they sent us across to road to a different hostel which was lovely. Met a sound Kiwi called Benedict and went to dinner with Unai and himself at a local Chinese. Tough work though. Benedict has zero Spanish and Unai I presume has v little English but I don't really know as he point blank refuses to speak any! "I'm Spanish, I'm in South America, why should I speak English!?" he says, which is a fair point! So I spent the night translating stilted conversation - "so how long are you travelling" etc etc. Nightmare.

The most irritating thing for Unai is that he's blond with pale skin so he looks Northern European. He always starts conversations in Spanish and people in hostels usually reply to him in pidgin English! It's frustrating when it happens to me, but it drives him mad! Went for a couple of beers after dinner but the night out to the club was being organised by the dull English lad from the crap restaurant in Baños (who was now here in Quito) so I called it in early.

By the by, that dull English ape was wearing a poncho. A... poncho. Listen man, you're not one of the indigenous Quichua people of Ecuador, you're from f-ing Surrey and you look ludicrous in a poncho. You look ludicrous here, you're going to look even more ludicrous on the mean streets of Guildford when you go home on Sunday. So far, I've only met three backpackers with ponchos. One was an Irish lad in La Paz ("yeah i was actually like yeah... headhunted... for my new job" - when I pressed him about it, it turns out he was moving home to take over his father's business. Ah yeah, that's being headhunted all right there chief. Ah yeah), another was this ape from Surrey and also one of the asshole barstaff (Aussie) from here in Secret Garden. And without exception, they have all looked utterly ridiculous.

Rants over!