A bus tragedy and half a guinea pig
We got up around 620, after a night of little sleep thanks to the party beside us, waterproofed ourselves and headed for the bus stop. It really wasn’t much of an issue. It was warm outside, although it was raining, and we only waited for 40 minutes I think. The first bus sped past us because it was an express I was told (at least that’s what I think he said) but the second stopped. We only paid $3 each for over a 2 hour bus ride, what a deal! At least much better than what I paid Marcello the previous day. After another ham and cheese sandwich from the gas station, we snoozed on and off the rest of the way. The waterfalls were in full swing and the ride was beautiful, so lush and dense forest.
Here’s the part of the story that’s not great bus has to be told. Andy had a GPS tracking device (did I just give it away?) and he put it on the window seal so it could get good reception. I said, “wouldn’t it be funny if you left it on the bus and people at home thought we were travelling back and forth to the same place?” Well you know what happened. The bus was turning around at Quito and heading farther away from where we thought we wanted to go so Andy said let’s go! I was on the computer but I jumped up with all my crap and we headed for the exit. Needless to say the tracking device didn’t make it with us. As soon as the bus drove away Andy realized what happened and we hailed and cab to chase it. We made it to the station, Andy found the bus, but the GPS device was no longer on it. Damn those people move fast! Oh well, what can you do but have some cervesas?
We hailed another cab to the new town section of Quito called the Marscal Sucre because we didn’t visit it the other day and it was supposed to be the place where all the restaurants and bars were. Well, what we didn’t realize was that’s all this place had to offer. Since I was no longer a college student on spring break it really wasn’t my thing. We ate some empanadas and Guinea Pig (when I say we I mean Andy at the pig and I had a taste). The pig wasn’t really my style, or maybe I was so turned off from what I was eating I lost my appetite. That sucker was so greasy they gave us gloves to eat it. I'm not sure if it's because how they cooked it or that's how greasy they are. I had more fun taking pictures after Andy ate it. The paw sticking up in the mash potatoes was awesome.
We sat and people watched for a bit. Headed to a market and bought some hats. I was really disappointed these people are the bargaining type. I’ve learned so much from the India/China days, I was ready to get it on! We didn’t know what else to do so we headed back for more cervesas, did some more people watching (say a couple dressed all in white, very impressed), got a pizza to go (don’t judge me!) and headed back to our very nice but way too close to the party hostel. I took the first warm shower I’ve had since I’ve been here- only 3 days ago I think so not that bad- which was amazing. We found a tour agency who is going to Cotopaxi tomorrow so we’ll be doing some mountain biking up an active volcano. By mountain biking I mean they will drive us up a hill and we’ll ride down on a mountain bike. That’s my kind of riding. I hope we can make it two blocks over in the morning with our backpacks on since this city is so dangerous. Oh shit, I hope I didn’t anger the travel gods again.