Day 14.. City Vibe
Having organised a trip to the Amazon, I now needed to do a couple of things... buy some trousers and get some cash out to pay for it. I also wanted to see a bit of the city over the next 2 days whilst I was waiting to be transported to the jungle.
My plan... head north to Tatoo adventure shop to buy the trousers and then walk back through the city to my hotel, which is near the historic centre. As most of you know... I'm not a big fan of cities, but being stuck here meant that I was going to try and see as much of it as possible.
I headed out early and managed to hail a taxi... go me!! Not as easy as it sounds in this city. I explained where I wanted to go and asked the cost ... $10!!!
$10!!! ... I thought cabs were pretty cheap!
With that we headed off... and I soon discovered why it cost (relatively speaking) a fcuking fortune.... it was bloody miles away! What looked like a short hop on Google maps, was a good 3/4 hour drive. Quito is a sprawling city, a good proportion of Ecuador's inhabitants live here and it stretches out into the mountains to the North West.
When the cab dropped me off, I still had a little time before the shop opened... so I found a cafe and asked if they were doing breakfast.... they said something unintelligible... motioned for me to sit down and put a plate in front of me with two fried ?frittata I think they are called. One had egg in... the other, sausage,onion and ? what else. They tasted pretty good. With that and a glass of juice I was full. Paying was a problem... I had no change and the small businesses around here don't seem to carry enough change for $10 note. If I produced a $20 note ... imagine the chaos!!!
As it was, the young chap had to scamper off to somewhere else to find change.
This is a cash society... hardly anywhere would take a card... even my hotel requires cash. I'm sure the upmarket shops and hotels in Quito would take cards but for the majority of people in Ecuador it seems that cash is the only way to go. It takes some getting used to and shows me just how much we rely on cards and tapping to pay in our country.
As I waited outside Tatoo, I watched the world go by. One thing puzzled me. There were men waiting on the side of the road, all with what looked like plumbing attachments... i kid you not. They all had sections of pipe, with shower head type things. I really couldn't work out what they were for or why these men were sitting on the kerb with them!! If anyone can enlighten me, I would be grateful!
The doors finally opened and I wandered in to a very westernised adventure gear store, with very helpful assistants. I finally found a reasonably priced pair and paid.. with a card! and then set off to walk back.
I was towards the North of the city, which seems to be the newer, wealthier area of Quito. As I walked alongside the busy main road, the shops I passed were similar to back home... McDonalds, KFC, Dominos, Mercedes, Renault.... this part of Quito was definately wealthier than the Ecuador I had seen... the mountains and the forgotten people in Estacion Carchi. There were a lot of people walking, unlike other countries where no one walks but equally there were a lot of cars, noise, pollution.
I entered in the 'botanical gardens' ... a large park essentially in the middle of the city. Once again the smell of Eucalyptus pervaded the air. This park was one of the best I had ever seen in terms of uses and thought that had gone into the planning of it. First up, football pitches and basketball courts.. free for anyone to use. Then as I wondered further in, a lake, with boats on and some nice fountains.... next to that a skate park! Further in... a bmx track and finally a dog training area!! It was brilliant.
There were a number of police around but I didn't see any trouble. At one point, I saw them crowd round a young man who had been meditating in the sunshine. They searched his rucksack and were clearly giving him a hard time, but I'm not sure why.
I continued on... stopping only to have the weirdest ice cream I have ever had. It was fruit.... with mango ice cream and cream (good so far), topped off with..... cheese!! Now I love cheese. .. but this is one instance where cheese should NOT be involved. !!!
I passed through what must have been the bohemian quarter... with cool little shops, vegetarian cafes, and boutique hostals... it was interesting but didn't feel like Ecuador there.
I finally reached the older part of the city. The shops had reverted to the more usual small tiendas and eateries with more traditional food. I wondered up to the Cathedral... a truly impressive building which dominates the surroundings completely. It was the most touristy place I had seen. I even saw a few other people who looked European.
Finally I decided to get some money out to pay for the Amazon trip and then hotfoot back to the hotel as I was knackered having walked miles through the busy city.
And then the problem....
None, I repeat, none of the 3 cards from 2 different banks would let me take out money from the ATM... big problem. My Amazon trip was suddenly in doubt, not to mention my hotel bill (cash only). I got pretty stressed. I tried several banks, multiple cash machines... eventually managing to extract $30. Great... that's not enough!!
I went back to the hotel dejected... tried to solve the problem online... then realising this was going to necessitate a couple of phone calls and a fortune on my phone bill to sort. But I couldn't do anything about it this evening... as it was now gone 10pm in the UK and all the bank helplines would be shut! So I set my alarm for 5am and fell asleep with my fingers crossed!!
My plan... head north to Tatoo adventure shop to buy the trousers and then walk back through the city to my hotel, which is near the historic centre. As most of you know... I'm not a big fan of cities, but being stuck here meant that I was going to try and see as much of it as possible.
I headed out early and managed to hail a taxi... go me!! Not as easy as it sounds in this city. I explained where I wanted to go and asked the cost ... $10!!!
$10!!! ... I thought cabs were pretty cheap!
With that we headed off... and I soon discovered why it cost (relatively speaking) a fcuking fortune.... it was bloody miles away! What looked like a short hop on Google maps, was a good 3/4 hour drive. Quito is a sprawling city, a good proportion of Ecuador's inhabitants live here and it stretches out into the mountains to the North West.
When the cab dropped me off, I still had a little time before the shop opened... so I found a cafe and asked if they were doing breakfast.... they said something unintelligible... motioned for me to sit down and put a plate in front of me with two fried ?frittata I think they are called. One had egg in... the other, sausage,onion and ? what else. They tasted pretty good. With that and a glass of juice I was full. Paying was a problem... I had no change and the small businesses around here don't seem to carry enough change for $10 note. If I produced a $20 note ... imagine the chaos!!!
As it was, the young chap had to scamper off to somewhere else to find change.
This is a cash society... hardly anywhere would take a card... even my hotel requires cash. I'm sure the upmarket shops and hotels in Quito would take cards but for the majority of people in Ecuador it seems that cash is the only way to go. It takes some getting used to and shows me just how much we rely on cards and tapping to pay in our country.
As I waited outside Tatoo, I watched the world go by. One thing puzzled me. There were men waiting on the side of the road, all with what looked like plumbing attachments... i kid you not. They all had sections of pipe, with shower head type things. I really couldn't work out what they were for or why these men were sitting on the kerb with them!! If anyone can enlighten me, I would be grateful!
The doors finally opened and I wandered in to a very westernised adventure gear store, with very helpful assistants. I finally found a reasonably priced pair and paid.. with a card! and then set off to walk back.
I was towards the North of the city, which seems to be the newer, wealthier area of Quito. As I walked alongside the busy main road, the shops I passed were similar to back home... McDonalds, KFC, Dominos, Mercedes, Renault.... this part of Quito was definately wealthier than the Ecuador I had seen... the mountains and the forgotten people in Estacion Carchi. There were a lot of people walking, unlike other countries where no one walks but equally there were a lot of cars, noise, pollution.
I entered in the 'botanical gardens' ... a large park essentially in the middle of the city. Once again the smell of Eucalyptus pervaded the air. This park was one of the best I had ever seen in terms of uses and thought that had gone into the planning of it. First up, football pitches and basketball courts.. free for anyone to use. Then as I wondered further in, a lake, with boats on and some nice fountains.... next to that a skate park! Further in... a bmx track and finally a dog training area!! It was brilliant.
There were a number of police around but I didn't see any trouble. At one point, I saw them crowd round a young man who had been meditating in the sunshine. They searched his rucksack and were clearly giving him a hard time, but I'm not sure why.
I continued on... stopping only to have the weirdest ice cream I have ever had. It was fruit.... with mango ice cream and cream (good so far), topped off with..... cheese!! Now I love cheese. .. but this is one instance where cheese should NOT be involved. !!!
I passed through what must have been the bohemian quarter... with cool little shops, vegetarian cafes, and boutique hostals... it was interesting but didn't feel like Ecuador there.
I finally reached the older part of the city. The shops had reverted to the more usual small tiendas and eateries with more traditional food. I wondered up to the Cathedral... a truly impressive building which dominates the surroundings completely. It was the most touristy place I had seen. I even saw a few other people who looked European.
Finally I decided to get some money out to pay for the Amazon trip and then hotfoot back to the hotel as I was knackered having walked miles through the busy city.
And then the problem....
None, I repeat, none of the 3 cards from 2 different banks would let me take out money from the ATM... big problem. My Amazon trip was suddenly in doubt, not to mention my hotel bill (cash only). I got pretty stressed. I tried several banks, multiple cash machines... eventually managing to extract $30. Great... that's not enough!!
I went back to the hotel dejected... tried to solve the problem online... then realising this was going to necessitate a couple of phone calls and a fortune on my phone bill to sort. But I couldn't do anything about it this evening... as it was now gone 10pm in the UK and all the bank helplines would be shut! So I set my alarm for 5am and fell asleep with my fingers crossed!!
So weird to read you writing about city stuff! Are you sure you didn’t pop back to Crystal Palace Park? Your description of the botanical gardens has everything CP has except the dog training area!
ReplyDeletedeffo not in Crystal palace... its warm!!!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI like cheese and ice cream, just not together! Good luck in the Amazon, enjoying reading about a new culture.
ReplyDeleteQuito is a very unusual city. It is something like 40 odd kilometres long north to south and only about 2 to 3 kilometres wide east to west. I am not sure about those men who stood by the road, but I seem to remember someone telling me that the men were looking for work and they took them on, on a daily basis and they were showing the employers what job they could do. Maybe that was the case in this instance, but I am not too sure. I think Mum and I went down the artisan street, as it wasn't too far from the main plaza.
ReplyDelete