I've spent this weekend in Quito, which has been great! It's given me an opportunity to explore, go dancing and get to know Sarah better.
We headed into Quito yesterday afternoon, after meeting locally for lunch. It felt great to be actually going out, knowing that we were staying the night in Quito. We jumped on the bus and got to Quito just before 3pm.
After a coffee, we went to drop our bags off at the 'Magic Bean'. We then went exploring around the Mariscal. The Mariscal is in the newer part of Quito and is where a lot of the bars and restaurants are. Sarah and I were chuffed to rediscover our way back to the artesania market that we visited in the first week. Some new jewellery was purchased and we ambled back to our 'home' for the night for a cuppa and relax before going out.
We were due to meet people at 7pm, at a restaurant called Latitud (about 1 min from where we were staying). It was nice wondering who would come (I put a notice up at school during the week to invite everybody!). The girlies (Alex, Claire & Jeanne) turned up quite quickly, followed by Jim & Amber, Justin & Chrissy and later on Andy, then Barbara.
Latitud was suggested because it is an 'all you can eat and drink restaurant' (for $16 a head). However if you're vegetarian, lactose intolerant and don't drink a lot, it isn't really the best option! It was a good place to meet though and great for people watching. Also the company was great and we had a lot of fun.
About 10ish, we moved on to a salsa bar. This was actually what I really wanted to do for my birthday, go out dancing. The place had a great vibe, great music and lots of dancing. We got a free shot with our entrance fee, so I thought I ought to give it a go. It was truly disgusting - like very nasty cough medicine! Having had this and a couple of lagers earlier, I decided to stick to water for the rest of the night!
One of the lovely things about last night, was talking more to Jim & Amber. These two really took a leap of faith. Having only met at Easter and spending a little under two weeks together, they decided they wanted to be together and Amber (and her little girl Bella) moved to Ecuador a few weeks ago. I really like them a lot. It was lovely talking to Jim, who gave me the biggest hug, told me that he's a really good judge of character and that he really likes me. It's weird coz I feel like I've known Jim for ages, I told him that and he agreed that it felt like that too. Hurray for new friends!
Later on, Tom, Nicki, Sadie, Leo (and some of his friends) joined us too.
I danced pretty constantly for about 2 hours, sometimes on my own, with the guys & gals I was with and did accept a few dances with some other guys in the bar. (However these were strictly at arms length!)
There was one old guy in the bar who was really sleazy, kept watching us and danced with some of the other girlies. It made me think, 'God I'm glad I don't drink'. There was absolutely no way I was gonna dance with him. A girl has standards!
All in all it was a great night and we got back to the magic bean at about half 12ish. Sarah passed out pretty quickly, but unfortunately due to noise outside, a crap bed and a bad back, I didn't get to sleep till 4ish! Then guess what...yup you got it, my early morning internal alarm kicked in just before 7am.
Today has been interesting and a bit weird. We got a taxi into the old town and it made both of us feel quite strange. Can't put my finger on it really, because it was far more beautiful than the new town, yet there was a kind of oppressive feeling. We talked about it and decided that it was maybe because we both expected to feel an affinity with the place and didn't really. Also we were swindled by the taxi driver who took us the long way round and charged us $10. This was another time when not knowing very much Spanish really was a problem. We didn't have a clue what he was saying to us and because we didn't know much about the old town didn't really know where he was taking us. Maybe another time the place will feel different, but today it wasn't right.
We headed back to the mariscal. En route we went past a park where there were lots of paintings on show. We decided to stop and go for a wander. This made both of us feel a lot better. Needed a fix of trees I think! Some of the paintings were really beautiful; I am really loving seeing the artwork here.
Another taxi ride took us back to Plaza Foch for lunch. We decided to sit in a restaurant upstairs (ok have to admit, we were amused by the paintings of naked men on the sign for the restaurant, the fact that it was above street level was an added bonus!). We were served by a man dressed as a monk - strange but true!
After lunch we went for a manicure. Having never actually had a manicure before, I found this quite a strange experience and to be honest I'm not sure if I'd bother to repeat it. I was particularly concerned when the girl started to cut off my cuticles - they've been there a long time and I was quite attached to them! I decided that I really am a low maintenance kinda gal in this respect. I had a French manicure and within about a minute of leaving the shop, I'd already wrecked one finger. Within 5 minutes only about 4 fingers still looked respectable! Ah well never mind!
Got home just before 4pm. All in all a great adventure and one that will get repeated. I certainly need to go out and dance more often, or even just go out. I am not a staying in all weekend kinda person!
I've felt strange since getting home, writing this has helped though. I think the older you get, the stranger birthdays become. I was chuffed that I had pressies from Caro to open - thanks Caro, they're lovely, enjoying some chai at the mo! But this is the first time I've been away from the UK on my birthday. It's now 5.10pm and I feel a little lost and lonely. Get these feelings periodically. It's the moments when you realise how much you miss the people you love and how far away they are.
We headed into Quito yesterday afternoon, after meeting locally for lunch. It felt great to be actually going out, knowing that we were staying the night in Quito. We jumped on the bus and got to Quito just before 3pm.
After a coffee, we went to drop our bags off at the 'Magic Bean'. We then went exploring around the Mariscal. The Mariscal is in the newer part of Quito and is where a lot of the bars and restaurants are. Sarah and I were chuffed to rediscover our way back to the artesania market that we visited in the first week. Some new jewellery was purchased and we ambled back to our 'home' for the night for a cuppa and relax before going out.
We were due to meet people at 7pm, at a restaurant called Latitud (about 1 min from where we were staying). It was nice wondering who would come (I put a notice up at school during the week to invite everybody!). The girlies (Alex, Claire & Jeanne) turned up quite quickly, followed by Jim & Amber, Justin & Chrissy and later on Andy, then Barbara.
Latitud was suggested because it is an 'all you can eat and drink restaurant' (for $16 a head). However if you're vegetarian, lactose intolerant and don't drink a lot, it isn't really the best option! It was a good place to meet though and great for people watching. Also the company was great and we had a lot of fun.
About 10ish, we moved on to a salsa bar. This was actually what I really wanted to do for my birthday, go out dancing. The place had a great vibe, great music and lots of dancing. We got a free shot with our entrance fee, so I thought I ought to give it a go. It was truly disgusting - like very nasty cough medicine! Having had this and a couple of lagers earlier, I decided to stick to water for the rest of the night!
One of the lovely things about last night, was talking more to Jim & Amber. These two really took a leap of faith. Having only met at Easter and spending a little under two weeks together, they decided they wanted to be together and Amber (and her little girl Bella) moved to Ecuador a few weeks ago. I really like them a lot. It was lovely talking to Jim, who gave me the biggest hug, told me that he's a really good judge of character and that he really likes me. It's weird coz I feel like I've known Jim for ages, I told him that and he agreed that it felt like that too. Hurray for new friends!
Later on, Tom, Nicki, Sadie, Leo (and some of his friends) joined us too.
I danced pretty constantly for about 2 hours, sometimes on my own, with the guys & gals I was with and did accept a few dances with some other guys in the bar. (However these were strictly at arms length!)
There was one old guy in the bar who was really sleazy, kept watching us and danced with some of the other girlies. It made me think, 'God I'm glad I don't drink'. There was absolutely no way I was gonna dance with him. A girl has standards!
All in all it was a great night and we got back to the magic bean at about half 12ish. Sarah passed out pretty quickly, but unfortunately due to noise outside, a crap bed and a bad back, I didn't get to sleep till 4ish! Then guess what...yup you got it, my early morning internal alarm kicked in just before 7am.
Today has been interesting and a bit weird. We got a taxi into the old town and it made both of us feel quite strange. Can't put my finger on it really, because it was far more beautiful than the new town, yet there was a kind of oppressive feeling. We talked about it and decided that it was maybe because we both expected to feel an affinity with the place and didn't really. Also we were swindled by the taxi driver who took us the long way round and charged us $10. This was another time when not knowing very much Spanish really was a problem. We didn't have a clue what he was saying to us and because we didn't know much about the old town didn't really know where he was taking us. Maybe another time the place will feel different, but today it wasn't right.
We headed back to the mariscal. En route we went past a park where there were lots of paintings on show. We decided to stop and go for a wander. This made both of us feel a lot better. Needed a fix of trees I think! Some of the paintings were really beautiful; I am really loving seeing the artwork here.
Another taxi ride took us back to Plaza Foch for lunch. We decided to sit in a restaurant upstairs (ok have to admit, we were amused by the paintings of naked men on the sign for the restaurant, the fact that it was above street level was an added bonus!). We were served by a man dressed as a monk - strange but true!
After lunch we went for a manicure. Having never actually had a manicure before, I found this quite a strange experience and to be honest I'm not sure if I'd bother to repeat it. I was particularly concerned when the girl started to cut off my cuticles - they've been there a long time and I was quite attached to them! I decided that I really am a low maintenance kinda gal in this respect. I had a French manicure and within about a minute of leaving the shop, I'd already wrecked one finger. Within 5 minutes only about 4 fingers still looked respectable! Ah well never mind!
Got home just before 4pm. All in all a great adventure and one that will get repeated. I certainly need to go out and dance more often, or even just go out. I am not a staying in all weekend kinda person!
I've felt strange since getting home, writing this has helped though. I think the older you get, the stranger birthdays become. I was chuffed that I had pressies from Caro to open - thanks Caro, they're lovely, enjoying some chai at the mo! But this is the first time I've been away from the UK on my birthday. It's now 5.10pm and I feel a little lost and lonely. Get these feelings periodically. It's the moments when you realise how much you miss the people you love and how far away they are.
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