Last Thursday, Kate and Chris rolled into Quito. We'd arranged to meet in Plaza Foch at 4.30pm.
I arrived a few minutes early whilst they were a few minutes late. I'm sure there were several guys in Coffee Tree who thought I was checking them out as I scanned about! Suddenly there they were, looking colourful, tanned and very relaxed. There were big hugs all round and a few watery eyes.
I then astounded Kate by having a beer, followed by about three more over the course of the evening (which also included a curry!). It was so lovely to catch up with them and we arranged to meet after work the next day so that they could come and stay for the weekend. Kate was a little bemused by my directions of 'Supermaxi, Cumbaya' (the easiest place to find near to my apartment), but was pleased to discover that the taxi driver on Friday did understand what she meant!
Friday afternoon/evening was spent chilling and munching, followed by a trip to Cactus and the pub. Kate and Chris got on really well with everyone and got very excited when there was talk of a football match in Quito on Saturday night. I thought...why not, it's something that I haven't done before!
Kate also indulged in a few cocktails and promptly invited a whole gang over for Sunday lunch (she was contrite the next day and apologised - I thought it was hilarious, plus they were going to do all the cooking!).
Saturday was spent showing them around Cumbaya. In the afternoon we got picked up by Ben and Claire and taken to the Deportivo Quito vs Liga match. Ben supports Deportivo, so we went into their end of the ground. To be honest, both Kate and I thought it looked a lot more fun at the Liga end - there was a lot more cheering, drumming, jumping up and down, throwing of flares...
Hmmm, maybe that was something to with the fact that they won 4-0!
Best quote of the game must of been when I turned to Kate and informed her she'd popped my football cherry - much laughter followed.
My favourite part of the match was probably right at the end. They don't let fans from opposing sides out at the same time, so we had to wait (with the need to pee becoming more and more evident amongst the girlies - wee dances were almost occurring!). Eventually we were allowed into the tunnel, where all the Deportivo fans started drumming and cheering - it was really cool. I enjoyed a bit of a dance to the drums! We also amused the security guards who let us into the men's toilets - there was no way through to the women's.
So thoughts on football...well...it was a fun thing to do; there were lots of elaborate falls (mostly by Liga players who seemed to fall over their own feet quite reguarly); next time I'd be at the Liga end (sorry Ben). Blimey, I just put next time! Haha!
Sunday lunch occurred with seven and a half people around my dinner table (the half being Fritha's little boy Sam). It was really lovely and I really didn't have to do much at all. I did contribute a little with some hummus and pudding. Also what was great was the quite complex dance we all performed around my kitchen as we prepared our different parts of the meal. There wasn't one moment of getting in each others way - great teamwork.
It was a very relaxing Sunday afternoon.
Waller and Harvey are now at large in Ecuador, look out Ecuador!
I arrived a few minutes early whilst they were a few minutes late. I'm sure there were several guys in Coffee Tree who thought I was checking them out as I scanned about! Suddenly there they were, looking colourful, tanned and very relaxed. There were big hugs all round and a few watery eyes.
I then astounded Kate by having a beer, followed by about three more over the course of the evening (which also included a curry!). It was so lovely to catch up with them and we arranged to meet after work the next day so that they could come and stay for the weekend. Kate was a little bemused by my directions of 'Supermaxi, Cumbaya' (the easiest place to find near to my apartment), but was pleased to discover that the taxi driver on Friday did understand what she meant!
Friday afternoon/evening was spent chilling and munching, followed by a trip to Cactus and the pub. Kate and Chris got on really well with everyone and got very excited when there was talk of a football match in Quito on Saturday night. I thought...why not, it's something that I haven't done before!
Kate also indulged in a few cocktails and promptly invited a whole gang over for Sunday lunch (she was contrite the next day and apologised - I thought it was hilarious, plus they were going to do all the cooking!).
Saturday was spent showing them around Cumbaya. In the afternoon we got picked up by Ben and Claire and taken to the Deportivo Quito vs Liga match. Ben supports Deportivo, so we went into their end of the ground. To be honest, both Kate and I thought it looked a lot more fun at the Liga end - there was a lot more cheering, drumming, jumping up and down, throwing of flares...
Hmmm, maybe that was something to with the fact that they won 4-0!
Best quote of the game must of been when I turned to Kate and informed her she'd popped my football cherry - much laughter followed.
My favourite part of the match was probably right at the end. They don't let fans from opposing sides out at the same time, so we had to wait (with the need to pee becoming more and more evident amongst the girlies - wee dances were almost occurring!). Eventually we were allowed into the tunnel, where all the Deportivo fans started drumming and cheering - it was really cool. I enjoyed a bit of a dance to the drums! We also amused the security guards who let us into the men's toilets - there was no way through to the women's.
So thoughts on football...well...it was a fun thing to do; there were lots of elaborate falls (mostly by Liga players who seemed to fall over their own feet quite reguarly); next time I'd be at the Liga end (sorry Ben). Blimey, I just put next time! Haha!
Sunday lunch occurred with seven and a half people around my dinner table (the half being Fritha's little boy Sam). It was really lovely and I really didn't have to do much at all. I did contribute a little with some hummus and pudding. Also what was great was the quite complex dance we all performed around my kitchen as we prepared our different parts of the meal. There wasn't one moment of getting in each others way - great teamwork.
It was a very relaxing Sunday afternoon.
Waller and Harvey are now at large in Ecuador, look out Ecuador!
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