Stepping Out: Here We Go Again... !

Could it be... the future Mr. Heller?

I normally try to space my trips out a bit so I can really enjoy each one fully, as well as then getting to come back home after each so I can really process it all and revel in the memories, the photos, etc. before heading off again. But this year didn’t work out like that, this year has been all or nothing. I’ve either been working all day, every day for months at a go (and I’m talking ALL day, as in 16 hour days 7 days a week for 3 months straight) or I have nothing but free time and have to fit all of my travel into that. Which is where I’m at now: I spent 10 days in Phoenix/LA in September then was home 2 days…. then 3 weeks in Europe only to be home 3 days… then heading to South America. Whew!

The view from Mitad de Mundo, the line between the
northern and southern hemispheres.

However, Mother Nature had other plans for me. As it turns out, there are only so many things you can control in life… doh! I was supposed to leave for Quito, Ecuador Monday the 29^th, the exact same day that Hurricane Sandy was to hit the northeast. So of course my flight was cancelled and I was left twiddling my thumbs in rainy Lancaster for 2 days waiting to depart. Very fortunately, I was able to get rebooked on Wednesday the 31^st, which was nearly miraculous considering the storm left hundreds of thousands of people stranded and scrambling to rebook. But it was still a big bummer to be missing 2 days of my precious little time in Quito! Even more of a bummer was the fact that my friend that I’m traveling with (Laura) had gotten out of PA just in the nick of time on Sunday so was already down in Quito ahead of me, unfamiliar with the place and unable to speak the language. So instead of her having to navigate her way on her own without me for 1 day as planned, she was now going to be alone for 3 days. I was feeling really bad about that…

Jaime, our awesome couchsurfer in the
northern hemisphere and me in the south

… but it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. As I had been pretty inaccessible while in Europe, Laura very kindly made a lot of the plans for our time in South America and it turns out she happened to find one of the coolest couch surfers ever: Jaime. So I had nothing at all to worry about as she was in very good hands with a private guide who spoke fluent English to show her around Quito in my absence. She didn’t need me at all!

I arrived late Wednesday night and was immediately reminded that I was now back in South America. It’s been about 4 years since I was down here last (yikes!) and, especially after having just returned from 3 weeks in Europe where traveling is such a breeze and everything is so well organized and logical, I was instantly reminded that I would have to change ALL of my expectations while traveling here. It’s chaos almost from the moment you land as when you go to claim your bag, instead of leaving them go around on the belt for you to pick up, they “helpfully” take everyone’s bags off of the carousel and then place them into huge piles something like ten suitcases deep and wide. So first you have to fight the crowds that are all milling around the piles looking for their bags and then, if yours happens to be in the middle, you have to wade through the pile, pushing all of the other bags out of your way and then somehow pick yours up and lift it out over the others. It’s a brilliant system. Which actually never fails to amuse me as it’s so typical of how just about everything else works down here. So I was standing there with a smile on my face, amusedly observing the chaos while casually looking for my bag until…. I realized my bag wasn’t there.

Laura and her guinea pig, mmm. Note the bared teeth...
the guinea pig's, not Laura's.

At which point the smile faded and I recruited some help from the baggage guy who looked around and declared it officially missing. I went to the counter to make a claim and, along with another huge mass of people, was told that my bag was inexplicably still in Miami. The funny part (funny being a relative term) was that no one was upset and everyone seemed totally nonplussed by it all, like “Oh, my bag is still in Miami. Okay, cool, thanks”. The other odd thing was that there were no apologies from the airport workers, no “sorry for the inconvenience”, just a “It’s still in Miami, it will arrive tomorrow night”. Welcome to South America!

You still see lots of traditionally dressed people here

So since I was now down 2 days in Quito and had to make up for lost time in my very brief remaining 2 days, Laura and Jaime had kindly “saved the best for last” for while I was here. We walked to a tiny little neighborhood, open-air place for breakfast, which is essentially just like eating in someone’s kitchen at home. My biggest regret so far on this trip is not having taken a picture of the place, as that kind of restaurant is one of my favorite things about life in South America. The food is authentic and fresh and made right in front of your eyes. It’s also dirt cheap. A whole breakfast including handmade breakfast tortillas, coffee and FRESHLY squeezed pure fruit juice cost around a dollar. And suddenly South America redeemed itself.

How often do you walk down the street and see a monk?

We took a 45-minute bus ride (for the price of approximately 50 cents per person) to Mitad de Mundo, or Middle of the World. It is, just as you might imagine, the place where the equator passes through Quito and cuts the world in half. Call me a cheesy tourist, but I found it very cool to be able to stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere while the other was in the southern hemisphere! And, yes, we took lots of dorky pictures.

Old Quito

For lunch, Laura, who is a big-time foodie and a very adventurous eater, had her heart set on the traditional meal here of… ready?.... roasted guinea pig! Jaime and I decided to pass but I’m pretty sure we got even more enjoyment out of it just by watching Laura eat it. Picture a bald guinea pig that is speared whole on a stick and then roasted over an open pit fire. And then picture it served to you whole, with its eyes staring at you and its mouth wide open with all of its tiny little teeth bared while you’re eating it. Mmmm, appetizing. She had some moments of wanting to back out, but she was a trooper and dove right in and stripped that little guinea pig’s bones bare! I tried a generous bite and can honestly say the taste wasn’t bad at all, very much like duck. So while I can’t take credit for being brave enough to order a whole one on my own, I can actually say I’ve tried it and that I survived the experience!

The Plaza Grande in Quito... try to make out the two
traditionally dressed ladies on the bench

We headed to the gaming store Jaime owns and, while he had to work in the evening, Laura and I ventured off on our own to check out some other sites in the old part of town, mostly the old plaza (La Plaza Grande) and an antiquated cobblestoned quarter (La Ronda) full of charming balconies and outdoor seating and pubs and restaurants brimming with very traditional Ecuadorian food. We meandered, we had coffee and pastry in one place, a drink in another and dinner in yet another. At one point we got caught up in a group of people trapped in a tunnel watching the most bizarre guy with two scantily clad dancing women being filmed singing. We watched til the end (we really had no choice) and when the crowd started to clear the guy made a beeline for us and asked us if we would dance with him for his television program. Uh, no, we would not. But he pushed and pleaded and we ended up compromising, him doing a weird little dance while Laura and I stood on either side of him smiling and waving awkwardly at the camera before parting with traditional besos (kisses). Where was Jaime when we needed him to be taking pictures of us becoming famous in Ecuador!?!