Numero seis - Wimpishness and Jesus (not in any way linked Rio, we wouldn´t insult your man)

After spending three weeks in Quito we´ve seen a fair bit of the city. Namely Churches. The Historic centre is filled with beautiful buildings such as The Compañia de Jesus, the most ornate church in Ecuador which is basically just gold, and the Basilica. The latter was quite an experience for the two of us since, for some unknown reason, we decided to actually pay to climb to the top. This, may we remind you, is the tallest building in Quito and not one to be trifled with. The ascent involved treacherous ladders over nothing but air, walking a rickety wooden plank above the heights of the nave and contending with cheeky Ecuadorian raggamuffins who thought it would be a laugh to stamp on the floor of the clock tower and ring the bells. Geo was not amused. Ang was greatly amused when Geo had to descend the ladders by crawling on the floor over to them and inching her backside over the edge until her feet found purchase on the rungs. There is photographic evidence. Incredible views over Quito though, especially of the Virgin of Quito. This statue we later visited with Lupe and Mauricio at night to fully enjoy the panoramic views of the city from her hill. The statue itself is striking but impossible to take a photo of at night!

Quito itself is chockablock with heavily armed squads of riot police (should we be worried?) who just like to show off their guns (not those guns Geo), pesty shoeshine boys who don´t seem to understand that flipflops and suede trainers cannot be shined, monsoons (bring your waterproofs, they really attract the men), pretty plazas and the lingering smell of urine (it seems to be perminently ingrained in the trees up our street). We´ve tried some of the local delicacies such as empanadas de verde, espumilla (no Ang, not espoudrio) and canelazo which was super tasty. Lunches here are generally cheap almuerzos which consist of practically anything for $2. Ecuador has gazillions of unknown fruits such as Guanabana, Taxo, Tuna, Ovo and many more which were interesting to try. We had a look around an fascinating but creepy manakin filled museum, saw more churches than you could shake a tail at, a monastery and a convent (to Ang´s disappointment the monks could not be dissuaded from their vows of chastity), saw the art museum and had a stroll up and down the Calle de Ronda, the oldest street in Quito which housed many famous artists, musicians, writers - basically the type Ang would fancy, you get the drift. Geo adds in Lame-Keats-like people. Ang is no longer talking to her.

We also went to view the Presidential elections in progress. More impressive men with big guns (both kinds. Ron Burgundy would be jealous). It was interesting to learn that voting is compulsory here for everyone over 16, and to see how it all worked. We were struck by just how rigidly organised it all was. All in all, an interesting glimpse of political Ecuador.

Geo is determined to add in about the drunken bus man. He was hilarious. Surely most men would pick up the ´not-interested´signals when we said we didn´t understand a single word of Spanish and kept moving from one end of the bus to the other. But no, he seemed to think we couldn´t resist the waggling eyebrows and lips-licking since he followed us on our quest for freedom around the bus. The other passengers seemed to find it rather amusing. Apart from the granny Ang sat on. Yes, that was this journey. So really a bus ride we couldn´t wait to get off.

Despite having a great time here, we´re extremely excited about moving off to explore other parts of Ecuador and South America.