Bye Bye Ecuador.....

.....and bye bye backpacker.... I´m almost embarrassed to admit that I´m sitting in the luxury of the Quito airport VIP lounge (having forked out $20US for the privilege.....) - yes, those backpacker days are over.

The way I see it is this.....

a) I had to get up at 3:10am to get here
b) having gone to bed at 1:30am after 1 Cosmo, 1 ¨Good Morning Vietnam¨and 2 Daiquiris.... and goodbyes!
c) at 4:30am, nothing in the airport is open.... and
d) I´m tired, hungry and sitting alone in an airport on Easter Sunday....
e) with over two hours to go until my flight to NY via Miami....

Therefore, best $30AUD I´ve ever spent..... breakfast, coffee, internet, and no smelly people.

The best $37AUD I´ve ever spent was the private airport transfer to get here - Quito is one nasty town at 4:30am in the morning.... from what I saw out my tinted and locked windows....

So, last night at dinner I was reminded about a few Ecuadorian events (and stand corrected on some details as well) so here is Part B of my week in Ecuador.

The main reason for the trauma on one of the horror public bus rides was repressed by myself until last night - when I was reminded (thanks guys)....

I was sleeping with the window open a crack. I awoke suddenly to wind gushing in my face, and a dripping bag full of a yellow liquid substance dangling in front of me. The bag got caught on the window latch and drips of liquid were falling over me. With horror, I looked at Moy. ¨Fruit juice. Fruit juice. It was fruit juice.¨And oh, I wanted to believe. I wanted to believe so bad... we did not speak of this for the entire day, until I was telling Sarah that night - and I said, ¨I think Moy was lying to me so that I didn´t freak out¨.... he admitted under pressure that he wasn´t entirely sure what the contents of the bag was.....

The next day this was the subject of much debate - what was in the bag? Did some dirty Ecuadorian pee in a bag and throw it out the bus window? (We all needed to go, and go badly, but I wasn´t about to pee in a bag.....). The facts were examined - how large was the lad? How many ml´s is the average pee? Estimates of the bag contents were made by Moy and I - I said 200ml max, which surely you´d just hang on to. Was there an odour? Did the man have a child who might have peed (that would explain the volume)? Was the lady who was selling fruit in bags on the bus selling something that would make that much juice? Peaches? Mangoes? I´m still unsure.... and the debate still rages, with last night at the dinner table Moy still insisting ¨It was fruit juice. Fruit juice. Had to be.¨.....

A few other things I won´t miss about South America.....

a) kids either begging or selling stuff - ie chasing you down the street begging you to buy their chewing gum or lollies.... sad and I´m annoyed at the exploitative parents. I gave away a lot of food on this continent instead of buying into this shitty economy.
b) being served last. Yes, I am the laughing stock. Everything I order comes last in this country.... a test of my patience, sent by a higher power centred at Machu Picchu I´m sure.
c) The Gringo Tax. Yes, double everything because we are Gringos. Go on. We love it! Esp. taxi rides!

In one of the other repressed events, I look like a callous, uncaring b$tch. Standing in line at the Pharmacy (I bought a LOT of drugs last week) at the bus station with Mick, Mick decided that with his walking stick (from the Inca trail) he would pretend to be blind for a while. Seriously - the guy deserves an Oscar for ¨best perfomance as a blind person in a bus station¨. We headed out of the Pharmacy, and he tap, tap, tapped his way along next to me, staring blankly into the middle distance. Used to such antics (from my father, generally), I ignored this and I kept just walking, and banging on about something (unlike me). We got to some steps on the edge of a big platform and I just scooted down them, ignoring Mick´s blind performance (and knowing he could actually see). When, out of nowhere, comes this security guard bounding up the steps, ready to save Mick from a certain calamity as he was about to tap, tap his way off the edge of the platform.

I lost it. I was laughing so hard I had to walk away as this diligent security guard carefully guided Mick and stick down the steps.... with a dirty look in my direction for letting Mick fall to certain injury. Moy saw it unfold so when I looked over at him he was bent in half with his head in his hands shaking his head. And then, Mick felt so bad for his good samaritan that he had to pretend to be blind for the next half hour until we were on the bus, at which time the driver looked confused as Mick tap tapped his way over to the bus, and then miraculously recovered at his seat and threw the stick up into the luggage rack....

Buses and stations were generally bad all round. Mick, Moy and I were stranded at the bus station in Riobamba due to a miscommunication... alls well that ends well though. Nothing like running after a moving bus and getting on. I´m impressed though that we were able to make a whole public bus wait for we three (thanks Alan for coming and rescuing us!).

Enough rambling.... time to board!