The Vigilante Lets Her Guard Down

Update: 7

Wake up calls all round for the three happy gringos...

Thursday saw Tam, Bruce and me heading off to the Mariscal (the backpacker/tourist part of Quito) to buy our flights to the Galapagos with the intention of getting down to sea level (and some oxygen) by Friday.

So we head off at rush hour and catch the Trole (tram) from outside our hotel in the historical old town (the world's first ever UNESCO World Heritage Site) to the Mariscal. Partly due to the rain (I think I've mentioned the rain. According to Fernando our biking buddy, Quito has two seasons: The Rainy Season and the Very Rainy Season) and partly due to Liga de Quito playing in the Quarter Finals, the Trole was packed. We should have been more suspicious when we saw the breastfeeding mother pushing her way through everyone, but the Trole got more and more crowded and with everyone pushing around, Bruce shouts out "I've been robbed!". With that we got out at the next stop, probably with the thieves, and caught a cab back for El Diablo to call his bank and cancel cards. Someone had unzipped his pocket and nicked his wallet. In the cab, El Vigilante pipes up that she'd fortunately put her wallet inside her jacket....takes it out and there, across the face of it, was a 5cm slash. The devious bastards had cut through her jacket and into the wallet with a razor blade. We were nearly two wallets down. Wake up calls for all of us.

So now we walk around, swinging our bags, turning around regularly, jumping from side to side, speeding up, slowing down watching each other. We must look at a sight, but ain't no-one gonna do that to these gringos again!

Anyway, that hasn't stopped us from enjoying Quito and, looking at the funny side, it's the closest Bruce has come to a razor in years..

On Friday I spent the day at the pool of the Marriott Hotel waiting for Tam to get her legs waxed. I'm under strict instructions not to make any Brazilian in Ecuador or Ecuadorian-style Brazilians jokes. So I won't.

We've also had our Spanish school graduation ceremony. Actually I think it was an excuse for Fanny and Sylvia to get themselves a cake, but I can't be sure as the whole ceremony was in Spanish and neither of us understood a word.

Not sure if I mentioned last time that we were taking salsa classes... Well we had two lessons, but after watching two five foot, petite Ecuadoreans shake their bums, Tam and I, in gear we've packed to keep us warm and dry in Patagonia, turned a pretty sexy dance into some kind of a boot camp. So I vetoed the idea and know we're practicing our "slash my pocket and get a fist in the head" look.

As we couldn't get on the Friday flights to the Galapagos and could only fly on Monday, we had an extra weekend here and decided to go biking again. Remember, this is supposed to be classic Leesie-style biking: truck to the top, freewheel down. I did break a sweat but that was due to a language breakdown. I didn't know the Spanish word for "uphill" as it was thrown around by our guide before the longest 5kms I've ever ridden. Needless to say, I won't be doing it again, and he won't be getting a Christmas card.

Cycling in Ecuador is similar to cycling in the Alps, I'd imagine. The only differences I can think of, are:

• In Europe, you're likely to be required to sign an indemnity form,
• In Europe you're probably going to be required to wear a helmet,
• In Europe, when your mountain cycle path joins a main road, the tour guide is probably going to stop you and take you, by truck, to another traffic-free spot from where to continue.
• In Europe, I very much doubt you'll find yourself in a situation where that main road joins a six lane highway and you get to experience the feeling of overtaking a bus on your right, while a juggernaut comes flying past you on the left.
• If that were to happen - even hypothetically - I'd be surprised if the tour guide said to you at the bottom of the hill: "Hey, was that cool? You know when I came past you (in the truck in lane 3 of six) and was waving? Si? I was trying to tell you that you were clocking 80kms an hour! Cool huh?"

 Well, we're not in Europe, and to be honest, it was a pretty cool forty minutes downhill. Near-death experiences aside.

Our flight to Galapagos leaves first thing Monday morning. Internet access is unlikely to be as freely available as Hotel San Francisco so who knows when you'll get another update.

Take it easy and thanks to those of you who sent complimentary feedback!