Hi all, last time I reported (excluding book reviews) I mentioned that the organisation was hosting a party at Bungalow 6. Well that was last Thursday night and what a laugh ! The owners wanted us to have a presence on the door alongside their bouncers in case their was any query (normally ladies get in free but that night it was a $3 charge for all - proceeds to Bruce Ecuador). So the volunteers, me, Mike (more about him in a bit), James and Julie all took it in turns to stand outside and be all "bouncer-ish", the real ones were great with us and let us practice our "no, you're not coming in" routine on them ! Also, as we were part of the organisation we got free drinks all night - bargain !
Whilst I was talking to Mike and Julie, I saw Livvy come through the door (my old housemate when I first arrived here), she'd just got back from the Galapagos. You may recall I said she was one of the poshest people I have ever met so I updated her on the Yah Yah situation and then proceeded to introduce her to the head Yah Yah's who quite frankly were astonished that I would have an aquaintance of such "standing" !! We had such a laugh that night !
Mike is the new volunteer who works with me at the south school, nice lad, from North Carolina USA, plays in a band called The Verdict and apparently has just finished supporting the Plain White Ts on a UK tour - such company I'm keeping eh ?!
Luckily, Matt, my boss over here decided that none of us had to work on Friday so we could enjoy the night without the concern of an alarm at 6:50am !
So Friday came round with us all feeling a bit gentle, there was a Liga game on that night against Tec Universitario so me Emma and Maddie piled in a taxi to the ground. We were taken under the wings of some regulars who taught us one of the songs during half time and made us lead about 200 odd supporters in the practice chant at half time - another really good night !
On Saturday morning I get up to find that Rita has left us our breakfast out for us in our apartment and I get half scared to death as I'm just tucking into my omelette when I hear a male voice behind me saying "Good Morning". As far as I knew there was only me and Emma in the place ... she fell back in at about 5am I think, god knows how she does it ! The new guy was Nick, from the West Country, only staying a few days. It was a beautiful day so I convinced Emma and Nick to go up the Teleferico, a cable car ride on the mountain / volcano on the other side of Quito - I've been looking at it for 5 weeks now from our balcony so I thought it was about time I actually went up the thing.
It's over 4000 metres up there and you can bloody well tell, was a bit dizzy and breathless for a bit but the views were pretty amazing. Mind you, we didn't stay up there for long, too bloody cold. At the bottom there is a fun fair and go Kart track (random but true) so we all agreed to go on one ride and do some Karting. The ride we chose was the Tagoda or something like that, I remember going on something similar in Blackpool Pleasure Beach but obviously Quito doesn't have to worry about H&S rules, the guy managing this ride was a psycho!! It kept whizzing round and he had that bloody finger on the "throw them in the air" button all the time ! We laughed so hard it hurt, tears down the face and once we'd claimed Emma back from the gang of locals she had been thrown into during the ride we headed to the Go Karts. A really great afternoon on a spontaneous decision !
I didn't go out Saturday night, had to be sensible as Lee had agreed to meet me at 7am to open Finn McCools so I could watch Boro v Man U. There was only me, Lee (Liverpool fan) and another guy who was a Man U fan there but it was a great game, great to see snow back home (tee hee). Then of course I had to watch the semi final of the FA cup ... am feeling like a local in there now !
Nick has gone off on a tour now but we've got 3 more lads staying in the house, however, not in our apartment, there is another seperate apartment downstairs with 5 bedrooms - I kid you not ! We worked out that the property probably has 14 bedrooms in total ! Dane, Dan and Nick are here doing a football coaching project - with Liga under 19´s no less ! Seem like nice lads, when I saw the Adidas top I asked if they went to private school, surprise surprise yes was the answer - I'm starting to recognise the uniform now !
Pub Quiz again last night, I just did one round - Western Europe, I dumbed it down for them this week !
So, that's my action packed week. I have to admit that I can't seem to get myself motivated to explore the country on weekends as I have elsewhere. I've only seen Otavalo and Banos. But I'm not feeling bad about it. It's nice to feel a part of somewhere and I feel a part of Quito, got some good friends here to go out with, am welcomed like a regular in Finn McCools, the internet place I use etc. I'm giving in to the fun of Quito maybe at the expense of missing parts of the country but that is something I'm ok with at the moment.
Anyway, mum and dad arrive tomorrow - I may actually get to see Mitad del Mundo (equator line thingy) when they are here, I've been meaning to go since I arrived but never seem to find the time !
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