A scenic spot to rent a car?

In the Cotopaxi parking lot (4500m above sea level), one hour from the Pan-American highway, along an incredibly bumpy dirt road, we encountered this sign.

Cotopaxi and Quito

This weekend we decided to get out of Sangolqui. On saturday we went on a day trip to Cotopaxi, the highest of Ecuador´s active volcanoes (according to them the highest in the world - 5897m). We parked at about 4500m, and then walked up to the tongue of one of the glaciers (at 5000m). 500 meters ascent doesn´t seem like much, but at that altitude it´s pretty tough going, and it feels like your heart is throbbing in your head. The fact that we went from 2300m in Sang. to 5000m in 1 day was pushing it a bit, and we both had sore heads afterwards. The views more than made up for this though, it was unbelievable! The road that we travelled on from Quito is the Pan-American highway, and is also known as the Avenue of Volcanoes as you are always surrounded them. From 5000m on Cotopaxi (above the clouds), you have a view of the volcanoes that is truly breathtaking.

Today we caught a local bus (which cost $1 for both of us) up to Quito, which took half an hour. We walked around the Old Town, visiting some churches and taking in the festive atmosphere, with dancing, a marathon, a band, street theatre, and all sorts. We were quite happy to see some other tourists, but decided that we´re very happy with where we are based.

Life in Sangolqui

We´re half way through our spanish school, and we´ve managed to take in a bit of what we´re learning. Most importantly we are able to recognise things on the menu, and therefore know what we´re eating. You don´t really want to order ´Cuy´ (Koi), which is the local speciality of baked guinea pig. I have been adventurous to some extent, and eaten the pigs trotters, which was pretty tasty.

In the afternoons we have been at a local project that feeds kids from the community. Actually quite hard work, as we´ve had to prepare dinner, serve the kids, and then clean up. Takes about 4 hours every afternoon. This has helped quite a bit with our spanish and food vocab.

As I mentioned earlier we are staying on the main square in Sangolqui. The church on the square rings it´s bells every 15 minutes, day and night, and because they are currently celebrating the anniversary of their independance, there is the occasional singing procession that does laps around the square at 5 in the morning.

We´ve got on well with the other folk at the hostel. We are now 6 in total, the rest all english. We´ve decided the hostel is a bit like ´Faulty Towers´, with our waiter come hotel manager (Carlos) reminding us a lot of Manuel. He constantly forgets that Jackie is vegetarian, plays loud music when he wants, forgets to turn our hot water on and seriously limits our toilet paper.

Sangolqui (Ecuador)

On sunday we landed in the MIDDLE of Quito (literally, as thats where the airport is), swerving a couple of mountains and a great storm on the way in. The passengers all gave a huge round of applause on the landing, I´m not sure what the success rate is in Ecuador. Rodrigues and his whole family fetched us, and took us to his hostel in Sangolqui, which is 30 minutes south of Quito. He asked what we knew of Ecuador and one of the things we said was chocolate, so he stopped at a shop to buy us one. He´d heard about South Africa because of the football world cup, but was confused as he thought there were no white south africans.

It´s rained and been overcast quite a bit since we arrived, obscuring our view of the mountains that apparently surround the town. The hostel is another win, there are only 4 of us, food is good, rooms are clean - hope things carry on like this. It is right on the main square with the church bell going off every quarter hour, and this morning a singing church procession at 5:30. The other couple (english, on a gap year after their retirement) staying at our hostel are the only other tourists (gringo´s) in Sangolqui.

Today we started our spanish course with Lorgio (Law-ggio). Four hours of concentrating and quite a bit of laughing. Jackie had an issue with asking ´what is your age (años - pronounced anios)´, and instead kept on asking Lorgio about his anus (anos). We are starting our volunteering tomorrow at a church that feeds poor kids in the community.

Madrid

Last time we left you we were about to go and get some grub and a beer. We managed to find a great spot, but were a bit tired so got back to our hostel fairly early. Our hostel was an absolute win, a quiet, air-conditioned, dark sanctuary, were we had quality rest. On saturday we walked around the old part of town, and decided to spend the afternoon in 2 of the most famous of Madrid´s Art Galleries (the Prada and the Reina Sofia). The Prada was full of great works, including Goya, Rembrandt, Raphael and Rubens, with the Reina Sofia being more like the Tate Modern, with modern Impressionist, surrealist, and just generally weird stuff. It also has Picasso´s famous ´Guernicka´, which was pretty impressive, especially as it shows the artists progression towards the final product.

A few more beers, and a Patata´s Bravas later we were again in our sanctuary, ready for sunday and our trip to South America.

Packing for a year

Well, the day finally arrived, and we set off on our trip. We managed to squash most of what we wanted into our backpacks, and the rest is history. Jackie's weighed in at 15kg, mine 19.

First stop, Madrid, just for the weekend. Really hot, and absolute chaos on the underground, but we've landed ourselves in a great hostel with aircon. About to get some tapa's and a cold beer.

Jackie made some grub the other night

Things to come

Friday was my last day of work, and I must say that this morning I felt no real sadness or pangs of anxiety at not rushing off to catch a train. Jackie is at work today, and possibly for a few hours tomorrow morning, but then it's all systems go.

There are just a few things to sort out this week, but on the whole we're pretty organised and on target for our friday morning departure. We fly off to Madrid for 2 days, and then on to Ecuador on sunday, for our 3 and a half month South American Adventure.

Feedback to Virgin Trains

I laughed when I read about how I can nominate one of your staff for a Feel Good Award. What about one for useless service? Then I realised that is because majority of your staff provide useless service, and when 1 doesn't it really stands out. Saturday morning our train from London Euston to Stafford was delayed due to someone jumping on the tracks near Milton Keynes - fine, I understand there's not a lot you can do. Everybody we approached at the station for help was mostly disinterested and generally pathetic. The problem was we were only going to have lunch in Stafford with friends, and returning at 3pm. So, we decided to go on sunday, around the same time, which we checked with your staff. Sunday morning we arrived to find that there was engineering works, and that we had to catch a bus to Milton Keynes, and then the train from there. This we did, and on arriving at Milton Keynes station, we missed the fast train to Stafford, only because one of your employees told us to wait for the next - SLOW - train. We were then waiting on the platform when another of your employees barged past my wife, no apology whatsoever, and some sort of comment. Now, in the real world, a person who is walking must avoid a person who is standing still, not so. She, by the way was serving food on the 11:38 train from Milton Keynes via Stafford, in case you want to have a chat to her about being more normal in future. Finally we arrived at Stafford at 1:30 in the afternoon, 1 hour after we were told we would the day before. All in all a completely unpleasant travel experience, well done Virgin. Does the name Virgin imply that it's always your employees first ever day on the job? I'd officially like to nominate the whole company for a Feel Bad Award - congratulations!

Jackie's new hiking boots - finally

Gourmet London

A visit from Eric and Olivia was sufficient excuse for a celebration on saturday (the 28th of April), and this saw us enjoying 2 fantastic meals and watching an entertaining show. Our first stop was the Borough Market, unquestionably one of London's highlights. The quality and variety of food on offer takes a lot of beating, and we (me) got stuck in big time. Huge scottish oysters, parma ham, rich french brie, fresh garlic and herb bread, marinated garlic, pepper stuffed olives, spicey chorizo, and a couple of glasses of chilled refreshment - a food lovers heaven on earth!

We were enjoying ourselves so much that we lost track of time, and almost missed our afternoon show, 'Little Shop of Horrors'. It was original and entertaining, but after some lunch time drinking, I struggled to keep my eyes open.

To finish of our day we had reserved a table at Bam-Bou, a restaurant with South-East Asian influences, near Tottenham Court Road. We sampled some fantastic starters which included crumbed frog's legs and some tangy ribs. My main was a tiger prawn curry which not only looked good, but was also well suited to being thrown down one's throat.

All in all a great day out in London, and a reminder of how fortunate we've been to spend 2 and a halfyears in a city that has so much to offer.

Umhlanga

On our recent trip to South Africa, we were lucky enough to spend a week with my folks at Sandals, in Umhlanga (just north of Durban). We spent a bit of time on the beach, visited some wonderful restaurants, and caught up with family. Here are a couple of pic's from the week. Please note Lisa (my sister) and me in the sea at Ushaka - some great synchronised swimming!

As mentioned earlier, I went absolutely banana's for the food in South Africa. I had some great steaks, and some fantastic seafood, but probably my best meal was at a restaurant called Sugar Club, at the Beverly Hills Intercontinental in Umhlanga. It's a really posh place, with waiters in abundance and a piano player in the corner. I had teriyaki chicken livers as a starter, just for fun, and followed with an ostrich steak that was succulent perfection, cooked medium rare. The Crepe Suzette's were flamed at our table, and besides being tiny little things, they were rich and luscious.