Quito
After Quilotoa, we headed to Quito. We were warned by almost everyone we met... Quito is THE pickpocket town. One guy even had his camera snatched out of his hand as he was taking a photo. So we were warned and we arrived prepared. Bags covered in their raincoats so no access to the pockets possible. Little bag with money hidden under our shirts. And we got by ok, so far, nothing to report!
The old town of Quito is very pretty, it has a lot of charm but small. We covered the visit in one afternoon. We're staying in the new town... in Gringoland. What can I say about Gringoland? It has everything to please the gringo: happy hour every night of the week, mexican food, book exchanges etc... all that at a ridiculously high price. And I have to say I think book exchange are great, but the two guys who have book exchange stores in Quito's gringoland are very very sad people. They are men of about 50-60 years of age, british/american, who do not speak a word of spanish and who exchange books in every language imaginable EXCEPT spanish!!! it's beyond me that people should choose to live in a country and deliberatly refuse to learn the country's language and even to have anything to do with it!
Anywho... This is the end of south america for me. Tomorrow I will be on a plane to Los Angeles!
EDIT:
How could I forget to mention "la mitad del mundo"? We went to see the Equator line. Watch out for tourist trap! there are two "mitad del mundo". There's the plaza, you pay 3 dollars to get into a parc with restaurants and souvenir shops and a monument, to climb to the top of the monument you have to pay an extra 3 dollars. And the equator line doesn't even pass there! And about 500 meters away, well hidden on the right, there's another "mitad del mundo". 3 dollars entry too, but this one is actually on the equator line and the guide makes you do all sorts of experiments.
Experiment 1: flush water down, in the southern hemisphere, in the northern hemisphere and on the equator. Guess the results? in the south, counterclockwise, in the north, clockwise and on the equator... straight down. Pretty cool
Experiment 2: try to walk straight on the equator, with your eyes closed and your arms stretched out horizontally. Impossible! you feel like you're losing your balance all the time!
Experiment 3: Hold you hands up in a fist above your head, ask someone to push your hands down. If you do this in the southern or northern hemisphere, your friend will have difficulties pushing your hands down. On the equator, piece of cake!! that was really suprising! On the equator, you weigh less and you have less strength!!! That was the most impressive experiments of them all!