Well I did a lot of research about South America before I came, but one small detail I missed was the fact that in Quito it's now the rainy season!
Its about 4.30 in the afternoon here and once again the clouds have arrived to deliver the daily thunderstorm. It seems that the clouds here don't like to deliver half ass rain, when it rains here..... it RAINS! It doesn't take long to work out the whether patterns here so luckily I got my wee bit of sight seeing out of the way early this afternoon.
After spending six days here, my concept of a typical way of living, has been completely blown out of the water. It only took a brief walk through the city on my first day here to realize this. All of a sudden the safety of my own environment, my own language, and my own lifestyle, was no longer there, and for the first time in my life, I was experiencing being "the other person."
I couldn't stop grinning when I stood out of the hostel for the first time. After this huge build up, I was finally going to experience the day to day life of a new culture. At first it was a bit of an overload for my senses. The streets were filled with small convenience stores, and it wasn't uncommon to see people on the street, trying to sell cigarettes & candy to passers by. They don't seem to have big supermarkets here, everything is sold through small markets. As I turned down another side street, I noticed an unusual smell, then later realized there was a truck selling huge carcasses of meat from the back of the truck.
Every corner also seemed to have a small diner where you can buy an almuerzo (lunch) for around $1.50. For this you get a soup starter, rice & meat, fruit juice, and of course a banana. I recently ordered chicken soup and as I put my spoon into the soup, I thought I'd found a nice piece of chicken, but quickly realized it was in fact a chicken foot! I continued eating the soup, but kept my spoon close to the surface, then conveniently decided that I was now "full." As I continued on my exploration, it didn't take my long before I stumbled upon my first music shop.
It was only a small shop but it had some nice guitars that seemed to be the ideal size for traveling with. I asked the shop owner if I could play one and he gladly pulled up a stool and asked me which one I'd like to play. After playing a couple, I fixed my eyes on a very unusual looking one. It was a very traditional looking guitar and an ideal size, hanging on the top row and I could hear it calling out my name, so I asked to play it. I knew that this was the one, but I also knew that it was worth a lot more than the other ones, after finding out he wanted $140 for it, I handed it back and said I go away and think about it.
After a couple of days, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer, so I set off to find the music shop. After walking up and down streets everywhere I finally came across it again. I was very nervous because I didn't really know how to go about doing the bargin. I decided that I would offer $80, and that I would spend no more than $115. After having another play, it was time to give an offer. It was very intimidating at this time because there were a lot of people in the shop, all looking at me waiting for me to buy something. I offered the $80 and they looked at me, then looked at each other, then just had a wee laugh to themselves. I thought that right then and there I'd screwed the deal so I said "sorry, I really want the expensive one but I can't afford it so I think I'll give it a miss." He then looked at me and said "you can have it for $130. I only had the $115 on me, so I took out my wallet, emptied out all the cash, showing him my empty wallet, then said, "this is all the cash I have. I want that guitar (the $140 one), and a case, yes of no?" He gave me a look as if to say "you bastard", paused for a while, then accepted my offer.
As I approached the door to leave, an older guy said something to me in Spanish. It took me several attempts at listening before I realized he was asking me to play the guitar for everyone. I gladly accepted the offer and pulled it out of the case, then sat down on the front step of the door. I sang a blues for them, then he said "can you play a bossa nova?" I never thought that learning Blue Bossa at Jazz School would actually come in handy, but I guess there was a good reason for learning it after all. I played the song, and then they all clapped and continued to talk amongst themselves in Spanish. After some very bad broken spanish conversations (the guy needed to get his son to translate not just my English, but even a lot my Spanish as well!), I finally realized that this man was asking if I'd like to come to perform in their shop. I was very surprised by the offer, and would have loved to have accepted it, but unfortunately I was unable at that time. I asked kindly if they could perform some music for me, and was treated to a trio performance on some traditional Ecuadorian music.
Now that I had my guitar, I was happy to relax. I haven’t been in a hurry this week, just relaxing, getting used to the high altitude, learning a bit of Spanish, and just enjoying the experience of meeting new people every moment. I traveled to The Equator with a friend, and on the way back ended up getting completely lost. Its funny here when you ask a basic question like, "is this the correct bus to take us here (pointing at something)," instead of replying "yes" or "no", they give you a two minute explanation, not realizing that your vocabulary only contains about 20 words. We ended up taking a wild guess and going way out into the middle of Quito. Its a crazy feeling jumping on a packed bus (I mean PACKED!, not even any standing room!), being the only gringos, going through a completely unknown city, and having no idea of where you are in relation to where you want to go. I got a bad feeling about half an hour into it that we wern't going the right way so we got off. Lucky we had a card with the map to our hostel, so we were able to find a taxi to take us back. My limited Spanish has been ok so far, but I've definatly got a challenge ahead of me.
I was very nervous about organizing my trip to Tena, because it would have required me to ring someone and have a conversation in Spanish, but I was saved when my Spanish teacher kindly offered to call and do it for me. I was standing there with her at the phone, thinking I was going to be doing all the work, but she gave him all the information from me, then gave me all the info I needed to know, I don't know what I would have done without her!
In the short time I've been here, I've already created a bit of a comfort zone for myself with some good friends, but I'm kinda shitting myself now because I'm about to once again go into the unknown. But I guess this is what the trip is all about, getting to know one new environment, then going on to find other new experiences. But I feel like I'm far from knowing Quito. Society here is a whole different dynamic to back at home, but I don't think I could ever know it properly, so now feels like a good time to move on to the next step!
Rock formations on The Carretera
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Airports, & Taxis
Well, I didn't think I'd be writing a post about my flight, but it turned out to be a little more interesting and eventful that I'd perhaps thought. After a long wait in Auckland, and a painfully long flight (well at least eleven and a half hours was painful to me), I arrived in Santiago airport. It was nothing that I imagined. As I flew over from the coast it reminded me very much of Central Otago and The Andes from where I was, had a similar look to our Southern Alps. But once I hit the ground things were very different.
As I stood off the plane, everything was in Spanish, and all of a sudden the background conversations like I'm used to in a busy place, just became background noises. As I walked to pass through the security area for transit, I noticed that security was significantly more relaxed than New Zealand. As I put my hand luggage on the tray to get scanned, I paused to grab out my laptop. Speaking in Spanish, & gesturing to me to hurry, the security officer grabbed my bag and just rushed it through the scanner. I later noticed that he was doing this to everyone, not even looking at the screen. It was as if he was getting paid commission or something. I then completely missed the lady who was supposed to scan me with the metal detector because she was laughing & having a conversation with her mate.
In the departure area, the damage done by the earthquake was still very visible. Many of the shops were closed, and almost everywhere you looked there were a lot of ceilings, and walls in the process of getting fixed. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined & there were few tourists there, it was the first time that I really felt I was getting looked at everywhere I went, but I quickly relaxed and was able to enjoy the new experience. After meeting a fellow traveler in the departure area, we went and got a beer where I had the opportunity to speak my first words of Spanish. This is more or less how my first Spanish ever conversation in South America went (My Spanish was quite bad so some of what he said was in English):
Me: "Hi, how are you"
Bar Tender: "Hi, good"
Me: "Do you accept US dollars"
BT: "Yes"
Me: (pointing at the list) "how much"
BT: "Five dollars"
Me: "Can I have that one thanks"
It was by no means a complex conversation, but never the less, it felt awesome to finally put my little bit of knowledge to the test, and it felt even better to be understood, even if it was only slightly! I'm very glad I did learn a wee bit before I left because from that time on, there have been various times where I've had to use it.
When I got on the plane to leave to Quito, I found myself already pretty much in Spanish immersion. I was surrounded by local "frequent flyers", and ended up sitting next to two businessmen. I was eager to have another go at trying a few things out, but I got the impression from their body language that they wouldn’t be to interested in a gringo asking about their personal lives, (Those are the only conversation starters I really have at this stage). That didn't really matter though, because I was very tired by then from getting no sleep on my previous flight. So I took the opportunity to catch up.
After a brief stop off at Guayaquil, I was finally on my way to Quito. I had gotten over the nerves by this stage and was starting to become comfortable with the language barrier, and I thought that it was all smooth running from here until the hostel as I'd arranged for an airport pickup a while before I left, but although I'd been in airports & planes, I was still yet to set foot outside. I later found that I hadn't become so comfortable with the language barrier after all, when I was forced to find other plans for my pick up.
After going through the customs without any hassles, I grabbed my pack & headed for the big sliding doors. "This is it" I thought to myself as I slowly approached. As I came close to the door, I played over the email instructions again in my head, "as soon as you exit through the big sliding doors, look for a big bright “Secret Garden” sign with your name on it, there will be someone there waiting for you". As the doors opened, I was thrown into this crazy, completely unexpected, and completely unknown world, which I now know as Ecuador.
The room was a lot smaller than I expected, and full of local people welcoming their family & friends back home. I looked left & right for a big bright sign with my name on it, but I couldn't see any signs which seemed to resemble like my name, and none of them were very bright either. The room also seemed to be set up so it felt like I was walking the gauntlet, as I took my time to look everywhere, people were yelling out names and everyone seemed to look at me as if I was an interesting specimen from a zoo. I then comforted myself by convincing myself that my ride was going to arrive, and that they were just running a little late, so I went behind the rail to wait, putting on a smug face and a semi confident look to try and hide the fact that I was fucking shitting myself.
Twenty minutes went by and I had to accept the fact that my ride wasn't going to be here, and I had to find a plan B. I saw a public phone in the corner and thought great there it is. As I walked over I noticed that they were card phones, not cash. With plan B quickly foiled, I was really starting to get a bit nervous, still hoping that everything will eventually work out, I went back to my waiting position with my smug look, checking my pockets and making sure my bag was at my side every thirty seconds. After trying various mind relaxation techniques, I looked over to the Information desk and plan C appeared.
I was a bit hesitant at first because I knew this would require me to relax and speak a wee bit of spanish. But by now I had no other choice so I grabbed my gear and walked across the middle of the room, keeping a nice pace as if I was just going to make a "casual enquiry". I had the line all worked out in my head that I needed to say, but I only got as far as saying "hi" before my habit of speaking english quickly kicked back in. She gave me a smile and shook her her saying "I don't understand sorry." I then paused for a minute and after a lot of stuttering, some very weird hand gestures, and a series of awkward "spanglish phrases" I finally got across what I needed to say. (The interaction wasn't made easy by the fact that she was a very beautiful woman!). She called the hostel for me and gave me the phone so I could sort it all out. After telling the hostel reception that I was stranded at Quito airport and I'll probably have to wash my underwear as soon as I arrive, she told me that she'll send a taxi right away.
Finally I was able to relax. I stood back in my waiting spot, this time looking round and noticing a few more things in the room. I saw a shop that sold drinks and food so I decided that I'd go over and buy a bottle of water. This time my spanish came out great and it was about the first time something had gone right for me in this country. But by the time I'd finished the water.......... still no sign of a taxi driver holding up my name. I looked over at the desk and realized that I would have to approach this again. This time however, she knew what I would want, so she put me through right away. After explaining to the hostel reception that the situation hadn't progressed any further, she once again apologized and said she'll call the taxi straight away.
After waiting about another further fifteen minutes, I looked over to the hostel pick up desk and noticed a floral sign saying "Secret Garden Pick up Ready" I went over and asked if the pickup was for Rob. She replied yes, and then all of a sudden a huge weight of nerves, border lining on paranoia left me and I could finally relax, knowing that I'll be at the hostel in fifteen minutes. It was defiantly the most gladly spent ten dollars I've ever spent!
As I jumped into the taxi I decided that I'll have another go at my Spanish. I asked the driver about the weather and where I can buy guitars. I couldn't really understand his answers very well but he spoke a wee bit of English so I found out a little bit. I was then dropped at the door of my hostel, what a relief, I had no idea I'd be thrown into my "adventure" so soon.
Well I think I've ranted quite a bit now so I'll leave it at that. Hope you enjoy.
Rob
As I stood off the plane, everything was in Spanish, and all of a sudden the background conversations like I'm used to in a busy place, just became background noises. As I walked to pass through the security area for transit, I noticed that security was significantly more relaxed than New Zealand. As I put my hand luggage on the tray to get scanned, I paused to grab out my laptop. Speaking in Spanish, & gesturing to me to hurry, the security officer grabbed my bag and just rushed it through the scanner. I later noticed that he was doing this to everyone, not even looking at the screen. It was as if he was getting paid commission or something. I then completely missed the lady who was supposed to scan me with the metal detector because she was laughing & having a conversation with her mate.
In the departure area, the damage done by the earthquake was still very visible. Many of the shops were closed, and almost everywhere you looked there were a lot of ceilings, and walls in the process of getting fixed. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined & there were few tourists there, it was the first time that I really felt I was getting looked at everywhere I went, but I quickly relaxed and was able to enjoy the new experience. After meeting a fellow traveler in the departure area, we went and got a beer where I had the opportunity to speak my first words of Spanish. This is more or less how my first Spanish ever conversation in South America went (My Spanish was quite bad so some of what he said was in English):
Me: "Hi, how are you"
Bar Tender: "Hi, good"
Me: "Do you accept US dollars"
BT: "Yes"
Me: (pointing at the list) "how much"
BT: "Five dollars"
Me: "Can I have that one thanks"
It was by no means a complex conversation, but never the less, it felt awesome to finally put my little bit of knowledge to the test, and it felt even better to be understood, even if it was only slightly! I'm very glad I did learn a wee bit before I left because from that time on, there have been various times where I've had to use it.
When I got on the plane to leave to Quito, I found myself already pretty much in Spanish immersion. I was surrounded by local "frequent flyers", and ended up sitting next to two businessmen. I was eager to have another go at trying a few things out, but I got the impression from their body language that they wouldn’t be to interested in a gringo asking about their personal lives, (Those are the only conversation starters I really have at this stage). That didn't really matter though, because I was very tired by then from getting no sleep on my previous flight. So I took the opportunity to catch up.
After a brief stop off at Guayaquil, I was finally on my way to Quito. I had gotten over the nerves by this stage and was starting to become comfortable with the language barrier, and I thought that it was all smooth running from here until the hostel as I'd arranged for an airport pickup a while before I left, but although I'd been in airports & planes, I was still yet to set foot outside. I later found that I hadn't become so comfortable with the language barrier after all, when I was forced to find other plans for my pick up.
After going through the customs without any hassles, I grabbed my pack & headed for the big sliding doors. "This is it" I thought to myself as I slowly approached. As I came close to the door, I played over the email instructions again in my head, "as soon as you exit through the big sliding doors, look for a big bright “Secret Garden” sign with your name on it, there will be someone there waiting for you". As the doors opened, I was thrown into this crazy, completely unexpected, and completely unknown world, which I now know as Ecuador.
The room was a lot smaller than I expected, and full of local people welcoming their family & friends back home. I looked left & right for a big bright sign with my name on it, but I couldn't see any signs which seemed to resemble like my name, and none of them were very bright either. The room also seemed to be set up so it felt like I was walking the gauntlet, as I took my time to look everywhere, people were yelling out names and everyone seemed to look at me as if I was an interesting specimen from a zoo. I then comforted myself by convincing myself that my ride was going to arrive, and that they were just running a little late, so I went behind the rail to wait, putting on a smug face and a semi confident look to try and hide the fact that I was fucking shitting myself.
Twenty minutes went by and I had to accept the fact that my ride wasn't going to be here, and I had to find a plan B. I saw a public phone in the corner and thought great there it is. As I walked over I noticed that they were card phones, not cash. With plan B quickly foiled, I was really starting to get a bit nervous, still hoping that everything will eventually work out, I went back to my waiting position with my smug look, checking my pockets and making sure my bag was at my side every thirty seconds. After trying various mind relaxation techniques, I looked over to the Information desk and plan C appeared.
I was a bit hesitant at first because I knew this would require me to relax and speak a wee bit of spanish. But by now I had no other choice so I grabbed my gear and walked across the middle of the room, keeping a nice pace as if I was just going to make a "casual enquiry". I had the line all worked out in my head that I needed to say, but I only got as far as saying "hi" before my habit of speaking english quickly kicked back in. She gave me a smile and shook her her saying "I don't understand sorry." I then paused for a minute and after a lot of stuttering, some very weird hand gestures, and a series of awkward "spanglish phrases" I finally got across what I needed to say. (The interaction wasn't made easy by the fact that she was a very beautiful woman!). She called the hostel for me and gave me the phone so I could sort it all out. After telling the hostel reception that I was stranded at Quito airport and I'll probably have to wash my underwear as soon as I arrive, she told me that she'll send a taxi right away.
Finally I was able to relax. I stood back in my waiting spot, this time looking round and noticing a few more things in the room. I saw a shop that sold drinks and food so I decided that I'd go over and buy a bottle of water. This time my spanish came out great and it was about the first time something had gone right for me in this country. But by the time I'd finished the water.......... still no sign of a taxi driver holding up my name. I looked over at the desk and realized that I would have to approach this again. This time however, she knew what I would want, so she put me through right away. After explaining to the hostel reception that the situation hadn't progressed any further, she once again apologized and said she'll call the taxi straight away.
After waiting about another further fifteen minutes, I looked over to the hostel pick up desk and noticed a floral sign saying "Secret Garden Pick up Ready" I went over and asked if the pickup was for Rob. She replied yes, and then all of a sudden a huge weight of nerves, border lining on paranoia left me and I could finally relax, knowing that I'll be at the hostel in fifteen minutes. It was defiantly the most gladly spent ten dollars I've ever spent!
As I jumped into the taxi I decided that I'll have another go at my Spanish. I asked the driver about the weather and where I can buy guitars. I couldn't really understand his answers very well but he spoke a wee bit of English so I found out a little bit. I was then dropped at the door of my hostel, what a relief, I had no idea I'd be thrown into my "adventure" so soon.
Well I think I've ranted quite a bit now so I'll leave it at that. Hope you enjoy.
Rob
Friday, April 9, 2010
The Start of Somthing New
For as long as I can remember, I've always dreamed of an opportunity to let go of everything I have, all sense of responsibility, all future expectations of any sort, an opportunity in which to live my life in a way which is fully immersed in the experience of the lives whom I come across, of the culture I become a part of, where the only thing that really matters anymore, is my own intuition.
After looking at many destinations, and day dreaming about many different journeys to take, I eventually settled on the great continent of South America. This destination seemed to fit the bill perfectly with it's irresistible combination of cultural diversity, exciting adventure, natural beauty, and of course I'd be lying if I said I didn't take note of the beautiful women!
One of my main intentions with this trip, was to really get to know the people and the communities of where I'm going, rather than briefly drifting through as a "tourist". I've chosen to go a wee bit off the beaten track so to speak, and in doing so I have no idea what to expect. I have decided to write this blog in order to share the stories and experiences I discover along the way. As with my trip, I have no ideas or expectations as to how this blog will unfold of turn out. The posts could be quite frequent at times, or other times there could be long periods without anything. I hope it in some way can reflect the journey I'm on so you can at least get somewhat of an experience yourself as to what I'm up to. I enjoy writing in this way so for me this will be a lot of fun and I hope that you equally enjoy reading it. So I guess this is it for now. Stay tuned in for chapter one!
See ya soon
Rob
After looking at many destinations, and day dreaming about many different journeys to take, I eventually settled on the great continent of South America. This destination seemed to fit the bill perfectly with it's irresistible combination of cultural diversity, exciting adventure, natural beauty, and of course I'd be lying if I said I didn't take note of the beautiful women!
One of my main intentions with this trip, was to really get to know the people and the communities of where I'm going, rather than briefly drifting through as a "tourist". I've chosen to go a wee bit off the beaten track so to speak, and in doing so I have no idea what to expect. I have decided to write this blog in order to share the stories and experiences I discover along the way. As with my trip, I have no ideas or expectations as to how this blog will unfold of turn out. The posts could be quite frequent at times, or other times there could be long periods without anything. I hope it in some way can reflect the journey I'm on so you can at least get somewhat of an experience yourself as to what I'm up to. I enjoy writing in this way so for me this will be a lot of fun and I hope that you equally enjoy reading it. So I guess this is it for now. Stay tuned in for chapter one!
See ya soon
Rob
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