Location: Huaráz, the Andes, Northern Peru
Thoughts on Ecuador, contrasts with Peru and the rise and fall of Chav culture.
After about 6 weeks in Ecuador, I have to say that it´s a fascinating country with much more on offer than most people realise. The well trodden path in South America involves Peru and Chile, (and more recently Argentina, with their financial crisis). But there is a wealth of diverse opportunities in Ecuador. Obviously the Galapagos islands are the country´s most revered tourist site. But the countryside is amazing: from the jungle to the highlands, mountains, volcanoes... ... It´s a shame for the people that they don´t have the same level of exposure or recognition as other Latin countries, in particular Peru and Chile. A trip to the Galapagos is clearly unique, however anyone coming to Ecuador for that alone would be missing out on other opportunities.
Everywhere in the highlands the mountains bear scars of landslides. We passed about 10 that would have each closed a road in 30 minutes on one journey, and on the way south from Cuenca to Loja there was one that would have originally covered about 150m of road. The scale of the vistas is awe inspiring, the distancers across valleys is huge. Sometimes it is hard to remember that we´re at >3,000m when the surrounding hills look more like hills than mountains, with agriculture, villages etc, and not jagged snow-capped peaks.
The people have been friendly throughout, though as one of my teachers said, people want to help and would rather tell you fictitious directions than tell you they didn´t know the answer! Friendly, but not always useful! The various indigenous groups still retain a lot of the identity that you can see on postcards, and their dress is not just for tourist appearances in markets, but an everyday occurance. There have been some great photo opportunities that I´ve had to let slip past, since apparently Andean people are not normally happy about be snapped, which is a great shame. Some interesting markets scenes have had to be missed to, it´s difficult to take photos surreptitiously, and I don´t wish to offend the locals.
Now having got to Peru, there are differences that are readily discernible. The infrastrucutre seems of slightly better quality here. The buses are better (marginally), though it still feels a bit like I´ve arrived in Lilliput. The local transport tends to be small mini-buses, or VW camper vans, crammed with seats so close together that the distance between them is a good few inches less than the length of my femur. But generally the longer trips have not been quite a cramped as I had feared they might. We´ve had the pleasure (?) of a few films to entertain us, usually with the radio on too to enhance the experience.
The towns seem busier, frenetic almost. Our first evening in Peru, in Chiclayo, the town was like the West End on a Saturday night, and this was mid-week without one of the many festivals that occur. It may be a slightly richer country, or may be a difference in diets, but people here are a lot tubbier than their counterparts in Ecuador. We´re struggling to find meals that don´t come with chips, and fried chicken appears to be the national dish.
Chav Culture
Chav culture is on the rise in the UK, as mentioned in the Sunday Times and discussed at length with the Quintons (when there were but 2 of them) and the Claytons at a dinner party!
However, Chavin, near to Huaraz, is the original home of Chav culture. Circa 1200-200 BC, it is one of the earliest civilisations in the Andes. Sadly not a lot is left of the site, but it is well worth the 3 hour trip. They had extensive underground drainage systems, and had even diverted a river to create more space for the town. Few monuments are intact, and the original pyramid is in a bad way. There were 203 heads, carved in stone and similar to gargoyles found on Gothic churches, around the 4 sides of the main temple. Today just one remains in situ, with others in various museums. It must have been an impressive, imposing and slightly threatening sight for vistors.
Given the popularity of tracksuits for school uniforms here, perhaps Chav or Scally culture is making a comeback near to its ancestral home, here in the Andes.
In May 2004 Phillippa and I resigned from our jobs to set off on a year long grand tour. This will be updated sporadically and will serve as a permanent record of what should be an extremely memorable year. Of course, it also keeps us in touch with those of you back in the UK, and enables you to follow our progress.
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Sunday, June 27, 2004
Friday, June 25, 2004
The Kraken Wakes
Location: Trujillo, Northern Peru
Concerning UFOs and lots of fireworks, plus a border crossing, pre-Inca civilisations and another disappointment.
Whilst we were in Cuenca (southern Ecuador) we saw some UFOs. Too slow to be planes, also they had a path that was not straight enough. Too orangey-red to be stars, and the movement also meant the lights were not celestial. Not satellites. In fact watching 4 orange lights move in an almost random way would almost be enough to convince a rational person that something odd was afoot. It was very reminscent of the opening part of Wyndham`s "The Kraken Wakes", hence the title here. So truely they were Unidentified Flying Objects.
Had this been Smalltown in the southern US, they´d already be planning a documentary on it. But more of that later.
Friday June 18 was some kind of big festival here. It seemed to involve lots of fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. Ecuador doesn`t have the same approach to health and safety as Europe. So there were lots of rockets being let off from the pavement by the main square. You just had to be aware when they were being lit, which was about every 45 seconds, meaning careful timing to walk past. From inside the town hall a bloke carrying a large paper-mache bull, complete with horns appeared.
He then ran around, through the large crowds. And the bull had a fuse on it, so would sporadically set off fireworks, some in the air and some into the crowd. Some were fizzling away on the floor as people leapt about to avoid them. Then, for his finalé the horns started to emit a thick flow of sparks, and with glee he showered the crowds. This part we watched from a safe distance!
There were also 4 large scaffold towers with numerous catherine wheels and rockets attached. These were lit at intervals, again (of course) in the middle of the crowd. When I say the middle of the crowd I don`t really mean right in the middle, with just one metre clearance. Generally the distance was about 5 metres, which is probably not much less than that recommended by whichever part of Brussels bureacracy deals with such H&S matters.
This festival also seemed to involve eating lots of sweets, at least it did for us. Lots of stalls by the main square, all with a huge array of fudges, cakes, sweets etc and it was too much to refuse. In fact one of us even decided to forgo a proper meal and just concentrate on stuffing sugar down!
As for the UFOs, well there were tissue paper lanterns with a small fuel supply hanging below, creating mini hot-air ballons. Most were 1m across, but some were the size of a small car. We saw them in the sky the night before actually finding out what they were, but you won`t be surprised to know that I didn`t become a convert to the sort of theories you may get on The X-files in the interim.
The newspapers here have had a story saying that Charles has married Camilla, but the BBC website doesn´t seem to show anything of the kind. It seems unlikely to be a scoop of the century for a Peruvian tabloid.
We are now in Peru, a long trip to Chiclayo, with an uneventful border crossing. From Chiclayo we visited two important pre-Inca sites, one at Sípan and the other at Túcume. Sípan is a site of the Moche culture, and Túcume is from the Lambayeque people. The sites themselves are not overwhemingly impressive, but at Sípan they have found a number of important tombs. And, critically, they were not subject to looting prior to excavations starting in the early 1990s. The artefacts are now in a museum, and are amazing. Gold jewellry, ceramics, sacrificies buried with the main body. The pyramids themselves are made from adobe bricks, and are reasonably complete. However, they don´t look like pyramids, but large mounds of mud. But on closer inspection you can see the original bricks in places.
After travelling down to Trujillo, where we currently are, we´ve been to see the temples of the Sun and Moon, mislabelled since the Moche people didn´t worship the Sun. The Incas did, but the pre-Inca cultures, especially those on the coast where it is sunny every day, didn´t. Estimates suggest that the temple of the Sun, the larger of the two, was made of c. 150,000,000 mud bricks, and it is a massive structure. In the temple of the Moon they have uncovered painted frescoes still showing original colours. (NB these are not my photos!) The temple was rebuilt on top of the previous one every 100 years, so there are about 6 or 7 main structures, on top of each other. The outer structures have protected the inner ones.
We´ve also been to Chan Chan, a massive complex just outside of Trujillo. There´s not much left, due to erosion over the years. But the scale of the city is very impressive. One of the palaces has been partally reconstructed, which is slightly odd: if gives a better idea of how it may have been, but it´s not original.
Some people say that Northern Peru is the Egypt of South America, and so much of it has only been investigated recently. No doubt there is much more that lays undiscovered. Those of you who have been to Egypt will have to come here to validate that claim.
Unfortunately we have missed Jon & Morag, we took slightly longer than anticipated to get to Northern Peru, and they flew up to Quito slightly earlier than expected. Shame we couldn´t meet for a beer with them, given they left the UK in spring 2003. Hopefully their Galapagos trip will not be disrupted by protesting fisherman.
The disappointment is, of course, the result against Portugal. We did watch it, all bar the first 4 minutes. At least we are insulated from the media hype. And I´d be lying if I didn´t say that the result of the second QF lifted our spirits slightly! Hello to all my French ex-colleagues at SG.
;-)
More football. After the Ecuador v Columbia match we now may try for tickets to the Copa America, the South American equivalent of Euro2004, taking place here in Peru. Not sure we´ll be in the right places at the right time for the matches, but, of course, match reports here if we do go!
Concerning UFOs and lots of fireworks, plus a border crossing, pre-Inca civilisations and another disappointment.
Whilst we were in Cuenca (southern Ecuador) we saw some UFOs. Too slow to be planes, also they had a path that was not straight enough. Too orangey-red to be stars, and the movement also meant the lights were not celestial. Not satellites. In fact watching 4 orange lights move in an almost random way would almost be enough to convince a rational person that something odd was afoot. It was very reminscent of the opening part of Wyndham`s "The Kraken Wakes", hence the title here. So truely they were Unidentified Flying Objects.
Had this been Smalltown in the southern US, they´d already be planning a documentary on it. But more of that later.
Friday June 18 was some kind of big festival here. It seemed to involve lots of fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. Ecuador doesn`t have the same approach to health and safety as Europe. So there were lots of rockets being let off from the pavement by the main square. You just had to be aware when they were being lit, which was about every 45 seconds, meaning careful timing to walk past. From inside the town hall a bloke carrying a large paper-mache bull, complete with horns appeared.
He then ran around, through the large crowds. And the bull had a fuse on it, so would sporadically set off fireworks, some in the air and some into the crowd. Some were fizzling away on the floor as people leapt about to avoid them. Then, for his finalé the horns started to emit a thick flow of sparks, and with glee he showered the crowds. This part we watched from a safe distance!
There were also 4 large scaffold towers with numerous catherine wheels and rockets attached. These were lit at intervals, again (of course) in the middle of the crowd. When I say the middle of the crowd I don`t really mean right in the middle, with just one metre clearance. Generally the distance was about 5 metres, which is probably not much less than that recommended by whichever part of Brussels bureacracy deals with such H&S matters.
This festival also seemed to involve eating lots of sweets, at least it did for us. Lots of stalls by the main square, all with a huge array of fudges, cakes, sweets etc and it was too much to refuse. In fact one of us even decided to forgo a proper meal and just concentrate on stuffing sugar down!
As for the UFOs, well there were tissue paper lanterns with a small fuel supply hanging below, creating mini hot-air ballons. Most were 1m across, but some were the size of a small car. We saw them in the sky the night before actually finding out what they were, but you won`t be surprised to know that I didn`t become a convert to the sort of theories you may get on The X-files in the interim.
The newspapers here have had a story saying that Charles has married Camilla, but the BBC website doesn´t seem to show anything of the kind. It seems unlikely to be a scoop of the century for a Peruvian tabloid.
We are now in Peru, a long trip to Chiclayo, with an uneventful border crossing. From Chiclayo we visited two important pre-Inca sites, one at Sípan and the other at Túcume. Sípan is a site of the Moche culture, and Túcume is from the Lambayeque people. The sites themselves are not overwhemingly impressive, but at Sípan they have found a number of important tombs. And, critically, they were not subject to looting prior to excavations starting in the early 1990s. The artefacts are now in a museum, and are amazing. Gold jewellry, ceramics, sacrificies buried with the main body. The pyramids themselves are made from adobe bricks, and are reasonably complete. However, they don´t look like pyramids, but large mounds of mud. But on closer inspection you can see the original bricks in places.
After travelling down to Trujillo, where we currently are, we´ve been to see the temples of the Sun and Moon, mislabelled since the Moche people didn´t worship the Sun. The Incas did, but the pre-Inca cultures, especially those on the coast where it is sunny every day, didn´t. Estimates suggest that the temple of the Sun, the larger of the two, was made of c. 150,000,000 mud bricks, and it is a massive structure. In the temple of the Moon they have uncovered painted frescoes still showing original colours. (NB these are not my photos!) The temple was rebuilt on top of the previous one every 100 years, so there are about 6 or 7 main structures, on top of each other. The outer structures have protected the inner ones.
We´ve also been to Chan Chan, a massive complex just outside of Trujillo. There´s not much left, due to erosion over the years. But the scale of the city is very impressive. One of the palaces has been partally reconstructed, which is slightly odd: if gives a better idea of how it may have been, but it´s not original.
Some people say that Northern Peru is the Egypt of South America, and so much of it has only been investigated recently. No doubt there is much more that lays undiscovered. Those of you who have been to Egypt will have to come here to validate that claim.
Unfortunately we have missed Jon & Morag, we took slightly longer than anticipated to get to Northern Peru, and they flew up to Quito slightly earlier than expected. Shame we couldn´t meet for a beer with them, given they left the UK in spring 2003. Hopefully their Galapagos trip will not be disrupted by protesting fisherman.
The disappointment is, of course, the result against Portugal. We did watch it, all bar the first 4 minutes. At least we are insulated from the media hype. And I´d be lying if I didn´t say that the result of the second QF lifted our spirits slightly! Hello to all my French ex-colleagues at SG.
;-)
More football. After the Ecuador v Columbia match we now may try for tickets to the Copa America, the South American equivalent of Euro2004, taking place here in Peru. Not sure we´ll be in the right places at the right time for the matches, but, of course, match reports here if we do go!
Friday, June 18, 2004
School´s out for summer
Location: Cuenca, southern Ecuador
Concerning tarantulas, venomous snakes, toucans, macaws, tapirs, capybaras, caimans, landslides, active volcanies, Inca ruins and a book review.
Following from the last entry entitled "Gooooaaaaaal Ecuador" I had planned to title this with "Goooooaaaaal Lampard". However, the plans changed, literally, at the last minute.
In the last two weeks we have had our final week of Spanish lessons and are now on our own. Many thanks to all the staff at La Lengua, but in particular to Nacho, who acompanied us the jungle near Coca for our final week, and Paul who we both spent a lot of time with.
Jungle trip to Coca
After out trip to Mindo, we got back and wrote up the previous week. We were due to leave that night at 9pm on a 12 hour bus journey. However, once at the bus station it became clear that due to landslides and some protests and roadblocks by indigenous people no buses had run that day and none would run the following night or day. So Monday morning we decided to fly, with a 40 minute short hop replacing a long overnight session of sleep deprivation. More pricey, but the only real option, and we didn{t want to stay in Quito any longer.
In the jungle, we were an hour up the Rio Napo from Coca, at Yarina Lodge, the Napo is the largest tributary of the Amazon. Every day there were excursions, often day and night. Sadly we never saw a large tarantula near to the Lodge, or our cabaña. We did see a baby one, (approx. 8cm across, including legs). We also saw a venomous coral snake, not far from where it was suggested we may like to have a dip in the river. We didn´t see any piranhas, unfortunately we didn´t go fishing for them as some people did. It was too steamy whilst we were there, but the last day and a half the sun was fierce and the humidity was up.
Nearby is a protected area, where animals are rehabilitated. I was here that we saw both a tapir and a capybara. They are not truely wild, and are partially domesticated, but to see a rat the size of a big dog was still interesting. On an evening paddle in a canoe, we saw some caimans, which are similar to small aligators, only about 1m long.
Eraly one morning we were up a 40ft tower above the canopy of the forest, birdwatching. Not something I´d usually be that interested in, being a twitcher, but here when you can see spectacularly coloured parrots and toucans it´s a bit different from sparrows and finches.
The place we stayed was very relaxing, and we´d recomend it, however, further up the river is supposed to be better and compared to other people there we were lucky with what we saw.
The jungle wasn´t as teeming with wildlife in the way that Uncle Tan´s in Borneo was, but just walking through dense, lush green, and invariably very wet, surroundings was interesting. And whereas the mozzies in Borneo were like toy helicopters, these were a little less aggressive and a little less itchy!
Then time for a long bus trip back, not back to Quito, but to Baños, a spa town, in the same vein as Royal Tunbridge Wells, but without the underage drinkers with cans of Stella in the main shopping areas. 11 hours bouncing along an unpaved road, with stunning scenery, and we knew we made the right choice to go by day and not by night. Sleeping on buses designed for locals is a problem at the best of times, but when there is no road it would have been impossible. Apparently it is equally "safe" day or night, though the drivers tend to work long hours, and aside from a breakfast stop just after we set out, we kept running straight through the day.
Baños is pleasant place in the shadow of an active volcano. A few years ago the town was evacuated, and although it is still classed as active there´s not rivers of lava heading towards the town square. We didn´t actually manage to see the volcano, Tungarahua, due to cloud. The place we stayed has steam baths, so we indulged there and missed the public ones in town.
After a 4hr walk in ther morning, on to ropey mountain bikes for a 16km cycle along a "route of waterfalls". Pickup truck back though!
Devil´s Nose Train
The 7.01am from Riobamba was certainly more diverting that the equivalent from Commuterville to Waterloo. Sitting on the roof, along what is supposed to be the most difficult train line in the world. 2 V-switchbacks, where you have to reverse out to continue going downhill, and some big sheer drops, luckily the side we were on. Due to the early start, and 3,000m altitude it was certainly very nippy for the first 2 hours. A bit like being on the first ski lift, before the sun has peaked out over the mountains, with a stiff breeze. But in this case it was for 2 hours, with no intermittent exercise to get the blood flowing. After about 4 hours we came to the most impressive part, although the views of the surrounding hills (or are they mountains?) was awesome throughout. Well worth doing.
Inca Ruins at Ingapirca
Earlier today, before the bus to Cuenca, we started out early on a 16km walk to Ecuador´s most important Inca site. It should have been 16km, but we had to walk from town and then took the wrong road, so it was about 20km in the end. All at about 3,000m and there was a lot of up and down! Worth the trip though. The main building is an elliptical shape, reflecting their knowledge of the earth´s orbit. There are some problems with the excavation, due to bureaucracy, but what they have uncovered is a good introduction for us to Inca sites.
As for the book review, the first of the long novels is now finished, Don Quixote. A tad repetative at times, though midly amusing throughout. A tale of a very mediocre bloke suffering from self-delusion on a scale never seen nowadays outside of London´s Square Mile.
Currently wondering why I didn´t think to pack a birthday card for Phillippa, oh well, we´ll see what Saturday 19 brings!
Concerning tarantulas, venomous snakes, toucans, macaws, tapirs, capybaras, caimans, landslides, active volcanies, Inca ruins and a book review.
Following from the last entry entitled "Gooooaaaaaal Ecuador" I had planned to title this with "Goooooaaaaal Lampard". However, the plans changed, literally, at the last minute.
In the last two weeks we have had our final week of Spanish lessons and are now on our own. Many thanks to all the staff at La Lengua, but in particular to Nacho, who acompanied us the jungle near Coca for our final week, and Paul who we both spent a lot of time with.
Jungle trip to Coca
After out trip to Mindo, we got back and wrote up the previous week. We were due to leave that night at 9pm on a 12 hour bus journey. However, once at the bus station it became clear that due to landslides and some protests and roadblocks by indigenous people no buses had run that day and none would run the following night or day. So Monday morning we decided to fly, with a 40 minute short hop replacing a long overnight session of sleep deprivation. More pricey, but the only real option, and we didn{t want to stay in Quito any longer.
In the jungle, we were an hour up the Rio Napo from Coca, at Yarina Lodge, the Napo is the largest tributary of the Amazon. Every day there were excursions, often day and night. Sadly we never saw a large tarantula near to the Lodge, or our cabaña. We did see a baby one, (approx. 8cm across, including legs). We also saw a venomous coral snake, not far from where it was suggested we may like to have a dip in the river. We didn´t see any piranhas, unfortunately we didn´t go fishing for them as some people did. It was too steamy whilst we were there, but the last day and a half the sun was fierce and the humidity was up.
Nearby is a protected area, where animals are rehabilitated. I was here that we saw both a tapir and a capybara. They are not truely wild, and are partially domesticated, but to see a rat the size of a big dog was still interesting. On an evening paddle in a canoe, we saw some caimans, which are similar to small aligators, only about 1m long.
Eraly one morning we were up a 40ft tower above the canopy of the forest, birdwatching. Not something I´d usually be that interested in, being a twitcher, but here when you can see spectacularly coloured parrots and toucans it´s a bit different from sparrows and finches.
The place we stayed was very relaxing, and we´d recomend it, however, further up the river is supposed to be better and compared to other people there we were lucky with what we saw.
The jungle wasn´t as teeming with wildlife in the way that Uncle Tan´s in Borneo was, but just walking through dense, lush green, and invariably very wet, surroundings was interesting. And whereas the mozzies in Borneo were like toy helicopters, these were a little less aggressive and a little less itchy!
Then time for a long bus trip back, not back to Quito, but to Baños, a spa town, in the same vein as Royal Tunbridge Wells, but without the underage drinkers with cans of Stella in the main shopping areas. 11 hours bouncing along an unpaved road, with stunning scenery, and we knew we made the right choice to go by day and not by night. Sleeping on buses designed for locals is a problem at the best of times, but when there is no road it would have been impossible. Apparently it is equally "safe" day or night, though the drivers tend to work long hours, and aside from a breakfast stop just after we set out, we kept running straight through the day.
Baños is pleasant place in the shadow of an active volcano. A few years ago the town was evacuated, and although it is still classed as active there´s not rivers of lava heading towards the town square. We didn´t actually manage to see the volcano, Tungarahua, due to cloud. The place we stayed has steam baths, so we indulged there and missed the public ones in town.
After a 4hr walk in ther morning, on to ropey mountain bikes for a 16km cycle along a "route of waterfalls". Pickup truck back though!
Devil´s Nose Train
The 7.01am from Riobamba was certainly more diverting that the equivalent from Commuterville to Waterloo. Sitting on the roof, along what is supposed to be the most difficult train line in the world. 2 V-switchbacks, where you have to reverse out to continue going downhill, and some big sheer drops, luckily the side we were on. Due to the early start, and 3,000m altitude it was certainly very nippy for the first 2 hours. A bit like being on the first ski lift, before the sun has peaked out over the mountains, with a stiff breeze. But in this case it was for 2 hours, with no intermittent exercise to get the blood flowing. After about 4 hours we came to the most impressive part, although the views of the surrounding hills (or are they mountains?) was awesome throughout. Well worth doing.
Inca Ruins at Ingapirca
Earlier today, before the bus to Cuenca, we started out early on a 16km walk to Ecuador´s most important Inca site. It should have been 16km, but we had to walk from town and then took the wrong road, so it was about 20km in the end. All at about 3,000m and there was a lot of up and down! Worth the trip though. The main building is an elliptical shape, reflecting their knowledge of the earth´s orbit. There are some problems with the excavation, due to bureaucracy, but what they have uncovered is a good introduction for us to Inca sites.
As for the book review, the first of the long novels is now finished, Don Quixote. A tad repetative at times, though midly amusing throughout. A tale of a very mediocre bloke suffering from self-delusion on a scale never seen nowadays outside of London´s Square Mile.
Currently wondering why I didn´t think to pack a birthday card for Phillippa, oh well, we´ll see what Saturday 19 brings!
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Gooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaal Ecuador!!!
Location: Quito, Ecuador
In which we see our first South American football match, have a weekend break in a cloud forest, and I reveal the winner of Miss Universe.
Well, despite not having won against Colombia for 39 years (in a competitive fixture), Ecuador won 2-1. A fantastic spectacle, a riot of colour and sound, as you would expect from a South American match.
Ecuador and Colombia are both near the bottom of the SA group, for qualification for Germany 2006, so it was a critical game for both. Both also have near identical flags, near identical home and away strips, which means that all the fans look the same. The stadium was yellow, in the same way that it orange when The Netherlands play. We were advised to arrive early, so got to the ground about 2 hours before kick off. It was already difficult to get seats, so we wandered about a bit looking for space for 2, which we finally found. However, after a couple of minutes we realised that we were in a Colombian contingent, so off we went again.
The 2 hours before kick off were spent watching the crowd, the drummers, listening to the singing etc. A bit of vocab that they don´t teach you at the school cropped up too.
We chatted in broken Spanish with some of the people next to us and generally had a great time. First home goal inside 3 minutes, just in front of our end, and the crowd went mad.
Vamos Ecuatorianos
Esta tarde
Tenemos que ganar
Somehow football matches abroad always have more excitement that matches at home. Please, no emails me to say that this is more due to West Ham than anything else. I think (and hope) that Antoine enjoyed the match we went to in London, and can see why because it is something different it adds to the occasion. However, a South American World Cup qualifier is probably a better event that West Ham v Crewe on a dark Wednesday night.
After the match we found a bar to watch the Brasil v Argentina match, which is always one of those huge games. Ronaldo managed to persuade the ref on 3 occasions that he was genuinely fouled, and converted all 3 penalties, 3-1 Brazil.
We did have tickets for the match on Sat 6 June v Bolivia, which they won 3-2. But we sold them to the Danish girls who were in the same house as me, so we could go away for the weekend. After these 2 games Ecuador are now 5th in the SA Group table, so maybe there is a chance of them reaching Germany. It would be only their second WC finals, having gone to Korea-Japan.
Still on the subject of football, we are very much aware that next weekend (Sun 13 June) is the game v France, and will maybe try to find somewhere to watch it if we are still in Quito, which is a possibility.
So, for what did we give up the game v Bolivia? Mindo. About 2.5 hrs North West of Quito, a cloud forest, similar to a rain forest but with slightly less rain and more clouds!
We went walking up to some waterfalls, which were frankly a little disappointing. But the walk there was fantastic: hummingbirds, lots of butterflies, tropical flowers and very lush green scenery all around. A very peaceful couple of days, and a pleasant change from Quito, which I think, I´m ready to leave. One definite highlight of the mini-break to Mindo was a great (and cheap) steak. A nice change from the perpetual diet of chicken and rice, or thin but tough meat. A massive thick slab of steak for less then $4.
Miss Universe was won by Miss Australia, to much disapproval from everyone we spoke to who thought Miss Paraguay was really the top choice, out of the final 10. Anyway, I imagine that the arm of the Stobo clan that has relocated down-under must be extremely proud!
Now that the eyes of the world´s media are no longer on Ecuador, there is talk of unseatign the president. People aren´t happy and have been puting on a brave face for the benefit of showcasing their country. The indigenous population are starting to block roads and there are strikes planned for the coming week. Many people are predicting a change in the next couple of months. Unlike their neighbours it is unlikely to be a bloody coup, so it would be very interesting if it happened whilst we are here. However, since we are likely to get to Peru in about 2 weeks we´ll probably miss any civil unrest.
I think future postings may be less frequent, being here in Quito with the odd free hour after lessons has offered multiple opportunities for the odd hour in an internet café. This will not be the case in the future.
In which we see our first South American football match, have a weekend break in a cloud forest, and I reveal the winner of Miss Universe.
Well, despite not having won against Colombia for 39 years (in a competitive fixture), Ecuador won 2-1. A fantastic spectacle, a riot of colour and sound, as you would expect from a South American match.
Ecuador and Colombia are both near the bottom of the SA group, for qualification for Germany 2006, so it was a critical game for both. Both also have near identical flags, near identical home and away strips, which means that all the fans look the same. The stadium was yellow, in the same way that it orange when The Netherlands play. We were advised to arrive early, so got to the ground about 2 hours before kick off. It was already difficult to get seats, so we wandered about a bit looking for space for 2, which we finally found. However, after a couple of minutes we realised that we were in a Colombian contingent, so off we went again.
The 2 hours before kick off were spent watching the crowd, the drummers, listening to the singing etc. A bit of vocab that they don´t teach you at the school cropped up too.
We chatted in broken Spanish with some of the people next to us and generally had a great time. First home goal inside 3 minutes, just in front of our end, and the crowd went mad.
Vamos Ecuatorianos
Esta tarde
Tenemos que ganar
Somehow football matches abroad always have more excitement that matches at home. Please, no emails me to say that this is more due to West Ham than anything else. I think (and hope) that Antoine enjoyed the match we went to in London, and can see why because it is something different it adds to the occasion. However, a South American World Cup qualifier is probably a better event that West Ham v Crewe on a dark Wednesday night.
After the match we found a bar to watch the Brasil v Argentina match, which is always one of those huge games. Ronaldo managed to persuade the ref on 3 occasions that he was genuinely fouled, and converted all 3 penalties, 3-1 Brazil.
We did have tickets for the match on Sat 6 June v Bolivia, which they won 3-2. But we sold them to the Danish girls who were in the same house as me, so we could go away for the weekend. After these 2 games Ecuador are now 5th in the SA Group table, so maybe there is a chance of them reaching Germany. It would be only their second WC finals, having gone to Korea-Japan.
Still on the subject of football, we are very much aware that next weekend (Sun 13 June) is the game v France, and will maybe try to find somewhere to watch it if we are still in Quito, which is a possibility.
So, for what did we give up the game v Bolivia? Mindo. About 2.5 hrs North West of Quito, a cloud forest, similar to a rain forest but with slightly less rain and more clouds!
We went walking up to some waterfalls, which were frankly a little disappointing. But the walk there was fantastic: hummingbirds, lots of butterflies, tropical flowers and very lush green scenery all around. A very peaceful couple of days, and a pleasant change from Quito, which I think, I´m ready to leave. One definite highlight of the mini-break to Mindo was a great (and cheap) steak. A nice change from the perpetual diet of chicken and rice, or thin but tough meat. A massive thick slab of steak for less then $4.
Miss Universe was won by Miss Australia, to much disapproval from everyone we spoke to who thought Miss Paraguay was really the top choice, out of the final 10. Anyway, I imagine that the arm of the Stobo clan that has relocated down-under must be extremely proud!
Now that the eyes of the world´s media are no longer on Ecuador, there is talk of unseatign the president. People aren´t happy and have been puting on a brave face for the benefit of showcasing their country. The indigenous population are starting to block roads and there are strikes planned for the coming week. Many people are predicting a change in the next couple of months. Unlike their neighbours it is unlikely to be a bloody coup, so it would be very interesting if it happened whilst we are here. However, since we are likely to get to Peru in about 2 weeks we´ll probably miss any civil unrest.
I think future postings may be less frequent, being here in Quito with the odd free hour after lessons has offered multiple opportunities for the odd hour in an internet café. This will not be the case in the future.
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