MaxMitch

A particularly long bus ride takes us the last leg through Colombia and 10 hours later we arrive at the border crossing. We breeze through the Colombian side, but a line of over 50 people wait at the Ecuadorian office, and our hopes of reaching our destination before nightfall fade. A mini-bus collectivo, a jog across town, and a smelly bus ride later, we arrive in Ibarra - a disorderly colonial town with many hidden nooks, including a great art bar featuring excellent live Cuban music and tasty Mexican snacks. The next day - New Year´s Eve - we take our time to explore the quiet colonial side of the town and test the legendary helado de paila - an ice cream made from spinning ingredients in a copper bowl over ice. By afternoon, we arrive in Quito and begin celebrating New Year´s on the terrace of our hostel, which gives an 180 degree view of historic Quito. We party the night away, as fireworks burst over the elegant colonial cityscape.

Quito becomes our home over the next week or so, as Nelson works on a grad school application and Jamaica gets over a new stomach bug. We take our time to savor the historic center, with the highlight being the gilded La Compania de Jesus chapel. Every inch of the interior of this church is covered with gold - an estimated 70 tons of stolen Incan treasure. Modern Quito is developed and accessible, filled with coffee shops that serve American breakfasts and super fast internet cafes. We luxuriate in the comforts of Quito, enjoying the world-class museums, international restaurants, and ample tourist info. But as soon as Nelson hits ¨submit¨ it is time to leave our slice of gringolandia and head for more interesting pastures - namely the wilds of the real Andes, where roads are bumpy and the air is thin.

Best moment: Hasta luego Año Viejo! Celebrating New Year´s, Ecuadorian style, with many new friends at our Quito hostel. The centerpiece of the evening is Señor Año Viejo - a life-sized, woodchip-stuffed doll that wears clothing and a mask. In the case of our Año Viejo, it is a Homer Simpson mask, although traditionally the heads are papier mache representations with various features. To ready our Señor, each partygoer writes habits, ideas, people, etc. that they would like to be rid of in the next year on small pieces of paper and stuffs these bits into the Señor. At midnight, Señor Año Viejo is set ablaze (poor Homer!), with the help of fireworks, and everyone dances around the effigy with sparklers, saying goodbye to the old year. The next day, the streets are littered with the burnt carcasses of the old Señores, along with the detritus of a hearty night of celebration.

Most unfortunate adventure: Our trip to the official Mitad del Mundo. Several dozen kilometers outside of Quito, the center of the earth is marked by - what else! - an amusement park. This strange park, probably built in the 60s or 70s out of cement, is almost completely deserted upon our arrival, except for the desperate restaurant workers ("Amigo - typical food here!") and various tchotche vendors eager to sell you a "Mitad del Mundo" t-shirt or woven purse. A walkway lined with bronze busts of various astronomers and explorers leads to a phallic tower topped with the globe. On each side of the walkway, buildings are marked with various country names: Francia, Alemania, Ecuador, etc. Many are closed, or abandoned. Others have strange exhibits placed haphazardly on the walls, guarded by listless workers napping in chairs. At the base of the tower, we find a glowing line in the ground which runs the length of the park, through the restaurants, and into a small mock-plaza to end at the altar of a empty chapel. The dry climate, desert winds, and nearby construction blows twisters of dust across the equator, and we feel lost in a post-apocolyptic, Twilight-zone world. We straddle the equator for a requisite photo or two, and then make the hour-long trip back to Quito, wondering if we will find the city emptied as well.

Best meal: Fabulous sushi - in Ecuador! Nelson´s sister´s friend Susanna takes us out on the town to see how the other half live in Quito. We go to Sake - a first-rate sushi restaurant with a loungey atmosphere and wonderful seaweed salad. We gourge on sake and fresh fish and end our meal with a burnt sugar-covered baked alaska. We sleep very well after such a filling, fresh meal, although we learn the next day that Susanna got a bad piece of fish and ended up in the emergency room! We owe you one Susanna, come to San Francisco and we will take you out for some great sushi, guarenteed not to make you sick!

Favorite people: Mercedes and Winston, the owners of a fabulous spa/yoga studio/hair salon in a high rise in Quito. During our week-plus in Quito, we befriended this couple and had restorative massages, stimulating yoga sessions, and even a great haircut - all in one place! This friendly and helpful couple made us feel right at home in Quito, and helped us recover from our many long travel days. A highly recommended stop in Quito!

Quote of the week: "It smells a little spicy in here. Don´t know if it is a person or food." - Jamaica, on our bus ride from the Ecuadorian border to Ibarra. After a couple more bus rides on the cheapest of buses, we discover it is definitely the people (or their llama blankets) that maintain that uniquely, especially spicy scent.

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