Travel Tales of 2

We arrived in Guayaquill at the weekend so things were fairly quiet but had a walk around all the same. We didn´t stray too far from the center except to walk along the riverfront boardwalk. We did get to see election voting - couldn´t figure out the voting system though seemed pretty random to us - a street was blooked off and there were loads of tables with numbers written on paper taped to the wall behind….We wanted to go on a trip to the Galapagos islands (seemingly a must see place although a tad more expensive than anything we´ve done to date) so decided to try and get it out of the way and book something. After checking out a couple of travel agencies (there weren´t that many in town that dealt with the galapagos) we realised we had a limited selection and decided to try our luck in Quito. Probably didn´t give the place much time but the most notable experience was we met two Johova Witnesses who were there working on behalf of their church (really nice people but definately were not expecting to be run into them). After an uneventful bus trip (which was a nice change) we arrived in Quito in the early morning so headed straight to a hostel were we slept for a few hours before heading out to sort out our Galapagos trip. After some research we realised our only real option was a boat named the Marek, for an 8day trip, leaving in five days time. It took us two days in all to get all sorted for the Galapagos - after having to wait and sort out flight tickets, but as we were flying out of Quito we had plenty of time to check out some of the sights before leaving. We went for a walk around the old town - which had some really nice colonial buildings surrounding a huge square and some small streets you could wander around. Had to drag Garrett for a coffee in one of the little coffee shops (hey it was raining and i mean it was a downpour - arrived everyday at 3o´clock almost like clockwork). Went to the irish bar just around the corner from the hostel were Garrett got to buy a 3litre glass of beer - it was huge and yes he was in his element. The following day we decided to try out the towns bus system, actually managed not to get lost, and travel to the center of the world - the equator. Had great fun me in the northern hemisphere with Garrett in the south!! We had a beer just to say we had a beer on the equator. After a few pics and a wander around it was back on the bus (tried to time it so we would reach the hostel before the rain came) of course this time got slightly lost but found our way eventually. On our last day in Quito, before flying to the Galapagos, we visited the Basilica which is a massive cathedral in the old district. It was fairly big but what was really brilliant was you could walk to the top of the steeple, which we did but as it started to thunder and lightening appeared we didn´t stay too long - we headed up the clock tower instead (well it was higher up). The church had been destroyed by an earthquake and fire but was rebuilt by the locals some of the pictures of the reconstruction were amazing (very few safety laws here). Well thats it for now - its off to the Galapagos (seemingly the no.1 holiday destination although we are visiting in the off season) S&G