A little scare in Quito

This weekend was another a few days filled with adventure! Some good adventures and some… not so good. Before I scare you! Let me just warn you that I ended the weekend safely and was never hurt, and I learned some valuable lessons.

Friday afternoon we decided to go to La Ronda which is an old colonial street in the historic part of Quito. The street is filled with cafes and there are no cars so you mainly just walk around. The street comes alive at night with all the lights and live music! There were 7 of us there, but a friend, Sally, and I decided to leave before everyone else because we were tired and we saw basically everything there was to see. You have to climb a hill to get back to any main streets, so we went up to find a taxi. It was only 8:30 at night so the taxis should have their meters on instead of overcharging us for a ride home since we’re gringas. We asked two taxis and they said their meters were off and they were going to charge us a lot to get back. The third one we asked said he wasn’t even going to the North part of Quito, only the South. So we thought, oh, maybe we’re on the wrong street and decided to go up a block and find a taxi. As we were walking up the street and coming to the corner, I noticed a group of guys crossing the street, walking away from us, but one didn’t. Now, in hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best street for us to walk up but we were not paying attention since we were busy looking for taxis and talking to each other (Lesson #1). This guy looked at his friends and then nodded at Sally. Before I could get my arm around hers to pull her away, he grabbed her purse and tried to run with it. Thankfully, her purse was across her body instead of draped on her shoulder, so he couldn’t just take it. She struggled back and screamed really loudly to scare him so he pushed her over, cussed her out, and walked away. Needless to say we were terrified and jumped into the next empty, safe taxi despite the price.

When we got in, the driver said he knew where we lived and it would be $8. He lied. (Lesson #2, call a taxi company and have one sent to us to pick us up instead of trusting one off the streets.) He had no idea where we lived. We spent the next hour and a half in the taxi, with our map out, showing this man where to turn (it should have only taken 30minutes). We made many u-turns, stopped in the middle of streets to back up, etc. (Lesson #3, call my parents when I am lost and they will direct the clueless taxi driver.) Finally! we made it to Sally’s apartment and dropped her off. I don’t live far from her so that was nice, but once he dropped me off he told me it would now cost $18. Normally I would argue with him and not pay that, especially because it wouldn’t have even cost $8 to get home, but since I was alone in the taxi, and after our almost-robbery, I didn’t want any more problems so I just paid it and got out. He did wait until I got inside to leave. When I got home my mom and dad were waiting nervously for me and gave me huge hugs of relief. I now have no desire to go back to the Historic part of Quito at night because apparently it is really dangerous, even though we didn’t go far from La Ronda. I am still thanking God because overall it could have been worse! Like I said, we weren’t hurt, that guy didn’t succeed in robbing Sally (Lesson #4, memorize my parents’ phone number in case we are not so lucky next time!), and we both made it home safely. In fact, I am actually the robber because the guy dropped a pair of glasses (maybe out of his pocket?) when we grabbed Sally’s purse and I thought they were hers so I picked them up. But they weren’t! The robber got robbed, oops!

Saturday we decided to go to La Mitad del Mundo, aka the Equator! At first we didn’t really know how to get there, so that was another escapade of walking around (safely during the day!) trying to find the right bus. Once we got there, it was completely worth it. I saw my first cuy! I didn’t actually eat any guinea pig, I just looked at it roasting over the fire. We did get some lunch: I got some ice cream and a cheese empanada.

The park not only had the famous Equator line but it also had some traditional dancers, a few museums representing explorations from different European countries, and restaurants and small gift shops. It felt really cool to be on both the Southern and Northern Hemisphere at once! I am so worldly!

Sunday I went to church again with my family, except this time Balito and I rode bikes to church while the rest of my family took a taxi. Every Sunday, a major street in Quito has one side shut down for the majority of the afternoon to create a paseo de bicicletas. So many people go out for a bike ride or a run and just enjoy being outside on a beautiful day. Balito and I rode our bikes up and down this street for two hours after church. He showed me major parks and buildings in the Historic Downtown; we also stopped for ice cream and coconut juice! It was the perfect day to be outside and it was fun seeing Quito differently. However, the seats were less than cushioned and my butt hurt way too much afterwards.

I am now well into my second week of classes aka trying to learn in Spanish and make friends! There will be more to come about all my classes soon! Hasta pronto!