Due to our Galapagos tour getting moved back we had 5 more (slightly unwanted) days in Quito. One of them was Paddy's day. There aren't many Irish people in Quito so we struggled to meet some fellow recession-dodgers in the only real Irish pub in town. Also with a small picture of the Queen on the wall and no Guinness on tap we had to make the most of it. Luckily they got the colours on the flag right, see below.
Our only other notable adventure in Quito was a trip to the Equator! Running right through the middle of Ecuador it provides tourists with an opportunity to put one foot in either hemisphere and take a photo of it.... Geographically located as the centre of the earth by GPS its possible to see the famous Coriolis effect in action. Due to the Earth's spin there is an anti-clockwise force on everything in the Northern hemisphere and vice-versa in the South. But right on the equator everything balances and allows for some interesting experiments. See my video here.
In typical South American style our trip home was eventful. After arriving into the airport and waiting to board at the gate we were informed that our plane had not left its own to airport as the one we were sitting in wouldn't let it land due to bad weather. After some angry repsonses from the irate passengers it was explained that 2 smaller planes had been chartered to bring us in two loads to our connection in Guayaquil before heading onto Madrid. All well and good until I'd met a few more passengers who explained they had been told the same thing the day before and were still waiting! Luckily, the planes actually arrived, we hopped on and made our connection, albeit 2 hours late. A 10 hour hop across the Atlantic left us in Madrid at 4pm, having only just missed our connection to Dublin, but confident we could secure something else for the last short leg home. Not to be. Characteristically awkward, Air Iberia promised us our 4pm flight the next day. So close to home we would have to spend one more night away...
In the end it worked out well. We got to watch the Ireland match (which we would have missed on the plane) and caught up on some sleep to cure a little jetlag. Back in Ireland now things are strange but not much different than when we left it. People seem more depressed about the recession that's lurking everywhere, ready to pounce on you. Its colder than I remember. The M50 looks EXACTLY the same. Thank God for safe food though, my stomach is thanking me already.
That's it for now, signing off. I'll have one more update at some stage to list all the places we stayed as reccomendations for others.
Thanks for reading!
My €12 pint of Guinness!
A late night visitor
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