Saturday, 31st October

Now my head is full of spanish grammar, I can go explore Ecuador and leave this cold place that is Quito. So we are off, this saturday morning, with Lindsay. Direct to the West and its beautiful Pacific beaches.
We are not the only ones, today is the first day of a 4 days week end.. Week end of the deads.

I pack my stuff (15kg backpack + 5kg bag + handbag) and here we are, standing in an overcrowded troley to the Station del Sur (a central bus station which looks like an airport and is 30km away from downtown). From there, thousand of  buses leave Quito to any city in South America.
Quito is really really long, it spreads on 80km North-South, extrangulated by 2 very high mountains East and West. It takes ages to cross this city.

So we are up to 1 hour of standing in a moving sardine can.. to say the least... Dreadfull...After only 20 min, my hand is numbed by the strap of my bag which seems to weight 60kg now.. Suddenly a scream weaks up the crowd: "Ladron! Ladron!" (Thief! Thief!). Voices of horror echoe in the bus... "Close the doors! Call the police!"... Vain despair...
I hugh my 3 bags like teddy bears, contract all my aching muscles, and wonder how I could electrify my bags to protect them...

The relief takes time but at last, the final stop. Lindsay, who I had lost in the human flood in the bus, is waiting for me outside. Her cheap leather handbag is lacerated on both sides.
Oh! No! Everything has disappeared, wallet, credit cards, cash, papers, camera...

Welcome to South American reality!...