We are fighting against our wrinkles.. But don't you think they are beautiful?

Have you ever wonder how the equator line looks like?
Here it is!
It's yellow and there are dancers stepping on it... ;)

Saturday, 31st October

While everybody was celebrating Halloween, we were on a beautiful beach of the Pacific Ocean. The beach was full of crabs and...surfers...
Four days of paragliding, surfing, relaxing and partying!!

 In the streets of Quito, and in most of Ecuador cities, hundreds of children are left to themselves. Since I arrived in Ecuador I've been shocked by the number of shoe shiners wandering in the street or waiting for the customer at their wooden stand.
Some are as young as 4 or 5 years. Fleeing miserable campaigns in this region mostly Quechua, they descend from the mountains to try to win a few dollars to support their families. They shine shoes, all day, sleep in the streets for the most part, even when they fail to make money in the village, they assume their own subsistence. Evil, but it's one less mouth to feed for theirs.
Sometimes they go and sit on school benches, at least part of the year. Most often, they remain in contact with their families and regularly return to their villages.

It's really sad to see them with their dirty cloths and their hands stained by the shoe polish. I once saw one of these kids watching a toy seller in the street. His eyes were full of envy and despair... Heart breaking.
But it's always the same dilemma: help them and keep them in the street or not help them and keep them in misery...

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!...