Digs

Hola

Well the computer I have logged on to today doesn't want to recognise my camera so I don't know if I am going to be able to download some photos for a while. So it's gonna be tough to explain the range of accomodation I have had since being in Quito, but hopefully my descriptive skills will be up to the task. PHOTOS NOW ADDED

The first place I lay my head down was called Hotel Rio Amazonas. This place was pretty sweet, with a nice big bed, a spacious room, a daily clean, free internet, free bottles of water, I could flush toilet paper down the loo, and the clincher, 100 channels of cable! A bit pricey at US$50 but well worth it for the first few days as I acclimatised to the culture, the language, and the altitude. As a friend of my has described it, it's probably a four star!

As you can imagine the US$50 per night rate was starting to eat into my savings, so I had to bail on the Rio Amazonas unfortunately. After consulting my Lonely Planet guide, or 'The Bible' as one person has described it, I settled into a hostel called 'Crossroads'. At US$15 it was considerably cheaper, but there was a reason for this. I only had a smallish double bed, a basic bathroom, a rubbish bin to put my used toilet paper in, the staff were a wee bit grumpy, andthere was no cable!!! The room was pretty dingey too and my bathroom window didn't lock so I had to wrap duct tape around it so it wouldn't flap open. Luckily no one climbed in while I was out and about and stole my gear.

This place was actually quite noisy too. There was a constant humming coming from the wall behind my bed, so I had to put my iPod on to tune out. At one stage I took my headphones off and I could hear the couple in the room next door catching up on some quality time if you get my meaning! Needless to say the headphones were back on in a flash. I stayed at this place two nights, one either side of a trip I had out of Quito to Cotopaxi National Park and Quilotoa (updates to follow). When I returned I resolved to change hostels, and I was tempted to go back to Rio Amazonas - but my good financial sense prevailed. Once an accountant...

Whilst I was out of the city I stayed at a hostel called PapaGayo (which I understand means 'macaw'). This was a lovely 150 year old homestead out in the wops. It is close to Cotopaxi National Park and was arranged through the tour company I used for the two days. I had a huge room all to myself and this dinky little bathroom that I nearly hit my head on the door jam getting in to. As I may have mentioned in some of my emails, Ecuadorians are not a tall race so I feel a wee bit taller over here. It's like Lilliput for me. As the hostel was quite high up (not too sure on the actual altitude) it was pretty cold so I donned my thermals for my night in bed. Actually I had heaps of blankets so I was snug as a bug.

So for the remainder of my time in Quito, well before I join my tour on 14 March, I have booked myself into Hostel Amazonas (not to be confused with Rio Amazonas, the luxurious accomodation). This place is the same price as Crossroads, but more importantly it has cable!!! You may be getting the wrong idea about my time in Ecuador and that all I have done is watch cable TV, but its great to have for those boring evenings and when you feel you just don't want to get out of bed till 1pm! Hey I'm on holiday.

The downside with this place is that I don't have an external window, but I do have a nice skylight. The bed is small and a little hard, but it's not all that bad. The staff are friendly, probably the friendliest of my trip so far.

Sorry this is not an exciting post, but I thought it would be a different thing to focus on for my travels. I think I will make it a bit of a theme. All in all though the accomodation has been okay and I am getting used to putting my used toilet paper in the bin!!! If I could sleep in my old bed from home, it would probably win hands down. Although there's no cable at home...