Tuesday 11 March 2008

Getting here

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The couple that had been sat next to me since Amsterdam got off in Guyaquil, so I shifted along to the window seat.

It felt like we were flying directly towards the sun, as I could feel the hot rays touch my cheek through the thick glass and air conditioning, and we flew over miles of green and brown peaks.

Then suddenly there were snow capped mountains, in the middle of all this heat and verdure. Giant peaks, iced and steaming.























































This is a truly beautiful country, but how a city like Quito, bustling and smoky, has grown amongst these mountains is amazing to me.



















Quito frightens me a little. I am finding it hard to find my feet here, and feel shaken as soon as I get out of a taxi onto one of the city streets.

I need to register my visa, but in order to do this I have to open a bank account. Today, after 17 hours travelling, I just didn´t feel comfortable wandering the streets looking for a bank whilst carrying all of my most important documentation.

I have between 8am and 1pm tomorrow to get a bank account and register my visa, and then I have my orientation with Jatun Sacha at 3pm.

It will be a busy day.

I am seriously looking forward to being out of the city, and working on this incredible land.

4 comments:

Downside Up said...

Wow! This is actually happening - it's actually your real life! The pictures are beautiful and I can't wait to see and read more.

You're there, while I'm in John Rylands after a day at work talking about revenue management and group yields...

Miss you already!

Amazed said...

You are my first commenter!

Yes, I´m actually here. It´s a bit surreal to be honest, as I haven´t got the energy to go out in Quito any more today, so I´m just hanging around the hotel listening to muzak and waiting for the action to start tomorrow.
xx

Downside Up said...

This is such a weird way of communicating - it feels like MSN, and you're in your flat down the road, rather than however many thousands of miles away! Is tomorrow's shenanigans sorting your bank account, etc?

When I'm in my regional sales meeting in Old Trafford tomorrow, I shall think of you waking up to the biggest adventure ever in South America...

...life, eh?!

Stuart said...

Cripes!