As mentioned in November 2006, I would be seeing Mum and Greg for Xmas and New Year...What I didn´t mention was that we spent Xmas & New Year in Paris. Then I would spend a fly by two weeks in Sydney! Yay!!
So Mum arrived late on a Friday evening....We got back to my place and stayed up chitchatting, as girls do. Then on the Saturday we took a walk in town and got ready for Saturday night. I had made reservations at a restaurant called Latitud - Unlimited Food and Drinks - We had a brilliant night which ended with us calling Greg once we got home at 3am!!!
Slowly, ever so slowly the next day, we went to the equator line - A must if you´re in Quito. Great day!
Lying on the Equator.....
Then took Mum to Baños for a few days - Her Christmas present was going to a luxury spa where the hardest decisions we had to make were which walks to join and "Should I have a facial with the full body massage, or a rose petal bath?" Difficult few days!
The views were splendid, the company was awesome and we just laughed and laughed.
Soon enough the time came for us to leave Quito, direction France!
Mum and I were looking at a long flight from Quito to Paris, however, we were definitely not expecting to be hitting some heavy fog in London...So heavy in fact that no planes had left Heathrow for the mainland for 2 whole days!!! Chaos Maximus!!!
What to do??? After not having seen my brother for 8 months, and my mother not having seen her son for 5 months, there was no way we were not getting to Paris that day!
Technology came to the rescue! Mobiles with international roaming are a Godsend in these situations. So 20min on an international phone call from Mum´s mobile, a credit card and $800Aus later, we both had a one way standard class ticket on the Eurostar - What a way to start the Christmas spending!
One fabulous positive though was giving Florence a call at the office and asking her to have a quick bite to eat with us! How much fun was that, hadn't seen Flo in 8 months, and hey presto, there we were sharing a hot chocolate at Waterloo Station as if it was the most normal thing in the world! Gros bisous Flo!
Our two weeks in France were spent quite literally doing nothing but enjoying each others company, singing, drinking, eating and eating and eating. Our shopping trolleys rarely contained foods with less than 80 % fat in them...Thank the universe for Paris and its kilometres and kilometres of metro tunnels you walk through!!!
New Year´s Eve was a quiet affair....The first part of it anywayz...
At approx. 10.30pm, bottle of champagne in hand (as well as the half finished bottle of Rose for the metro trip,) we made our way along with an international throng of revellers to the Champs Elysees. It was brilliant: Not too crowded, however a multitude of people to party, drink and smoke with.
Firstly there was Jan, a lone German traveller, who very kindly offered us a cigar to see the new year in with, (then tried to give us the rest of the box of cigars....Something fishy with them maybe?)
Then there were two lovely Argentian girls who were living in Madrid. Great girls to party with and the Moet they were offering was definitely not passed up! We ended up in Queen, a nightclub and technoed the night away.
Was very cute seeing Greg in the role of the protective brother and gentleman while we were on our way to the nightclub; Being the only boy in the midst of four women was proving to be difficult. He was finding it extremely offensive that every man and his dog thought it alright to wish us a happy new year...And it would have been , had not all of them tried to grope us and waggle their tongues down our throats at the same time!
There was a bit of "Hey, hey, get your hands off her" and some pushing and shoving going on. Go Greg!!
New Years Day was a slow one.....
Before long it was time for us to part ways again with Greg heading to Spain and Ireland and Mum and I heading for Australian shores!
I was only home for a couple of weeks, but boy were they jam packed Baby!! Living in a 3rd world country, you make the most of the services available once you´re home - Especially when they speak the same language as you! So my two weeks were spent chitchatting to my Dr while being jabbed for various blood tests and vaccines, watching Mr Bean videos, with my mouth wide open, while my dentist kindly told me where I wasn´t brushing properly, smiling and posing for my new licence photo, having a telescope probed in both my nostrils to check whether I had any problems....With my breathing before any of you agree I have some!!!
How wonderful it was to be back in a place where customer service is not only understood, but given with a smile.
I did have a repose from my appt frenzy when my friend Martin, (whom I met in Ecuador) arrived from Hobart. Poor Martin: I wanted him to see and feel what a great, laid back place Sydney was, so I think I dragged hime around a bit...This meant not only walking around the city & over the bridge, but going to the fish markets, to the moonlight cinema, to a very crowded Bondi Beach, hiking in the Blue Mtns, having dinner at Clovelly Beach, meeting a endless stream of friends, (Yes, I really am that popular!!!) repaeating his story a zillion times and oh, did I mention yacht racing in Pittwater?!
(Which was rather an adventure with our main sail ripping in two just after the beginning of the race, and our failed repeated attempts to fishing Martin´s cap out of the water - Thanks Tara for organising the yacht trip, it was brilliant!)
Mum and I even went out and celebrated her birthday!!! Yes it was a little anticipated, given her birthday is in Feb, but hey, any times a good time really!!! Fun night out at the Malaya on King Street wharf...All dressed up! Yay!
For those of you I didn´t catch up with, I hope to be in Sydney longer next time round!
However a big thanks to all of you who put up with me fitting you inbetween my running around from appt to appt. Really appreciated it!
Must also thank Tina, my travel agent, who for weeks on end put up with me changing my ticket back....Changing dates on day and routes the next only for everything to change again the day after. You´re a gem!
I want to thank Mum as well for putting up with me 6 weeks straight. Had an awesome time, loved spending it with you! Very cool chick!
So before I knew it, was homeward bound...Although not quite - Had a very quick four day stop in Cuzco, Peru to meet up with Daniel, before he embarked on his Sth American Odyssey starting in Brazil.
We had an absolute blast! Was fantastic seeing him after a month of being on different continents. It was four days of pure joy and laughter!
I hadn´t been to Cuzco in 11 years, so it was fun recognising hotels, plazas, and going back to ruins I´d been to previously.
Daniel, had already been to the main sets of ruins, but kindly went again with me, and played tour guide giving me information on the background, the use and who would have used the buildings.
We also went to a place called Moray, (picture on the left,) which are sets on concentric circles dug into the side of mountains which are believed to have been used by the Incas to experiment with crop growth...Every level is believed to have its own microclimate...Quite interesting really.
We also went to Salineras - Salt Pans which date from the times of the Incas. A whole side of a mountain has been turned into hundreds and hundreds of pools in which water, (very, very, VERY salty water from a mountain spring) flows. They direct the single stream in different directions so that all the salt pools receive water. Quite a feat!
Also a feat was getting around the salt pans, with us not only having to climb and scramble, but also use our fantastic (yeah right) sense of balance when walking on the tiny ledges between pools. It really was quite stunningly salty! 
For any of you who are wondering if we tried the water - Yes we did! Were we scared of it being contaminated with anything to make us sick? Well, if one drop of water makes you gag and spit from the extreme saltiness, then I don´t think many living creatures would cope very well swimming in it!!!
Four days go by so quickly, especially when you haven´t seen someone in over a month and you won´t be seeing them again in over a month! What was great was the two of us having a few extra hours in Lima Airport between our respective flights - Enough time to give each other homework!! French phrases for Daniel, and Swedish ones for me!
"Hej! Jag heter Alex. Vad heter du? Hor mar du? Jag mor bra, tack!"
Yep, you guessed it - Trying to get another weird and wonderful language under my belt!
So here I am now back in Quito on the job market...Makes things super interesting having to do things in Spanish...Another challenge taken head on!
What is brilliant at the moment is having Frank and Andrea here. Frank I met back in Sydney in 2000. Great to see them both and especially Andrea and I ganging up and taking the piss out of Frank! Thanks for coming guys - You're beautiful.
Until next time...Remember that 2007 is the year of happiness - Go out and find yours!
1 comment:
Re Cuzco ... three words ... "Go to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep".
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