23rd October 2000: Los Angeles - Quito

Hey everybody, yes, it´s that time again where I bore you with all the news from the field. In our last exciting episode, Matt was just about to board a plane back to the US from Mexico. Did US customs let him back in the country? What was the food on the plane like? Read on...

Well Ruth and I had an awesome time in mexico - she then went back to the wilds of Bristol, while I turned west and went to visit Señor Richard Pitt, a friend from Hereford who had the good sense to escape while he could and head out to San Francisco 11(?) years ago. Wow what a beautiful city!! No offence to the americans amongst you but there aren´t that many beautiful cities in the land of the free; however San Francisco is it! Had an awesome time - Richard did me the tour of the city and the bay area by motorcycle - wow. Then I met up with Sporty Pedro from Portugal who I last saw 18 months ago in Toulouse!

Then I met up first thing in the morning with my trek group, and we set off in one of the those big 15 person vans for Yosemite national park. The group consisted of 2 swiss guys, one czech guy, 2 czech girls, one SA girl, 2 japanese girls, 4 swedish au pair girls, and me. I had a feeling it was going to be a fun trip.

Yosemite was intense. Hiked to the top of Yosemite falls and nearly fell off - oops! The campsite was full of signs saying "Bear country - do not leave any food in tents!", together with a photo showing the remains of a VW Jetta after it had been mauled by a bear trying to get at a packet of polos or something. We slept lightly. Next day we headed off for Vegas. It was fun but for the fact that most of our party were under 21. This posed a significant obstacle to a good night out in the town where you can do your photocopying at 3am, where prostitution and gambling are legal but you can´t order a glass of water or stand near a roulette table without being over 21. So we did the obvious thing which was to stock up on vodka and beer and head back to somebody´s hotel room. Unfortunately this turned out to be mine...
It was actually a great night, the highlight of which was a 2 man karaoke show invloving a personal CD player and 2 tiny speakers. Oh, and I did a bungee jump over the Vegas strip.

After a couple of nights in Vegas the next stop was the Grand Canyon. Got there just as the sun was about to set, and it was spectacular. We were going to get up in time for the sunrise the next day, but another campfire party ensued that night. I don´t remember much about the karaoke on top of the van, but there you go. That somewhat put paid to any ambitions we had about getting up early. Muggins here chose that night to sleep on top of the van, and in the morning my sleeping bag and karrimat were covered in frost. Yes, it was VERY cold.

Anyway we stayed over the next night at Lake Mead, Arizona. Once again the stereo in the van proved its worth, and I have vague recollections of standing on top of the van singing (massacring?) "You can call me Al" at the top of my voice some time in the early hours. The trip ended in LA, and pretty much everyone dispersed straight away except for me and the swedish girls. What was I supposed to do!? Sunday saw us cruising round LA in a soft-top mustang (British Racing Green of course) checking out the beaches and generally chilling out!! Wow.

On the Monday I took a flight to Quito in the morning, and arrived 11:30 pm. Not the best time to arrive in a city like Quito, but there it is. Found my host family, who are very amiable. It´s like living with my Grandma - food constantly being forced upon me. Can´t complain. The language school is about 10 mins walk from the house. There must be about 20 students, from such diverse places as Alaska, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Everyone is young and friendly, and so the atmosphere is very good.

Am still recovering from a night out on the town in Quito - highly recommended. Haven´t seen anything of Quito or Ecuador as yet - there is a beautiful colonial part of the town which I will visit on Monday. Tomorrow I am hoping to get to the Indian market at Otovalo, and Sunday am climbing Mt. Pichincha with the Alaskan guys. Will report back soon

Salutations, Matt - your Ecuador correspondent

Stay tuned for next week´s exciting episode.....