Quito, Ecuador
I arrived here in Quito on Saturday, flying from Managua, Nicaragua via San Jose, Costa Rica.
Quito is gorgeous and quite large. It´s set in an Andean valley at approximatly 9,000 feet above sea level. Lots of hills to walk. It´s a very modern city with a great bus system that rivals the T. I´m staying at a super cool hostel with an amazing rooftop deck http://www.secretgardenquito.com/ the views of Quito are awesome.
I started more Spanish classes yesterday, and will continue all week with them. Ecuador recently had their presidential elections. Their new president was sworn in yesterday. There was much buzz around the city. Military, helicopters you name it. I tried to avoid the scene by going to see the Mitad del Mundo, the center of the earth. After bushwacking my way on their busses for over an hour, I finally arrived only to find a big polital event. It was mobbed, their were military and police with dogs everywhere. Some protesters, but nothing out of hand. It appeard the monument was closed to the pubic. That sucked!
While in Central America, when traveling with this Canadian guy, he mentioned going to visit foriegn prisoners in Quito. He said it was pretty cool and to go if I had the chance. Well, I went on Sunday with two women I met at the hostel. They had also heard about it. We visited a woman by the name of Zoe Savage. We got her name from other travelers. She´s and Irish woman, in her early 30s who is serving 8 years for drug smuggling. Claims she was set up, I found her to be genuine. She worked for the BBC as a reporter and she thinks the camera men switched her bags. When they paged her at the airport to ID her luggage the camera men split, never to be seen again.
Oddly enough the prison reminded me of dorm life. It was loud with much going on and rather festive. Cells are small, really small rooms. Maybe 8 x 8. Prisoners have to rent their rooms, all furniture and buy their food and toiletries. Prisoners cook their own food and use knives in the kitchen. Zoe shares a room with one other woman, but this week, two more woman were moving in. So they´re having to share the twin size beds with each other. There were over 200 kids in the prison, woman who are serving time either bring their kids with them, or have them there. It was a really interesting way to spend a few hours. Certainly not your average tourist attraction.
I think I´ll venture into the jungle and into the Amazon basin next week. The hostel will arrange a tour for me.
That´s all for now, folks. I love hearing from everyone, so keep the notes coming. Love to everyone.
Quito is gorgeous and quite large. It´s set in an Andean valley at approximatly 9,000 feet above sea level. Lots of hills to walk. It´s a very modern city with a great bus system that rivals the T. I´m staying at a super cool hostel with an amazing rooftop deck http://www.secretgardenquito.com/ the views of Quito are awesome.
I started more Spanish classes yesterday, and will continue all week with them. Ecuador recently had their presidential elections. Their new president was sworn in yesterday. There was much buzz around the city. Military, helicopters you name it. I tried to avoid the scene by going to see the Mitad del Mundo, the center of the earth. After bushwacking my way on their busses for over an hour, I finally arrived only to find a big polital event. It was mobbed, their were military and police with dogs everywhere. Some protesters, but nothing out of hand. It appeard the monument was closed to the pubic. That sucked!
While in Central America, when traveling with this Canadian guy, he mentioned going to visit foriegn prisoners in Quito. He said it was pretty cool and to go if I had the chance. Well, I went on Sunday with two women I met at the hostel. They had also heard about it. We visited a woman by the name of Zoe Savage. We got her name from other travelers. She´s and Irish woman, in her early 30s who is serving 8 years for drug smuggling. Claims she was set up, I found her to be genuine. She worked for the BBC as a reporter and she thinks the camera men switched her bags. When they paged her at the airport to ID her luggage the camera men split, never to be seen again.
Oddly enough the prison reminded me of dorm life. It was loud with much going on and rather festive. Cells are small, really small rooms. Maybe 8 x 8. Prisoners have to rent their rooms, all furniture and buy their food and toiletries. Prisoners cook their own food and use knives in the kitchen. Zoe shares a room with one other woman, but this week, two more woman were moving in. So they´re having to share the twin size beds with each other. There were over 200 kids in the prison, woman who are serving time either bring their kids with them, or have them there. It was a really interesting way to spend a few hours. Certainly not your average tourist attraction.
I think I´ll venture into the jungle and into the Amazon basin next week. The hostel will arrange a tour for me.
That´s all for now, folks. I love hearing from everyone, so keep the notes coming. Love to everyone.
posted by amy at 9:02 AM
3 Comments:
wow - that is crazy, I just watched some program about women in prison in South America - scary business!!
I hope you enjoy it in Equador it is supposed to be awesome!!
:-) sending love
Prison life like a dorm... interesting. Never would have thought to have gone and yes, not on the normal gringo/gringa trail.
I always knew you'd wind up in the joint, Keenan.
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