Okay for those crazy fools who have followed my travels so extensively. . . the adventure continued, or at least part of it, as I decided to go to Ecuador to visit Pablo.  He visited his family in his home town of Riobamba, Ecuador for a month when the long process to get a Visa from the US government to visit here never seemed to go anywhere.  As Americans, we can go anywhere we want for the most part, but if you are from another country it is a really hard and long process. 

After finding out he wouldn’t be able to come to Seattle for at least another six months, he decided to take his annual trip to see his family and I decided to go there instead.   He was going to give up that trip to come see me instead if the Visa thing had worked out.  Turned out that for essentially $300 and some airline miles I could make the 12 day trip.  $300 for a trip to Ecuador?  When was I going to ever go down there?  And the perspective of being there living locally. . . couldn’t pass up the chance.  Plus I wanted to see him again. 

Being the proud gentleman that he is and the fact that he has a few houses down there I knew Iwouldn't have to pay for pretty much anything. . . so how could I not go!!  Don't think terribly of me please!  Just as in Madrid, I TRIED to pay for things all of the time and did whenever I got the chance.  But that wasn’t cool for him and let me fill you in that Ecuador is a third-world country.  That means things are pretty darn cheap down there so that didn't add up to a lot of dough. 

So here's the overview of the trip and then I'll dive into some details!  Flew out of Seattle at 6:10pm on Thursday November 15th and got to Los Angeles just after 9pm.  Killed a few hours and made some calls while waiting for my almost 7 hour flight at 1am from LA to Panama City, Panama where I had a one hour layover before hopping on my final 3 hour flight to Quito Ecuador.  I landed in Quito at 1:40pm and saw Pablo looking down at me with a big smile from the floor above as I made my way to the customs section of the airport. 

I was really relieved because there was this tiny little part of me that was afraid I wouldn't recognize him right away.  Thankfully that wasn’t a problem.  He looked exactly the same and there weren’t as many people as I had imagined there could be.  Whew.  After I finished with the customs agent, I got my luggage and walked out to the area where everyone meets there visitors and there he was standing front and center greeting me with the biggest hug.  It was great to see him.  When we got to his car he opened the trunk and revealed a lovely flower arrangement with roses and a balloon.   

We headed out from Quito, the capital, to Riobamba, where he is from.  The trip takes 2.5 to 4 hours depending on what route you take and traffic.  We hit the traffic part so we stopped along the way for dinner at an Italian restaurant his friend owned and eventually made it to his house a bit after dark.  Dinner was some tasty pizza, not quite the traditional Ecuadorian cuisine but that was fine with me after 20 hours of travel and airplane food. 

Riobamba is one of the bigger cities in Ecuador, but is a far cry from the central hub that Quito is.  As we got to Pablo’s house he parked on the side of the street he pointed to a closed up restaurant with big metal doors and said that's my house up there.  I did look up and see windows but thought it really strange when he opened the door to the restaurant for us to go in.  It was dark inside because it was closed.  The restaurant wasn't very big, like a small cafeteria style diner and to the left when you walked in was a stairway that led to more seating upstairs. 

Under the stairs Pablo moved aside a table and bench seat to reveal a small door that we walked through to go into the adjoining garage.  It was really weird and I asked him if this was breaking and entering because that's what it felt like.  He laughed and said that no it was just the way they went in when the restaurant was closed.  We walked up a set of stairs in the garage and that took us to the floors above the restaurant where his family lived.  It was truly a different living experience for me. 

When you walked in the "house" after the entry way to the right was the living and dining rooms (and presumably a closet of some sort but I didn't really ever check it out) and to the left were the kitchen/laundry combo room we never used, bathroom and then Pablo's room on the left side of the hall and on the other side of the hall his sister, Margi, her daughter Stephi's and Santi had rooms.  Stephi was 4 and Santi 21.  Outside if you went up a few more steps and turned or did a dance or something were the room/apartments to other family members including his sister Susanna, his mom, another sister, her husband and their daugher, Evelyn. 

There might have been more people/family living there but it was a lot to keep track of and I kept meeting people so fast I couldn't quite keep up.  Pablo's room was definitely the biggest (since he owned the whole place, according to him) and had a tv, bed, couch and chairs.  He said his whole family rented from him in his two homes and used his cars and shared the costs for them.  Not his whole family of course, as there were like 64 family members and only he and his cousin in Berlin live outside of Riobamba.  Thank goodness I didn't meet all of them. . . only about 23 or so. 

Saturday morning we slept in a bit which was a good thing since I'd been tired from all of that airport/airplane time.  The time difference was only three hours.  Sounds stupid that sitting and doing nothing is tiring but it is.  For breakfast we went downstairs to the restaurant and I met his mom and sister Susanna with at least a nod and a smile.  Nothing says breakfast and good morning like being greeted by large roasted pig heads out on display.  His mom made us plentiful helpings of roast pig, hominy, potatoes with some type of tasty orangish-creamy-ish sauce and a side of salad with pickled vegetables. 

Then she put out a plate of pig heart, liver and intestines.  I was a trooper and tried all three even though Pablo insisted I didn't have to.  They didn't taste like much and were very chewy and rubbery.  Nothing I feel the need to try again.  My only insistence was that I was not going to eat cuy at all (guinea pig for you English speakers).  I'd had two as pets growing up and did not feel the need to get to know them in any other fashion let alone know what they tasted like.

After breakfast we wandered around the neighborhood, pretty much the center of Riobamba.  They lived in the perfect location there.  We went to the nearby train station and the local market festival that was going on there then to another outside Saturday market where there were lots of local blankets, clothes, dolls and other handicrafts for sale.  I saw the building that he went to school at and other little landmarks around.  Crazy me I didn't take any pictures, camera at the house, because I figured I'd have plenty more opportunities.  That didn't end up happening until the last morning but you'll have to wait to the end to hear about that. 

We walked to a place that was sort of a mall but I would compare it more to Pike Place Market on the lower levels with all kinds of produce and a cheap knock-off booth row of all kinds of clothing and stuff upstairs.  Fake designer shoes, jeans, clothes, watches, jewelry and other stuff I just didn't have a need for.  Interesting to look at though.  After our midday adventure we went back to the house to meet up with Margi, Stephi and Santi for lunch at a nearby restaurant.  I quickly learned that they never seem to eat at home unless it is their own restaurant food which was the same every day.  It was a nice lunch and we had some conversation with a bit of effort but it was fun. 

After lunch we took a cab to see if Pablo's truck was ready for a little road trip since he was having oil changed, new brakes and all of that tune up stuff done to it.  It wasn't ready so we hung out for awhile until Pablo could go back and pick it up at the end of the day and then we made it out to a dinner at around 9:30pm with about ten family and friends. 

I talked to Margi during the dinner about the news footage that was on TV covering a political bombing in Riobamba about 4 years ago.  It was really interesting learning about the political instability and the aftermath of all of the women that went into labor unexpectedly and early during the bombing.  Lots of problems and post-traumatic stress issues for the moms and problems with the babies including learning disabilities.  Stephi happened to be born early during that period but it wasn't directly related to the bombings but made getting medical attention a challenge. 

Dinner was interesting because they brought everything out as it was ready so some of us were waiting quite awhile. . . then after awhile it was just me waiting and waiting and waiting.  Then they finally figured out the waitress didn't put my order in.  Was kind of funny, definitely funny to the rest of them.  I was just glad I wasn't too terribly hungry.  My dinner was churrasco which was thin-cut beef cooked in oil with a fried egg on top, cooked in oil, served with french fries, cooked in oil.  I swear they may have dribbled extra oil on top just to make sure it was all shiny.  Everything there, as in many of the places in Europe, is fried and served with french fries.  After a few days this really did a number on my digestive system!  Unfortunately while it all slid down my throat with greasy ease, it did not continue as smoothly through the rest of the system but no more details for you!!

After dinner we decided to go out and try to take on the town to find a little dancing or nightlife.  We drove around, "cruised the strip" like in the 50's if you will, and honked and got honked at by tons of people that Pablo knew.  Was almost creepy that Pablo seemed to know half of the town.  Almost felt like we were local celebrities.  Everybody knows Pablo's truck (kind of like my little red, striped rocket ship!).  We found a little bar that was playing a good and interesting mix of music, current stuff, not salsa sadly for me, and had some beers and ran into a friend of his and his girlfriend.  We stayed for a few hours, danced a few songs and then called it a night.  There weren't any places that were overly busy even for a Saturday. 

I'll save Sunday's activities for the next segment.  But if you are wondering about the weather it was pretty much partly cloudy and in the low to mid-sixties so it was very nice.  Light coat at night and short sleeves and sunglasses during the day. Riobamba is known as the chilly city because it is much colder than it’s neighboring cities do to the elevation.  We’d be in the upper 80’s and 90’s as soon as we went into the Amazon jungle and the beaches.