Day 2: Quito and Stranger Danger

"My name is Susan," I tell Marco.

Next thing I know Marco wants to show me the beautiful buildings. I tell him thanks but no thanks as I´m going to have lunch now.

He tells me he used to be a teacher until he broke his leg 2 months ago in a motorbike accident and he lost his job and it would be his pleasure for him if he could practise his English. Somehow he persuades me to go with him to a very cheap, very clean restaurant just round the corner.

I realise if I was to do a runner now I would quickly lose him in the crowds, but I´ve not even started looking round this area and the thought of bumping into him again...something makes me stay. Call it instinct or call it stupidity. I follow him to a local restaurant full of local people and although a few people stare at me, because I am with Marco they soon settle down. We join a lady at her table and she smiles at me.

Marco arranges for us to have a delicious 3 course meal, very similar to what I had at the hotel last night, except I now have fish = $2.50 for the lot!
Over lunch, Marco tells me about himself and I believe him to be genuine. As he talks, I realise I am going to have pay this man to be my guide for the afternoon, after all, he has a living to make. I kick myself slightly for falling for his sales pitch but I don´t feel threatened by him. On the contrary, I feel safer with him.
He takes me inside some of the most beautiful buildings, most buildings most tourists would never venture into. He is very knowledgeable though of course he could be bull-shitting (am I allowed to say that on blogspot? Guess I´ll soon find out!)

We go into a Catholic church - he tells me there are over 40 churches in the Centro Historico - I know this already - and this one is particularly beautiful but we are not allowed past the entrance. I am not too bothered by the presence of many men and women dressed in black - maybe a funeral is about to take place? I see enough without having to go in but instead Marco takes me to another church. There is so much gold; everywhere I look is covered in gold. I feel uncomfortable being surrounded by so much wealth in such a poor country. There is a service going on and I insist we leave.

I tell Marco I want to go back to my hotel in one hour as I have a headache (this is true) but he wants to take me to one more place. It is onto the rooftop of another old building that now contains a bank and several other businesses and there is a restaurant on the roof. It was worth coming up here for the panoramic view of the city and the mountains stretches for miles. I order us a beer and am disappointed it is imported Corona = expensive at $3 each but worth it for the view alone.

The restaurant owner introduces himself and speaks American English as he lived in Florida for many years where he also had a restaurant but lost everything in a hurricane. He invites me to the grand opening on Wednesday night. I explain I will be in Galapagos by then. Maybe next time, and gives me his business card. He gives us freshly cooked apple dumplings, though I am still full from lunch. Marco takes his away for later.

As the sun begins to set, I get cold and tell Marco I am now going back to my hotel. He begs me to stay longer and invites me to his house tomorrow. But now I´ve had enough and am annoyed that he has overstepped the boundary. He hails me a taxi back to my hotel and I say goodbye. We both know we will not meet again.

I know, I know. Most of you will be wanting to chastise me and you would be right to do so. I know I have broken my own golden rule - never get involved especially when travelling - walk away. I was asking for trouble and could have found myself in all sorts of difficulties. Despite what you might think reading this, especially if you are my daughter, my instinct told me otherwise. In meeting Marco, I had assessed the situation in a few seconds:

1) This little man was on crutches and I could get away at any time;
2) He spoke very good English and was very polite;
3) If he wasn´t going to rob me he could protect me with his crutches from one who might want to;
4) I got a cheap, authentic lunch thanks to him;
5) He told me more about Quito than I would have learned on my own;
6) I saw more of the buildings and than being on my own.

Of course, there were disadvantages:

1) It cost me $20 plus a couple of expensive beers that I hadn´t budgeted for, though he didn´t ask me for either;
2) I felt I´d lost half a day going round more of Quito than I´d planned;
3) I hadn´t come here to be with other people - I wanted to be on my own, to write, to look, to observe, not to spend half a day talking to a stranger;
4) I could have put myself in danger.

But weighing it all up, I got away with it and I have learned from my experiences, good and bad more than if I had walked away.

There´s not much I can do to avoid looking a tourist but if the same thing happens to me tomorrow, I promise I will definately walk away. I may even buy myself a cheap, gold ring and say my husband will be joining me soon...
By the time I get back to my room I have an altitude headache from hell, a sore throat and no appetite so I get into bed and turn on the TV to drown out the new noisy arrivals. No need to say what nationality they are! I watch Mission Impossible and try and relax my headache away. After 30 minutes I give up and take painkillers.

I turn out my light at 8 pm after the movie ends, and as it´s still quite early don´t feel I can shout at my neighbours to shut the f--k up (I probably really can´t say this on blogspot without the censors telling me off). They go out. I sleep. They wake me when they return at 11 pm. My head still hurts so I put on my music but this time it doesn´t help. I switch it off and sleep fitfully until 3 am when the headache finally goes.

I contemplate writing to Barack Obama about how annoying his citizens are when abroad; instead when I get up at 05:30 I make as much noise as I can. I am very satisfied to hear they, like their predecessors had a bad night. I hope it´s the effects of altitude rather than my snoring as I´m going to be in deep sh-t (trouble) on Galapagos sharing a dorm with a load of others or sharing a twin cabin on the boat or maybe disturbing all the passengers! I really, really hope my anti-snoring thingy actually does work!