The flight back from the islands was uneventful apart from the stewardess' enormous nose which could have been used as an emergency evacuation slide and caused much amusement.
I spent the afternoon in the Old Town of Quito visiting the sights that can safely be visited without taking a taxi or an armed guard which narrowed it down dramatically to a couple of churches and the police station.
I had been told that the area where I was staying gets very quiet (and therefore extremely dangerous) in the evening, so armed with nothing more than the tried and tested maxim of "What's the worst that could happen' we ventured forth to get something to eat. Big mistake. Nothing was open, nobody was on the streets, cars were breaking land speed records to get out of the area and even the dogs were walking in pairs. The only restaurants open were a 20 minute walk away – we realised that we were either going to get food, get mugged or possibly both.
Then we saw that a Chinese take-away was open. Of course.
A 7, 14 and 16 later (it was a short menu) and we were back home safe and sound. I commented to the waiter that the chicken was 'Rubbery' and he gladly took the compliment – alright, it's an oldie but it's still a goldie.
Today also saw a new entry into the Sud América Street Snack League © (if any major companies out there want to sponsor this emerging powerhouse league please feel free to email me). Purchased for the princely sum of $1 it was a plantain fritter with a cheese filling, deep fried in oil old enough to have greased Che Guevara's head and so stodgy a pelican would have had trouble swallowing one – it was really pretty bad, but due to it being early season it sits comfortably in second place:
1. Fried meat and plantain balls with a shredded salad – $1.50
2. Plantain and cheese fritter – $1.00
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