Living it Up!
With the successful arrival of one lost kit bag (thanks very much for the heart palpitations Delta) we are now well and truly settled in our lovely room at the Marriott in Quito. Yesterday was spent relaxing in the super king sized bed, ordering room service (I know! Excessive) and sleeping (for me) and doing web stuff (for Simon). To be honest, I thought that once we were on the road that Simon would have lost interest in the “mistress” (his laptop) but I was obviously mistaken….although we can all benefit from his affair, as you will see from the new addition to the site which enables one and all to text our sat phone for FREE. My boyfriend is a genius!
Even though we have not ventured far from the hotel yet, we are both showing significant signs of mild Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). According to our little First Aid Manual, the dull headache (kind of like a hangover), the interrupted sleep, the shortness of breath (Simon tends to start puffing when he changes channel on the remote!) are all symptoms. We are weeing constantly, which we read is our body’s AMS mechanism kicking in that helps to prevent water retention. The manual, however, doesn’t explain why Simon has pooed 7 times since we have been here! Might have something to do with the Baby Back ribs in Atlanta. What an appetite!
Today is Wednesday, bike building day. The room is littered with tools, and no mum the carpet is not covered in oil…have you not seen the Rohloff hubs? Cycling nerds will know what we mean.
We are also in the process of trying to find a clinic in Quito to arrange to have our final jabs for Rabies and Hep B. After a brief conversation with the Business Centre in the Hotel trying to explain what we needed and that no we didn’t want the doctor to visit us, he said “ah, yes, leave it with me and I will call you back”. He called back to explain that a representative from the laundry department would come to our room to assist us with our request. Needless to say the language barrier is proving a little frustrating to say the least!
The water in the hotel is very drying to the skin and hair. My ponytail feels like a Brillo pad at the moment even after a tube of leave-in conditioner. I have, however, discovered that the Health Club do pedicures! Might have to sneak down for one later I think! Can’t let the standards drop just because I am on a cycling expedition. When the opportunity presents itself, one must maintain personal hygiene I say.
We have already checked out the local supermarket for our vitals shop (Dad, I know you love that word!) and are quite impressed with the variety available. We wont have any troubles finding the rice and pasta we need for the “camp” dinners. I have no idea how Simon will cope without meat everyday, but he assures me that Lama won’t be THAT hard to catch and roast! I think he might be serious.
Signing off for today. Love to you all.
Then the saga of the satellite phone and our unsuccessful bidding on eBay for one finally came to a head when one was advertised at a bargain price of $1000USD as a “Buy it now” option. So no sooner had I got used to my cash mountain, I saw 1/2″ of it disappear to Indonesia on another piece of our essential equipment (at least our parents will be happy).
Many good times had and now looking for another home, she’s very well respected on the road.
