May 1st 2009 - The beginning of the goodbyes

Christine woke me up at 5am this morning so I could say farewell to her, Soren, Louise Sk and Sara who were all off to Peru. The first four goodbyes of the day and we were barely even started. I awoke again at half 8 and went for breakfast with Maïté and Chloe before the three of us and Rachel headed into the market to buy a few souvenirs. We went for a cheesecake at the Magic Bean and saw Hilde with her new group – I was jealous that they were only just starting out with their wonderful guide! Mia, Katja, Josefine and I went for lunch at El Rey (I had a huge sandwich mix) and visited the Indian market before returning to the Hostel to relax with the Internationals in the afternoon, and saying goodbye to Katchi.

Mia, Katja, Josefine, Andres and I then went out for dinner. I had brought a new Ecuador shirt earlier as my one was so dirty it wouldn’t wash out properly (don’t know what it was in the Galapagos soil) and so I gave up my dirty one to a local kid – lets hope it inspires him. We went to La Boca del Lobo for tea which Hilde recommended as one of the best in Quito at the start of our trip – I certainly think it looks pretty cool. It was the best meal of the whole trip – I had rosemary sea bass for main and love triangles (white chocolate and amaretto tarts) – and we made sure that we all tried each others. It was the perfect end to the final day – sensational food and even better company.

At the hostel there were more goodbyes, including Mia and Katja before I headed to the Internationals’ room to try and get a couple of hours sleep before heading to the airport in the early hours of the morning.