A Traveler's Birthday
Written by Kyle on Friday, December 05, 2008 in Ecuador
Feelin' normal
Many people have wondered what I did for my birthday, so for those of you wondering, here you go! It is also another interesting peak into the "normal" happenings of a traveler's life.Feelin' normal
12:00 am: First minutes of being 29. We are attending a Julieta Venegas concert in Quito for my birthday. If you don't know who she is, you can check out her music here: http://www.myspace.com/julietavenegas. In my humble but always correct opinion, she's the most talented musician to come out of Mexico.
12:30 am: Concert ends. We find a taxi back to our hostel.
6:00 am: Alarm clock goes off to catch a bus to Laticunga. We have to get up this early because the onward bus from Laticunga only goes once a day and missing it would waste a whole day.
10:00 am: Get dropped off by the side of the highway in Latacunga. We find a taxi to take us to the bus terminal.
10:30 am: Eat "lunch" in the bus terminal. When I ask the owner if he has lunch ready yet, he tells me no, but there is breakfast: fried beef, chicken, or beef tounge. I go with the chicken "breakfast" which also includes rice, potatoes, hard boiled egg in some sort of yellow sauce, a cup of hot water with random particles floating in it, an unknown red-colored juice, bread, and cheese.
11:45 am: Bus leaves Laticunga for Chugchilan. Endure terrible music while bumping along on unpaved Andean highlands.
2:15 pm: Look over the edge of a sheer cliff as the bus starts leaning cliff-side. It appears as if there was a landslide recently making the bus go over the newly fallen earth. No one seems to panic, but I envision the bus doing many rolls as it careems down into the canyon.
Looking at it is nice. Crashing in it is not.
3:00 pm: Arrive in Chugchilan, our destination, a town of 600 people. We decide to stay at Mama Hilda's because it is the closest and we both feel like sleeping.
3:00 pm-6:00 pm: Bessie tells everyone in sight that it is my birthday. I think she might have even told the horses.
7:00 pm: Dinner at Mama Hilda's starts. It is delicious and includes vegetable soup and spaghetti.
8:00 pm: Lights go out and the staff at Mama Hilda's come in with a lemon cake with a candle in it singing happy birthday in English (pretty good English, too...I don't know where they learned it). I cut and serve lemon cake to another American, a 60-plus year old French couple, a British guy, and the Mama Hilda's staff. We all say "Mmmmm".
Mmm...Cake
8:30 pm: Go to sleep. Not that I usually go to sleep that early, but we are getting up at 3:30 am the next day.
In other words, just another non-regular day in our lucky lives!
Comments on "A Traveler's Birthday"
And to think that most of us just prefer to quietly skip our birthday. A very interesting breakfast fare! and...oh yea...happy under 30-something!
Kyle sure tried to keep his birthday low key by "claiming he had forgotten!" Not on my watch, hubby!!
Maybe he takes after you, Karl...
I actually would forget it was my birthday. Numbers and dates are not my forte. As for breakfast, it's seems to be the typical fare down here.
Birthday breakfast/lunch thingy aside, it sounds like you had a uniquely wonderful birthday. As I have found in my travels, everyone seems to know the Happy Birthday song...in English! Too bad you did not get a video to replay in years to come. Congratulations on becoming 29, celebrating in Chugchilan....surely a birthday that you will long remember.
CONCERT, TRAVEL, NATURE & CAKE.... WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY! WE LOVE YOU!
by DADDIO at December 08, 2008 09:02 PM