Photo: Cuban racers, Quito
June 18, 1992 The next morning I left Mary, Bernie & Josh and took bus to Quito. I had been warned that sometimes the Shining Path would stop buses and ask for "donations". But it would be unusual for them to harm travellers.
A Californian, John, was also on the bus. His passport had been stolen, yet he managed to get to Quito without it. At one Peru military checkpoint, I and the bus driver helped John to step out of the line of passengers to avoid being questioned. At the Equadorian border, Johns inability to speak Spanish may have been an asset. For some reason, they let John into the country without a passport.
Photo: Park in Quito
After midnight, 30 hours after leaving Lima, we arrived in Quito. My friend, Rick Walter was to meet me in Quito, and we had agreed to stay at La Casona pension. John did not have a place to stay, so we took a taxi to the La Casona address. At 1 AM we found the gates to la Casona locked and no doorbell. So we started calling Ricks name. A couple minutes later, Rick came out of the house and let us in. We found a couple of vacant beds and had a great sense of relief.
The next couple of days Rick and I walked about Quito. John arranged to get his papers in order before flying back to US. On the first morning a drunk design student we met took us to a boring lecture, where he promptly fell asleep.
Map: South America Trip
