The Day After

Friday January 2

We got up early as Matt wants to leave about 9am. There was no water in the bathroom as they have to fill up the tank on the top. The bathroom is too far from the house so if you have to take a pee in the morning, you have to get your clothes and shoes on and get a flashlight. He should have had it built closer. He should have another one build as Amparo, when she is there, doesn’t like to share with the workers. Plus if you are to have several guests you have a long wait.

We left about 9.15am. It was exactly a two hour drive back. The road to Matt’s farm goes past the tourist place of Middle of the World, where there are stores, a monument and a museum. This is where you are exactly on the equator. Jayne wasn’t there but I was there when I first came here in 2004. The real location is 300 meters away, where there is another museum. Where the big tourist attraction was build they had used the French explorers who surveyed it back in the 18th Century. This was found to be wrong using satellite measurements.

The road to the farm is on a good paved road but once you get off it you have to go down a dirt road for about 2 miles.

Matt dropped us off near his home where there are more taxis. When we got home we talked about our trip and had a cup of coffee. When we were there the coffee we got was weak so it’s not like having coffee. I don’t like strong coffee and I usually have one or two cups a day, but I do like a regular strength of coffee.

I went the mall myself as Jayne didn’t want to go. I just wanted to catch up on my email. When I was there I noticed two guys walked in. I thought to myself, they look like Russian Mafia. They were not tourists by their dress. There was much noise in the restaurant as it was busy and they had the music on but I did pick up some Russian words. Later I asked if they spoke Russian and they said they do. I told them I lived in Moscow. He said that was nice.

I got the cue that they weren’t interested in talking to me. This would be true if they were Mafia. The funny thing is that Matt just told us earlier today that the Russian Mafia are getting into the flower business (probably threaten others to sell out or to deal through them).

I really don’t have time for Russian criminals (or any criminals).

All in all it was nice at the farm, but there were some things that could have been done better.