28th October - Adiós

EIGHTEEN POUNDS of washing I have to drop off at the launderette, ranging from the stinky to the terminally dead. Still only comes to $5 though.

Rosa now has her appeal forms. Jesus, they are complicated. You need to be a solicitor to understand the finer details! She is going to have an Ecuadorian ex-pat represent her in London later in the month so I suggested that he was a better candidate to fill the forms in. I also took a look at the summary of why Rosa didn't get her visa in the first place. Not quite how she portrayed it to me. A combination of my lack of understanding and probably a bit of shame on her part.... one of the reasons she didn't get it is because at interview "she failed to give one single fact (in Spanish or English) about the school she was planning to study in".

We both went to La Mariscal. I needed to print some tour vouchers and Rosa wanted some air. Met K in the locutorio and we went to a "chocolate cafe". I had hot choc (sent the first one back, the milk was more sour than my old Geography teacher) and ice cream. K had a chocolate pizza and Rosita a cappuccino. I did the triangular translation thing again. I am getting quite good at it, maybe I should have worked for the Foreign Office? I also know a bit about visas now. Said bye to K. Sorry to see her go, she was great company and very sympathetic during the sickness bouts.

Rosa was really sweet on the way home. You'll have to use http://www.babelfish.com/ to translate this as it was all in Spanish and sounds so much better in the native language....

S: "Rosita, ¿qué quieres hacer después del café? Es tu ultimo día en Quito. ¡No, es MI ultimo día en Quito!"
R: "Si, pero, es mi ultimo día contigo"

At this point even I had to hold back the emotions. She then gave me a present which was a little flag to sew onto my rucksack and a lucky charm with my name on. God, I hope she gets this visa.

Maria drove us to the bus terminal to drop Rosa off. She is off to Piñas again and as you probably have worked out from the above, potentially, the last time I will see her. Hate goodbyes. Reminded me of every wave, every hug, every kiss from every ex-girlfriend over the years.

Still the experience wasn't without humour. Rosa left the ticket office the wrong way and ended up in some sorting depot. Kind of made the whole thing a bit more palatable. She tells me she's going to write each day. I will look forward to that, even if I can't reply.

Maria narrowly missed driving into a tunnel the wrong way on the way back but other than that i went to bed early.