Bikes Held Hostage, Day 11




Dec 14, 2004

Today we got to see the hostages, in a bodega at the Aduana (customs) office in Quito, but the Aduana was not willing to sign the paper that he was supposed to sign yesterday but didn´t because one of his agents had filled it out wrong, or so the customs agents say. They want to go out with us, the tall skinny one has developed a crush on me, and the daughter of the customs agent is in love with Mark. So the bikes may be here a while. The motorcycles suffered a little
damage on the trip from Panama via Colombia (change of planes), and everyone who crazily chose ride here from Colombia has passed us by. Intensity Mark was practically gloating in his intense way.

I met a nice Colombian woman who wants me to pay for the time I spend with her, but it's a sure thing. Her family back home think she runs a small store that sells handicrafts. Ecuador doesn't have it's own currency. Like Panama, they use the US Dollar. My Colombian friend is upset because the dollar is falling and she can't send as many pesos home to Colombia as she was six months earlier. One of the other members of the party, who would not wish to be identified,  met the daughter of the chief of police who got mad when the one I am with asked her how much she was going to charge.

It´s a little like Groundhog Day...

Tomorrow we are going to wake up, say goodbye to the Dutch guys on the honda 50s, go down to the Agent´s office at 9:00, and wait for the paper to be signed. The clock in the agent´s office will say 4:37 again (it needs batteries) and we will wait around, watching the agent´s employees and children do crossword puzzles and play solitaire on the computer. At the end of the day the clock will say 4:37 and we will leave without our bikes. But 9:00 the day after...

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