Orlando accompanied me to the bus station, it was so nice of him... I felt very sad.
We arrived in Ipiales after 12 hours of travelling. I didn't manage to sleep even a minute because the bus was swinging from one side to another, however it didn't bother Ocean. We went to the custom office in Ipiales. It was my last day I was able to stay legally in Colombia but Ocean's visa expired four days before. The custom officer didn't want to let him go unless he paid a fine of 250,000 pesos. Ocean didn't have this money on him so we asked what another option he had. The custom officer said that Ocean could "help him". I remember somebody (David?) telling me: if a police officer or another authority asks you to help him, the meaning of it is very clear - bribery. We discused it with Ocean and he gave the guy some money, much less than the fine he had to pay. The custom officer was a little bit concerned and asked Ocean not to report it, however Ocean just wanted to cross the border.
We took a taxi to Tulcan on the Ecuadorian side and then a bus to Quito (in the picture in a restaurant on the border). We were properly searched twice by the police during our trip: both on the Colombian and Ecuadorian sides. The second time the police officer only wanted to have a chat. I understood this when he asked where my boyfriend was and in that moment I got really crossed as all my stuff was out of the rucksack. The police officer saw my anger and he stopped searching the rucksack.
We arrived in the North bus station in Quito at 3.40 am. It was too early to phone my host Mauricio or to go to a hostel so we waited two hours in the station and then we went to the New Centre (modern city centre) to find Ocean's hostel. Once he checked in, we had breakfast and I took a bus back to the North bus station where I met Mauricio. Mauricio seems to be a very nice guy. He is an active Couch Surfer, hosting a lot of people. He is self-employed, he buys and sells oil extraction equipment online. He is planning to open a hotel in Quito very soon. He speaks very clear Spanish - I understand everything!! :)
The Ecuadorian currency is American dollar. So weird!! - exactly the same money that in the US but of a much lower value. It looks like Ecuador is cheaper than Colombia, so far I found out that a bus ride costs 17 English pence - it is the second lower fee in my whole trip after the underground in Caracas where I paid 8 pence per ticket.
