Ecuador to Argentina...and everywhere in between: March 2011

Monday, March 28, 2011

End of Ecuador

I’m writing this after being in Peru for a week, so I’ve got a lot to cover!

Let’s start with our arrival in Banos and our new friends. We found ourselves in the Arte Mundo Foundation, a great place with offers children somewhere after school to be creative and learn. We also made some great friends in the volunteers, and had our first fancy dress party of the trip. Who can refuse an 80’s night!? Banos was incredible, set in the shadow of the active volcano which it is famed for, and the rest of the surrounding hills and waterfalls. An activity hotspot, it is great for the adrenaline junkies and ramblers alike! After 5 days it was time to leave and make our way South to Cuenca, or so we though!

Banos from above

80's night!

Our direct bus, was not so direct so we took the chance to stay a night at Ingapirca, the largest Incan site in Ecuador which was originally used by the Canari people long before. It was pretty impressive standing on their ‘Temple of the Sun’ under an actual sun surrounded two rings of rainbows. From here it was onward to Cuenca where we stayed for a few relaxing days, saw the usual sights and looked forward to continuing South.

Ingapirca

Shrunken head in Cuenca, local delicacy!

Cuenca

Loca Loja! This placed marked our second Graduation Party of the trip, and certainly the most lavish!! We met our friends Mel & Sarah who had started working for the local Canadian language school, and whose boss had just completed her degree! We soon found ourselves in the most expensive hotel in the city for a three course meal, accompanied with free flowing wine and whiskey! This was not what we had in mind when backpacking around South America, but as it was free it would be rude to say no. We also saw our first Ecuadorian league football match, where Loja hosted Quito (who were in the same hotel last night) in a soggy but explosive game of football. Being in the cheap seats, there was no shelter from the 5 hours of constant rain, and our binbags offered little resistance after the first hour or so. Even so, it was a great game with at 10 man Quito winning 2-1!

Looking civilised...

From here, we finally left Ecuador, travelling across the boarder and into Peru, taking with us a mountain of memories and good times…

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Quilotoa Luck!

After four different buses, some incredible scenery from the window and sharing my seat with a local we reached Quilotoa. Quilotoa is the biggest Crater Lake in

Ecuador

and is situated about 3500m up and yes VERY COLD!! We were given some warning though and the young boy who meet us from the bus as a way of getting us into his hostel offered us a room with a wood burning fire (how could we resist?).

To finish off an energetic day we headed along the tourist path to the bottom of the crater, a 500m accent. We had been given expectations of a ‘bar and restaurant’ at the bottom (due to the sign advertised by Princess Toa Hostel). However we were not in luck with any more than the warm cinnamon drink and a big bag of crisps which were severely over priced, bit of a sneaky trick if you ask me considering to get out of the crater you had to back up the same 500m track! By the by we decide to walk up the track (there was an option to take a horse but we had some training a few days before in Quito for big climbs!). It took ages and a good few stops on the way as we left the crater the mist mysteriously dropped in and it was beautiful.

After a quiet night in the hostel, as there really wasn’t a lot to do in those mountains apart from let the wood burn, we woke up to the same mist that had really closed in over night. This was a bit disappointing as we had planned to walk the circuit around the crater in the morning before heading off to our next destination. After milling around the hostel and eating breakfast (note to self: wood burning fires also make great toasters!) we were granted a small spell of clear weather, so we packed up and went for it. In total the walk was four and half hours about 5.5 miles long but with ascends and descends constantly as we walked along a ridge. Also the frequent drop of hundreds of metres on both sides in most cases made it not really a route for the light hearted, luckily as the guide book had suggested we had taken a stick, and although the advise was in case you came across wild dogs I found it more useful for balancing on the tricky edges.

Back to the bit about luck, we just happened to run into a trio that we predicted were eating cheese and pickle sandwiches on a picnic blanket! They asked if we had done the circuit and we replied with an exhausted and relieved,’ yes!’ We talked awhile to Maz, Karl an Tim, members of the Arte del Mundo Foundation, asking what they were doing up on the crater edge etc, one thing to another, it only turned out they were only heading our direction for our next stop in Baños, which was perfect. Beyond that they were the friendly faces we saw for then next few days as they invited us to stay in their accommodation and to even offer a volunteering hand…

Otavalo at carnaval

A church lit up at night in Otavalo

With unbelievable timing we were in Otavalo for the annual carnival, a four day holiday celebrating the beginning of lent. We both feel a lot safer here in Otavalo than Quito however there is a big risk that we will be soaked with water as one of the traditions of the festival is unprovoked water fighting in the streets. It mostly starts between the teenagers but we have seen all ages get involved and they don’t exclude gringos either! The first night we went for a walk around and as in a comedy duo sketch Ian moved out of the way of water aimed at us and without warning put me in the firing line!! To say it was a shock would be an understatement but with my soaked jeans we decided to take our revenge on the locals and we bought two bottles of cold water from a shop and went around the block to perform a counter attack! It went smoothly and no one was hurtJ

Herbs and Spices

A pig!

We decided we would go to the famous market that has made this town what it is today. Apparently over $3,000,000 is exchanged here in a year. We thought we would go early and see if we could get some bargains so we set the alarm for 7.30am, but in actual fact the market has a natural alarm that goes off around 6.30-7.00am, it goes “un dollar, un dollar, un dollar!!!” and although our hostel was out of the main Plaza de Ponchos where most of the market is usually set up, the Saturday market really is something different. It seems the market quadrupled in size and variety, we were impressed and spent most of a morning window shopping for beautiful things, it’s a damn shame we have to carry everything we own for the next month or it wouldn’t have been window shopping!

Beautiful handcrafted ornaments and woven materials

Looking through the market at Plaza de Ponchos

While close to the Crater Lake, Laguna Cuicocha at the foot of Cotacatchi Volcano, we decide to take a journey up there to check it out. It is a massive crater lake with two independant islands which you can take boat trips around, you also get to see the bubbles that rise through to the surface as a reminder that this area is still an active volcanic zone! Along the theme of water we walked up to the waterfall Peguche (armed with water in case of a carnival raid) and then we walked to the biggest fresh water lake in Ecuador, Lago San Pablo. We were out of energy by then though so we didn’t walk around it!!

The islands of the volcanic Laguna Cuicocha

Boat trip! Glad to have life jackets as the boat was practically sinking on one side!

Cascada de Peguche

So once we had had a good look around Otavalo and the carnival was finished we headed out on the 5am bus to Quilatoa…

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Quito mountain mission

We zoomed over to the Andes last week and arrived at over 3000 metres above sea level, quite a contrast from the diving 20 metres under sea level the week before, and we could definitely feel it. We were quite tired and a bit dizzy for the first day or two but we soon got over it and on our third day in the city we went to explore the Telerifico which takes you up to 4100 metres and if you feel fit you can walk a further 600 metres up to see a fantastic view of Quito whilst doing what I can only describe as the best stepper machine I have ever tried! Check out the view:

Quito under cloud

If you like the gym you would
love this stepper machine!

Also we wandered around the old part of the city. There seemed to be a lot to see but we decided we didn’t want to spend too much time in museums, but one caught our eye. The city museum (Museo de la Ciudad) which has been standing in Quito for the last 400 years, serving as a church, hospital, pharmacy and these days office space and a museum.

Also we took a bus journey out of the city for 40 cents and ended up at the Equator! The tourist attraction that is called Mitad Del Mundo is a huge complex of different facts about the indigenous knowledge of the sun and stars, along with a cool monument that you can make good honest fun photos out of J

Of course some lamas around the place!

Travelling tips (for anyone going to Quito):

All in all I would recommend the museum of the city (especially as the first floor has all it’s literature in English too), a walk up to the highest view of Quito via the Telerifico (Go in the morning though as it’s clearer) and also Mitad Del Mundo ( but also check out the museums to the right of it as they are just as good and also if you head out of the city early take the bus just that bit further to the crater Pululahua, beautiful views and you don’t even need to walk that far!!). Also we stayed in a sweet and central place called L’Auberge Inn, cheap and wonderful, but book through hostel bookers and it is even cheaper!

Friday, March 11, 2011

Galapagos...Where do I begin?

A picture speaks a thousand words, but the captions help too! We thought we should do this blog with the help of our cameras as soooo much happened that it would get borring to read 700 pages of rambling, talking of which I will let you get on...