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Welcome to my May 2005 travel journal.
Lazy morning enjoying the beach. It is massive and many people, despite the night’s activities are up and enjoying it. It is quite dirty though, and you have to watch where you are walking on the beach, for what you might tread in !!! There are a couple of guys who are sand carving this excellent and massive castle, it really is amazing !! we leave around 5pm and catch a taxi back to Esmeraldas for a bus back to Quito. The bus is really slow and is further more delayed by a landslide 2 hours out of Quito. The fact the TV/Video is not working on the bus makes the 2 hour delay even worse!! There has been a lot of rain over the weekend which is causing many landslides. We eventually arrive back in Quito at 2am, and get back to the hotel by 3am.
back to topLast week of Spanish lessons, very tired due to the delays the night before. After lessons, head out for lunch, and find a new hotel, the Hostel Cotopaxi, on Ramirez Davalos and Amazonas, a bit more central and hopefully a bit quieter than the Dorado, which next to the main road, got a bit noisy !!! Crash out early.
back to topSpanish Lessons continue practising all verbs, in the present tense. After lessons head out to the malls again.
back to topFollowing Spanish head out to Molinon and Bolos (Bowling), 1 hour for $10 with beer included. Return to Shooters Bar for a few night caps.
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After Spanish lessons learning the future and past tense, return to Cinemark to watch XXX2 with Ice Cube, pretty watchable American yarn, a little far fetched toward the end, again in English (well American) with Spanish Subtitles. After catch a taxi to the Panecillo, which is a statue of Mary overlooking the city, there are excellent views of both the north and south of the city and the surrounding volcanoes. Realise that we should have got the taxi to wait for us, since there are now no taxis, to get back down. We eventually find one as we are walking back down and head to a new shopping mall in the south of town, and get fleeced for the ride for $5 !!! despite protests !!! After dinner in the mall return back to Shooters.
last Spanish lesson today. Been really good the last 3 weeks, but I hopefully now have the tools necessary for basic conversation, certainly seems like that !!! just need to keep on practicing.... Head back to the historic part of town and pay the $2 entrance to the Basilica church. There is an impressive statue of Pope John Paul II, who visited here in 1985 at the doors and the climb up the towers is pretty scary stuff, but the views of the city are excellent, despite the rain. Crash out early since we are heading to Otavalo early in the morning.
Up at 6am and catch a bus for Otavalo. It is famous in Ecuador for its market, which is larger on a Saturday for the tourists. We arrive just after 8.30 and start looking round the many stores, it really is excellent and massive. Find a few nice things, which I will have to send back since I have no room to carry them. Find an excellent restaurant for lunch for $1.80 and by 3pm we have both had enough of the stores, bartering, and walking, so head back up to the main road just in time for a coach back to Quito. Crash pretty early on returning, but spend most of the night, listening to a nearby party which goes on all night. In retrospect should have just joined in !!!
Up early for a nice breakfast at Spicy cafe on Amazonas, get my journal up to date, and start to plan for the week. I have no school now, so may well head to Riobamba soon for a few days, once I have sorted through my stuff and sent some more stuff back home. Found the Botanical Gardens today. Amazonas, the main street through the new town is closed to all traffic on a Sunday morning to allow all the cyclists a free run. Was a really nice walk to Carolina. The Botanical Gardens are really impressive with many orchids housed in the central building.
Bit of shopping in the El Jardin mall, and return back to the hotel. Head out for a really nice Fondue in the afternoon, the whole meal is excellent, the meat is really tender and marinated in an excellent sauce!!! Blanca and I then proceed to test all the local bars. Starting at Mulligans, American Irish, then every bar along the street ending up at Shooters again. It is a pretty quite night to start with, and Mulligans has the best Mojito, although Papaynet, comes a close second despite Blanca throwing hers all over someone !!! Things liven up in Shooters and we end up flaming sambuka-ing the night away !!
Up early for breakfast again at Spicy cafe on Amazonas, despite the hangovers. Get some more photos developed from the Botanical Gardens, and sort out stuff for sending home. Going to have a quite night tonight, well that was the plan. Head for shooters for one beer, which turns into about 8 before heading back to the hostel around 2am.
back to topAnother lazy day, although have the start of a cold coming, exploring around Quito.
back to topReally ill today, have a raging fever, and cannot keep anything down. Spend the whole day in bed or on the loo !!! not nice !!!
back to topFeeling better today, although food is not what it should be, eat a little and head out with Blanca for a little while before heading back to the hotel with more drugs from the pharmacy !!
back to topFeeling better today, look up in the guide book a few recommended agencies, which we find but are closed, find another agency and book Cotopaxi for tomorrow at (to be completed later) for $155 all is included, including the entrance to the park, there are another 4 climbers so decide to book. Tour is to arrive tomorrow morning, get some practice using crampons and ice axe and then set off at around midnight for the 7 hour climb to the summit. Head out for a few beers in Shooters again and crash out early, ready for the tour tomorrow.
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Arrive at the Tour agency, for 9.30, but they are not ready, so head of for coffee and internet, and buying some copied MP3 CD´s and DVD’s. back at 11.30 and head off with the whole family. It is quite a long ride as we head south from Quito I am chatting with the two kids in the back, Juan (10) and Freddie (14) good practice for my Spanish. We stop at 12.30ish for lunch. Soup and then rice with gristle, I think it is meant to be pork, but not really sure. Then head off and stop just outside the Cotopaxi park at a service station and wait for Christian who is one of the guides, turns out he is my guide for the trek, but he says at the time he is taking some other people up. Cotopaxi park is massive and we all wind our way through the barren landscape, covered in ash, last eruption of Cotopaxi was over 150 years ago !!! Car is parked 200+m below the refuge, and I say goodbye to the family and head up the steep, scree to the refuge. It is incredibly hard work, being at 4800m it is very hard to keep your breath. I am thinking now ´what have I let myself in for !!!´
Oh well, I am not turning back !! get to the hostel, which is a stone built quite large building, the ground floor has two large kitchens, and large dinning areas, upstairs is two large rooms crammed with bunk beds, although there are only a few people climbing at this time of year so only one half of the building is being used. I find Marco the main guide around 4.00pm for the tour company and settle down with soup and a cup of tea and get to know the other climbers Haz from Finland, Claudia and Christian from Belgium, and Kurt from Switzerland.
I join in the card game, a new one on me Martiez, pretty good. We have dinner around 6.00pm, of soup, chicken with noodles and jello !!! We all pretty much crash out around 7.00pm since we are all up at 11.30 to set of at 12.00. There are only a few other climbers, a couple of girls from Denmark, another couple of English guys, and 3 others.
This is the strangest nights sleep ever !!!, as Rob ( friend I met on the Amazon in Peru who has already done Cotopaxi ) had said it would be. You end up just lying their thinking about anything and everything, Luckily not too cold, sleeping bag + two tee-shirts + fleece + trousers helped !!! Are awoken by Marco at 11.30 it seems only 5 minutes since we went to bed!! great preparation for a 7 hour ascent !!!
After a quick breakfast and check over the kit, I end up borrowing a different pair of over trousers, since I only have one leg that zippers up, we head outside and start our ascent, by now it is 1.00am. The going is pretty steady as we are all walking together, 5 climbers and 3 guides. after about 20 minutes we reach the start of the ice, and in the pitch black with our head touches fit our crampons and are roped together, one guide to two climbers. I end up with Christian alone, once he has fixed my crampons, we set off behind the others. Again as Rob had said the first 2 hours across the ice and into the snow is the worst (´Heartbreak 2 hours´ he had said). It is really hard work as you have to kick into the ice with the crampons at every step to ensure you have grip, which after about five steps drains all the energy in my, no sleep last night legs.
After a while though you soon get a rhythm, and once on the snow the going is a little easier. We end up picking up Haz, as Claudia has some problems with her crampons so we are now three on the rope, Christian guiding up front, then Haz, and finally me. We are passing amazing ice cliffs and crevasses in the dark,
The last 1 hour climbing are a killer, and as both Haz and I are struggling to find the energy. Despite this we arrive at the summit at 6.30, just after sunset, that’s 5 1/2 hours climbing, despite the protests from our guide, we have made really good time. The views are truly amazing. The summit is about 100m above the main crater of the volcano, hope the pictures come out, it is absolutely spectacular above the clouds, and all the pain and hard work of the last hour or so all seems worth it now. Oh I also left my breakfast near the top, as the cold water really didn’t like me during the last killer 200m ascent. We spend 10-15 minutes at the top enjoying the views, taking pictures and eating some much needed sugary sweets.
We then set off for the descent as the Danish girls arrive at the top. We keep the same order but now I am leading, Haz behind, with the guide taking the rear.
I find the descent really easy, and wish I had some skis !! next time. Haz, though, really has used up all his energy and is finding it really hard. We gradually make our way down enjoying the views and getting some photos and are eventually back where we put on our crampons, it is now 9.00 am. Christian disappears, which is a little unprofessional of him, and Haz and I make our way back to the refuge, we return at 9.30. That’s 5 1/2 hours up and 3 hours down. I have to admit I got a little frustrated at time with Haz on the descent, but as the sun was melting the snow it was getting increasingly dangerous, and more important that we kept together. Haz was in a pretty similar situation to me, although he had worked for 8 years setting up his business brokering electricity. He is near the end of 8 months travelling and is returning back to Finland in 1 week’s time!!! We got to the summit together, we arrive back down at the refuge together, minus our guide !!!
We catch up with the others, Christian and Kurt we saw at the top and were just leaving as we arrived, Claudia found the going a little too hard and had turned back.
Kurt organised a lift for me back with them, since they had an agency car. In a packed 4x4 5 climbers, 3 guides and all the kit we made our way back to Quito. Back at the agency we returned all our borrowed kit, Haz crashed out and I headed out with the others for a quick celebratory beer or two. It truly is an amazing experience although next time I will prepare a little better and be a little fitter at the start!!! Head back to the hotel around 3pm to find Blanca, although she is out she has left the key for me and I crash. Awoken at about 4.30 by Blanca returning, quick shower and a laze around, head out to possibly meet Haz at Shooters. He isn’t there, probably still sleeping !!! after one drink I have no energy left and we crash out for the night. Blanca went out with the guys from Shooters to a disco on Sat night, with her new tongue piercing, and ended up crashing at Angelicas house.
Surprisingly up early, but laze around in the morning, before trying to find El Galpon, the restaurant owned by Oswaldo, the administrator of Shooters bar. Walking is a little slow today as my legs have pretty much frozen up !! We eventually find it at Colon E 10-53 y Camaño, but it is shut on Mondays !!! Oh well !!! There is a little museo which is pretty good to view !! Head back down to Amazonas and hit the internet cafe while the rain pours down. Hit shooters again, and decide to stay in Quito a couple more nights to see the football in the stadium tomorrow night, with David, a sailboat captain from the UK who has just bought a house here in Quito. Have a bad night after Shooters !!!
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Lazy day, miss meeting up with David, but head up to see the Football LDU Quito vs River Plate (Argentinean team) in the Copa Libertadores, a bit like the European cup but for South America. Quito win 2-1 it is an amazing atmosphere, with fireworks, burning paper falling on everyone and big chants to the 20 or so Argentinean fans who have braved the experience. Head back to Shooters for a couple after the game.
Last full day in Quito, tidy some bits up, and pack ready for leaving tomorrow. Have a last night in Shooters, and say goodbye to the great guys, Milton, Junior and David.
2pm leave Quito for 1 1/2 hour ride to Latacunga quick taxi into town to Tilipulo Hostel, dumb bags and wander around the very pretty town. It’s nice to be out of the city and back in a small town, feels a lot friendlier. Enjoy some hawker food, before crashing out.
The hostel is really friendly and helpful, after a quick breakfast we leave the large rucksack here and head out for the Quilotoa circuit, just got enough stuff in my small pack for 2-3 days. Taxi $1 to the Terminal Terrestra and wait 1/2 in a very hot bus to get to Zumbagua, there is meant to be a very good Saturday market here, not tourist items but local produce. We arrive at around 2pm and with Ken, an American who has just quit his trading job in New York catch a pick up for $4 up to the Quiotoa crater.
It really is an amazing sight. A massive crater which has been filled by an emerald lake. After a quick view from the top we start the walk down although Blanca is only wearing sandals which makes it a little hard. The views are truly amazing. On the way down we pass a man offering Mules for the climb back up for $5 a go we decide to have a go and continue on our way down. We enjoy the lake for a few moments and spot some people camping near the Refugio at the bottom.
Just the we spot a what looks like a while horse run down from the rim towards the water to drink, he is quickly followed by two young boys and two more mules, although only 2 have saddles, and none have stirrups. Ken immediately is put off by the speed of the mules and decides to start walking. Blanca gets on one, for all of about 2 seconds before it bolts and sends her crashing to the ground !!! that is enough, and we start to climb up after Ken. We soon catch him up with the boys and mules following pleading with us to continue with the ride. It really is all a little too dangerous, we make steady progress despite Blanca’s shoes and reach the top of the rim at 6.50 just after sunset.
We are welcomed into the local shop while we wait for our driver to return. His truck is still here, but no sign of him. After about 1hour chatting with the locals we find the driver who takes us back to Zumbagua and the ORA VERDE fro $4 per person per night. It has to be the dirtiest place I have slept at in my life, there is literally dirt everywhere. The shower looks like you will actually get dirtier by having one !!! We have an average meal with Ken in the Restaurant, which is no cleaner, and head out into town with the promise of drinking and dancing on a Friday night. After 1/2 hour walking around in the cold we give up trying to find anything, everything is so quite !! we buy a few beers from the Restaurant and head to Ken’s room to play a few rounds of cards. Some new games on me, thanks to Blanca, ´Robo Pilo´ and ´Burro´ both pretty cool !!! crash around midnight.
Awoke at around 7am but laze around, Blanca has not slept well, Ken says goodbye as he is heading to Baños, but we may meet up again in Riobamba later.
We wander around a small, but very interesting local market before arranging a lift to Chugchilan ($18 which is pretty expensive, but we are in a 5 litre pickup !!!)The views of the valleys are excellent, you really are in the heart of the country here !!! We arrive at the driver’s recommendation at Mama Hilda’s hostel, which is idyllic !!! We both immediately feel at easy and at peace in the surroundings. After a quick wander round the small village, we crash out for a couple of hours, rising just in time for dinner. The Hostel has filled up now, with some of the Germans we meet on the Quiotoa walk yesterday and an American Couple who have sailed down from the states. We end up eating with the Americans. The food is excellent, potato soup followed by rice, noodles and meat, with home made cake and Ice Cream for afters !!! The two family dogs join us as we settle down and play a few hands of cards with the owners before crashing out.
Up early for the market in Chugchilan, another small local market, with many kids, but only about 5-6 stalls, but a really friendly atmosphere. Here you are not hassled by the locals for money or to buy things you are just treated as a local which is a very refreshing change, and immediately makes you feel at home, again the views are amazing. Back to the hostel to pay the $29 for an excellent night. that includes the beer and extras we used !!! We say goodbye and head back into the village to wait for the 12pm bus to Sigchos, there are a few more stalls now, including one with our driver from yesterday. Teresa who is running the shoe store provides a little amusement while we wait for the bus to leave / work not sure which. We eventually leave around 12.30 and head up to Sigchos, here we change bus to Latacunga (Saquisili $1.50) The road to Sigchos is really uneven, just like a rollercoaster ride, but most of the dust seems to be coming inside the bus, so not a very clean experience. The views again are breathtaking, wish I had more time to walk through here, next time. The road to Latacunga is better, mostly either cobbled or tarmac !! Latacunga, pick up our bags from Tilipulo, they kindly let us wash and repack, another bus to Ambato, $1.25 then final bus to Riobamba $1. At the bus station in Ambato, the conductor says we have 15 minutes, so Blanca heads off to find some food, while I find our seats. After 5 minutes, the driver gets on board and starts to leave. I convince him to wait a minute while I head into the bus station with the conductor to find Blanca, no sign. The bus driver is now getting pretty impatient, and just as the bus is leaving the station and I am about to get the bags off Blanca re-appears !!! just in time !!! We arrive in Riobamba around 7pm, and find the Tren Dorado hotel, a recommendation from the American couple in Chugchilan recommended. It is really friendly good size rooms for $8 per person. We wander for about 2 hours around town in search of a bar, no luck return to the hostel and enjoy Canelazo a local hot toddy !! I think the taste has to be acquired, but it certainly is warm !!! Cinnamon with alcohol, would be good for a cold. Enjoy a few games of cards before crashing out.
Up late but out to explore the town. Get some music uploaded to the website and update the journal. Will tried to book the train, but found out tickets only go on sale the day before, so will head back tomorrow, is pretty easy as the train station is only 5 minutes walk from the hotel. Lazy day not really much to do in Riobamba....
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Up early with the plan to explore the whole city in the hope of finding something interesting.... after about 3 hours we have seen all the churches in the centre, all the parks and all the museums... only one high point was the park high up in the city which has excellent views of the city and surrounds. apart from that not really that much here.... markets were pretty good for Artisan stuff, although only small today is much bigger on the Wednesday. Ken by chance is in the same hotel, we head out for an excellent Pizza and beers two streets up from the hotel, Ken heads back and Blanca and I find ourselves in a Spanish Karaoke !!! Not sure how that happened, oh how my singing was, but will leave it up to you to on the photos.... Didn’t leave until after 2am, oh well only up at 5.30 for the train........
Up around 5.30 and head down to the station for 6.00am, people have already beaten us, but we are still early enough to get near the rear of the train and stay away from the noisy engine. It is quite a sight watching all the people arrive, pack large rucksacks in the empty box cars and scramble up the ladders onto the roof to find a seat. The train leaves on time at 7.15 and we head out of the city, being careful to keep our heads as the electric wires pass just over the train !!!
It is amazing to ride on top of the train and the different view of the city is certainly worth the $11 for the 5 hour ride. Once we leave the city we pass through amazing county, with the Andes on either side of us as we pass down the spine of Ecuador, we are greeted by many children along the way, who welcome the sweets
we throw from the roof for them, by all accounts they don’t eat them, but sell them back to the sweet sellers for money.... We are greeted every 10 minutes by fresh tea and coffee or Empanadas (like pancakes) or sweets, all for tourist prices .... It is pretty cold this early as we feel the wind on the roof, and the tea goes down well. We soon stop at our first town Guamote where a welcome toilet break releases the tea !!! We are soon back on out way passing more and more children, getting quite good at aiming the sweets now even at a distance. We soon arrive at Alausi
Where we stop for 10 minutes to pick up some more passengers before we start on the track down to Sibambe, and pass over the ´Nariz del Diablo´ (the devils´ nose) This is meant to be the most difficult railroad in the world, as the train climbs the rock face it has to switch direction twice due to the steep incline... Here goes.... The flatness of the past 4 or so hours is now transformed into wonderful scenery as we pass along the edge of a canyon, with mountains and fields above us and cliffs and the river below us.
We soon reach the first of two switchbacks where the guard jumps out and once we are in the siding, switched the track so we can continue to descend, we are soon at the bottom of this amazing feet of engineering looking back up at the devils nose... The Train now does a bit of shunting of cars and we end up right behind the engine for the ascent back into Alausi, it is really noisy, and I am glad we where not here for the whole journey.
We are soon back in Alausi, and after finding there are no televisions showing the game in town quickly head off by Coach to Cañar to find the European Cup Championship !!! After 2 hours we arrive in Cañar, and catch after a quick hope on the local Pickup taxi service find another bus to Ingapirca, the famous Inca ruins in Ecuador. We by now have given up in finding a television, but someone lets us know the score on the bus, and Liverpool have won.... After another usual argument about the price the three of us (Ken, Blanca and I) find some cheap accommodation
in the village and rush up to the ruins to try and see them today, unfortunately they will not let us round since they shut in 30 minutes at 5.30 so we head back to the hostel. On the way we have some food in one of the restaurants on the way back and end up eating in the dark as there are no lights in the restaurant. Quite a surreal experience eating in the dark, just as we had paid and where leaving, they managed to find some candles, I think the joke was on us that night. On the way back to the hostel all the light in the village went out, it didn’t deter them from the start of the Corpus Christi celebrations and fireworks were going off all night. We ended up back in the hostel for a few beers, and I ended up entertaining us and a few locals with my guitar.
Up early and headed out for the ruins arriving at the gate at 8.30am. The Guide was pretty lame only giving us a quick introduction and then leaving us too it, which was a bit disappointing. We carried on, and being this early were treated to the ruins without people, only Llamas. There is a 40 minute walk around the back of the ruins which takes in the royal baths, tortuga, sun symbol and face of the Inka, which was well worth it.
We got back to the hostel, and caught the bus back to Cañar. On the way in El Tampo found a bus directly to Cuenca so changed and for $1.25 rode the 2 hours into Cuenca. Ken already had ideas of a hostel, so we left him and headed for the Hostel Ingapirica, we decided to meet up later for another drink. The Hostel was clean and cheap on $4.50 per person per night, but a little lifeless.
After a wash up headed out to explore Cuenca. We soon realised we were again in the festivities as Corpus Christi got into full swing for a week of partying... We met up with Ken later, with a large group from Auz, England and the twelve of us headed out for Pizza and then the local bars. Tonight River plate were playing Liga in the return leg and what looked at one point like becoming a excellent comeback turned into disappointment as Liga lost 4-2 and went out of the COPA LIBERTADORES. Oh well didn’t seem to sap any of the party spirit.
Up early despite last night and explored Cuenca, which gave an instantly much nicer feel than Riobamba. Explored along the river and markets before finding the Cinema on the new side of town, the opposite side of the river and seeing Star Wars 3. Again in Spanish but understood pretty much most of it, although to be honest was a little disappointed, wasn’t as good as I thought it should be... Oh well. Headed back into the old town and after a quick shower, headed to the main square, where three castillos (castles) had been built of fireworks and spinning wheels to be set of later as part of the celebrations. It was really quite a dangerous place, as the bins were also being used for fireworks. You had to watch when you were walking around as they went off in all directions and at any time. They were also lighting candle balloons near the church which was sending a line of lights up into the sky. Along one side of the market they had many stalls selling sweets (dulces). I have never in my life seen so many sweets !! it really was quick a sight... We bumped into the other guys and headed to San Angel bar, here we ended up spending most of the night, enjoying the live music, and locals until about 3 in the morning. We ended up with some photos on www.cuencanight.com so must have been a good night, from what I can remember....
Lazy day today from last nights activities, watched Dracula 2000 in Spanish in the hotel along with Dan from Belgium, and then went out for a really nice meal at ´El Jardin´ restaurant with excellent views over the new city and river. The meal was excellent and it was no problem to pay a little extra ($30 for the whole meal) for some different food. Seem to have been eating chicken, with rice or chips or Pizza for ever, well at around $1 a meal why not. Crashed out pretty early.
Up early phone mum for her birthday at internet phone shop, cost about $1.00 for 10 minutes, excellent value, then after an excellent lunch next to the hotel, head for bus terminal and on a bus for Loja, where we need to change to get to Vilcabamba. 5 hours later, get to Loja and change onto a small caminetta (mini bus) for the 1 hour to Vilcabamba. We arrive at IZHCAYLUMA hostel at around 8.30 and enjoy an excellent meal of apanado pollo (battered chicken) with chips and salad. The hostel was really peaceful run by Pedro a German who has been living and working out here for 5 years. It is a really relaxing place to be and we soon settle into the vibe. We have an excellent clean room for $10 per person per night, with a shower room which is totally built out of stone, and has hot water all day. We settle down to the bar area where they have a large selection of DVD, along with Pool and Ping-pong, enjoy a relaxing night playing card with Oscar and Darwin (who works behind the bar).
Relaxing day in the hostel, watch a few DVD’s head into town for a little while, $1 taxi each way, work on my Spanish for a little while and end up playing cards again with a few others tonight. I have learnt two new games of cards recently, both of course Spanish. The first robo pilo (Rob Pile), and the second Burro (Donkey), both are just as easy as the now traveller worldwide recognised Sh*thead.
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Another lazy day enjoying Vilcabamba and the ´Valley of Longevity´, we take the free cycles from the lodge and cycle easily down into the town, but the ride back up is a little different. No only is it hard going, but the dogs seem to be attracted to my trousers and for a while I am also carrying two dogs for part of the way !!! Once we returned to the lodge watch an excellent film ´Mala Educacíon´. Dinner is again excellent, you could spend 2 weeks here just enjoying the food. You also have no worries with money, everything, from the bar and the restaurant is simply added to your bill for when you leave. Also a little dangerous, but they accept travellers cheques as well !!! (just as well !!!) Few games of pool with Marco, from Spain, we met last night, and then end up playing drinking games well into the night with the owner Pablo, Jen (Canada), Siobhan (London) and Simon and Kieran (Manchester, now living in London) The excellent horse race card game was a favourite.....
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