Ecuador

Ecuador

We spent the night at the Colombia/Ecuador boarder since there was a really nice church that we wanted to see, we'd also been told not to travel through that part of Colombia during the night (which we ended up doing anyway), so we'd made plans to stay at the border town of Ipiales and cross the next day. We'd been warned that the route we were taking was infamous for bandits and we weren't to travel at night but the bus took 4 hours longer than it was supposed to do we ended up doing part of it at night anyway. There was armed police dotted along the whole road so it must be pretty bad. We slept at a really cheap (but decent) hotel right across from the bus station and in the morning we went to visit the beautiful church, which looks like something out of a fairytale, before making our way to the border. 

The only hiccup was that the idiot taxi driver drove us over the border and dumped us in Ecuador. We then had to walk back over the border and get our passports stamped out of Colombia, all in all though,  a very smooth crossing into Ecuador. 

Our first stop was a small town two hours over the border called Otavalo. If you're lucky enough to be there on a Saturday, which we were, there is a huge market in the middle of the town. We spent the whole of the next day wandering around the market, picking up a few bits and pieces as we went. I could have gone mental in that market, there were so many beautiful things I would have loved to take home with me, but my bag is already overstuffed and weights a tonne. Next time I'm bringing an empty bag! 

Before leaving for Quito the next morning we went for a quick walk around a volcanic lake close by. The walk takes 5-6hours to go all the way around, but we were short of time and genuinely just couldn't be bothered, so we just walked for an hour.    

It was just another short bus ride (love that Ecuador is so small!) to Quito. After checking in, we enquired about where to eat for dinner but were told that because it was Sunday, most places were shut. We ventured out and managed to find the worst Mexican on the planet. We actually felt awful that we left so much on our plates but it really was inedible. I'm pretty shocked that the capital city of Ecuador basically shuts down on a Sunday. 

We got talking to a lovely English girl called Abbie, who was staying in the same dorm as us, and we made plans to go and do the walking tour together the following day. 

We took 'The Death Bus' to downtown Quito where the walking tour would start from. The Death Bus was named such because we almost died trying to get on them.  Three times! We made the mistake of being polite and allowing people to disembark before tying to get on. Oh no no, this is not how it works, it would seem the only way to get onto the bus is to elbow barge your way onto the bus while others are trying to elbow barge their way off, otherwise the doors will unceremoniously slam shut in your face. Three times this happened, three times, before we figured it out. Luckily we'd left ourselves plenty of time to miss three buses and we managed to arrive on time for the tour. 

The tour was really good, one of the better ones we've been on. They've been a bit hit and miss to be honest. We got to see the changing of the guards at the presidential offices which was really cool.  Marching band, soldiers on horseback, the president himself and a lovely rendition of the national anthem. 

After the tour, Abbie, Kay and I went for a cheap set meal type lunch which was very tasty. We then went back to one of the churches that we'd passed on the tour, we were able to get up inside and climb some pretty dodgy ladders to the top of one of the towers, an amazing view of the city from up there though. 

We then took a taxi to the cable car which took us almost 4000 m.a.s.l, the climb took forever and the trio sitting opposite us were a nervous wreck by the time we reached the top. It was quite cloudy up there so we had a hot chocolate to warm us up and waited for the clouds to pass. They eventually did, and we clambered down to some electrical masts, where I'm pretty sure we weren't meant to be, and got some more spectacular views of the city. 

We had a fantastic meal at an Irish bar close to our hostel, Finn McCool's. Shepard's Pie, Fish 'n' chips and chicken and mushroom pie which all tasted like they would have at home. Yum!  

Myself and Kay decided to do some Spanish lessons while we were in Ecuador, it's really cheap and they're supposed to have the clearest Spanish in South America, making it a bit easier to learn. So, the next day, we woke early to do a 3hr lesson at a place not far from our hostel, the first two hours were great and really helpful but I think our brains had turned to mush by the third, and we weren't taking much in during that hour.  After our lesson we met Abbie for a nice set lunch and then we all headed off to the equator.  There are two places to visit the equator near Quito, one is the monument which was built at the point where a french science expedition determined the equator was in 1736, the other is the actual equator line which was determined using army GPS more recently. We decided to give both places a look since they weren't too far from each other. We went to the monument first, it's impressively large and has a long yellow line depicting the equator, which you can stand either side of, a great photo opportunity but it loses it's sparkle a bit because, even though the Ecuador line is 1 mile wide, and so we were on the Ecuador line, we weren't actually at the center of the world.  We walked around to the museum which has recently been built right on the center line. We were shown some experiments here which backed up the GPS coordinates. My favourite was when they showed the water draining clockwise in the northern hemisphere, anti-clockwise in the southern, and it then fell straight down on the equator. We were also shown that you don't have as much strength on the line and your balance is terrible.  We went to the Irish pub for dinner again, 6 months away was making us crave "normal" food. Early night again, I think the altitude was making us sleepy. We vowed to take a nap the next day so that we would have the energy to go out for some drinks in Quito. 

The next morning, after another 2hr spanish lesson, the three of us took 'The death bus' to a park which wasn't too far away. We spent the day sitting in the sun and people watching. That night we put on our finest attire and went out for ladies night. It was a bit of an odd situation, usually the reason behind letting ladies drink for free is that the many many guys who go too, will have to pay for their drinks. This place was different though, they would only allow women into the club between 8-10pm to drink for free and after that the boys were allowed to join us. The drinks were lethal, they were about 80% vodka and 20% mixer. I opted for the cocktails because, quelle surprise, they didn't have any sugar free mixers. 

I woke up feeling surprisingly fresh but poor Kay wasn't so lucky, which is unlike her. We all went over to our beloved Finn McCool's to have a greasy breakfast to soak up the alcohol from the night before. We left Quito that day on a bus headed for a small town called Baños, the windy road was making me feel a bit ill, and with Kay's hangover, I'm sure you can imagine how she felt. We arrived about dinner time and couldn't be bothered looking for anywhere so we went with one of the touts to his hotel, and although it was a little more than we wanted to pay, it was a nice room with two double beds and an ensuite, so we decided to stay one night and look for something cheaper the next day. Pizza and bed for us, we hadn't eaten any Ecuadorian food yet but the hangover wants what the hangover wants. 

The next morning we went for a walk around the town to enquire about the canyoning and also to look at some hostels.  We managed to find only one with availability in our budget, and I was only $2 cheaper so when we got back to our own place I asked if they would give us a discount if we stayed another couple of nights, and they agreed!  We went to have a look at the place where you can do a bridge-swing.  Kay wanted to do it but there was absolutely no convincing me! We took a chiva (multicoloured bus) up to casa de arbol (the tree house) where we got a shot on The Swing at the End of the World. It's not as scary as it looks, but it was still lots of fun. We had to pay $1 to get on the swing and there was a Swiss girl on our bus who almost refused to pay it, I know money can be tight when travelling, but come on, what's $1 when you've already travelled all that way to see it? We took another chiva up to a view point that night, the weather was quite cloudy so, although we got a great view of the city, we couldn't see the volcano at all. We were given a warming alcoholic drink at the top and treated to a comedy show, in Spanish. The guy was hilarious though, and managed to make us laugh even though we couldn't understand what he was saying!

We had booked to go canyoning for the following day, so after a quick breakfast we headed off to the office to get suited and booted for the days activity.  It was myself, Kay and an Ecuadorian couple from Guayaquil. We had to walk up to the top of a small hill but the Ecuadorians were struggling with the altitude since they were from the coast, but weirdly it wasn't affecting Kay or I. We abseiled down 4 waterfalls and got to slide down some smaller ones too, lots and lots of fun but we were all starting to get a bit cold by the end, so I was thankful to get back to our hotel and have a lovely warm shower. We had some time before dinner, so Kay decided it was time to do her bridge-swing, she made one last attempt at convincing me ( no thanks! ), before signing herself up. She had to watch only one other person do it before her, the girl went backwards and was more or less pushed, so Kay decided this would be slightly easier and went that way too! She got some great photos and a video to take home as proof of her bravery! We tried some Cuy (guinea pig) after, our first traditional Ecuadorian meal since we'd arrived in the country.  It was ok, tasted a bit like chicken, but the look of it ( whole guinea pig skewered on a stick) kinda put me off a bit. We had planned to make our way up to the hot springs that night but the two of us were so exhausted from our day, that we went for a nap and didn't wake up.

This guy had rubbish timing....either too slow or too eager!! 

We travelled from Baños to Puerto Lopez via Guayaquil the next day, arriving at night. We hadn't booked anywhere so we let the tuk tuk driver take us to a couple of places i'd read about online, before settling on the first place we saw. 

We were both feeling very tired the next day after our long day of travelling but we walked the two streets that made up the small fishing village and got our bearings. Puerto Lopez was very quiet because their season didn't officially start for another month, when the whales would pass through on their way north. We booked a boat trip for the following day to a 'poor mans Galapagos', we would get the chance to see dolphins, blue-footed boobies, and if we had been there a month later, some humpback whales. We had some delicious sea food for dinner, one of the many perks of being back at the coast. 

We took a boat to Isla de la Plato the next morning and got to see a large pod of dolphins on the way, also, when we stopped close to the island we had a group of giant sea turtles come up to the side of the boat, which was a wonderful sight. We were given the option of two hikes while on the island, the first easier route would take you to the edge of the cliffs where you would get the chance to see many many birds, including the blue-footed boobies, nesting on the side of the cliff, the other, more difficult, route would take you to the top of the island where we would perhaps see some blue-footed boobies up close, and also their nests. We opted for the more difficult route, which turned out to be not so difficult at all.  We took a different way back to Puerto Lopez so we could try and see some whales, and guess what, we were so lucky to get to see two humpback whales not too far of our boat. We weren't expecting this at all since they weren't due to pass through for another month! We went for some lovely Italian food when we got back. 

The next day was glorious so we spent the morning and early afternoon catching some rays before catching a bus to a town further down the coast called Montanita. We checked into our hostel, met our lovely roomies, Stuart and Nelle, and went into town for a look around and some pizza, we haven't eaten much Ecuadorian food so far. 

We spent the day at the beach the next day, the weather was beautiful and there wasn't going to be too much beach time in Peru, and none in Bolivia, so we were making the most of it. We decided to save some pennies and cook for ourselves, we had a couple of rums, watched a film and went to bed.  Very chilled out day. 

Another fabulous beach day, this time joined by Stuart and Nelle.  Our day consisted of sunbathing, eating and a little bit of shopping too.  We made some noises about leaving for Peru the next day but we hadn't packed, or booked a bus, so we decided another day at the beach was in order. 

Long lazy day at the beach, had an unsuccessful search for postcards (the only country we haven't bought any from), and booked our bus to Guayaquil for the next morning. We had a delicious dinner at the hostel, a guy working there was a chef, so for $6 each he made us all a 3 course meal, far too much food, but really yummy.  

We left for Guayaquil early the next morning along with Stuart and Nelle and arrived around 9.30am but, unfortunately, the next bus leaving for Peru wasn't until 2pm so, we had some lunch and had a look around the shops in the bus station, hoping to get some postcards before we left, but no joy.  The bus took about 4 hours to get to the Ecuador/Peru border and we spent about an hour getting through as they were being ridiculously slow with everyone. Back on the bus and onwards to Mancora, a lovely coastal town in north Peru. We arrived late after having to vacate the bus for the police to search the bus and check our passports.  We took a tuk tuk to our hostel, it was a party hostel, which we don't normally book because we would prefer to sleep somewhere quiet and then party when we want to, but it was right across the road from the fully booked hostel that we actually wanted to sleep in.  The party was already in full swing when we arrived but thankfully we were so tired from travelling that we managed to sleep through the noise, with a little help from our earplugs. 

We both really enjoyed our time in Ecuador, there is more indigenous culture to experience than in Colombia, because unfortunately, most of the indigenous population of Colombia were wiped out by the Spanish.  There are beautiful coastal towns and adventure sports galore, what's not to love? I've met too many people on my trip who have, for whatever reason, decided to give Ecuador a miss and head straight to Peru, but in my opinion their making a big mistake, this is a small country but it has a lot to offer.