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Published: July 15th 2012
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After a few sunny days in Mancora I took a bus over the border to Cuenca, in Ecuador.
For a country that had considered skipping entirely, Ecuador was actually great. Although small, it has a little bit of everything South America has to offer: white sand beaches, pretty Andean towns and wild jungle. It's a lot greener (and warmer) than Peru and Bolivia, and the people demonstrate a mix of the indigenous culture of the Andean countries and the vibrant Latin feel of Central America.
I wasn't particularly thrilled about leaving the sunny beach to go back into the mountains but Cuenca was a pleasant enough place. It had two lovely cathedrals, a small flower market and a pretty central square where I was interviewed by some local students as part of their project on tourism. I spent just one day there before heading to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city and a little bit of a sprawl. I left within a few hours for the beach town of Montanita.
Montanita was meant to be a place where I could spend a couple of days enjoying the sun, but unfortunately it was overcast and wet for my whole time there.
Nevertheless it was a nice enough place to chill out, full of cool locals who spend their days surfing and their evenings chasing gringo girls. After nearly missing the European Championships final because the local team, Barcelona (we weren't sure why they were called Barcelona or why they had the Catalan flag on their shirt), were playing, I spent a few days relaxing in the overcast weather and not surfing.
I took a bus up the coast to Puerto Lopez, a good base for whale-watching trips around the nearby islands. We boarded a small boat (not good for anyone with sea-sickness) and got spectacularly close to the whales. Due to it being mating season there were groups of whales everyhere and they were very active. It was nothing short of incredible - except for the poor guy next to me who spent the whole time with his pale head hanging over the side.
Having nowhere near enough funds left to visit Ecuador's primary draw - the Galapagos islands, I took a bus bound for Banos, instead ending up in Ambato (bus travel in Ecuador is not quite as good as the rest of South America). I boarded another
coach and finally ended up in the intended location. Banos sits where the lower Andes turn into jungle, and is therefore surrounded by beautiful green hills, lush with trees, vegetation and waterfalls. Myself and Simon, who I had met previously in La Paz, spent a day cycling downhill to nearby jungle towns, passing the huge waterfalls and dense jungle. It was kind of like 'The World's Most Dangerous Road' in Bolivia but without the constant fear of imminent death.
The last stop in Ecuador was the capital Quito, located in rolling hills near large volcanos. Quito has an Old Town that rivals Cusco for beauty, and a New Town that looks a little like Watford High Street. It's an interesting city, with a distinct edgy feel that I haven't experienced much in the last few months. Muggings and violent attacks are common, and one day there was a full-blown fight outside the hostel. Despite this, it's a difficult place not to like and I met a fair few travellers who had got stuck there.
Our first day there, being a Saturday, meant a trip to the nearby town of Otavalo for the market, one of the largest and
most famous in South America. This was a good opportunity to buy some more llama gear and stock up on souvenirs. We ate chewy beef and fried egg in a local stall for lunch, my plate being the envy of everyone else because I got the runniest egg.
The next day I was, unsurprisingly, hit with a nasty stomach bug. Luckily I managed to get out of bed in the evening to visit the Old Town and was able to rest up and be fresh for the next day's visit to Ecuador's most famous site - the Equator line.
Just a few miles north of Quito, the Equator is perhaps one of the most touristy things you can do in South America. After spending an hour or so looking at the big monument that marks where the French found the line in the 18th century, you're told that the actual Equator (found by GPS) is 250 metres down the road. Here you are treated to numerous demonstrations of the strange properties of the line. Apparently Lisa Simpson was right - water flows in tyhe opposite direction in each hemisphere and it's also easier to balance an egg on
a nail while on the Equator (I couldn't do it). I left somewhat sceptical at the validity of some of these 'experiments'.
I left Quito and took the very long journey to Popayan in Colombia, my 13th and final country in Latin America. My last border, which was meant to take hours, actually went very smoothly which was lucky because we then had an eight hour bus journey through slightly questionable regions - not the kind of thing you want to do overnight. I arrived safely in Popayan for my first night in Colombia, having not been attacked or kidnapped by guerillas but instead having noticed that the scenery, and weather, was actually pretty similar to that of the English countryside.
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