Middle Earth

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Middle Earth and Snakes!!

We were sad to leave Otavalo but time is flying by and so we headed back to Quito, this time we stayed in the Hostal Mediterraneo, cheap as chips and better telly!! Watched the Jets on Monday night NFL and Big Nick tried with reasonable success to teach Mrs P the rules ready for our trip to see them in NY in November. Mrs P was a little under the weather but recovered enough to visit the Mitad Del Mundo, 30km North of Quito. There is a huge stone monument to mark the ecuator. The area has been turned into a bit of a tourist hotspot but is still worth a visit to stand on the ecuator. Plans are in the pipeline to build a new monument on the true site which is about 500m away from the current monument. It was quite a special experience to visit the site and to have one foot in each hemisphere. There was a really well stocked cultural museum with different clothing/artefacts from each of Ecuadors regions. We also got chance to weigh ourselves on a beautiful old weighing machine - apparently weighing yourself on the ecuator takes off 6lb..some kind of scientific gravity thing was the reason. We decided to celebrate our amazing weight loss with a glass of sugar cane juice, very sweet juice made from long pieces of cane crushed in what looked like a mediaeval instrument of torture..delicious and not as sweet as we'd imagined. A really good day out!

Our second stay in Quito was really just a stopover on the way to Baños so just managed some more quick sightseeing of the cathedral and old town before jumping on the bus to Baños.

Baños was all about getting fit for the Inca Trail and we were hoping for some decent hiking trails. We weren't disappointed and managed to do 5 decent trails:-

Walk 1 Bellavista and Runtun

We headed up from Baños to the viewpoint at Bellavista, at night the illuminated cross at Bellavista can be seen from the town below. Having plenty of time and feeling good and strong, we continued up to Runtun and finally Casa del Arbol at 2,600m. 800m climb in total and it felt like a decent effort, the walk itself was excellent on great paths and we had ace views of the whole town which just sits beautifully in the valley and an occasional glimpse of the active volcano Tungarahua which overlooks the city. The top is covered with snow and looks really impressive. At the Casa del Arbol, there is a gorgous tree house - hence the name Casa del Arbol, which has a tree swing. The swing goes right out over the valley and is the best swing of the trip so far!! We called at the cafe del Cielo and had the most delicious coffee of the trip - Espresso con condensa (espresso coffee with condensed milk) - it really hit the spot and the cafe had fantastic panoramic views of the town.

Walk 2 Antennas and ventanas

Our second walk took us to the opposite side of town and across the Puente San Francisco and up the hill to the Antennas at 2565m, another decent walk which zig zagged for what felt like forever up a good road. We watched a few young 'uns bungee jumping off the bridge and decided we liked our breakfast on the inside so decided to skip! We were kabooshed by the time we'd reached the top and were glad to stop for a coffee and toastie at a little part built cafe owned by a local farmer and his wife. The cloud started to come in pretty quuckly and within seconds our beuatiful view of the town anbd surrounding countryside had completely disappeared. We decided to head down as the temperature plummeted, our cafe chap advised us to keep to the left for the direct path down. We somehow managed to ignore that advice and got lost on the way down ending up crossing a gorge where the road had been completely destroyed by a landslide..don't ask!! Mr P got bitten by about 50 red ants as he put his hand on a rock to steady himself..he screamed like a girl!! (there were loads of them - Mr P) We ended up being a way out of town by the time we'd descended onto the road below and had a long walk back through the village of San Martin and past some people "Canopying" - (going across the canyon in a small cage on a wire) in the canyon below. Another great walk.

Walk 3 Contrabistas or The "huge" snake!

We then did the walk called "The Contrabandistas" (Smugglers) in our guide. It took us about an hour to walk along a busy main road to the actual start of the walk but it was well worth it. Not long after starting on the proper path, we saw a snake. We seemed to both recall the incident differently so here are both recollections, firstly from Mr P:-

"It was huge..at least 16ft long and probably poisonous...I couldn't take the risk. I jumped in front of Mrs P saving her from certain death and wrestled the snake to the ground. I chucked it's lifeless body into the bushes before calmly carrying on with the walk" Big Nick

"It was green, about 4ft long or so and it sat and looked at us for about 5 seconds before deciding to slither away and disappear across the path infront of us" Mrs P

Either way it was a first for both of us and a pretty impressive spot, we looked it up on the Internet and it appeared to have been a Green Vine Snake.

The rest of our path followed the river down in the valley and we saw several peeps canopying and zip-wiring over the canyon, it looked like fun! The path ended up running to an old bloke's farm who proceeded to show us a path through his farm and down to the village..all for a small fee! From his house, the path became more jungly than mountainous and we encountered lots of species of plants, flowers and trees. It started to rain quite heavily and after about 10km we reached a small cafe and cable car back across the river with stunning views of a twin waterfall behind us. Got on a packed local bus back to town.

Walk 4 Pondoa

This was on the same side of town as the Bellavista and another steep uphill trek for 2.5 hours and then straight back down the road, It was very cloudy and cold and so we didn't see a good view of the volcano. Everything in the village was closed when we arrived although there did appear to be a coffee shop and restaurant. At 2,500 this was still a decent walk and we both feel that we're getting stronger and fitter.

Walk 5 - Virgen and Cas Del Arbol

Back up to our favourite spot but this time via the statue of the Virgen that overlooks the village. We climbed over 600 steps and a winding path to get to the statue which disappointingly and surprisingly was full of graffiti. The walk up from the Virgen was tough and at times almosty vertical, it was made even tougher by the heat but we were both feeling fitter and stronger than when we'd climbed the previous week. We treated ourselves to another Espresso in the Cielo cafe before saying goodbye to Baños with a soak in the termales. These thermal baths were the hottest water we've ever been in...we took turns wading through the scorching water and then plunging into the icy plunge pool...it were fffffreeeezin!! Our bodies felt amazing afterwards.

Let's get physical

Time is running out and we're getting ever closer to the Inca Trail and need to get fitter! First off was a stop off at Alausi for a ride on the "Nariz del diablo" the devil's nose train. truth be told, it wasn't that spectacular and not really worth the $25 to ride it! The old train has been replaced by a modern touristy carriage and youre no longer allowed to ride the roof of the train as someone died whilst doing it!So it was into the posh new carriage with several other tourists from Germany and America (average age 75) and down the mountain. The views from the train were amazing and the train doubled back on itself on the edge of a steep track - a procedure called "switchback". The journey took us around 45 mins and we were greeted at the station by locals dancing, a young lad holding a llama ..bit contrived and touristy and not for us so we headed off for the free butty!! On returning to the station, we got our passports stamped (although Mrs P's was a bit faded hahahaha!)

Next stop - Cuenca, for a weekend in the city before we headed further south for some walking. It's a beautiful city with some amazing architecture and churches and buildings with decorative balconies. There's a good path alongside the river. We went to the Panama hat shop and looked round the museum before buying a beautiful new hat for Mr P, very smart indeed. On the Saturday evening, we watched some local rock bands in the plaza before heading off for tea and a pint in the local microbrewery. Met a really nice chap from Milwakee, Mrs P and his wife and daughter were watching a wedding at the church across the road. Later in the evening, we went to a local club for "Cuenca Ska" the first of many ska nights in the club. The tickets said start time was 8pm so we arrived nice and early..the doors didn't open till gone 10 but it meant we had a few cheap beers across the road at the local offy! We eventually got in the club and were treated to a few oldies before the bands came on - Mr P was in his element singing along to the likes of Bad Manners and The Beat..loved it! The bands were pretty decent and the quality improved over the night. There were four in total and we sat in the club for 4 hours without buying a single beer. top top night!

On the Sunday, it peed it down for the whole of the day so we spent the day dashing from cafe to cafe before eventually calling it a day and deciding to move on the following day.



Vilcabamba

So it was off to Vilcabamba, via Loja and some more hiking. On our first day, we had no specific plans or maps and as there was no tourist information office, we were relying on asking the locals or finding a sign. We did find some signs and one that pointed in the direction of "Agua del Hierro" all went well for about an hour or so and the great path was taking us gradually uphill, then we hit a dead end. The path was cut off by a huge locked gate. We did however, see our 2nd snake of the trip, a small grass snake this time..think it's definitely due to the Indiana Jones hat! After reaching the dead end, we went back down the path and headed for some cascadas. We inherited a little dog along the way and Mr P called him "Scottie" he was actually a she but didn't seem to mind! Scottie stayed with us for the whole day and as was becoming the norm, we hit another dead end and a huge locked gate! We gave up and headed back to the hostel and our Scottie even waited outside out hostel room that evening - aw!

The next day and determined not to be put off by the dead ends, we headed towards the mountain that overlooks vilcabamba - Cerro Mandango. The path we took did not in fact lead up the mountain and started to turn right away from it. We walked for around 4 hours before finally giving up and getting a lift back into town in the back of a passing truck. Saw plenty of fancy birds, a fantastic brown and white stripey butterfly, one we'd not seen before and Mrs P found the plant that produces the bright red beans that locals make jewellery from . We also saw a dead cow which was not pleasant at all, it had almost decayed and was just skin and bones. The smell was rancid!

According to our guidebook, people of Vilcabamba are supposed to live forever becuase of the climate and tranquil suroundings... we saw 2 funerals in one afternoon..just saying!! The area is supposed to be decent for hiking and there are dead ends everywhere! We also read that Vilcabamba is the place to relax and chill...our hostel was right next door to a garden frull of cockerels that decided to crow ALL NIGHT LONG! And so, we took the decision to move to Cusco and get ourselves acclimatised for the Inca Trail. Adios Ecuador, we'll be back!!!

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Comments

[deleted_49612]

Wow!
That's quite a tree house.