8. Riots and Roadblocks

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Hola amigos!!

Well it's a logistical nightmare here in Ecuador at the moment!! The government are about to go into talks to sign a free trade agreement (TLC) with the US and the indigenous people are up in arms. They believe that they will lose their cultural heritage and will suffer even more financially as they'll be unable to compete. Hence they burn tyres or form human blocades to close the roads...as in MOST of the roads so you can't get anywhere! There has also been a recent protest about the rise in the price of cooking gas and the status of workers for a petroleum company.

Leaving Quito last Monday morning my bus arrived just as they were finishing a mud blockade across the main Panamerican highway fortunately there was a bus waiting at the other side and I could simply walk over and get another to Latacunga. People who tried later had their bus tyres slashed and rocks thrown at the windows!

Latacunga
Got here all set for the Quilotoa loop, a spectacular journey through the volcanos then decided it was probably not wise to get stuck in some freezing mountain village with no food. Booked a tour the next day to just take a jeep to the Laguna but the guide announced in the morning that this too was out of bounds and we were off to Cotapaxi volcano instead...ok, I was happy with this until he announced on the way that this too had a blockade on the road and we were actually just going to take a walk on the moor to a crap lake, have a picnic in the cold (very British) and then walk back in the hail...Still, there was nothing else to do and I met a nice bunch of people..later we compensated for the cold day with some warming Cuba Libres..as you do.
The next day I awoke to the smell of burning rubber...ah, hah, they were at it again and this time had piles of tyres in the streets and waving flags...it was all pretty good natured here though and they kindly posed for photos. So glad I was not in Quito, the police were apparently using tear gas on protestors there. Here the police couldn't even be bothered to look and were hanging around reading papers and texting on their mobiles!
Managed finally to leave Thursday for Baños with no problem..we're guessing this was because the Indians have a large produce market on a Thursday nearby and they didn't want to miss out on the chance to sell their crops.

Baños
A tranquil little spa town nestled in the shadow of Tungarua volcano...this has been on orange alert since 2000 and the FCO advise against staying here...what the hell...it seems safe enough!
So here I am checked into Mayras Spanish School and eating some great veggie food at the many hippie hangouts here.
Went white water rafting Friday...HOW EXCITING?? It was a class III + river for anyone in the know and it was pretty fast moving, fell out twice straight away and off floated my paddle down the river! Spent the rest of the trip paddle chasing and eventually managed to catch it right at the end much to the guide's relief.
Baños is famous for it's thermal spas but went to one Thursday night and it was like stepping in to the playboy mansion, didn't really fancy getting into a pool crammed full of other people somehow.

Hopefully heading to the coast Thursday to top up the old tan and visit the poor mans Galapagos...

Hasta la vista!!! Me x

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