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Published: November 15th 2012
Quote of the day: "I have goat stuck in my teeth". - Rehgan, when asked why he was busting out the dental floss.
Quito: home to the most spectacular lightening and thunder I've ever seen. The first time a storm rolled in, we were lucky enough to on top of the Basillica. A huge gothic style church close to the old town, which, for $2 you can climb (up some very rickety ladders) to the very top, up behind the clocks and everything. The clouds came rolling through the valleys either side of a hill on top of which is a giant statue of an angel and the lightening was striking right down the middle.
We arrived here very broken after 17 hours and 3 flights from Mexico City. Neither of us slept much except for the inevitable unconsciousness on the final flight, with a local airline who's seats don't recline but your head lolls, and your mouth falls open (well mine does) and every time your head falls forward you jerk awake. Gah!! Our hostel, called the Secret Garden, is amazing. The staff are all really friendly, they have super comfy mattresses, there is a little travel
agency downstairs that will organise for you to go just about anywhere and for a nominal amount, they'll cook you breakfast and dinner which is eaten in a communal space on their rooftop terrace with a spectacular view over the city.
This city, in itself, has not really grabbed us. It's full of petrol fumes, the old town is nice, but not as charming and one would hope. We have, however, had a really good time here. We have been taking Spanish lessons at the hostel, we have had a salsa lesson with another booked tonight, and we did an awesome trip to Quilatoa, a volcano that had a glacier fall into it and create a massive green lake in the crater. The bus ride there was interesting, either the roads are really really bad or our bus had barely any suspension. I suspect it was a little of both, and our driver appeared to have little regard for our arses or the sheer drop beside us as he flew over the potholes. But we arrived safely and half walked, half slid down the sandy trail to the lake. Turns out, we were at about 4000m altitude and the
walk back up the sandy trail was not so fun. We were well met back up the top of the crater by a traditional Ecuadorean meal and then a loooong bumpy ride home.
Our last three days were spent at El Monte Eco-lodge in a place called Mindo. On the way there we stopped at a monument to the equator. It was tacky, but had to get a photo with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern. Mindo is basically on the other side of the Pichincha volcano to which Quito is situated. The two places couldn't be more different. Mindo is in a tropical cloud forest and our lodge was situated just outside of it, away from everything except the frogs and the rushing Rio Mindo.
The whole place was put together by an American expat, Tom and his Ecuadorean wife over the last 15 years. All the cabanas and furnishings in them made with sustainable materials, delicious three course meals, three times a day, all sustainably grown/farmed. We did a few hikes, one at 5am to see the infamous Cock-of-the-Rock, Mindo's own bird of paradise. The males all gather in the same
place every day and put on a display for dominance. The biggest and best gets the best spot and he is the one the female will choose . Apparently they have been gathering in the same place for 40 years. We also did a beautiful hike up to a waterfall through the forest which was like something out of a fairy tale and jumped very briefly into the freezing water. Apart from this and a harrowing ride down the Rio Mindo on a raft made of rubber tyres, the majority of our time at El Monte was spent eating and lounging around in the hammock. It was extremely pleasant.
We have returned, once again, to Quito for one night, eaten some very comforting goat stew, and tomorrow we are off to Otavalo, which on Saturday has what is known to be one of the biggest markets in South America.
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DIllan
non-member comment
Love the blog, sounds like you guys are having an amazing time.. im a tad jealous!