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Published: September 22nd 2009
After spending eight days in the Galapagos coming back to the ‘real’ world was difficult. Some of the group that I met in the Galapagos came back to Quito, so we arranged to have a few drinks on the Friday evening. That turned out to be a few drinks too many and Saturday morning I woke to a feeling of being hit by a train. It must have been the 2 for 1 Cuba Libres. A good night nonetheless and it was good to have a drink on dry land instead of a rocking boat
The rest of the weekend was spent sightseeing in and around Quito. I visited the Old Town which is very different to the Mariscal Sucre district, which is where I was staying. There were lots of churches, old markets and security about. It seemed that a lot of people were getting married on the Saturday also. Every church seemed to have a wedding service going on inside, or people celebrating outside. We tried to climb the towers in the Basilica Del Voto Nacional, but the jobs worth who was the security for the main tower wouldn’t let us up as they was closing in five
minutes time.
On Sunday a group of us who were in the Galapagos decided to head down to Banos, which is three hours south of Quito. I hadn’t visited the Mundo Del Mitad museum (Middle of the World) yet so I agreed to meet the other guys in Banos. The Mundo Del Mitad was a complete letdown, and to top it off it wasn’t actually in the middle of the world. The real middle of the world museum is around the corner (only by 150 metres). I did see my first roasted guinea pig there. It did take a while to register what it was at first, but then once you got closer there was no denying the fact it was a guinea pig, or as the locals call them Cuy, and it is eaten as regularly as we would eat chicken. They are supposed to be quite popular in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, but there is no way in a month of Sundays I am going to try one. To start with they don’t even look nice, there isn’t much meat on them and to top it off also you have these big teeth sticking out of its
mouth. How could you concentrate on eating that? The real middle of the earth museum was a lot better. They had displays showing the ‘magic’ power of the equator. For example, it is possible to balance an egg on top of a nail on the equator. It is the only place in the world where this is possible. After a couple of tries and cracked eggs I managed it and got a certificate which I am going to take to job interviews when I get back to London. There were other experiments, i.e. releasing water down a plug hole on the equator, in the northern hemisphere and then in the southern hemisphere. In the different hemispheres the water goes clockwise or anti-clockwise depending on which one you are standing in. On the Equator the water goes straight down. As time was getting the better of me I needed to leave so I could get to Banos. I hopped on a bus back to Quito, well when I say a bus, I am not sure if it would have passed any safety tests in the western world but I was in a hurry The bus journey back to Quito was about
an hour and due to the early start I kept drifting off on the bus. It was one of those head dropping, realising you are falling asleep moments, so you immediately realise that you are falling asleep and then sit back up. Two minutes later I was drifting off again. I must have done this two or three times, until I did drift off, then whack my nose on the seat in front of me. The girl sat next to me just started laughing at me. I couldn’t blame her. I felt like a complete idiot. After regaining the little composure I have left, I realised that those forty winks had meant that I’d overstayed my journey on the bus a little longer. In fact I was at El Panecillo, which was south of the old town, miles from my hostel. I hadn’t visited this part of Quito yet, so after a quick look around, a few pictures of the statue of La Virgen de Quito, and of the views of the whole city, it was then into a taxi back to my hostel.
After finding out where the bus station was I hailed a taxi down was
on route to the bus station. When I got there I had the choice of two bus companies which I could have chosen for the journey. Both were leaving at 5pm, both were $3, so I went to the counter which was the closest. I made it to my bus at 4.55pm, happy in the fact that I would be in Banos for 8pm, and that would give me time to catch up with Micah, Jess and Dan who were already in Banos. The bus wasn’t as busy as I had expected, so I opted for a seat near the rear of the bus, on the same side as my bag was loaded on, then if someone tried pull a fast one, and unloaded my bag then at least I would see them doing it as opposed to getting to my destination and scratching my head like a chimp from the PG Tips advert thinking to myself ‘I wonder were my bag has gone’.
Just as I was getting comfortable for the journey, this usually involves getting my Lonely Planet out of my bag, iPod at the ready, I hear this ‘Hey, Michaaaaaaaaael Jooooordan’. It took a couple of
seconds to dawn on me that I was wearing a Jordan jersey and I was about to meet Quito’s, sorry, the worlds biggest Michael Jordan fan. I smiled at the guy, immediately thinking to myself, he must be a distraction and while he is talking to me about Michael Jordan my bag will be making its way off the bus. As it turned out this guy was a genuine Jordan fan and was travelling with his mum and auntie on the bus (they were sat behind me). This particular nuts name was Emilio. He introduced me to his family, and asked if he could sit next to me. Looking back I should have realised that this situation had very little upside for me, and carried downwards risk like an anchor. However, I said it was fine, so he sat down next to me, and the next two and half hours were going to be some of the most testing of my life. He spoke to me in a mixture of Spanish, English, Dutch and German. He could tell that I was western, but he thought I was American to begin with. I wasn’t sure why the Dutch and German. He
did explain that he’d taught salsa in both countries a few years ago, and I guess he thought I might speak either language when I explained I was from England?!?!?. He asked what I thought about his country, to which I explained as well as I could in Spanish that I had just come back from the Galapagos and had only visited Otavalo and Quito thus far, but my initial impressions had been good (up until this point), and I was heading to Banos to meet some friends. He then asked me if I was going to climb either Chimborazo or Cotopaxi. I said that I wasn’t going to climb either Volcano, to which he started with a word which must have asked about thirty times during the trip, why? He is, without doubt the single most annoying person I have met on my travels, possibly my life. I don’t think I have met someone that I want to kick in the face as much as this guy. Now before you think to yourself, ‘Mark, that comment is a little harsh’ let me tell you a bit about Emilio the nutcase from Quito. He must have spoken about himself and
his love of basketball for a good thirty minutes at the beginning of the journey. Now, this was fine, as it gave me a chance to listen and try and pick up to some new words in Spanish, but every five minutes or so he would cough up cold from the back of his throat and then spit it out in-between his legs. The first time he did it I couldn’t believe what he had just done. After this scenario repeated itself two or three times, I looked to move seats but all the seats on the bus had filled up. Then, to prove he played basketball a lot, he rolled up the leg of his jeans so I could see his calf muscles and then asked me to feel them. As tempting as the offer was, the feeling of another calf had not been on my lists of things to do whilst in Quito. A couple of times he asked if he could listen to my iPod, or read my Lonely Planet. Both of which he got a sorry amigo. I did fell a little harsh by saying it, but c’est la vie. He burnt his bridges when he
asked me to feel his leg and started building his mountain of cold by my foot. I don’t think he took it to heart too much as five minutes later he wandered down to the front of the bus with one of his CD’s to ask the bus driver if he could play it. Then when his CD was being played he would start singing at the top of his voice. The whole bus would turn around and see this loon singing whilst I have my head down thinking what have I done to deserve this. After his little singing spree the next twenty minutes he proceeded to tell me all about his business in Quito and every time he mentioned Jordan, he would raise his hands as if he was praying to the Lord Almighty. By this time I thought the best course of action would be to ignore him (as rude as it sounds). I had exhausted all but one option which was to ram my Lonely Planet in his face, but he wasn’t worth spending a night in a cell for. This didn’t have any effect whatsoever. If he thought I wasn’t listening he would take the
earphone out of my ear, or poke me in the chest, or even worse cough more cold up and spit it out, which got my attention immediately. As you are probably reading his, you must be thinking to yourself this guy cannot be right in the head, and you are one hundred per cent spot on, he wasn’t. Ecuador’s number one Jordan fan was probably in this year’s top three when it came to nut jobs roaming loose in Ecuador. His mum, who all this time, is sat behind us, passes him some tablets which I said, so I take it you don’t travel well? I assumed they were travel sickness tablets. He explained that the tablets were for his head. Headache I asked, no for my head he said. Immediately I knew what he meant and this had confirmed the last hours’ suspicions. From the amount, and different tablets he was sholving down his throat there must have been several voices in that head of his. That was all the proof I needed to come to the conclusion that I was in the presence of the truly crazy. My attitude towards his changed again. I was being nice as
the last thing I wanted to do was wake the voices within that head of his. The tablets seemed to have the right effect as he didn’t talk as much and was falling asleep, but somehow he ended up sleeping on my shoulder. As the bus was taking corners, this would push him further towards me. This was the last straw, crazy or no crazy, I wasn’t going to be his pillow/gringo bitch for the next two hours. I gave him a gentle push to wake him. His mum must have seen what was going on, as for the next hour or so she held his neck whilst he slept so he didn’t fall on me again. The crazy clan finally got off the bus about thirty minutes before my stop and it was like a heaven sent. I could listen to my IPod without someone interrupting me with nonesical questions. As I got off the bus I made sure that I avoided the little mountain that Emilio had so kindly left me in.
I got to Banos a little after eight p.m. and walked the ten minutes to my hostel. Along the way I bumped into Jessica, Micah
and Dan as they were walking to grab some food, so I quickly dumped my rucksack at the hostel and then grabbed some food with them. As they had been in Banos since early afternoon, they were one step ahead of me regarding activities etc. Dan and Micah had done a bridge jump which I didn’t have chance to do, but I will have other opportunities to do that.
The following day, Dan, Jess and I (Micah wasn’t well) took a bus about one hour outside Banos to do a zip-line. From memory I think it was a kilometre in length, which lasted 59 seconds, and was 250 metres high over a river. There was a choice between doing the zip line normally, or you go zip line across in the style of superman. Dan did it superman style and seeing him dressed up in rope as if he was heading to an S&M party didn’t appeal to me, so I did it normally. After such a hard morning both Dan and I decided to grab massages in the afternoon. Dan was flying back to Michigan that evening from Quito he grabbed the bus back to Banos leaving Micah,
Jess and myself in Banos. The following morning we agreed to meet in the square at 5.30am to visit the thermal baths which are in the middle of town. There is a waterfall which is located in the middle of the village and they source the water from there for the thermal baths. Even at 5.30am the baths were busy with all the locals.
I spent one more day in Banos and then decided to head to Peru. From Banos I caught a bus for nearly two hours to Riobamba and then from there got another bus Cuenca which is in Southern Ecuador. The journey from Riobamba to Cuenca was amazing as you are travelling at altitude, going through the mountains. On the way you pass Chimborazo and at many points along the journey you can look down onto the clouds below you. However, travelling this way through the mountains does have its dangers. About three away from Cuenca we came across a coach which had turned onto its right side. The coach drivers on this continent are probably some of the most wreck less drivers you will encounter anywhere in the world. Only in South America will you
see the coaches taking over cars. The people in the bus were lucky as the bus managed to slow down and not slide otherwise it would have been a 250 metres sheer drop.
Cuenca is probably most famous for the Panama hat, and although I didn’t buy one I did see many stores that were offering hat making services. Cuenca was only going to be an overnight stop for me as I carried on to the Ecuadorian/Peruvian border, but after driving through it in a taxi I decided to stay there for a couple of nights. On a friends recommendation I stayed at a hotel called Posada Del Rio which was in the centre of town. I managed to get my own room, with three beds for seven dollars a night. After doing a spot of sightseeing around the town, visiting the different buildings etc I tried to see if I could get some tickets see Cuenca play, but they were not playing during the time I was going to be in town.
The bus company C.I.F.A advertised that they would take you to from Cuenca to Mancora, so anything for an easy life I paid $12 for a
bus ticket which wasn’t exactly as it was advertised. Firstly, when you got to Huaquillas, you had to get off and get stamped out of Ecuador, which I did expect, but the driver said that he wasn’t going to wait and you had to make you way from passport control to the bus station in town in order to catch a different bus. He assured me that my bag would be safe on the bus. If I had been on my own I might have been a little sceptical, but there were three other people making the same journey as me, so I thought, hey we are all going to be in the same situation if our bags go missing. After getting stamped out of Ecuador, we grabbed a taxi to the centre of town and waited two hours for our onward connection to Mancora. Sure enough our bags were there to much relief, and even though the second bus was delayed, I managed to get into Mancora for evening.
Mancora is Peru’s answers to surfer’s paradise. The town itself has yearlong sunshine, and is a perfect place to try any type of surfing. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any;
I just spent time by the pool or on the beach catching up on the tan. Even though Mancora was great weather, apart from doing nothing and surfing, there isn’t much else to do. Some might argue that those two options suit them perfectly, but after three days I was ready to leave Mancora for pastures new. I did try for the first time cerviche in Mancora. This is raw fish just marinated in lime juice, and the lime cooks the fish. Now, this can be very risky as catching some form of food poisoning is easy, but I had cerviche three days out of three and I was fine. Maybe I was a little lucky on this occasion. From Mancora my next stop was Chiclayo which was three hours south along the coast. This was the first time that I hadn’t pre-arranged accommodation, and didn’t have any sort of clue where to stay.
Arriving at 8pm, the only non-Peruvian and the only wearer of deodorant on my bus I climbed off the coach and was immediately set upon by all the touts trying to secure business from me. I secured the services of one of the taxi drivers
who told me the hostel which was recommended in Lonely Planet didn’t exist anymore (which I walked past on my last day and was a 20 second walk from the hotel he took me too). Anyway, for 3 soles I visited about five hotels finally decided to stay in one just around the corner from the main plaza. For 30 Soles (about £6.50) I got my own room, which I asked when checking in if they had agua caliente (hot water). The receptionist confirmed this was the case, but in the two nights I stayed there the only time I was going to get hot water out of my bathroom was if I took a kettle in there and warmed it up myself. For two days I could manage without hot water. The hotel did resemble a Peruvian crack den, there were no other travellers staying there, and the walls were made from paper. I think it was a hotel popular for workers, as 5.30am every morning; there would be a flurry of alarms going off, people running down the corridor, which I loved immensely. During my two days in Chiclayo, I visited Sipan and Lambayeque.
In Lambayeque I visited the Museo Tumbas Reales De Sipan which shows the finds of the Royal Tombs of Sipan, including that of the Lord of Sipan himself. I turned up first thing in the morning with my camera and some bananas under my arm (breakfast). Both of which were prohibited from being used/eaten in the museum. I had to leave both with security whilst I looked around the museum.
Walking back to my hotel in Chiclayo I bumped into a guy I met in Mancora (Scott) and a girl which I met in Quito (Eliza). I was heading to Trujillo that afternoon and Eliza came along as well, whilst Scott headed for the jungle.
The Moche and Chimu are the two cultures which have left the greatest mark on the Trujillo area. For the Chan Chan museum, Chan Chan site, Huaco Iris and Huacho Esmeralda we hired a driver to take us to these sites, wait for us to look around and then drive to the next one. Apart from the Chan Chan site, the other three were very disappointing, not worth the trip at all. For the other three places I think we must have spent ten minutes maximum in each before we moved on. At the height of the Chimu Empire Chan Chan contained about 10,000 structures from royal palaces to burial mounds. The Incas conquered the Chimu in 1460, the city itself was not looted until the Spanish and the grave robbers finished their work.
Las Huacas Del Sol y de la Luna are 700 years older than Chan Chan. The Huaca Del Sol is Peru’s largest pre-Colombian structure, which used 140 million abode bricks to build it. The smaller Huaca de la Luna has rooms containing ceramics, precious metals and polychrome friezes for which the Moche were famous. There customs of burying old temples under new ones has made it able for archaeologists to find these temples well preserved and they are still uncovering new temples today.
My next stop in Huaraz, which has been described as the ‘nerve centre’ of South America’s premier trekking, mountain biking and climbing. Let’s hope if I hire a mountain bike I don’t have another episode of the pedal falling off like it did in Villa De Leyva.
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