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Published: March 31st 2007
Quilotoa
The beautiful lake Quilotoa Well, we are now on our Easter holidays until next Sunday, which is very exciting! So, as we live so far south, we decided to go up north and see some of the quieter lesser visited parts of Ecuador. Travelling up to Quito on the 9 hour night bus was a lot of fun, mainly due to the fact that I remembered my fetching eye mask and ear pliugs which proved invaluable! Thanks to my very comfy Mat pillow I got 7 hours sleep...where as the others got pretty much non...oops! Eye masks will now be essential travelling equipment from now on!! Once in Quito, at 630 in the morning, we went for some lovely coffee at our favourite coffee place in Quito, Coffee Tree (on Amazonas, near Star Net - which is cheaper than Papaya Net!) We then got on our friendly Metrobus and staggered to our Quito families house. A couple of hours kip and a shower later we went out to meet the others at Papaya Net. Had a few drinks (of juice mother, don´t fret) and then met up with Georgia and Caroline who were off to the beach which was lovely as we haven´t seen
Mindo
The river our hostal looked onto them in nearly four weeks. After lots of gissiping and working out everyone´s movements we went for some lovely Mexican and then a bit of Salsa and live music with Kat and the Sophies dance teacher at Zocalo. Very good night. Back at the very sensible hour of 2! Getting up at 630 was a lot of fun..!
After our night out, we took the 9am bus to Mindo. On arrival we found a lovely hostal and then dumped our stuff and as per went for some food. I had THE most delicious salad i have ever eaten - me and Jack were in awe for a while! And then we went to try and see some hummingbirds but it rained so we just went back to the hostal and chilled in the hammocks for a while. When it stopped raining, we went to see some Orchids..which should of been interesting but was just very awkward! Saw some hummingbirds in the end though and some of the flowers were very pretty, but I think because every one else was so tired they wer seeing things, we gave up and Mat, who had had 4 hours sleep in 60 went
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And again.. to bed! The hardened of us (or at least the ones who could sleep on buses) went to see the "Frog Concert" which was just a shit scary dark jungly path by a river in themiddle of nowhere...with one ribbity frog!! There were lots of fireflies which were amazing to watch and thanks to Jack´s ghost stories and tales of The Blair Witch I looked like a sheet by the time we got back onto the main road! Never mind, it was all in good fun! Jack then went to bed...and us girlies, including a new addition to the group, Froydis, went for some tasty pizza (very Ecuadorian) and then back to the hostal. There we met another 2 memebers of the group, Matt 2 and Emily. Sat and talked to them for a while and then collapsed into mine and Sophies squished and mosquitoey bed...! With the sound of the river washing us into sleep, I dreamed like an angel, until Sophie exclaimed "Awww Jack is so cute when he´s asleep. He looks like an angel, I just want to stroke his hair and sing him songs" Yes. Quite Soph...the next day (Monday) we did lots of crazy Mindoesque
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Me in my cosy hammock..don´t worry mum, its fake..! things, Tubing, which is basically riding down a big river on an inflated bus tyre! And zip lining across the canopee! After a wet ride home in the back of a truck (don´t worry, the guy was hired by the company we took the tubes out from) we went back to the hostal and dried off. Went back to our lunch place for tea, which was once again delicious, and then back to the hostal for a nice chilled night...
Up at the delightful hour of 530, we left the hostal at six and got our half past bus back to Quito. A quick stop there to have breaky and then off to the bus terminal to get our next bus to Latacunga. I´m not even going to bother writing about Latacunga as its a hell hole, but we spent a delightful night there (and the chinese we had for dinner was nice!) and then bright and early the next day we set off on our next adventure to Quilotoa. A direct bus took us there, and then dropped us off on the edge of a cliff...you think i´m joking! A brief wade through the mist brought us to
Mindo
A lovely plant, that only ever has one flower on one side at any one time. When one dies, another grows opposite it on the otherside of the pink leaf the tiny tiny village of Quilotoa, which consists of about 20 indigenous families, who still speak Quecha. Absolutely fascinating and beautiful place. So much so that we decided to stay another day. We managed to get a little house for all of us, 8 beds between 9 (Ben and Ezim, two more GAP peeps, who live in Yungilla just outside of Quito joined us in Quilotoa) with meals included (not lunch though 😞 ) and a real wood burning stove, which became Kat´s baby which she was very posessive of - she does have a mothering instinct somewhere! All for $7 a night. Perfect. Went for a wander in the mist to see the lake, which was absolutely amazing (as you can see from the photo´s!) and then some shopping for hats and gloves as it was FREEZING! After our little wander we went back to the hostal to stoke our fire, eat some dinner and toast marshmallows before settling in for a cosy night in as few beds as possible to keep the heat in!! Lol. The next day (now wednesday) we got up ridiculously early to see the sun rise over Lake Quilotoa. I forgot my camera so
Mindo
Pretty clouds on the hills... you won´t be able to appreciate it, but it was amazing! After some brekky we walked down to the edge of the lake. Will try and put a video on because the lens on my camera isn´t wide enough to fit the whole lake on. After some very wet canoeing, we got on our little mules back to the top. The hardened of us (Ben, Mat and Sophie G, who is scare of horses) walked back up to the top. We bought some paintings and masks in the mean time and then went back to the hostal. After some stocking up on lunch and saying bye to Ben and Ez, we went on a 3 hour hike! Me, Beeston and Jack walked to the highest point of the ring of the Volcano and looked at the AMAZING view from there. Such hard work as there is so little oxygen, and me and Beest had to stop pretty much every minute to catch our breath. I think it made it a lot more rewarding though. And it was definately worth it at the top. It was absolutely beautiful - liked you´d stepped off the end of the world..that was until we
Quilotoa
The beautiful Lake Quilotoa 2 heard thunder and saw the sun get engulfed by the biggest cloud i´ve ever seen..at which point we ran pretty much down the side of the the volcano, past this scary little barbed wired-off hut and then up the other side again! At which point we met the sunset and the lake and surrounding valley being engulfed by cloud. One of the most beautiful things i´ve ever seen.
After returning to the hostal and devouring my body weight in water, we went and had dinner, which included some erm...interesting local dancing. Absolutely knackered I went to bed at 930! Well worth it though.
After our amazing Quilatoa experience, we got up at 330 to try and get a bus back to the delightful Latacunga unfortunately the locals were not much use and gave us 5 different bus times...and said that the bus stopped outside the hostal...clearly not! So on a whim, Mat and Jack went to the end of the road and me and Beeston stood under a blanket shivering waiting for Mat to whistle to let us know if the bus came. However, it was so so quiet, seriously no noise at all apart form the buzzing telephone
Quilatoa
Me at the edge of the gorgeous Lake Quilatoa line, that when the bus came (the road was about 1/2 a mile away) we heard it a good 2 or 3 minutes before we saw it. Like something out of a film, Mat then whistled while us girlies were all frozen to the spot waiting to know whether that was our bus or not that when it came we just ran around the hostal grabbed all our bags, flinging things people had forgotton around until 30 seconds later we emerged from the hostal and ran as fast as we could down the road!! The bus drivers were lovely though and were quite happy to wait, mainly as it was 5 in the morning and there wer 2 people on the bus..! Another very comfy snooze on a Jack pillow later and we arrived in the delightful Latacunga. Pretty much straight away got on a bus to Ambato where we were to change and go to Baños. At Ambato we got straight on the Baños bus and toddled off to see the erupting volcano...
Baños is a touristy place for Ecuadorians and as it was easter, a massive holiday here because of it being Catholic, most of Baños was
Quilotoa
Jack, me and Sophie at the top, very hot and red after our 1 1/2 hour hike up! Hence weird red removing colours... booked up and we got one of the last rooms in brand new hostal on the edge of town. Amazing place though. Baños is beautiful, sat bang in the middle of a valley with a river running through it and the hot baths that crop up around it. Friday was a very chilled afair with a long breakfast at the top of the hostal, looking out on the hills and the waterfall. The morning was topped off with the first hot shower i´d had in 6 days...(please note emphasis on hot there) and then the afternoon whiled away wandering around Baños finding out about the things we could do on Saturday..and then eating some more and buying Mat´s bday present very secretly, he honestly had no idea..! We bought more stripy trousers and earrings and necklaces and then went back to the hostal. Chilled in the hostal for a while and then went out for some ice cream and food (have you noticed a pattern here?!) Altogether a very successful day, if a little chilled. Bright and early on Saturday we went and vistied Mat and sang happy birthday, much to his delight and the got ready for our birthday
Quilotoa
Our lovely sunset breakfast and bikeride. Breakfast was a fast but enjoyable affair, mainly due to the $2 price tag and fruit salad! And then geared up like Lara Croft (I had to wear timberlands and shorts - it was fit) we went on our little bike ride! At the end, Jack and Soph decided to jump off a bridge which was nice and then we went on a muddy bus ride back! Lovely jubbly. Went out for a late lunch after some showering and then for some coffee and cake at a very odd cafe...coffe and cake was delicious but the owner was a little..off shall we say! We got told off for not coming in the day before..bizarre! Tried to go to the Baños, but they were absolutely packed, they looked pretty though!! The boys went back to the hostal and we decided to go on a lime mission..which turned into a 2 hour shopping trip..oops! Needless to say they weren´t too impressed when we got back! After a few cube libres though the world was set to rights and we went out again, for some more food..! Living with two boys is definately bad for the figure! After a trip
Quilotoa
And again... to a very hot club we went and chilled on the terrace at the hostal which was lovely..although me and Soph nearly died of shock because there was a man sitting on a deck chair and we couldn´t see him but he said hi! Very scary...lol.
And so Sunday came and the ominous journey back to Cuenca. After some lovely brekky we set off on our ´5´hour bus journey which was actually 7 with THE most immature Ecuadorian college kids EVER! Didn´t help that we were all a bit ill and very tired but still! Back by 10 we collapsed and went to bed. Incredible week. Can´t wait for travelling at the end now. Hope everyone is ok after sitting through that! Will put another one up after Cuenca independance weekend and our trip to Vilcabamba!
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Helen
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HEHE
Hey, I have to be honest and say after the first couple of para's i gave up but I have some COMEDY news! Pit was at EJBM! xxx