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Published: September 21st 2008
Our experience in Ecuador began well, we arrived at our hostel in Quito and although feeling the altitude, set out to explore the town. Then at lunchtime on our first day we were the victims of a typical south american tourist scam and had our bag stolen. Annoyingly, Andy had even read about this particular one but they are so organised and slick it was all over before we realised what was happening.
A hassle filled day then followed where we had to go to the police station to report the robbery, then go shopping to replace some of the stuff that was stolen (sorry Mum & Dad you won´t be getting your postcards from Mexico!!). Our passports were the biggest problem and on arriving at the embassy to get replacements we discovered that they don´t open on Friday afternoons. Great.
The plot thickened when we arrived back at our hostel as we discovered that the woman who stole our bag had been calling them claiming to have "found" our bag and wanting cash to return it to us. We never actually got to speak to her though and had to give it up as lost, passports and all.
We then tried to forget our woes for the weekend and headed off to a market town called Ottovalo, famous for its local arts and crafts where we spent a few hours walking around and purchasing some of the wares. We also visited the equator itself (yes that is why it is called Ecuador!) where they have a big sundial marking the highest point on the equator. We saw some great scenery and visited a small village famous for their small bread "biscochos", which were excellent.
The next day we again travelled out of Quito to the Cotopaxi volcano which we climbed up to the edge of it´s glacier at 5000m using a combination of jeep and our own effort, which was not insignificant at that altitude. It starts to get difficult to breathe and the change in temperature (and weather) over quite a small distance is amazing.
Coming down was much more pleasurable once we had got over the cold from the first part of the descent as we rode mountain bikes. Not much need for gears or pedalling in general, but the brakes were VERY important!
We arrived back in Quito and visited the
Cotopaxi Volcano
It´s in there somewhereembassy the following day with new passport photos and completed forms to get our replacement passports which they promised "might" be ready by the end of the week. We could see an extended stay in Ecuador looming...
In the meantime we got a bus up into the moutains to stay at a lodge high in the cloud forest at a little town called Puerto Quito. Here we had a great time relaxing and stayed with a family who looked after us very well. The six kids and one dog plus six puppies and a cat provided the entertainment in the evenings! We swam in a waterfall, hiked through the jungle and visited a nearby tropical fruit farm where we took in enough vitamin C to last us a good few days!
After saying goodbye to Gabriel and his family we got a bus back to Quito and collected our passports which the embassy had completed faster than promised... we were back in business!
Although we had a great time in Ecuador, after a debate with immigration about why we didn´t have an entry stamp in our new passports and a brief scare when the airline had no
Climbing to the top
Freezing cold and no oxygen, not a good combination! record of our plane tickets we were relieved to finally make it through to the departure gate and leave for our journey to Peru.
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Tony
non-member comment
Right old adventure
Sounds like you are having a great time despite the robberies, passport problems and flight scares! You'll definitely remember this trip for the rest of your lives! I've only spent two days in Amsterdam and can't remember anything...