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Published: August 24th 2010
Local Quichua men
in the traditional dressA few days ago we reached a milestone - the two year anniversary of our departure from Australia. This means one important thing - time to renew our travel insurance. And it's a good job that we did, as in the last week we have mountain biked down the highest active volcano in the world, spent a few days in the infamously dangerous city of Quito and completed a four day whitewater kayaking course in anaconda infested waters. My parents were remarking only last week that they were glad I was leaving Colombia for what they considered to be the much safer country of Ecuador. Maybe they'll be re-thinking their stance after what Tahlei and I have put ourselves through the last few days.
All this aside, our first real taste of Ecuador was a little more tranquil. First stop on the itinery was Otavalo, a small town in the north of the country, sandwiched between two volcanoes - Imbabura and Cotocachi. Otavalo is famous for it's Saturday market, which is the largest indigineous market in South America. In fact it is made up of three different markets - a livestock market, a handicrafts market, and a food
market.
We arrived late on the Friday afternoon with a hostel already booked, which is something we try to avoid unless totally necessary. Usually we like to view the hostels in person before agreeing to take a room there. However we'd heard that rooms book up quickly over the weekend in Otavalo thanks to the market. So we were a little apprehensive when we arrived, but our fears were soon allayed as we checked into the nice looking Hostal Valle del Amanacer. On the surface this place looked great, with the comfortable sized rooms wrapping around a beautiful central courtyard with hammocks and a fireplace. However scratch the surface and it's a different story. The walls were made from rough hewn planks of wood with quite large gaps between them, not only allowing you to hear what your neighbours are doing, but also see if you want. On top of that, the owner was a complete
zorra, not caring the slightest for the wishes of her guests. Late that afternoon when I was trying to have a siesta and Tahlei trying to write in her journal, the owner's young child decided to play annoy-the-shit-out-of-us game. This involved repeatedly blowing
a whistle which sounds like a bird squawking. When Tahlei approached the owner about trying to quiet down the child, she couldn't have been ruder and more dismissive if she tried. Our reservation quickly went from 3 nights to 1 night.
We got up early the next morning so as to not miss out on the livestock market, which starts and finishes early in the day. We made our way over the Pan-American highway to a little field packed full of pigs, cows, chickens, dogs and guinea pigs (both for petting and eating). Some of the animals definitely looked healthier than others, and our one lasting memory of the livestock market will be the pigs squealing as they get dragged away by their new owners.
After the livestock market we moved our bags from the old hostel to our new hostel, El Geranio. Here we had everything we could ever need - kitchen, private bath, pool table, ping pong table, and solid walls. To make things even better, it was cheaper.
Having succesfully found a better place to bed down for the night, we were ready to tackle the hadicrafts market. One fatal flaw in Tahlei's planning
of our South American adventure was to put this market at the beginning of our trip. We struggled to fit everything we needed for this trip into our backpacks before leaving Spain, so there's no way we can go crazy and buy anything we want. So family, don't expect Christmas gifts. We were forced to shop with constraint, which was difficult considering the selection of hammocks, beanies, bags, jumpers, shirts and jewellery on offer.
The next day we set out to walk to a lookout over Lago de San Pablo, a lake that lies only 5km from Otavalo. The people running our hostel said it was an easy walk, simply just walk up and over the hill. It wasn't that simple though. The fact that there is a myriad of different paths, combined with the altitude, meant we were stopping every five minutes to either ask for directions or catch our breath. When we finally reached the lookout the views were quite spectacular, with the lake half in the shadow of the massive Imbabura volcano. Once at the top however we weren´t quite sure what to do - our plan was just to see the lake, and that we
had managed. We headed down the other side to a town on the shores of the lake from where we would be able to take a bus back to Otavalo. We passed a few friendly pigs tied up by the side of the road. One thought he was a dog, rolling over for me to rub his belly. As we neared the town of La Compañia we came upon a clear river running from the lake with local indigenous people washing their clothes on the banks. We asked some local indigenous guys for directions to catch the bus and Tahlei also asked for curiosity´s sake about a waterfall that was supposed to be in the area. By chance they were heading to the waterfall themselves, so we went along with them.
It was interesting talking to them - you could tell that Spanish wasn´t their first language. They speak their native Quichua and the schools are biligual. The younger guy, Tony (traditional Quichua name?) was a keen musician and they were interested in the state of the indigenous music scene in Australia. The path they took us along to the falls was not one we would have been able
to find ourselves, in keeping with the theme of the day. We climbed up above the river along dusty little paths that the older guy, Eugenio, managed to get along very quickly, even in his traditional white, canvas slip-on shoes. Actually, he was totally decked out in the traditional gear. The Otavaleño men traditionally wear dark blue ponchos and white mid-calf pants, though you don´t see as many men in traditional clothes as women. The women wear white blouses tucked into full length black skirts, colourful embroidered belts and multilayered gold beaded necklaces. And they all carry big bundles on their backs, be it a baby or a sack of potatoes. Some seem more like packhorses than women.
Anyway, Eugenio and Tony guided us to the Peguche waterfall, which was worth the walk there. It has two levels, with the uppermost level falling into a cave where you can take off your shoes and paddle in the pools, which we did along with the squealing kids. There were lots of tourists there, but mostly Ecuadorian ones. As we emerged from the waterfall into the village of Peguche we saw some of the
cuy (guinea pigs) from the market being
skewered and roasted over barbecues. I don´t know if I´ll get around to trying that delicacy - they still look too much like slain pets.
Next day we rose to a perfect cloudless day, with both volcanoes in full view. Unfortunately we were due to leave that day; nonetheless it made the bus ride to Quito a whole lot more amazing - we were spotting volcanoes left, right and centre. We arrived in the capital around lunchtime and immediately checked in to Hostal Tutamanda, which is attached to a Spanish school and many of the students stay at the hostel; so it has the feel of a big sharehouse rather than a hostel. Another positive (in my opinion) is that this hostel is located outside the locally dubbed "gringolandia" where all the signs are in English and the prices are targeted towards foreigners.
That afternoon we crammed ourselves onto a metrobus for the short ride into the old centre. Thankfully it was only a short ride, as there were so many people packed on to the bus that it was hard to breath at times. Also, there were at least 3 pickpockets that I spotted, but this is
just part and parcel of a visit to Quito - We've been told that if you meet a fellow backpacker who has been robbed, chances are it happened in Quito. Unable to take it any longer, we hopped off the bus a few stops early and began winding our way through the streets of the historical centre. The beauty of the old town almost makes up for the threat of being robbed and pollution so thick it probably shortened our life expectancy in two short days. The UNESCO world heritage listed old centre makes for a lovely
paseo, with grand old colonial buildings lining the narrow streets, white washed churches on leafy plazas, all in the shadows of the Pichincha volcano. For a panoramic view of the city we climbed the towers of the basilica, which even a group of visiting
monjas had to pay to enter.
A few hours exploring the old centre of Quito was enough, so the next day we escaped the city to do a mountain biking tour. About the only positive thing we've gained from our guidebook so far is the recommendation of the Biking Dutchman - Ecuador's pioneering mountainbiking company. We couldn't fault
them; from the equipment, to the guide, the food, and the price, everything was excellent. We started by driving a couple of hours to the national park that houses Cotopaxi, the world's highest active volcano. Not that I'm a volcano conessuire, but Cotopaxi would be what most people picture when they think of a volcano, with it's perfect cone shape and glacier topped peak.
Our extreme downhill adventure started just below the snow line, at 4500 metres. It was absolutely freezing, luckily we bought $1.50 woolen gloves at the park entrance. The first 8km we flew down the northern face of the volcano, tightly gripping the brakes, trying to avoid going over the edge and the oncoming traffic. In about 20mins we'd dropped 600m and were back to the flat plains of the high
páramo. The rest of the day we cycled through stunning landscapes; fields of wildflowers, old lava flows, past herds of wild horses and through crystal clear river crossings, all the while with Cotopaxi and several other volcanoes in view. We were lucky to get such a clear sunny day.
The only uphill section of the day was to old Inca ruins where we stopped
for lunch. It wasn't much of an uphill, but at 3900 metres it's impossible to catch your breath and everyone ended up pushing their bikes up most of it. Happily we had a rejuvenating lunch waiting for us, prepared by Jan the Biking Dutchman himself. It also included a tea to help with the altitude, consisting of black tea, ginger and cinnamon. While having lunch we were able to have a proper chat with our guide Fernando. Having a decent guide makes a world of difference on a tour, and Fernando was a wealth of knowledge - ranging from geology, to economics, to Latin American politics. He also enlightened us on the differences between alpacas and llamas.
By the end of it our hands were sore, our bums were raw, and our backs were aching - but it was one of the best experiences ever.
Straight from one extreme sport in to another. From Quito we crossed the Andes into the eastern jungle, where we were reintroduced to the humidity and the bugs. Our base was Tena, a small town which has become a mecca for rafting and kayaking. We spent 11 days worth of our budget on
a 4 day whitewater kayaking course that we'd been wanting to do for a long time. It turned out to be a lot harder than expected. The first day I spent more time swimming than paddling and came away with a bruised leg, cheek, hip, wrist, elbow and ego. As well as learning how to extricate myself from the kayak when underwater, we also learnt how to ferry across the current, catch eddies and peel out. On the second and third days we tried to master the eskimo roll, but the technique goes against all natural instincts and we just couldn't get it no matter how much we flicked our hips and dragged our paddles.
Despite our failures we still enjoyed our time on (or in) the river. We tackled some pretty big waves, skirted around whirlpools and got sideways down a grade III rapid when we definitely shouldn't have. Along the way we passed local women washing their clothes on the shore and floated along with a group of teenage boys in inner tubes. We stopped mid-paddle each day for a hearty lunch on little beaches surrounded by jungle scenery. It was only after I'd fallen in the Napo river (a feeder to the Amazon) numerous times that our guide, Jaime, informed us that the river is home to anacondas and piranhas. We saw some fine examples of boas and anacondas being carried around by teenage kids in the town Misahuallí where we finished on the last day. Jaime himself used to have a 5m pet anaconda, but had to release it when he couldn't afford any more pigs to feed it.
As you can tell our last week has been jam packed full of action, but no rest for the wicked - on to new places and more adventures!
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shaz
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Hi, love your adventures, look forward to the updates you adventurous ozzies, you move very quickly are you on a schedule?? Which is the travel insurance company you use. Aaah Tahlei STILL No finish the TESOL, but finish my science degree in june next year!! stay safe n happy xxxx Shaz