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Published: December 12th 2006
Queen of the Castle!
Tearing around the hills of Baños on THE BEASTHey all! The last couple of weeks have been amazing!! Its been awhile since I updated this bloggy thing, so this one is a bit long... you have been warned!
BAÑOS:
After Quito I went down to a little town called Baños for almost a week, which is about 4 hours south. It was a real challenge getting around all by myself with NO ONE to help! Very overwhelming, first the taxi driver was trying to rip me off, no one could speak English on the bus so I just had to trust that I was getting the message across, then I had to change buses, had to be wary of my bags all the time, then finally arrived and had to hunt down a place to stay (at this point it was getting on in the evening), dumped my stuff, went to find a place to eat and was feeling rather proud of myself for getting that far with a bed to sleep in and food in my belly... then the whole town had a black out and I packed myself so hurried home and called it a day!!
For the first bit I felt rather paranoid
Umbrellas in the Amazon Jungle
Angel and I trying to stay dry... didn´t work AT ALL! and watched when I was walking around on the streets. I was literally one of the only foreign people in the entire town, and even fewer spoke english. But after a few days I realised that it was so silly because that place is so quaint and safe! It is set amongst all the mountains, waterfalls, rivers, and near an active volcano that has been spitting smoke for the past few months.. so the town is on constant alert!
I went horse-riding for the first time EVER, and had barely NOTHING to hold on to, and the horses were full-on GALLOPING, I was absolutely convinced that I was going to fall off and break my leg, but then when I got a good grip on the saddle it was sooooooo fun!! Also went white-water rafting, swam in some hot pools with about 100 other people crammed in (ewww) and jumped on a quadbike to explore the hills and waterfalls.. oh my god that was probably the scariest thing I have EVER done. Ok so I was driving on the crazy Ecuadorian roads WITH the buses and semi-trailers overtaking me on two way roads, also they drive on the opposite
Me with my new amigos
I had to resist the urge to bear-hug all the sea lions! side of the road so I learnt that pretty quickly when I was driving into oncoming traffic, THEN I had to go through a tunnel... good lord I cannot even begin to describe the fear. They were pitch black. No lights. The tunnel curved so you could not even see the end. I could only go like 60km if that. I was so scared that I was about to be collected at any moment. Still being overtaken by buses and semi´s in the two way tunnel. I seriously nearly burst into tears. But survived to tell the story haha. Met a girl who rode through the tunnels on a PUSHBIKE... she said she got so scared that she walked the bike through pressed up against the tunnel walls eek! But besides the tunnel is was AWESOME, so wanna get myself one of those!
My body was in absolute agony after all this!
Went out with this lovely American couple and some local boys Juan and Angel to a nightclub (they are called discotecas here)... have never felt so white in my life. Only foreigner there (the Americans were of Sth American decent, so they don´t count). Everyone could
Sea lion pups!
Around these pups I was reduced to a squealing blubbering mess saying "ARGHBLUBLAH CUUUUTEEEEE!!!!" dance like a mofo. The boys were trying to teach me salsa, with all these flips and spins, man it looks awesome but my bones could not contort like the other girls there my god!! They were like "close your legs!! Move your hips more! Straighten your back! Now look up!" and I was like "dude I physically can´t!!"
The next day Angel took me and this crazy German lady out to check out a part of the Amazon jungle... it was amazing, we went for a canoe ride in a dug out tree trunk, but the best part was when we visited this tiny remote community where they didn´t even speak spanish, only the native language Quechua. I had so much fun running around with the kids, and it was awesome to practise my spanish with Angel and the crazy guy driving us about.
The differences between me and the locals are quite funny. The men are usually about my height if not a bit taller, but I´m taller than most women, to the point that my head touched the roof of one bathroom I was in. Quite a few locals here have asked me why my
Giant tortoises!
This is Bolivar with his tortoise girlfriend... the tortoise really did love him eyes are brown instead of blue, seeing as my hair is blonde. One guy commented that my forehead was very big, which I tried not to be insulted by haha. I have also been complemented on my english quite a few times.. I´m like "thanks.. I would hope its good.. its the only language I speak!" haha
GALAPOGAS:
Ok I´m going to say it now, although this may change in the future, but I´m going to say it anyway: Going to the Galapogas was the best thing I have ever done in my life. I cannot even begin to tell how much I loved it. We were on a yacht for a bit less than a week, my boatmates were majoritively part of the ´Grey Brigade´... retirees over 50 who barely spoke a word of spanish (you know you´re in trouble when you look to ME to translate for you!!!) - the exceptions were one really cool young couple in their 30´s Jeannie and Sean, but overall I was the youngest by practically 30 years. Because of this, all the crew who were mostly youngish local guys LOVED me... teaching my salsa and chatting for ages
so I could practise my spanish, mucking about and jumping off the yacht roof, it was SO FUN! In Spanish the name Lauren is "Laurena", so I got called that all week or "Laurenita", the ´ita´ on the end is a way of kind of reflecting on the smallness of something, its an affectionate term.
In the mornings we would usually go for a hike on one of the islands with Juan our naturalist, who was FANTASTIC.... a very tall, Italian/Ecuadorian man who all the old ladies swooned over (Mum you would have been like oooohhhhh!!)..Checked out the amazing wildlife.... there were sea lions, iguanas, giant tortoises, flamingos, blue footed boobies, and heaps more all within an arms reach! The sea lion pups were SO FREAKEN CUTE but the bulls protecting the colonies were HUGE and terrifying!! In the afternoons we´d go snorkelling in the most blue water imaginable off the boat, beach, or pangas (what they called the little speedboats we used). Swam with stingrays, schools of hundreds of fish, white-tipped sharks, was circled by sea lions and nearly jumped on by a bull when I got too close.. the animals have no fear of man, it is
Land iguana
There were also marine iguanas, the only marine lizard, all flopping over each other, so funny! amazing.
Then on the last day we were sailing along and all the crew boys suddenly got so excited, jumped in the panga and came back with this massive red snapper that was losing a fight with a sea lion.. so basically they stole it from the sea lion, gutted it and filleted it while it was still alive and cut out its heart when it was still beating.. haha my god.. but I have to say the fish that night was the nicest I´ve ever tasted!
I was soooo sad to leave and the boys on the boat said that I could stay and be the cook (pretending to kick the chef overboard).... maybe I´ll chuck everything in and become a panga driver...although I gotta admit, the rolly sea trips had me being one seasick lady! Jeannie my drug dealer topped me up with plenty of antiseasickness tablets so I was able to make it BARELY through the nights... besides that it was just the most fun, plus I developed a killer tan and my hair was all blonde and curly and didn´t have a single care UGH it was heaven... the photos don´t do my tan
The crew boys
The boys with farewell cocktails on the last night onboard the Pelikano justice by the way hahaha... also if I appear to be wearing the same clothes in every picture thats because they were the only clothes I had for the whole week, I liked to think that the salt made them clean haha.
Just a little note about the food here... I am still in quite good health which is amazing considering the things I have been trying. Ate guinea pig in Quito, which was a bit like chicken but not as nice, really bony and came out with even the head deep fried, it made me feel a bit queasy just thinking about it! Then I swallowed the eye because I was dared too. At other restaurants you kinda have to guess what you are ordering.. yesterday I had "bird portion with chef´s special", which turned out to be shrimp fried rice and someone´s dead budgie. In Baños I had a shot of their local sugarcane rum, it was lit on fire and through a straw, absolutely toxic and I thought that was bad enough, then I tested it another time not on fire and it was even worse if thats possible (don´t worry parents, AM looking after myself!).
Jeme and I
Jeme (Jimmy) was such a sweetie, teaching me salsa and helping me with my español Another time, one of the Americans Sean though he was ordering a nice margurita with his dinner and instead got a straight up tequila shot. And at the markets in Quito, was so hungry I had no choice but to by this half metre long satay stick poked through a sausage, a banana, some unrecognisable meat, and a banana, all covered in mayonaise. I am asking for it!!! I have also gotton really cheap over here, I´ll be like "$4 for a steak!! I´ll just have the chef´s special for $1.50".... hence I end up eating a lot of bird with rice! I´m going to be screwed when I get back to Australia and have to pay normal prices again!
Ok well that´s it for now! Love and miss you all!!
Lozza xoxoxoxoxoxoxo 😊
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Stilly
non-member comment
you have meet your family!!!
Hi Lauren...its good to see that you have made yourself at home with you other family (the seals) ...*L*. And you have guts eating all that...'interesting' food (guinea pigs...I use to have one!!!) Have fun Lauren...speak to you soon!! Stilly