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Published: October 4th 2008
From the Andes to the Pacific coast
From Baños we passed through Ambato Province into Cotopaxi Province, named after a volcano there which I had seen from Quito. Cotopaxi, in the Andes, is the second highest peak in Ecuador and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. It has an almost symmetrical cone with a neat arch at the summit and it's this shape that gives it the name Cotopaxi meaning 'neck of the moon'.
Early on in the trip up to the Andes I began to feel unwell. I had sharp pains in my stomach and a couple times on the journey along the winding mountain roads I had to get Omar to pull over rather suddenly. It's possible I had caught a stomach bug at the baths in Baños the night before and I was worried I was going to have to halt our trip if it got worse. Omar kindly stopped at a chemist before we headed into up more remote areas and though I couldn't even hold down water all day, we were still able to carry on.
The native people we saw in this part of the Andes
were simple farming folk who almost all wore their lovely traditional dress, especially the woman. They wore deep green felt hats, velvet skirts and brightly coloured knitted shawls, even when working in the fields. People there seemed very hard-working, yet not financially well off. Their homes were mostly small, rectangular thatched huts built low to the ground and set into the mountain sides. It amazed me that a whole family could fit into these tiny, single-room shelters. Omar said they would have few modern conveniences and meals would be cooked on a fire in the centre of the house.
Throughout all of Ecuador we noticed quite a lot of of poverty in all areas, especially outside the cities, though we rarely saw people on the street. Most seemed to at least have a simple dwelling of some sort and these varied from region to region. Around the Amazon there we saw a lot of modest timber houses with thatched roofs, on the coast there were houses made of bamboo and in the towns the poorer people had small homes usually made of cement. The houses frequently looked unfinished, with extra rooms still under construction or foundations for a
second floor above the first jutting out from the roof. Omar said that banks will only lend people a small amount of money to build and this must be paid back before they can borrow more. So a decent sized home may for a low-income Ecuadorian family may be completed over several generations.
Another thing we noticed throughout our trip was the amount of political jargon painted on walls, bridges and even on the side of houses telling people what party to vote for (Vota 10! Vota 35!). Omar said these signs are painted by people affiliated with the parties and we were surprised to see them even in the remotest of places! Ecuador's political parties are numbered and there's something like 42 altogether which I'd imagine would make voting quite difficult for the people! Before the current president, Rafael Correa, Ecuador fired 4 presidents in 4 years mostly due to corruption. Luckily the army backed the people each time so the presidents stepped down with relatively little fuss. Correa has been in power for 4 years now and has the highest approval rating of any president for many, many years. We saw lots of roadworks going on
all over the country, even in remote places which I hope is a sign that the country's infrastructure will begin to improve with this guy in charge.
But I digress! So, our destination that day was to be the crater lake, Quilotoa. The scenery was stunning, with the mountains all around covered in a patchwork of fields with herds of lamas and alpacas grazing on the low vegetation. I would have enjoyed it all a lot more if I hadn't have been feeling so weak from the sickness but I'm sure the mountain air did me some good. When we arrived at the crater lake we stood at the edge and looked down at the stunning emerald green waters below surrounded by a perfect circular crater. Our plan had been to hike down to the lake to see this wonderful view in reverse but I was so low on energy that we decided to just admire it all from above and then stop at the small market there to buy a couple lovely knitted jumpers from the locals.
After that we headed to a lovely farm house (Quinta Colorada) where we spent the night. The rooms were
freezing cold but the owners came and built a fire in the small, conical open fireplace in the corner of each room. After trying unsuccessfully to run a hot bath (the water wasn't really hot enough), I instead had a warm shower and went to bed to try and allow my body to fight off the sickness.
I still felt drained the next day but managed to successfully eat a small amount of food as we drove towards the Pacific coast. We stopped off along the way in Santo Domingo, a frantically busy town, to try and find another battery for mum and Charles' camera. We had no luck there and decided to continue on our journey and find some lunch on the way. We didn't find anywhere suitable for lunch either and were all very hungry when we arrived that evening in the large, modern-looking city of Manta on the coast. By this point I felt ready for a proper meal and we ate at a great seafood place on the water.
In Manta the following day, we took a short boat ride around the harbour and saw some fishing boats, pelicans and blue-footed boobies.
After that we drove along the coast towards our next destination, Montanita. We stopped at a sweet little seaside town, Puerto Lopez, for lunch and then went out for a whale watching trip. The weather had turned a bit grey and windy which made the sea choppy and unfortunately also made it quite difficult to spot whales. It seems the rules on approaching whales are not as strict in Ecuador (or non-existent!) as they are in other countries like Australia and as soon as the guy standing on the bow saw one (they looked a bit like minke whales to me but it was hard to tell), the guy steering the boat would turn sharply and make a bee-line right for it. Not surprisingly, this usually made the whales dive down and head away from us so in the end, we just asked to go back to shore as a couple of children were seasick by that point and we'd hardly seen any whales.
We arrived in Montanita in the early evening. It's a wonderfully lively little hippy/surfer town with market stalls lining the streets selling handicrafts and trendy bars and cafés open most of the night. We
decided to eat something light as we weren't very hungry (fruit and ice cream etc) but the portions ended up being much larger than we expected! Afterwards we strolled leisurely around the streets for a while soaking up the atmosphere.
From Montanita we continued down the coast, stopping at a quaint little nautical museum, Farallón Dillon near Ballenita which is a hotel/restaurant decorated with nautical equipment and marine antiques including ruins from the famous ship, El Capitana, collected by the Dillon family over centuries of sea exploration. They also had antiques and artefacts for sale in their gallery and I bought a 3500 year old clay carved seal, used by the chief of an ancient culture in that region to 'sign' letters. It only cost me $47 which I thought was very reasonable for something so old and it's my favourite souvenir from the holiday.
Next we stopped in Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, for lunch before heading inland back towards Quito. We spent the night in a hotel in Santo Domingo run by a friendly, hospitable transvestite who was very keen to make sure we had a comfortable stay (perhaps they don't get many
foreigners there?).
The next day we stopped off in Quito to exchange vehicles for the day as our 4 wheel drive was making a strange noise and we wanted to get it checked out. We spent the afternoon in the town of Otavalo, (not far from Quito) famous for its indigenous markets held every Saturday which are apparently the largest in Ecuador. The markets did not disappoint and it was lovely to see that many of the local people wore traditional dress here (mostly the woman once again) of long black shirts and flowing, embroidered tops with frills around the neck and 3/4 sleeves. After Otavalo, we stopped in the nearby town of Cotacachi, a sweet little place famous for leather goods.
Back in Quito we picked up the 4 wheel drive again and Omar said that although it was getting late, it would be better for us to head to the next place (the cloud forest on the edge of the Andes) that night rather than in the morning when traffic would be heavy. We stayed the night in a hotel in Mindo which was actually a family home. It was a simple place and
only cost $5 a night which was the cheapest accommodation we'd had (the rest had been around $15 - $20/night)! Omar said the people around that area are a humble, friendly sort and although the cloud forest is a hugely popular destination for people from Quito, they still don't see the need to charge high prices.
The region known as the cloud forest (due to the low-hanging cloud that covers the canopy of the forest most of the time) is a fantastic place to visit for natural beauty and fun activities. People go there for hiking, fishing, swimming and kayaking along with more extreme sports such as white-water rafting, abseiling and taking zip lines (or flying foxes) through the forest canopy.
On our first day, Omar and Charles went fishing and mum and I did a some hiking in a spot with trails leading to about 7 waterfalls. We didn't feel like rushing so I did a bit of photography as we strolled along and by the time the guys were done fishing we had seen just 3 of the waterfalls, which was fine as it had been quite relaxing to take it slow. On the
way back down to Mindo, we stopped at a zip line place and everyone talked me into having a go! As I've mentioned previously, I'm afraid of heights but I thought, 'I can be brave enough to go on 1 flying fox through the trees, surely!'. After I paid and had gotten the harness and helmet on, I was informed that there were actually 13 zip lines going through the forest and you had to do them all to get back to the start! I freaked and was about to ask for my money back when they told me that if I was afraid, a guide could go down the zip lines with me.
For the first 3 or 4 I needed the guide with me as every time I stepped to the edge of the platform and they clipped my harness to the line I froze with fear! I found the first part was always worst but once we were zipping along I felt totally fine looking down and admiring the wonderful view of the tree below. A few of the lines were shorter and closer to the ground and these I did on my own which
helped boost my confidence until I saw line number 11 - 400m long and 80m high! After going with the guide on this one, I was determined to do the last two alone, including number 13 - the steepest and fastest one! I'm pleased to say I made it to the end and it was quite a buzz feeling like I conquered my fears a bit. If I ever get this opportunity again I'm definitely going to take it, this time ALL on my own and maybe even up-side-down (let's not go silly now!). Incidentally, for all you daredevils out there you can go up-side-down or in 'Superman' pose with a guide holding onto you if you so wish.
It was sad waking up on the last day of our adventure (we all had to fly out at silly o'clock the next morning) but like every day we had spent in this wonderful country, we had a full day planned! First we had a nice breakfast in a café across from this awesome little fresh juice bar that had swings around it for customers to sit on (genius!) then we hired a local man to take us birdwatching
in the forest. The guy knew all the different bird calls and pointed out all the birds we saw or heard in his book listing Ecuadorian birds. We saw 2 toucans, one quite clearly, along with parrots and other beautiful forest birds. He also took us to a hotel that had bird feeders in their garden (the people at the hotel don't mind if you aren't staying there, they just have a donation box on the veranda for visitors) to attract hummingbirds. Sitting on the deck we got a close-up view of many different types of hummingbird, all with dazzling coloured plumage that shone brightly in the sun.
The guide told us about a restaurant where they also had bird feeders hanging up right next to the tables so that's where we decided to have lunch. The food was great but I was more interested in trying to capture these amazing little birds on my camera as they darted to and fro, sipping at the sweet water in the feeders with their slender beaks. After that we made our way back to Quito, stopping at a lovely orchid garden along the way where they help preserve native orchid
species from the rainforest.
As always happens, our holiday seemed to be over in the blink of an eye but Ecuador is an amazing little country and we had seen so much in such a short space of time. I don't think it would have been possible to see as much as we did without Omar! I hope to go back again some day!
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Omar
non-member comment
It seems it was just yesterday
Wonderful work Tani, now I understand why you took so many pictures there. Congratulations, it is just amazing.