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Published: February 18th 2008
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TelefériQo & Mindo
My brother and sister-in-law came to visit me here in Ecuador and they arrived on Saturday the 2/9/08. That evening we took the TelefériQo, which is a ski lift, up to the top of the volcano Pichincha - 13,500ft. Pichincha lines the western flank of Quito. Two words: beautiful and cold. Later, we went salsa dancing at Seseribo on Ave Octubre y Vientemilla.
On Sunday went to a Soccer game at the Olympic Stadium. Boredom is one thing, but when you are at something that should be exciting and you are still really bored… now that’s boredom. After a few hours of sitting in the sun, everybody in the stadium suddenly stood up and left without a word. I figured the game was over. Score: 0-0.
Monday I sent them to Otavalo and the Laguna de Cuicochi.
Wednesday we made a voyage to Mindo, which is also known as the Cloud Forest. It has waterfalls, butterfly farms, and rope ziplines. After we arrived to this tiny, dirt town, we hiked towards the waterfalls. Funny thing was, the “3km1.8 miles) to the zipline car took hours. On our way there, it started sprinkling…then raining… then down
pouring. After getting completely soaked, we found a hut which was little more than a steel roof. We waited out the rain, but after we started up again, the rain returned and didn’t stop all day. We finally arrived at the zipline car that takes you across the valley several hundred feet above the ground. It holds about 4 people. Now, we were expected a nice, smooth crossing. However, once the motor in the hut cranked up we took off. I was in front and it felt like it was faster than a roller coaster going down the drop. The rain made it even more interesting. I wasn’t sure if my pants were wet from the rain or wet from….
Then we hiked down, down, down the trails to the waterfalls. The trails were easy to follow, but in some places it was only 6 inches wide along the drop offs. At the bottom we crossed several rickety wooden rope bridges that stretched over the raging river. At the second set of waterfalls, I made the decision that I was going in. Even though we were cold, this seemed like a good idea. I challenged my big brother, but
he said no. Yet once I was actually taking my boots off, his response was, “#$#^#&&@* JO!!!”. He knew he would never live it down, so he started taking his boots off too. We made our way to the base of the waterfall, but it was too dangerous because the current was ridiculous. Then once again, the brotherly competition kicked in. I wish I had a tape recorder of the conversation we had as we clung to the side of the river on the vertical rocks. There were many four letter words and questioning of each others manhood. In the end, my clothes came off and I was in the river current.
The came the fun part, we had to hiked back up the ravine, zipline across again, and then hike the couple hours back to town. And yes, it was still raining. Once in town, we hired a pick up truck to take us to the main highway about ten minutes away. So we piled in the back and enjoyed the bumpity-bump ride. We hoped to flag down a bus that would take us back to Quito. Luckily one eventually came by.
At the bus station in
Quito, I realized all my documents were gone. I had put my money belt in my backpack because we were more than soaked. After running around looking for the bus, I had the pleasure of getting to know the Ecuadorian National Police. Most didn’t care, but after I left the police station, one of the cops found me sitting around the corner and offered to help. We searched the terminal for the bus and found it in the back parking lot. We searched the bus and of course found nothing. The bus driver said he had no idea where it could be… hmmmmm. Later that night at 1am, I got a call from the driver that said someone had turned my money belt into the Kennedy bus office (the bus line I was on). They had stolen the money, but I had the credit cards and Censo. The next day Jason picked it up for me. Since then I have received 10 threatening phone calls from the driver because Jason didn’t pay the $5 finders fee! After thinking about, if someone stole my money belt, why would they turn it into the Kennedy office?? There are 40-50 different bus companies
at this station. Wouldn’t that person give it to the police if they found it? Hmmmm.
Thursday I sent Jason and Chey to Papallacta and the thermal springs. I couldn’t go because I had 4 papers and 2 midterms. Thursday evening we had dinner here at my house with my host family. We had a lot of fun as we shared cultures, and my brother and I shared our “at the dinner table” traditions (everything which is inappropriate yet still makes Mom laugh). The adventured continues with the next entry…
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