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Published: November 6th 2006
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My new beanie
Should keep me warm in Patagonia.. After the wonderful Galapagos, I admit to feeling a little down about going solo again. Having travel buddies in Mark and Cas made the trip that much more special. Yet in Quito being solo didn't last that long. Within a couple of hours I found myself having dinner with another solo traveller after a smile and that wonderfully simple question "where are you from?" If only it was so simple back home. Strangely though, every second traveller I meet is a volunteer from some community or scientific project. Ecuador seems to be the volunteer vacuum of the continent.
Quito was more pleasant than expected. After a day or two of some wandering around the old town and new town, I just floated off to a town in the Oriente (jungle) region called Tena for a few nights. Being damn humid, I switched to flip flops and after an hour walking around massacred my big toe against some shoddy pavement, thus ruling out my planned blowdart monkey hunting and white-water kayak-canyoning activities.
I swung about in a hammock with a book for a day then decided to have a look at a jungle research station an hour or so out
of town. They had a little self-guided jungle walk and tower climb which sounded okay so off I went. Didn't see a great deal other than loads of different butterflies, insects, spiders etc. Occasionally I heard this purring type of sound which had my mind leaping to the thought of a jaguar lurking somewhere off the trail. My heart pounded. The sweat poured. I looked up... and saw a hummingbird.
The tower climb was a pretty unique thing for me. I have a moderate fear of heights and have never used climbing gear - harness, clips etc. 30 metres and half my body weight in sweat later I reached the top, for a sterling vista above the canopy. Bertie had conquered the jungle.
Humidity tends to get my goat after not too long, so I left town for a gringo favourite, Baños. Having lunch after the bus to town, I noticed the zippers on the bottom section of my backpack, which had been stowed in the luggage compartment under the bus, slightly open. A nasty sinking feeling was confirmed after a quick content check and yes my first robbing had occurred. Some dicky arse-face had decided to take my camera battery charger, yet nothing else, for reasons that could only be explained by a professor of Ecuadorian psychology.
So I was in a bit of a funk for my stay in Baños. I wasn't in the mood for the month-long festival they were in the midst of either, which mostly seemed to entail a brass band wandering aimlessly around the streets, and some twit letting off a loud-as-f--- firecracker every 10 minutes. Not so conducive to relaxing and enjoying the scenery. Can you imagine living with that every day for a MONTH. No wonder the locals seemed a bit tetchy. Though it could also have been the ash from rather active Tungurahua they have to sweep off everything every other day. I did make good use of the termales by the waterfall though.
Before bussing back to Quito, at the terminal I happened to bump into the driver and ticket-dude from the bus on which my pack was pilfered. In the mood for some spanish practice I managed a mini-interrogation involving lots of pointing which went along the lines of "last week... this bus...my bag... robbed... charger... i remember you... where is my charger??" Err.. he he
One of these plants is male, the other female. There was a definite look of recollection, but also so surprisingly a complete lack of interest in my situation. The ignorant sods clearly had no idea that its impossible to find a pentax optio battery charger in south america . I feel better now.
In Quito I met up with amigos Mark and Cas for their final days in Ecuador. We went off to the fantastically kitsch Mitad del Mundo, equator line monument and amusement park, then found the real equator line a few hundred metres north at a fun little museum. They gave us a cute little tour of their toy village and we tested out some equatorial experiments: the sink test at either side of the line, balancing an egg on a nail (for which we got a certificate), and a blowdart challenge (which seemed somewhat unrelated). We got a free banana too.
In a bit of gloomy weather, we joined a day trip up to Volcan Cotopaxi. After a bit of a hike to the refugio, and the glacier, we took a great downhill bike ride over an hour from 4800m to 4000m along the access road. Going way too fast for our good, Mark and I had a few hairy moments, but finished unscathed. In the evening, Mark and Cas fulfilled their gustatory dreams of dining on cuy (guinea pig) while I watched, and ate lamb. I did also try a bit, but none of us were so impressed. I guess we could have taken cue from the waiter who in response to Cas' question "es bueno?" simply answered "es tipico". Sadly, I had to say farewell the Mark and Cas as they left to pack for NY (and a horrible string of transit problems - sorry to hear that, guys).
Ecuador has been great. The locals are friendly, fun-loving, relaxed, curious, and the fruit juices are sublime. With more time and Spanish ability, I think I would find it quite difficult to leave. Although the relentless drone of salsa and regeton would probably drive me insane first. I finished my Ecuatorial days with a trip to the market at Otavalo, up the teleferiqo to Pichincha for a fab view of Quito, and a fruitless search for my camera charger. I wonder if I can stretch one charge out for five more weeks? Only FIVE more weeks?! Oh NO!!! 😞
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