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April 27th - May 4th: Strolled across the bridge into Ecuador to find the Ecuadorian immigration official having a game of cards and wearing a muscle vest and track bottoms. Nice and relaxed start. Unfortunately we didn´t have a clue what he was saying to us as he seemed to speak Spanish with the local equivalent of a Kerry accent. Asking him to speak slowly made no difference. Still he did give us a banana each. Imagine getting a bag of potatoes as you come into Dublin. Now that would be a welcome. The other official came in a few minutes later sweating from the game of volleyball he was involved in. In the 3 or 4 hours we were hanging around there, waiting first for the Peruvian official to come back from his Sunday lunch and then waiting for our lift to Zumba we didn´t see another backpacker pass through. We knew we were going the less traveled route but we didn´t realise this less traveled.
We finally boarded our bus/open back truck with benches to Zumba at around 5.30pm. Our fellow passengers included two turkeys in bags so they couldn´t run off. 2 hours later and we had
Seller
Check out the traditional necklace.covered the mighty distance of 10k´s to Zumba. We then got a bus to our next port of call, Vilcabamba in southern Ecuador. Unfortunately our next port of call turned out to be a small village, that we still don´t know the name of, 10k´s past Vilcabamba when our driver decided not to stop even though we had told everybody associated with the bus company our required destination. The fun started when we realised we were now overlooking Vilcabamba on the way out of town at about 2 o´clock in the morning. Seen as Niamh was in the aisle seat she approached the driver to confirm that we had just driven past Vilcabamba. With much gesticulating, more English than Spanish and a loud 'ESTA PROBLEMO´ from Niamh the driver got the idea that this mad woman standing over him wasn´t happy. To calm the situation he offered to drop us to a hotel further up the road, or drop us where we were. Seeing as it was the middle of the night, option 1 was accepted.
A few minutes later we got dropped in the plaza of the next village and were pointed in the direction of a hotel
I lost the fight.
Yes, this is my new poncho that apparently I´ll wear all the time at home. Still, at least I can look like the guy from the animal markets now. that looked closed to me. After spending a few minutes trying to figure out where the front door of this hotel was and contemplating a night in the plaza, we knocked on a door. The owner was obviously a light sleeper, as within seconds we could hear movement. Sleeping rough was put on hold and instead we got what I would consider to be a single bed but the man ensured us it was a 'matrimonial´. Not being in a position to argue we took it. A cosy night had by all.
Next morning and as we leave the hotel Niamh asks the lady working there how we can get to Vilcabamba, and the woman points Niamh towards our transport. It came as a bit of a surprise when Niamh advised me that we were going to get to Vilcabamba in the army truck that was parked in front of the hotel. I got a bit more suspicious when they started to call out names and hand out food packs to the locals standing around. Thinking it best to confirm this arrangement, I was pointed towards the taxi depot on the other side of the army truck. Still it
Bruce or Rambo
Just buy which ever one you want to look like. Gauranteed. would of been fun.
A few minutes later and we´re on a bus to Vilcabamba. When we got to Vilcabamba we were a bit confused as the street we were on wasn´t shown on our map. It was only when we got to the next corner and saw the same street name for another road that I realised the sign 'Una Via´ meant 'One Way´. We can add that to our bank of Spanish words and phrases. A few minutes later we´re checking out a hostal. Before we looked at the room, I got the woman to show me where the TV was and prove that ESPN was available so as I could watch the champions league semi final second legs. Once that was settled everything else was secondary.
For those who´ve been reading this for the last few months, Vilcabamba is basically the same as Samaipata in Bolivia. Small village surrounded by nice hills. But those hills would remain unexplored as the only thing I intended doing over the next few days was relaxing and watching football with a few beers. I would be aided in these tasks by the male members of 2 other couples who
were also staying in the hostal. Jon, Man Utd fan (we all have flaws), and one half of Jon and Louise from Ranelagh, an Irish couple we had met at Kuelap. And Iain, Chelsea fan, and one half of Iain and Georgina from Brighton, who we had first met in Samaipata, and more recently at Huaca De Luna near Trujillo. Can´t remember what happened in the football but a good time had by all. At least we don´t need to worry about needing cable tv from here on.
A few days later and we hit the road for Quito so as we could sort out our Galapagos trip and once that was done figure out what else we would do in Ecuador. After an over night bus trip we checked into the Secret Garden hostal near the old town. This place couldn´t of had a better recommendation in our tour guide book, but our first reaction was this is a bit of a kip and kaos reined. That section must of been written by the same guy who´s recently come out saying that he accepted Bertie backhanders to write favourable reviews about places. Still we were here now, and
too tired to move.
A few minutes later and we´d booked our Galapagos tour with Canadian Paul who runs the associated tour agency, that had been recommended to me a few days before in Vilcabamba. Made a nice change to most of the other tour agencies we´ve dealt with in SA. His attitude was, here´s what I´m offering, if you want to go elsewhere and check out prices feel free. We didn´t bother. Turned out to be one of our better moves.
That night we teamed up with a guy from Australia, called Rohan, and proceeded to win the table quiz, and the fine prize of a bottle of rum. The one good thing I´ll say about this hostal, is it´s very social. Great place to meet people. But we must be getting old as all we did was complain about the noise in the place.
The next evening, Friday, we headed for the market town of Otovalo that should of been a 2 hour journey. All was going along nicely when a guy got on with his dog and sits in the seat in front of us. Half an hour later and the pooper scooper is
required. Little did we know that the encore was only another half hour away. The encore took the form of this dog puking, vomiting, spewing all over the old man sitting beside him. And I don´t mean a little bit on his trousers. No, he managed to completely cover this guys shoulder in Pedigree Chum. Niamh thought she´d give him a hand by offering him a roll of toilet paper from her bag. Never leave home without it in SA. 10 seconds later and she turns to me for help. Turns out this guy is completely smashed and doesn´t seem to give a crap that a dog has just puked all over him. No, now he wants to talk to Niamh while cleaning himself up. Unfortunately our Spanish isn´t quite up to understanding drunken Spanish just yet, so we don´t have a clue what he was babbling about, but Niamh was very impressed when he showed her his tatoo on his chest. Thankfully he got off a few stops later.
But the fun didn´t end there. Our Ecuador jinx struck again when we missed our stop. None in 5 months and now 2 in a week. This was discovered
Zumba Bus
2 hours in this and we covered an amazing 10km. when I saw a sign pointing back in the direction we were coming from saying Otovalo. Up Niamh goes again to check with the conductor, who confirms our fears, but tells us they´ll be returning there later in the journey, so stay where we are. When we get to the next town Ibarra, the driver heads off (I´m sure for a beer) with a couple of girls and tells us he´ll be back in a few minutes. While he´s gone the conductor decides to give the bus a sweep out and turns on the lights so he can see what he´s doing. A few minutes later I said to Niamh I hope this doesn´t drain the battery. When the driver does return 15 minutes later, his first comment to the conductor is 'why are the lights on´. Seems he has the same fears as me, which he quickly confirms when the bus won´t start. So out we get to try to give the bus a push. Unfortunately we seem to be on a very slight uphill, so we get nowhere. Then the drivers 2 girlfriends return but still no use. Thankfully a few minutes later 5 lads walk around the
Vilcabamba
I relaxed so much in Vilcabamba that this is the only photo I had worth showing. corner and give us a hand. With 10 of us now pushing the bus we manage to get enough momentum to jump start it. On we jump and we´re off to Otovalo, again. This time we get off, and find a nice hostal after a few more minutes. Seen as it´s now very late (must of been at least 10pm) we just head to bed. Niamh wants to be at her sharpest for the shopfest tomorrow. Otovalo has the largest markets in South America.
First up and we head to the animal market a couple of k´s out of town just to see what goes on. Lots of squealing pigs, sheep and cows. $40 would of got us a calf but I´m sure that was the gringo price. After that we spend the next few hours loading ourselves down with bags of crap that I´m sure we could do without, including the poncho I have fought against for months. Before I knew where I was, I was trying on various different designs, the results of which can be seen in the photos. Unfortunately when we go to get off the bus back in Quito, I realise my jacket has
been robbed, which would explain why that guy nearly knocked people over half way home to get off the bus. That poncho might get used after all.
Quito was living up to it´s name. Next morning we´d find out over breakfast that 4 people from the hostal have been mugged in the last 24 hours, including one at gunpoint. All this in a city where we have yet to see the sun and it´s rained almost continuously. I wonder does that explain why we can´t wait to get out of it. Still good acclimatisation for Ireland.
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