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Published: December 16th 2008
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I flew from Santiago to Quito and was lumped with an Ozzy, they love slating the Pomms. It’s like a knee jerk reaction when they ask where you are from they can’t help themselves. Turns out he was a nice guy so I let the banter go this time.
Quito is a cool city especially the old town which is meant to be notorious at night for problems because of this I stayed close to the hostel so couldn’t tell you if was true.
I wanted to fly from Quito to the Galapagos and landed a tour the next day. There are a lot of good last minute deals but don’t take the first offer. Although I got a cheaper deal than other people on my boat some people still paid even less.
The tour was great I have never seen so much wild life around the sea, ever. The highlights for me were swimming with penguins, sharks and turtles at the same time, and seeing the blue tit bird diving to stun and eat fish. Best of all, however, was swimming with sea lions. They are not afraid of humans and even end up playing with you.
They play chicken with you under water swimming at full speed until you nearly kiss their noses before ducking under or around you with so much agility. They are not the slow creatures in the water that they are on land.
Although it was off season the area was still busy with other tourist who spoilt it a bit but still one of the best experiences I have ever had. The boat and crew you get really makes the trip to the islands, so try to find out as much in advance as possible.
Back to Quito for some more night antics before heading to Manta with the Ozzy guy to try and find some surf. Unfortunately the waves here at this time of year were tiny and the weather over cast most days so couldn’t even make use of the beach.
Once again it became a night of outings with funny and crazy consequences (my parents read this so I won’t say what happened), after being stuck in Manta when a friend of a friend didn’t give us a lift we caught the interesting public bus to Montanita.
Montanita - This is a great little
surfing tour with some good and regular breaks. There is a good party seen and vibe about the place we were lucky to arrive on a public holiday so the place was jammed with people and music but unlucky as the prices for all accommodation had gone up. Another public bus awaited me to take me to Cuenca the public buses are fairly regular but some of the people you see and hear on the buses really make the trip and make it feel that much more authentic.
Cuenca is a lovely cobbled street city great to walk around and take in the views where the old meets the new, with art galleries, shops and restaurants and next to the old squares with churches and water fountains full of locals sitting watching the world go by.
From here I headed to Huaquillas to cross the Ecuador Peru border. This border is notorious for problems and it was no exception for me. I thought I would be able to walk across the border but nothing is that simple. You must first attain a stamp from immigration which is no where near the border then get back to the border.
To enter into to the country you must have money Peruvian without which people were turned away. So you go to find a money exchange only to find that you can only exchange money with people on the street. The exchange rate is not a very good one and there are a number of counterfeit notes about, which I picked up. Not knowing what the currency looks like. All this with a giant rucksack on your back is not much fun.
If you can get a bus from a major city in Ecuador the routes are more direct and easier. I got to Tumbes in Peru which is a mozzy heaven; so do not stay there any longer than you have too.
Ecuador is great and well worth the visit but at the border just be careful taking your time and getting a good border crossing is worth the effort in advance as there were loads of gringos walking about and many of them looked lost.
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