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Published: January 31st 2009
Middle of the world monument
from the heads avenue (that´s not it´s actual name!)(Am writing this having just finished the 4 day Inca trail this afternoon so have a brain that has kinda shut down but got a 2 hour wait until the train back to Cusco so thought should make the most of my spare time and at least start south america)
January 6th we flew from Costa Rica to Quito, Ecuador to start the next nearly 3 months of our South America chapter. Our flight was quite early so we had booked a taxi to take us to the airport bus which was much cheaper than a taxi directly to the airport. But when the taxi arrived turns out the hostel had booked it to the airport and not told us the airport bus doesn´t run at 5am! So we could have stayed in bed an extra 30 minutes! I was SO not impressed. The poor taxi driver got an earful, but I said it wasn´t directed at him since it was the hostel that booked the taxi. They did not get a good review on hostelworld, especially since we had had to ask for some cardboard to board up the missing window pane in our window! And we had to
tape up the hole in the bin liner over the other missing window. But we got to the airport and when we were checking in got asked if we wanted to go on the flight that was leaving even earlier so figured might as well check out Panama airport instead of Quito and mean we don´t have to rush to get our connecting flight on to Quito (we had to change planes in Panama).
Got to Quito without problems, bought a new memory stick thingy in Panama airport since my other one stopped working so that filled in almost an hour making sure I wasn´t getting ripped off. When entering Ecuador they print the entrance stamp onto your passport page instead of a stamp so that was something different. We jumped into a taxi to the place we had booked and the guy couldn´t find in so had to ring them and we were just around the corner. After knowing where it was the directions totally made sense and we couldn´t understand how the driver couldn´t figure it out since the address was between street A and street B! The place was so good, called Casapaxi and owned by
the awesomest lady called XX who had two wee dogs that I didn´t mind, they were totally mental and bounced up onto you was so funny. They got so excited by people. The girl one was 13 years old and had just had 3 puppies 4 weeks ago. The dad was now 1 year old but they were both really energetic and cute. We went for a walk down the hill and found the supermarket and bought stuff to make our own dinners for a change, but hadn´t taken enough money so had to walk back up the hill and get more and go back down to get the rest of our stuff. Quito is about 2800m above sea level so walking up the hill was a bit of an effort! Felt so unfit until realised how high up we were and then felt a bit better about not being able to walk up a hill. There was an American guy staying in the same place so after tea Lorna ended up playing dominoes with him but I get bored after one game so started reading one of the books at the hostel, had already read it but was nice
to read something other than my travel book.
The next day we caught a bus to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World) which is where the equator passes through. Or so they would have you think. Apparently the true equator is actually slightly north of the big monument but we couldn´t be arsed walking to the other one so just did the tourist equator, bad I know but it was hot and altitude.... So we got the photos standing with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other foot in the southern hemisphere and did some shopping for souvenirs. On the bus back I´d asked the money man (oh the buses here have a driver and then a dude that goes round collecting the money, and shouting out the door where the bus is going) to tell us when to get off for the TelefériQo cable car but he didn´t so luckily I recognised our stop as we drove past it so we got off further along and got a taxi up since we didn´t know where it actually was. Paid our US$8 (if anyone tells you it´s only $4 that´s the rate for nationals, tourists is
$8) and got in the cable car, kinda like Queenstowns but goes way higher and off we went. It goes from 2950m to 4100m. Got about 3/4 of the way up and then got engulfed by the misty fog so couldn´t see squat. Was worse at the top so we only stayed up there long enough to see the wee church there and get out of breath again walking back up to the cable cars. We managed to find our way back from the bottom back to the house.... eventually but didn´t really get lost just went a longer way.
The next day (8th) we walked into old Quito. Our first stop was the Basilica del Voto Nacional which was a really big church with bell towers you could climb up. We started together but somehow ended up going up different towers so I was looking out from one to the other and saw Lorna up the other one. I was yelling out her name, and finally she looked up and saw where I was so that was kinda random and really good timing. There were lots of different animals around the roof of the church instead of the
standard gargoyles to drain the water off which were cool. We carried on walking and got to the main Plaza which had the usual church, governmental building and municipal building. Wasn´t really much to it so we kept walking and went to the La Compañia Church which had lots of carvings on the outside of it. The inside was something else. Gold leaf covered just about everything, except the floor and seats! Was impressive and very over the top, apparently seven tonnes of gold leaf. Wasn´t allowed to take photos but got a few blurry ones and took one of the postcard so I can´t claim that one. We also visited the Plaza of San Francisco but were feeling a bit churched out so didn´t go inside so got a taxi up the El Panecillo hill (the little bread loaf) to the Virgin of Quito statue and the views over Quito which were a bit better than the cable car cos wasn´t as high up and no cloud! Took a taxi back down and walked along La Ronda which is one of Quito´s oldest street and only to be visited during daylight hours. We then walked up to the Plaza
Santo Domingo and decided to go and see about a bus ticket to Baños for when we returned from Otavalo on the Saturday afternoon and took the metro back along to the bottom of our big hill - same price as the bus but much easier and quicker.
(now in Bolivia still trying to get uptodate!)
On Friday morning (9th) our awesome hostel lady drove us up to the bus stop so we didn´t have to lug our heavy bags up the hill, to catch the bus to Otavalo for the famous Saturday morning market the following day. Arrived to drizzly rain and figured we might as well stay close to the Plaza de Ponchos where the market would be the following day, so walked along and found somewhere that had views over the square, but ended up with a room over looking the side street. I got to have ceviche for my lunch that day was sooooooo yummy! Ceviche is raw seafood marinated in lime juice and chilli and served with raw onion. I opted for the fish option as wasn´t keen on raw shrimp, or scallops or squid! Didn´t taste like sushi and the fish was kinda
The fog coming in
as we head up towards it! warm so felt like it had been cooked and put in a bowl of onion and tomato and corriendar soup served with a bowl of popcorn, which Loran ate since she isn´t a fish eater and she´d get lunch somewhere else. We ended up doing a wee bit of shopping that afternoon as figured the next day it´d be really really busy and harder to get around so bought a few things for my and a pressie or two.
The next morning we were woken up at about 4am by people making up their stalls on the side street so glad we weren´t facing the square as they started even earlier. There was meant to be hot water but it was freezing cold and when Lorna went to have her shower the water stopped altogether! But came back on still cold. We went to see the animal market first as that finished at 10am. Was kinda funny seeing people walking along the streets with big pigs behind them not wanting to walk along the road. One guy had a smaller pig and just dragged it along the street when it decided it didn´t want to walk which wasn´t very
nice, but then another lady was actually carrying her pig like she was hugging it from behind! The animal market was chaotic, animals and people everywhere but still seemed to have some kind of organisation to it. The start was smaller animals like kittens and puppies and guinea pigs and chickens and turkeys, the next field was pigs and piglets with cows over the back of it. The pigs were just lying in the mud while their owners stood beside them holding a piece of rope tied to the pig, but if the pig had decided to take off some of the rope holders would´ve ended up in the mud cos there wasn´t much to them! There was also an auction of crap (junk stuff not animal poo) going on which added to the noise. I so wanted to buy all the kittens they were so cute! Seeing a lady holding a guinea pig under the head while it´s body dangled wasn´t that nice. And you´d think the upside-down chickens someone was holding were dead until they started flapping away!
After that we went back to the main market, after stopping for a breakfast of boiled pop corn pieces
and tomatoey salsa stuff with my favourite... pork crackling! Think we´d done most of our shopping the day before so only Lorna ended up buying anything else. Oh apart from the blank CDs for 25cents each that we stocked up on! And then headed back to the bus station to get a bus back to Otavalo, and then got a connecting bus on to Baños so we could do a rain forest / jungle tour which we were lucky and managed to book when we arrived to leave the next day. I got street stall dinner which was a two stage meal, the first more pork and crackling stuff with boiled pop corn bits and then a kebab (skewer kebab) of bits of beef and chorizo sausage that had been BBQd so were really tasty, and the guy had made some kind of orange spicy saucy that went really well with the meat think I ate half the bowl of it!
Our tour started early the next morning so we headed over to the tour office and there were two couples from Argentina on the same tour as us. The van stopped in Puyo and I was a bit
peckish but the only street stall food I could find was cuy (aka guinea pig)! So there was a whole hairless guinea pig sitting there on a stick over a fire just baring it´s teeth and still with it´s claws! Figured what the hell and asked for some but not with the head! Ended up with a 1/4 including a claw, with rice and potatoes put into a plastic tub that I took in the van with me but couldn´t bring myself to open and try and eat while still driving! We got to our campsite and walked through a bit of rain forest to the lodges that were all on stilts and right beside a river. We had been given gumboots and a massive poncho which came in really handy when we went for out rainforest walk after lunch since it was raining! We were hanging by the kitchen while lunch was being prepared and the Argentinian guys were talking in spanish to the guide and I heard them mention cuy and said tengo aqui (I have here), and they were what here? and I said yes in my room and the guide then said in english go get
it! I had tried some before but felt weird eating it knowing it used to be a guinea pig, tho it was really tasty - not like a mixture of chicken and pork but same texture as chicken but more taste to it. So the guys finished it off for me, and the guide ate the skin of it which I so wasn´t about to do even tho it´s meant to be the best bit! Lorna tried a bit as well and liked the taste but not the concept. The other two girls passed on it.
After lunch we went for a walk in the jungle / rain forest in the sexy gumboots and ponchos. Was one bit where we had to walk down a mud hill so was more a slide and grab a branch, then slide and grab the next branch! And then grab the person at the bottom so you didn´t ass over tit straight into the mud stream! Got to eat different bits of plants. One the guide picked and said eat what´s inside and broke the steam and ants ran out! The six of us were uh no I don´t think so but he
insisted so I had one and it was kind of a lemony taste, so the others then tried them as well. Further on he made a hat out of a big leaf and glasses from a vine, and we had to braid some plant to make headbands but I got bored so made a wrist band. We then arrived at a waterfall where we could go swimming if we wanted but only me and Lorna had our togs with us and it wasn´t that warm but we figured well we´ve worn the togs so might as well. The water wasn´t as cold as out of the water so glad I went in. Lorna put her camera in the waterproof camera case thing to get a photo under the waterfall but something went a bit wrong and she realised later the lens had stuck and then the camera wasn´t working! On the way back along the track we got to see what is called a penis tree, when you see the photo you´ll see why haha. Saw massive spider webs as well but luckily no spiders. I´d stopped to take a photo of the sign of the waterfall so I knew
the name of it and there were 3 dogs across the street up a driveway that kept barking while I stood there and then one started running at me (the big alsatian) and I was shitting myself and making myself not run away and it kept running up onto the street so I shouted out the guides name (which I can´t remember now oops!) and the group stopped and just watched me fast waddle up to them - Lorna said it looked really funny cos of how big the poncho was and they didn´t realise the dog was running at me!
After dinner we got to try a local alcoholic drink which wasn´t that nice but was warm and it was getting cold so drank it to be polite, but couldn´t have seconds of it. Was really dark back in the rooms cos there was no electricity only our torches and trying to work out how to sleep under a mosquito net in the dark was fun! Was comfy tho and woke up needing the loo at some hour when it was still dark but so wasn´t getting up since it was dark and raining, so went back to
sleep and woke up and it was still raining but light and up time. We had a canoe boat ride after breakfast, which I had to wear my pj boxer shorts since only had one pair of pants with me and didn´t want them getting wet in the canoe, but wore my tog bottoms underneath. Was cool ride, got some rapids as well and was just a guy paddling it. Would head towards some rocks and then the current would take you away from them just in time. We met the guide along the way somewhere on a track to walk up to a lookout point over the area and I´d given him my change of clothes so didn´t have to walk in boxers so did a quick change under the poncho. We got to eat the smallest banana I´ve ever seen, was sweeter than a normal sized banana. Walked up to the lookout bit though more mud but uphill this time and was a pretty good view but I was more interested in the massive line of big ants that were going across the ground. Looked like they were moving but I duno.
Our lunch that day was
a whole fish which was so yummy. I picked all the meat off the bones first so could just eat it mixed in my rice but the others kinda ate it all as they went along. We got to visit a local community where they made handi crafts to sell and the two guys got big spear things and Lorna got a bracelet. On the way back to Baños we had the option to stop at a monkey sanctuary, which I almost said no to after the Belize one not being what we thought it´d be! But so glad we did. There were monkeys just hanging out and we got given wee bananas to feed them and they´d climb up on to your shoulder and sit there eating the banana. Some of them were a bit muddy so I was picking my monkey when one just jumped on my shoulder and tried to grab the banana from me, it was quite heavy and it wrapped it´s tail around my neck. I´d expected it to be furry but the underside of the end was more like it´s palms so had rough skin on it, felt like a hand around your neck.
One of the monekys sat on another guys shoulder and kept licking his hair cos it liked the hair gel he had on! The guy tried to push the monkey away but it grabbed his hand so he couldn´t and kept licking the hair! Also got to hold a big turtle that pushed against my tummy with its foot which was all muddy so muddied my hands and top but the lady had a hose (no bucket and a hoose) so I got my top and hands cleaned.
One of the Argentinian guys had thrown his cigarette on the ground when we arrived and a monkey grabbed it and was holding it like a person would, was funny. The cigarette wasn´t quite out tho and then he rolled it in between his palms and broke it up looking for something inside. We´d been told not to have anything in our pockets so I put my passport and wallet into my zippy pocket and sure enough a monkey stuck his hand into my pocket and could feel something there but couldn´t work out how to get it was so cute. Another monkey managed to get the bum bag of the
Argentinian guy open and almost go off with something but he got it closed in time and had to hold on to the zip cos the monkey kept trying to get back in. As we were walking back up to the van there was one of the small monkeys sitting on top of the plastic awning and I thought he was holding a twig when I took his photo as he was peering over the side, but he wasn´t! Turns out he was holding um... himself!! When we got back to Baños we had the meat kebab things again and corn on the cobs. Was gona miss them the next night!
The next morning, 13th, we went to get a bus to Riobamba which is where the Devil´s Nose train ride started from on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. We turned up with plenty of time before the 10:10am train only to be told oh no that doesn´t go now, the next bus is 11:30am! So we had to sit in the bus station and it got closer to 11:30 and there was no bus. The lady sitting next to us got told to go and wait across the street
so we followed her and about 2 minutes later the bus pulled over and didn´t even go into the bus station! When we got to Riobamba we couldn´t work out where the bus had dropped us cos was just on the side of a main road so we just started walking and asked the way to the train station since figured would make sense to stay close to that seeing how the train left at 6:30 in the morning! The first hotel we tried going by the guide book was no longer operating so we just crossed the road and got another one that was US$4 a night each and the beds were comfy enough but the pillow was like lying your head on a log! I went over to get the train tickets since Loran was going to wait for a friend of the hotel owner to come and look at her camera but turned out the ticket office didn´t open until 3pm, not 2pm (I really hate my rough guide south american guide book by the way, so miss the footprint book! But the rough guide was free when i booked my egypt holiday last year so I
got what I paid for I guess). So I went and got an ice cream and got to try the kiwifruit flavour for free, was nice but not overly kiwifruity. Lorna was still waiting cos the lady had forgotten to call her friend so I went back over to wait for the office to open and there were now lots of people waiting as well. Got the tickets no probs (no change is given by the way) and for US$11 we were the proud holders of tickets to go on the Devil´s Nose train the next morning. I went for a wander round, which took all of 10 minutes, and ran into Lorna camera shopping so we got her a new camera and me some more pork crackling I found at a street stall. Made a great dinner sitting in the park square.
I had planned on having an early night and went to go back up my photos at an internet cafe when checked my emails and saw I had an email from a friend saying they were getting married in Dec, would I be able to be at the wedding? I had literally booked a flight the
night before to NZ for Nov for another wedding in the middle so had a bit of a stress as to whether to pay for another ticket, which was more expensive for Dec, so rang AirNZ and asked them about changing my tickets to stay in NZ for an extra 2 weeks and it only cost me £20 to change it, well nothing to change it actually but a small charge so could fly out of NZ from Wellington instead of Christchurch and still got to stop in Tokyo on the way back to the UK so happy days! So will be in NZ from 13 November until 13 December, which means I get my birthday in NZ mmm bbq! Where was I... oh yeah so not the early night planned but extra time in NZ and getting to be their for my friends wedding was better than extra sleep.
Got up nice and early the next morning and walked the 1 minute over the road to the train station where lots of people were already waiting. We had wanted to go on the top of the train carriage, which is the whole point of the trip, and got
to. The american couple beside us had bought their tickets that morning and were the last two to get sold tickets! Saw a few people from the line the day before, who I´d also seen walking around the town in the afternoon / evening. They had people selling cushions and ponchos so I got a cushion since the wood wasn´t that soft and we had like 5 hours ahead of us. There was no train but two carriages that looked like buses turned into buses to go on train tracks. The american girl, who spoke spanish, said that apparently there had been an accident a few weeks earlier so the train wasn´t running, tho it was being said because of the weather it was safer to use the carriage things instead of the train and there had been no accident! I still don´t know. It was pretty cold up top when the train started, and it was still dark so I´m glad I had my thermals on. Was weird to be sitting on a train roof as it twisted and turned along the tracks, if you had long legs you had to watch out for when the cliff side got
really close and tuck your legs in! Some of the bushes still got your feet but better than a solid wall! And they needed to cut some of the tree branches as there were a few times they would smack you across the face if you didn´t VERY quickly lie back! The scenery was stunning, tho a few times I did feel like I could have just been driving through NZ, apart from the fact I was on top of a train! We got to a curve in the track and there was a wee man standing there waving the train so it stopped and there was a rock slide on the tracks around the corner and a bit rock in the way! Everyone got off to take photos and offer the advise on how best to move the rock, which I´m sure happens often and they know how to fix it! They started by trying to break it up into smaller pieces which didn´t work so about 7 of the guys tried pushing it off, which also didn´t work until another guy came along with a bit of wood to lever it from underneath and then it worked and
on we carried.
Got to Alausi and stopped to pick up a few people and carried onto the Devil´s Nose section where it has to zig zag down the hill to get to the bottom where the people inside got to swap with the people up top for the return to Alausi, which was quicker than the down journey. From Alausi we waited 40 minutes for the bus that was coming in 20 minutes, to get to Cuenca to then get the bus to Loja. We didn´t know when the onward bus was and the bus to Cuenca seemed to take forever! At one stage there was really heavy fog and we were driving along high up and couldn´t see the corners out the front window, but that didn´t worry the driver! Think it took about 5 hours to Cuenca and there was a bus leaving 20 minutes after we arrived so we bought the ticket for that and off we continued. We were about an hour out of Cuenca when the bus broke down and we had to sit there for another hour until the next bus came and we could get on that one! I had no
concept of time but think it was around 7pm ish when we changed buses. We arrived into Loja about 11:30pm and my book had said the last night bus onto Peru was at 10:30pm so we figured on staying in Loja until the next morning until we found there was a bus leaving at 12 midnight so bought a ticket for that and headed onto Piura, Peru.... or so we thought!! To be continued in the next blog (since this one is quite long now and also it´s a different country!!)
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