The start of my South American Journey

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Chapter 1: The Holiday

Well, I left the UK with Jackie on the 11 January 2009 flying from Heathrow to Quito (via Miami). The flight was late arriving in Miami, we missed our connection, had to spend a night there and get a flight to Ecuador following morning. We stayed in an ´Interesting´ Hotel which looks a lot better in the photo than it actually was.



We arrived in Quito to a man holding a sign with our names on it, a first for me, and he took us to our hostel. We stayed at the Travellers Inn, just on the edge of the Mariscal, the New Town of Quito - also know as ´Gringio Land´ because of all the foreigners who hang around there.




Our first excursion was to the ´Middle of the World´, the equator. It is about 20km north of Quito and marked with a huge monument topped by a globe. We go the obligatory photos of standing in two hemispheres at the same time, then visited a small museum concerning the native inhabitants and tribes of Ecuador, their arts, their crafts and different ways of living.




The second trip was a day trip to a crater lake 3 hours south of the capital. Known as the Quilotoa Loop, it is an impressive and some what awe inspiring sight. As we parked the car you would never have known what lay over the next brae. We walked with our guide around part of the crater rim, admiring the green water of the lake below. We then decided to make our way down to the shore. It was a 45 minute decent on a path that was half man-made and half caused by torrents of water (if it rained). At the bottom you could see the bubbles of gas from the volcano, coming up thought the water.




Well talking about if it rained... As we were about to head up to the top again the rain started and got steadily heavier. We took horses back up to the top; sitting on rugs with not much to hold on to, it was quite like bare back riding and with the gradient of the path and the rain there was a couple of times that I could have easily slid off. Well we made it to the top looking like two drowned rats, tried to dry off and had some food, before the 3 hour trip back to Quito.





We then headed off to Baños, 3 and a half hours south of Quito. On the way we met Christoph and Alex (a German and American). We arrived in Baños at 1am and eventually got to our hostel, Le Petit Aberge, a great little French run hostel.
The next day we decided to go horse riding on mountain trails around Baños. We first went to a large pretty waterfall and then up the side of a mountain, where we came across unexpected traffic... a cow which would not get out of the way due to the path´s narrowness.





That evening we met up with Christoph for dinner at our hostel (Alex was ill), we had some very good steak, and planned the following day: white water rafting.



Leaving Baños at 9 o´clock (ecuadorian style... late!) we headed of east in a ´chiver´ towards Puyo to tackle the river.´The rafting was so much fun, and I will be be doing it again soon I am sure...

That evening we headed to one of the several thermal baths, right be low a large cliff with a waterfall pounding down, giving the option to take a cold shower in between the hot pools.

Just before leaving Baños, we decided to try ´Cuy´ (Guinea pig) after seeing it being bbq´d at the side of the street. Well apart from the sight and thought of what we were eating, it was quite nice, tasting somewhat gamey.

Leaving Baños, Jackie and I to the Bus to Riobamba, 2 hours south. Here we were planning to take a ´tourist´train to Alusi the next day and go down the Nariz del Diablo (the Devils Nose) a series of zig-zag tracks for the train to decend down the mountain side. Unfortunately it was fully booked for the first stretch, but we could take a bus to as far as Alusi and just do the devils nose part.




So the next day (pouring rain) we set of on yet another bus. During the journey we got the news that there was a landslide on the tracks and the train would mot make it to Alusi... still wanting to see the train, the bus stopped at a tiny hamlet and we awaited the arrival of... what turned out to be a single carriage! We got our photos and jumped back on the bus.
The weather was still really bad and we decided to head to the coast (rather then Cuenca) as we hoped the weather would be better there. A further 10 hours of travelling and two buses later (one having a puncture) we arrived in the fishing town of Puerto Lopez.




We stayed in a little Bamboo roofed cabin with a small balcony and hammock out the front. The hostel´s cafe, stood on stilts 10 foot high, overlooking the beach... it was probable the best place we´d stayed so far.
North of Puerto Lopez was the most amazing beach that we visited, a white sanded bay framed by cliffs at either end and the blue of the pacific.... we spent a long time soaking up the sun and relaxing that day. Our second day in this small fishing town, was spent taking a boat out to the Isla de la Plata (a mini version of Galapagos islands). There we took a wander on the island itself to see its famed Blue Footed Boobies, frigates and many other birds, animals and plants.




Leaving Puerto Lopez behind we headed back to Quito for our last half of the holidays... the best bits i might add. It took 12 hours to get to Quito and during that time someone managed to steal one of our cameras, an ipod and money right from under our noses which, put a bit of a damper on everything. Especially loosing half our holiday photos. But we reported it to the Police i n Quito and just carried on with the holiday.




We had a bit of time to kill in Quito so we visited the old town and the huge statue of the Virgin of Quito. The weather was pretty terrible again and we could not wait for the next day.




The start of our jungle adventures: A 45min flight from the capital, initially over snow caped volcanoes and the endless amounts of jungle, to arrive in Largo Agrio. From there it was another 2 hours by bus to the National Park, and then a further 2 hours by canoe deep in to the untouched jungle.



We arrived at ´The Lodge´, 6 or 7 large wooden huts, on stilts, some two stories high with thatches roofs... very rustic. The huts were all connected by a wooden walkway which lead to the river. In the evenings it was lit by candle light which made for a very tranquil atmosphere in addition to the noises of the jungle.
We had a fantastic guide who seemed to make animals appear out of nowhere. We saw: monkeys, parrots, snakes, spiders, frogs, ants, fireflys, tucans to name a few, but the highlight for me was seeing two anacondas each about 6-8m long and a pare of freshwater pink river dolphins and their calf.
Other than animal watching, we went piranha fishing, swimming, jungles walks by day and by night, visited a local tribe and their Shaman... all fantastic. After four nights our time was up and we headed once again to Quito.


Our last two days saw us revisit the equator on our was to Otovalo, a town that hosts the largest and most famous market in South America. There were people selling all kinds of things, from fruit and veg to bright coloured hammock to local art. It was a very colourful affair, but rather quiet as we were visiting it on a tuesday (not the main market day, Saturday). This did give us an opportunity to get some real bargains with some quite easy haggling.

Lastly we visited one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, Cotopaxi. Seen above the Quito skyline (on a good day) it is a near perfect snow capped cone. We drove half the way up and carried on walking to the refuge at 4800m, both of us were suffering from altitude sickness but we made it in about 1 hour. We wanted to make it to the glacier which was another 200m up into the snow so we pushed on. We made it to the solid blue wall of ice, but the altitude was taking its toll and we took over an hour to get there and back. The snowy conditions did not help either... but it was so worth while... maybe the top next time!

That ends the first part of my South American adventure... stay tuned for more stuff to come.

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