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Published: July 18th 2010
Alas! After several long days of traveling, I finally made it to Quito this afternoon. I found a decent hostel, but since I stocked up on delicious fresh fruits & veggies, I haven.t had a hostel with a kitchen! I hear it isnt very safe to walk around Quito at night, and I have a pretty early bus date in the morning, so I think I.ll probably wind up staying in tonight anyway. At least there is a restaurant here and a decent DVD selection. 😊
So I flew out to Cali on Wed. and what an adventure that was! I had decided to get a taxi to the airport from Tagana after talking the guy down to 10 bucks (best price anyone I had heard being quoted). We got just into Santa Marta (5 mins into the ride) and all the traffic was stopped. The driver said there had been an accident and the road was blocked. He tried to make me pay 4 bucks for that portion of the ride, I offered him 2, and some other lady got in to go to Tag. so at least I got it for free. I then walked to another street
to try and catch a bus, my backup option. I found one to take me to the beach where I swapped for an airport bus. There was another lady who had been waiting for 15 mins with no busses coming by and her flight was an hr before mine so I figured I.d be good. Shortly after, a bus showed up and we hopped on. About 2 mins into the ride, I had snagged a seat up front and I hear a scream from behind. Turns out the lady who I was waiting with almost got her purse snatched! I couldnt make out if it was from someone on the bus who got off or someone on the street thru the window, but there was a lot of commotion and one of the guys got off to chase the theif. That made me clench my pack a bit tighter.... 15 mins later I was at the airport with plenty of time for a nice breakfast.
When we arrived in Bogota, the older lady next to me thought I was crazy to be traveling alone which is common for the women here. We pulled up to the gate and sat
there for a while before the pilot gets on the loudspeaker to inform us that someone had lost the keys to the door/jetway and it would be a wait. Haha, only in South America... My connection was delayed a bit, but I didn.t mind the downtime. When I got into Cali I went to the Iguana Hostel and met some people from all over the world. My roommates, 2 Swedish guys, were super nice and gave me their dinner leftovers and some Cuba Libres. Nice! We all sat around chatting for a while, then headed to a little club for some Slasa. Unfortunately, it was a little to small for me to show off my mad dancing skills (and I wasn.t nearly bastante baracha) so I wound up calling it an early night with a couple of the folks. We did, however, manage to see a whole lot of plastic surgery complete with ass implants! Who knew?! If you weren.t aware, Cali is both the Salsa and plastic surgery capital of S. America/the world depending who you ask.
The next day I wanted to check out some museums, but after some bad camera luck, wound up spending a hr
Mineral bathing at the hot springs
Funky little hot water springs in muddy pit. Kind of relaxing actually!searching for a new battery with an awesome tour guide from the gold museum! She spent her entire lunch break walking with me until we found a store that sold them! By the time I was set, it was getting late and everyone I asked about a certain museum told me it was in a different direction, so I decided to give up and head to Popayan. My bus took about 3.5 hrs, mainly because we drove around Cali until you literally could not fit another body on the bus which took an hour. When I got in I headed to the Hosteltrail Guesthouse and got a bite to eat. Fabulous place! The staff was great and the hostel was the nicest I have seen thusfar. I will likely be staying there again when I come back through on my way home.
The hostel was offering a tour to some hot springs and a 40km ^downhill^ bike ride the next day, so I met a few others doing it and joined in. I spent the morning wandering Popayan and sipping some nice coffee, then we headed out. The termales were amazing, and exactly what my cold and sore body
needed! We spent a few hrs there before decided to head back, just in time for the rain! It was a cold 2 hr ride back, but exhilarating none the less! Flying down (and panting up) the mountains was great. And FYI, downhill means about 50/50 in case you decide to do the tour. And mile high elevation does not do wonders for endurance! I got back, had about 2 mins of hot water in the shower, and spent the rest of the night walking around and having coffee and dinner.
Saturday morning I was up early and off to the bus station where I was told no buses were going to the border until 11 am (although when I had asked the night before I was told there was a 5 and 8 am bus). I waited around a bit and then walked around again to find one that was leaving at that second. Nice! It was a microbus, which goes much faster, and I made it to the border in only about 7 hrs which is less than I expected. I crossed without issue and found a bus to Otavalo for the night. I stayed at a
place recommended in my book (can.t remember the name) but they were out of dorms so I wound up paying $15 for my own room & bathroom, which was pricey but very nice. This morning I went to the food market and got a huge bag of fruits and veggies for $2 and made a yummy juice and eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately, I still have a bunch of food I can.t eat because they won.t let me use the kitchen here in Quito! What kind of hostel doesn.t have a kitchen...don.t even get me started!
I hit up the famous market in search of some warmer clothes, as my one sweater and 2 pairs of pants have been getting a lot of use up here at 3000m elevation! I settled on a pair of pants and an alpaca hat. I have my eye on a sweater but couldn.t haggle down to the price I wanted. Hopefully I have better luck on my way back out of Ecuador, as I.ll probably stay there again. I also picked up some boots and supplies I need for my volunteer work, and was glad I did as most stores are closed on Sunday
in Quito. Then I grabbed a yummy $.80 bowl of soup for lunch and caught a bus to Quito that took less than 2 hrs (sweet) and here I am!
Tomorrow I.m going to try and get to the bus station by 8, as it.s supposed to be about 7-8 hrs of travel time to where I.ll be volunteering. I won.t have internet there, so it may be a while before I can update again. Regardless, I.m very much looking forward to be off buses for a while and to stay in one spot. Can.t wait! Hope you.re all doing well!
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Fez and Steph
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Ass Implants
Fez says his ass implants were worth every centavo. His best friend actually is a plastic surgeon in Cali.