Renee and Pete's Honeymoon Adventure - The Return to Quito

---

Travel Blog 4 - Return to Quito



Following our regretful departure from Black Sheep Inn, we returned to Quito. On the way back into Quito, with our lovely driver Washington, and his wife and little girl on her lap in the front (child seats are non-existent in Ecuador), we were treated to amazing views of Cotopaxi, an active volcano just outside of Quito, and the focus of our adventure on Sunday. But before that experience, we were to have the frustration of arriving at our hotel, only to be told that they had booked out, and we were being moved to a new place. Frustrating, annoying, but we dealt with it. The fortunate part of being moved hotels was that we were able to complete our tour of Otavalo the following day with David, the younger cousin of one of the hotel workers. At first we were a little concerned that we weren't going through a tour company, and because Pete hadn't organised anything for Renee's birthday, we had little option if we were to go. And a visit to the Otavalo markets was high on Renee's list of must do's while over here, which girl doesn’t like to shop, especially on their birthday!



And so after a dodgy dinner in the restaurant, we went to bed, preparing for the next day. Otavalo is a very traditional little town, about 2 hours north of Quito. It has a population of about 50,000, sits at about 2,500m above sea level and is famous for its Saturday markets. We were surprised to see so many ladies wearing the traditional attire, and it is not a show for tourists, they still live their traditional ways so it was refreshing to see such an old culture so alive. David, our tour guide for the day is a university student, studying tourism and English, loves listening to 80's rock music, and borrowed his mums car for the day. We couldn't have had a better tour guide. He gave as much info as he could about Quito and Otavalenos and their history's, and throughout the day shared with us Indigenous stories about the land use, the volcanoes and local delicacies. We were basically paying him for 7 hours but after finding out it was Renee’s birthday, he said his present to Renee was to give us more time on the tour, so we had an extra 3 hours of his time.



Our first stop was to Laguna San Pablo, which to look at wasn't all that exciting (and rather dirty in comparison to everything else we had seen so far in Quito and Ecuador) but the traditional indigenous story into its creation was different. The lake itself is at the base of one volcano, and in clear sight of another two. The volcano at the lake is known as the male volcano, Imbaburo, and one of the other close volcano's is the female volcano, Cotacachi, and their love created the third volcano, their son, the volcano Yana Urca. The lake was then created when Cotcachi cheated on Imbabura, and the tears from Imbabura formed and became the lake San Pablo. We then moved to Cascada de Peguche, an 18m high waterfall, and this is a very spiritual place where the indigenous people use to go to be cleansed, but now the local villagers also use in a hydroelectric scheme. David reliably informs us that at the end of the wet, we wouldn't be able to get within 20 metres of the waterfall, due to the amount of water coming down. Next we went to the Otavalo Markets. What a massive event this is. There are stalls everywhere, and there is no easy way to get around these markets. There are loads of handmade, locally created craft, clothes, paintings, jewellery and musical instruments, along with loads of local foods. We ended buying a locally made, hand woven wall hanging, Renee bought some earrings and Pete bought an Ecuadorian Football shirt from the recent Copa-America championships. We almost bought a painting, but ended up buying that in Quito, with Renee’s negotiation skills getting it down to $50 from $100. David then took us to lunch in this little 'cafe', costing us a total of $9.50 for the 3 lunches with drinks. Tasted pretty good as well. Pete is kicking himself he didn't try the coy (we know as guinea pig) but definitely will before leaving Ecuador. Our final stop on the tour was to Cotacachi Eco Reserve, and its lake just outside of Otavalo. It is big enough that they do boat tours around the islands in the middle of it, and again, the scenery looks amazing. If we weren't running short on time we would have definitely taken the trip out, as local bears live there, as well as wild guinea pigs. The lake itself, called Cuicocha, is named after the local name for guinea pigs and the volcano next to it. Pete and David then spent the return journey to Quito talking music, and the various bands that have and have not played in Quito. Upon our return to our hotel, and as it was Renee's birthday, we decided to go out for a nice dinner, and found a restaurant that was described as 'fine dining' not far from our hotel. The music was a dead giveaway that the description was wrong, or as Australians, we interpreted fine dining differently, because the rave/techno music playing through the speakers wasn't what we expected. We did ask for something different, or it be turned down, and we were treated to a selection of 80's pop music. The food was good, but we are getting used to not expecting great quality from restaurants with adjoining hotels. And they didn't have any dessert available, a massive negative for the dinner!



Sunday arrived, and we had booked to do a mountain biking tour of Cotopaxi. Unknown to us at the time, Cotopaxi is considered an active volcano, and although its last eruption was 75 years ago, for this volcano that is a long period of time without an eruption. And since April, the tremors from within the volcano have increased monthly from 100 to 600 in May to 3000 last month!!! Earlier this month, they recorded an increase in Sulfur dioxide coming from its peak, so evacuations plans are in place for the Quito Valley area, which, at current estimates, suggest locals have about 40 minutes from the start of the eruption to escape before they are in serious trouble. But onto our Bike Tour. It started at 7am, with a 2.5 hour bus trip to our starting point. And there are a few things which excite Pete, and one that many may not know about is actually getting up close with snow. As you would know from earlier blogs, his excitement at snowcapped mountains has been evident. So it was about 15 minutes from arriving at our starting point when we realised we would actually be starting on roads surrounded by snow, we both got a little excited. What we didn't count on was the freezing cold wind and the sleet and hail we would be starting our bike ride off with. We very quickly realised, as we slowly headed up the side of the volcano on the dirt road, that the ride down would be fast and bumpy. It was difficult to capture the actual excitement/fear of the ride down the side of the volcano, but in total across the day, we covered about 23klms, started at 4600m before dropping down to 3600m and then went up and down 100 or 200 metre inclines across the day, seeing the Cotopaxi national park, Inca ruins and having lunch next to a fresh water spring. Pete clocked his top speed at about 23klm/hr, which on a dirt road, was bloody scary and fun! A very tough day, but very much worth it. We finished Sunday looking for a steak, but Pete has come to the conclusion that Ecuador just don't do a good steak, and will probably have to wait until Brazil or even Argentina in September before enjoying a good one again.



Monday quickly became a rest kind of day, as we again searched for Renee's chocolate shop, which was again closed, and after 2 weeks, we finally had western fast food at Pizza Hut. And to be honest, it tasted amazingly better than the last time we bought a pizza from back home, definitely not oily and the pineapple and ham actually tasted like, pineapple and ham. Renee was happy because the Ecuadorian take of pineapple was to put the Australian equivalent of triple pineapple. It would seriously give Italian pizza places a run for their money, including the garlic cheesy bread. Following lunch, we visited the Indian markets recommended by our hotel. In Renee’s mind initially, these were markets with the wafting smells of curry and spices and the hustle and bustle that you would find in a place like New Delhi….but we soon realised that the term ‘Indian’ referred to the Otavalian women, this was a much smaller version of Otavalo markets but still some interesting finds. So a few more bargaining skills came into play and some additional purchases were made. We then went back to our hotel for some down time. After our epic feast at Pizza Hut, a banana for dinner sufficed.



Tuesday we went to the ‘middle of the world’, and successfully stood on the Equator, both the initial French estimates were in the 1500’s (where a large monument has been erected to commemorate the spot) and also the actual Equator line, that has been found using GPS. This was about 3 kilometres slightly further north of the French interpretation. Both sights had positives and very worth the visit. The actual Equator Tourist centre, at the Intinan museum, provided us with a great cultural background of the local and Amazonian area, and because it was the actual equator, we were able to perform a number of different experiments showing the effect each side of the equator can have on items. Pete successfully balanced an egg on the head of a nail on the equator, while we got to watch water swirl into a plug hole firstly on the Equator, and then on either side. The ‘initial’ Equator tourist centre was much more ‘up-market’ and touristy, and claims to be the actual ‘middle of the earth’, it provided a lot of information on the history of the indigenous tribes around Ecuador, and being able to climb to the top of the monument gave a great view of San Antonio. After this tour finished, we had lunch at one of our favourite places to find a bite to eat, Mariscal Foch, where there are many different restaurants, pubs and cafes. Now, when we both saw this (last week), we though FOCH YEAH, as in the pronunciation of FOCH as ‘FOCK’. But we were reliably informed, after getting a cab here and mispronouncing it as we tried to describe where we wanted to go, that it is pronounced FOSH. Didn’t stop Pete getting a photo with the big sign saying FOCK YEH! Following lunch, we found another chocolate café, and we can all guess how much Renee loved this place, and in the process we may have slightly over indulged. But totally worth it.



And now onto our next stage, the Galapagos Tour. 8 nights on a yacht moving through the islands of the Galapagos. This is how the whole idea for South America came to life. We are just a little excited about this one! Being on a boat, you may not hear from us for the next week or so, so until next time - Pete and Renee.

---

Photos

Cascade de Peguche
Channel for HydroElectric Scheme

Cascade de Peguche
Inca Sun Dial

Cotapaxi National Park Map
You can see the heights we went to and dropped down to!

Cotopaxi Volcano
On a clear day...

Cotapaxi Volcano
What we encountered when before we started our ride

Inca Ruins @ Cotapaxi
From this spot, they could see all 3 major volcanoes

Khipus Chocolate Cafe
Does this place ever open?

Comments

[John Rosse]

Blog # 4
Love these blogs. Have a great time on Galapagos. Love from both of us.