Blogs from North, Ecuador, South America - page 7

Montag, den 11. Juni, habe ich Kolumbien verlassen und bin nach Ecuador gegangen. Verschiedene Leute hatten mir Horrorgeschichten von diesem Grenzübergang erzählt und gesagt dass dort so viele Venezuelaner die Grenze überqueren möchten, dass es Stunden oder sogar einen ganzen Tag dauern kann dort rüber zu kommen. Also hatte ich entschieden sehr früh dorthin zu gehen und hatte mir ein Taxi für 6h morgens bestellt. Allerdings kam und kam der Typ nicht und so bin ich um 6h20 losgegangen und habe mir ein anderes Taxi auf der Straße gesucht. Die Grenze ist nur um die 7km von Ipiales entfernt und so war ich dann gegen 6h30 dort, aber ich konnte kaum meinen Augen glauben bei dem Anblick der sich mir dort bot! Es waren bereits mehr als 100 Leute dort in der Warteschlange um Kolumbien zu ... read more

Hola Amigos! I was a bit lazy about taking photos this past month. Thanks to Colin and Michelle for letting me use some pics they took. There are more pictures than there is text, so scroll all the way to the bottom and click on "next" if you want to see them all. Colin is a friend of a friend who has become a friend of mine...he comes to Ecuador every year to climb an Andean peak (or two) and occasionally he'll come and spend a few days in Baños as well. This time he was with his lovely wife, Lori and two of their friends. We went out for tapas at La Tasca and since there were 5 of us we ordered one of each thing on the menu. Delish!! After dinner, needing something sweet, ... read more

It was cold and raining when we woke up and went down to breakfast. The four of us sat and discussed what we would do as we had a whole day in Quito until our flight after midnight. We decided to get a taxi and go into town. It was the first time that Don and I had been into town which was about an hour’s drive from the airport. Fortunately the weather improved somewhat, but it remained cool and overcast all day. The taxi service that the hotel used was a limousine service! We piled into the immaculate car and went into town. Caroline and the taxi driver were chatting in Spanish and we added our comments in a mix of Spanish/English. The journey into town was quite staggering. The road crossed a deep ... read more

Quito is the capital of Ecuador and is 2,850 metres above sea level. The word Ecuador is Spanish for equator and the central square of the city of Quito is located about 25 kilometres south of the equator. It is the second highest capital city in the world, the first being La Paz. Quito is located on the eastern slope of an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains. When you travel into the town from the airport one wonders at how some of the houses manage to cling to the mountains as they seem to be precariously balanced. But more about our journey into the city later in the blog. We had arrived after midnight at the new Mariscal Sucre International Airport which opened in February 2013. It is the busiest airport in Ecuador and is ... read more

Pour ceux qui pensent que voyager est un plaisir, voici le résumé de ma journée de changement de pays. Pas d'agence pour organiser le voyage et ne se soucier de rien, pas de bus direct entre Quito et Pasto ou Cali pour faciliter les choses et pas de budget pour prendre un avion. Réveil matinal donc à 7h00 pour quitter l'hostel à 8h00. 15 minutes de marche avec les sacs jusqu'à l'arrêt de bus pour prendre le trole (trolley) en direction de la gare routière. 30 minutes de trole ensuite avant d'enchaîner avec 5h de bus jusqu'à Tulcan, ville frontière avec la Colombie. Le point positif c'est qu'il y a des bus toutes les 10 ou 15 minutes et au-moins je n'aurai pas à attendre dans la gare routière. Arrivé à Tulcan, des taxis attendent à ... read more