Advertisement
Published: February 8th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Quilatoa Loop
Have llama will travel Our last few hours in Galapagos were certainly memorable, all for the wrong reasons. We had both eaten something dodgy and I spent the night not knowing which end to point at the pan while Nik saved his grand finale for the bus ride to the airport. Busy looking out the window for giant tortoises, I got a quick tap on the shoulder ´bag quickly´. Nik being quite a healthy bod had forgotten how to be sick gracefully and it was very hard to disown him when he started barking like a dog and filling his supermarket special with diced carrots, needless to say the whole bus fell quiet. We sneaked off and hid in a corner until our plane was due to leave. Back in Quito our friendly hostal host fed us fresh oregano tea to settle things down. That episode over we trundled south to Cotapaxi national park. We now know where the Andies are and there not on the end of the armies. They are pretty high up and the effects of altitude started to kick in at 12,000 feet. Great scenery, snow capped volcanoes but dodgy weather even though we were pretty close to the equator. Our
Quilatoa Crater
A lap before lunch. next venture was the Quilatoa loop which is in the highlands and home to umpteen indigenous folks with llamas and trilby hats (don´t ask me where they come from). Our destination was a hugh emerald green crater at the end of the loop. We managed to see it before the clouds descended and hike around it before settling in for the night. Our digs were a community run hostal. Families did 8 day shifts in running the place and our hosts were a young 18 & 19 year old couple with their baby. We splashed out 4 pounds each for bed, breakfast and evening meal. I don´t know how we will get used to UK prices again. We spent the evening trying to converse in Spanish around the fire with our young hosts comparing our trials and tribulations. We were moaning about the price of petrol and mortgage repayments and they were astounded by the price of a good llama. It was definately a meeting of two different cultures and one I wouldn´t have missed. It rained all night which made for our next nightmare travelling day. The second half of the loop which was supposedly very scenic turned into
Baños
Worth the effort a mud bath. The roads were steep, precipitous full of puddles and I thought it was our day to meet our maker. Three hours later we were safely out the other side having been reduced to a nervous wreck and wobbling like a jelly. I must admit Nik did a great job driving and that is something I have never said before. Back on solid tarmac, sunshine and a descent down into Banos.
Banos means baths, the reason being Banos is a spa town, a popular resort situated in a valley surrounded by steep mountains one of which is the imposing Tungurahua volcano. Eight km away it can be heard rumbling away intermitantly belching clouds of ash into the sky. Interestingly in 1999 the volcanoes activity increased to the extent that the government ordered the evacuation of Banos. For four months the town remained evacuated waiting for the inevitable big bang. Eventually the residents got fed up and forced their way through the military blocades and took up residence despite the continued rumblings. We figured after all this time the chance of an eruption during our fleeting visit was about as likely as Wales beating England at Twickenham. Our time
Amazon Rainforest
Me Tarzan where´s Jane? in Banos landed on a four day carnival which meant the place was buzzing with excited Ecuadorian tourists and a handful of outsiders. The holiday was something to do with Lent but the main thing seemed to be throwing water over each other and squirting foam around. Hilarious for four continuous days.... NOT. We escaped by hiking into the surrounding mountains with impressive views of the town. Since I was a young lad I have harboured an ambition to go on an expedition into the Amazon rainforest. The reason we headed east to Banos was to venture into the Amazon which I now realise extends beyond Brazil into the east of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. We travelled further east and arranged a couple of days with a guide doing some jungle exploration. In my childhood vision I would be hacking my way through dense jungle with a machete to the sound of screeching animals and birds running for cover. My guide would be a native tribesman with a bone through his nose, a couple of shrunken heads slung over his shoulder, blow pipe in hand naked except for some jungle twine binding his winkle to his waist. As we arrived
Amazon Jungle
White water dugout canoeing. at our jungle camp we were greeted by our guide Robello. Dressed in a full replica Argentinian football kit, wellies and bright yellow poncho. My childhood vision was somewhat shattered. Anyway it turned out he really knew his stuff showing us as we trekked the ins and outs of all sorts of plants and fruits. Those used for medicinal purposes, those for dying, those that were edible and those burnt for their aroma. Our treks took us to waterfalls and rivers with sightings of monkeys, moths the size of your hand, butterflies birds and insects. After our trek through the aptly named rainforest we went back to camp to feast on the aptly named yucca plant. One night spent in an open cabin on stilts in beds with mossie nets over them listening to jungle noises, straight out of the Tarzan set. The second day we were introduced to a new sport, white water dugout canoeing. The heavy rains made our scheduled canoe trip through the jungle a white knuckle affair, despite the attire Robello had it sussed. Our other jungle experience was a visit to an authentic indigenous village. A bit too staged for our liking as half a
Tuagurhau Volcano
Calm before the storm dozen youngsters were rounded up dressed in grass skirts and war paint banging drums and dancing for tourists. I am pretty sure in their free time they would be rapping with the brothers in their designer sweats. With childhood ambitions fulfilled it was back to Banos before the drive south to Peru. One o´clock in the morning a knock on our door by a distressed hotel manager. We had to evacuate as the volcano had chosen now for its big moment. We quickly threw our stuff into our bags, jumped into the truck and joined the convoy out of town. Kids were piled into pick-up trucks, buses roared full of straggling tourists as we all headed out. The volcano could be heard roaring and buildings shook. In the night sky red lava could be seen spilling and spewing from the volcanoes summit. Ten miles down the valley at 2.30 am we sat in the car park considering our options. All our laundry had been left at the laundrette, so we only had a few clothes. The word was we would not be able to get back into town or the main highway for however long it took things to calm
down and be cleared up. We slept in our bags in the back of the truck and waited to see what the morning brought. You probably think I am going to say it was all a dream, not this time it was all for real. The next day word got round that the volcano had settled and most of the ash and sulphur had been blown away from Banos. We were able to go back into town by late morning, grab our laundry and race off west to the Panamerican highway. Police blocks let us out but stopped all traffic going in, ash could be seen on the houses and trees 20 miles away. We pushed on as far as we could and watched the fall out on the national news in our hotel that evening.......... Never a dull moment.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0623s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Stuart in Essex
non-member comment
En las Banos (or in the shithouse)
Just caught up on your last 2 blogs. We must get together as after 3 months of weekly one to one tuition in espanola Sally and I have also developed a new language of which we are the only 2 in the world that can understand it. I am just hoping that we may at last have found someone else that speaks our version of Spanish. I must admit your journey sounds a little more adventurous this time with volcanoes, sickness and the like. The cruise around the islands sounded fun, so we have booked a similar cruise for June on a little ship called Queen Mary 2 or something, I am sure a very similar experience. We are back in Tenerife for Feb/March and going to Marrakech for a few days before we come home. Kirsty is out with her boyfriend later today, also Sallys Mum so I will have to be sociable for a whole week. Enjoy the next leg of your trip and I hope the weather is a little kinder to you both.