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Published: January 30th 2018
Quito
Lovely building Friday 5th January 2018
Being tall, flying business class is easy(ish) to justify and KLM offered a bargain price from London to Quito via Amsterdam and it was well worth the extra cost - roomy seats that turned into flat beds, fine food, good wines and super service. 3 films I hadn’t seen, a couple of meals and the 12 hour flight flew by.
We have always been lucky with our luggage on our travels and this trip shouldn’t have been a problem because, flying business class, our cases had bright yellow priority labels attached. Sure enough our 4 suitcases were almost first onto the baggage carousel. Unfortunately we had 5 and for the next 20 minutes waited and waited. Finally our prioritised case arrived but we later found out that some “prioritised” luggage arrived 3 days later. So I suppose we were still lucky.
The new airport is some way out of the centre of Quito, and with rush hour in full swing, it was an hour in a coach before we reached the hotel Patio Andaluz which is a historic old hotel built in the 1600 with lovely spacious rooms on 2
Quito
Busy street levels opening onto an attractive atrium where the dining area was situated.
Saturday 6th
Quito has an altitude of nearly 10000ft and we were worried we may succumb to altitude sickness which some of us did on a previous trip but there were no signs after the first night, just tiredness from jet lag.
After a very welcome buffet breakfast we walked around the old town to get a feel for the place. There is a sense of faded colonialism about the place. Buildings are substantial but most of them need some maintenance. The grand square, which contains the presidential palace, was an exception and looked very smart and well kept, with a nicely laid out garden in the middle.
The people of Ecuador are 33% indigenous and because of the altitude of Quito, are quite small and hence better to cope with the reduced oxygen. Street vendors are everywhere selling fruit, veg, sunglasses, just about anything in fact.
The city museum was in the old hospital and was very entertaining and portrayed the history of Ecuador in a number of well designed
Quito
Mural at City Museum tableaux. The history, very simply, is pre-Incas, Incas (but only for less than 100 years) Spanish invasion, independence.
Sunday 7th
Our guide took us to the 43m high Virgin Mary (it seems all major South American cities have to have a major religious figure looking down on them). The view of the city and surrounding volcanoes (some of which still smoked) was superb. The area is prone to earthquakes as well as volcano eruptions, being on a fault line. There are, in fact, over 30 volcanoes in the country.
We drove for 40 minutes to the actual equator line which has been turned into a museum, or more accurately, a show ground. Our chirpy guide showed us a few large and/or scary stuffed animals, explained how to make a shrunken head (and produced a real one: apparently his ex-girlfriend: haha) and demonstrated some rather dubious effects of being on the equator. The best bit was watching water going straight down a plug hole, then moving the basin a couple of metres south and watching it go clockwise, then to the north and watch it go anti-clockwise.
Back into Quito and
Quito
View of Cotopaxi from Quito we were given more history including the place on the presidential palace balcony where a president was assassinated, probably by a love rival. However, more sinisterly there was a demo by the family and friends of students who disappeared at the hands of the police about 20 years ago. The police have not owned up to the foul deed so there is a protest every week.
Republica Cacoa is a Ecuadorean coffee and chocolate cafe started by two brothers who went to Paris and asked a confectioner where the best chocolate came from and he said it came from Ecuador. Surprisingly they didn’t know this, so went back to Ecuador and started the successful cafe franchise.
The rain descended in stair rods, as it often does in the afternoon in Quito, so we stayed in the hotel and had a very passable meal of Ecuadorian fare, which included pork, mole, yucca, rice, avocado and so on.
Monday 8th
Awake and up at 2.45am to be collected at 3.50 am and taken to the airport. Our luggage received particular attention because we were heading to Galapagos. No fresh fruit can be
Quito
Suburbs taken in and even stones stuck in the sole of your shoes (I had 4 little stones) had to be removed. The plane left at 6.45 and an hour and a half later we landed in the Galapagos, on Baltra which is a small island of volcanic rocks and very little vegetation, just scrubby little plants and the occasional cactus.
A bus took us 5 minutes to a dock where a seal lay on his back sleeping with a contented smile on his face and a marine iguana squatted on a rock. Bright red crabs crept around the shore and above frigates circled and pelicans swooped. And this was just the dock!
A inflatable boat took 12 of us to the MS Legend which was to be our home for 3 nights. The room was comfortable with 2 panoramic widows. After a fine lunch in the splendid wood panelled dining room we were ferried to Santa Cruz Island for our first excursion.
Santa Cruz Island is the 2nd largest Island with a population of about 12000 and living in villages and farms, which came as a bit of a surprise. In
Quito
Old Town fact we were headed to a private farm which had been turned into a tortoise park. The road took us up into the highlands and the mist and rain. This made the vegetation lush and was in complete contrast to the sparse lowland areas.
We soon started seeing giant tortoises either side of the road on their ponderous way around the island. Their numbers were greatly reduced from 250000 before humans arrived to just 3000 in the 1970s before recovering to about 19000 now. Because they can last a year without food or drink, sailors used to take them on their ships for a year long supply of fresh meat. They live up to 200 years old and have no natural predators on the islands. They are amazing to watch, even though they don’t do an awful lot, however we witnessed the slow motion chase of a female by a male. He caught her, tried to mount her but fell of, clearly exhausted after the chase.
The islands are volcanic which creates some amazing features. For example we walked through a lava tunnel which was formed by lava flowing to the sea, the outer
Equator.
Obviously edges solidifying but the molten core still flowing out and forming a tunnel when emptied.
After empanada snacks and local coffee provided by the farmer, we headed back to the ship for a quick shower and change then dinner. It was J’s birthday and, a surprise to us all, the crew presented her with a lovely cake decorated with her name.
Tuesday 9th
Over night we travelled to Genovesa Island which is to the north of the Galapagos group of islands. It is formed by the caldera of a sunken volcano. From the ship the cliffs looked white and the trees above were silver - in fact it looked wintry. The white of course was bird guano. The inflatable boats took us to a place in the cliffs where rough steps had been made, (Prince Philip’s steps) but it was still a scramble up. At the top we were presented with an almost surreal vista - barren volcanic land, broken into bits of slabs and leafless silvery shrubs. And birds everywhere, showing no fear of us whatsoever.
We were surrounded by male frigates with bright red necks, red footed boobies
sitting in trees, some on eggs on the bare ground. Mocking birds running around on the ground. We watched an amazing and touching scene where a male booby would take twigs and stones to his partner who was sitting on their eggs. All very sweet, until he tried to mount her but she was having none of it! All this happened just 1 metre from the path where we stood.
We walked slowly with difficulty over the broken volcanic rocks. We had to keep to the path and no straying, even a few centimetres. If an animal approached you you had to back away. As we walked our excellent guide fed us fascinating information about the flora and fauna.
This is what we saw:
Red footed boobies
Nasca Boobies
Tropical bird -beautiful white bird with long tails
Short eared owl -eats small birds
Frigate birds
Pelicans
Mocking birds
We walked across the rim of the sunken volcano and reached the sea on the other side. The whole coastal area was a huge seething flock of birds swooping and wheeling, as far as the eye
could see. A yellow owl watched, waiting for an opportunity to catch one of the smaller birds. Two tropical birds seemed to have made a home in a small lava tube but were having a very loud domestic argument, eventually they moved to either end of their “home”and didn’t speak.
On the boat back we saw Galapagos and furry seals sleeping on the rocks as red crabs scuttled around them.
An amazing and fascinating morning, never to be forgotten.
After lunch Christian, one of the guides, gave us a talk about the human history of the islands. Bishop Tomas de Berlanga drifted onto the islands in the 16th century and deemed then uninhabitable. Later in the 15 century pirates used them until end of the 18 century. The English sailors arrived to hunt whales, preferably sperm whales for the ambergris.
Here is what happened next:
1832 Ecuadorean government annexed them and colonised them.
1835 Charles Darwin arrived stayed 5 weeks and visited 4 islands.
1941 to 48 US airbase on Baltra - left airport.
1959 national park
1969 organised tourism ( now 300,000
visits)
1978 UNESCO world heritage site.
After the talk we snorkelled for an hour in deep water (there was the option for beach snorkelling for those less confident) so it was back into the inflatable boats and off to the edge of the caldera. Lots of colourful fish of course, including a large multicoloured one who looked as though he had a serious bump on his forehead (I forget the name). Suddenly a shout went up, I swam towards it and about 10 ft underneath me glided a 2m hammerhead shark. Exactly what I wanted and yet another moment which will be with me for ever. We also saw a beautiful spotted eagle ray and swam amongst a huge shoal of tuna. Fantastic!
The schedule is relentless so we were soon on a beach walk. We landed on the sandy beach (a wet land which means you get your feet wet) then an hour walking slowly with the guide. Again, the absence of human contact meant the birds had no fear of us and just sit and stare. We passed old whale bones and sleeping sea lions with 2 pups playing
at the sea edge. Numerous pretty red crabs clambered over the black volcanic rocks. Mangrove trees lined the shore and each one was home to hundreds of sea birds. Our guide, as always, kept us informed and absorbed.
We were told we had a treat for dinner: A BBQ outside on the top deck. However for me it is not a treat being too meat based, and what meat there was was just singed on a hot plate. Throw in a bit of salad and that was the BBQ. However I think the kitchen staff like it because it’s an easy option for them! A game of trivia in the bar was won by a group of Rutgers University Students who were on the trip as part of their biology course.
Wednesday 10th
Over night we travelled back south to the north coast of Santa Cruz Island.
An early morning walk took us to Dragons Hill. The boat dropped us off onto rough black volcanic rock and immediately we saw marine iguanas sitting and sunning themselves. The path took us to a fantastic and almost surreal landscape of scrubby bushes
and tall cacti. We turned a corner in this strange landscape and there was a lagoon with flamingoes and other wading birds. A bit further on we came across land iguana burrows and then the iguanas themselves. Large, a metre long, with lovely yellow colouring, they were not concerned with us at all. We walked up to a ridge and looked down over the trees to the bay where our ship was moored. An absolutely amazing walk through an incredible and unique landscape.
Our second deep water snorkel was in colder water and I was glad we had hired wet suits. It was interesting to see the lava flows under water. We were getting used to the many species of colourful fish but they are still fascinating, especially in big shoals. We spotted a large resting ray and a deadly stonefish which unsurprisingly looks like a stone and can kill you if you touch it. We were in the water about 40 minutes and even with a wet suit my hands got cold.
Our ship left north coast of Santa Cruz and headed to Santa Fe and sitting on the deck watching the amazing
Galápagos Islands slide by has to be one of the best ways to spend a morning! Black Frigate birds glided above and looked quite menacing. We passed an island and it looked barren but actually is was covered by the just the one species of silvery tree. And this demonstrates why the Galápagos Islands fascinated Darwin - new islands were formed relatively recently by volcano action so every plant and animal was an immigrant. A tree that took hold on an island might have no competition so it would proliferate and dominate. Birds arrive, probably by being blown there, and have to adapt and evolve to the new situation, and this is what Darwin identified. A strange example is a vampire finch. Finches arrived on the islands many million years ago and found a land with no fresh water so they adapted by drinking the blood of seabirds - unknown anywhere else.
One of our guides gave us lecture on the formation of Galápagos Islands. They are on a hot spot where molten rock bubbles up from the earth’s core. The islands are on a plate which moves slowly east so the islands are formed in a
chain, the oldest island to the east is 3m years old and the newest to the west is quite recent . All life on the the islands is thus an immigrant, some being carried here on vegetation rafts which drifted from the mainland. Apparently the rafts drifting on the current may take just 2 weeks to get to the islands so any animal thus transported could survive.
The third and final snorkel trip took us to a sheltered bay. The water was cool so we were again thankful for the wet suits. A seal decided to investigate us and swam around us for a while. Underwater they are supremely swift and agile -so different on land. White tip reef sharks lurked around, one just sitting on the bottom of the sandy shallow bay, waiting for what I don’t know. Sting rays flapped around on the bottom and the usual variety of fish were everywhere. The best one was a large parrot fish with a beak to bite off algae from the rocks. Finally we found turtles, swimming or sometimes sitting on the sea floor where apparently they can stay for 2 hours.
Evening walk
on Santa Fe
We landed on beach with colony of seals. Adults lounged in groups on the sand, some on the rocks. Young seals cavorted in the surf. As always they took absolutely no notice of us, however close we got (but never closer then 2m of course). From the beach it was hard walking over the brown volcanic rocks - a walking pole was a real asset. Strange cactus trees were dotted everywhere - they had a hard brown bark but inside were just a sponge to soak up the water when it rained. The Santa Fe iguanas were pale and we came across many. Amazingly a seal had climbed over the rough sharp rocks to find an isolated sleeping spot, far from the sea and the others. Another strange landscape.
Last Evening meal was good international food again - a filet mignon with a nice red wine. Afterwards the results of the photo competition and unfortunately none of the four photos entered by our group won.
Thursday 11th
The people running the Galapagos holiday we were on do not like to see us relaxing or wandering aimlessly around, so amazingly,
even though we were to leave for the airport at 9am they got us up for breakfast at 6 for a walk at 7am in Baches bay (so named because barges were abandoned there by the Americans after WW2 and bits of one can still be seen). After landing on the beach we walked slowly along with our guide, as always, enthusiastically giving us information. The beach was a sea turtle breeding beach. They lay eggs about 3 times a year then leave them for the sun to incubate. When they hatch, if it’s night they have a chance of survival but in the day the frigates, hawks etc may well eat all of them. We didn’t see a turtle on the beach but we did see tracks and later we saw them in the sea, including 2 mating (which can take 2 hours - imagine!). We walked past black volcanic rocks with the ubiquitous red crabs, iguanas and pelicans. We arrived at a lagoon which was mirror smooths. Flamingoes fed in it and iguanas swam in it. A magical scene.
And so we finished our Galapagos visit. I had high expectations but they were exceeded.
We were taken back to the airport and there, as our guide told us, was where they haven’t been able to stop changing the behaviour of the native animals. All over the Galapagos the overriding principle is not to affect the habits of the animals, hence keeping a distance , marked walks, no feeding etc. However some finches have discovered that food is easy in the cafes of the airport - so much easier than hunting for it in the wild!
We flew back to Quito and the Hotel Andaluz. We were recommended the Theatre restaurant so we booked and they sent a taxi for us. The restaurant was in the lobby of the old, unused theatre and was nicely laid out. We had good Ecuadorian food with a tasting of crispy guinea pig legs which were not unpleasant, although there is not much meat on a guinea pig leg.
Friday 12th
Picked up at 7.30 for internal flight to Coca which is a oil town in the middle of the jungle. The flight was full of oil workers and a few tourists. Coca town had a bit of a feel
Napo Park
Parakeets licking clay of a frontier town, which I suppose it is, and didn’t encourage us to want to stay longer than we had to. After a short taxi drive we boarded a long long narrow boat/canoe. It had 10 rows of two comfortable car-like seats with an aisle between. Not exactly luxurious but good enough for the 2 hour journey down the Napo River. The two huge outboard motors at the back propelled us briskly out of the town and onto the wide river, sometimes 1km wide. The jungle pressed right onto the riverbank as we snaked our way round the huge sandbanks and avoided the many logs and trees in the water.
We stopped at a market (but remained in the boat) and our native guide explained how the market used to deal in the black market and illicit goods (wood, animals) but is now much cleaner. At another stop alongside a oil well area where gas was being burnt off he told us the problems of oil, in particular how flying insects are drawn to the flame and burnt. It’s seems the oil brings benefits but at a price. After 2 hours of an exhilarating ride we arrived at
Napo Park
Resting Anaconda the welcome centre at the mouth of a creek. We disembarked, visited the toilet, and got into a long dugout paddle canoe. It had 4 rows of seats for 2, with cushions which were good for about an hour, and a paddler at each end. This is the start of the park and motorised boats are not allowed.
We gently paddled into the jungle which closed around us so that we were quietly moving through an amazing green tunnel. The creek snaked right and left so you could never see far ahead and you certainly couldn’t see very far either side. The noise though was a continuous background of every imaginable bird sound. Occasionally there would be a primeval roaring which would continue for many minutes and was really quite threatening. If you didn’t know it was Howler monkeys, maybe a mile away, it would be quite intimidating. The water was brackish so you couldn’t see the piranhas, electric eels, caiman (crocodile) and numerous fish which were swimming below us. Certainly it didn’t encourage you to put your hand in the water.
As we drifted along in this idyllic world we spotted an anaconda
Napo Park
Macaws about to lick clay snake resting after a meal. It was only a small young one, perhaps 2m long, but it may grow to 7m.
When you are looking hard it is easy to mistake a stick or leaf for an animal. Our guide pointed out a scrappy nest built of twigs built round a stick. However the stick was the bird, a zigzag heron, whose camouflage strategy is to look like a stick, remaining totally still!
After an hour and a half the creek opened up into a lake and on the opposite side was the lodge consisting of a number of small buildings on stilts over the water and a large and very tall building which was where the dining room, bar, reception was. All buildings were roofed with a type of palm which turns grey with age.
The lodge and park was the idea of indigenous people in the nearby village 20 years ago. After help from around the world setting it up, it is now successfully run by the community, for the benefit of the community. All staff are local and were excellent. It’s run on ecological principles, even electricity is
Napo Park
Leafcutter ant thinking out of the box solar. Our room was large with a balcony at the front overlooking the river and an outside area at the back with a jacuzzi bath which due to continual activities interspersed with complete exhaustion we sadly did not use. There was no glass in the windows, just fine mesh to keep the insects out, but still the cockroaches found a way in. A lovely shower and toilet (although as normal here the paper goes into a bin and not down the pan) was very welcome after our exertions. The bed was very comfortable with a necessary mosquito net. There was no air conditioning, just a big fan in the ceiling. All the furniture was locally made, very sturdy and well polished and constructed in local wood.
After a very acceptable dinner of soup followed by local vegetables, meat and salads followed by very nice dessert, we were told by our guide (the exceptional Diane) about the next day’s activities, the most important item being the early morning call which was 4.30! After this shock we collected our wellington boots. Wellington boots are required, not so much because of mud (although there can be quite a bit after
Napo Park
Bird of Prey looking at breakfast rain) but for the protection from snakes and other creatures. Also you are warned not to touch any plants or trees, even for steadying yourself or catching yourself if you fall because a poisonous spider, viscous ant or tree spike could be waiting for you.
Saturday 13th
We breakfasted at 5 (eggs, bacon, cereal, fruit etc) and jumped, or rather slowly clambered, into the paddle canoe at 5.30. It was still dark but as we drifted down the creek it slowly became light as the sun rose. The half light in the jungle was magical. An hour paddling and we changed to the motor canoe to go down the Napo River to the Clay licks. Parrots eat all sort of food, some toxic, and eating clay with sodium in helps their digestive system. The clay lick is simply an area where there has been a land slip which has exposed the necessary clay. Luckily this one was on the river bank, ideal for watching from the boat. When we arrived there were lots of parrots and parakeets in the trees but none on the clay lick. Apparently they are very nervous because anacondas and
other predators know the area and may well be lurking. An anaconda may pretend to be a branch, a parrot lands on it and doesn’t get off! The birds are so skittish a minor landslide caused them all to fly off and then slowly return. Eventually however a brave bird landed on the near vertical lick, then others joined and soon there were many of them. There were four species of bird and we saw them all. Quite a spectacular and unusual sight - we felt privileged to witness it.
After an hour watching the coming and goings we moved off for a general explore and found 3 roseate spoonbills which is quite unusual. Again we saw lots of logs which looked like animals and caused some excitement, then we landed and walked into the jungle, in our wellies of course. High above us we saw woolly monkeys leaping through the branches, eating leaves and dropping bits around us. One big male spotted us and angrily stared at us from his lofty perch. They don’t like interlopers. We also saw agile squirrel monkeys. Our destination was another clay lick but for macaws. These beautiful birds are a
Urbina
The last ice merchant bit more mercurial then parrots so we sat in the large hide on benches. The clay lick was on the ground with a backdrop of foliage. It was just like going to the theatre with unreliable actors who might or might not show up at some time during then day. Then after an hour we saw one in a tree, then two, then more. Some landed and started the show. They are so beautiful, dominantly red with other colours and long tails. Once the macaws had started smaller green parrots arrived and completed a colourful, noisy scene. After about 15 minutes the macaws flew off, followed by the parrots.
We walked back to the canoe and motored to the other part of the Napo lodge project - the cultural centre which was situated in the village. Our native guide was from the village and we stopped at his grandfather’s house to try a grape like fruit. He also demonstrated how they produced an orange dye for facial decoration. The village which started the Napo project is home to about 180 people in the village and due to the revenue from the project, has a computer room for
everyone, a medical centre, a primary and secondary school. This is not typical of the villages in the area. The Napo project has built a large building where the women of the village can make handicrafts and demonstrate local dancing, which they did. I have never been a fan of this sort of thing but joined in the half hearted show. We bought handicrafts of course.
Lunch at the welcome centre was very acceptable and enhanced by the sighting of a venomous bright green snake as it slid by. Then it was back into the canoe and a 2 hour paddle back to the lodge up the creek. We saw another anaconda and many monkeys including the cute and childlike capochin monkeys. A troupe crossed the river above us, including some mothers with young on their back. One mother decided her child had been on her back long enough and tried to get him off, but he kept hanging on! Beautiful huge butterflies would flit through the trees. Again we had howler monkeys in the background.
After dinner we went on a night walk, in wellies of course. The guides picked out bullet ants,
Guamote
Indigenous market so called because when they bite and inject you with venom it’s like being hit by a bullet. A huge scorpion spider was thankfully harmless but very sinister looking. Very enjoyable but it was a bit eerie not knowing what was lurking in the undergrowth.
Sunday 14th
A lie in until 5.30 am! Boarded canoe at 6.30 and headed up a creek which flowed into the lake. We moved slowly through the dark, almost still, water surrounded on both sides by 10ft high plants of all shapes and sizes. We entered the forest proper and moored at a jetty. From there we followed a winding path for 20 minutes. The forest was a real Amazonian forest, with extremely tall trees forming a dense canopy high above us. Because of this there is relatively little ground cover - you could walk in any direction (not that you would want to). Our destination was 30m viewing platform accessed by 250 steps and not for the faint-hearted. The platform was plenty big enough for the 10 of us (incl 2 guides), a table and 2 benches. As ever in the Amazon there is a warning and this
Quito - Guayaquil
View from train about to descend zig-zag was not to touch the tree trunk - it had fire ants which have a very nasty bite and venom. A telescope was set up and we spent 2 hours bird watching. That may seem a long time but in the Amazon forest the time flies by. As did many birds. Highlights were toucans of different types, parrots, hawks, a bird of prey feeding its young, woodpeckers, macaws, oriels and so on.
We descended and paid a visit to the dry toilet (just a big hole under the seat) but strangely there were only two in this remotest of remote places and still they were marked male and female.
On the way back to the canoe our native guide gave us information about the plants, some medicinal, some produced blue dye. He found a poisonous tree frog and a stick insect. We tried eating bark and found a giant millipede. He demonstrated how a tree with a buttress can be used to signal for help.
At 4pm we boarded the paddle canoe, (this time without wellingtons) and set off up another creek. With the late afternoon light, the dark water and the tangle of greenery surrounding us, it was , yet again, a magical and beautiful scene. We saw many beautiful birds, too many to mention, small long tailed bats sleeping under a tree branch and more monkeys of course. Rare giant otters made an appearance and we heard one noisily eating a large fish in the undergrowth. Our guide asked us to shout below a wasp nest. The wasps will think they are under threat and fly around in the nest hitting the walls making a loud noise to scare away predators. Another example of the amazing animals in the forest.
After another convivial dinner we were informed our flight to Quito from Coca would leave at 8.55 so we would leave on the paddle canoe at 3.30am!
Monday 15th
We left the lodge in darkness, with just a torch showing the way. Gliding through the creek in blackness was wonderful. Glow worms lined the bank in some places or flew around us. Bats flitted and noises were all around. A caiman (crocodile) submerged as we approached. The early start had its compensations!
We transferred to the motorised canoe which immediately ran into a sandbank in the pitch black. We were soon off and heading up the Napo River at speed as the sun rose - very exhilarating.
A quick flight and we were back in Quito.
In the evening we ate an acceptable Italian meal (you can eat only so much local food) and walked back through the wet streets. However there was a building which had extended its paving into the public pavement. Unfortunately it was very smooth, polished stone and when wet was like ice and I stepped onto it, slipped and fell backwards. Instinct took over, thankfully, and kept my head from hitting the ground hard. However I wrenched my neck badly and painfully and so there was going to be no train journey tomorrow for me!
Tuesday 16th
A very quiet day for me with J and a pile of painkillers. The others in our group went on the train journey we were due to be on. We did, however, take a short walk around the block and in the clear light of day we could see the dangerous state of the the pavements. In fact I almost fell over 3 bolts which were protruding vertically a couple of inches. J also nearly fell over a broken paving stone. The place where I slipped must have been illegal, but I am afraid this is normal for Ecuador. Currently the Vice President is in prison for corruption and the problems extends all the way down.
Wednesday 17th
Woke up to a foggy rainy day which is not good when you are going on a scenic rail journey. We embarked at 7.30 onto the Tren Crucero. The carriages are sort of orient express with the type of chairs you have in your dining room. There was on open viewing platform at the back and sofas and easy chairs with games, should you want to play them.
We trundled through the poorer suburbs of Quito heading south. The buildings are brick or concrete but in very poor condition. Graffiti and litter are everywhere. However people did wave at the train!
We left Quito and wobbled our way through lush countryside. We stopped at a farm where we were given a display of Andean horse riding. The Chagras (cowboys) tried to catch a ring with a little stick and then tried to lasso a bull, all with varying degrees of success. The hacienda, built in 1908 was quite liveable and had been kept as it was.
The Andes mountains split leaving a fertile valley in between and we progressed slowly along the valley past farms and small holdings. The soil was dark and no doubt very productive. Towns slid by but they didn’t look particularly inviting. Lunch was created by local people and arrived at the train in lovely baskets. It consisted of a salad, two delicious beef rolls, fruit dessert and chocolate. Chilean wine accompanied the meal
A local festival in those parts was something to do with the devil so three local people, dressed in devil costumes, entertained us on the train. It involved some audience participation, as they always do.
So many buildings are unfinished, probably because tax is not paid until completion. Many houses and buildings had high concrete block walls surrounding them and were invariably topped with broken glass - not a pretty sight. Many building projects seem to have been started and never got past the foundations or boundary wall. These places are definitely not picturesque.
All along the route people stop and look at the train. Often they wave, however it is sobering to think they may never have the chance to ride on this rather expensive trip, and there are no other trains services for the local people at all.
Finally at 4pm the cloud lifted and we saw our first volcano. It erupts every 2 or 3 months. Now we were seeing the magnificent Andean scenery we had missed during the earlier part of the journey.
As we climbed up the vegetation changed drastically, from lush undergrowth, giant agave, tall straight trees to grass and a few small trees. We reached the highest point on our journey (11840ft) and stopped at a station in a rather bleak landscape. We saw the last ice merchant whose fame took him to New York for a documentary. He has been doing it for 60 years but now, at 73 he goes up just twice a week. It takes him and his donkey four hours to reach the snow line, he digs out the ice then returns to sell it in the villages. He looked quite cheerful!
After a cup of local herb tea serenaded by local people singing a song about something, we boarded our coach to be taken 10 minutes to our hotel. The Hacienda Andaluz is a very large house-style hotel. Quirky may be a good description but large rooms and excellent food made for a very enjoyable overnight stay. After dinner our hearts sank when a band of 4 with guitars and the dreaded pan pipes appeared, however they were excellent.
Thursday 18th
There are 10 middle-aged German men train enthusiasts on the train (many of whom, it would appear, still live with their mothers) and they were beside themselves in the morning because a real 100 year old steam train was going to pull the carriages for the next section of the journey. We arrived at the station as the steam engine was hissing and steaming. Then with a ear splitting blast of the whistle it slowly pulled forward in clouds of steam. It chuffed and clanked past us and there were 10 very happy people, in fact most of us had a broad smile on our face.
We stopped in Riobamba for water and fuel then chugged out of the town. What was remarkable was that of the 100s of houses we saw about 95% were unfinished.
As we climbed again the excitement among the train enthusiasts reached fever pitch when we went round a tight corner and a picture of the steam train could be taken. They had another treat when the train stopped in Colta and there was much manoeuvering and shunting to replace the steam engine with the diesel. While this was going on we walked to the oldest church in Ecuador founded 1534, destroyed by earthquake and rebuilt in 1600s. Roadside stalls were roasting 12 Guinea Pigs at a time on a rotating spit. We weren’t tempted, which is just as well because we were faced with a mid morning snack of a corn timbale with lupins accompanied by soursop juice. All very nice.
We stopped at Guamote which has one of the few remaining indigenous markets. The town itself, high in the Andes, appears relatively poor and undeveloped. No supermarkets and all the shops are small and often just a door to a room with a few goods. Therefore the market is very important to the surrounding area which is populated mainly by indigenous people, - the people we had seen tending the fertile soil in the valleys we had trundled through. We arrived on market day and the town was full of stalls and brightly coloured clothes. Living at 10000 ft the short people are best suited to the high altitude. Apparently the heart does not have to work so hard. We felt like giants. Stalls sold everything from fruit and veg, ( and sometimes a person would be selling just a few potatoes), to radios, chainsaws, clothes, household items - just about anything. It was clear that market day was a special day for the inhabitants who were pouring into the town in trucks and cars loaded with pigs, sheep, fruit, veg etcetera This made it very difficult for us to leave in the coach. Why the coach? Because a bridge on the route was unsafe so we had to drive round it for about an hour and get on the company’s sister train further on.
The next part of the rail journey was perhaps the most spectacular as we wound round the towering mountains. The railway was finished in 1908 and reduced the journey from Guayaquil from 14 or more days to about 2. Now though roads have meant that the only train is the tourist one we are on. Keeping the track open is very expensive so it remains to be seen how long it can last. We reached the “Devils nose” but what was actually said by the engineer when asked how he was going to lay the track on the very steep bit was : “the Devil Knows”. What he did though was very clever . He built a zig zag so the train goes across the face of the mountain, stops, changes the points and reverses back down across the the mountain, stops, changes points and goes forward again on the lower track. Simple but effective.
Overnight we stayed in a rustic type hotel with a resident lizard in our room. We were in the coastal area now, it was tropical and hot, with the sound of birds ever present.
Friday 19th
We continued on the train onto the coastal plain and passed huge fields of cocoa, sugar cane, pineapple and bananas. A demonstration of how chocolate was made, including a tasting, was most interesting and lunch at the hacienda Danesa was outstanding, eaten in its beautiful gardens. It was hot and humid: the temperature was showing 36c. Back on the train, the track became very bumpy: the rail equivalent of cobblestones, which didn’t do much for my neck!
At Yaguachi we changed the locomotive to another lovely old steam train. Another, and last, treat for the train enthusiasts.
Saturday 20th
We were going to be picked up from our hotel, Oreo Verde, at 5pm so we had a bit of time to kill. Guayaquil is by no means a tourist city as we found when we went on our walk to the the Malecon - the river front. In fact in 2 hours we didn’t see a single tourist or person who was not local. Lots of small shops and street vendors. The occasional larger store fronted by staff dancing to entice you in. The pavements were an assault course, especially at traffic junctions. It was hot a steamy but fascinating to see the largest city in Ecuador on a Saturday. Perhaps what will stick in my mind most is the number of police, in their military uniforms with guns, who were on almost every street corner. Added to the police were security guards, transport police and other uniformed men. Not intimidating but an indication of life in the city.
And so the holiday, or more correctly, our adventure (it wasn’t very relaxing) came to an end. We were taken to the airport where we had one last excitement - my name was read out of the public address and I was taken down to the baggage area where the police went through the case, dirty laundry and all. It was a random inspection and they were looking for drugs (Columbia is a neighbouring country) They didn’t find any.
The final flight to Amsterdam then London was enjoyable and I slept well on the beds and we arrived quite refreshed, but unfortunately the cockroach who travelled in our luggage didn’t survive the trip. Good!
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