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Published: November 27th 2008
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Sorry guys for not posting lately...but as you would expect communications can be a problem down here. I am alive and well for all those worrying about me. I am currently in Chile...so I have a lot of catching up to do. At the moment I am in a wi fi black hole...so I am afraid no photo´s for the momento.
Ecuador turned out to be great...We ended up staying in the new town of Quito...right near all the action of resturants and bars. I had already checked out the old town on my Galapagos trip so it was nice to just chill and buy some dodgy black market DVDs .....recent films are only a dollar here!!!!!
One funny thing about Quito is that just outside the city is a great big monument and park to mark the point of the Equator, built by a Frenchman....it´s actually wrong...the Equator is actually 700 meters down the road...trust the French to get it wrong!!!!!!he he.
We then went on to Otavalo for the Saturday market. This was great...all the women were dressed in traditional costumes...it was great for the photographs and the retail therapy. In true femle style I ended up buying all
sorts of things I didn´t need for a house I don´t actually own!!!
Our next excursion was into the Ecuadorian Jungle, we stayed at a couple of lodges including the very impressively titled Shangri-la Lodge. Essentially it was a tree house overlooking the jungle and river. The rooms were great, food tasty and they had hammocks to swing in all day!!!! Some of the group went canyoning and white water rafting......it does amaze me as to why people feel like they have to do dangerous activities whilst they are travelling. It seems to me that they say ´lets find the most backward country we can´ and then if anything was to go wrong...they are in the worst place, with the worst medical care. Wait until home to kill yourself!!!! I went on a very sedate boat trip to see the wildlife which was great and danger free!
The next town was even more for adrenalin junkies...as you can imagine not for me. Banos (translation toilet) was not quite the image the name portrayed. It was a small village nestled in a valley, most of the town, which ever way you went was uphill!!!! Quad biking, bungee jumping, canyoning, walking and
cycling ummmm as you can imagine I was bored after a day!!!! One humourous event did happen...some mad Danish women who owned a cafe stalked us around town. I later read a blog by a girl who had the exact thing happen to her....beware the mad Danish woman!!!! We had to make our way by public bus to Banos as the truck was undergoing repairs (I think our driver Andy & parties had something to do with it).
Banos will go down as having the best chocolate milkshake so far on the trip (Casa Hood) and steak (Swiss Resturant). It will also go down as the place that my friendship with Andy (passenger) ended. I will not go into details as this is not the time or the place...let´s just say we had a difference of opinion and things will not be the same again.
This poses the question I feel I must ask....do I really have poor judgement in friends? I have befriended 2 persons on the truck and both have turned out to be...not the people I thought they were (I am keeping this polite for the blog). I don´t have anything to hide...I am the same person
on the truck as I am off the truck...I am a decent person..what´s going wrong? Well it´s unlucky for them!!!! It does make me wary of making new friends though:-(
I know all of you reading this blog would like me to dish the dirt on my fellow travellers...well I feel it wouldn´t be right to talk about them over the world wide web....I wouldn´t like someone writing about me!
All I will say is that we have had some new people join and they are essentially a bunch of nutters and not mad in a nice happy way...but more in a strange, weird kind of way!!!!!
The next place we went to was Cuenca (or cwanka) as a friend of mine likes to call it! Cuenca was a nice colonial town famous for making Panama Hats. Yes Panama hats were actually made in Ecuador! Sue, Nigel, Al and myself went to the Ortega factory and were taken on a tour around the factory. I couldn´t resist the urge to shop...so bought a handbag. Next we went to a museum where they had a genuine collection of shrunken heads....don´t ever say this trip isn´t cultural!!!! For lunch we stopped at
the 3 stars resturant famous for cooking Cuy....for those who don´t know what Cuy is (turn way now if your squemish) its Guinea Pig....yes your fluffy school pet....and very tasty he was too!!!! I even bought a t-shirt to commemorate the event!!!
Next on to Peru........
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