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Published: August 26th 2010
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Straddling the hemispheres We’ve been making our way up north along the western side of this…. errrr …. continent.
Getting here first of all involved conquering the bus system from
Lima to
Quito - which is always an adventure. The journey was a 41-hour stint and the bus didn’t arrive a minute early…. And to make matters worse, I had a broken seat the whole way and it was, well... blooming painful! Things went from bad to worse, when not alone was the film in Spanish but the subtitles were also in Spanish! - Where’s the “safe bet” tourist bus when you need it.
Highlights along the way to Ecuador…
(1) The “border crossing” where we all got to get off the bus for a hour or so, and get exit/entry stamps. I know it doesn’t sound much of a highlight, but the simplest things on a journey of this length can act as distractions.
(2) When the driver got tired during the trip and stopped for food; that meant we all stopped for food; no matter what time it was! Actually on one occasion we had dinner at 4:30am - why I don’t know - but
Giant Tortoise
Floreana Island (Galápagos) at least it meant a comfortable plastic seat in a local “restaurant” for a short while.
Quito
The historic old town of Quito is really a beautiful part of the city, with the cobbled stone streets so full of grand colonial preserved buildings, museums, monuments and palaces - you’ll feel like you have taken a step back in time. We spent a few hours on one of the days wandering about the Old Town, but given our short attention spans… this didn’t tide us over for too long…!
What really did entertain us… and pass a few minutes were the green pedestrian crossing traffic lights. Unbelievable but true!! Here’s how it worked - there’s this little green man who starts walking the funkiest dance - kind of walk... but as his time ticks down he goes faster and faster until the little guy is sprinting to the finish, before the red light takes over. It’s probably a “location joke” - but it made us laugh though.
The history bit Situated at 2,900 meters, Quito is the second highest capital city in the world, close to one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. Originally what is
now Ecuador, it formed part of the mighty
Inca Empire. Ecuador has also lost land in a series of conflicts with its neighbors over the years. In 1999/2000 the economy collapsed, poverty increased significantly, the banking system gave way, and the country defaulted on its external debt - sound familiar? There has since been some reform and the country now uses the U.S. dollar to control its monetary policy. $100 bills are not accepted though (I have no idea why!).
A lot of the country’s revenue is petroleum dependent - Oil is always big news - earning more than half the country’s revenues in recent years. Still estimates put nearly 40%!o(MISSING)f people below the poverty line (more in the countryside), which was highly visible in the places we stopped on the bus whilst getting here. Politics is always a drama here, and the country has been through 10 presidents (I think!) in just over a decade!
* * *
We spent a few days in Quito sampling tasty Ecuadorian food and dining in top cafés, like
Cafe Mosaico which has a breathtaking view of the city, and where we celebrated our 1st year wedding anniversary. We
Latitude 00°00’00”
It’s official we made it to the equator! stayed in the new town - a lively cosmopolitan area just off
Av. Amazonas in a family run guest house. The city has earned a reputation as a not-so-safe place to hang out after dark, so we thought it best to keep night time strolls to a minimum. When we did venture out at night we were careful and didn’t stray too far. We observed lots and lots of police with big guns about town all the time -so we felt safe during the day at least. Others we met had a self-imposed curfew of 6pm, which I thought was a bit harsh…
Well - we crossed the Equator. We arranged for the guy in the guesthouse (who could speak really good English) to bring us out to the site of the “
Middle of the World” - as it’s only about 20km outside Quito in the village of
San Antonio. It’s all a bit gimmicky really with a tourist museum-park set up for you - but who can resist the fun and excitement of jumping from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere? ... And back again! (Nicola certainly can’t!) - and you even get an unofficial stamp in
Posing for the camera!
A Sea Lion on Floreana Island (Galápagos) your passport, as proof that you visited the
Equator Latitude: 00°00’00”.
* * *
The Galápagos
After a couple of days in Quito we arranged a trip to the
Galápagos, which is located 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador (known as the land of Charles Darwin - as he did lots of research here). The Galápagos Islands provides a natural habitat for some of the world’s most interesting and unusual animals. Only in the Galápagos will you come face to face with wildlife that has never developed a fear of people. It’s certainly not cheap to get here, but worth it if you’re a nature lover and you’ve come to fraternize with exotic animals.
We arrived on
Baltra Island and disembarked; catching the local bus and ferry on further to
Santa Cruz Island. This is NOT Hawaii - nor do the islands look in anyway ‘tropical’ or highly commercialized. The landscape is pretty unattractive and much of the land is baron-moonscape-looking-cactus-scrub, with thick vegetation in other parts. Several of the islands are uninhabited and the best way to get about is a cruise ship or on day tours between the islands. We based ourselves in the
The white sand of Tortuga Bay
Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos) picturesque town of
Puerto Ayora for a few days, which is the epicenter of Galápagos.
While here:
• We took the time to walk the streets of this small town, and strolled along the beautiful white powdery sandy beach of
Tortuga Bay, reputed as one of south America’s top beaches.
• We had the opportunity to see
Blue-footed Boobies (birds), & snorkel with playful
sea lions galore.
• We had the chance to Kneel beside marine
iguanas which have developed particularly vivid colour, and marvel at Galápagos
penguins hiding in the rocks.
• Our Galápagos trip took us to the volcanic shores and pristine beaches of the amazing island of
Floreana which is full of wildlife.
• We visited the
tortoise breeding center on Floreana, as well as the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz to look at
giant sea turtles.
• I also took the opportunity to do some diving, and did so on two different days; both in
Gordon Rocks, and again in
North Seymour - both with surreal pristine views and unbelievable aquatic life. I got to dive with giant sea turtles, 2.5m
Hammerhead Sharks, large reef sharks, playful
sea lions,
giant mantra rays, along with several
octopuses. In a word: breathtaking - and possibly one of the worlds best dive locations ever!
After taking nearly a week out in the Galápagos, it was to time to head onwards in our trip. We’re heading to Columbia next and with all the various stories and rumors you hear about the border crossing, security and searches, and the like - it had us approaching the trip with somewhat excitement … This was going to be fun…. next stop
Colombia.
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