Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 639

Well everyone, I have made it here to Quito safe and sound. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and I was incredibly worn-out. My flight left JFK at 5:30 in the morning and was full of screaming babies. Yesterday I didn't do much, just found some food and sacked out in my hotel room. The hotel (La Posada del Maples) is nice and comfy with free internet and breakfast (which was pretty good, it sure trumped the typical motel 6 fare). My room overlooks the tiny courtyard which has a mimosa-like tree in it that is constantly filled with hummingbirds (colibris) and doves (palomas). If only I could figure out which species of the 150 colibris y palomas these are! I have positively identified one bird, the rufous-crowned sparrow which is fairly common on the vegetation-lined side streets. ... read more

My last day in Ecuador. This past week has been a bit surreal; it's so hard to believe that three months are nearly over. Even though I know that this time tomorrow we'll be on our way home I still can't believe it. Back in September December seemed (as it always does) so far away. There were moments then when I wasn't sure how I was going to survive this trip. Now, in spite of the ever-present language barrier, I carry myself through Ecuador with a great deal more confidence. (Take that statement with a grain of salt, though. When you have zero confidence to begin with, there's -- hopefully -- only one direction to go.) Back in September it seemed, also, that once December hit I would be completely ready to head back to the ... read more

So I have finally figured out how to use my camera! Here are some photos of the area. Unfortunately, it has been hazy here so it has been very difficult to get some good scenery shots. Oh well, when the skies clear I will get some better ones. ... read more

We'd climbed a volcano. So what next? The Quilotoa loop... From Latacunga there's a fairly well trodden path around a series of villages known as the Quilotoa loop. Quilotoa itself is a stunning emerald green lake in the caldera of an extinct volcano at around 3800m above sea level. It takes between 2-3 days to do the loop, and buoyed by relative sucess at Cotopaxi we decided to give it a look. The first leg of the journey was a straightforward taxi journey to Saquisili (you see why we were having trouble with the pronounciation?!) along with Rein & Char, two of the folks that we had climbed Cotopaxi with. Saquisili is the site of a colourful Indian market every Thursday, which was why we started the loop there. Although we had already seen the market ... read more

Yesterday we finally managed to break free of the gravitational pull of Quito and the Secret Garden hostel and make our way south to Latacunga. It's nice to be out of the big city, the noise and pollution were starting to get on our nerves. Latacunga is a completely different kettle of fish. True, they also have a severe vehicle emmisions problem here, but since there are less cars and trucks it's less of a headache. Also it's much safer here which is always nice. We travelled to these parts for two reasons: to have a climb of the tallest active volcano in the world (Cotopaxi - a whopping 5897m high and about 29km from here) and to visit a series of villages and another volcanic crater nearby, collectively known as the Quilotoa circuit. Tomorrow we ... read more