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Otavalo
Goodbye, night at Iglesia De Ell JordanWe awoke all excited today because today we were finally going to get rid of all the crap we have been hauling around with us. Before attempting that we headed down once more to our little café on the plaza. Luis who runs the café is such a lovely guy and because he was having tomorrow off we said our farewells to him today.
Back in our room we quickly got all our stuff together and we then took off to the post office, which was 6 blocks away. To our complete surprise the only other person in the small office was a guy sending a heavy parcel to Brisbane. When it came to sending our parcel we had to have the contents roughly inspected and then the guy working there taped up the box. We had bought a large roll of tape with us and this guy nearly used every inch of it till nearly the entire box was covered in it. With this complete the box was then weighed and it came to 12 kilos and cost us a huge $180 to send home, but we just couldn’t keep dragging it around
Quito
The TeleferiQo with us. All going well the box will be in Australia in 10 days so I guess its not bad value for money really.
It was raining on the walk to and from the post office and as we hadn’t planned anything other than getting rid of our box we took it easy back in our room till lunchtime and then headed out for another feed of local street food. It was a really miserable day with dark clouds rolling in off the hills with heavy falls. Didn’t want to look around the markets in case we spotted anything good, so basically had a bludge day reading. For dinner we had a drink at the bar overlooking the markets followed by a pizza.
Day 224 Tuesday 22nd May First thing even before breakfast we started our packing and soon discovered how much room we had in our bags, after shedding all our souvenirs. We still needed to hang our sleeping bags off the back but at a pinch we may have got them inside. With our bags done we headed off to the plaza for the last time to get our coffee, before returning to
Quito
View from top of the TeleferiQo our room and checking out. The Hostel Riviera Sucre has been a great hotel except for the hot water which is a bit hit and miss, but the owners are lovely. From the hotel we walked the 9 blocks to the outskirts of town to the bus terminal. In Colombia the bus terminals are generally very orderly and with lots of security, in Ecuador however they are a bit of a three ring circus. Complete pandemonium reins but thankfully there is always someone to point you to the right bus, so within a minute of walking into the bus terminal we were seated on our bus and ready to go.
We were underway at 10.30 and once again travelling through incredible scenery, of high mountains and deep gorges. The trip only took 2 hours to get to the Northern Bus Terminal at Quito, and within a minute we were out of the bus with our bags and into a taxi. It was a good 30 minute drive from the terminal to the Mariscal Sucre area of Quito. The last times we were here we stayed in the old town centre, which was lovely but expensive, so this time we
Quito
South Quito opted for this more modern trendy area of town. This area is backpacker central with loads of hostels, bars and restaurants but it is also a bit sleazier and we have read lots of reports that the crime is a bit higher here than in the old town so we need to keep our wits about us. Because there are heaps of Hostels we didn’t bother pre booking anything but opted to turn up at one and wander around till we found something decent.
Our first choice was the Huauki Hostel and our taxi dropped us at the doorstep for $8. This place had fairly good reviews but when we got inside and Shelley inspected the room we soon realised it wasn’t a good choice. The only room they had was on the ground floor with a wall of windows that faced the two bars across the road….did I mention that this is also party central for Quito. It was only $24 a night and while we were discussing in the foyer if we would take it or not a guy standing next to us started talking to us and said if we weren’t happy with the room he
Quito
Cotopaxi shrouded in cloud would take us to a better one. The guy ran a nearby travel agency and we are unsure what connection he had with either hotels but we decided to see what he could get us and so followed him around the block to the Hotel Piamonte. This hotel had a room in what must have been a garage of a large old house and we got the room for $30 a night. The room is basic but large, clean and importantly set back from the road and away from any bars. We would discover later that the promised hot water wasn’t exactly abundant but more like standing under a bucket of water with a few holes punched in it. The hot water systems in Ecuador and Colombia have been the type that have an electrical element inside the shower head, which is fine except for how they wire them up. Generally the wiring is loosely insulated and so you become very conscious of how much water you splash around and reaching over your head. The guy who took us around to this hotel of course was trying to talk us into doing tours with him but he wasn’t too pushy
Quito
Shelley at the top so it was nice of him to help us.
After dropping off our bags we headed out to get information on Jungle Lodges in the Cuybeno National Park. There are heaps of agencies around town who do them (unfortunately the guy who helped us didn’t otherwise we would have got details off him), but we decided to start with “Happy Gringo” who have probably the slickest offices. There prices were okay but we decided to check out some others, which ended up all being dearer. Had a drink at a bar on Foch Plaza before going back to our room to do some further research on the internet. Discovered a website for a place that sounded okay and they had an office nearby so we headed out once more to get more details. The problem with having a choice is that it tends to make the decision even harder, so to help us think we headed off to an Irish Pub for a beer and a feed. Don’t tend to go to Irish pubs when we travel but they are a bit of a rash in Quito and thought we would give a try for something different. Finn McCools
Quito
The shower head ended up being a fairly good choice, with reasonably priced beer and good comfort food, Shelley got a great Chicken Salad and I had bangers and mash, which wasn’t bad. Could have sat there all night but that may have been fatal so we headed back to our room to try and make a decision on who we would go to the Cuybeno National Park. In the end we decided on our first choice and cheapest “happy Gringo” and planned to see them first thing in the morning.
Day 225 Wednesday 23rd May Awoke to glorious clear skies, perhaps the first time for us in Quito, which is generally cloudy and dreary. Our room surprisingly for the money came with breakfast but we couldn’t get it till 8.30 so there was no need for an early start today. The breakfast ended up being really nice with proper toast and fairly decent coffee. After this we headed down to “Happy Gringo” to book our tour to the Cuybeno. Opted for the 5 day tour which cost $260 each, which we are sure isn’t the cheapest option in town but was a long way from the
Quito Parade
Indigenous Unit dearest. The only problem with this tour is that it doesn’t start till Monday morning and so we have a few extra days to bum around Quito. Whilst there we also booked a day tour to Cotopaxi, which is the 5900 metre high volcano on the edge of town. We contemplated doing the 2 day summit trek but decided that we might be starting to get a bit too battered and tired for such an expedition and took the easy one day that only goes to 4800 metres.
With our tours locked we both felt happier and to celebrate we thought we would climb the nearest mountain. As I said before the day was incredibly clear and so it made it the perfect day to get the Teleferiqo (sky tram) to the top of the nearby Volcan Pichincha for great views over Quito. We first got a taxi across town to the where the chairlift begins and discovered a massive line up of over a hundred navy and army cadets. Thankfully because we are superstar tourists we got preferential treatment and got pushed to the head of the line. Sort of feel a bit embarrassed being given this treatment
Quito Parade
Shrub man and pilots but with the other option of standing in line for an hour it was easy to accept.
Quito sits at the 2500 metre mark and the Teleferriqo takes you up to 4100 metres so you can imagine it is a very, very steep long climb in the gondola and all the way you get magnificent views of Quito and the surrounding country. Quito sits in a long narrow valley surrounded by active volcanos and in fact the Volcan Pichincha we were standing on last erupted spectacularly in 1999, showering Quito in ash. Most of the snow covered volcanos that surround Quito were now shrouded in cloud including Cotopaxi to the south, but it was still a great sight. We could have hiked to the very top of Volcan Pichincha which was another 500 metres higher but it was fairly cold and windy at this height and we were happy to just enjoy the view from where we were.
For our return trip down we once again got to jump the queue ahead of hundreds of cadets and we were back down the mountain within 15 minutes. The whole area at the top and bottom of the Teleferiqo is
Quito Parade
Line of men with guns surrounded by abandoned shops and restaurants as if the place was built for huge tourist numbers that never came and it is all now falling into ruins. We got a minivan back into town and then went off to the English book shop to trade a book of ours for another. The guy running the shop is great bloke and we sat and chatted with him for nearly an hour before heading off for a feed at a Vietnamese restaurant up the road. We have been in South America for over 7 months now and it is great to get to a town with so many choices so we are making the most of it while we can. Unfortunately the food was not what you would get on the streets of Hanoi, but I guess what do you expect from a Vietnamese restaurant in Quito run by an Irishman and like every country the food is adapted to the local tastes.
Because we had such a late lunch we didn’t hit the streets till after 7 in search of food. We were going to have a beer and maybe a feed at a faux German beer hall (I did
mention we had good choices here) but the place was dimly lit and the menus had tiny writing and impossible to read for these two blind bats so we got up and went back to Finn McCools where we could at least see what we were ordering. Like last night the place was packed and the music blaring but we found a more chilled corner of the bar where we could get a beer and a feed. The Mariscal Sucre area of Quito is absolute party central, not only for backpackers but also for all the young Quitenos as well.
Day 226 Thursday 24th May Woke up to the sound of rain, which came as a shock after the lovely day we had yesterday. Had planned on heading up to La Mitad Del Mundo, which is a monument on the Equator but because of the rain we weren’t exactly sure to do it or not. Over breakfast the guy who guided us to this hotel and ran a nearby travel agency dropped by told us about a big parade downtown for Ecuadorian Independence day. We had discovered yesterday that tomorrow is a public holiday but we
Quito Parade
Old school uniforms weren’t aware of the parade so we changed our plans to head downtown. We discussed with this guy about going up to the equator monument and he said he could arrange a guide/driver for $50 and then quickly dropped it to $40. We had been told a taxi there would be about $15 and $15 back, but we just knew that we would have to haggle and so $40 all up sounded pretty good without the hassle. We booked the deal for tomorrow morning when it is a public holiday and not much will be open and then headed off to see the parade.
It was a 30 minute walk into the more modern flashier end of town to Parque La Carolina, a huge park that extends for nearly a kilometre. We soon discovered that we were on the wrong side, but by following the crowds we made it in time to see plenty of the Ecuadorian armed forces in full regalia. The guys came out marching behind their regimental banners generally in full combat gear and armed to the teeth, some with camouflage paint. Interspersed between the armed soldiers were the marching bands, some in traditional old school
Quito Parade
Shhh I am hiding uniforms whilst others in combat gear and camouflage paint, which sort of becomes redundant if you are blowing a tuba. The whole time the parade was underway we had helicopter, trainer aircraft and jet fighter flybys, which just added to the spectacle.
The parade concluded with a platoon of guys on horse back followed by trucks, artillery and finally tanks. We were positioned at the end of the parade and so by the time the tanks and mobile artillery got to us they were doing about 40 to 60km/h as if they were in a hurry to get home for lunch. It was weird standing on the kerb of the road watching and feeling these monsters rumble past, and occasionally a brave/crazy local would bolt across the road in front of them to get to the other side. Just past us we nearly witnessed a huge tank pile up where the parade came to a halt and tanks were weaving all over the place to avoid running up the back of each other…Headline “Ecuadorian army reduced by 50% due to parade mayhem”.
It was a great and unexpected way to spend the morning, and even Shelley seemed to
enjoy it. As we were packing our camera away a local guy probably about 18-20 came over to us and advised us that it was best for us to hide away the camera as there were thieves around. We are always conscious of this problem where ever we go but especially in crowds so we generally put it away as soon as we are finished with it, but it was strange to get a warning like this when you are surrounded by so many guns. We thanked the guy for the warning and wondered if he knew something was a foot or he had been done himself or just felt he wanted to lend some advice to some Gringos.
From the parade we wandered around the park to a glitzy looking shopping mall where Shelley could get me back for that army stuff with hours of window shopping. I did manage to get a short break from the shops with a great coffee and cake. Most of the shops and prices were exactly what you would find in any Westfields around the world but we did stumble across a shop selling unique printed T-shirts where Shelley picked up a
couple.
In the late afternoon we wandered back to the hotel checking out some more food options as we went. By the time we got back to our room the sun was starting to break through so we dragged our chairs our on to the driveway and sat and read for a couple of hours. By the time it got to 5.30 the temperature was plunging so we retreated into our room and got ready to hit the town. We had intended to take the plunge on Indian but the Indian restaurant we wanted to try we couldn’t find and so instead we had Thai instead. It wasn’t too bad but once again we were reminded that the best Thai food is probably found in Asia. By the time we left the restaurant the entire area was pumping with loud music from dozens of night clubs and the streets were packed with revellers in all states of sobriety and drunkenness. The vast majority of party goers appeared to be teenage Quitenos out for a big night because tomorrow was a holiday, kind of reminded us of a large pre Australia day party at the rocks, less the violence. The
Quito Parade
Anti aircraft gun police had vanished from the footpaths and instead just cruised slowly up and down the streets firing off their sirens occasionally. Unsure if the place gets a bit wilder later on or if there is a high risk of being robbed, but some streets we wandered down on the way home certainly were a bit dodgy. This would be a great place to be with a group of friends and to party but the two of us felt slightly out of place and so decided to head home early.
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traudy glasencnik
non-member comment
Wow, it just flys doesnt it. Great veiws over of Quinto. Funny shower head, bit scarier with the wiring, i agree. You havent mentioned laundry this read or the last? hahhaha.... Fella\'s in uniform, not bad. x