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Published: November 23rd 2014
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On returning from the Galapagos Islands, first thing I did was hop straight on a bus for the adventure capital of Ecuador, Banos. Having somehow broken my kindle on my cruise in the Galapagos I was the recipient of some divine inspiration as I reliazed there was also a kindle app which I could download to my phone where I could continue reading on those long bus journeys.. Marching Powder, Killing Escobar and Born to Run all since read!
BANOS
Theres something about Banos that I cant quite put my finger on but in conversation with a fellow turistica a few days later we both agreed that if you had to pick a place in South America to live Banos would be one of our top choices (Sucre and Cusco being my other two). The town itself is surrounded by mountains, volcanos, waterfalls and the landscape is so green it almost glows. Throw into the mix the opportunity to raft, cycle, bridge jump, rock climb, abseil, zip line, paraglide etc, its a good place to be! I arrived in on the same bus as two Aussies Darcy and Jordi and when we all ended up in the
same dorm we ended up doing alot of the activities together. I also happened across two Irish girls that myself and Mags had meet in Bolivia; Tara and Coleen. So when I heard they were going abseiling down waterfalls , I was like count me in! So what it involved was lowering yourself down against an almost 90 degree rockface which with the wet stones and cascading waters proved pretty tricky. One Canadian girl on her way down lost her footing and was repeatedly bashed against the rockface while being completly drenched by the water.. her boyfriend (I presume) summed it up perfectly "Dude that waterfall kicked your ass!!"
The following day I did something that Id jotted down as "TO DO" from the start of the trip -
Bridge Jump. Never has someone been more terrified, it was more of a fall then a jump off the platform of the 95 metre high bridge as my legs completly refused to cooperate.. I couldnt even scream on the way down as my breath had caught in my chest but following the 5 seconds of terror a great sense of accomplishment as I swung from the rope 60 metres above
the water !
That same day myself, Jordi and Darce headed ziplining across a huge canyon, a bit of rock climbing in between and then ziplined all the way back across. My main thought during it being "Wow this thing goes really fast but it looks like Im about to smash into that cliff face at the far end if this doesnt slow down!" Then to cap it all we talked our taxi driver on the way back to drive us up to a tree house and swing at the top of one of the mountains to get perfect views of the surronding countryside and volcanos.. not a bad days work for a Tuesday!
COTOPAXI
Being only an hour south of Quito, I decided to make a detour to the Worlds second highest most active volcano Cotopaxi (Highest is in Chile). Its a serious challenge that can take a few days to get ready for because of the cold and altitude and since I wanted to be in Colombia by the weekend, I opted just to get a tour of the national park and climb as far as base camp at 4,800m (Peak is 5800m).
Jordi and Darce
Getting suited up for zip lining Getting there proved tricky, the buses wouldnt drop me on the way to Quito as my big backpack meant stopping the bus entirely (Normally they slow down and someone jumps off) so instead I had to get a bus to Ambato, change from there to a bus to Latacunga and grab another bus in the terminal there heading Quito that accpted my bag. Then I was dumped at the side of the road near the national park. As I walked along the road a guide coming from the park swung around to pick me up and on we headed after negotiating a fee. Most interesting thing about the tour was the guide didnt have a word of English so it was conducted solely in Spanish! It was so warm at the bottom that I thought Id be grand in shorts but as we got higher, it got bloody cold ! After putting on a few layers the guide was basically like "Off you go" and I hiked about an hour to base camp where it was snowing.. it was a tough hike and I could see why only 50% who attempt it actually make it to the top
Quito
In Quito I stayed in a great place called Community Hostel for 3 days. Quito itself was alot nicer then I expected, pleasantly suprised. Religion appears to be an important part of life in the city as the amount of impressive churches and cathedrals was quite big! The first evening in the hostel, some of us called across the road to a craft beer brewery. They hit a nightclub later on but I decided for a quiet night it being a Wednesday and that! :P
Following day after a monster of a breakfast (Eggs, bacon, onion, tomato and quinoa) I did the free walking tour of the city to hear of its history and admire the architecture and culture. When I got back, Matias an Austrian guy who·d gone out the night before looked pretty shook.. Initially I assumed it was drink related but turns out he was set on by 3 guys and mugged. Ecuador is a great place with some of the friendliest people Ive ever met but once you go stumbling drunk around a city that size at 3 in the morning, trouble is guarenteed! After some skpying I headed for my afternoon
activity, visiting the Equator. Being an hour out of town, its 15 dollars in a taxi or .40 cent on public transport.. public transport all the way so! While I waited and tried to figure out the confusing number of buses, a local guy asked me where I was off to.. turned out he was heading part of the same direction. The next hour and a half I basically got a free Spanish lesson while also getting to find out more about Ecuador, decent way to pass a journey! It was about 4.30 by the time I arrived at Mithad del Mundo (Middle of the World) and one big regret for me was missing the nearby musuem (closed at 4) which does all sorts of cool tests and experiments to highlight the perfect gravitional forces in the earths middle line. I did meet an English guy though of Bolivian parents and we had a bit of fun the next hour snapping different perspective photos.. his perfect SPanish on the way back meant we decided to visit a cable car on the way back to get a view from up top of Quito at night.
Finally day was low key
as I was headed for Colombia in the evening though I was still able to squeeze in a food tour of local Ecuadorean food.. bull testicles, chicken feet, strange pastries.. they leave nothing to waste. That said, dont think Ill be adding any to my daily meals back in Ireland! 😊
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
WOW
What an adventure Dave. What an endurance and adrenalin rush. Truly a tale of luck of the Irish!