We enjoyed our last breakfast in Banos this morning, on the roof of Hostal Plantas y Blanco. As usual, it was delicious, fresh fruit salad, fresh juice, coffee, and pancakes. We will miss those breakfasts, but today it was raining, so our decision to move on from Banos seemed well-timed.

Yesterday we had dropped in at the bus station to check times for Cuenca, and it looked like we’d be able to get one direct. The very friendly woman at the hostal we had called in Cuenca said we could expect about 6 hours. This turned out not to be quite the case. In actuality, we needed to take a bus first to Riobamba and then to Cuenca. At least they were in the same direction! I’d read other travelers’ tales, and there are frequently situations where the only way to get where you’d like is by backtracking, sometimes hours, to a larger hub or road. It makes sense, since this IS the Andes, and roads are windy and hilly.

I am really impressed with the bus transportation in Ecuador. It is really easy and very cheap. There are many bus companies and the price varies to reflect quality and directness. For example, when we left Quito for Banos, the bus was extremely cheap, I think $3-4 per person. However, there was no toilet and we stopped in many villages and rural locations. The trip took around 4-5 hours. The seats were comfortable but the decor was a little kitschy. Instead of tinted windows, there were colorful curtains.

Today the bus trip of only about 2 hours to Riobamba cost about $4 each. Seats were assigned. There were full delicious-looking hot meals available for purchase and a movie playing. There may have been a toilet but I don’t remember. Many people were standing in the aisle, and there was some kind of argument involving a family who had only bought 3 seats for 5 people. The bus driver said it was not a problem for him, but rather for the police if we were stopped.

When we reached Riobamba we had about an hour and a half before the only available bus to Cuenca, so we circled the station looking for the best option for lunch. Many places were closed, probably due to Carnaval, so we ended up in a small cafe right across from the station’s main entrance. The same meal we’ve been enjoying in Banos was available, with slight variation. This time, instead of sausages, there was a seasoned filet of beef like what we’d eaten at the executive lunch in Quito on our first day. We ordered smoothies from the stand outside to drink with our meal.

The bus to Cuenca was the nicest we’ve been on, in terms of security and service. The baggage was checked under the bus, and we were given vouchers. We’ve been using the underneath storage already, but receiving claim vouchers just feels more secure. There was no movie but instead we were entertained for a while by a marionetteer. Unfortunately for such a long trip (6 hours), the bathroom was broken. Instead the driver announced a toilet stop. It was only shortly after we’d begun, however, and I didn’t need it yet. Matt got off along with a group of others.

On all of these buses, various vendors come and go, selling all sorts of snacks and food, as well as soft drinks and ice cream. It’s handy, but sometimes there are so many hawkers on at one time that it feels a bit claustrophobic.

Figuring out transportation by bus is also really easy. We simply walk into a bus station. Each bus company has a sales kiosk where you can buy tickets. As you look around for one offering the destination and time you want, you will be approached by various people shouting out destinations. These are mostly representatives of the bus lines, and typically leaving within minutes. If you say yes, you get rushed through the sales office and onto the bus. We’ve done it both ways, slower and faster. Both have gotten us safely to our destination.

Even with good, efficient bus service, it was a long day on the road. We got into our hostal around 20:00, exhausted and smelly. As we sped through the streets in a taxi, we had noticed that all the streets were empty, shutters and shops closed, and it was raining. When the proprietess told us that dinner was available in their restaurant, of course we jumped on it.

First, however, we needed showers. We were stinky, our clothes are ALL dirty, my scalp felt ready for a shampoo. I spent about 40 minutes under the beautiful brand-new shower. It was heavenly.

Matt said he was getting sick of Ecuadorian food, but surprise! The menu was pretty much the same, with a slight variation. This time, instead of potatoes in any form, there was hominy mixed with scrambled eggs. Otherwise, all was familiar: thin seasoned filets of chicken and beef, a couple of sausage links, avocado, beets, salad. It was good, but even I find myself craving pizza or hamburger or pasta or Indian curries, or anything.

Because of Carnaval, things are pretty full up. The only room left for us was a triple, so we pushed 2 of the beds together. Still, we’d love to have a nice bed, not too hard, not wrapped in plastic with smelly blankets, not small beds. Even on our Galapagos trip, we’ll be in a cabin with 2 small beds. Ah well, we certainly still sleep ever night!

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tarqui,Cuenca Canton,Ecuador

Carnaval!
Oh wait, I’m not there yet. But there it is.

We woke up later this morning, not feeling very rested. Yesterday while all that was going on, we’d been debating trips into the jungle. We have enough time for 4 days, which would allow us to canoe, swim with piranhas, meet indigenous people, hike a lot, camp in the wilderness, maybe zip line, do some shaman drugs, get malaria (I’m kidding), etc. We couldn’t decide on the tour operator.

This morning we remembered that we’d discussed this sort of dilemma before we planned this trip, and we were definitely NOT going to adventure every day of this vacation. It is not the idea that you need a vacation when you’re done with vacation.

So this morning we decided to skip the jungle. It was both a relief and a disappointment. I’d convinced Matt that we’d probably kick ourselves later if we didn’t do it, and we were both so excited, but the new plan is to go to a somewhat posher hotel in Cuenca for a day or two, then make our way to the beach until the day we need to be in Guayaquil to fly to the Galapagos islands.

We decided to begin this new resolution by relaxing for as long as possible on the upstairs terrace over breakfast. However, all the noise and activity in town inspired me to pull out my telephoto lens, and this is what I saw, as crowds began to really pour into Banos for the Carnaval activities.

Vendors were selling everything from souvenirs to candles for offerings in the cathedral, to sugar cane for chewing or juice. We had to outside and check it out.

Over in the direction of the in-city baths, we found a big center of activity around the waterfall and the statue of the Virgin. That gate you see on the left of the next photo is the entrance to where the statue is, and we could hear a speech or presentation that sounded very much like an official opening ceremony with religious overtones. People were very respectful and quiet in this area, even if playing in the water or dressed in costumes for their own performances later on. Or their best event-worthy clothes.

After checking out that side of town, we headed into the main part again, where festivities were starting to liven up a little, that guy in the buggy has soap suds all over him from getting attacked by a kid as the drove past. Here in Ecuador, Carnaval is also a sort of water-festival, and a lot of the fun is dousing passers-by with water, in any form. We saw people attacked with water balloons, entire buckets of water, spray tubes of fruit-scented colorful soap, water guns, and later, even with shoes filled with water dipped from the river.

Still, it was our last day in town, and the parade that we’d seen scheduled for 09:00 hadn’t happened, or had been much smaller than expected, so we took Melissa’s suggestion and went for a bicycle ride for around 25 km of windy roads with gorgeous waterfalls. I’d wanted to do the route on motorcycles, but we’d been confused by the information at the only motorcycle rental place in town, and it was amazingly nice to be back on bicycles. (I guess we’re fully ingeburgerd now!)

The route was mostly downhill or flat, but there were occasional climbs. Fortunately the bikes had 28 gears. The scariest part was all the traffic on the route, especially because of the holiday, but the drivers were pretty considerate and I never felt too unsafe. We got sprayed by soap guns a few times, but because of wind and movement, they only grazed us.

This was the first waterfall that we came to, at Agoyan. There were huge crowds here, riding a flimsy-looking cable car or zip lining across the canyon. We just had to do it too.

Here’s the photo the official photographer took of us getting ready to go. It’s a little dark because I had to take a photo of the print to put it up here. The ride across was beautiful, and so peaceful. I felt like I was alone in the world, even though I could see Matt just ahead of me.

As we approached the far side, however, the kids at the end of the line started shaking the cable, presumably to slow us down, which was alarming. Then I could see Matt slow way down ahead of me, but I was still flying full speed ahead, directly at a rock wall to which the cable was attached. I panicked, screaming, “no no no no no no no no!!!!!” at the top of my lungs, to the vast amusement of the people waiting to head back via cable car. Most of them had just been where I was, so part of the laughter was sympathetic. My legs were a little weak as the little boy who’d stopped my ride helped me take off my gear. I was laughing too, but it was partially shock.

At Matt’s suggestion, we wandered around on that side for a few minutes before joining the line to go back. The wait was very long. At one point, the cable car coming towards us didn’t make it all the way, and slid back. Everyone waiting had a good laugh over that, as well as while watching the zip liners come in. No one screamed quite as much as I had while approaching the wall, but I had a few contenders.

I didn’t take pictures of all the waterfalls, but we saw many more zip line opportunities and cable cars, with shorter lines. However, I’m pretty happy with our choice. It was one of the prettier ones.

Here at this bridge, there are actually 2 bridges. The lower one is filled with spectators and traffic from the slower road beside that part of highway. The upper one is the main highway and is where a crowd was gathered for “puenting,” or bridge jumping. It’s a little difficult to see, but there’s a guy swinging under the bridge in this picture. We watched him jump, and I think he’s done it before, because he was pretty calm. The next guy had to be pushed, but it was a spectacular jump. First they buckled his knees, then as he began to fall, they flipped him upside down by grabbing his ankles, and he flew, screaming and waving his arms.

Eventually we reached Rio Verde, where Carnaval festivities were in full swing. We got sprayed pretty thoroughly by a tiny little girl just as we were pulling up, before we got our bearings. I got a picture of Matt, but then she started spraying directly AT my camera, so I put it away while my sunglasses were completely covered by fruity suds and her parents posed her and us for photos. I was a little confused, blinded and worried about my camera, but smiled and laughed and tried to play along.

After, it occurred to me that I had probably best try to avoid the suds, since the foaming was likely caused by the ingredient that is the bane of my existence, cocamidopropyl betaine. My allergy to it is very strong and usually causes blisters which become easily infected. So I left Matt with the bicycles and went down to the river to wash the suds off.

There were lots of kids in the water, having water fights, so I found a spot where I’d be easily able to retaliate when necessary. Sure enough, it didn’t take long before a couple of boys started sneaking up behind me to my right, and a girl behind me to my left. A group of adults nearby, including that woman in the green trousers on the rock, were watching with eager anticipation. It came from the boys first, a light splashing. With no hesitation, not even looking, I reached into the river and started scooping it back at them, as fast as I could.

Everyone was laughing pretty hard as the boys continued their attack, using a shoe to scoop more water at me. The girl backed off, probably because she’d have ended up on the side the boys were attacking. It was good fun, and after a few minutes I headed back to shore, while the green-trouser woman instructed me, “more water, more, more!” to which I replied I only had 2 hands.

Matt saw none of this, but I took a picture of the scene, without half the participants, when I got back to my camera.

Beside the river was a tiny man-made lake, where people were renting huge rubber rafts and paddling about. One family of 3 was swimming, and one kid was rolling around in a floating hamster ball. Water fights between the boats were happening, but far more on shore.

We ate there, at the food stands. I had more cevichochos and Matt had fresh-caught grilled trout. I also had a small fried empanada of plantain and queso fresco, yum.

Then we headed over to the entrance to walk to the last, and biggest, waterfall, Pailon del Diablo. First you walk quite a ways down a steep path, then back up to approach behind the waterfall itself. The steps at that final approach were very crowded.

We took turns standing under the waterfall, which was really great. Not everyone did it, so that part wasn’t crowded. To get there, there were some carved tunnels with fences to keep you from falling. We were on our hands and knees for part, and frog-walking at others. Matt helped a young mother and her small daughter through some of the more difficult parts, where you had to climb from crouching to a high shelf. Matt lifted the daughter from above while her mother stabilized her from below.

Here is the view from the bridge you can see in one of those earlier photos, after we had come back up.

As you can see, it was getting dark as we finished. We suddenly remembered we were supposed to bring the bikes back by 19:00. Checking the clock, we saw that it was already 18:00. We still had to climb back up the steep path!

It’s a good thing that we have been hiking up and down hills so much already on this trip. We walked really fast up the path, doing it in about 20 minutes, which is faster than we’d gone down. The other people on the path thought we were insane, and laughed a lot at us, admonishing us to slow down and take it easier. Nearing the top, I was reminded of going running all that time with Annemette, and how she’d always say that no, I didn’t need a break, I could do it if I just kept concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other and not on how far away the destination seemed. I was really proud of myself.

Unfortunately, all that amazing speed amounted to nothing. At the top, it was full disk and all the other bicycles were gone. All of the tricks for transporting bicycles back to Banos were gone. Most of the festivities and festival-goers were gone. With no lights, and mostly uphill the entire way along busy highways, there was no way we could bicycle the 25 or so km back to Banos. And certainly not before 19:00.

I started asking everyone if they knew how we could get back to Banos. Everywhere the answer was no. It was getting even darker, and I was getting worried. We called the bicycle rental place. They suggested that we walk back up to the highway and try to flag down a Chivas bus, colorful open buses filled with local party-goers. We had seen many of these earlier, but not for quite a while. There weren’t many people left now in the parking lot at all.

Luckily for us, however, all the asking-around had notified pretty much everyone of our plight. A middle-aged man approached us wearing a very carefully pressed white shirt and grey slack, and offered us a ride to Banos. He led us to his truck, where his family was heading home from a day’s festivities in Rio Verde to their home in Latacunga, which shelters under the beautiful volcano Cotopaxi.

We were loaded with our bikes into the back with their three children, Emily, Santiago, and Diego. I think Emily may have been lying about her name, as the boys both giggled a lot when she said it. Diego was the biggest joker, and asked us more questions than we could possibly answer. When we didn’t understand the question, he’d repeat it faster and louder until sometimes Emily would jump in and clarify in simpler Spanish and gestures. There was a lot of laughing and goofing off, until the kids fell asleep, wrapped up in blankets on their mattress.

The ride was much longer than I could have expected, especially with a solid traffic jam along the way. It also rained, so with the great company and the cover of a tarp over a bamboo pole, we were really grateful that this family had taken us along.

They dropped us right outside the GeoTours office where we had rented our bikes, and continued to crawl along the traffic jam that was Banos city center. We returned the bikes then Matt had a heart-attack: his mobile phone was not in his backpack! He pulled the whole thing apart but it wasn’t there. We thought it may have fallen out when I took out my camera during the ride, to take the above pictures. I pointed out that it couldn’t have got far, so Matt chased after them while I paid for the bikes and repacked the backpack.

Luckily, it occurred to me that he might have put it inside the case that held the lock and chain, in order to protect it further from water bombarding. Indeed it was! Hurray! So I thanked the rental operators and ran off after Matt and our friendly locals. We thanked them too, as they drove off, and as we continued walking back to our hotel, they passed us again, Diego sticking his head out the top front and waving at us. We waved and shouted “Adios, Adios, Ciao, Ciao!!” back at them as we ultimately parted ways.

We were so tired and grimy by this point that we showered and didn’t even go looking for dinner, only eating what we’d had in the room and sitting on our balcony watching the winding down of the day’s parties.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Banos,Ecuador

I’m writing this the next day because I was just too tired last night, and pretty much passed out. Matt took this picture of me and our new friend Melissa pretending to be passed out at the bar of the Stray Dog, trying to drink sample-sized glasses of beer as late as about 21:30.

Anyway, yesterday was brilliant. We woke up early and had breakfast upstairs inside, because it was raining. Then we went across the street to meet our guide for canyoning. He showed up shortly after on a motorcycle with his son in front of him. His son looked about 2, maybe 3. David, the guide, is 24 and has been rock-climbing since he was about 8. The 3 of us jumped into a taxi, which drove us a short distance from Banos, to a canyon where the water formed several waterfalls in a row. I’ll try to look up the name later, but it started with Ch, I think.

We put on wetsuits and hiked up to the top of the canyon. I was struggling to keep up with David, who was lugging the ropes but who was practically sprinting up the steep trail.

When we got to the first waterfall, Matt went first because he has some climbing experience. He had his camera with him in the waterproof Ben (mobile phone plan) case we got from Nicola, so we don’t have any pictures of him going down. In fact, his battery died before we got many pictures at all, but then we were able to get some if we kept it off for a while.

We did 5 waterfalls in all. The first 3 we rappelled down then jumped backwards the last meter or so to splash in the pools. Of those 3, the first was both the biggest and the scariest, although the scary mostly came from the initial feelings of, “oh what!?!? You want me to lean backwards and trust my weight to what?” The next 2 were much easier.

Then for the 4th waterfall, we sat on our butts and slid down facing forward. I went first on this one and really liked it, but when Matt went he was pretty scared and kept trying to put his hands out to grab at passing rocks as he went. Both David and I were shouting at him to put his arms out in front of him, and eventually he locked eyes with me and safely finished the full way down.

When I saw what was coming up next, however, I was really scared. It was a 40m drop, and at first I thought we’d be rappelling again. But no. Instead we were rappelling just a meter or so, then blindly jumping, trusting David to let us down gently. I made Matt go first, and concentrated on my breathing.

Actually, I didn’t jump very convincingly. I kind of just let go. Matt says that when he went, he made his first really good jump (those earlier ones he just let go), but then nearly hit the stone outcropping just below. I nearly hit it as well, but with much less velocity. Then indeed, David gently lowered me down to the bottom, which was actually really beautiful. And, full disclosure: that photo you see with one person in blue coming down that last waterfall is actually David, using his ropes very cleverly to belay himself down. But that’s basically what we looked like coming down.

After this adventure, we had some tea at that departure point area, then climbed into a truck with David’s mom and dad, who drove us back into Banos.

It wasn’t noon yet, so we showered and then went hunting for food. First we went to the plaza in front of the cathedral, a block from our hostel, where we finally tried cevichochos. Yum!

Then we went to the big indoor market, where we decided to have more of the delicious food I’d had at Cafe Hood the night before, only this time it had chorizo, and Matt went to order fresh fruit smoothie from one of the many stands.

After lunch we decided we were up for a hike, so we walked up a steep trail above the town for an hour or two.

The view was amazing, as you can see, and I’m living in this hat, which is increasingly in need of a wash. I think I’ll add it to our next laundry load.

We were really glad to be wandering downhill again when we finished at the top. I decided I needed to get a massage at one of the many massage parlors in town. I chose one of the bigger ones, and thought it couldn’t go wrong, but alas it joined the ranks of one of the worst massages. Fortunately, while waiting for my appointment, our new friend from the previous night popped her head in, and we exchanged phone numbers to meet up for drinks later.

We met up at the Stray Dog again, but went to an Argentinian place for dinner. The restaurant was really good, with a really great staff and crazy decor, but by the time we finished eating, we were exhausted. Still, we headed back to the Stray Dog just one more time, which is where that picture at the beginning of this post comes from.

Right now I’m finishing this the next night, and this one was an even crazier day…

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Banos,Ecuador

We have arrived in Banos, a vacation town for adventure sports and spa visits, for foreigners and Ecuadorians alike. We had decided it would be our next destination a few days ago, but with this weekend being a long holiday weekend for Carnival, we were having trouble getting a room. I think I’ll spare you the details because it involved me needlessly stressing out and Jose making about a bijillion phone calls, and then us getting something perfect and cheaper just by walking in the door and asking. Hooray!

This morning I thanked Jose for all his hospitality and help by giving him a Thai massage, which he’d never had before. He was a little nervous about it, but he meditates regularly so knows how to relax and breathe. I think, however, that he was pretty happy about it. His exact words were, “I didn’t really expect to like that, but …” then a while later, “I think I’m going to try to find more of that kind of massage.” 🙂 That’s what I like to hear!

Then we went to get cash and breakfast, but had more banking troubles, in which Matt’s card was eaten by the machine but they got it back out for us within 30 minutes.

And then… Transit!

A long taxi ride to the bus terminal Quitumbe, just in time to be the 2nd and 3rd to the last passengers on the bus, then a 4-hour bus ride south. It was only 3.50 per person!

Matt sat next to an American named Henry, which is one of my favorite names ever, and they chatted the whole way. Henry had an amazingly bizarre story to tell about his border crossing between Peru and Ecuador, but I had my earplugs in the whole way, so Matt will need to comment and add that story if he likes. My seat partner slept the whole way, which was fine with me! I enjoyed relaxing.

We arrived in Banos. I’d read in the Lonely Planet that it was pretty dingy, like a backpacker’s hostel town, which it is, but it’s also colorful and active, and everyone is enjoying their holiday. We checked into Hostal Plantas y Blanco, and got a corner matrimonial room, which simply means it has a double bed. It’s clean, kind of loud, and pretty cheerful. I’ve got earplugs, so I’m fine, and I like the plants all over our room. The view is great too. Our room has a balcony right over the Hostal sign on the corner, where we are sitting now.

Tomorrow we are hoping to spend most of the day at the public baths, then we’ll decide our plans for Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is Carnival, officially. Monday we may head, via Guiyaquil to the Galapagos Islands, or we may take a 2-3 day trek into the jungle from here. Depends on what news we get from Jose’s friend Ximena, who is a travel agent and arranges Galapagos tours, among other things.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Banos,Ecuador

We had decided, last night before sleeping, that even if the weather hadn’t cleared up today, we should try to take the Teleferiqo and see the view of Quito from a height of over 4100m. We left Jose’s, and first made our way across the valley near his house to see another, lower viewpoint. Matt has some trouble with heights now and then, and he was a little white as we crossed a high bridge over the valley, but once on the other side, dodging traffic and climbing endless stairs between strips of roads and housing, he was fine.

We later learned that the place we arrived at and it’s view, a little disappointing at the time, were not, in fact, the viewpoint La Cappele des Hombres, that we’d been directed to. But it was a nice hike, and after enjoying it for a few minutes, we hailed a cab to take us to the Teleferiqo, the 2.5km gondola that would carry us up the mountain. On the way, we asked to be taken to a cash machine.

Brief interlude over Technical Difficulties…
We arrived in Quito much as we would arrive in any other modern city, and Quito is very much a modern city. We had a small amount of cash, euros and dollars, and all our various bank and credit cards. We had informed our banks that we would be traveling, and cleared our cards for use. We had checked that we knew our pin codes.
First, our US bank cards didn’t work. Matt’s gave a general error message, an mine informed me that it was reported lost or stolen. We needed to call our bank.
Then, Matt’s phone wouldn’t accept a charge, so we needed to get it repaired or the part replaced. I think I already wrote about that, so skip to the banking problems.
Calling the bank resulted in my cutting up my card, and Matt’s was a problem of incorrect pin. He discussed with them that he would try some more, which they approved.
Skip to our taxi ride. Matt went to the cash machine and tried the Trustone card. No luck. He tried the Rabobank (NL) card. No luck, and a message to contact his bank. I used my Rabobank card, and it worked. Hurray. We will still need to deal with his card again.
My skills in speaking Spanish are being tested. I’m not doing well with these problems. Explaining things to bank personnel and mobile phone technicians is really beyond what could reasonably be expected of me! Matt thinks I’m doing great, but I’m getting really stressed out and can’t wait to move on to the relaxing part of this vacation.

Enough Technical Difficulties!

On the taxi ride up to the Teleferiqo, my ears popped! Just in the taxi! We were speeding up steep hilly neighborhoods, and it was already amazing. I was enjoying reading the signs, one of which said, basically:

Attention criminals!
This neighborhood is organized and we watch our community.
Be aware! We are watching you!

We have been told stories of crime in Quito, armed and unarmed robberies, rape. We have been extremely careful with, for example, where we are if I want to take a photo, that we are not displaying expensive equipment too freely, that we stay in well-populated areas, especially after dark, that we don’t carry all cash or cards on us, etc. The security guards and police everywhere serve as another constant reminder to be vigilant. We consider ourselves pretty cautious travelers anyway, but I’ve seldom felt so obviously a foreigner AND potential target.

In Thailand or Morocco, for example, we are obviously tourists, but I never felt in danger, except maybe from pickpockets. In Russia I felt occasionally in danger, for example when being directed off the road by soldiers pointing sub machine guns at me, but I mostly didn’t feel so physically obviously a tourist. Here we are in Ecuador wearing rain jackets, quick-dry trekking pants, my dread locks, our fish-belly white skin, and I know we are obviously tourists. But I have had a couple of moments, noticeably on the Plaza Grande, where I felt a little like I was being scoped for potential gain.

On that note, at the moment I am sitting on a bus south to Banos, with a wide variety of companions, blogging on my iPad. I debated for about 10 minutes internally before pulling it out, but this is a 4-hour trip, and we’re going directly to our hotel once we get in, possibly by taxi, and I don’t carry my iPad around, so I’m thinking that hopefully my risk is minimal. Besides, my seat mates are playing video games, listening to loud music, and sleeping. None of us can exactly go anywhere. Poor guy next to me is trying to sleep, but very time he leans my direction, I gently nudge him back over, or accidentally elbow him while finger-typing.

Right. Teleferiqo.
When the taxi driver let us out, we were a little confused where we were. (I’m having trouble typing now… The guy re-adjusted and I can’t lean any further to be able to type.)

We met an Austrian mother-daughter pair with whom we rode to the top. They’ve been having similar Technical Difficulties as ours, but like us, having similar experiences with extremely helpful and friendly Ecuadorians.

Our ears popped more on the way up, but we took turns sticking our cameras out the window to try to get good pictures.

At the top, at first it seemed that we’d be unlucky with the view and the clouds, but we hiked around a bit. Here, I really do mean “a bit.” Although our legs aren’t giving us much trouble after the past couple of days of hiking back and forth from Jose’s apartment, our heads were going crazy. I felt dizzy and lightheaded, and even a few steps seemed difficult. We thought we might rent horses and ride them the last few hundred meters to the summit, but while we debated if we’d walk or ride, chatting also with some American tourists, a family showed up and the horses were no longer available. So we took some pictures to pretend we had gone to the summit, with the help of our friendly Austrians, who claimed (liars!) that they were also struggling with the altitude.

When we were finished goofing off, we had a couple of empanadas in the cafe, and rode the Teleferiqo back down. Our companions on the way down were a friendly pair of soldiers. I felt a little like we were being escorted down the mountain like criminals. 🙂 I was too shy to ask if we coud take a picture with them, but I wanted to.

We hopped into a shared cab at the bottom with a group of Americans, and went back to Jose’s. He helped us try to sort out our Galapagos adventure, which may or may not happen, then we headed out to get Matt’s phone, which caused us to also need to go to a small phone repair shop. Amazing service. The guy carefully selected a universal charger for Matt’s phone, opening 4 boxes and testing each until he was satisfied, then selecting and ever so carefully applying a screen protector. When he was finished, we stopped by our friendly Movistar employee, Ruben, who again spent more time giving us advice and tips on what to do in Quito and Ecuador than he needed to get Matt a sim card. When we come back through, we’d like to try out the bar he suggested for us, based on our description of industrial and punk music, and his own of “where the weird-looking people go.” 7 Heaven, in La Mariscal.
I also bought some street food: grilled plantains stuffed with queso fresco. Delicious!

Then we found a restaurant and had dinner. Just as we finished, Jose called to say that he and his friends would be heading out for drinks soon, and of we wanted to join, we could get back in a half-hour or so and come along. We did.

It was a really fun evening. We went to a trendy bar with nice snacks and had a couple of cocktails each and chatted. Jose’s girlfriend (I think) is a concert pianist who studied in Moscow for a long time and lived in New York for 8/9 years. The other friend is one of his oldest friends from childhood, who lives most of the time in the jungle, leading tours for groups of new-agey folks who want to connect with indigenous people and share an appreciation of the land and the animals we share it with. Cristina herself was really down-to-earth and funny, and we really liked her a lot. We’ve just friended each other on fb, so if you’re reading this, Cristina, I hope I have adequately represented you and your work. Feel free to correct me! 🙂

After a couple of drinks, we all paid up and headed back to Jose’s. Matt and I had a couple of glasses of water and crashed, leaving the other three to continue the party. I don’t think they got much sleep, as Cristina had to go to the airport at 06:00 and Jose drove her there and also took (oops I’ve forgotten her name!) home.

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This neighborhood where Jose lives is very posh. His apartment and views are a good indicator, but there are other giveaways: broad, tree-lined streets with very nice Audis and Mercedes parked along them, beautiful apartment buildings with expensive shops and services located at their feet, and more than anywhere else, the extremely high number of security guards everywhere.

This building, La Nevada, has one for the residence, 24 hours a day, and one for the pizzeria downstairs. Another meanders along the street outside. Next door is the same, on both sides.

The rest of the city is well-populated with security as well, but here it’s quiet and the security guards open doors and gates, give directions, and check on unexpected arrivals. They are the few darker faces in sight. Most of the Ecuadorians in this neighborhood seem to be of strong European descent, and there are few of the native features to be seen.

We had breakfast in the posh Sweets and Coffee next door, although I’m not sure it’s fair to call it breakfast. Matt had a muffin and a cappuccino. I had an americano and a cheesecake.

Afterward, we hiked down the hill to catch the bus to the historic center. The center was very different. Almost everyone looked native American, and the shops were full of cheap and colorful things. I was surprised to see many people of clear African descent, although in retrospect it doesn’t make sense.

We went to the Plaza Grande, where we sat like everyone else to people watch, until it began to rain.

When it began to rain, we walked up the hill until it started really coming down. Eventually, we ducked into a covered courtyard with various restaurants and a couple of shops, and made our way upstairs where we had a light lunch.

Before we ordered, they brought us two bowls of roasted corn, one with salt and one with sugar. We preferred the salty one, but they were both delicious.

For lunch, I ordered a trio of steamed things and the cheapest cocktail on the menu, the name of which I’ve forgotten, but it was served hot, tasted like apple juice and sugar, and was delicious. Matt ordered a soup, a plate of fried corn mush with guacamole, and a beer. My things were served with more of this Ecuadorian salsa, like what we had yesterday. I used all of it!

It was still pouring when we finished, so we went first to the cathedral steps, where I took some pictures of passers by in the rainy Plaza Grande, then into the cathedral itself. No pictures allowed inside, I’m afraid.

It was still raining, so we went to the Casa del Alabado, which exhibits ancient indigenous arts and tries to explain their significance in terms of the spiritual beliefs of the people. It was a beautiful building and we really enjoyed the exhibit as well. I’m going to show you some of what we saw, although my better judgement tells me I’m being silly. The ones I liked the very best did not work too well with no flash, but they involved figures buried to their waist, representing emergence from the underworld.

These little guys are shamans using lime to activate the coca leaves they are ingesting.

I have no idea about this one, but he’s kind of creepy.

I loved this display of young female figurines. There was no kind of explanation on them, but they were charming.

Another with no inscription, but which I liked.

Yeah, your guess is as good as mine on this one.

After the museum, we wandered along the plaza there, behind the monastery. People were playing with the pigeons.

Then we returned to the bus, to Jose’s apartment, rested, spoke with Jose for a while, went for dinner down the street at a film rental pace converted to a trendy posh cafe/jazz bar, and now we’re resting in bed. Jose has friends over, and we were invited to join, but we’re feeling tired and needing quiet and space.

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Location:Avenue Federico Gonzalez Suarez,Quito Canton,Ecuador

We woke up at the reasonable vacation time of 10:30 this morning, and Jose made us breakfast, or rather, heated the delicious breakfast-appropriate food that his mother had made in advance. His family lives in Cuencas, to the south, where he describes the pace of life to be more traditional and slow, although a rise in expat population, especially retirees, is changing that.

The breakfast was fried corn mush with cheese, which had been originally wrapped in corn husks and probably steamed. They were stickily sweet around the edges, and had bits of corn in them. Delicious! Jose tells us that in Cuencas they are typically served with coffee in the afternoon.

It was pouring rain outside, so I don’t have a particularly good picture of the view from here, but it’s spectacular. With any luck, I’ll be able to get one tomorrow. Here is his gorgeous living room, though. I love the roominess and the plants! The cement is a nice accent.

After Jose left for work (today was a pretty relaxed day for him), we got ready to solve some problems. We headed downhill to a commercial area, where we eventually located a big Movistar building. Goals: get Matt’s phone repaired, get him a prepaid sim card with data, get me a simple sim card for dialing.

If you read my post about yesterday, you know that my ability to speak Spanish was amazingly high last night. This proved not to be the case this morning. It could have been the subject matter, but it was really a struggle to get it sorted and almost no one we were bounced around to spoke English. However, they were mostly all very friendly, patient and helpful. In the end, we left Matt’s phone for repairs (2days) and got me a sim card. We can get him a sim card when we pick up his phone.

My confidence was a bit shaken as we walked away, especially as I replayed bits of the morning’s exchanges in my head and realized even more of my vocabulary and grammar mistakes. I was also tired. Matt was experiencing separation anxiety, not having that familiar piece of equipment in his hand/pocket.

We needed some food and liquids, so we decided to head towards La Mariscal, which turned out to be a very touristic area, filled with student-ambience bars (mostly closed), and hole-in-the-wall snack bars. The food in the snack bar like places actually looked pretty good, but we needed something more restful. I was about to give up and take whatever we walked past next, when indeed the next place looked perfect: a restaurant with mosly but not solely older people, all locals, eating what looked to be hearty food and drinking red juice. The red juice looked pretty good.

We went in and sat down, expecting a menu to look at. Instead, what happened next could not have been more perfect. The server came and put two bowls of soup in front of us. It had bits of meat, corn, some kind of root (we think), and other vegetables in a meaty stock. It was delicious. Another group came in and sat down, and they got the same. Other tables had plates of meat and rice, and there were bowls of some kind of sauce on our table, so we now understood there was a set menu. I was so relieved. No decisions necessary!

That red juice was the most wonderful thing, so delicious! And free refills! I couldn’t tell what kind of juice it was, but I wouldn’t mind drinking it every day this week!

Indeed, after the soup came a choice of grilled meat with beans and rice, or chicken in sauce with rice. I took the meat and Matt took the chicken, and they were wonderful. The sauce in the bowl on the table went perfectly with the grilled meat, fresh and oniony, with a sharp limey spice to it. I drenched my plate in it. Dessert came too: a small slice of a pretty dry cake. Ok, not the best part of the meal, but otherwise the place was great. We chatted with the proprietess as well as with other diners, and it only cost $3 each!

Have I mentioned that Ecuador uses US dollars? Now you know.

After lunch we wanted to sort out some other problems, to do with banking, but in the end we mostly wandered around in the rain. We walked a lot, but just now nothing particularly stands out. Here is a cool construction site we walked past:

We got back to Jose’s around 19:00, lounged around for a while, ate dinner downstairs at the pizzeria, then came back, showered, had a chat with our host, and went to bed. A long nice first day of vacation!

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Location:Avenue Federico Gonzalez Suarez,Quito Canton,Ecuador

I calculated it very approximately, but 3 February 2013 was, for us, well over 24 hours of travel.

We woke up in our own bed in Amsterdam at 04:00, and were out the door about 45 minutes later to catch the first bus 197 of the day to Schiphol. A very nice fellow traveler took our pictures, looking sleepy & excited, ready to go.

Our first flight departed Schiphol at 06:50, arriving in Brussels an hour later. We had breakfast and even slept a while, waiting for our 11:40 flight to Atlanta, which was itself a 10-hour flight.

In Atlanta, there was slightly less time, although we had wanted to deal with a few essentials while in an American airport. I’ve been in the Atlanta airport before, and it is one of the friendliest airports I’ve ever been to. Wow!

Then we had a 5-hour flight to Quito, which is, however, in the same time zone as Atlanta. The downside on this flight was the service. It wasn’t as new of a plane as the one we’d taken from Brussels, but they used the same food & had the same training, I must assume. Both were Delta, which I mostly like, for their funny info videos especially, but little things were off. The exact same dinner rolls, which had been so deliciously warm on the flight from Brussels, were served like cold rocks on the flight to Quito. Snacks were provided, but trash was never collected… That sort of thing. I didn’t mind, but it was enough to notice.

After the flight, which was on time, we stood in line over an hour for passport control in Quito, then got randomly selected for customs check. Then we got into a taxi, in which I surprised myself by chatting in Spanish pretty easily with the driver the entire way to Jose’s apartment, where we are staying for 4 nights.

It was after 01:00 when we arrived, and Jose was sweet enough to only give us a brief orientation to his absolutely gorgeous apartment before we showered and hit the sack. Viva la cama!!!

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Location:Avenue Federico Gonzalez Suarez,Quito Canton,Ecuador

It has been a whirlwind of a past 2 weeks.

Because we’ll have various renters in our house, I’ve been organizing and cleaning everything, making sure they’ll have everything they need, and making sure that all our stuff is safely away that needs to be. This in addition to running my business, which was crazy while everyone said, “Oh hey! Before you leave…” (which was FANTASTIC, of course). In all the madness, I didn’t think to pack.

Honestly, thank goodness my massage lesson was canceled on Friday morning. That’s when I went over to Nicola’s and borrowed from her a proper backpack and a nice windbreaker. I’d already been over to Derek’s to borrow some interesting lenses for my camera. And then I started laying things out on the bed.

Here is a picture of the appropriate items I have, for a trip to Ecuador, where we are likely to hike in the mountains, trek through the jungle, visit towns & cities, take a boat ride, spend time on the beach, and who knows, maybe even a motorcycle ride. Oh, I’m not packing the motorcycle gear, which is the only thing I would have been properly outfitted for… it’s just too heavy and bulky, and who knows if we’ll really use it. Hopefully, if we do, we can rent things.

In case you can’t make it out, that’s:
-a hat, which I usually wear on my roof but also in the rare events when I go to a beach or a lake
-a windbreaker, courtesy of Nicola
-a pair of sporty capris, bought on sale last year because I thought they’d come in handy and never worn
-a cute 50’s style swimsuit in leopard print, bought recently with the christmas money from my mom
-an orange sarong, bought in croatia at the beach a few years back & used on trips as towel, beach blanket, anything really.

Later, I realized that my motorcycling gear might include some useful items, and found a thermal shirt, a cooling shirt, thermal leggings, and some ski socks.

Then I loaded up Nicola’s backpack with a whole bunch of other stuff (clothes, toiletries, first aid, camera gear, malaria tablets, mosquito repellent with 30% Deet, my “allergy emergency kit,” which includes laundry detergent and other things that wouldn’t make sense without explanation, etc.) and went to the Grauzone Festival at Melkweg.

Grauzone was really good, but I’ll admit to having been both exhausted and distracted. I can’t believe how many people were there whom I seldom see! Wonderful! I really wanted to see IceAge, but they were playing at 12:15, and by 11:30 I’d lost the will to live. So had Matt. We went home.

Today the plan was to go to the MassageDagen beurs (trade fair) in Utrecht while Matt delivered Cat to the cat hotel in Almere. Poor Cat. He’s been fitful for days, and I am sure he knew what was coming. While Matt picked up the car from Abbie and Derek, I loaded him up. He looks absolutely miserable:

By the time Matt got back to collect him, I had realized that I just wasn’t up for the schmoozing I needed to do at the trade fair, so I went with him to the cat hotel. The proprietress seemed a little dismayed at his age (around 19), but I’m sure he’ll be fine.

On the way back we stopped at a Burger King for lunch (nasty road food, a guilty pleasure) and discovered that we were next to a sporting goods store having a massive sale. We bought a few items. Now I have a really ugly pair of lightweight, quick-drying jungle pants with convertible legs. Ugh. I’m going to have to use them now. I’m sure they’ll be very practical; all the guides said they were the best thing for both the jungle and the mountains, but I hate having to buy things for one trip.

We came home, handled a whole bunch of other last minute affairs, and now, at 21:30, I’m sitting in bed. Matt is doing who-knows-what downstairs. Probably checking on Ingress portals in Ecuador. 🙂

Tomorrow morning, our first flight is at 06:50, to Brussels. That’s a short flight then a layover. Then there’ll be a 10 hour flight to Atlanta followed by a 5 hour flight to Quito. We arrive in Quito just before midnight tomorrow night. Woo hoo!

I’ll try to blog tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes!