Last days in Ecuador

We leave the rainforest and head West back over the Andes to our last stop in Ecuador at the beautiful colonial city of Cuenca. We stay at La Posada del Angel, a really nice colonial house in the the historic center of the city which is itself a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Cuenca is a large city but the historical centre where we spent our time is very pleasant. The local food was good, as was the beer. We visited one of the establishments that make and sell Panama hats. The process is interesting as is the huge variety of styles. I didn't feel any urge to buy one but the girls amongst us couldn't resist and bought quite different but equally attractive hats.

From Cuenca we head for Huaquillas where we are to cross the border into Peru. The scenery changes constantly as we work our way down towards the lowlands. Everywhere there are bananas, in the mountains there a lots of unusual varieties grown by subsistence farmers but the lowlands seem to be covered with banana plantations, mostly operated by familiar global brands such as Del Monte. The stalk which forms the fruit is covered in a plastic bag to protect the developing bananas from predators, which looks odd from a distance until you realise what it is.

Getting through the border is a simple enough process and we are done in under an hour.

Amazon rainforest - II

After a couple of days we leave Shangrila and head back up into the mountains for a short 4 hour drive to Pequeño Paraíso where we will be camping for a couple of nights. They do not call this a rainforest for no reason, it rains a lot. We arrived in a downpour and put our tents up under a cover!

camping under cover!

The first evening that we were there our host cooked a great BBQ which we shared with another group who were also staying there and now that everyone was recovered it was time for more drinking games. Some of the other group joined us and new games were undertaken. A really good night's fun!

When we had arrived we'd spent some time signing liability disclaimers for the various activities we planed to undertake as well as to cover the fact that we were close to Tungurahua Volcano which is active and the FCO advise against travel to the surrounding areas of the Tungurahua volcano.

As it turned out most of the disclaimers were not required since on the first morning almost everyone was ill with Diarrohea the effects of which were compounded by a hangover. Only 3 of us were well and that was not enough for the canyoning we had planned on.

El Pailon del Diablo

Dave and I decide to walk to Rio Verde and take a look at El Pailon del Diablo waterfall. We got soaked and our canyoning experience prepared us for the crawl through a low passage that was necessary to get to the top. In the afternoon Brendon and Rebecca were up to a bus trip into Baños where we lazed around in the sun at a restaurant drinking beer. The bus trip back was very crowded and the bus driver was a complete lunatic, i.e. like pretty much all the local bus drivers, I do not think that Brendon will ever travel on a bus again!

In the evening traveled back to Baños to visit the hot spring that is the reason for the town's eponymous name. There were two hot baths and not knowing the system I made the mistake of entering the hottest one first, the first was very hot! The shower to cool off came straight off the mountain and was very cold!

Amazon rainforest - I

Cabañas Shangrila

After 7 hours of driving, most of that time in rain, we climbed the Andes to an altitude of 4100m before descending on the east side to a mere 550m above sea level and arrived at our lodge, Shangrila, overlooking the Amazon rainforest and 100m above the Rio Anzu, a tributary of the River Napo that is itself a tributary of the River Amazon.

On our first evening a local guides takes us on a walk into the rainforest to learn a little about it at first hand. We didn't see much in the way of fauna but lots of interesting examples of flora. As it was getting dark we arrived at the canyon that we were to spend the next hour climbing. The only canyoning I had come across before was going down, this time we were to climb up. About half of us had head torches, a couple had hand torches and a couple no torch of any description. In practice there were only a couple of tricky places but that is a statement in hindsight. We all got very wet and very dirty as we squeezed, and in place it really was a squeeze, our way upwards. It was quite an introduction to the rainforest!

There were several activities that could be undertaken in our days at Shangrila including more canyoning, floating down the river and a visit down the River Napo to the amaZOOnico animal sanctuary. The sanctuary took in native birds and animals that were either injured or had been pets. A quarter of the animals die, a quarter are returned to the wild and the remaining half live out their lives in large cages in the rainforest. A german student volunteer was our guide but we were also accompanied by a bird that thought it was a human.

Some group bonding took place back at the lodge over dinner which was followed by some drinking games. I've no particular desire to be drunk ever again so stuck to drinking beer but the consumption of rum and some unidentified drinks found on the truck left some folks feeling a little the worse for wear. On the plus side we did get to know more about each other :-)

Otavalo

I'm still a little sore as we leave Quito but I am glad to be out of the city. We are headed North towards Otavalo but stop for a while at the Mitad del Mundo and get to hear about the peculiarities associated with being on the equator, we also have a go at balancing an egg on a nail.

I feel that is the real start to our trip, nine of us will be travelling together for three weeks until we get to Lima, Peru. We have two nights at the small Hostal Rincon Del Viajero in Otavalo which is a couple of hours drive North of Quito. This is our first view of the scenery in Ecuador and the drive up takes us through some great sights. Otavalo's claim to fame appears to be it's market, especially for the textiles.

We have one full day in Otavalo and during the first night it rains heavily though this doesn't directly affect us. Immediately after breakfast we get picked up and taken to see some of the local sights. We start off with a waterfall which benefitted from the overnight rain and we climb to the top for a good view of Cascadas de Peguche.

Our next stop is to visit a music maker, a lady who makes and plays various traditional instruments. She shows us how to make some pan pipes and plays several of the instruments she has. From here we move on to look at a magic tree before visiting the nearby Parque Condor that looks after injured birds and those that were once pets.

We get back to Otavalo around midday but rain interrupts our exploration of the market and prompts an early and extended lunch. The market is good but we are only just starting our trip and no one feels inclined to buy much.

From Otavalo we head towards the Amazon rainforest.

Quito

After all the uncertainty about whether my flight would actually depart due to the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland I left Heathrow Airport with only a short delay on the first full day after flights from UK were restarted. On the first leg to Madrid I sat in my favourite window seat on the starboard side of the plane and was treated to probably the best sunset I have ever seen from a plane. As we headed southwest across the Channel towards Brittany the entire horizon was red and the sun itself looked a lot like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, presumably this spectacular display was as result of the volcanic ash still present in the atmosphere.

I make my connection in Madrid and have a pleasant overnight flight on Lan and arrive at the Alston Inn Hotel in Quito at 08:00. Although it is early, ny room is ready and the hotel let me check in early. So far all has gone well.

I cannot say that Quito does much for me as a destination, the Old Town is quite interesting but nothing outstanding apart from the setting in which the whole city is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. The new town where I stayed is a tourist ghetto with little to recommend it.

My view of Quito may be coloured by the fact that I got mugged by three men little more than 100m from my hotel. I found out the day after that both our driver and leader had also been mugged in the same area a few days earlier. My visit to the local police station to report the attack provided me with an interesting view of local life. I was a little sore and stiff for a few days but no real damage.