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D204 - D219: From Otavalo to Guayaquil, Ecuador – 4 to 19 October 2012

My first stop in Ecuador was Otavalo, a city famous for its Saturday indigenous market. It was surprising to see that the city is mainly governed by the local indigenous community. They own most the businesses and a lot more while they are still preserving their traditional clothing, language and rituals. The male are wearing their long hair in a pigtail with white trousers and alpaca sweaters whereas the women have long skirts, embroiled tops and an interesting headwear. Both female and male wear a Mallorcan style sandals made out of cord.

On D205 we had breakfast and we said our goodbyes with Sebastian. After travelling long hours the previous day I decided it I would chill for a couple of days. The only thing that I did that day was to walk around the town and ate a local fried chicken fast food.

D206 was a Saturday which meant the biggest indigenous market day of the week held on Plaza de Poncho. For couple of hours I checked out the market that reminded me a lot of Peru. 

Later on I got on the bus to visit Iluman a small village nearby situated on a hill. It was totally tranquil but this did not come as a surprise as it was Saturday afternoon. In the evening I watched “The way back” with Colin Farrell at the freezing cold old style Theatre.

The Sunday plan for D207 was to walk around the Laguna Chuicocha just a short bus and pick-up trip from Otavalo. 

Just before reaching the lake three youths asked me to share the expense of the pick-up. The four of us ended up walking, laughing and sharing food for the next five hours. The uphill walking left me breathless due to the altitude whereas my new walking buddies were like little agile bunnies. It was impressive to see the joy they had and also how much they know about the plants living in the wild.

At Rincon El Viajero I met two nice couple from England and Australia. The Australian couple just came back from Galapagos and they were raving about it. This made me re-organize my plan to fit in the visit to the unique archipelago.

After four days in Otavalo it was about time to move my backside to Quito on D208. Once in Quito I was dropped off by the farthest terminal. This was not enough the guy responsible for the bags hesitated to return my backpack (it might have been a lost in translation situation). So I stood there waiting when the bus started moving with rucksack. My first reaction was to run after it like a lunatic. Luckily everywhere in Latin America is full of policemen so they stopped the bus for me. After the smallish drama and longish taxi drive to the historical centre, finally I managed to check in into the modern and spotless Community Hostel.

Quito at 2850m is a chilly-hilly charismatic capital with a flawless historical centre and a full stocked tourist neighbourhood. In the afternoon I strolled around the historical centre. Back at the hostel I met Melissa with whom I shared the dorm. She just came back from Galapagos and she was also raving about it. Initially I gave up on visiting the Galapagos due to high price. But listening to people who have been there I realized that I am here now and I should not miss out on this once in a life time opportunity.

Next morning (D209) I was on a mission to explore my options of how get there by going from one tour agency to another. By the end of the afternoon I had my flight ticket and cruise booked for 7 days starting from 20 of October. I was ecstatically happy about this! Later on I took the Ecovia (local transport) at rush hour to the Quicentro Mall for some retail therapy / window shopping. Riding the Ecovia at rush hour is an unforgettable experience. The amount of people that can get on it is just unreal. I was a bit scared and aware that somebody can rob me but my adventurous side wanted to try it out. Definitely my adrenaline level was high.

On D209 five of us from the hostel went to walk the Equatorial line at Mitad del Mundo. This is a touristic complex around 22 km from Quito and it is built 300m south from the actual Equator (0 degree 0 minutes latitude). Here you could feel that the Sun was burning but due to the over 2500m altitude this was bearable. In the evening we went for some canelazo a hot alcoholic drink with bitter orange, blackberry juice and some local spirit.

The following day (D211) I decided it to climb up to one of towers of Basilica del Voto Nacional. People warned me that it has dodgy and steep stairs with the court of the church underneath it. At first I was fine but after seeing the first part of dramatic stairs my Fazakas - Lengyel genetic fear of heights kicked in. I felt I reached my limit and I cannot continue. But I crossed my limit and crawled up the stairs with shaky body, sweaty foot and hands. 

I was hoping that at the top there would be another way down but I was wrong. After calming myself down and enjoying the view of Quito from the above, I set on to face my fear and was determined to get down in one piece. Almost at the bottom of stairs some guys offered me to help me with my handbag. I assume I had a scary face and they pitied me. Definitely this activity is not for the faint-hearted. I would not do it again. Oh Hell NO! Even after 30 minutes of getting down my whole body was still shaking.

Next I wandered around the museum of Camillo Egas a local indigenous painter from the first part of the last decade. His work is depicting rituals, habits of indigenous community.

I wanted to visit the Palacio Presidencial on Plaza Grande, where the current president carries out his daily tasks. But due to the long queue I decided to return later. Instead I visited the Iglesia La Compania de Jesus, an impressive kitschy church ornate with golden wooden carvings.

I returned to queue at the side of the Palacio Presidencial. After 45 minutes queuing finally my turn came. But the female guide did not let me in with the copy of my passport despite the fact that shortly before the security guard told me it was fine. I was very angry but because I really wanted to see this palace I had no choice just to return to the hostel and get it. On my return I entered and I was walked around with a bunch of impatient Ecuadorian.

At the palace state gifts from different countries were displayed. Among these was a gift from Hungary. At the end of the tour I was shocked to see that this guide would let in the tourists with their copy of the passport. Injustice makes my blood boil but in this case I just had to let it go.

On D212 I said goodbye to Quito but I was not sure where I was heading. On the trolley I decided I would take a bus to Lacatunga to reach Laguna Quilotoa. One of the things that l like about travelling alone is that you can take spontaneous, last minute decisions. In Lacatunga I was lucky and I could get a bus almost instantly. The Quilotoa Loop has the reputation that the transportation is scarce. Travelling through picturesque Andean villages, valleys and hills of different shades of brown - green I could understand why it is a recommended place by LP.

Once in Laguna Quilotoa the temperature was dropped quite dramatically. I was directed to an ice cold room with two floors. In Ecuador they do not have heaters only use endless number of warm blankets. At places with an altitude of over 2500 after the sunset the cold kicks in. The local community of Quilotoa is settled on the rim of the crater and it consists of maximum of 300 indigenous people. They had indoor markets, a lot of hostels and they seemed hard workers and organized.

At 8’clock the next morning (D213) I descended to the scenic crater lake and hung out for a while before I returned to climb the steep hill.

Later on I was given a free a lift to Lacatunga by two environmental workers. On the way we stopped to have a local lunch at Pujili.

From Lacatunga I took a bus to Ambato to reach Guaranda. One the way to Guaranda the bus reached 4000m and passed by the Volcan Chimpirazo (6310m), highest Volcano in Ecuador. It was 7 o'clock by the time I got to Guaranda. Due to being Saturday night the terminal was closed so I was dropped at the front. There was no sight of a taxi so I started walking uphill with the hope that I was going in the right direction. I did not have a lot of information about this town not to mention a map. Luckily a taxi driver passed by and stopped. He brought me to Hotel Bolivar which was way more expensive than what the LP was quoting. But I stayed as I did not know another place. After reaching my seventh month milestone I noticed my energy level is dropping because of the constant movement.

The following day was a Sunday (D214) and in order to regain my energy I decided to do absolutely nothing just stay warm and watch movies.

On D215 I moved to the nearby Salinas, a mountain village famous for its cheeses, chocolates prepared based on Swiss recipes. After reaching this compact and extremely cold village, I settled at Hostel Samilagua. I did a quick village tour stopping by the cheese factory and enjoying a proper hot chocolate at the chocolate factory. Due to the cold and mist I stayed most of the time in the cold room covered by three blankets to keep myself warm.

The next morning (D216) I went for a walk up to the cross and visited the nearby salt mine.

I am slowly but surely getting fed up freezing my arse off in the beautiful Andes. 

Just before saying farewell on D217 I made a last stop in Alausi the charming valley town surrounding by dramatic mountains. This is the starting point for the train down to the Nariz del Diablo (The Devil’s Nose).

The morning of D218 I took the touristy train through dramatic scenery down to Sibambe passing through the Nariz del Diablo in zigzag. The trip was 12.5 km long starting at 2350m and descending to 1800m. The Nariz del Diablo package is totally designed for tourists.

Upon our arrival in Sibambe we were greeted by some dancing locals. Then at the top of the hill we were served breakfast and a guide were explaining the history of the railway.

Just before midday I took a five hour bus trip to Guayaqil, the second largest city in Ecuador.

On D219 I just visited the Malecon 2000, walked up 444 steps to the top of the Cerro Santa Ana, strolled around the streets of the downtown and getting ready for my week adventure on the Galapagos.

D197 – D204: My last eight days in Colombia

Bogota has so much to offer. On D196 on my way to Cerro de Monserrate I stopped by to visit Simon Bolivar’s house. He stayed in this colonial house only 425 days within 10 years.

In the afternoon I admired the impressive and the world’s most famous gold museum. Wrecked after so much walking and reading I decided to walk to the nearest cinema and watch a French comedy about two friends. 

Next day (D196) before I set to catch a bus to Neiva, I popped into the Museo Botero where some of Fernando Botero’s works are exhibited. Fernando Botero is a Colombian figurative artist (painter and sculptor), famous for depicting its subjects with” exaggerated and disproportioned volumetry”.

The bus trip to Neiva took longer as I anticipated and I could not continue my trip to Desert of Tatacoa. I had no choice just to check into a dodgy hotel near the bus terminal. I could not shut my eyes the whole night due to the music plus the movement in the hotel.

Early the following morning (D197) I took the bus to a village called Villa Vieja. From here you could hire motorbikes or motortaxi to drive you around the close by Desierto de la Tatacoa. Upon my arrival to Villa Viejo Don Carlos, a mototaxi driver figuratively jumped on me and wanted my business. Grumpy after a sleepless night I just did not have the energy to send him away so I let him to walk around with me to find a place to sleep. Eventually I decided to avail of his services and agreed to be picked up in the afternoon. Everything was going as planned until I went out for lunch and other mototaxi drivers approached me and offered the ride for a much cheaper price. Luckily I met Don Carlos I negotiated a better price for me (I thought). Just 20 minutes before he meant to pick me he was knocking on my door. He said that he found other tourists in the meantime and I could go with Sergio, his colleague. Since I exist I have done my best to honour verbal agreement with people. The problem is that the naïve me expects that other people would be the same. But many times I burn myself like in this case. At the end of the day we are living in an individualistic world where everyone is looking after their own material or social interest. Anyway in a way everything happens for a reason. 

At first Sergio wanted to bring me to the nearest interest point of the Desert but I protested that this was not the initial agreement with Don Carlos. 

So he brought me to different interesting places like a farm where I could taste some cactus wine and buy some cactus sweets made out of the cactus fruit. At end it was an enjoyable trip.

Early on my 200th Day I took a bus back to Neiva from where I continued my trip to San Agustin. This is a small town which is surrounded by different Pre-Colombia sites of tombs and mounds. On top of that it is quite pretty to walk around and admire the waterfalls and the nature. Once in San Agustin, I settled in Casa de Francoise a very friendly and nicely decorated hostel. One of the reasons why I came here was to meet up with Nico as he was doing woofing in a nearby coffee finca. But for some weird reason neither of communicated efficiently so it looked like we would miss each other. In the evening Olesja, the funny and  first Belarusian girl I have ever met, arrived at the hostel.

The following morning (D201) I decided to visit the Parque Arqueologico de San Agustin that was a pretty walk around the hills of the San Agustin. This took me a few hours then I walked back to the city with the hope that I would get a sign from Nico. But life is full of miracles. As I was walking down in the centre of the town I spotted Nico walking towards me. How weird is that! It was a relief that we finally met. We decided that next day we would go on a jeep tour around San Agustin to see more to archaeological sites and waterfalls.

The tour started at 9 o’clock in the morning of D202 and six people participated (three in the back and three in the front of the jeep). In the first 20 minutes of the trip we were stuck for at least half an hour as they were doing some diggings. 

The first stop was at the point where Rio Magdalena, the longest river in Colombia that crosses the whole country is at its narrowest. Then the Obando Museum followed that included some deep tombs. 

After a long drive up on a dirt road we reached the Alto de los Idoles, a tranquil spot with impressive scenery. Here more tombs, mounds and carved statues could be seen. 

As soon as we left Altos de los Idoles it started to rain but we still went to see the Salto de Bordones a 400m tall waterfall.

Here three small children approached us and started to tell the full history of the waterfall taking turns. It was quite impressive how much could they memorize. 

The two stops on the list were the Alto de los Piedras, another archaeological site and the Salto del Mortino, a waterfall with a scary lookout point. 

The driver was nice enough and he stopped at a factory where they were processing the local panelas or sugarcane. 

Back in San Agustin we said our good byes with Nico and I finished the day with a nice cup of cappuccino at the Macizo Coffee.

On D203 I left San Agustin to Popayan early in the morning. The trip took around five to six hours crossing the mountains. My plan was to get to the border with Ecuador but due to the long distances within Colombia and the cocaine production in the southern part I decided to make a stop in Popayan. Definitely it was a good decision and worth the visit to the White City, its other name due to its white colonial houses. In one of my favourite Colombian cities I only spent an afternoon and a night in the laid back Irish – Basque owned Park Life Hotel (thank you Olesja for recommending it to me).

The alarm clock rang at 3:55am in the dawn of D204. I did not know where I was and why I was not in my bed in Sli Gheal, Galway. It was a first time in the last six months when I woke up confused. GRRR.!!! One of the kind guys from the hostel walked me to the nearest street to catch a taxi to the terminal. Once at the terminal I took the first bus leaving to Ipiales. A long day of travelling started at 4:45am. 

The bus stopped for breakfast at 8:30 am and Sebastian, a young Colombian approached me if I would mind to cross the border together as he had a lot of luggage. I was happy to do it as it is nicer to pass seedy and corrupt borders with somebody.

In Ipiales, Jhon and girl joined us to share the colectivo to the Rumichaca border crossing. This way we could split Sebastian numerous bags. Later I found out that he just turned 18 and he decided with a friend to cycle around South America. He is a brave young adult with an innocent and pure happiness that contaminated all three of us. On the Colombian side the border crossing was straight forward.

Then we walked to the Ecuadorian side. First our bags were searched thoroughly by the Ecuadorian narcotic squad. I was luckily first because I was a tourist and second I smiled at him and acted nice and kind. As a result he only checked my small bag but he did not miss one item though. It was strange to see him smell my travel guide and my notebook. 

This was a real welcome to one of the cocaine factory countries to a naive Hungarian living in Ireland, an almost perfect country protected of all the bad omens. On the other hand the young adult was grilled for 45 minutes and the police confiscated some of his stuff. WHAT AN ARSEHOLE!! The last step was our passports to be stamped which was much more straightforward. In order to continue our trip in Ecuador we had to take a taxi to Tulcan, the nearest bus terminal. 

Once in Tulcan all of us were advice to take the bus to Quito. Sebastian and I wanted to stop at Otavalo whereas Jhon and the girl needed to get to Quito. From here the girl had another 20 hour bus trip to Lima, Peru.  During the three hour journey to Otavala our bus was stopped five times for our bag and passports to be checked by the narcotics squad. It was insane!! I did not have so many checks in Colombia which is considered one of the notorious countries when it comes to drugs. At the end of one of the checks I asked for a whereabouts of a toilet from one of the driver’s assistants. He pointed the restaurant behind the bus and I said I would be back in a minute. Just two minutes later they were looking for me as the bus wanted to leave and my three new friends were screaming “Falta una” which means one is missing. The second bus driver assistant started to give out to me why I did not tell him and I responded that I told to his colleague.

The four of us had a crazy fun time joking and sharing bad quality white bread with Arequipa (caramelized condensed milk very sweet and yummy).

At 7 pm Sebastian and I got off the bus in the rainy and cold Otavalo where we checked into the El Rincon del Viajero hostel. After getting insight into the real Colombian life from a 18 year old I fell asleep instantly. By the end of the day the tourist only can see the superficial face of Colombia and if you just scrap a bit the real face of Colombia can be revealed which is scary, rough and corrupt. Despite all this I just adore Colombia and Colombians!!! I was a bit sad leaving the country after almost three weeks but life goes on! Farewell beautiful and multifaceted Colombia!!