Hosteria Rancho de Carolina Imbabura

We got off the night bus at 5 and switched to another, it only took a minute or so for it to arrive and then caught that up el angel, pronouced el ang hil, and got a taxi to a cafe to have breakfast. <br><br>We then got a ute that had a cabin thing on the back with very awkward seats and got driven up to the polylepis lodge, I think that's how it was spelt. It was amazing, like ...

From the Taxi that dropped us in El Angel we had breakfast of chicken and rice and then caught a ute to polylepis lodge. We all sat in the back and it was pretty cold. We arrived at the lodge which is at 3582 meters above sea level about 15km from the columbian border. It was picturesque with beautiful little tradditional hut but with massive baths, the water was unfortunatly cold so that was ...

So we had dinner in Lago agrio at a chinese place which was clearly not chinese then caught the night bus. While waiting for the bus pretty much the whole station was looking at us, it was really creepy. Spending 7 hours on a bus was.... yeah well i took a sleeping pill so i was too bad. We finally arrived in this funny little town and took a taxi to El Angel which is said kinda like El ung hill.

After three days in the big city, I as ready to find some place a bit more remote. An easy four hour bus ride later, I was in El Angel. I certainly succeeded on the remote front, as I apeard to be the only tourist in town. I heard there was one other guy there, but never saw him. After striking out in my hunt for the hostel listed in the Rough Guide, I ended up in a different hosteria on the recommendation of a local ...

... 1.15/hr. Anyhow, about the day, our first stop was what I would call a convenience store about 1 1/2 hours North of Quito on the Pan-American highway. I bought a Panama Hat (miss-named - they are Ecuadorian) for my dad and then we went down the valley to the Otovalo market. It's a great big outdoor vendor market of textiles, crafts and some basic supplies for locals, as well as lots of yummy smelling food we ...

Finally... I headed to Colombia!!!! The plan was to get a bus early to Tulcan, cross the border to Ipiales, and make it to Pasto before dark. It worked out fine. The first part of the bus ride, up to Otavalo, I have to admit that I slept most of the time... bad! But then, the last two hours to Tulcan were great, the landscapes were hills and low mountains, fields and forest, green everywhere, and these clouds!!!! As we got to Tulcan, the Ecuadorian border town, the weather got ...

I'm back, kids... I didn't just survive the rainforest, I came out healthier than I went in, fatter certainly, my head full of all the strange, surreal and wonderful things I saw and ate and did and danced. It's been an incredible month, I was so sad to leave, I fell in love with the jungle and the river - the magical source of everything - and the people, who welcomed me to their world and wouldn't let anything bad happen to me ("bad" covering everything from ...

Today Nathan, Lindsay, Ashley, Jenna, Nuno, Maria, Sarah and I all went down to the school here in Santa Rosa. Nathan, Lindsay and Ashley all played games with the children and when they were done, Jenna and I taught them some English. Jenna taught the younger kids aged 6-9 and I taught the older kids. Jenna was teaching them their numbers 1-10. Nuno was mostly in charge with Jenna just ...

Yesterday was not fun. After a full breakfast, we headed up the mountain to clear an area of weeds. The area was an area they were working on reforesting, but the grass and weeds had grown so high that they were blocking the light to some of the important trees. The grass was as high as our waists in some areas. We got started clearing the area - some people using the machete's to cut the grass while the others used the hoe's to clear the ground around ...

Yesterday was a trip to a mountain town called Otavalo, famous for its daily market. Rather than navigate the public bus system, I went with a small group day tour that included transport from Quito. There were a couple of interesting stops along the way for views of the valleys, etc. The drive up the Pan-American highway was scenic, but quite treacherous, despite the brand new smooth pavement. All vehicles, including ours, totally ignored any solid ...