Volcanoes 2 - Hughesy 1

  Quito, not Cotopaxi or Riobamaba, Ecuador
Saturday, August 25, 2007

Regular readers of this column will by now no doubt know that this week didnīt start of exactly as planned, the weekend was lovely having walked and bussed around the Quilotoa Loop with young Tom Tom and the Goodall, then at about 12:10 on Monday it all went a bit pear shaped; pear shaped that is in the guise of a nasty feckin bitey dog.

There now follows the planned activities for this week, contrasted with the actual activities. The week didnīt really get much better to be honest...

Monday, planned - Get up in Quilotoa, walk around beautiful laguna and then head off on a really nice 4/5 hour walk to Chigchulan to stay in an award winning eco-lodge and chill-out.

Monday, actual - Got up in Quilotoa, walked around beautiful laguna and then headed off on a really nice walk towards Chigchulan, then got intercepted in a small village by a pack of dogs, one of whom bit vanessa on the calf.

aa. one nasty bite

ab. ouchey!

Got to Chigchulan as quickly as possible to get help from award winning eco-lodge which we stayed in for about 40 minutes while we sorted out transport back to civilization to get precautionary rabies shots. Travel in truck over bumpy roads for 3.5 hours back to Latacunga, grab bags left there, hop on bus back to Quito, hop in taxi in Quito to hospital, arrived about 9pm, watch needles being stuck in vanessas arm and bum, head to find hostel, eventually tracking one down that had cunningly decided to not actual post any signs indicating it was a hostel at all.

Tuesday, planned - either walk 25ish k from Chigchulan to Sigchos or take early milk truck, have lunch there then get bus the remaining way around the Loop back to Latacunga and stay night there.

Tuesday, actual - leave Vanessa in bed recovering and have mammoth internet session with Tom Tom. Inform tour operator for Cotopaxi the next day that we no longer need picking up from the highway but can go from Quito as we are there. Have spot of lunch in an Indian, including weird yoghurt, cumin, mint drink (this bit is important) to have some Spinach (high in iron, good for altitude), then head to tour operator to take opporunity of being here and try on climbing stuff. 10 minutes before meeting operator, I realised I seriously needed toilet. Now. 10 minutes after meeting operator and while trying on outfits, Tom realises the same. Laugh about amusing toilet incident and head out later to nice veggie restaurant. Middle of the night Tom needs toilet and bucket several times.

Wednesday, planned - leave Latacunga and head to restuarant on pan-americana to be picked up by tour operator. Head up to refuge on Cotopaxi, try out gear on the glacier and go to bed really early due to having to get up 1am the next day to attempt climb up Cotopaxi.
Wednesday, actual - After Tomīs 12th or so evacuation from either end, the cry of "hospital please" is heard from the toilet cubicle. Jump in Taxi back to same hospital visited only on Monday. Help a now collapsed Tom across 6 lanes of traffic due to taxi driver incompetence and go into hospital, saying hi to nurse from Monday. Arrive 10:48, leave about 5 ish during which time Tom racks up $130 bill including 3 IV drips and loads of other stuff.

a. Tom Tom looking a tad peaky

b. bit better, but still bit peaky

Destroying Vanessaīs record of $83 from Monday. To be fair the hospital was lovely nad put most in the NHS to shame, including a restaurant with bow-tied waiters. Work out Tomīs extensive drug regime which includes pills being popped pretty much every four hours, help clear up Tomīs leaky sick bucket, feel sick, all go to bed knackered.

c. peaky in a different bed

Thursday, planned - head up Cotopaxi at 1am, conquer the volcano about 8am. Say "yipee i climbed a 5800m high volcano", take pics, head back down. Get dropped off o pan-americana and head south to Riobamba/Alausi to take devils nose train ride the next day.

Thursday, actual - wake up about 2, feeling poo, feeling sick, aching all over and unable to move due to probability of movement equalling barfing. Play the name game for about 1.5 hours with Vanessa who also canīt sleep due to fear of being barfed on by one or the other of us. Stay in bed until about 6pm feeling poo.

d. now its my turn

Vanessa heads back to hospital again for further rabies shots. Tom moves from laying to sitting but no further violet evacuations - in the context of this week, thats a result.

Friday, planned - get up really early, ride on roof of train over beautiful scenery. Finish train and head back to Quito by bus to meet up with group of La Hesperia, go out get drunk, dance and generally be merry.
Friday, actual - wake up, all still feeling bit ropey, but have a bit of food for first time since Weds lunchtime. Go mad DVD shopping, including complete series of Sopranos and West Wing for $10. Bargain! Head up teleferiQ (cable car up a volcano near Quito) with Vanessa and a recently arrived from the jungle, Nockers, who we bumped into in the hostel.
Not to leave her out of the week of pain - does that hurt? You nose it does.

e. lets all laugh at Nockers

Leave Tom Tom with extensive drug schedule and several bottles of pedialyte to keep himself amused. Come back and meet up with Dave Tom, the Bearder and Kyle and mistakenly head to Crepes and Waffles for something far too rich for my delicate stomach.

Saturday, planned - wake up with hang over and watch three games of football in various cafes in the Mariscal area of Quito. Update blog.

Saturday, actual - wake up at 2:30, feeling poo again and head to tv room for a few hours to watch cricket highlights, Mr Smith Goes to Washington and some strange film in Spanish. Wake up in time for 2nd of three games, but following extensive use of remote control in the middle of the night, find out that hostel has the football aswell, so no need to move. Head out to buy DVD case as realise that rucksack isnīt really big enough for everthing Iīve bought. Update blog.

Thats its folks, all up to date, not the best week ever but as D-Ream once opined, things can only get better. Weīre cooking tonight in the hostel and all having a meal together (something plain) which should be nice, as most of the group are flying home this week (Byeee guys!) then Iīm back to the reserve for a week, then going to a different one on the coast, Lalo Loor http://www.jatunsacha.org/ingles/estacion_lalo_loor.htm for September. Other good news is that RWC is going to be shown on ESPN2 over here and thats fairly common, so yay! Sadly no Wales/France game tomorrow.

Hasta luego!

Hasta